Vespidian, Arc 4, Chapter 2
It's kinda like an RPG, we got the five man group thing going. Astro Glide is the leader, over watching and directing us from on high. Gravity Squeeze is our ranged attacker, throwing shit at people. Sunshine is the summoner, magic caster, using her army of imaginary creations. Disk Jockey is the support, thief kinda guy who hacks open electronic stuff and can scout through cameras. I am apparently the lead when we do stuff. In other words, I go first and clear the way for everybody else. Essentially I was right and my role is the tank, paladin? Maybe a morally unclear fighter that is defense oriented. Also known as the bitch strap, the human shield. Well, I can live with that. It is good to have a role in a group, to be needed.
Though I compare it to games, actually rationalizing reality as such was dangerous. Not the concept itself, but how I personally react to such things. When I play games it becomes an obsession, an impulse to conquer every aspect to the degree that nothing else matters. Even before all of this happened, back when I was a basement dweller, it was the same. I remember forgetting to eat for three days straight one time. Some things seemed to persist even through all that I have lost. Sub has kept it intact for reasons I can't fathom. Only harm can come from this behavior, but it is still a reminder of my time as a human. If channeled correctly, like on this hero stuff it might be beneficial. Doubts remained though. It more or less ruined my life before and I used it as a crutch to keep my mind occupied. To ignore reality. Life was so much easier, simpler to zone out and just embark on a quest to kill the demon king or capture all the little monsters.
It was fun, but it consumed large amounts of times and more than once I found myself addicted to a game. Constantly plotting and scheming my next move, rolling around restless at night, unable to sleep because that damned boss mob would not die. This was not the problem though, it was how I progressively got more and more ruthless, cold hearted and evil as I advanced through the games. In real life I am terrified of the consequences to my actions. This was a very good thing, it was best to maintain a distinct line between the two. Here I had to worry, about what other people think, hurting others unintentionally and I could not afford negative opinions. Sure I was safe for the moment, but I knew that certain people were just waiting for me to fuck up....
“Hey Chief,” I said glancing him over. “I heard we get paid an allowance instead of a pay check.”
He nodded, “You heard right.”
“We get paid like minimum wage I did the math on it. We are firefighters so should we not be paid more? I mean we could die or something.”
Chief nodded again, “You are Juniors, technically you guys are trainees. So your salaries are on the small side. However there are perks for instance you have access to our Hero bases as well as food and room and board. Not to mention free training.”
“Where does the money come from?”
“Well we get donations, merchandising and government support. There are also sponsorships for Heroes if you want to promote for a company. For instance Panther has one with Zephyr.” I fucking knew it! So he did have some sort of shoe thing going on. My elation almost made me miss something.
“The government is paying us?” that does not sound good at all.
“Yes, since the Hero League more or less absorbed both the Police and Fire Rescue, to a smaller extent the EMTs as well. As a result we get all of the funding that they normally would have.”
Everything about this seemed wrong, “Wait... so the government just let you guys take over the policing? What about Chimera?”
It seems that the Scrubs had never heard of it, but Chief's face hardened, “Chimera... they are more or less the Government's insurance policy that we do not try to take over everything. For the most part, they are fighting Kraken and are on our side. At any rate I doubt that we will have any run ins with them.”
I really did not like the sound of that. Unless Molotov was just lying to me about them, I can't really over look that possibility. I can only hope that I do not catch their eye. Although I am probably dooming myself by saying that. Well, it sounds like something that is out of my hands to begin with, so maybe it would be best just to not think about it.
“How exactly does the sponsorship work?” asked Sunshine, oh that is what I was wondering.
“Don't worry about it for now. Typically companies only want to sponsor Heroes who have accomplished something. I will tell you more about it if you get an offer.”
“Alright I guess,” I moped.
“Who has medical training?” asked Chief. Everybody, but me raised their hands. Well shit now I feel like a scrub. That does not seem good. This is that experience thing he was talking about.
He nodded. “Alright we will go over basic field dressing and CPR. From there we will work our way up to setting bones. For the most part you will not have the required gear to do anything too critical. Instead you will be stabilizing and waiting for EMTs or if Medavac is around he will help. Your primary job is to contain and control the situation, make it safe so that said medical personnel can do their jobs.”
“You make it sound like we are going into a war zone or something,” I said, raising my hand.
