So Not a Hero (14 page)

“Hope you survive the experience,” Darla added.

The elevator ride down to the lobby seemed to take five times longer than normal. Probably because of the double combination of Rocket standing beside me, looking put out as a cat in a downpour, and Captain Awesome standing behind me. I didn’t turn around to look, but I swore I could
feel
his eyes roving all over my body.

When the bell overhead dinged and the doors slid open, it was all I could do not to shove everyone aside in order to be the first out of the car. I clenched my hands into fists and took a deep breath as Alexis, Darla, and Daniel filed out first. Awesome exited next, slipping past me quickly with what felt like a passing grope, though I couldn’t be sure. Manpower gestured for Rocket and I to go next, but the flyer shook his head.

“Not turning my back on her if I can help it,” he said.

I shrugged and followed the others. A small platform and several rows of chairs had been erected in the center of the lobby. I was a little surprised to see that most of the seats were full. Charlotte is a huge city and sits on the border of two states, but there were more attendees than there should have been. I even spotted a couple of the big national news networks among all the local folks. This was apparently really big news.

There was no way Martin wasn’t going to see the announcement.

I followed the rest of the team onto the platform and took my place in the lineup next to Alexis. The assembled audience’s attention seemed to instantly zero in on me. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and leaned towards the teen. “Lot of people here,” I whispered.

She nodded and looked out at the crowd. “Announcement like this draws in reporters from all over.” A grin played over her face and she shrugged. “We
are
the most famous team south of D.C, you know.”

I nodded and turned my attention back to the crowd. Greg walked past me to a podium and spoke into the microphone.

“Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming.” His voice emanated around the room and the attention of everyone present focused on him. “As you all know, the Good Guys suffered a devastating loss six months ago when Gigantica gave her life to save the city. Since then, we have patiently and carefully searched for someone to make us whole again.” He paused for a moment, letting the weight of his words settle in. “However, I am happy to say that we have a new member to help us in our mission to keep the citizens of Charlotte, and the world, safe.” He turned and gestured in my direction. “It is my pleasure to introduce to you the newest member of the Good Guys, Karen Hashimoto, code named Kayo.”

Flashbulbs flickered in my eyes and the realization that I was standing in front of everyone, being debuted as a hero slammed into me. I tried to smile, but my mouth felt all wrong and I worried that I might be snarling instead. I immediately stopped and the concern that I was appearing indifferent reared its head. I might have been famous—or infamous—as Crushette, but I’d never had to stand still under the scrutinizing eyes of a room full of strangers.

Before my panic could overtake me, I felt a tug on my arm and turned to see Alexis’ hand at my elbow. She mouthed something and nodded towards Manpower. It took me a moment or two to realize that I was supposed to go up and say something.

Nobody said anything about giving a speech.

I shook my head and tried to smile at the crowd again. Regardless of how I looked standing there with a psychotic grin on my face, if I went up and tried to open my mouth, things would only get worse.

One of the reports in the second row stood up, recorder held out towards the stage. “Mister Manpower? Correct me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t that Crushette?”

Several of the man’s associates snapped their heads towards him and then quickly over to me. A couple even whipped out their phones and began tapping on the screen. I could only assume they were Google-ing me.

Manpower nodded. “You are correct. However, it must be emphasized that Miss Hashimoto
used
to be Crushette. She’s paid for her past actions and has reformed. I think she’ll surprise you all with how great a hero she will be.”

It was as if the floodgates had snapped and the torrent sprang free. Another dozen reporters stood and began shouting questions and taking notes. Manpower answered them as directly and briefly as he could. The rest of the team and I stood behind him, showing our newfound solidarity. Well, except for Rocket, of course.

While Manpower spelled out the circumstances and rationale behind my addition as the Good Guys’ newest member, my attention was on the crowd of reporters and onlookers encircling the front of the platform.
Surely they were asking themselves if my teammates had lost their minds. How dare I stand up here given my past? Wearing a new costume and name like a fresh coat of paint hiding duct-taped rust holes? The audacity of me to place myself on the same level as a group that had saved this city time and time again.

I waited. Waited for that first person to point and yell “Fraud!” Waited for the onslaught of questions concerning my past criminal exploits and associations, especially as they related to Martin. Waited, as I stood there with a forced smile on my face and Alexis’ arm wound around mine.

