Auxiliary Hero Corps: Collection of books one, two, and three in the Auxiliary Hero Corps series. (Superheroes Of The Hero Union Corps)

by Charles Eugene Anderson

  The Beat says to me and ignores him, “Have you made up your mind? I need to know now. Are you going to save your grandmother? She would listen to you. She would have the surgery if both you and Rudy presented it to her, but time is slipping away and I’m getting tired of all this mindless banter.” He then speaks to Hippie, “All in good time. All in good time, old friend.”

  I say, “I don’t know what to do.” I hope he believes me. I think I’m stalling for time, but I’m uncertain if that’s true, or even if he believes me now.

  The Hippie isn’t finished. He reaches into his pocket, and he pulls out the microchip with the long wire tail that I removed it from the Black Shirt earlier. It’s in his hand, and he shows it to everyone. “This is what happens to your friend.” It’s in his right hand, and with a quick motion he throws it at the Beat.

  Instead of catching it, the man recoils and it falls on the table in front of him. He has a look of horror on his face, but not Daphnia. She looks mad. The Beat still hasn’t recovered from having the chip thrown at him. “I don’t think you know what you have done. You’re an animal.”

  Hippie says, “I think he’s going back on the senior citizens’ mailing list. It’s a downer getting old, but getting old so fast without that little beauty for support must be a real drag.”

  Daphnia makes the decision to attack first. She has grown impatient with the Hippie, and she uses one of her abilities against him. She might have said she could fly, but it isn’t true. She can stay in the air for a long time, but it isn’t flying. It’s a really long jump. I almost didn’t see her jump out of her chair and land in front of Hippie. She would’ve tackled him, but the Hippie had expected it, and he moves back in time so she doesn’t hit him. The Hippie raises his hand and gives her one of his blasts. It strikes her in the chest. It isn’t a big one, but it’s a big enough blast to knock her backwards. She’s always been strong. She recovers and this time she’s able to fly forward and knock the old hero down. Rudy joins her, and I know the Hippie is in trouble against the two of them.

  I make a choice, I won’t attack my brother, and I decide to go after the Beat. I’m fast enough to get to the Beat before he can react to me. I jump on top of the table, and land a hard punch against his cheek.

  He gets a weak punch back at me, but I deflect it and know I need to press my attack before he can react to me. I jump down of off the table, and we turn to face is each other. I know how to get off quick punches, and I place a right and a left jab at him. He has to back up again to defend himself.

  Luckily for me my brother hasn’t attacked me. I can’t see where he is or what he’s doing. I hope he doesn’t attack me.

  I don’t have time to think about him any longer, and I need to keep my attack up on the Beat.

  I’m distracted by my own thoughts and it gives the Beat a chance to hit me. This time he punches me much harder. He strikes me in the jaw. I can feel the pain as he strikes the side of my face. I know he’s knocked out a tooth. It’s a back molar.

  I keep after him. I won’t quit until I’ve finished. I give him punch after punch, and kick after kick. I’m hitting him so many times, I don’t even know what is happening around me. I don’t what is happening to Rudy, Daphnia, or Spike. My focus is on the Beat. I won’t give him a chance to recite one of his deadly poems. I won’t quit. I won’t stop hurting him. He’s at a disadvantage. He’s losing this fight, but I won’t stop. His body is my punching bag. I’m beating him good, but he won’t go down. He won’t quit, but he’s done.

  “He’s finished, Tiger,” says the voice of Smokey. I’m not expecting him here, but there he is standing behind me. I turn to look at him. He looks tired and the large man is breathing hard. He’s back in his man form, but I can tell he has just transformed himself back from being a bear. “He’s done. It’s over. The Beat is on the ground, and he isn’t going to stand anytime soon. Right now we are waiting for the paramedics and police. He’s going to jail, but first he’s going to the hospital. You sure did a number on him.”

  I ask, “Where’s Spike?” I look around to see where my dog Spike is. He’s at my feet. “It’s okay, boy,” I say. “Everything is okay. I’m are right here, boy.”

