Chapter 18
A-Train
"What the fuck!?" A-Train shouted, running through the streets. His legs and arms pumped, his heart beating hard. "You guys can't give me anything?!"
"We haven't found the bombs in the arena, so this is our only option. Eggman says you and Shockwave need to follow the rules of the race or he'll blow up the bombs. So, as of now, we play his game," Madelyn Stillwell said in A-Train's ear. "Starlight is working on the bombs. You just run."
"The newbie!?" A-Train spat out. "What's Homelander doing!?"
"Homelander is currently running damage control," Madelyn's voice changed, becoming biting, accusing. "Keeping the press from asking why our number one speedster isn't winning the race in seconds to prevent them from blowing up. Because if you do end up losing now, while lives are on the line, no one is going to question why we decided Shockwave is our best bet. Understand?"
A-Train stopped for a moment, breathing hard and trying to focus. Goddamn it. He'd tried to grab his dose of V, but he'd been forced to run with all the cameras watching him. So now he had to depend on his own speed, with actual lives on the line.
He took a deep breath, then started running again. His feet clapped on the pavement, his perception moving up to match his speed. In his ear, a different voice began to speak, some random Vought chick. "A-Train, our trackers show you're close to the first target, an abandoned warehouse. Shockwave, you're about to reach the rock quarry. Eggman's badniks are visible on our satellites. The challenge is to defeat the badniks in the shortest time. It's a race."
Suddenly another voice broke into the line. Unlike the previous normal radio fuzz, this one was crystal clear, enough to shock A-Train momentarily. Eggman, shouting like he was a few feet away. "AND THE NAME OF THE CHALLENGE! BADNIK BRAWL! START!"
He ran through the open gates of a fence area next to a bunch of warehouses, a few trailers dotting the area. Some kids were nearby, skateboarding, about five of them. They didn't notice him approaching, not at the speed he was moving. The doors of the warehouse up ahead exploded outwards in a burst of air and dust. A-Train had a moment to see the dozens of eyes lighting up in the shadows. Then he was getting shot at.
And so were the kids. He almost screamed as he avoided one of the bee ones shots, smashing his fist into them. Like last time, the funny robot animals were a fuckton stronger than they looked.
They were fast. Not as fast as him, but it was like they were designed to give speedsters a fight. They were tough too, and coordinated.
A pair of praying mantis robots came slicing at him. Green and human sized, with giant mandibles. More importantly, they had a pair of bladed arms rather than pincers.
They still moved like praying mantis' though. For a moment, he was reminded of when he was a kid. With Nathan. Hanging out in the backyard, watching insects.
The sudden burst of memory was cut apart by the mantis badniks rushing him. One snapped his hands out the way a mantis would, trying to hook over him to stab him in the back. With all the speed he had, he slid to the right, then left when the next one did the same. He screamed at the red hot feeling of a blade barely stabbing his back just before he got away. He'd never been stabbed before. Not really.
A-Train grit his teeth, dodged the next attack, then rushed in, moving around the leftmost bug and grabbing its head before spinning around at high speed, letting go to send it flying into a bee that had been trying to get an angle on him.
"Enjoying my Slicers?" Eggman said in his ear. "Ah, it would be a shame if you died here, A-Train. Then again, at least you're fighting. Shockwave is just running around."
A-Train didn't have enough time to appreciate that fact before the other Slicer cut at him. Then Eggman spoke again.
"Take out the children," Eggman said casually. "I'm sure A-Train won't mind losing the distraction."
A-Train went almost still. Take out the children? What the fuck?
Up until the Slicer had stabbed his back, this had almost seemed… well. Like all the other Vought shit. Another publicity thing. If he fucked up, his career was ruined. That was his worry. Then he got stabbed. And he remembered.
Eggman was a goofy fucking villain. But he didn't fuck around. Back at the arena, A-Train had to actually fight. He'd seen the bruises and scratches left on the Deep and Starlight, seen footage of Black Noir getting the shit kicked out of him across the city.
This shit was real. He was in danger. He had to leave, to run.
But now a contingent of those ladybug robots, five of them, was rolling towards the screaming kids. The Slicer attacked again. And A-Train spun around it, before rushing towards the kids.
