by Ekeke, C. C.
Meteora came boiling forward. The hatred carved into her rocklike face was frightening. “I’m gonna make you my bitch!” She took a fighting stance.
Hugo clenched his fists eagerly. “Bring it on, bitch!” He flew headlong, erasing the distance between them in seconds. The collision shuddered down the boulevard. Hugo lifted Meteora clean off the ground and swung without restraint.
Interlude: J-TOM
J-Tom hurtled up the winding coastline, crisp afternoon winds buffeting her armor.
The faint roar of her boots’ thrusters trailed her flight. The round silhouette of Morro Rock loomed larger on a peninsula off Morro Bay’s shoreline as she closed in on the coastal suburb.
The armor responded to her mental commands like another body part, thanks to its neural interface. On her helmet’s viewscreen, the PCH below was packed and unmoving by mass exoduses and crashes.
She understood why. Meteora’s seismic attacks triggered flashbacks of the 1987 SLO County earthquake. And the SeaTac quake had happened days ago.
The helmet viewscreen flashed loads of data on the many accidents or injuries below, including suggestions on how to assist. Countless people down there and across greater San Miguel needed help.
But she remembered her cargo, Polymer and Max Ochoa, and her mission. Or else the fight in Atascadero would be for nothing.
“Justice Jones.” J-Tom beamed under her helmet at addressing the Outlaw Superhero. “We’re almost there.” She hung a sharp right inland with her passengers.
“So are Becky and I,” Jones replied. “We’re heading in from the back.”
Within minutes, J-Tom found the lab’s rear. One door happened to be open, which she soared through with Polymer and Max. Placing them down, she inspected her surroundings via her helmet’s viewscreen. They entered a loading dock with four big rigs. Bodies of security guards trailed toward a violent commotion farther inside.
Justice Jones and Becky Knox stood in the center, punching and tossing swarms of attacking women.
J-Tom, via her helmet’s viewscreen, counted twenty-five attackers.
Those are the thieves. J-Tom, Max, and Polymer dashed into the brawl without hesitation. Another notification pinged in J-Tom’s viewscreen. “A silent alarm activated ten minutes ago,” she declared. “San Miguel PD is twenty miles away.”
“The thieves will be long gone,” Polymer added, his fists ballooning four times their size. He had a weirded-out expression on his face. Max, fur-covered from a partial werewolf shift, glowered in confusion.
J-Tom’s stomach twisted up, just like when she’d taken down Alluvion. Here we go! While firing photon blasts from the palms of her armored gloves, J-Tom now saw why everyone looked befuddled.
The women attacking Justice Jones and Becky had identical athletic bodies and matching black catsuits. All had bouncy gold locks and murderous glares as they threw themselves at the pair.
And by the quick calculations on J-Tom’s viewscreen, more copies kept popping into existence.
Polymer’s eyes bulged through his mask. “That’s a duplicator!”
“No shit, pup.” Justice Jones elbowed and kicked wildly to avoid getting dogpiled.
“God,” Becky scoffed, visibly bored while knocking two copies’ heads together. She fought well, each strike quick and smooth. “Duplicators are only useful for housework, cannon fodder, or orgies!”
Polymer was aghast. J-Tom laughed. Wherever Hugo had found this Becky Knox, she was a character—and insanely sexy.
J-Tom’s mirth stopped as more Myriad copies appeared. She dropped to a knee and backhanded one Myriad copy away, wincing at the sickening crunch of its jaw. J-Tom blinked, recalling this woman’s face. “She’s called Myriad. Aegis encountered her a while back.”
Max was a savage blur, her claws slashing any Myriad copies to ribbons. “I want an alias,” she growled.
“She-Wolf,” Polymer replied, kneeing a Myriad copy in the face. “I feel bad hitting women!”
Justice Jones snorted at his out-of-place chivalry. “Equal rights mean equal fights, pup!”
“I’ll help with your nom de guerre,” J-Tom blasted four Myriad copies with dazzling photon bursts.
“Children!” Becky barked, kicking a Myriad’s face in. “Fight in progress!” Two more jumped on her back.
Polymer cringed while spinning around, hands morphed into enormous mallets. “Sorry!”