  Smokey says to Hippie, “I thought maybe you were on your way out of the country again.” Smokey is trying to make a joke but nobody understands him.

  I look around to see where he’s sitting. When I see him, my I find him sitting at the table. He looks okay, tired but okay.

  The Old Hippie says to Smokey, “Be quiet.” He thinks he’s made a joke, but the rest of us don’t understand his sense of humor.

  Smokey looks satisfied with himself. He looks around to see some of his handy work. He finally says, “I gave your brother a chance. I wasn’t going to fight him, but he wouldn’t back down. He attacked me. What could I do?”

  “I’m sorry. There’s nothing you could do. I wish I could’ve stopped him, but sometimes there’s nothing I could do about him either,” I say. Spike has jumped on my leg, and I reach down and give him the attention he’s seeking. “I wanted to save Rudy, but instead I’ve made a mess of everything and I took my frustrations out on the Beat.

  Spike is okay. I’m expecting him to stay next to me, but he doesn’t. Instead he walks over, and lays at Hippie’s feet.

  “I’m afraid it’s too late for your brother. I’m sorry to say this, but he’s a traitor. He made up his mind a while ago. He might’ve decided which side he wanted to be on before he stayed in the Auxiliary Corps. He needed a way out. The Hippie told me about the microchip, but that wasn’t it. Sometimes villains don’t know they’re villains. They have to get the opportunity to be a villain first.” Smokey turns away from me, and looks over at Hippie, and a look of concern comes over his face. “That’s what Daphnia and the Beat gave your brother. They gave him the opportunity he was looking for. There’s nothing me, you, or even the whole Auxiliary Hero Corps could’ve said to him to change his mind.”

  “There’s always something we could do,” I say, “I know I’ll always blame myself for what my brother did.”

  “There’s nothing you could do. You’re not perfect. But being around you doesn’t make people want to become agents of evil.” He moves away from me and towards Hippie. The man-bear keeps talking and he says to Hippie, “Are you okay, Hippie?”

  “Something is wrong with Hippie,” I say getting up and moving to him as fast as I can.

  The Hippie is slumping forward. Smokey gets to him first, but it’s too late, the old hero has fallen off the chair and onto the ground.

  “Call an ambulance,” I say.

  Smokey says, “They’re on their way. The Old Hippie is in bad shape. This isn’t good.” Spike has moved out of the way, but my dog keeps looking at the fallen hero, and I know he’s just as concerned about the Hippie as Smokey and me.

  I look around and Daphnia and Rudy must have left when the fight wasn’t going their way. Daphnia was smart, and she must’ve had an escape route planned just in case things went bad. I wished she hadn’t taken my brother with her. But I would have to worry about the two of them later. Right now, I wanted to make sure I got Hippie to the hospital.

  Book Three Chapter Four

  -From the Journal of Rahi ‘The Destroyer’ Gupta, Ganges River, India

  Just after I finished university, my father died. On the day of the cremation, my eldest friend sat me down when I lived in Windsor. He told me it was my responsibility to take my father’s ashes back to India and perform a ritual burial. It’s the submerging of the ashes in the Ganges, under the guidance of a Hindu priest.

  According to our beliefs, the Ganges bridges the gap between us and the gods. The idea of taking part in such an important ritual in India was lonesome and scary. I had grown up in Britain, attended the local schools, and I was never taught Hindi or Punjabi.

  I heard stories of adventure, in which the traveler reaches a destination and undergoes a revelation.

  It was there in Indi
a on the river with my father’s ashes in one hand. In the other hand I held on to his uniform which he wore his whole life. He had been a member of the Garhwali Brotherhood of Heroes. While I was sitting there I looked around and saw none of his brothers there because they all had died so long ago. I decided I wouldn’t become a hero but I would become something else instead, and I would become something new and better. If I needed to become like the demons of I would. I decided at the river to take an old name. I have made it my point to be a demon. I have chosen a different path than my father, and I have decided to battle heroes.

