We Could Be Heroes

by Harmon Cooper

  The tiger girl was up on her feet again in a matter of seconds, moving to her next target. Fast, fierce, a predator on all fours as she took down another man, she snapped his neck, her tail whipping back and forth as she leapt for a series of crates. From there she jumped to the rooftop, which she used as a springboard to take three men down, going to town with her razor-sharp nails.

  “Watch out!” Sam cried to Ozella, who couldn’t seem to get her bearings. She was crouching down, her hands on her head as she looked around frantically.

  The center of the battle was now toward the front entrance of the warehouse. The men Helena turned going against their counterparts, all-out war as energy weapons fired and people fought for their lives.

  It was then that Sam saw the mohawked man with red eyes and a black streak across his face.

  Donovan, he thought, recalling that the exemplar had a kinetic ability, which explained how Zoe had been blown off the rooftop.

  But how did he know? Sam thought as he aimed his weapon at the man, figuring it was worth a try.

  His shots stopped directly in front of Donovan, crackling against an invisible shield.

  The mohawked mobster turned in Sam and Ozella’s direction, Ozella pointing at him and yelling for Dinah to attack, only to be blown back by a burst of energy that sent Ozella through a wall, Dinah following her.

  “Ozella!” Sam shouted, his heart torn between going to help his teammate and trying to take Donovan down.

  He chose the latter in that instant, knowing that Dinah would help, that he only had another one or two shots before Donovan reached him.

  And that was when a mist descended over the entire fight from seemingly out of nowhere.

  Sam turned just in time to avoid a fiery blast…

  No, a comet?

  Whatever it was it had a fiery human form. It flew over his head, nearly singeing the crown of his uniform.

  As the mist thickened, Sam heard the sound of hollowed out wood cracking against people’s skulls, and turned just in time to see a man in an exemplar uniform engaging Helena, another man that looked exactly like him barreling out of the mist and also engaging Helena.

  She was fast, but when the third clone came, also with his batons, Sam knew that all was lost.

  Helena tried to flip out of the way, but as she jumped backward, one of the clones swung wide, striking her and tossing her body to the side.

  Rage filled Sam’s heart as he ran toward the melee, firing his wrist guard, disregarding a portal that had appeared to his left, electrical energy crackling all around it.

  Sam would never make it to the three men.

  The last thing he remembered was a calm voice at the back of his skull, telling him to lie down and place his hands on his head.

  ***

  A blast of kinetic energy sent Zoe backwards, but she managed to land on her feet, as all felines do, just as a dark mist took shape over the fight.

  She looked up to see a woman made of fire moving overhead, her eyes blazing as she picked out targets, flinging fireballs at them.

  Sam! Zoe thought, racing to the other side of the fight, moving through the mist and using her sense of hearing and heightened sight to avoid mobsters and…

  A man with a baton?

  There were dozens of the same exact man, clones, which Zoe knew was likely a replicator, but she didn’t know why he was here, nor what side he was on, and she needed to get to Sam.

  A fireball landed just behind her, setting a mobster on fire, the man screaming bloody murder as his flesh ignited.

  More screams, more grunts, more blood, more broken bones, the fight continued within the mist, a portal opening up, and Zoe heading around it to find Sam.

  Slinking into the shadows, she noticed a voice at the back of her skull as she saw Sam lying on to the ground, Helena somewhere off to the right, crumpled in a heap.

  The voice stayed but Zoe ignored it, completely focused on getting to her teammate.

  A few of the men with batons now stood guard around Sam, too many for Zoe to take on at once.

  She noticed a glint in a blown-out hole in the wall behind them and recognized the bluish figure immediately: Dinah. As quietly as she could, Zoe slipped around the back of the building, where she found an open door to let herself in.

  Moving into the darkened building, she followed the bit of blue light until she came across Dinah, who was crouched over Ozella.

  “We have to go,” Zoe whispered.

  “What about... the others?” Ozella asked

  “I don’t know what to do about them right now,” said Zoe. “I need to think; I need to see how this plays out.”

