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The Underdogs:
An Interactive Story
Chapter 1
Is There A Doctor In The House?
Standing there impatiently for his date to return from the bathroom while he uncomfortably held her purse, Bradly A. Moast scratched at his freshly shaved chin as he watched the crowd at the fundraiser for Cancer Research that he had been invited to. It was a fairly boring night so far, and as soon as his date returned from the bathroom, they would be retiring for the evening.
It was not all bad though. He had made contacts with several promising researchers that would give him plenty to look forward to when he returned to his day job as a head Doctor at the Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on Monday. His night job on the other hand, he had plenty more dirt to work with... Blegh... I hate working nights... Captain Darkly probably doesn't work as many nights as I do... He thought bitterly. He had not gotten much sleep in weeks. But he was growing use to it by this point. Or so he told himself.
When his date finally returned from the restroom and retrieved her purse, Bradly sighed at not having to hold it any longer. Despite not being one to show embarrassment, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed at her having asked him to hold it... He smiled down at her with her golden hair and smooth pale skin as he held his arm out for her to grasp.
"Ready to leave, dear?" He asked his date. Her name was Shelly, or Sharon, or Shelby? He couldn't remember. She was only really there to be arm candy for the night anyways. A distraction so he could do some of the finer details of his other profession. Though she did have other more useful talents.
Before she could answer, a loud bang echoed through the air and nearly everyone ducked down and covered their ears from the intense explosion. After a moment, a large group of strangely dressed men in bright obnoxious purple and red outfits burst into the dining hall and waved their guns around. Bradly recognized them almost immediately as members of the Bad Luck gang. Small time crooks who usually went after jewelry or banks, rarely did they ever actually do anything more than that. Bradly had tussled with them on more than a few occasions, and he still had the scars to prove it.
"Nobody move, and nobody gets hurt!" One man shouted. "Dingo, get the stuff!"
'Dingo' nodded and pulled a large bag out of his pocket, then slowly began hurrying around the room and taking any type of jewelry he could from the various guests. Eventually he made his way over to Bradly and Shannon? Samantha? Stephanie? God, why couldn't he remember her name?
"Hand it over, lady." Dingo said holding his hand out and looking obviously at the large ruby pendant that Sandy was wearing. Or was it Sara?
She looked over at Bradly for a moment, and he simply nodded. "Just do what the man says." He whispered softly. She sighed and handed the necklace over.
"You too bub." Dingo said now looking at Bradly.
"Sorry, but I don't have anything valuable on me..." Was what he started to say, but before he finished saying it, spots danced in his vision as he realized he had been knocked clean onto his bum. After a moment the thug kicked Bradly in the stomach and continued on.
"That was my mother's necklace..." Sandra said. "We are getting it back, right?"
"Of course, as soon as they leave..." Bradly rasped softly as he pushed himself back to his feet. "You remember the plan?"
"It never changes, does it?" She asked.
"That would require original thought... I'm not original." Bradly said with a smirk.
After a few more brief minutes, the thugs finished their robbery, and fled from the scene. In the panicking chaos, Bradly managed to slip out the doors to a stairway, and climbed the stairway to the roof and hurried over towards the skyway bridge going over the street.. When he got up there, he could see a fair distance out from the convention building, and all the way down River Road going north, the Bad Luck Gang's getaway vehicle was unmistakeable with its brightly slapped on paint scheme, and obnoxious neon lights.
Pulling his suit jacket open, and stripping off his white dress shirt to reveal the white and red tights underneath, Bradly pulled his goggles from his pocket and pulled the on over his eyes. Slipping off the remainder of his dress clothes, he stood proudly on the roof with the broad Red Cross symbol on his chest, as he pulled on his bright red gloves of justice. Doctor Almost was on the scene now, and soon the Bad Luck Gang would wish that the doctor was not in.
"Do you always have to do that striptease when you change into your costume?" A woman's voice asked from behind.
Bradly, no, Doctor Almost turned and saw his date was standing there, still in her deep red dress with its plunging neckline, slightly curly golden hair falling in careful layers framing her face and just reached her shoulders.
"This is so much easier, you should really try it." She held up an amulet and her whole body flashed in a brilliant flash of light, and when it died down, her clothes were replaced with sleek red and black tights, and a slim mask covered her eyes.
"So nice of you to join me, Crimson Maiden." Bradly said, finally able to discard what ever fake name she had given him for the night. He sometimes wondered who she really was, but she would never tell him. Even worse, with her powerful magic, he could barely recall her face without the mask once she changed into her costume.
