by N. K. Quinn
“Baz and his goons may have been the ones that killed all the NCs and corralled the children, but those would have been our orders too,” he said as he nudged the body with the toe of his boot. Baz’s hand flopped open and the device he’d been holding rolled until it stopped at Izzy’s foot. She barely noticed it, she was still staring at Baz’s corpse.
“Izzy!” Damian called as he pulled the Steel Falcon to his feet. Izzy picked up the device and went to Damian. She studied the Steel Falcon. Up close she was surprised at how small he was. At nearly a foot shorter than her and with a lean build he looked more like a kid playing dress up than a violent vigilante.
“What’s going on?” the Steel Falcon said looking around as if seeing his surroundings for the first time. Then he held up his arms and examined the gauntlets, jumping as one of the batons flashed out. The baton on the other gauntlet was bent and warped with flecks of dried blood over its surface.
“What am I wearing?” he asked.
He looked up at Izzy and she could see that his neon blue eyes, partially hidden behind the visor were flickering like a dying light bulb. Both his hands came up to the visor, and he started to pull it free of his face. Izzy saw a handsome angular face start to emerge from beneath the thick black composite material. Everyone leant forward to see the vigilante’s face, but then he shuddered and stopped. For a moment he appeared to struggle, fighting to move against an invisible restraint. Then all at once he stopped and placed his visor back, making sure that it had no chance of coming free. When he looked up again the light was back in his eyes. They blazed with the same azure intensity that Izzy had seen before.
“Awww man,” the Steel Falcon said holding up his the broken baton. “I’m in so much trouble.“
He took a tentative step forward but froze as Izzy’s father brought his rifle up abruptly.
“It… it was me that night at the Sentech lab,” the Steel Falcon said, raising his hands and slumping back against a wall trying to catch his breath. “I wasn’t in control, I wasn’t myself,”
“You’re a menace,” Izzy’s father croaked.
“I want to make a difference. I’ve taken out more Scorps in the last couple of days than the Enforcers’ve taken off the street all year,” the vigilante replied. “Sentech should sing my name from the rooftops. I’m doing your job for you!”
Izzy’s father drew back his upper lip into a snarl and his nostrils flared. Then he smiled and took a step back.
“I’m not getting any closer,” he said. “Why bother when I can put you down from here.”
“The Scorps used to stand for something you know,” Doc said, he limped toward the two of them, careful not to venture in between them. “They weren’t always thugs and gangsters.”
“They tear the lives of innocent people apart,” the Steel Falcon said, glaring at Doc from behind his visor. “Look at what your boy Baz did. Look at what he was going to do to those children.”
“Nothing the Corporation hasn't done in the past, or would hesitate to do again,” Doc snapped back.
The Steel Falcon picked up a discarded Aug canister from the floor and crushed it like a napkin into the palm of his glove.
“What about this filth they peddle? They’re turning vulnerable people into animals,” the Steel Falcon said nodding in Damian’s direction, “There’s nothing you can say that will stop me taking them down.”
Doc’s cloak came up in a whirl and his twin guns appeared, one trained on the Steel Falcon and the other pointing between Izzy’s father’s eyes.
“You’re as much of a monster as he is,” Doc said to him evenly, to the Enforcer Commander.
“Let’s just talk this out, guys,” Damian said as he ventured towards them.
“Shut up!” they all cried in unison.
The Steel Falcon cocked his head to one side and raised a hand.
“What’s that noise?” he said.
He scanned the room and his gaze stopped on Izzy. Ignoring the guns pointed at him he strode over to her and took her hand. He eased her fingers open and there was Baz’s device, but now a soft red light was blinking on and off.
“Can’t you all hear that?” the Steel Falcon asked, grimacing.
A second later they all heard the shrill tone as it crescendoed from the device, impossibly loud considering its size. Then it fell silent leaving all their ears ringing. A deep boom resonated from somewhere deep in the bowels of the building and a small tremor rocked the structure. A shower of dust and debris fell on them and then the building gave a groan as another series of detonations sounded in quick succession. Doc snatched the cylindrical device from Izzy’s hand and threw it away in disgust.