  She looked out through the hole in the wall to see that the mist had cleared, and that there was a strongman standing there, dozens of blond-haired clones with batons, and a flying female exemplar with plumes of fire licking off her body. There was another woman as well with a featureless mask covering her face.

  “It looks like the real exemplars came,” she finally said, recognizing the leader of the group.

  At least one of them, the strongman, was named Mister Fist, his power being both strength and the ability to turn himself into an incredibly thick mist.

  She didn’t know who the others were, but she knew it would only take her a little bit of time to figure it out.

  Cursing herself for having to do so, Zoe lifted Ozella over her shoulder, nodding for Dinah to follow. She made it out the back door, where she placed Ozella on the ground, allowing for Dinah to heal her again.

  Taking a running leap, Zoe jumped to the rooftop, and pulled herself up, crawling over the other side, just in time to see Centralian law enforcement appearing in an officially sanctioned portal.

  The tiger girl crouched on the roof for a moment, thinking of how this would play out next. If Helena and Sam were taken into custody, and the two would probably be charged with impersonating an exemplar.

  But that seemed highly unlikely.

  If the police took them, Helena would have to seriously get some lawyers going. This was definitely within Helena’s means, but she was going on her third strike here, which could complicate her case.

  All Zoe could do now was watch.

  In the end, it was Mister Fist and his team who took down Sam and Helena, the four separating them from the toppled bodies of mobsters and a few henchwomen, the guy named Donovan long gone.

  Exemplar teams generally despised people impersonating them, mostly because it led to more death and confusion. Mister Fist taking Sam and Helena was something Zoe hadn’t expected, and as she remained crouched on the rooftop, she had no idea of how this would play out.

  But there was nothing she could do about that now, aside from waiting to see what would happen next.

  At least she knew that they weren’t going directly to jail, and that Mister Fist wouldn’t kill them or anything either.

  Zoe figured it was now or never if she hoped to leave before the police began sweeping the area.This also gave her the perfect opportunity to take care of something she had been meaning to take care of.

  Chapter Forty-Four: Healing Great

  (Dammit, Zoe, don’t do it!)

  Zoe Goa Ramone and Ozella Rose appeared at Helena’s mansion, Zoe immediately moving to her room as Ozella tried to orient herself.

  “Relax,” Zoe told Ozella, once she returned from her bedroom. “This shouldn’t hurt.”

  She approached the statkeeper with a loaded syringe.

  “What are you doing?” Ozella asked, her eyes going wide. “What happened to my brain back at the warehouse?”

  “Your brain?” Zoe asked, pausing in front of Ozella.

  “A woman’s voice telling me to be calm,” Ozella said.

  Rather than respond, Zoe took her arm and quickly stuck Ozella with the needle, pressing the plunger down.

  “What are you doing!?”

  “Shhh… never mind that for now. Ozella, we need to pay a visit to someone who may be able to help us,�
�� Zoe said, slowly leaning Ozella against the couch.

  Zoe wasn’t a cruel woman, and she generally wasn’t the type to betray a friend, which made it even harder for her to come to grips with what she’d just done.

  But this was all about the endgame for Zoe, and with Helena and Sam temporarily gone (and not responding to the mental messages she’d already tried sending them when she was in her bedroom), she knew that she didn’t have a very big window of opportunity to act.

  “What… what’s happening to me?”

  The mind control serum didn’t take long to work, Ozella’s eyes glazing over just as Dinah appeared, a furious look on her face.

  “Tell Dinah you’re okay,” Zoe said through a tight smile.

  “I’m fine,” Ozella said, waving the weird ghost woman away. “Don’t worry…”

  Her eyes still locked on Zoe, the blue ghost slowly started to fade away.

  After a few more minutes, Zoe making sure the serum had plenty of time to truly take effect, she helped Ozella to her feet.

  “Thanks for doing this for me,” she said as she ordered a teleporter.

  “Doing what?” asked Ozella, completely dazed by this point.

  “I’ll tell you about it when we get there. Just remember, the person we are about to meet is not our enemy. He is our friend.”

