Wonder Heroes 4.0

by Ahlquist, Steve

  Before Susan could begin to imagine what Theodore meant by that comment, the Wonder Computer interrupted. “Aierta detected. Coordinates are being channeled to the teleporter.”

  Theodore stopped, and turned around. He was still smiling. “Don’t cry Susan. We have a mission to go on.”

  It took a moment for Susan to calm herself. She was amazed at how cavalierly Theodore had hurt her. Susan summoned her Wonder Armor, hiding her tears behind the visor of the crimson Wonder Helmet. The voices of the rest of her team started to filter through the communications system. She cut through the chatter and issued her orders, her voice cracking only slightly. “Okay, Wonder Heroes, assemble in the teleporter room ASAP.”

  The first reply to her summons surprised her. “Do you mind if I come along, Susan Daystrom?” It was Onalark, Wonder Hero Electric.

  Susan took the stairs to level three, followed by Theodore. “I welcome the assistance, Onalark,” she said, “just be aware that you’ll be under my command.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said the alien Wonder Hero. Susan could imagine the wide smile Onalark sported as he said this, and hoped that she could trust that smile more than she could trust Theodore.

  Wonder Heroes 4.27

  The four soldiers stationed by the United States Military to guard the rotting hulk of the gigantic alien robot Brobdignag stood in a semicircle on the other side of the chain link fence from Jaimie Karasik. The Aierta Projector in Jaimie’s hand had imprinted each soldier with the war programming of a long extinct and forgotten alien race. They were now Aierta; their human needs taking a back seat to their alien hunger for battle, war and conquest.

  At Jaimie’s request one of the soldiers produced a key and opened a gate in the fence. Jaimie dropped the wire cutters and stepped through.

  “What are our orders commander?” asked one of the soldiers, a dark skinned human whose uniform identified him as Fielding.

  “We’re repairing the robot behind me,” responded Jaimie, “we’ve been right behind you for months.”

  Fielding smiled and said, “Our hosts never suspected.”

  “That’s what I was hoping,” smiled Jaimie, “but now we are entering part two of our plan. We are going to repair that huge hole in the robot’s chest, and we can’t do that without recruiting you.”

  Fielding nodded. “I assume we are to hold our position here, and keep the humans from learning our plans?”

  “Yes,” said Jaimie, thinking that she should consider recruiting more soldiers in the future. They were used to anticipating orders, which she liked. “We begin final construction at daybreak. In two hours we’ll be ready to move on New York City, where our recruiting will begin in earnest.”

  Jaimie felt a slight tingle in the air and cursed silently to herself. She knew what that feeling meant. “Do you feel that?” She asked, dropping to a knee and readying the Aierta projector.

  Fielding had no idea what Jaimie was talking about, but an instant later teleportation was complete, and six Wonder Heroes surrounded the Aierta. The soldiers dropped their weapons and lifted their arms in surrender, but Jaimie was ready for them. She fired Aierta Projector at Wonder Hero Ghost before anyone had time to react. The rifle in her arm clicked and bathed the Wonder Hero in the pure white light and gamma rays. Kalomo raised his hands defensively, and the light washed over him.

  “Kalomo!” shouted Jay, and he reacted by firing a beam of black energy that knocked the Aierta Projector from Jaimie’s hand. The Projector skidded through the unmowed grass and landed at Matt’s feet. Matt raised his right foot and smashed the weapon with his Wonder Boot destroying the dog brain within. Jaimie watched her weapon destroyed with a frown of disappointment.

  Theodore and Onalark dealt with the four human soldiers and in an instant the situation was completely under control. Susan stepped forward and touched Kalomo on the arm. He seemed confused and a little dizzy.

  “I felt something brush across my mind, something hungry and mean, but then it was gone,” said Kalomo, his voice distant.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah,” responded Kalomo, shaking off the effects, “It was just gamma rays and electrons. Harmless, I think.”

  “Harmless to a Wonder Hero, maybe, but not to anyone else,” said Matt. He was analyzing the weapon with his gauntlet and cross checking his readings with the Wonder Computer. “This is made to infect neural pathways and circuitry with Aierta programming.” Matt looked at the four human soldiers. “The Wonder Computer confirms the presence of five Aierta. Jaimie here, and the four soldiers.”

