The City That Heroes Built

by Daniel Pierce

  “You think someone can get around your power?”

  “It's possible.”

  “How?”

  “I'm absolutely not going to tell you.”

  “Fair enough,” I said.

  “So that's half the conversation,” he said. “Now tell me about your power.”

  “I don't think I have one,” I said. “Ravelin thinks that I do.”

  “No real reason for her to be wrong,” Fiver said. “But we need to work it out, when we get a chance. See what you can control, see if you can amplify it.”

  “To do what?”

  “Influence people. Draw them towards you from a long distance in a short time. Distort their powers or their ability to use powers. Detect supra-powers.”

  “I can't do any of that.”

  “Maybe not yet. But you need to see if you can get it out of your subconscious and under your control. You might be really useful one day.”

  “I like to think I'm useful now,” I said.

  “You did good figuring this out,” he said. “I mean, it may end up getting us all killed, but good job getting us all to the fight.”

  Then Sentinel arrived.

  I had kept one eye on the sky, expecting him to fly down from the heavens, but he came through a door. He was wearing the American flag version of his costume, which I loved. It was so much better than the plain red. Everyone stopped talking when he walked out among us. He took a good look at everyone.

  “It's time,” he said. Everyone started to move, not in a rush, but Catchpenny grabbed her armor, and Fiver and Slowburn started putting on their shoes. Ravelin and Sunday went into the door Sentinel came out of, returning in a few minutes in their costumes. They chose the American flag variants of theirs. I hadn't seen either.

  “Are we all doing this?” Oubliette asked. She and Persephone decided to change to match the rest of their team.

  “We totally need better costumes,” Slowburn said. “I mean, they match, they're very coordinated, it's got the patriotic theme. We look like a patchwork team.”

  “We are a patchwork team,” Cal said.

  “Touché.”

  The Guardian Angels assembled. Calliope remained in jeans, boots and a leather jacket. Catchpenny fixed her helmet on. I went to the gazebo and walked out in my armored suit.

  “What are we going to call him?” Calliope asked.

  “Ironsides,” Cal said. I could live with that.

  We gathered around Sentinel.

  “People know us,” Sentinel said. “We'll go to the Citadel and be waiting. Stay in communications. If LEGION shows, we'll call for the rest of you to come over.”

  Cal gave a radio headset to Oubliette and another to Sunday. “They're set to the same freq as ours. If they're jammed, or compromised, kick to channel 2. Catchpenny and Ironsides can follow, and both are automatically scanning the second channel, so when you kick, they will kick, too.”

  “So this is a sort of weird last minute question,” I said through my broadcast system. “Wait, can everyone hear me?”

  “Yes,” Cal said.

  “So why don't we go find the Lady in Black using Ravelin's power?” I said.

  “Oh thanks, I wish I had thought of that,” Ravelin said. “I've never been around any of them, so I can't find them.”

  “Okay, sorry, back in my box,” I said and shut up.

  The police scanner on the table started squawking, but I couldn't make it out. Hearing in the armor was dependent on microphones bringing the sound from outside to inside. The good thing was, there was a maximum volume; the bad thing was that they didn't pick up everything.

  “I missed that,” I said, this time not broadcasting it out my speaker system, but on the radio to Cal and the others.

  “You heard about that zombie outbreak that happened in Washington and Sacremento? Sounds like it's happening again in East Santa Maria.”

  “Should we send someone?” Ravelin asked.

  “Police handled it before,” Sentinel said. “Let's let them handle it this time.”

  Catchpenny told me how to handle the channels on the radio so I could listen to the built in scanner in Ironsides.

  Oubliette and Persephone gathered close to Sunday. She carried them in her whirlwind. Ravelin said to us, “Don't touch anything.” Sentinel grabbed her and flew off south to the Citadel.

  “So that leaves us,” Slowburn said. “How do you think this is going to go down?”

  “LEGION flies down out of the sky and there is a big fight at the Citadel,” Catchpenny said.

  “I teleport us over there,” Cal said. “Then it's like we practiced.”

  “I didn't practice,” I said.

  “You get Thirteen. You have no powers, so you should be able to attack her.”

  “She flies.”