“Baz rigged the place to blow, we need to get the kids out!” he shouted. Izzy’s father shouted a warning and pointed up at a gaping crack that zigzagged above them.
“Izzy!” her father screamed as a chunk of masonry was shaken free and plummeted towards her. He tried to get to her, but he just wasn’t as fast as he once was. They locked eyes, and he knew he wouldn’t get to her in time. Izzy looked up a second before the section of ceiling hit and was knocked sideways as Damian barrelled into her, taking the brunt of the blow on his back. Izzy, her father and Doc were at his side immediate, straining to shift the heavy load that was crushing him, but they struggled to get enough leverage to shift it.
“Give me some space,” the Steel Falcon said. “I think I’ve got enough left in the tank for this.”
He stooped and concentrated for a moment. Then the muscles in his arms rippled and expanded. With a grunt that turned into a roar he hefted the load free of Damian’s back and threw it aside. Damian lay still and his hair was matted with blood and dust. The building rocked again and the crack on the ceiling branched out, running down the walls and across the floor, creating a chasm down through the foundations.
“Damian!” Izzy shouted and shook him. “We need to go. Get up.”
She felt a hand wrap around her arm and try to pull her away.
“Izzy, we can’t stay here. We’ll all die!” her father said.
Izzy tried to pull away from him, but with a yank he pulled her off Damian. She was about to kick and scream to claw her way back to his side when she saw her father slip an arm underneath Damian and heft him onto his shoulders.
“N… now go!” he shouted, and they moved up the stairs to the auditorium’s exit. Ahead of them Doc had gathered the children, and they were running en masse while he tried to help any stragglers. Izzy’s father was leaving a trail of blood in his wake and he stumbled on the stairs, almost losing his grip on Damian. Doc helped him to his feet and then pulled another silver pen device out. He slammed the needle into the Enforcer Commander’s arm and he felt the instant rush of adrenaline numb his aching body while the anticoagulants went to work on his injuries.
“Don’t make me regret that,” Doc said and then went to catch up with the children.
They made it out of the auditorium unscathed and found that many of the ex-Scorps that the Steel Falcon had neutralised were long since gone. Damian was stirring and managed to slide off the Enforcer Commander’s broad shoulders. He and Izzy’s father locked eyes for a moment and something unspoken passed between them. Izzy’s father hesitated by the bodies of his fallen team, but Izzy pulled him away. The exit was only a few feet away and getting closer with each passing instant when the supporting wall started to crumble. An avalanche of bricks and mortar began to fall and they watched in horror as the glass doors smashed and the thick metal frame started to buckle and warp, closing their only way out. Izzy saw a red and black blur zip past her and then the Steel Falcon was standing in the doorway using his back to prop up it up.
“This….this isn’t as easy as it looks,” he said as the sheer weight of the rubble drove him to one knee. “Hurry!”
Doc ushered the children through the gap. There was only enough room for them to move in single file and it felt painfully slow. The building was more unstable now, and it felt a
s if the very ground they stood on was swaying like the sea. Then other side of the doorway started to collapse, Damian moved to try to wedge it open, as the Steel Falcon had done on the other side, but Izzy’s father shoved him out of the way and took his place in the breech.
“Dad!” Izzy shouted.
“I'm… fine,” her father grunted, and he dug his heels in and strained against the weight.
The children finished filing through and then Doc followed them. Damian was next, but Izzy hesitated, looking at both her father and the vigilante.
“Go, Izzy,” her father wheezed. “I’m right behind you.”
The Steel Falcon flashed her a smile and then she went through to the other side.
The Enforcer Commander and the Steel Falcon looked at each other.
“You know, the moment one of us lets go this whole thing is coming down,” Izzy’s father said.
The Steel Falcon managed a nod and then coughed.
“I really am sorry about the eye,” he said. “I’m sorry about everything.”