  Susan crouched down next to Jaimie, still on her knees after losing her weapon to Jay’s energy blast. “Jaimie Karasik? It’s over. You’re coming with us.”

  “Two hours,” said Jaimie, “two more hours and we would have been unbeatable. This world would be ours, and the universe would follow.”

  Susan felt Matt, Wonder Hero Ultra, standing behind her. “You get used to hearing them talk like that when they’re beaten,” said Matt, “it’s kind of sad, really.”

  Susan decided she liked this new Matt.

  “We are not beaten,” said Jaimie, “The war is lost but the battle has just begun.”

  Before Susan could point out that what Jaimie said did not make sense, her armor alerted her to a target lock. The large dead robot in the empty field had just launched a mini-nuke at her location.

  “In coming!” yelled Matt, and the Wonder Heroes scattered as the missile approached. Susan had the presence of mind to grab Jaimie and carry her away, saving the Aierta infected girl’s life in the process. As Susan took to the air the missile struck the ground beneath her and exploded into a miniature mushroom cloud. Susan rode the roiling waves of energy and landed a half-mile away.

  She searched for her comrades, and was satisfied by the Wonder Computer that all had escaped the devastating blast. Onalark landed nearby with two of the human soldiers, one under each arm. He dropped them to the ground as he landed.

  Susan counted the rest of her team. Kalomo had grabbed another one of the humans, and Theodore was stupidly holding onto the two pieces of the Aierta Projector Matt had stomped on. Everyone was accounted for, almost.

  “The other soldier?” asked Susan, knowing the answer.

  “I couldn’t get to him in time,” said Jay, “I thought Theodore had him.”

  “I went for the Aierta gun,” said Theodore, “The guy was possessed, and probably better off dead than in the tombs or handed over to Onalark’s people to be experimented on.”

  Onalark was not very happy, a frown took over his face.

  Matt stared at Theodore with anger. “You let him die.”

  Theodore dropped the pieces of the gun on the ground carelessly and walked away from Matt, saying, “Whatever. Why don’t we worry about whoever tried to nuke us?”

  Kalomo was on it. “It was launched from the robot.”

  “That robot’s a stripped hulk, been dead for years…” Matt looked at Jaimie, but she betrayed nothing.

  “I can’t confirm that the robot’s dead,” said Kalomo. He looked up, “It’s Geheimite sensor jamming again.”

  “They were repairing the robot,” said Matt.

  “They just nuked the robot,” said Susan.

  Matt shook his head. “That robot can withstand a nuke. Remember when it first attacked three years ago? The military tried nukes, and they didn’t work.”

  “Vaguely,” said Susan.

  Matt smiled. “Vaguely?”

  “I was busy with school. Freshman year.”

  As the Wonder Heroes watched, the giant robot called Brobdignag moved through the wafting clouds of the miniature thermonuclear explosion. The robot seemed operational, save for the large hole in its chest. It walked a few more steps towards the Wonder Heroes.

  “What’s the plan, boss?” said Jay to Susan nervously, “Do we go get the Wonder Giant?”

  “No,” said
Susan, pushing aside thoughts of her dead boyfriend, “We’d never get it working without Walter. Besides, there’s a gigantic hole in this thing’s chest. I say we go in, and fight our way through whatever they have in there. Take control of the robot and shut it down.”

  Jaimie Karasik laughed. “We’re ready for you, Wonder Heroes. The Aierta on board that robot will fight you to their last spark of life.”

  Susan touched Jaimie on the neck with an index finger from which a microtube injected nanobots and tranquilizers into the girl’s bloodstream, and before Jaimie could reach her neck with her hand and say, “Ow,” she was unconscious, and Susan was catching her, lowering her to the ground.

  At a nod from Susan, Jay and Kalomo followed suit, knocking out the three Aierta infected soldiers. Matt and Onalark looked to Susan. “What’s the plan?” asked Matt.