  “You jump. She flies slow,” Catchpenny said. “Use the stun gun and tear gas and keep her distracted. If you can hit her with the blades, great. The net gun isn't the worst option, either. If you can't get to her, go after Lady in Black.”

  They gave me the rest of the plan. Rebel was supposed to take on Harbinger and Dead Pierrot, avoiding them mostly. Catchpenny and Cal would go after Jezebel first, then Threnody as she flies them in. Slowburn was supposed to target the Threnody, but his wide area fire blast would likely torch the whole group. He'd aim to intercept them before they had a chance to touch ground. Calliope would concentrate on Jezebel.

  There would be some working to cross-purposes. Sentinel would likely try to carry Harbinger away from the fight and dump him in the ocean or pick a spot to put him down and beat on him. Sunday was tasked with disrupting the flyers with wind and lightning. Persephone would target Threnody. Ravelin would shield Persephone and Oubliette. Oubliette would kill everyone as fast as she could get around to it. Her first target was Thirteen, then Threnody, Jezebel and the Lady in Black.

  The police scanner squawked again.

  “Suicide Prime is rampaging in Los Alamos,” Cal said. “Not alone. Something else is with him.”

  “What are the odds?” I asked.

  “It's not a coincidence.”

  Oubliette transmitted on the radio. “Sentinel will handle this,” she said. We could see him launch himself east towards the mainland.

  “If they're going to cause a distraction, this is the way to do it,” Cal said.

  “I don't like it,” Slowburn said. “This has ambush written all over it. I'm going, too.” A column of fire followed him up into the air, trailing behind to show his path through the sky.

  “This isn't going to be as simple as I thought,” Catchpenny said. To Cal she said, “You were in the military. What other tactics do we need to be prepared for?”

  “I was a sergeant,” Cal said. “I went on missions. Lieutenants and captains planned. We need to be prepared to shoot some bastards in the face.”

  “They might attack here,” Calliope said. “To draw at least one Guardian Angel back, tilt the odds in their favor.”

  “Should one of us stay?” Catchpenny asked.

  “The power just went down in the Citadel.” Sunday said on the radio. “Something is happening here.”

  “Grab hold,” Cal said. He popped us across. We appeared on a large open area reserved for helicopters. He had picked a spot on the edge, away from the main building. A concrete plateau with small planters and palm trees dotted the walkway from the helicopter pad to the building.

  The Citadel is a fortress surrounded by the rock of the island. Most of the cells and holding areas are underground. The main entrance held the courthouse, the processing center and the visitors' center. It was the only accessible part, a short walk from the helicopter pad, and a long walk from the boat jetty below. The main level was a hundred feet above the water.

  Through the visitors' center was the access to the Citadel itself. It was contained in the same building as the processing center and the courthouse, and its entrance was the main entrance to the rest of the building.

&n
bsp; “Flyers incoming!” Sunday yelled. I looked east. Black dots on the horizon, not moving fast enough to notice. The temperature dropped suddenly and fog started to cover the Citadel.

  Shouts rang out from the visitors' center. People ran out, a handful together, and then single runners, and then a wave of a couple dozen more. They spread out over the hundred yards of open ground between the helicopter pad and the visitors' center. It was not an orderly bunch. They didn't know where they were going, except out. A couple of people screamed hysterically, adding to the chaos and confusion, of the others.

  The New Powers moved at once, except for me. I remained more used to watching than doing anything useful. The Guardian Angels stayed close together, ready and waiting for the group coming in from the east. The black dots hadn't gotten bigger. They seemed content to let us deal with whatever was happening here before they came to close.

  Calliope, Catchpenny and Rebel ran right for the group of people exiting the building, Rebel in front, Catchpenny next and Calliope trailing. Cal popped over to the entrance of the building and went in.

  “Tell everyone to get against the wall,” Rebel said. He started yelling and pointing at the wall of the Citadel that ran along the open space. It was 50 feet high and topped in razor wire, parts of it hidden in the rock of the island. I switched on my speakers, cranked them to loud.

  “Everyone against the wall.” My voice, slightly altered and robotic boomed out. Calliope was pushing people in that direction and ordering them as well. Catchpenny went through the group looking for escapees, but went quickly in the direction of the visitors' center and went inside. I started to help, repeating Rebel's directions, and adding, “Everyone remain calm.” I don't know if having that booming from speakers of a gray, metal suit of power-armor helps calm anyone, but why not try it?