"Charmed to be sure, but my mother's necklace?" She said with a frown.
"Oh, right! Necklace! Bad guys! Let's go!" Without another word, he leaped off the roof's ledge and fell a full twenty feet before he remembered he could not fly... Luckily, he could manifest powerful streams of water from the air, and focused enough he could propel himself away from the ground. Blasting a burst of water downwards, he slowed his decent, then shifted his momentum forward, and sort of glided through the air towards the Bad Luck Gang on a pillar of water. Glancing behind himself, he smiled to see Crimson Maiden was following him through the air with some sort of flight spell. Perhaps their "date" would not be so boring after all.
It was rather quiet for a Sunday night.
A lone figure leapt across the rooftops of the buildings that lined River Road. Some nights were filled with mayhem, destruction, and violence. Other nights were filled with danger and heroics. But this was one of the rare nights where nothing eventful happened. Just the organized chaos that was a city at night: the constant murmur of vehicle traffic, the squeal of elevated trains, the soft melodies of street corner performers, and the laughter of citizens out in the town.
She could hear it all.
Incredibly sensitive hearing was both the blessing and curse of Yvonne Zysbanu. Her elongated earlobes could detect the smallest nuance at ranges much farther than a human could hope to hear.
So it was no surprise that she heard the explosion many blocks away from her location. Yvonne skidded to a stop on the roof of an apartment and paused to listen. She touched a finger to a device in her ear canal, filtering out the background noise to hone in on the sounds she sought. An updraft from the alley below fluttered past Yvonne as she listened, her grey trenchcoat and long tail of snowy hair billowing in the breeze.
And then she heard it; screaming, shouting, screeching tires, and the occasional gunshot. And it was steadily approaching her position.
Yvonne stepped to the edge of the roof and peered down River Road towards the south. Hidden behind polarized lenses, her silver eyes could see detail at distances much greater than a human could ever hope to see. Although her eyes possessed the vision acuity of an eagle, it was hard to miss the garishly colored van with neon lights barreling down the road.
"Bad Luck Gang," thought Yvonne. She promptly found a gutter on the side of the building and slid down the metal pole to the alley; her hands and feet were protected by leather gloves and thick leather boots. Yvonne began to sprint towards the road, unholstering a long barreled pistol from her left thigh as she did so. While she had no doubt in her ability to shoot out the tires from the incoming van, the window of time for her to do so was quickly running out.
Yvonne pushed herself to run as fast as she could, vaulting parked cars and pushing past startled citizens on her way towards River Road.
She could not let herself fail; The Grey Wolf does not lose her prey once the hunt has begun.
Leaving another club, abandoning her pretense of tipsiness, Danika van Helsing saw the eye-searingly colored car fly past. Thinking to herself, "No vampires here, better go help" as she recognized the offense against fashion that was the Bad Luck Gang. She slipped into the shadows, and leapt to a rooftop, before bounding along in pursuit, her "gifts" enabling her to fade from sight, and utterly transcend human notions of stamina. From seemingly nowhere she drew her blade, a finely crafted broadsword, bearing the mark of the Lord whose warriors it was forged for, inlaid with mystic sigils by that same dark Lord to aid his Chosen One.
From his vantage point in a nearby alley, the Knight watched the garish vehicle race by. It was the Bad Luck Gang again, and they were always trouble.
"I should go after them," he thought. He squared his shoulders to settle his cape and adjusted the cowl around his eyes. He checked his belt pouches to make sure he had his most important tools with him. His knees flexed slightly preparing to leap into the skies. But then he looked up. The skies were clear and cloudless and the moon, while not quite full, was reflecting enough of the sun's light to throw shadows.
His shoulders slumped. "Who am I kidding?" he thought. "On a night like this I'm all but powerless."
He was painfully aware of his own limitations. His powers had a very narrow range of operation and, unless a sudden squall blew up, he'd be no more use in a fight than any other middle aged, slightly overweight man. Still he was a hero, he had to try. He tied his cape around his waist and jogged off down the road in the van's wake.
The Dark (and stormy) Knight was on the case.
"They're moving fast, Boss."
"Is that a problem?"
"Depends..."
"Depends? Depends on WHAT, Ace?"
"On rather we want that car in one piece or in a pile of spare parts... With the 88s, I could hit them easy, but their driver stinks. 'Lots of people out here to hurt if they lose it."
"Follow them, then, but keep your distance. And, Ace..."
"Yeah, Boss?"
"Try not to get arrested this time."
"You never let me have any fun."