J-Tom kept blasting countless Myriad copies with their identical faces, her attacks set to heavy stun. But more Myriads kept popping into existence, more aggressive than before. So many identical attackers crowded J-Tom's space, pulling at her armor was suffocating—like almost drowning in Seattle. “They don’t stop!” She didn’t hide her desperation. “Trying to overwhelm us!”
Justice Jones was practically buried in Myriads but kept laying in bone-crunching punches. “There’s no try, youngblood!”
J-Tom could no longer see Max or Polymer. Becky Knox barely fended off a horde of Myriad flanking her with several lightning-fast kicks.
“We need to find the prime!” Justice Jones yelled out nearby. “The Myriad directing the copies.”
“But how—?” The idea popped into J-Tom’s head so instantly, she almost high-fived herself. “Becky!” she called above the fray. “Can you track supers in this loading dock?”
Dozens of Myriads grabbed Becky’s legs, leaving only her fists as weapons. “Yeah…” Her eyes glazed over briefly. She nodded at a van at the farthest end of the loading docks. “One in the van.” Too many Myriads to count then dragged Becky to the ground.
Panic momentarily overwhelmed J-Tom. But she remembered Hugo’s training and rocketed upward, three Myriads clinging on. The van at the far end of the loading dock tore out of hiding.
J-Tom twisted round and round, flinging the copies off, and zoomed past the van.
Please don’t crush me! She cringed, landing in front of the speeding vehicle.
All kinds of alarms flashed on her viewscreen before the vehicle struck. Impact shivered through her armor. Driven several feet back, she braced herself and pushed forward to slow the wrecked vehicle.
She shoved the car off and approached the driver’s-side window. Myriad slumped face-first in a bloodstained airbag. She groaned.
“Hi there!” J-Tom raised a gauntlet, palm burning bright. “Bye there.”
One photon burst blasted Myriad out the car’s other side. The duplicator flopped onto the floor, unconscious.
J-Tom turned back to her allies, who were beating down the now disorganized Myriad mob.
She jogged to the van’s rear, her boots making clomp-clomp noises. She gave the back doors a huge tug, heart racing.
Inside were several cannisters with their own portable freezer to preserve the Tiamat remains.
J-Tom sighed in relief. Then she flew back over to the others.
Justice Jones, Becky Knox, Max, and Polymer all stood panting amid piles of Myriad’s unconscious, maimed, or dead bodies. Only the ones still breathing vanished into nothing. J-Tom forced herself not to look too long at any of the corpses.
Polymer whirled about as bodies faded away. “The duplicates,” he marveled.
Max, with her body fur and partial wolf muzzle, made even confused expressions menacing. “Did we win?” she asked.
Justice Jones adjusted his bandana. “We won this battle.”
Becky approached, happily rubbing Max’s shoulders.
J-Tom nodded, soaking in the rush of her first official battle. Then she remembered the battle still raging in Atascadero. “Aegis is still fighting the Forces of Nature.” And she prayed to God that he would win.
Chapter 43
“Get OFF!” Meteora cried with a right cross to Hugo’s mouth.
The rock-hard fist rang his bell and sent him skidding down the fractured boulevard.
Hugo rolled onto his side, cradling his jaw. “Oww.”
“Ya gonna take that lying down?” Simon commented over their comm
channel.
“Not on purpose!” Hugo hissed, almost missing the whoosh-whoosh spinning his way.
He popped up, a spinning full-sized truck just inches from his face.
Hugo braced himself, hands out, and caught the vehicle by the underside with ease. The momentum pushed him back a few feet. He glanced over to see the shock on Meteora’s stony features. “Tag you’re it!” Hugo tossed the vehicle right back into Meteora’s face, sending her through a storefront.
The window shattered in an earsplitting K-KEESH of glass shards.
Hugo winced, not wanting that kind of collateral damage. He stalked through rubble toward his target.
Nearby, Ballistic kept somersaulting over cars to evade Hellfire’s barrage of fireballs. The artsy pyrokinetic was growing more frustrated and reckless.
Sirocco was on all fours, shaking off the impact from Ballistic’s attacks.
The truck ejected ferociously from the ruined storefront. Meteora emerged, her rocky exterior sporting several fissures. “Should’ve run.” She knelt, placing her hands on the sidewalk. “What I do to San Miguel will make Seattle seem quaint.” Small tremors shivered through the street, growing more potent.