"Oh, look at you! But it's too late. They're already dead."
"RAAAAGH!" A-Train screamed, smashing the first bot with his shoulder. The next one shot him in the chest, destroying the clear material that covered his chest before he could bash his fist through it. The third one actually smashed into his stomach before he grabbed it and used it to break the next.
The last began shooting at the kids. A-Train twisted on the pavement, the concrete cracking beneath his feet. Running towards them, he grabbed two and shifted aside, dodging the hail of plasma shots, still screaming. The two kids screamed as well, in slow motion while A-Train moved them behind a trailer, then ran back out. The fucking ladybug robot was still shooting at the last of the kids. A-Train hurdled a set of the plasma bolts, grabbed the last kids, and rushed back into cover again.
"You know you don't get points for saving the kids?" Eggman asked while laughing.
"Who gives a fuck!?" A-Train shouted, rushing back out to smash the ladybug before the Slicer got to him again.
"Ha! Good answer. Shockwave didn't do that," Eggman was still chuckling even as A-Train continued to fight, forcing the Slicer into the bee's line of fire long enough for him to smash it apart. More bots came out of the warehouse, and A-Train forced himself to keep fighting. The whole thing only lasted a few minutes.
When he was done, A-Train was panting. His back and chest were on fire. He rested his hands on his knees and looked around.
Mantis, ladybug, and bee robots were smashed to pieces around him, around four of the mantis and a few dozen of the weaker bugs.
"Is that it!?" A-Train shouted, trying to catch his breath.
"For now," one of the bots chests, where a small light unit lay, glowed suddenly, then projected a hologram. Eggman. The mustached fatman was grinning. "And the score is tallied. You were barely a few seconds behind Shockwave. I'm afraid saving those civilians took up some time."
The kids. A-Train glanced over. He stilled.
The skateboarders were staring at him. They had awed looks on their faces. One began to smile. A-Train felt the brief chill that had entered him when he heard he'd lost just… not fade away. But something good was there now.
He hadn't needed to save the kids. Just did it without thinking. And now they were staring at him like…
"Of course, as I said, this is as much a test of heroism as it is one of speed," Eggman continued. "And Shockwave saved no one directly. So A-Train gets a few more points on the board."
Before A-Train could register that, a new hologram appeared. A scoreboard.
Shockwave: 1500
A-Train: 3000
"Oh that's bullshit!" Shockwave's voice was followed by his hologram image, looking pissed. "I didn't know we got points for saving people."
"I didn't realize heroes had to be told to do so," Eggman chuckled. "Of course, the score for doing so now that you know will be less substantial, but since you, a proclaimed superhero, apparently need incentive to do your job, here. Saving people will give you points."
A-Train hadn't needed to be told to do that. He'd just done that. And the kids were grinning at him, skating over. Eggman continued to speak as A-Train's breathing calmed.
"There will be two more Badnik Brawls. For now, an obstacle course has been set up! First to finish wins! Oh, but do be careful of the Falcos! Hehehe, hehe, hahahaha, MUAHAHAHAHA!"
As he laughed, they came down towards him. A-Train shouted at the kids. "Fucking run! Get off the streets, idiots!"
That ruined the awe on their faces a bit, but he couldn't help but panic a bit.
The kids took cover. And the red falcon badniks dropped out of the sky, moving at hundreds of miles per hour and shooting lasers at him. A-Train grit his teeth and followed the sudden path of glowing checkpoints that began sprouting up along the way, leaping over a fence, sliding across a railing, then up a wall before leaping across, dodging the shots along the way.
It wasn't over yet. But something had changed today. And everyone knew it.
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Starlight
Minutes Earlier
When she brought Julian Ivo over to Madelyn, Annie had been a bit desperate. She had no clue who this guy claiming he could help was, but she had to try.
"Mrs. Stillwell!" Annie shouted. Ivo and whoever that intimidating lady with him was followed close behind her as she approached Madelyn. Queen Maeve moved to follow as well, looking curious.
"Starlight, focus on the crowd," Madelyn said, not even looking at her as she continued to hold her phone close to her head. "I need to convince the stockholders this won't-"
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Stockholders? What?