=============
"See? I told ya it was gonna be easy didn't I, Dingo? In and out, I said, and no one's gonna give us any trouble... Bunch'a pansies, all of 'em... Get a load of the size of this rock. That's what I'm talkin' about!" Ricky DeMonaco grinned and pushed an antique ruby pendant towards the driver of the big, purple van. "And we didn't even have to get punched in the face for it, did we? All we gotta do is get outta here and we're home free. You can get us outta here, can't ya Mackie?"
"Yeah. I can get us out of here. If you get that stupid thing out of my face!" Mackie slapped at the necklace and felt the van hit the curb, tipping to the side as two tires bounced. "Damn it. How about next time we bring a real car instead of this barge!"
=============
"Okay, you heard the boss. Time to stop sightseeing and get to work. 88-1 and 88-2, lock target and deploy." Thirty stories above the careening van and Sunday evening traffic, a small VTOL hovered, a darker black shadow against the silvered glass of Chicago's downtown skyline. Its pilot grinned, watching two spheres no larger than soccer balls rocket down into the city's canyons. "Make me proud, boys."
On the flier's heads-up display a map of the city expanded, and two blue dots converged on a moving red triangle, heading north. "Got 'em! Follow mode only, One and Two. Do not engage. Let's see where they're headed..."
Doctor Almost nearly lost his balance and fell as he slammed hard onto the ledge of a rooftop to stop and catch his breath. Crimson Maiden was hovering silently beside him with her wispy red glow. They had chased the thugs for only a few blocks before the thugs had pulled their garish looking car into the Rivers Casino parking lot, but the Doctor was already getting winded. Leaping through the air on pillars of water was very physically demanding.
"What do you think?" Doctor asked.
"I think we need to get that necklace back before they realize what it is." Maiden said bitterly.
"What, is it magical or something?" Doctor asked.
"In a way, depending on how you define 'Magic'..." She said in her usual mischievousness. "Suffice to say, even a minor trinket such as that should not be in the wrong hands."
"Then let's get it back already..." Doctor Almost said as he squared up his shot towards the thugs, then leaped hard into the air with a powerful stream of water hurling him clear into the Casino parking lot. As he approached, he reached out with his powers, and pulled ever more water out of the air, summoning a small rain storm down on the thugs to disorient them from aiming their weapons as he closed in and began hurling balls of Heavy Water at them, knocking over two thugs, and just missing Dingo.
A moment later, the Crimson Maiden joined him, and using her magical powers ripped away the thugs' weapons, and flung them away, then pulled Dingo into the air by the metal in his belt buckle. That was the strange thing about her powers. For herself, she could do all kinds of things with magic, but for anything else, she could only affect it if it contained metal. As she lifted the man into the air towards her, the man screamed and kicked violently. She waved her hands outwards, and a red portal opened, summoning two large steal pipes, that she then used her metal levitation ability to twist and tie around the man like ropes. Then she pulled him real close, and with a look that almost terrified the Doctor, spoke in a low, barely audible voice in the sudden downpour.
"Where is my mother's necklace?" She said simply.
Doctor Almost wasn't sure, but it seemed the man's pants were now more wet than they could have been from the rain alone.
Shrieking in pain, the Doctor lost control of his pillar of water, careened off of it, and slammed hard into a nearby Cadillac when one of the thugs threw a stone that hit him square in the face. A moment later, another stone flung out at Maiden, and she pulled Dingo in front of her to block the slow moving projectile. Another thug seemed to have slipped behind Maiden and had regained his weapon, and was raising it level towards the Doctor as he pushed himself sluggishly to his feet. He was just about to blast the man with a jet stream of water, when a shadowy form flashed into view so fast Doc could not make out who it was, and knocked the Bad Luck Gang member hard into a Chevy truck, leaving a large dent in the door as the thug collapsed unconscious.
It, somehow, became a dark and stormy night.
Well, not entirely dark since it was a casino parking lot, and not entirely stormy since the rain seemed to be limited to rows F3 to G5, but it was night and there was rain falling and that was just enough.
"FINALLY!" Thought the man in the black and grey cowl as his powers activated. His exhaustion bled away and he could feel his feet lifting off of the ground. He wouldn't have top speed but he could probably move faster than a speeding motor scooter. Given the sitation he saw before him, that would have to do.
He flexed his back slightly and aimed himself at a gang member who had drawn a gun and was aiming for another hero that was fighting to get back to his feet. The Knight covered his head with his hands (he wasn't quite invulnerable right then) and put every ounce of speed he could muster into becoming a battering ram.