I waited for a rebuke that never came.

Instead, we posed and smiled while the photographers snapped their pictures and the reporters conveyed the news through every possible media outlet. The Good Guys were back to full strength and had added a reformed criminal to their roster. We put the bad guys on notice and assured the citizens that they could sleep easy in their beds, knowing a well-oiled justice machine would keep them safe.

It only took 24 hours for us to prove otherwise.

CHAPTER 9: THROWING PAINS

The next morning, a shrill alarm yanked me out of a dream involving Detective Braddock and his handcuffs with an ear-piercing “Wa-Wa-Wa!” I jumped out of the bed, ready to punch someone when the siren emanating from the intercom stopped, replaced with the voice of Mister Manpower.

“Level Three event taking place near Queen University. Suit up, folks. We lift off in five.”

I scrambled out of the t-shirt and shorts I’d slept in and grabbed my uniform from its drawer. I had spent over an hour the previous evening practicing pulling it on and off until I had it down pat. Its form-fitting nature meant that I had to get my legs and ass in properly before zipping up the front. Otherwise, the chest area was skewed like a Picasso painting.

I grabbed the com unit from the dresser and stuck it in my ear as I bolted out of my room and down the hall, nearly running over Alexis. “Hey,” I said. “What’s a Level Three?”

The teen looked up at me as we cut through the briefing room and headed upstairs to the hangar. “A group of Enhanced criminals working together.”

Greg, Daniel, and Rocket were standing next to a winged hovercraft, looking at the screen on a nearby wall. A map of the city had a flashing red dot just left of center, approximately where the college was located. Manpower gave us a quick nod and then glanced over my shoulder. I turned to look as Captain Awesome and Omega-Girl joined us.

Richard’s cape swished behind him as he strode over, permanent grin beaming at us. Darla floated along behind him and from her disheveled hair and flushed cheeks, I guessed that the alarm had interrupted their bedroom activities.

Nice to know someone was getting some.

Manpower turned back to the map. “Okay, here’s what we know. Fifteen minutes ago, there was an Enhanced attack at the University’s Science Building .Daniel estimates they may be after something in one of the underground labs. Right now, campus security and the CPD is slowing them down, but they can’t hold them off forever.”

Awesome stood next Greg. “So we’re going in to shut them down.” He glanced over at Daniel. “Any idea who we’re facing?”

    Power Brain pressed a button beside the monitor and the city map vanished, replaced a security camera shot showing five unhappy faces. “Near as I can tell, The Wobble, Vaporizer, and Colonel Tank are confirmed,” he said as he pointed to three of the visages. “The other two are unknown.”

I raised my hand and pointed. “The other two are Turbu-Lance and Princess Snow,” I said.

Darla arched a brow. “Old friends of yours?”

“Not exactly. They wanted to join Doctor Maniac’s group at one time. I was there when they auditioned.”

“Let’s go,” Manpower said. “Karen can brief us on the way.” He glanced at Omega and Rocket. “You two fly there as fast as you can. Get a look at the situation from above. Do not engage unless it’s to save In-Bees. The rest of us will follow in the Dart.”

    “I’ll monitor and call out strategy here,” Daniel said, heading towards the door. “The armory will be ready to receive any contraband.”

    Manpower flipped a switch on the wall nearby and the roof retracted silently, letting a torrent of Carolina sunshine into the hangar. Rocket’s legs ignited with a blast of brilliant yellow flame and took off into the sky. Darla blew Richard a kiss and shot up after him.

    I couldn’t help but notice that he watched her—her ass, at least—until she was out of sight.

    “Come on, Karen,” Alexis said as she tugged on my arm. “Let’s go bust some bad guy heads.” The grin on her face was contagious and I followed her up the steps into the craft, hoping that this would be a testament to my ability to reform and not a total disaster.

    I sat in one of the seats and fastened my belt as Manpower flipped a couple of switches, making the engines come to life. I’ve never really been a fan of flying, usually because my weight always seemed to be a problem. Plus, as indestructible as I am, I’m not sure even I would survive a five thousand foot fall.

    All of the previous nervousness I’ve ever had inside of an aircraft paled in comparison to how I felt when Richard settled into the pilot’s seat. He pressed a button that closed the hatch and glanced back over his shoulder at Alexis and me.