He gave me a slight nod and began explaining, “Depending on what is going on, it might as well be one. The Diablo De Chillar tend to target ambulances when they respond to calls, as such they are under heavy guard in the eastern half of the city. Depending on how things go we could be called to any part of the city so you need to know the dangers of every section. Slums are obviously off limits and considered no mans land. Under no circumstances will we be responding to emergencies down there unless we are part of a task force. Here in Downtown we have the Angels of Hell and Atomic Raiders, some times Cyber Sirens as well.
“Angels of Hell are a Columbian Cartel, you may have heard of Demon Rider. He is the one who runs it. He is running around down in Brazil right now, so no need to worry about him. They are at war with the Diablos, however lately the fighting is more concentrated around the southern boarder and drug supply chains into the city. There has even been scraps with the Mad Dogs. The particular branch that has sprouted up here is a biker gang. They are dope fiends, who traffic drugs through the low end neighborhoods.
“The leader is Burnout she has rank 5 Pyrokinesis. When she is cracked out on cocaine it jumps up to Rank 6, however it is unstable and makes her extremely dangerous. She is immune to fire. She uses her power to fuel her bike and as a result it can fly. Second in command is Cook Cook, he is a Rank 4 Engineer. He is a serial arsonist who uses a flame thrower of his own design and has a fire proof super suit, he also makes the bikes that the gang uses. Third in command is Blaze Runner. He can levitate, is immune to fire and can create a molten shield that can explode with a shock wave of fire, also throws fireballs. Over all he is a Rank 5 though his actual abilities are only Rank 4, but between being able to fly and his shield make it difficult to fight him. He has recent warrants for rape, arson, murder, and grand theft.”
I said, “Hey Chief that is a lot of fire powers. It seems odd that they would be here where we are.”
“That is no accident. The Angels of Hell are why I and eight Firehouse teams are set up in this section of the city. All the other sections of the city only have two squads. We fight them more than most others, simply because they start fires and some stick around to try and stop us from putting them out.”
“Why the fuck would they want to burn down the city?” I asked, thinking things over. It did not really makes sense to destroy where you do business. If you burn all the crack whores and junkies you are killing your customer base. Sounds rather stupid.
“I don't know. As far as anybody knows it is the drug binges.”
“Well that is fucked up.”
“It is unfortunately why we have to fight them and control the damages. Moving on. Atomic Raiders control the sewers and will regularly attack Bronson Atomic Industries transports to steal the radioactive material, they then dump it down there. As of now at the very least four miles of tunnels below the city are irradiated breeding grounds for mutant animals. They are a cult who worship radiation. Their leader is Atomic Knight Rank 6 Miasma. He is so heavily irradiated that a ten foot radius around him is contaminated. He can billow out a cloud of radiation that not only works as a smoke screen it will strip the flesh from unprotected skin. If exposed for too long it will even start to corrode metal. He is extremely dangerous. Second in command is Pack Rat Rank 4 wererat he was chased out of the Mad Dogs a while back. Not only is he fast, but he can jump rather high. Third highest is Glow Rank 3 Regenerator and he has acid for blood. It can melt metal within a minute. Other than that not so bad, just keep your distance. The rest of them are small fries, but they also have many trained mutant animals. There was a shaky alliance between them and the Mad Dogs, but about three months ago they had a falling out. At the least that is what the word on the street is.”
“Why was Pack Rat chased out?”
“If the Kittens can be trusted with their gossip. It would appear he tried to hoard shiny things and stole from Glitter Kitten. She broke his legs and threw him in the sewers, to be eaten by the giant rats. He is lucky to be alive if that is really the case.”
I spoke, “So I see. Ah, I know all about those damned mutant rats. Some of those fuckers are as big as a German Shepard and have horns.”
“Speaking from your experience in the sewers?” he smirked.
Sunshine spoke up, “Onee-sama has been in the sewers? Oh I see so that is why you were so good during the exercise. You already had practice.”
“Well if wrestling mutant rats counts then I guess.”
“At some point we will have to clean out the sewers and get rid of the radiation,” said Chief. “If it gets built up too much the rats and other animals start to emerge into the streets. Leading to bites and more Sub Humans. It has happened before.”
“That sounds rough.”