He hit the gang member squarely in the midsection throwing the ganger backward into the side of a parked truck. A Ford perhaps. It wasn't important. The gang member slid bonelessly to the ground and the Knight made a mental note to check on him in a moment.
Right now, stopping before he hit a truck was far more important.
Discretion.
Situational Awareness.
These are traits that set one apart from the common vigilante or heroic wannabe.
So in the instant it took Yvonne to draw a bead with her pistol on the Bad Luck Gang's truck, it took only an instant for her to realize that another motorist's vehicle was heading in her direction. It was going to pass right between herself and the truck, thwarting her chances of safely disabling her target. With few other options, she leapt. She pounced off of the oncoming car and leapt to the back of the garish truck, making the driver bump into the curb. She holstered her pistol and hung on for dear life as the erratic driver continued his rampage. She heard several objects flying behind her, and ventured a guess that she was not the only individual after this particular truck.
Thankfully the Bad Luck Gangers made a quick turn into the Rivers Casino parking lot, bringing the chase to a halt. Yvonne jumped around the driver's side of the vehicle just as the gang members were exiting. She quickly dropped the driver with two quick jabs and a roundhouse kick the face. As she lowered the unconscious man to the ground it suddenly began to rain.
Two other heroes, a man manipulating water and a woman flying under her own power suddenly appeared. They both quickly disarmed the thugs and seemed to have things under control. That was, until the man was hit in the face with a rock. The woman was intent on her captured prey and did not see the man go down, nor the thug behind her with a pistol. Yvonne drew her pistol and was about to yell a warning when a third individual careened into the thug, the thug flying back into a parked truck.
Seeing the presence of not one, but four heroes, the last Bad Luck Gang thug turned tail and ran towards the Casino. Noticing his, Yvonne calmly raised her long-barreled pistol. She held it steady in both hands and fired twice, both rounds taking the thug in the leg and knocking him off his feet.
No immediate threats sighted, Yvonne strode over to where the water manipulator was struggling to his feet. She offered him her gloved hand and pulled him up onto his feet.
"Maybe you should wear a helmet," remarked Yvonne with a smirk. She fixed her gaze on the thug held in place by the flying woman.
"Now that is an interesting interrogation method..."
"And the answer to tonight's sixty-thousand dollar question is... the Rivers Casino. Looks like the gaming commission might have overlooked a thing or two when they called this place legit. We weren't the only ones who noticed the fireworks, either... One, wide-band video feed, direct transmission to Home Office... 'You seeing this, Boss?"
"I see it, Ace."
"And?"
"And what?"
"And what are we going to DO about it? I mean, the Bad Luck Gang aren't exactly Professor Malfeas, but they've still got numbers... The good guys may be in for some trouble. You're not going to make me just sit here and watch all the fun from orbit, are you?"
"I had considered it, but the odds of your obedience were negligible. Just don't do anything rash. Given our present circumstances, it would be unwise. I've run out of favors with the district attorney's office."
"So, don't blow up anything expensive. Got it... One, maintain that video feed... Two, you're with me... Three, deploy and run remote pilot protocol. You've got the Duce... Head for that rooftop and keep her steady."
======
Ace's perception shifted from cool, night air flowing over the contours of a smooth hull to the duller constriction of a human body in a lightly armored flight suit as 88-3 took over the aircraft's command functions. It was always a little disorienting to have a pulse again after becoming accustomed to the steady drone of the lift engines, and it was strange to feel arms and legs in place of wings and control surfaces. 'One of these days,' the pilot thought, pausing for a few seconds before jumping from the VTOL to the rooftop beside the Rivers Casino, 'I'm going to end up forgetting how being human works.' But today was not that day. "Two, cover the casino's back door."
One access ladder later and she was on the ground, sprinting out of the ally and straight into the path of the only Bad Luck thief smart enough to completely avoid the brawl in the parking lot...
"Watch it, freak!" Ruby pendant still clutched in one ham-fisted hand, Ricky DeMonaco barreled into Ace, knocking the pilot to one side without slowing down.
"Freak, huh?" She stood back up slowly, taking the time to let the targeting optics in her flight helmet lock on to the fleeing criminal. "I'll show you freak... Two, target mode. Non-lethal."
At the far end of the ally, Ricky DeMonaco could almost see freedom. Sure, he'd lost the van and most of the loot, and yeah, the rest of the boys were probably going to get sent up the river, but HE could still get away, and he wouldn't do it empty-handed. He'd lay low for awhile, he thought. Maybe take a trip over to Atlantic City, or out to Las Vegas... Yeah, Vegas would be nice. Catch a few shows. Play the slots.