  Susan did not smile as she said, “We go in and take them out. One on one. All of them.”

  Onalark smiled, “Good plan.”

  Susan took to the air, and the rest of the Wonder Heroes followed her. Immediately the air filled with the sound and fury of Procyonic disruptor blasts. Susan put up a shield, but not before one of the beams caught her, flipping her in the air.

  “Susan?” asked Jay, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” said the leader of the Wonder Heroes, rising to her feet and now filled with fury, “Take them out!”

  In the end it was not so much a battle as a rout. The spratsis, whether possessed by Aierta or not, were simply no match for the Wonder Heroes. The battle continued floor by floor within the many levels of the robot Brobdignag, and the Aierta used every weapon and tactic available to them to harass and injure the Wonder Heroes, but it was for naught. No weapon the Aierta possessed was capable of truly challenging the awesome power of the Wonder Armor. In fifteen minutes the battle was over. The spratsis were all dead, unconscious or wounded too seriously to present any kind of danger.

  “Notice anything missing?” said Matt to Susan, in the midst of battle.

  Susan had not, but Matt’s question got her thinking. “The robots! Crush and Kill!”

  Matt nodded. “They probably teleported away.”

  Susan cursed under her breath, and then launched a torrent of energy into a nearby power junction. The small metal box exploded in a shower of sparks and smoke, and immediately the interior of the robot was plunged into darkness. With the power went the Geheimite sensor shielding.

  “Computer,” said Susan, now that communications with Wonder Base were unimpeded, “Locate Aierta outside my immediate area.”

  “Six Aierta located one kilometer west of current position,” answered the Wonder Computer.

  “Beam us directly to that location.”

  The six Wonder Heroes vanished from inside the dead robot and reappeared where they had left the unconscious bodies of the three soldiers and Jaimie Karasik. The robots, Crush and Kill, were standing near the recovering soldiers, and Jaimie Karasik was gone. Behind the robots was a small metal device, rapidly counting down.

  “It’s probably a bomb,” said Onalark, “it's always a bomb with robots.”

  Susan did not have the patience for this. She raised her hand and blasted the head of Crush in a single shot, not offering the robot a chance to surrender. Onalark smiled and followed suit, blasting Kill into smithereens.

  “I like your style, Crimson.”

  Kalomo approached the bomb. “This is no mini-nuke! This thing is powerful enough to crack the continental plate. We have to disarm it.”

  Onalark laughed. He stepped forward, raised a foot, and stomped the bomb almost flat with a single stomp. The Wonder Heroes all jumped, but the bomb did not go off. “Disarmed,” said Onalark, “no big deal.”

  “Right,” said Susan, her heartbeat now far from normal, “No big deal. We still have to find Jaimie Karasik.”

  The Wonder Computer chimed in. “Aierta detected in New York City.”

  “Got her!” said Susan, taking to the air.

  The rest of the Wonder Heroes followed Susan after a moment’s hesitation. In the distance they could see a military convoy approaching, arriving to clean up the mess around Brobdignag. More than likely the convoy was being lead by General Rumpole.

  “Computer!” Susan said, as she hit mach ten, “Give me a visual.”

  Satellite imagery filled a portion of Susan’s visor, and it showed Jaimie Karasik on a building in Time’s Square, repairing the Aierta Projector with duct tape. An instant later Susan was locked on target. The city of New York streaked below her in a gray and brown blur as Jaimie went from being a speck in the distance to a full sized human in less than a second. Susan threw up her shields, scooping up both Jaimie and the Aierta Projector up as the gun overloaded and exploded.

  The rest of the team watched as Susan, at near impossible speeds, enclosed Jaimie Karasik and herself inside of a red sphere of pure energy, a force field. Susan had configured the circular red ball of energy inside out, to keep the force and power of the exploding gamma ray device inside the sphere. As the Wonder Heroes watched, the red sphere arced over Manhattan and towards the ocean.

