by Pen
“You’re probably right. The worst futures start with you putting that thing on and opening the door. We’ve got to take out the suit with the EMP if we’re going to survive.”
Something crashed into the Rhinomobile, rocking the vehicle. Larry fell partly into the Rhino suit, but was thrown out of it when the Rhinomobile rocked back in the other direction. He hit the door facing the armor.
David had felt the hit coming and stood next to the far wall before the full strength of it reached them. He slid back when it rocked the other direction, never losing control or knocking into a wall.
Larry pushed himself upright, and caught David’s eye. “Damn, that’d be useful. You’re practically a Jedi.”
David shrugged. “It’s harder than it looks. Besides, if I’m a Jedi, you’re probably a wookie.”
Larry opened his mouth to say more, but Null’s voice filled the air, muffled by the Rhinomobile’s armor, but echoing in the air around them.
“Rhino, is Mindstryke in there? I know he’s in town. I saw him in the paper last week, so I’m betting he’s hiding somewhere nearby. I know when there’s a telepath around.”
Larry reached out and touched a spot on the armor’s side. The open chest cavity closed up. “Alright,” Larry glanced toward the windshield and the smoke filled room. “I’ll stay in here and distract them. Even if I can’t use the suit, some of my stuff will work. I’ve got an exit in the workroom. You go and get help.”
David shook his head, ignoring memories of the last time. “I’m not going to do that again. It won’t work twice.”
Larry’s eyes narrowed. “He can’t do much more than what he did last time. I can handle it.”
David had been about argue, but only said, “Grab onto something.”
The Rhinomobile rocked a second time.
Larry grabbed on to a handhold on the wall as the vehicle rocked back. “What the hell?”
“Don’t know.” David had grabbed the nearest handhold just before it moved.
Null voice echoed around them, getting louder as he talked. “Do you want to live? Come out now. I spent years in prison waiting for this moment and I’m not going to wait any longer.”
David glanced toward the workroom. “Are you sure you can handle it? It sounds personal this time.”
“Goddamn.” Larry scowled. “Good point.” He pulled off his shirt and unbuckled his pants.
Underneath Larry wore a gray, one piece costume that reminded David most of a flight suit.
As Larry stepped into the workroom and grabbed a belt covered with pouches off the wall and put on a helmet.
“Do you wear that under your clothes all the time?” David had a hard time keeping the disbelief out of his voice.
Larry reached down and pulled a panel out of floor under the work table. “Superhero work is my only real job these days. I do a little work as a mechanic, but not much. It’s mostly so I don’t have to explain where my income comes from.”
“Good idea.” David concentrated on the area around the Rhinomobile, seeing a gray and black suit of powered armor standing next to the vehicle. Only a zero with a line through it marked the armor. It had to be Null. He stood next a couple small dents in the Rhinomobile’s armor. Impressive design, David thought.
“There’s a hatch directly beneath the panel. We’ll have to crawl out from there.” Larry looked toward the tinted windshield in front again. “Problem is, we’ll need a distraction with all those guys, but I’ve got one.”
Larry stood up and pulled what appeared to be a panel down. It came down slowly, stopping halfway. On the panel sat a scope that ended in the pillar that extended down from the ceiling, a trigger system, and handles on either side.
It reminded David of a periscope combined with a tank’s gunnery system.
“It’s mostly mechanical,” Larry said. “I’ll knock out a wall, and we go.”
Null’s voice vibrated through the walls again. “Last chance. After this, we’re going to bring out the big guns. I have to admit that your armor’s impressive, but it can’t last forever, and when we’ve got you, there’s no reason we can’t go after the real Heroes’ League. I’m sure your mentors would love to save you one last time before they're caught.”
Larry grabbed the handles and twisted the gunnery system to the right, turning it almost completely around.
“Be ready,” he said.
From outside, Null said, “No? Your funerals. We’re—”
“Bringing out the big guns,” Larry said, and fired.
The Rhinomobile rocked backwards, but differently than when Null attacked it. It was quick and didn’t feel like it might flip sideways. Even muffled by the Rhinomobile’s armor, the boom of the gun firing felt considerably louder.
At almost the same time, the shell hit, and metal tore, followed by cracking noises and the sound of more metal tearing. David concentrated.
Where the building’s left corner had been was now a hole surrounded by warped and twisted metal. The beam bent outward on both the top and the bottom and the ceiling sagged.
Even before Larry said, “Now,” David had already dropped into the space under the floor.
Larry fired off another shot even before David grabbed the hatch’s handle, but not before David flattened himself to the floor, avoiding the worst of the recoil.
David didn’t have to concentrate to know what had happened. Larry had taken out the other corner. He checked anyway, finding that what was left of the front wall remained standing only in the middle. The corrugated metal sagged above the spots where the beams had blown out, and bent, twisted piece of the roof lay on the floor.
To David’s surprise, Larry hadn’t blown out all the lights. At least one still glowed somewhere above them. There was no denying it had become darker, though.
Pulling the handle aside, David pulled open the hatch and lowered himself on to the concrete floor inside the garage.