  “Yeah,” Ozella said with a nod, “friend.”

  A male teleporter appeared, his beard twisted into dreadlocks. He grunted as Zoe approached, his dark eyes falling onto Ozella’s chest, which was (obviously) accented by her exemplar uniform.

  “She okay?” the male teleporter asked.

  “She’s drunk, and we’re in a hurry, any other questions?” Zoe shot back.

  The man shrugged as a ripple of energy formed around them, the three instantly appearing in Dr. Hamza’s backyard, in front of the site of their last encounter with the mad scientist.

  The bearded teleporter raised an eyebrow as he looked from Zoe to the hole in the wall.

  “It’s not what it looks like. Byeeeeee,” Zoe told the teleporter as she locked arms with Ozella.

  “Why here?” Ozella asked, her eyes going wide.

  “Friends, remember?”

  A smile took shape across Ozella’s face. “Yes, friends.”

  “Dr. Hamza,” Zoe called out as soon as she moved from the lab to Dr. Hamza’s bedroom. She found the strange man lying on the ground, wearing nothing but his white lab coat and a pair of underwear. He looked up at her, wincing as he pressed off the ground.

  “A little help,” he said with a grunt.

  “Ozella,” Zoe said, nodding to the man.

  Ozella helped Dr. Hamza move his legs so that he now sat with his feet in front of him, his back against the frame of his bed.

  “It’s been a day,” he said haggardly.

  “Tell me about it,” Zoe said, closing her eyes for a moment, feeling the guilt of leaving her friends bulldoze her. But what could she do? Until they contacted her, there was literally no way of knowing where Mister Fist had taken them. “I’m guessing you’re wondering why I brought her, right?”

  “I figured I’d let you tell me rather than ask…”

  “Ozella, call Dinah.”

  Ozella looked to Zoe, and from there, back to Dr. Hamza. She cleared her throat, the ghostly woman’s name escaping from her lips.

  “Dinah…” she said softly.

  The blue woman took shape, her eyes going wide with alarm when she saw Dr. Hamza sitting on the floor, Ozella crouched next to him.

  “Tell Dinah to heal him,” Zoe said, refusing to make eye contact with the ghostly woman.

  “Dinah, please heal our friend,” Ozella said in her sweet voice.

  Dinah refused, her arms coming across her chest.

  “Dinah, I’m asking for your help here, he’s a friend,” Ozella assured the woman, her eyes twitching.

  “Who is she speaking to?” Dr. Hamza whispered. “Who is Dinah?”

  “Don’t worry about that. Just shut your ass up and get healed.”

  “Dinah… please?” Ozella asked again.

  A bitter look on her face, Dinah kneeled in front of Dr. Hamza, scowling at him. He waved his hand in front of his body and it passed right through her as she lowered her lips to his legs.

  “Is it working?” Dr. Hamza asked, glancing nervously from Ozella to Zoe. “I can’t see anything.”

  “It’s going to take a minute…” Zoe said. “So shut up until then. You’ll know when it’s happening.”

  It took a moment, but soon, Dr. Hamza was overcome with joy. “The feeling is coming back! Fuck, I can feel it, I can… ” He looked down at his toes. “I’m wiggling my toes! Look! I can feel it…” Tears came to his eyes. “It’s beautiful, it’s working, thank you. Please, don’t stop. Do whatever it is you’re doing,” he pleaded with Ozella. “Heal me!”

  “Sure, anything for a friend,” Ozella said, her voice driving a knife through Zoe’s chest.

  This was wrong; Zoe knew it, but she was in too deep now, and if there was an option for her not to be a half-breed mutant, she’d take it.

  That or to be able to transform fully, so she could transform back to her normal self and get her life back.

  As Zoe thought this, she realized that she hadn’t really worked all of it out yet, nor did she know if she wanted her life back, especially after the adrenaline she’d experienced just thirty minutes ago, but it was too late now.

  This was the path she’d chosen and there was no turning back from here.

  “I think… I think I’m almost there,” Dr. Hamza said, his face scrunched up like he was orgasming.