Hugo’s heart leaped, and he exploded forward. “No, you WON’T!” An uppercut to Meteora’s chin launched her into orbit. Hugo flew in pursuit with a rapid-fire salvo of punches so fast, his arms blurred.
“No more deaths,” he barked as they rose. “No more damage!” Hugo kept striking Meteora harder and harder with a reservoir of unbridled anger until she sagged.
Atascadero’s buildings and streets now looked ant-sized this high up.
Not done yet. Hugo tucked his legs in, dropkicking Meteora’s chest. She fell, arms and legs flailing.
And Hugo watched with relish…until the possible collateral damage dawned on him.
“FUCK.” He dove at top speeds, raced past his target, and touched down as Meteora fell freely.
Right before she landed, Hugo drove a fist to her midsection. The shockwave mushroomed outward, rattling the ruined buildings and unbroken windows. The terrakinetic flopped to the ground, rolling to a stop a few feet away. She was out cold, her rocky skin shedding.
“Two out of four.” Hugo cheered until an arid hurricane almost knocked him over.
Sirocco floated high above, arms spread like a prophet, her pudgy face enraged. “Not if I can help it.” She poured on the winds, driving Hugo back, tossing vehicles and debris and any object not nailed down.
Hugo shielded his face, already having a plan for Sirocco. “Cherry Blossom!”
Moments later, the pixie-like Japanese girl floated behind Sirocco, bubblegum-pink hair billowing about. The girl’s eager smile gave her the appearance of a demonic fairy. She tapped on Sirocco’s shoulder, startling her.
“Who?” Sirocco frowned, turning to Cherry Blossom. “Know what? Don’t care. You’ll die, too—AAAAHH!”
Cherry Blossom cut her off with a bright, mushroom-like eruption.
Hugo turned away from the brilliance, the flareup heating his bones.
Just as quickly, the flash winked out. Sirocco dropped onto a BMW in a smoking heap.
Hugo did a quick listen, confirming a heartbeat.
Cherry Blossom floated to the ground and waved. Her grin might’ve been sweet in normal circumstances.
Hugo waved back, a little unnerved. Cherry Blossom had delivered. But something told him that she’d been holding back. I got my hands full. He scanned their surroundings. “Sirocco, Alluvion, and Meteora are down,” he counted. “Three out of four.”
Hugo didn’t have to search far for Hellfire.
“Get AWAY from my muse!” A column of bright-gold fire veined in crimson torched down from above. Domino and Blackjack cried out, desperate to reach their ward.
Hugo ran, the world slowing around him, and snatched Cherry Blossom just in time.
Behind them, an upturned delivery truck, where he and Cherry Blossom had just stood incinerated.
Hugo checked first on Cherry, who was unharmed but shaking. He pointed at their location to say Stay here.
Cherry seemed to understand and nodded with fearful eyes.
Hugo zoomed out of hiding, to find Hellfire cradling an unconscious Meteora.
Ballistic also approached from the opposing end of the street with a slightly singed suit.
Hugo could’ve ended this fight but went with mercy. “Stand down, manbun.” He inched closer.
Hellfire swiveled in Hugo’s direction, eyes blazing. “An artist NEVER compromises!”
Hugo rolled his eyes. Well, I tried.
Hellfire hugged Meteora tighter. Their forms glowed—merging.
“Shit!” Hugo flew at them—eating a stiff backhand that nearly took his head off.
A lamp pole rushed up to catch him.
Hugo slid to the ground, dazed by the blow and what faced him.
The merged rock-and-fire monster stood, with fiery pits for eyes and a mouth.
“Now,” the beast boomed in Meteora’s and Hellfire’s combined voices. “Feel the full scope of my power.” The gestalt monster glowed brighter than before, heat oozing from cracks in its rocky skin.
Ballistic helped Hugo up. “Whatcha gonna do, about that?”
Hugo floated off the ground, watching veins of fire seep from the monster into faults along the surrounding street. The air swelled from escalating heat. He was drawing a blank on how to stop this.
“Titan’s boomerang maneuver,” Simon suggested on comms. “Like he did against Monstrosity.”