"Hit him."
Ricky DeMonaco was still thinking of slot machines and chorus-line dancers when a blinding, white-hot flash and something that felt like a freight train made of lightning slammed him to the ground. 'What the hell?,' he thought, dazed and unable to make his body move. He had been so close.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to call people names?" The freak in the helmet and fitted bodysuit... the one from the far end of the ally... stood over him, with some spinning ball-thing that glowed and crackled with electricity. "Just be glad my boss wants you in one piece. Two only tazered you. We could have done a lot worse." And then the freak took his ruby necklace.
"Pretty..."
Ace held up the antique ruby pendant, turning it back and forth against the light from the Rivers Casino's back door. Too pretty to be stolen and pawned off by a two-bit thug like DeMonaco. "I bet its owner would like to have it back. Your mother never told you not to take other people's stuff, either, did she?" She prodded the thief with the toe of her boot, getting a slurred curse in return. "But hey, maybe you'll get to apologize when all those people come down to the station to identify you... Two, keep an eye on this guy. If he moves, zap him again... If I were you, buddy, I wouldn't move."
"I assume you're still paying attention, Boss. It sounds like the brawl out front's dying down..."
"Of course. I took the liberty of alerting the local police station to the Bad Luck Gang's location. If their dispatchers are as... efficient... as usual, patrol officers should be arriving within four minutes."
"They're getting better... I can remember when we used to be able to bank on ten. 'You want this guy in person, or are we doing this through official channels?"
"It's best to play by the rules for the time being. It will be simple enough to access his interrogation records."
"Good. It would have been a cramped flight home hauling this loser."
Danika slipped along unnoticed. She came upon a man with a remote detonator in his hand. Disdaining the Bad Luck Gang as beneath soiling her blade, she left it in the scabbard and simply clobbered him with the sheathed broadsword. Her acute senses picked out the improvised claymore mines, set to sweep the zone where the other heroes had cornered the robbers. "Someone set a marginally clever trap" she mused.
"Evening folks" said the alluring redhead as she stepped out from the shadows, waving one hand behind her, "they have some explosives set, they planned to take everyone pursuing out in the blast. I figured we might want some answers, I knocked out the triggerman. Since the actual thieves would be in the blast, they're expendable, and probably without a clue. But the cleanup guy seems likely to be more informed. Oh, I'm Danika van Helsing.....cal me Dani" with a smile.
Doctor Almost rubbed at his sore head as he joined the growing group of new comers. It had been a few weeks since he had bumped into another set of Tights aside from Crimson Maiden, and he was not sure he recognized them.
"Thanks for the assist." He said with a smile as he offered a thankful hand to the nearest hero who had just saved him from one of the thugs. "The name's Almost. Doctor Almost." He said in a horrible fake British accent. "And you are..."
* * *
Angelica Ofilia Donnelly watched the spectacle draw to a close on her cell's TV, and glowered as the group of heroes finished apprehending the pitiful brutes of the Bad Luck Gang who were now utterly powerless under the multitude of abilities these heroes possessed as a group. The news chopper had a pretty good view of the casino's parking lot, and Angelica found herself smirking when she saw one of the heroes returning what appeared to be a large ruby gem encrusted pendant to one of the other heroes.
Angelica recognized the pendant immediately. It was hers. And the woman who had it now must be the same woman who had taken it from her, Madam Crimson, though this hero's appearance now greatly differed from what she recalled from her skirmish five years before. The news cut away from the scene and returned to the anchor man and woman who were blabbering about something to do with "new heroes saving the day" or some such, but Angelica tuned it out. She knew where her amulet was, and more over, she knew she could get it back. She did not need the blasted thing, it was merely a trinket compared to her other artifacts that Madam Crimson had not taken upon Angelica's capture several years before, but it was a pretty trinket, and she liked the thing rather endearingly.
"Guard!" Angelica said loudly at the enchanted duraglass wall separating her from freedom. She had tried every spell and incantation she could think of to try and escape over the years, but none had been able to work. The enchantments nullified her magic almost entirely, and she could do little more than write useless runes in the air.
"What is it, Dark?" Officer Leroy asked from the other side. It had long since become standard procedure a long time before her imprisonment to keep all class five supers under constant guard even despite the impenetrable cells, mostly because of the escape of one Johnny Nuclear about twenty years ago that resulted in the destruction of half of Lake County when several capes had tried and failed to capture him. Since then, constant guards were standard practice.