"I can find the bombs," Julian Ivo said again, his voice loud and clear. Maeve and Madelyn focused on him, showing the same surprised look Annie imagined had been on her own face earlier.
"You can?" To Annie's surprise, the voice that asked that wasn't Madelyn, Maeve, or anyone else. It was Hughie, stepping forward from the crowd.
"I can," The dark skinned and bearded man said confidently. He held up a phone. "I understand Homelander won't be able to aid us, due to the security measures on the bombs, but that doesn't prevent the rest of us from working."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Madelyn said in a suspicious tone.
"Julian Ivo, of Ivotech," he said. "I'm a tech expert, working for the military. I was hired by them to study some of Eggman's technology. I'm sure some of your contacts can verify that, but in the meantime, we need to work."
"Uh," Hughie asked as Ivo took the phone in his hand and moved to a table nearby, opening the device up. The bearded man pulled out a set of tools from his pocket and began working. "What are you doing?"
"The bombs are likely networked with the Badniks. And thanks to my work, I have some familiarity with that network," Julian winced. "I had hoped not to reveal that at such an early stage, but needs must as the devil wills."
"The same network?" Hughie leaned over to watch what Julian was doing, his eyes focused. "So we can loop into the same network? Use it to track them?"
"Exactly," Julian said, ignoring Maeve, Madelyn, Starlight, gathering around to listen, Black Noir coming over as well. The intimidating lady standing just behind him simply looked them over under her sunglasses, giving Starlight a short smile.
"I had planned to use the network to hack into them, possibly set their self-destructs to activate, but in the short time we have, I'll settle for simply finding them. I need phones. As many as we can gather, smart ones of course."
"Why?" Madelyn snapped.
"I can jury-rig them to become trackers, as well as to interfere with the bombs. It won't prevent them from exploding when Homelander approaches, considering Eggman obviously placed special priority on that, but we can allow the rest of the heroes to do their job," Julian lifted up the phone he'd been working on. The screen now displayed a familiar Eggman symbol, glasses, mustache, and a grin.
"Sadly, I have to use his network, so you'll have to settle for his rather… bombastic design choices," Julian said with some disgust. "He may be one of the greatest geniuses in history, but his taste leaves something to be desired. Starlight?"
Annie took the phone and looked down at it. Seconds later, a map of the arena replaced the Eggman symbol. With sixteen groups of glowing dots.
"Are those-" Starlight asked, already wincing.
"Badniks," Julian confirmed. "Groups of them, each defending bombs."
"Fuck," Hughie mumbled under her breath. "That is a lot to take care of."
"I'm sorry," Madelyn said, finally noticing Hughie. "Who are you?"
Hughie jumped, startled. "Me? I'm uh… a photographer?" he said weakly, lifting his camera to display.
"Phone," Ivo said, holding a hand out to Hughie.
"What? Oh, yeah," Hughie pulled out a smartphone and passed it over.
"The rest of you, do the same," Julian said firmly. "Sixteen groups, we'll need to break into teams to track the bombs."
"And do what, shove them up our asses?" Maeve asked sarcastically even as she handed over her own phone.
"That's why I'm connecting all of us through this network," Julian said, pulling open the phones and working on them, his fingers moving nimbly across the circuitry. "We don't have enough superheroes. I'll need normal volunteers. Get security, civilians, anyone who can help, anyone with a weapon to fight."
"We can't just-" Annie was about to say.
"I'll try to find people!" Hughie shouted, grabbing his phone back and running off.
"Hughie!?" Starlight asked, stunned.
"You know that twink?" Maeve asked, confused.
"Here," Julian handed Maeve and Black Noir back their phones. "I suggest connecting your headsets to those. We need to work fast. The bombs are on a timer. We're all dead in twenty minutes."
"WHAT!?" Everyone around them, including some civilians listening in, shouted.
"We're fine, just get to the bombs, fight off the badniks, then I'll walk you through disabling them. Mechelle, you and me!"
"Yes, sir," the intimidating lady said, following him out.
"Madelyn, you too."
"Excuse me, I'm not-" Madelyn was about to say, before a voice came from her phone, loud enough to hear, if barely over the crowd.
"Follow him."