Crawling out of the way as Larry landed next to him, David pointed toward the undamaged, main area of the building. Even without the damage, it would have been hard to go the other way. The Mercedes Larry had run over was in the way.
Even as the two of them crawled toward the end of the Rhinomobile, David kept on following the men in the hangar with his mind. Null had stepped away from the Rhinomobile to watch as Dregs who’d been knocked over by pieces of building or the blast pulled themselves up—except for the ones covered in hardened goo. They continued to lie on the floor.
As they reached the end of the Rhinomobile, treads and shadow hiding them from discovery, David pointed toward a door in the middle of the wood paneled wall ahead.
David stood up and walked toward the door, hoping that Larry would do the same. Running would only attract attention. Walking wouldn’t necessarily keep them safe, but nothing said, “I don’t belong here,” like running.
They crossed the ten foot distance and Larry shut the door behind them. David didn’t hear any noises, but he felt a twinge of danger. It wasn’t immediate, but it was close.
In his mind’s eye, he saw Null turn toward the shut door and then toward the rest of the Dregs, all of them being three. The one with the EMP had ditched his armor to apply first aid to another who hadn’t gotten up from the floor.
A piece of the roof must have made it through the armor.
His first impulse was to tell Larry. If they could get back there now . . .
They couldn’t get back. Null and the Dregs had started running. He let go of the vision. He had to tell Larry. The guy would probably take it better than expected. Even right now, he was more focused on the Dregs’ gear than on Null.
Wait, he could hear thoughts again? When had that happened?
* * *
Larry
Behind the door, the building was exactly what he would have expected—a warehouse.
He didn’t know what it used to store, but there were shelves, lots of old, rusted metal shelves along the wall. In the middle of the room, there
were big shelves, the kind that forklifts used to put pallets of equipment out of the way.
Cots, sleeping bags, a small black and white television, duffel bags, and a camping stove had been set up in in the aisle. Unlike the shelving, they weren’t covered with dust.
“Mindstryke, do you think it’s worth going through this stuff?”
David didn’t say anything. He had to be halfway into either the future or the now.
Then Larry saw a vision of the garage area, recognizing the feel of David’s connection. The shots had indirectly taken out two of the Dregs. The guy with the EMP had gotten out of his suit to give first aid to the other.
Null and the other two Dregs were running for the door.
Damn, he thought, turned around and grabbed onto the nearest big shelf, pulling it down into the aisle, smashing the smaller shelves on the far wall, and blocking the aisle.
Nice job, David thought at him. It felt distant and weaker than usual.
I thought Null shut down your TP, Larry thought back.
I’m stronger than I used to be. When I’m in his midrange, I can power through it. How’d you pull that down? Larry felt David’s surprise.
Larry was going to into how all but latest of Joe’s Rocket suits had relied on chemical reactions, artificial muscles that were activated by pressure, and that his “flight suit” used them as a backup for when the regular suit got smashed.
But, he didn’t have to. David replied Got it even as he began to get his thoughts in order.
I’ve got a plan, David told him. If you can stall Null by the door while I run to the back, I can buy you the time to get your suit from the garage.
Larry would have responded with a thought, but then the feeling of connection disappeared. They both looked back in time to see Null’s armored fist punch through the door.
“Go,” Larry said. “I’ll do it,” and he turned around, grabbing a flash grenade off of his belt.
Null pulled his fist out of the door. Then Larry heard the sound of footsteps and the door broke in two. Null burst through it—which would have been more impressive if his helmet hadn’t hit the top bar of the shelves Larry had thrown over.
“Hey Null,” Larry shouted, “I got a question for you.”
Null didn’t appear to be all there. It took him a moment to stare in Larry’s direction. “What?”
“It’s a market research question. What I want to know is if you’d buy a beer with more hops. Your typical American beer is pretty bland. It doesn’t use the bitterness of the hops. Now, you go to Germany or England, and some of those local beers, they use their hops. I mean, you’ve heard people order a ‘pint of bitter,’ right?”
Null pulled a pistol out of the holster on his leg. “Surrender or I kill you.”
His helmet’s night vision gave Larry clear enough sight despite the darkness to recognize that the “pistol” had a wide enough barrel that armor piercing ammo or not, it would go through his “bullet resistant” costume the same way it would go through cheese.
“Dude, you’re not man enough for hops,” he said, threw the flash grenade, and dove sideways, hoping David had made it to the other side of the warehouse.
* * *
David
David felt himself again for the first time in what felt like hours, but had only been ten minutes at most.
He stood on the far end of the room next to the door. Except for a couple lights the warehouse was dark. The only way he knew Larry was alive had been overhearing him say something about hops, followed by the light of a flash grenade.
He concentrated, seeing the warehouse and hearing Larry run. He’d gone sideways into the room, throwing the shelving on its side as he ran. That made it obvious where he’d gone, but made it harder to see him.
Given the size of the pistol Null carried, David approved. Plus, the guys behind Null were worse. He thought they might be using .50 caliber ammo.