"I want to speak with my lawyer." Angelica said simply.
"Sure thing, Miss Dark, I'll be sure to have him down here first thing in the morning... Now, it's late, do you mind going to sleep now, or do I have to read you a bed time story?" He added sarcastically.
"That depends..." She said pressing a thoughtful finger to her lips. "Is it a story of true love?" She put as much sensuality into her words as she could stomach. Leroy visibly blushed, but made his face hard.
"Don't make me come in there." He insisted pulling his billy club free. If he came in, he could beat her senseless and the enchantments would leave her mostly defenseless, but she could still use her physical attributes to her advantage...
"Oh, does the big bad police guard man want to give wittle 'ol me a spanking?" She continued taunting the guard.
"That's it." Leroy glowered as he leaned towards the radio at his shoulder and spoke into it. "Open up C-17, our guest needs a little discipline."
"Jeeze, Leroy, that's the third time this week..." A voice piped in over the static. It sounded like Officer Stanely. "You need some back up?"
"Nah, I got this." Leroy said with an evil smirk. "I'll let you know when I'm finished."
"Roger that. Try not to break her too bad this time, will you? Doc's been working overtime enough as it is without her in intensive care all the time."
"She can heal just fine with her magic voodoo crap." Leroy said. A moment passed, and the duraglass wall slid open, and Leroy stepped inside. "Come here Miss Dark, I ain't gonna hurt ya too bad."
Angelica smirked and deftly drew a series of symbols in the air that flashed and fizzled, then she put a hand on her hip and smiled knowingly at Leroy.
"Your magic can't do nothin' in here, lady, ain't you given up yet?" Leroy said dismissively as he gestured with his billy club.
"Really? Then what's that behind you?" She asked, pointing.
"I ain't fallin' for that, Dark... What, ya think I'm stupid?" He smirked, but he obviously seemed more angry.
"Oh, okay then. I thought I would just warn you about the dracolich I summoned behind you... But I see you don't mind being eaten, so never mind..." She causally began picking at her finger nails and blowing on them.
"Dracolich...?" Leroy paled visible and began to turn. As soon as he did, Angelica grabbed the TV off the table and slammed it over the guard's head with a loud glass shattering crash. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.
"Idiot..." Angelica smirked as she grabbed the guard and flipped him over to remove his radio. Then stepping into the hall, and freeing herself from her cell's enchantments, she cast a spell to alter her voice and frowned as she spoke. "All done, she's settled down now, go ahead and close 'er up." She said in Leroy's voice. A second later Stanely said something that she did not pay attention to, and the duraglass wall slid back into place.
She dropped the radio then began casting a teleport spell. She was not one hundred percent sure where she was going, so there was a chance she might end up partially in a wall, but it was better than staying put, and she could heal herself relatively easily, so long as her head was not stuck in something solid... She pointed herself somewhere near where she had seen the heroes on the TV and finished casting and escaped from Cook County Jail.
When she appeared in the middle of the group of heroes a moment later, she suddenly wished she had chosen somewhere else...
"Madam Crimson, we meet again..." She said simply ignoring the questions coming from everyone else around them, and only focusing on the woman who held her pendant.
"Who?" One man asked.
"I think you have me confused with someone else..." Madam said slowly.
"No, I'm sure it's you." Angelica said simply. "What, you don't recognize your old nemesis?"
"Who are you?" Another hero asked.
"Looks like she's wearing prison orange..." Another added.
Angelica frowned, realizing in her haste to escape, she had forgotten to change her clothes.
"Perhaps this will refresh your memory?" She waved her hand, and her orange jump suit was quickly replaced with a long flowing black robe and high collar, with an intricate metal ornament on her back, and her hair was restored to twin ornate buns.
"That chick from Final Fantasy 8?" One hero asked. "That sorcorer chick? What's her name?"
Angelica groaned, lashed out with a spell silencing the other heroes and binding their bodies to where the stood. "No further interruptions!" She said angrily. "Now... I have waited a long time for this, Madam Crimson... Do you really not remember me?"
"My name is Crimson Maiden..." The woman said with a frown. "And I see that you are very powerful with magic, but I don't have the faintest clue who you are..."
"I see... Well, then perhaps you are related to the woman I seek... Regardless, I am the deliverer of darkness. The assistant to the devil. Right hand to the Dark God, and His angel of Death. You will tremble before me, and know that my name is Darkheart Angel!" She finished with a flourish of simple lightning spells that punctuated her speech.