Madelyn froze. She pulled her phone to her ear. "Sir-"
Whatever she had been about to say stopped. Madelyn looked around. At the camera crews. This was all being filmed.
And when Madelyn smiled, Annie knew she had been told what to do. For the cameras.
"Don't worry everyone! Vought will be working on this personally. Just sit tight and you will all be safe. Mr. Ivo!" Madelyn went after the bearded man, her steps quick and confident. She stopped long enough to point at two security guys to follow her, then left.
The picture of someone in control. Except that she wasn't.
Feeling a little sick at another display of marketing, Annie spun around and focused on her screen. People had to be saved. Running with all her might, she barely noted that she had a shadow in her wake, his swords in hand.
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Madelyn
"The media believes we are working with Julian, that you pulled him in to aid on this with decisive action. The last thing we need is for you to continue to question him on camera. He has a plan our people say will work. Follow it. Right now, our stock is in flux. Play this right, and we'll turn this debacle into a win. Understood?"
Understood. Like hell. This fucking guy came out of nowhere, hijacked the whole situation, and just started ordering them around? Who the hell was he?
Actually, she knew who he was. Sort of. Fuck Nubian Prince. She still remembered that, if barely. The robot guy who had caused a brief but manageable headache for her. And now he was here.
A tech expert. To help them fight another tech expert. A tech expert who had come out of nowhere, got the military eating out of his hand, and made giant robots! He had to be Eggman. Or working for him.
But now the cameras were on him. This was a hell of a publicity stunt.
Entering the hallways after him and the fuckdoll who seemed to never leave his side, her guards at her back, Madelyn spoke up.
"What the hell do you need me for?"
"An extra set of hands," Ivo said immediately. "And someone who can lead the heroes. I imagine you have Homelander on damage control already? I can handle the technology, but I think the main reason your people listened to me was surprise. From here, I think they'd rather someone they trust."
That wasn't her. But intimidation would be fine.
They climbed a set of stairs as Madelyn spoke. "So I tell them what to do, what is the plan then?"
"First, we need eyes." They came to a pair of doors. When he tried them, they were locked. Ivo looked at his fuckdoll. "Mechelle."
Her foot kicked out in a blur, smashing the doors open. Madelyn quirked an eyebrow, but was otherwise unimpressed. Hard to be, when you'd seen what she had seen. Beyond the doors was a security room, with dozens of screens all along a wall.
Inside, a security guard tried to scream, but his mouth was covered by his captor. A badnik. This one was a cute looking violet scaled robot snake, wrapped around him and holding him down to his chair. The snake hissed at them. Mechelle, without missing a beat, ripped a gun out from one of the Vought security guards' holsters and fired it. The first shot missed, the next ones destroyed its head, and the ones that emptied the clip destroyed the second snake that came out of the shadows to attack.
"Good work," Ivo said, ignoring Madelyn while the Vought guard hesitantly took back his gun from Mechelle. The tech expert moved forward, ignoring the arena security guard pulling himself from the broken robot snake to focus on the screens. He looked across them, frowning. "Okay. So they aren't exactly hiding. I think, in some ways, the bombs are as much a part of the show as the rest of this."
He wasn't wrong. The badniks were very clear on screen. They were in hallways, in receiving areas, locker rooms, storage areas. Not all of them, but about ten or so groups of them, circling certain areas.
"None of you could get a call out about this?" Madelyn asked the security guard in annoyance.
"I tried!" He said, sounding terrified. "Those damn things came out of nowhere and wrapped me up, I couldn't-"
"Whatever," Madelyn grabbed her phone. "I'm going to call A-Train and Shockwave, make sure they focus on Eggman's 'contest', then we can start on the bombs."
"I'll need your help to make sure I coordinate them efficiently," Ivo said. "Obviously I don't have as much experience as you do guiding superheroes through combat."
Technically, he had as much experience as she did. Madelyn hid her emotions to focus on the call.
Moments later, a Vought guard had his phone out, showing the live footage of the contest, and Madelyn held her breath. "Okay. Let's begin."
Julian smiled devilishly. And Madelyn kept her eyes on him. Depending on how he acted… well. Homelander might be capturing Eggman earlier than he thought.