    “Here we go,” he said, then pulled back on the wheel in his hand.

    My stomach flip-flopped as the sensation of floating assaulted my senses and the view through the cockpit windshield tilted back and forth. I’d been in a hovercraft once before, but thankfully the ride to the Max had been in a windowless compartment. I swallowed bile and looked down at the hands in my lap, willing them to remain put. I didn’t have any doubts that trying to use the armrests would result in finger-sized dents in the metal.

    I twisted in the seat, pulling at the belt that was buried in my cleavage, and mumbled. “Damn, no bra uniform.”

    Richard spun around in his seat, releasing one hand from the wheel to point at me. “You’re not wearing a bra under that?” His eyes zeroed in on my chest. “Why aren’t your nipples showing?”

    Greg grabbed his arm and pulled him back around. “Dammit, Rich. Focus on flying and stop thinking with your damned dick for ten minutes, okay?”

    “Okay,” Daniel said into my—and everyone else’s—ear. “Omega-Girl is over the east side of campus, approaching the research quarter. Rocket is coming in from the west.”

    “Affirmative,” Manpower said and then looked back at me. “What can you tell us about Turbu-Lance and Princess Snow?”

    “They’re both Elemental Enhanced,” I said. “Lance controls wind, but he’s not very good. He can only create tightly focused gusts. Great for knocking people down and doors in, but without any finesse.”

    “So he’s basically a bruiser, with air instead of fists.” Awesome stated.

    “Pretty much. Snow, however, is a completely different story.”

    “I’m guessing she has better control?” Alexis asked, glancing over at me.

    I nodded. “Much better. She can freeze a whole group of selected individuals within a group. She can also create a localized blizzard, even in July. Not sure just how cold she can make it, but it’s damned cold.”

    “Sounds exactly like the sort of person he would want around,” Rocket said venomously. “Why didn’t Doctor Maniac let her join your little group?”

    “Because she’s crazy. I don’t mean run-of-the-mill supervillain crazy, either. She demanded that Mart, err, Maniac get rid of all female lackeys.” I laughed, remembering the look on Martin’s face at the insolent stipulation. “She wanted to be the only woman around him.”

    “Sounds like his kind of girl,” Alexis added with a snort, and I turned away before she could see my face.

    The craft banked to the left, circling around the campus at an angle that allowed us to see the scene below. Richard might be a leering, dirty-minded asshole, but he was also one hell of a pilot. The Hall of Science below was surrounded by three layers of law enforcement, all guarding the large dura-steel doors that dominated one side of the structure. Several armored CPD vehicles and an EAPF transport added a protective barrier providing some cover to the officers.

A glimmering streak blasted up right in front of the craft’s nose and solidified into a thick column of ice. Awesome pulled back on the yoke and turned the ship in another direction, swearing incoherently under his breath. He glanced over at Manpower. “We need to get down there. If the engines freeze, we’re going to drop like a rock.”

“Agreed.” Greg pointed out the window. “Richard, set us down in that parking lot behind that bus.” The world outside spun around as we changed direction and began to descend.

    “Here we go, everyone,” Manpower said as the jarring bump indicated we were back on solid ground. “Daniel’s got the heads up so listen to what he says and follow instructions. Captain Awesome and I will head towards the labs. Kayo, you and Phantasm circle around through the parking lot and approach from the south. Disable as many bad guys as you can, but make sure that you get all the civilians out of harm’s way. Got it?”

    “Got it,” Alexis chirped as she unbuckled her belt and dropped through the floor of the hovercraft. I followed in a more traditional method and went outside to try some thrilling heroics.

#  #  # #  #  # #  #  # #  #  # #  #  # #  #  # #  #  # #  #  #

“Phantasm, phase through the west wall and take out The Wobble,” Daniel’s voice rang in my ear. “He’s got Rocket pinned down with his damned Vertigo Cannon.”

“On it,” the teen said.

I peered around the corner and caught a glimpse of her purple and gray uniform as she darted across the street and right though a brick wall as easily as if it had been made of air. I turned my gaze up to the floating sphere hanging a hundred feet over the battle. The numerous sensors and cameras imbedded in the globe were feeding data back to Daniel. From his station in the tower, he could analyze patterns and actions, guiding us to where we needed to go as well as help watch our backs.