  I know there’s one hero out there who is my equal. When he fights me, we will fight to the death. Yet, I could see him while I was standing in the sacred water. My nemesis doesn’t cross the line of morality he’s set for himself. The sacred river has made him clear. He protects a bear and a royal princess. I also see he still has to fight and battle his own brother before he faces me. But I will fight him and win. His own family will have to spread his ashes when I’m finished with him. Maybe they will bring his ashes here to reunite them with the gods.

  I still need to grow my army. My grandfather would’ve refused my technology, my chip, and the surgery, but there are others who won’t. Many will benefit from my skills and my technology. I have earned skills as a healer. I have power, great wealth, and I know how to use them all. I will never need to reunite with the gods after death because I know I will become one of them instead.

  The sounds of beeps and pings fills the Hippie’s hospital room with noise. Every sound in the room has a meaning. There’s nothing hidden in those sounds. They all have an importance. All the wires hooked up to Hippie, make him look small and fragile in his bed. The doctors told us to wait and see.

  Smokey is standing next to Hippie’s bed. He takes up most of the space. Also in there, (no comma) are the Lady Jane and Smitty. I’m also there. I think the remote control is on Hippie’s bed, but I’m not close to it.

  A nurse comes in. She looks annoyed with us, and I think she’s waiting for the chance to kick us out.

  My brother and Daphnia fled when Smokey attacked. The bear and The Hippie were too much for them, and neither stood a chance. The Auxiliary Hero Corps says they fled the city. Smitty and the higher-ups keep telling me they will be found, but I’m not so certain.

  The Corps hadn’t found the Beat or the Black Shirt before. So why should I believe they would be able to find Rudy and Daphnia?

  Smokey is talking to Hippie even though the man is unconscious. There’s nothing for us to do, but we still wait. When Smokey gets tired of talking to Hippie, he turns to me, “None of this should’ve happened. He was Hippie’s nemesis. He wasn’t yours.”

  A silence falls over the room, and all I can hear are the machines hooked up to Hippie, and they check him. The machine measuring his heart is the loudest, and it’s the one in to which my ears seem most in tune.

  “Smokey, give the kid a break,” says the Lady Jane trying to defend me. “We can’t go back and fix the past.”

  Smokey gives her a look and says, “The code protects us. That’s why we have it. The Beat was Hippie’s foe. Valentine is still a kid, a recruit, and he needed to follow orders.”

  Smitty speaks up and says to Smokey, “Valentine is clear of any wrong doing. The Corps will clear him and that will be the end of it as far as we’re concerned.”

  Smokey doesn’t care what Smitty says, and I can see it in his eyes. He’s unhappy with me. He doesn’t care what anyone else has to say. “If I told Valentine once, I told him a thousand times about Hippie’s nemesis.”

  “Give him a break. It was his brother and a friend. You can’t expect him to fight his brother could can you?” asks Jane hoping to find some sympathy.

  She hadn’t known Smokey as long as I had, and I knew he wouldn’t listen to her or anybody else and logic would escape the old bear.

  “So he expects me to fight them and defend Hippie. I knew them too. But what Valentine did, there’s no excuse.”

  Smitty says, “Daphnia and Rudy killed Hippie. Remember it wasn’t Valentine who killed him. I know you’re angry but you’re mad at the wrong person.”

  “People, could we take this to the hallway?” asks the nurse, but she isn’t asking, she is demanding. “I think it’s time for everyone to leave.” With that, she points to the door.

  We all start to leave the hospital room except Smokey who wants to say something to her, but he keeps his mouth shut. I think he wants her to say something to him again before he’ll leave his friend. I don’t think he’s going to leave when it happens. The machine monitoring the Hippie makes a flat sound, and before any of us turn and look at it an alarm goes off in the room.

  The nurse is the first to say something, “Get out now. There are too many of you in here. I need this space cleared.”

  Even Smokey couldn’t argue with her now. We leave the room, and wait in the hallway. A team of nurses dressed in their blue scrubs go into the hospital room. While we wait outside, doctors and nurses go back and forth, and we don’t know if Hippie is still alive. We stay in the hall for forty-five minutes before one of the doctors comes out and tells us The Old Hippie has died.