“Yes, for now it is on the back log we will likely be doing a purge next month. I will tell you more then. Cyber Sirens are a criminal duo who work out of High Rise, I guess the best description of them would be cat burglers. They sort of just strike at random and steal things. They robbed the Bank of Bronson two weeks ago, but had to retreat mostly empty handed after Panther, Captain Metal, Neon Nurse and Enforcer interrupted it. Spark Spray is the leader, Rank 6 electrokenetic. She can turn herself into electricity and go through power lines as well as shoot energy arcs from her hands. Our suits can only take two hits within a short period of time before short circuiting and having to reboot. The inner wiring is heavily shielded preventing circuit frying. The other is Vira, Rank 5 Robotics Engineer. She makes combat robots and drones. They have two approaches, smash and grab or infiltration. So far the two are small time, so to speak. At the least in comparison to the other gangs. They don't seem to have much motivation to expand. It does not mean that they are not dangerous.”
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“So what, they are like kids and doing this for shits and giggles?” I asked.
“Sort of. At any rate Disk Jockey is very good against them. He and Vira have something of a rivalry going,” said Glide.
I nodded, “So I see. Hey chief I am surprised that Vira and Neon Nurse don't get along. I mean they both make robots.”
He had an unsure look across his face, thinking something over. “Ah, well you could say they have a bit of a blood feud between them. Not really my place to tell you. You should ask her yourself if you want to know.”
I wonder exactly what the hell their differences are, besides the whole villain vs hero thing. Well it is probably something stupid like Robos are for love and peace not villainy and violence. On the other hand, it is a bit of a waste to use your genius ability to create mechanical life for something so selfish as robbing a bank. Why don't they just sell the robots and go legit? Seems a lot less troublesome than running around being villains. Hell you could use Spark Spray as a living generator and cut back on the power expenses. That is what I would do anyway. If only I had a super power that I could exploit to make money, like Rainman. Although something tells me they are just adrenaline junkies and do it for fun.
“So tell me more about the Mad Dogs, since you know, they are kind of a big deal,” I said. Since it did not look like I was going to get any answers about Neon Nurse out of him.
“As you know already ten years ago the Bronson Atomic Industries, Nuclear Power Plant had a melt down. The radiation corrupted wild life around it and even saturated the soil to mutate the plants as well. At the time there was no way to neutralize radioactive material other than burying it. Thanks to the sacrifice of several engineers, the power plant did not go fully critical, but the damage had already been done. The animals roamed into the southern half of the city and all hell broke loose. Rampant mutation plunged the city into terror and we had to call in the national guard to help fight off the rabid animal people. Most of the feral ones were put down, but a faction of coherent individuals emerged and their leader was Butch, at the time Glitter Kitten was one of his floozies. Peace talks were established, but then the Mad Dogs earned their name.
“It was the first full moon since things had started to calm down and that was when they turned. We did not know at the time that they lost control of all rational thoughts and it was a blood bath. Believing we had been betrayed, we attacked them with deadly force and they in turn attacked us. It ignited a five year long war between us and them. Then Butch was finally killed, but that made things worse. He had been controlling them and keeping them from causing too much trouble. Glitter Kitten took over and reigned in all the others seeking revenge. They were able to drive the military off and even managed to kill the one responsible. Fearing the worst we retreated to the city and established a no mans land between us and them. That was when we cut a deal to stop the violence, or rather Glitter Kitten proposed it. They could have the Slums so long as they did not come into the rest of Bronson. In return we would not go down there trying to kill them.”
“Why the fuck would they go along with that?” I asked, “If what you said is true then that was mostly your fault. I am surprised that they even trusted you. I would not.”
“I was not making choices here, I was following orders and putting out fires. Besides I use non-lethal ways to capture. We did not know it at the time, but Glitter Kitten just had her first litter. That and there were plans to carpet bomb the slums if things got any worse. The plans had been leaked and so she tried to see if we would choose a more peaceful option. The result is what you see now. Though we do have officers go down there to check up on them, we are not at each others throats. The monthly rampages have died down dramatically since then, they seem content. There are still their little raids from time to time, but they usually attack other gangs. Lately in fact they have picking on the Diablos.”
