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"Brother," Marshal cried out as he entered the darkened room. "We've got trouble."
"What kind of trouble," Ethan asked, already sounding annoyed.
"There were these people at the last bank," he answered, a voice full of panic. "This redheaded girl had these guys with her. One almost broke my armor, and the other one..." Marshal stopped to think for a moment. The one in the black trench coat was crazy. "The other one was...I don't know. Just wouldn't stay down."
"Wouldn't stay down," Ethan questioned, pulling his attention away from their mother. "Was he dressed in black with fighting gloves?" Marshal nodded. "You fool! Those were the Professional Heroes." He slammed his fist on the small tray next to him."A friend of mine warned me about them."
"What are we going to do," Marshal asked. "I mean, I can take out the girl and the spiky-haired guy no problem. But the one in the trench coat..."
"That's not important now.," Ethan cut him off. "We need to stick with the plan. Come back tomorrow night and I'll tell you what we'll do next."
Valkadaidan laid out on Jill's couch in the living room, holding an ice pack on his forehead. Deadguy tossed him another pack. "How you feeling," he asked.
"Like I just got hit by a bus," Valk replied. "Twice." He tossed the old ice pack onto the coffee table and applied the fresh one. "How do you do it?"
"Do what," Our Hero asked, plopping into the recliner.
"Get up from attacks that would kill a mortal man?"
He shrugged. "Not really something I think about. I get knocked down, but I get back up again." He paused. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"It's in a song from the 90's," Valkadaidan growled. "that's now stuck in my head."
"I'm sure the readers have it stuck in their heads, too."
Valk removed the ice pack and just started at Deadguy, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. "Gentlemen," Jill called out from her office.
"No time for that now," DG said. "Boss needs us." Deadguy pulled Valkadaidan off the couch and both walked into Jill's office.
"We need to talk about our performance earlier today," she said. "We have no order. No discipline. No plan of attack or anything."
"My plan of attack is I plan to attack their face," DG remarked, making a fist. "It works just fine for me."
"And yet we just got our asses handed to us by one guy," she countered.
"One indestructible guy," Valk added, plopping down on Jill's khaki couch.
"Oo, is this the part in the episode where the boss is like 'you guys sucked out there, you need to do better' and we're all like 'we must train to stop this new villain' and then we have a training montage where we fight each other and Valk does some intense meditation and then we become uber bad asses that completely obliterate the new enemy and he's all like 'oh noes, when did you guys become so powerful' and we're all like 'because of teamwork and justice'?"
Jill and Valk stared at Our Hero, dumbstruck. He gave a thumb's up, hoping that what he just said would make a little more sense. "You need to cut back on your television habits," Jill suggested.
"He does have a point, though," Valk said. "We do need to train together in order to take down this Rampage character."
"No time like the present," DG remarked. "Let's go."
Jill sighed. "I'll go put on my workout clothes," she said.
It was an unusually warm night in New Tao. At least as warm as it can be for early February. Marshal took off his overcoat as he stood across the street from First Covia. The streets were oddly empty for this time of night, but that didn't concern him at this moment in time. The only thing he was concerned about was getting in and getting out. He took off, getting a good running start before smashing into the glass front doors.
"Holy crap," Jill exclaimed as the Heroes watched Rampage rush across the street into the bank. "Stop the car."
Valkadaidan hit the brakes, causing the car to skid to a stop.
"I'm awake," Deadguy announced from the backseat.
"Good," Jill said. "We just ran into Rampage."
"How's the car still in one piece," he asked.
"Not what she meant," Valk growled. "Let's get to work."
The Heroes poured out of the car. Jill stopped suddenly as the guys ran towards the bank. "Whoa, it's freezing," she commented.
Valkadaidan skidded to a stop. "Where's your coat," he asked.
"Left it at home. It wasn't that cold when we left earlier."
He sighed, then ran back to his car to grab one of his long sleeve shirts from the backseat. "Here, put this on," he ordered. They then joined up with Deadguy, who sounded like he was already taunting Rampage.
"Glad you two decided to...why is she wearing your shirt," he asked.
"It's cold," she growled. "A sport bra doesn't exactly keep one warm."
"Fine. Whatever. Hey, Rampage! How about you come out? We have a nice, new football for you."The ground started to rumble. There was another crash as the teller desk shattered. Rampage was charging directly towards Our Hero, another duffel bag strapped to his back. Before Deadguy could react, the villain tackled him at top speed. Rampage continued on his path, slamming into the wall behind them and into the street outside. "Had enough yet," DG said weakly, attempting to punch the villain's helmet off.