She frowned when she heard one man burst out laughing, and she glanced with confusion at him. She had cast her spell on him, the same as the others, but he was still able to speak? His body at least still seemed bound, but it was troubling. Perhaps she was getting rusty from years of not using her magic...
"Darkheart Angel? Really? That's what you call yourself? Bwa ha ha ha!" The man continued in his fit of laughter.
"Will you be silent!" Angelica cast her silence spell on the man again, but it still seemed to have no effect. "What sorcery is this...?"
"Almost, shut up, she's the real deal! You want her to kill you where you stand? Shut up!"
"Sorry, it's just so ridiculous!" He continued giggling uncontrollably.
Hitting her last nerve, Angelica created a pocket vortex around the man's head that created a bubble around him and sucked out all the oxygen. The man promptly stopped laughing and began rasping and coughing trying in vain to breath. "Now then, for my pendant..." Angelica gestured simply, and her pendant, which was still in "Crimson Maiden's" hand snapped out of her grasp and flew into Angelica's hand.
"That was my mother's!" She objected, trying to cast a spell to retrieve it, to which Angelica effortlessly countered it.
"Ah, so I see." Angelica smirked. "That makes you Madam Crimson's daughter... I'll have you know, that this is my pendant actually, she merely took it from me when she arrested me five years ago. Anyways, I'll be seeing you around." she added as she walked closer and ran a hand over the soft features of the woman's face. "Now, to catch up on five years of mayhem, chaos, murder, and senseless destruction, so if you will excuse me..." She countered another pitiful spell of Crimson's as she began casting her teleportation spell, and smiled devilishly as she teleported away.
* * *
Doctor Almost gasped as what ever was preventing him from breathing in air suddenly vanished, and he inhaled a large much needed breath.
"What..." He coughed between heavy breaths. "Who the hell was that?"
"That," said the Knight, "could be a problem."
He stepped out from next to the truck he had been leaning on (partially invulnerable was the same as mostly vulnerable) and held a smartphone in front of him. A few quick hand motions and a few flickers of light hinted that he was accessing some information.
"Based on what we just saw, and assuming she was telling the truth, Vilwiki.com here suggests that she was, Darkheart Angel," he looked up at the group of heroes around him, "...among other names. The list of aliases is kind of insane. Anyhow, she's at least a class five magical talent...maybe higher, a list of known or suspected crimes longer than her alias list, a costume gallery almost as long... including one or two in very bad taste. Oddly enough her stated goals of 'murder, death, and destruction' are universally agreed on. Oh, and..." he paused as he looked at Crimson Maiden, "she really, really hated your mother."
"You got all that from a cellphone app?" asked the young woman calling herself Ace.
The knight looked over at her and grinned, "the Internet is not just for porn you know."
"Magic... Of COURSE it had to be magic. Porn I could handle, but that oogie-boogie crap? Yeesh."
The woman in the dark flight suit, who had introduced herself simply as Ace when she returned Crimson's amulet, pulled off her helmet and glared at it. "Do you have any IDEA what that kind of unstable energy release at short range does to high-end multi-spectrum optics? I knew I should have added more shielding. I KNEW it..." She snarled something that might have been an Italian curse, then looked up, whistled and waved to the little drone hovering over the parking lot. "One, get down here! I need your relay."
"I don't suppose that wiki entry has a 'last known hide-out' listed? Who-ever that witch was she owes me a helmet... One, private band six. Core broadcast... Boss? You still there? "
"I am now. What happened?" The reply that came from the drone's on-board speakers was male and much older than the pilot's, but oddly stilted, with the tinny, digital modulation of a voice generated... or altered... by a machine.
"Some MU in a bad Sister Satana cosplay ported right into the middle of the group, hexed the lot of us and took off with that ruby necklace I pulled off of DeMonaco. 'Fried my helmet good. Did you lose One's video feed?"
"Briefly, when the information from your own helmet array was disrupted."
"Dammit... So much for checking the playback for anything useful. When she first popped in she was wearing prison-issue. 'Said her name was 'Darkheart Angel'. 'Real drama queen. No such luck you know her?"
"Only by reputation. She never attempted to establish a base of operations in New York. I believe she had an agreement with the Circle of the Seven Fortunes regarding territory and use of the Albany nexus point, but arcane politics were not my area of expertise..." The voice paused for a moment, as if its owner was considering. "Once you've finished with the thieves, perhaps you should gather everyone involved and formulate a collective plan of action."
Ace sighed. "You're not seriously suggesting what I THINK you're suggesting are you? You know what happened the last time we tried that..."