  Inside the sphere Susan was awash in an impossibly bright light. Jaimie Karasik had been torn apart atom by atom, electron by electron, and was destroyed, becoming part of a primeval atomic soup of the kind found near the beginning of the universe. Susan’s armor was taxed by the heat and energy of the explosion, but her forcefield had the unfortunate side effect of containing and reflecting back the energy in a concentrated area. Susan had essentially created a proto-star of superheated plasma, and she was stuck inside her own forcefield with it.

  She could get no readings from outside her forcefield, and had no idea where she was in relation to New York City, but she had to vent the plasma into space, where it could do little harm. If Susan let this energy out in a populated area the radiation would prove deadly to the Earth’s entire ecosystem, but without sensors she had no way of knowing where she was or if she were safe.

  Her armor could not take being this close to a miniature star for long. When her armor failed, she would die and the energies would be released. Susan was already feeling the heat, something that should have been impossible, unless her Wonder Armor was under dire stress. She had mere seconds of life left. Still she held on. There was no way to know if it were safe to let go or not. She could only hope that her fellow Wonder Heroes had lifted the sphere of energy into space to safely vent, and she had to give them all the time she could to make this happen.

  Susan thought of Walter, suffocating inside the Wonder Giant, and determined to be as brave and strong in facing her own death. She blacked out for a second but her shields held. Walter would be proud of her…

  Bizarrely, Susan’s last thought before darkness overwhelmed her was of Theodore. She wished things could have been different between them. Then she blacked out, never expecting to wake up.

  Susan awoke, and found herself staring at the white ceiling of the Wonder Base sickbay, in the same bed she had brought Theodore to when the golden gauntlet appeared to be killing him on their first day as Wonder Heroes. She felt the reassuring pressure of the crimson gauntlet on her right forearm and smiled. Apart from a very slight and fading headache, she felt fine. She sat up in bed and checked the chronometer on the gauntlet. Two hours. She had been unconscious for two hours.

  “Computer,” she said aloud, “status report?”

  “All systems are normal, Susan,” replied the computer, “There are no situations requiring the immediate attention of the Wonder Heroes.”

  The door to the sickbay opened and General Rumpole entered, followed by the rest of her team. Matt was smiling, Jay and Kalomo seemed happy to see her; Theodore not so much.

  “How are you?” asked Matt.

  “I feel okay,” said Susan, “Hungry.”

  “I’ll get you some food,” said the General quickly, heading for the door to hunt down a doctor, nurse or
orderly to get Susan a plate of food.

  “How’s New York?” asked Susan, preparing herself for bad news.

  “You did it,” said Matt. “You saved the city.”

  “Well,” said Jay, “with our help.”

  Kalomo explained. “We tracked you to New York. You were about a half second ahead of us when you snagged the exploding gamma bomb inside your forcefield. We arrived on the scene and figured out that the explosion, plus the reflective power of your forcefield had created a low gravity pinpoint dwarf star inside that bubble with you. If you let that sucker out, New York and a good part of the East Coast would be wiped off the map.”

  “That’s what I figured out inside the forcefield,” said Susan, “but I couldn’t get any readings from outside the bubble.”

  “I know.” Matt said, “So the rest of us grabbed your forcefield in an energy net, and dragged you into space. When you let go…”

  “I passed out…” interrupted Susan.

  “Same difference,” said Matt, “When you let go the energy dissipated into space. I grabbed you and had you teleported here.”

  Susan nodded, relieved that her effort had not been in vain. “And Onalark?”

  “Gone,” said Theodore, “He and the Broccloids got what they wanted, an Aierta of their very own.”

  “He took the infected soldiers,” said Matt, “They volunteered to go, and a deal’s a deal, so I approved it.”

  Susan remembered Fielding, the tall black soldier. She frowned. “Did I do the right thing? Trading those men to stop the Aierta?”

  Theodore did not smile. “It’s a little too late to worry about that now, Susan. What’s done is done.”

  Matt frowned at Theodore, “You did what you had to do, Susan.”

  One by one the team filtered out of the room, until Susan was alone with Matt. “Matt? Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course,” said Matt, smiling, “But let me warn you, I’m still gay.”

  Susan smiled, then frowned. “That’s not it. It’s about Theodore. I’m really starting to worry about him.”