“Ooooh.” Hugo understood, then looked at Ballistic. “Be right back.” He soared straight up.
As the rock monster bellowed its rage, Ballistic gaped after him. “Where are you going?”
“Trust me!” Hugo called back, banking left and then diving down until he hovered inches off the street. He rocketed forward. Atascadero zoomed past from quaint buildings to the ruins of downtown.
The distance between Hugo and the monster’s backside shrank in seconds.
He smashed through its right leg, the limb bursting into a shower of flaming rocks. The monster roared and teetered on one leg, gigantic frame barely keeping balance.
Hugo flew seven blocks down the boulevard before making a tight U-turn.
“Now for the money shot,” Hugo crowed, accelerating again. He punched through the monster’s chest, the gaping hole belching flames.
Hugo soared up as the monster swayed and teetered. A sonic scream pummeled it for good measure. After a brief and blinding flash, Hellfire and Meteora lay unconscious beside each other.
Hugo floated to the ground. His team had won. The disbelief was dizzying.
Cherry Blossom stepped out from hiding, clapping excitedly. Blackjack and Domino moved to help Ballistic restrain Meteora, Sirocco, and Hellfire.
Hugo then noticed Alluvion, back in human form. His skin was light brown, flattop dark brown and kinky. He clutched his stomach, vomiting up whatever substance J-Tom had doused him with.
Hugo walked up and finger-flicked Alluvion’s jaw. Head snapping back, he dropped without a sound.
“Four out of four.” Hugo turned to the police barricade at the Atascadero border. Behind it, Superhumans Crimes Task Force was armed to the teeth and ready to strike.
Hugo motioned them forward. “Proceed.”
The armed officers quickly swarmed the fallen Forces of Nature.
An incoming ping caught his ear, followed by an ID on his eyescreen. “Arclight. Good news?”
“The Morro Bay lab is secure,”” J-Tom’s overmodulated voice replied. “And we caught Myriad.”
Hugo’s heart soared. “Nice!” J-Tom kicked ass without him. We all did our part. “Bring Polymer and Max back with you once she’s arrested.” He cast a pained gaze across the Atascadero’s destroyed downtown. “We got lots of cleanup to do.” Hugo called Dawson, telling him about what had happened at the Morro Bay lab.
A shadow overhead drew his attention. Hugo
looked up to find Tomorrow Man far above, cape flapping in the wind. He surveyed the damage, features scrunched like smelling bad cheese.
“Godammit.” Tomorrow Man flew off and vanished into the distance.
Hugo had to chuckle. Tomorrow Man was too late…again, and didn’t even stay to clean up. Hugo shook his head and turned to Ballistic. “Let’s get to work.”
The group searched this war zone, finding some survivors within buildings that looked steamrolled. They also found quite a few dead. Hugo silently mourned each one, reminded again how damaging super-on-super battles were. Arclight arrived half an hour later with Max and Polymer. The five of them worked in concert to clear as much debris away for ambulances. Hugo had only experienced such effortless synchronicity with the Fab Phenoms. He enjoyed that immensely.
Once more, Polymer’s EMT skills came in handy. Hugo knew the basics thanks to Lady Liberty and his mother, but more advanced training might be useful in the future.
By the time the sun began sinking into the hazy horizon, days of cleanup had been finished in hours.
Once certain areas were deemed safe, the news media came swarming in. “Aegis! Aegis!”
Hugo’s instinct said to ignore them. But the damage and body count demanded answers. He grudgingly approached the throng of reporters, flashing cameras, and microphones jabbing at his face. “Speak.”
“Robin Leffler. Newsworthy.com,” one woman announced. “You just saved Atascadero but at a terrible cost. What do you say to the citizens tired of the collateral damage and scared of supers in general?”
Hugo considered this before answering. “People of San Miguel.” He cast a sweeping stare across all cameras present. “I hear you. I see you. We heroes will do better in our roles to keep you safe.”
More shouts arose before Hugo pointed at a skinny man with thick hair.
“Paul LaForge, San Miguel Tribune. In your brief career, you’re usually more of a loner.”
Hugo’s stare made the reporter gulp. “When you phrase it that way…”
Laughter broke the tension. LaForge continued. “Is this alliance temporary or a new team?”