After ducking his way through the pallet rack Larry had tipped over, Null started down the hall near the door, aiming his pistol roughly where Larry stood. He probably had thermal vision.
The Dregs stood behind Null, each with mismatched bulges in their armors’ forearms.
Time to act, David thought. He couldn’t use telekinesis directly on anybody because of Null, but indirectly?
He ripped the fire extinguisher off the door with his mind and gave it a nice arc, aiming it at Null. It hit, breaking off the handle, and spraying fire retardant everywhere.
Null fell backward into one of the Dregs who fired off a series of shots into the warehouse and the floor. David heard the ricochets, but didn’t feel any danger.
Null pushed himself up and shouted at the Dreg. Then he started running down the same aisle Larry and David had taken earlier—the one that led straight across to the door on the other side.
David couldn’t let them get too close or he’d stop being able to use telekinesis at all. He was already feeling more tired than usual. It felt like pushing through sludge.
He threw three more pallet racks, all of them from his side of the warehouse, one right after another, doing his best to entangle them with each other. Then he threw a few more, doing his best to push them backwards down the hall.
While Null and the others tried to disentangle themselves, Larry made it to the far end and out the door. As he left, David told him, If they make it close enough that I can’t use telepathy or telekinesis, I’ll head outside. Understand this, though. I’m not leaving.
Understood, Larry thought back.
* * *
Larry
Larry ran. He heard the sound of gunfire from inside the warehouse, but saw it as a good sign when the gunfire continued.
David was probably doing his trick where he used precognition to sense which bullets might hit him and telekinesis to deflect them.
He ran alongside the garage, thinking through his plan. He needed to get in, destroy the EMP suit and get into his own before they caught or killed him.
It didn’t take long. The artificial muscles in his flight suit added length to every stride. Sliding to a stop next to a side door, he thought about how he planned to go in. Quiet or loud?
Quiet, he decided, but as quickly as possible.
Putting his hand on the doorknob, he turned it slowly, waiting for the click. It didn’t come. It was locked.
He didn’t have a lockpick on him. So, loud then. He put his hand on the doorknob, adjusting the artificial muscles’ power output between the touchpad on his left hand’s palm and the one that doubled as the helmet’s mouth guard.
Well, one way or another, he wouldn’t need the power for long.
Then he brought back his arm and hit the doorknob, feeling his glove harden as he did, pushing the doorknob most of the way through the door, past the frame, and bending the metal door so that the top part of the door bent out toward him.
Larry had only been hoping to break the lock, but whatever, he’d take the rest. Grabbing the top of the door, he ripped it completely out of the frame.
Then he jumped through, landing to the side of the Rhinomobile. He walked to the front of the vehicle, staying partially behind it, and using its cover to check if the situation in the room matched the one he’d left.
It did. Almost.
The three Dregs he’d hit with glue balloons were still stuck. The Dreg who’d been hit with shrapnel from the beam still lay on the ground, but the operator of the powered armor with the EMP wasn’t next to him.
Larry ran around the front of the Rhinomobile, walking over the crushed Mercedes, and seeing that the Dreg with the EMP armor had started putting it on.
He sat inside it, lower legs covered, and starting to snap in the armor that covered his left thigh.
Larry jumped, covering twenty feet in an instant and landing in front of the armor. As he landed, the man tried to shut the chest cavity. Larry closed the gap and pulled it open, pulled the man’s hand off the handle on the inside the door, and yanked him out
of the armor, throwing him onto the floor.
Pulling a grenade off his belt, he dropped it into the armor, and jumped toward the Rhinomobile. The Dreg on the floor pulled himself off the floor in time for the explosion to knock him down again.
Landing just before the explosion hit, Larry braced himself as the blast sent the Dreg’s suit’s helmet flying.
The Dreg himself curled up into a ball on the floor.
Taking off his glove, Larry opened a panel next to the door. Normally he would have put his hand on it and let it read the handprint, but that wouldn’t have worked now. He used a key.
Shutting the door behind him, he went for his suit.
* * *
David
Now there were only two. David had kept on throwing pallet racks at them until the area around Null and the two Dregs turned into a mangled metal cage.
One of the racks had hit as one of Null’s sidekicks was caught between two racks and the force of the pallet’s landing shattered the armor on the Dreg’s lower leg.
Even after Null and the other Dreg pulled him out, they’d stopped trying to push their way through, occupying themselves by firing at him through the tangle of mesh and beams.
He felt tired. After knocking bullets out of the air despite the mental sludge Null’s mind threw out, he knew he would need to rest soon.
Now though, he had a more pressing problem. He was out of racks to throw. From now on, he’d have to throw the smaller shelves off to the side of the room or rip chunks off the building and throw it at them.
From the garage came an explosion. David concentrated, seeing Larry run for the Rhinomobile.
He only had to keep them busy a little bit longer. Well, he thought, let’s see if I can take out Null before Larry gets here.
Not for the first time he wondered if he shouldn’t have pressed the Heroes’ League distress call at the first sign of Null. Dying for pride didn’t seem worth it.
Shaking his head, he told himself that he could handle it a little longer.