  His hands coming behind him, Dr. Hamza tried to push himself to his feet.

  “Let her finish first,” Zoe said.

  “Damn, what a power!” Dr. Hamza said, still unable to contain his joy. “I see that you were on your way to beast morpher, but what about the others?”

  “Sam’s power is smell, Helena can hypnotize people,” Ozella said in a friendly voice.

  “No more talking, Ozella,” Zoe said. “Are we finished here?”

  “I think so,” Ozella said.

  “Good, I want you to try to stand now,” Zoe told Dr. Hamza.

  “Yes, yes, I’ll try,” he said as he pushed himself to his feet.

  He was wobbly at first, but it was only a moment until Dr. Hamza was able to walk normally again. His hand on the wall to keep his balance just to be sure, Dr. Hamza turned in the direction of his laboratory. “Please, follow me. There’s something I want to show you, something that could help you until I get a final cure together.”

  Zoe kept her distance from Dr. Hamza as he moved through the destroyed room of his home and into the lab, where he turned to another side room that mostly had chemicals in it. The ones closest to the door were toppled over, but there were still some plastic containers in the back.

  “Don’t worry, they’re not toxic anymore,” he said, bringing his fingers to his nose. “They just smell.”

  Dr. Hamza flicked a light on and turned to the back of the space, to a shelf with a few heavy boxes on top. “That’s the one,” he said, nodding to a plastic crate. “It will take me a little time to get a final cure together, like I said, but I made this topical cream for this one guy I worked with in the past, a reptilian beast morpher, not unlike my dear Mia. It should, at least, counteract the changes to your face,” he said as he reached for the box.

  He struggled for a moment, and naturally Zoe came to his aid, helping him lower the box to the ground.

  Dr. Hamza dropped his side of the box when it was about waist level, causing Zoe to fall forward with the weight, plenty of time for him to pull a syringe out of his pocket and jam it into her arm.

  “You…!” Zoe threw herself backward, smashing into a shelf as everything started to go black, slow motion setting in.

  His white lab coat flaring up, Dr. Hamza turned to the other room, returning with a wrist guard strapped to his arm, which
he quickly powered on.

  “I’m glad you helped me, really I am,” he said with a thin smile on his face.

  “Please…” Zoe said, trying to reach out to him and failing.

  “You’ve done a great service to science and researchers across Centralia. But I need a test subject, and what better test subject than you? Your friend Ozella too,” he said, bringing his wrist guard to the ready as Ozella entered the blown-out lab.

  “Is everything okay?” Ozella asked. Zoe tried to scream for her to run but failed miserably.

  “My luck really has changed!” Dr. Hamza said as he turned to the door of the small storage room. “In here, Ozella, we just need to get a chemical.”

  Zoe saw Ozella enter the storage room only to be blasted by Dr. Hamza’s wrist guard, a bolt of electricity spiraling up and down her arms.

  Zoe tried again to do something, to send all of her strength to her legs and arms so she could fight back, but she was completely paralyzed, everything dimming around her until all she saw was black.

  “Good, you are both neutralized. Now it’s time to put some collars on you,” Dr. Hamza said as he turned to his bedroom. “It’s going to be a fun night!”

  Chapter Forty-Five: Just a Few Questions

  (Meanwhile, back at Mister Fist’s HQ, Helena and Sam are about to get a rude awakening.)

  Sam Meeko blinked his eyes open to find himself…

  Not hanging from the wind turbine again, he initially thought, that was, until he realized that he was upside down with his arms bound at his sides, Helena next to him, their feet cuffed to a pair of loops on the ceiling.

  “Helena,” he whispered, ignoring the other people in the room. “Please, Helena, can you hear me?”

  “Sam?” Helena grimaced as she blinked her eyes open, her mask still on her face.

  “Good, you two are awake.” A woman with red hair approached them, fire dancing around her eyes. “You may call me Plume. This is Mister Fist, William Bottorf and MindLenz,” she said, introducing the others as if Sam could actually get a sense of what they looked like considering everything was upside down.