  Rebel pulled one person out of the group and ordered them to their knees. Calliope grabbed another. Both were searched quickly and released. I moved to watch the group on the far side. They patted down a few more, and took a close look at a couple.

  “Clear inside,” Catchpenny reported. “I haven't caught up to Cal yet.” Her transmission ended with the distant sound of gunfire. Cal appeared at the spot on the helicopter pad he had teleported us to originally.

  “Catch, abort! Abort!” he yelled. “Get out, get out, get out!”

  “Flyers are staying east,” Sunday reported.

  “Slowburn, you up? You there?” Rebel asked.

  Cal popped halfway between Calliope and Rebel. “Everyone back off, we need to go!”

  “What's going on?” Calliope asked.

  Catchpenny ran out from the visitors' center. A dark cloud of thick smoke followed her out.

  “Everyone is out,” Cal said. “Everyone.”

  A shockwave shattered the doors to the building. Debris scattered across the area. The smoke coalesced and formed into a vaguely humanoid shape.

  The temperature dropped, far and fast. Sunday's doing, she filled the plateau with fog instantly. That gave Ravelin time to move. She dropped a force field between the civilians who had been pushed out in advance of the escapees and the rest of us. Several flyers rocketed out of the fog from the main building, scattering in different directions, then curving towards Santa Maria.

  The smoke-thing was still visible, black smoke in white fog. Then it disappeared.

  “Abandon: dead,” Oubliette said. She had eliminated one of the villains. The rest were still coming from out of the fog. The Guardian Angels stayed close together, on the far side of the plateau, but the New Powers kept moving. Rebel ran around at random, ducking from unseen things, and staying at the edge of the fog. Calliope backed off, towards the Guardian Angels. Catchpenny went into the fog, aided by her advanced optics, the same type she had installed in Ironsides. I turned mine on with voice commands.

  “Thermal imaging: on.”

  My display changed. Bright spots appeared through the fog, along with some shades of blue indicating less warm beings. I worked the pattern with my fingers that released the blades from their sheaths on my forearms. Twin 2-foot curved blades locked in to place over my hands. I followed Catchpenny into the fog.

  Something came at me quick. I couldn't identify it, so I couldn't strike. Then its heat signature grew and it stepped in front of me. I turned off the thermal and saw coming through the fog. Shamblingstroke was an ugly, obese man who absorbed energy and turned it into super strength. He'd already torn off his orange prisoner uniform, but hadn't replaced it with anything. He hammered me with massive fists, but the armor resisted. He moved slowly. I punched the blades of my left hand into his guts. I felt the armor amplify my movement, increasing the power of the strike. I pulled my arm and blades back as Shamblingstroke stepped back. His stomach tore open, and blood splashed out, spraying blood across me. The Ironsides armor kept me clean. Shamblingstroke was far from finished. The wound was nothing to him. He hit me again. The armor protected me, but I was still rattled.

  Sounds of battle happened from every direction. Energy blasts ripped past me, some directed at Ravelin's force field, some at us. An electrical blast hit me. It didn't hurt, but I felt it. Fast movement happened in the fog, I couldn't follow all of it. Anything outside my narrow range of vision was difficult to track.

  An Asian guy came out of the fog next to Shamblingstroke. I launched the net at him, tangling him in a net, and sending him toppling over. He was Major Ninja, and had been a formidable villain in the 80s. He didn't seem to be anything other than an old man when he collapsed, tangled in the net.

  Shamblingstroke hit me twice more. I slashed at him and missed. Then the whole area was blanketed in fire. I thought it was Slowburn at first, but pyrokinetics are a dime a dozen. The fire was Incandescent's attempt to get Rebel; he dodged behind me for cover. The fire didn't seem to bother Shamblingstroke. He absorbed the heat and his body converted it to strength. His next punch rattled me pretty hard. I toppled over.

  “Vampiro, dead,” Oubliette said.