  It’s a young doctor who tells us the news. I listen to his words. He knows why the Hippie has died, but he won’t tell us the reason because we aren’t Hippie’s family.

  Smitty asks, “Do I know you, Dr. Gupta? You seem familiar to me.”

  Another doctor joins the young doctor and says, “You have seen Dr. Gupta’s work on TV. He’s revolutionizing integrating microchip surgery into the patient’s brain. It’s opening up a whole new world of treatments and cures. We are just waiting for approval, and I think we can start testing in mice in the next few years.”

  Smitty says, “Maybe that’s it.”

  One of the nurses comes out of the room and waits with us. There’s nothing we can do, and everyone starts to leave. The nurse wouldn’t let us go in to see our friend. The Lady Jane leaves first, and she’s soon followed by Smitty. Finally, Smokey and I are the only ones left standing there. He’s turned away from me and he won’t acknowledge that I’m even there. I turn and walk towards the elevators. It’s a long walk from where I had been standing. It seems to take a long time for me to reach the elevator so I can start to leave the hospital and return to my apartment by myself.

  Catching the elevator is Dr. Gupta. He was there before I got there to push the down button on the wall, and he asks “Going down?”

  “Thanks,” I said, still trying to process everything that had happened tonight. I want to go home but the elevator seems to be taking forever.

  “I am glad you are here. I was hoping to speak to you,” says Dr. Gupta with a British accent. “You’re Valentine Vega aren’t you?”

  I look at him, and I wait for him to say something else, but it’s Smokey who interrupts us.

  Smokey says to me, “I’m sorry, friend. I didn’t mean anything I said back there.” He puts out his hand for me to shake it. “I’m sorry.” It takes me a moment, but I do take it and shake his hand. That’s the way he is. He is easy to place blame and then ask for forgiveness. Smokey has always been this way, and I am learning to get used to him.

  I look back over at Dr. Gupta. He’s** glances away as soon as I look at him. I think I see something in his eyes, but it isn’t what I’m expecting. It’s hatred. It’s directed towards me.

  The elevator rings to signal its approach, and when he hears it, Smokey says, “Let’s go. This has been another bad night in a long line of bad nights.”

  Dr. Gupta excuses himself from Smokey and me, and says he has left his keys at the nurses’ station, and he needs to go back and get them.

  “He seems like an agreeable fellow,” says Smokey as the doctor leaves us alone at the elevator.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “If you ask me, there’s something not right about him.”

  Book Three Chapter Five

  “Scenery is always better w
ith a pretty girl standing in the background. Too bad it’s so cold out here.”

  -The Old Hippie overheard at Stanley Park.

  I had asked for a transfer, but I don’t know if it will get approved. I still have to go out on watch with Smokey and the Lady Jane every night, and I haven’t forgotten what Smokey said to me at the hospital.

  I moved out of my apartment and back into my grandmother’s house. I keep telling myself it’s to protect her. My grandmother is happy to have me back home, but I know I might be putting her or my sister’s lives in danger. Sometimes it better to be at home than out in the world on my own.

  Spike, he’s happy. He likes to walk in the neighborhood. The dog likes the food my grandmother slips him underneath the table when she thinks I’m not looking. He likes the bed in my old bedroom because it’s much bigger than the one in my apartment. In Spike‘s mind, everything is much better.

  Smokey thinks everything is okay between us now. I still meet him at the Templeton every night, I laugh at his jokes, and I watch him eat his food before we start our patrol. But I’m going through the motions, and I don’t want to be in the Corps any more.

  At my grandmother’s house, her grandchildren are expected to stay with her until they are married. She’s traditional. A man is expected to work. So, I go to my job every night hoping it keeps her happy. Before I leave tonight, I go downstairs and the TV is on. My grandmother is sleeping in her chair in front of the television. She likes to watch the novellas on the Spanish channel, but I know she’s been asleep for a while because now there’s soccer on instead. My presence must have woke her because I see her eyes open and she smiles up at me. “Come sit at my feet, I want to talk to you, but I do not want to make you late for your job.”