Less than a minute after Alexis had vanished inside the building, Rocket shot up from the other side and looped around before heading towards a larger structure currently being defended by a squad of campus security and Charlotte’s Finest.

“The Wobble’s down,” Alexis reported.

“Great.” The amusement in Daniel’s voice made me grin. “Tag his Vertigo Gun for transport to the Vault.”

Before disembarking from the hovercraft, I’d been given a shiny silver disc. “Use this on any dangerous tech you encounter,” Manpower had explained. “It’ll provide a signal for Daniel to teleport the item directly to our secured armory.”

I had to admit it made sense. No one wanted Little Jimmy to happen by after the fight and come across a discarded Neutrino Cannon.

“I’ve lost sight of Vaporizer,” Daniel said. “Last known position was near the entrance to the bookstore.”

The battle across the campus had taken us from the ornate, wrought-iron gates of the front entrance to the four-story dura-steel Hall of Science building. We didn’t know what the Legion was after, but their determination to get into that building indicated that their goal was there.

I spotted the smaller structure of the bookstore and ran towards it. Vaporizer’s outfit—I recalled—was designed with a glowing flame motif, so I figured he’d be easy to spot. Some of the foliage around the building was burnt to ashes, leaving me a trail to follow. “I think I’ve got him,” I said into the comm. “North side of the store.”

Manpower cut in. “Hold back, Kayo. Wait for recon. Rocket, do a fly-over and confirm.”

“I’ll pass, thanks,” Rocket said. I could actually hear the sneer in his tone. “She doesn’t need a lookout. She’s a tough girl, isn’t she?”

“Fine,” I spat. “I don’t need your damned help anyways.” I balled my hands into fists and charged ahead, the scorched smell filling my nostrils. I rounded the corner and had all of two seconds to realize I’d stumbled into an ambush. Vaporizer leveled his hands in my direction as I skidded to a stop.

“Just how I like my women,” he said, grinning. “
Hot
.” Twin-streams of thermo-ionic energy erupted from his hands and shot across the space between us in the blink of an eye. They struck me dead-center, driving me backwards across the sidewalk until my shoulders slammed into the side of an armored police vehicle parked at the curb.

The metal of the transport softened and the painted letters bubbled and ran down the surface of the super-heated metal in little white rivulets. The combination of heat and concussive force peppered me in the face and chest, feeling like the start of a mild sunburn. If he kept it up long enough, I didn’t doubt he’d burn right through my invulnerability.

A shadow zoomed past overhead and I risked lowering one arm to peek.

Darla swooped down behind my attacker and slammed both feet directly into his spine. The impact, coupled with her strength, sent him sprawling forward. His feet tangled in the melted mess of a bench and the villain crashed face-first into the concrete. The blonde gave me a quick nod and shot back up into the sky again

I stepped away from the sagging side of the transport and lowered my arms to stare down at the front of my uniform. The yellow and black material was singed in a few small spots, mainly around the curves, but otherwise remained in pristine condition. Thrilled that I wouldn’t be finishing this fight half-naked, I screamed into the comm unit. “It works!”

Daniel’s voice squeaked with panic in my ear. “On your left, Karen!”

“On my le—”I turned left just in time for a large fist to collide with my jaw and send me flying through the air to crash down on a brick planter attached to the side of the bookstore.

I should have paid less attention to my wardrobe and more on the bad guys I was trying to apprehend.

“Kayo,” Daniel said. “Karen, you have to get up. It’s—”

“Colonel Tank,” I interrupted, groaning. “Yeah, I noticed.”

“Well, well,” said the muscle-bound man dressed in a beige t-shirt and fatigues as he stalked towards me. “I’d heard that big, bad Crushette was now one of the Good Guys. I just didn’t want to believe it.” He cracked his knuckles and glared down at me. “How you been, Red?”

I rolled off the fractured planter and looked up at him. “Just peachy, Tank. Still having to pay hookers to wipe your ass?” His overly-developed muscles provided him with little in the way of flexibility. I wasn’t sure about the actual truth in his inability to perform his own toilet hygiene, but I knew it was a prolific rumor he despised.