Then with a jerk he shot forward and the section he’d been supporting fell inwards. The load on Izzy's father's back increased exponentially and he felt it start to crush him. Then he felt the Steel Falcon ripping him out from where he was wedged and hurling him through the breech and out into the night. He landed on the cold wet pavement and turned around just in time to see the vigilante disappear from view as the building gave up and fell in on itself, burying him under tonnes of rubble.
* * *
The children remained huddled around Doc while Damian and Izzy checked over her father. He stood and brushed the debris from his uniform and beard. They all looked at the wrecked building but there was no sign of movement from within.
“I told you he was a hero,” Damian said.
“He was a fool,” Izzy’s father spat, “A stupid kid playing dress up who got himself killed.”
In the distance the sound of Enforcer sirens carried to them in the still night.
“We’re not sticking around until Sentech get here,” Doc said. He looked at the Enforcer Commander. “I wouldn’t recommend that you try to stop us.”
Izzy looked to her father and saw that his rifle was unslung but was not raised in their direction. She felt her eyes start to burn and red hot tears ran freely down her face.
“Go,” he said turning to her, his voice hitching as he struggled to get the words out. “Go and be happy. I... I can't leave the Corporation, I have nothing else, but you have a chance at real freedom. Go and live your life, I’ll always be here if you need me.”
He turned to Damian, a terse look crossing his already sombre face. He fixed him with a glare and patted the stock of his rifle in a poorly veiled threat. The boy walked up to him undeterred and put out his hand.
“I’ll keep her safe,” he said. “Her happiness is my happiness and I will treasure her every day.”
“Your actions say more than your words ever could,” her father growled back. “But if you hurt her, we’ll see each other again.”
He turned to leave but stopped when he felt his daughter’s arms wrap around him and squeeze. The old Enforcer Commander closed his eyes and clasped Izzy’s hand, trying to etch this moment, their last moment together onto his soul.
“I’ll delay them, but Sentech tracking is top notch,” he said, unlatching her hand from his. “Stick to the rooftops if you can, that way you’ll avoid the patrols but listen out for drones.”
Izzy let him go, watching until he disappeared from view. Then Damian was leading her away, following Doc and the children out into the night. The feel of Damian’s hand in hers grounded her, stopping her from falling apart and after a time she found her voice again.
“Where are we going now?”
“I told you, Haven isn’t just one place, it’s a network,” Doc said. “We’re going to find another Haven. We’re going to find you all a new home."
On the rooftop of the neighbouring building the Steel Falcon watched them go. His head was pounding, and he was barely managing to stay conscious and in control. A spearing jolt of agony lanced behind his left eye and fell to his hands and knees gasping. This was the longest he’d ever remained in charge and he could feel his other self starting to stir within him. The Steel Falcon ripped off his visor and saw his reflection in the murky rooftop puddle. His left eye was flickering and had almost lost its neon blue colour, fading to a hazel hue.
“No, I need a bit more time. Just enough to get home,” he whispered to his reflection.
Taking a deep breath he focused on soothing his other half back to sleep. He knew that one day soon he would have to reveal himself. There was no way he’d go back into the dark when that day came. Not willingly anyway. If he had to, he would fight for his survival. He felt the prickle at the base of his skull as he took back complete control and took a moment to stand and stretch his arms and legs. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window of the adjacent building and stared hard at it.
“I can’t do this without you you know,” he said.
When no answer was forthcoming he moved to the edge of the roof and allowed his senses to stretch out away from him and into the city beyond. It was a living breathing creature calling out to him. Sounds of loss and sorrow reached him but there were also sparks of joy too, a testament to the indomitable human spirit.
“The Steel Falcon is here to protect you… all of you,” he whispered letting out a long breath. Then he vaulted off the roof and took off at a sprint, homeward bound.
Continue the Journey with Team Falcon
I hope you have enjoyed this Novella set in the Steel Falcon Universe. This story takes place during the first book in this series. The Steel Falcon Book 1: Awakening which will be released on Kindle later this year. For a sneak peak at what’s in store click the link below for a sample.
https://www.subscribepage.com/awakening