“Glitter Kitten is a Rank 6 Werecat with enhanced reflexes and speed, she is faster than Panther. This means that she is virtually impossible to hit. Number two would be Thumper Rank 5 Wererabbit, super speed and jumping. She is ex military and was one of many who had been captured and converted during the fighting. She was a sniper and still uses guns even after the change. Number three Den Mother Rank 5 Werewolf, or rather dog she was mauled by a German Shepard and was a police officer, super strength and durability. Anything below armor piercing rounds will bounce off of her skin as such conventional guns are virtually useless against her. She is strong enough to throw a tank by the way. Those are the top three, but every single one of their gang is a Super with powers ranging from Rank 2 to 4. As such that is a nest of hornets best left undisturbed. Speaking of which Gravity Squeeze I hear you have been running down to the Sparkle Kat for some Pussycat time. Need I remind you that is prohibited?”
“Damn it. Who squealed Chief?” he gave that ah shucks look and it was clear he was not feeling bad about it.
“Medavac he saw you down there.”
“Well, what the hell was he doing down there?” I asked.
“He is there several times a week, observation as he calls it,” sighed Chief. “Well not like he would listen if I told him to stop. It is dangerous down there, while Den Mother would not kill you without reason that does not mean she will not snap your arm like a twig. At any rate that is basically all you need to know about the gangs for now. So let us start your first aid training Mecha Fairy.”
“Alright coach, what you want me to do?” I looked about, since apparently I know nothing.
“I guess we will start out with CPR. You know what that is right?” he asked. I shook my head playing coy. Of course I know what that is, who doesn't?
He started explaining it and pointed to a dummy. Really? Well, I guess I have to work my way up to the smoochie smooch. I put my hands on the chest barely pressing down, since I did not want to destroy the thing. It was not hard, you can figure this stuff out even without training. The key is to not break the ribs while pumping the chest vigorously. At the least it looked like a dude. After thirty forced in and out breathes. I pinched the nose and opened my lower half of the helmet exposing the mouth. The lower part of my face guard could open and allow me to drink or eat without taking the helmet off. Chief told me about it last night. It was very convenient. So long as I did not grin like an idiot and only open my mouth a little, I did not look too suspicious. Granted the creases, segmenting my lips clear to the back of the head were still noticeable, wasn't much I could do about it. I apprehended for a moment, but then imagined it to be Chief and locked lips. It was actually worse than what I think kissing Neon Nurse would be like. Cold and clammy those lifeless eyes staring back at me. Don't you ruin this for me! A nice exhale and gulp for air then repeat. I stood up wiping my mouth.
“Alright you did good there so moving on,” he said. Oh boy do I know all about this mouth to mouth, come Chief let us resuscitate our weary and broken hearts!
I laid down and put my arms over my chest. Kept my eyes closed waiting for my prince to wake me with a violent kiss filled with passion! Pour the will to live into my very soul! Nothing was happening though... oh there it is. He was doing the chest compressions. Up and down, yes let your love flow into me. I felt a hand on my face and the long awaited kiss. The lips seemed smaller, softer and certainly not brimming with a ferocious love that would fill my very being and complete me. This was not how I imaged it at all! I peeked and saw Sunshine desperately trying to save my supposed life. Sunshine! No, not you. Oh God. Not the girl's love! I knew something was wrong. You bamboozled me Chief! Give me back my prince on a white horse SUNSHINE!
Sunshine in my mouth, I can taste her! My tongue squirmed about. It is not that bad, she does taste pretty good... no Sub we are not going to eat Sunshine! I wiped my face while she stood to the side with flowers and sparkles floating around her. My eyes! I looked away blinking. Too much cute, you are going to burn them out you know. She was not perturbed or nothing in fact she was looking around confused while everybody was laughing. Even Chief! Ah, I see this was just a practice exercise for her, but they made it a joke. She is so innocent, she did not even realize this was a kiss. The only way to get out of this without it being awkward, would be to act like it did not happen.
After that we went about learning things like how to wrap wounds or setting bone, that was the fun part hearing those crunches and snaps while everybody winced. We got to practice on these fleshy mannequins. Oops. Maybe I should not be doing this. My patient is flat lining and bleeding out, poor poor guy. Don't you die on me you son of a bitch! No, he is slipping away. This is all your fault you bastard. Live damn you live! I shook it roughly and they had to pull me away before I murdered the plastic man.
Sunshine cried, “Stop it! Stop it. Hes already dead.”
I might not be suited for this...
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Hope you enjoyed :P