"Pathetic," Rampage growled, throwing him on the ground. He stomped on the Hero a few times before walking off.
"Hey," Deadguy yelled, staggering back up and dusting himself off. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
The villain stopped and slowly turned."What kind of FREAK are you," Rampage demanded to know.
"The fun kind," DG replied with a smirk. "The kind your mom likes."
"Don't talk about my mother," the villain yelled, followed by a horrifying scream as he charged full force at Our Hero.
"Note to self," he muttered, his eyes growing wide at this oncoming force. The two collided, and he felt just about every bone in his body shatter to pieces. Rampage then tossed him aside like a rag doll. The body was sent flying into a shop window, shattering it into millions of tiny shards.
"That idiot," Valk growled. "What does he think he's doing?"
Jill grabbed his hand and slapped the C4 into it. "Get in close. Plant this on his neck," she ordered. "I'll take care of the rest."
The Dragon-Blooded gave a brisk nod in agreement, then took off after Rampage. He managed to sneak up on the villain, but he turned around at the last moment. The two locked eyes, then both moved to attack. Iron fists connected with indestructible katana as one tried to overpower the other.
Deadguy recovered in time to see Valkadaidan and Rampage locked in combat. "Oh good, I thought I missed the party," he remarked, wincing as his spine snapped back into place. He snapped his neck a few times as he walked out of the damaged shop front. "Wish I had some mythical weapon to beat him with," he commented, then shrugged.
"Deadguy," Jill yelled from across the street. "Grab the C4."
"No thanks," he yelled back. "I'm not thirsty." As if to speak for her, the brick-shaped C4 putty flew out and landed directly in front of him. "Oh." His facial expression changed as he realized what might happen next. "Ugh." He picked up the putty and tossed it in his hand a few times. "Time for some fireworks."
Deadguy charged back into battle, slapping the C4 onto the back of Rampage as his was distracted with Valk. "Hey! What the..." the villain exclaimed.
"Valkster, move," he said. Both Heroes took off as Jill hit the trigger. The explosion shot Rampage a few feet down the street in a fiery blaze. "Yes, I didn't get blown up this time. Wait, where did you get C4," he asked their boss.
"Less said the better," she answered.
The Heroes turned to observe the flames as sirens sounded in the background. The police arrived on the other side as Rampage emerged, charging directly at Our Hero again. "Gah," he exclaimed, diving out of the way as the villain ran past them and off into the night.
Jill stormed up to the
m as they got out of the car."Why did you have to show up now? We had him," Jill argued with the officer.
"Listen Girly," he shot back. "you and your boy band may run around playing hero, but leave the real perps to the police."
"Girly," she growled.
Deadguy whistled 'Uh oh' as both he and Valk took a few steps back.
"Listen, you cave-dwelling, misogynist jerk," she hissed. "Insult me or my company again, and I will hang you up downtown, by your testicles, so everyone can point and laugh at your shriveled up little manhood." She then walked off as the officer swallowed hard. "Gentlemen, we have work to do," she yelled after them. Valk chuckled, then followed Jill.
Our Hero leaned forward a bit. "Bit of advice? Never piss off a redhead." He then gave a thumbs up as he left to catch up with them.
He caught Valk trying his best to reassure Jill. He had his hand on her shoulder, gently massaging it. They were both absorbed in the map app on her tablet. "What's the stitch, boss," he asked, grabbing her other shoulder.
"Don't touch me," she snapped. Both let go of her shoulders. She glanced over at Valk, softly clearing her throat. "Sorry. Adrenaline's still going."
"And that led you to an impromptu cartography kick," DG questioned.
"Adding this spot to the others," she explained. "I'm trying to find some sort of connection." The two guys watched as she added a red mark to the location of First Covia. "Five banks in five seemingly random locations."
"The first was Universal One in the Harrigan District," Valkadaidan stated.
"Second was Vantage at Terrance Cove," Jill added.
"Third was Second Sol in East End and fourth was, painfully, Blue Collar over in Steelmill," DG finished. "With First Covia added..."
The three studied the map. "Looks like a circle," Valk said. The others agreed with him.
"That is so obvious it feels like a cliche," Deadguy stated. "Twenty bucks says Rampage is held up in the center of the circle."
"Let's see," Jill said, tapping the screen a few times. "1370 Pertwee Street. Let's get there before the police do."