  Rebel was already up engaging Shamblingstroke who didn't have a shot in hell at landing a punch on Rebel. Incandescent torched the area again, this time Rebel dodged behind Shamblingstroke, who took the brunt of the flames, growing even stronger. The heat burned off the fog in the area around us, and I struggled to my feet as the greatest collection of villains in the history of the world stepped out of their prison and tasted freedom for the first time in a long time. They looked all sorts of evil, but without their uniform, costumes, and masks, I couldn't readily identify everyone.

  “Fly Fang, dead,” Oubliette said. There was a cadence to her reports as every few seconds she removed another criminal supra from existence.

  Cal popped close, and sprayed automatic fire into the area. “Menace, down,” he reported. Rebel sprinted for Incandescent, dodged, and then hesitated. She unleashed another torrent of fire, this time he was close enough to move behind her as she did. Her fire raged across the line of escapees walking towards us, hitting some, bending around the force field of another. She stopped the fire, but Rebel had already hit her in the throat. She stopped moving, and he knocked out her legs, and then hit her again in the temple. She collapsed as Cal popped back and bounced a dozen bullets off someone's forcefield.

  “Parry, dead,” said Oubliette.

  Catchpenny was slammed hard by Avalanche on the other side of the fog bank and knocked past us. Cal moved and moved her. The Living Thing stepped towards me, then disappeared.

  “Living Thing, dead,” Oubliette said.

  “Divine Tiger, down,” Persephone said.

  “Incandescent, down,” Rebel said.

  Shamblingstroke hit me again, and I fell down again.

  Sunday battered the area with wind, knocking over Glitterful.

  “I'm okay,” I said. Electricity crackled around me as I got to my feet. Dodging isn't something I really do, but I looked around to avoid it. Instead of being aiming at me, ElectraPixie stood behind Shamblingstroke, feeding his strength
. She didn't see Rebel running up behind her. In the middle of the chaos, he slowed, measuring her for a weakness, then dropped her with a chokehold, neck-breaking sort of move.

  Shamblingstroke didn't notice. I tried to hit him as he came close, but didn't. He grabbed my arm and hurled me. I tumbled and spun and smashed into the top of the wall of the Citadel, then fell all the way back down.

  Bless the armor. I survived.

  It took me a while to regain consciousness. I hurt all over.

  While I was out, LEGION had made their move. Threnody, the telekinetic, flew them all near the main building. Thirteen flew nearby on her own, keeping Oubliette's killing power in check. Madame Black, Night Plague and a couple of others were picked up by Threnody. It was as if she had an invisible magic carpet to carry everyone about. While LEGION was picking up their choice prisoners, Avalanche and Shamblingstroke led the charge against the Guardian Angels. Someone with a mental attack knocked out Persephone. After Oubliette, she was the best defense against brutishly strong supras.

  The first thing I heard when I came around was Oubliette yelling, “Fucking hit him! Persephone is down!”

  I pulled myself up from the ground. Oubliette and Ravelin were standing behind Ravelin's force field. Shamblingstroke and Avalanche were on the other side. She put up the wall; they broke it. They managed a step or two, and she snapped up another one. Persephone was at Ravelin's feet.

  Catchpenny and Rebel were fighting back to back in a crowd. Cal was engaged in a fight with Simmilax. Simmilax must have spent a moment liberating clothes from somewhere. He had on a black coat and pants. He'd also duplicated Cal's power and was teleporting about, in through Ravelin's force field and trying to attack her. Far from any of us, prisoners were fighting each other. The mass of orange wasn't acting as one. More than just being independent, there was bad blood between some of them that was getting worked out now.

  I was running as soon as I was up. Ironsides gained speed rapidly as I moved. Simmilax teleported in front of me then got out of the way. My blades were still out and I held them wide as I ran. She-Noid and Ice Queen dodged out of the way, but I smashed and slashed into Rager, The Wolf and Demolition Condition. That gave Catchpenny the opening to get her blades into Pipeline. I punched my blades into Demolition Condition. They came out white-hot. The Wolf got up, and I shoved my white-hot blades at her. I didn't hit, but she backed off, trying to figure out how to solve Ironsides and Catchpenny. Rager was getting up. Catchpenny went to hit him, but Simmilax teleported over and moved Rager back. Rebel landed his finishing move on Bricked.