"I am, and I do, Ace, but it's time to move on. Consider it an exercise in character-building. Working with a team again will be good for you. Bring them to home office."
*scowling*
"That was unexpected...also slightly embarassing....I've got some protections against magic, but they're sadly a matter of conscious thought. Magic coercions, restraints, and such do burn out fairly quickly on me, but still...."
"I might be able to get some information on her current whereabouts from some....supernatural world contacts I have. No way to know how prompt a response I'll get..." An odd, faintly dreamy, hopeful look flits across her face.
"How about we meet up tomorrow, catch some dinner, and see where we're at? Everyone use whatever they can to get all the info we can on this Darkheart Angel?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Ace said, tucking her helmet under one arm and nodding towards the flashing lights and approaching wail of the Chicago PD. "That would be my cue to exit stage outta' here... I know a little place over in West Town, on Grand. Cassiano's. It belongs to a friend of my uncle's." She turned, walking back towards the alley and the access ladder. "Serves the best capuzzelle in Chicago, and has plenty of space for private meetings... Eight-thirty ought to get us in after the dinner crowd."
She paused at the foot of the ladder, just long enough to look back and grin. "And if you want 'im, the leader of these yahoos... The one who tried to make off with your jewelry... He's back here. 'Name's DeMonaco, and he's got quite a history. He shouldn't give the boys and girls in blue any trouble, but I'd hate for him to get missed in the mop-up."
The small drone that Ace had called "One" remained in place as its owner walked away, turning in a slow circle to regard each of the other assembled heroes with its dispassionate lens. It didn't depart until the dark shadow of the VTOL had lifted off the roof, darting away towards the lakefront and the towers of the Loop.
***
"Please tell me that you weren't serious about running around with those guys! You know how bone-headed that is!" Struggling as she was against inertia and rust to close a reinforced warehouse door that was twice her height and several more times her age, it was difficult to tell if Ace was truly angry or simply frustrated.
"I was entirely serious. Groups of enhanced individuals working as a team routinely accomplish more than the same collection of individuals working alone. That is an indisputable fact."
"Yeah, and they also attract a lot more attention from other Capes!" The old door finally gave way, slamming shut with a bang that shook thick clouds of dust from the rafters, coating the girl, her aircraft and the drones all in a fine powder of grey. "Or have you already forgotten that we're supposed to be keeping a low profile? Even if we're not in New York any more, you're kidding yourself if you think that Mister "Hi! I'm the Anvil of f-ing Freedom!" and his Empire Alliance fan-club are going to leave us alone forever... Especially not if we start making headlines as part of some start-up B-list super-group! They made it pretty clear what they thought of us playing hero."
"I never suggested a permanent alliance, Ace, but we've come to a dead end. Getting any useful information from DeMonaco or his men is a long shot at very best. You know that. The assistance of the Dark Knight, the Crimson Maiden and the others could provide new avenues of investigation that would not have been open to us otherwise. Working with others is a risk, but I see little alternative."
Ace shook her head, and looked at the white pod standing silently in the far corner, its soft green and blue lights doing very little to fend off the warehouse's gloom. "Boss, I know you believe that. But I just don't think this is going to end up anywhere good."
She keyed the electronic lock on the old door and armed the warehouse's recently-installed security system. "I'm not worried about what Anvil wants to do to me... Jail doesn't scare me, and I know I'm not ever going to be anything but 'Marco Marciano's Little Girl, the Geek' to that guy. Just more leverage for him to use against the family. You're the one I'm worried about... Anvil's not going to send you to the DA. He swore he was going to delete you..."
Slipping broadsword and sheath onto back..they seem to fade from sight....hard to see unless specifically looking for the weapon.
"Great! I love turkey tetrazzini!" with a quick smile, Danika slipped into the shadows, melding smoothly...a faint rasping sound, and she was up the building, leaping and bounding along rooftops once more, headed back to campus.
A few minutes introspection, calculated the latest time to go to sleep and still perform adequately in lab the next day...
"He could have given me a reference guide....Dusty grimoire A has information on X, Y, Z, whereas moldy grimoire B is all about Demons from Dis, and......GAH!"
Pulling out cell phone....
"Yeah, Tomas, it's Dani. Something wonky going on, maybe has a link to Albany, so I'm calling you. I don't care if you're busy, I've run into something....again, see me not caring. Look, you willing to wager your life if I ask *HIM* he wont' say I can kill you for not helping? I know, I agree, I'm not worthy.....but it's my place to question, nor is it YOURS. Now, answers, or sunshine? You choose. "