Here it is guys hope you had a happy weekend, please you enjoy. Only 2 chapters left this Arc.
Arc 4, Chapter 7
“You should learn to control yourself,” said Chief disapprovingly from across the waiting area. I could not argue, I had killed someone, let people die and gotten Sunshine shot. This was all my fault. It was all I could do to just hold my head and cry in the corner.
“Lighten the fuck up boy. She was panicking over her friend getting shot,” coldly said Medavac.
“They should not have even been there in the first place!” he yelled back. “What the hell is Overseer doing sending Juniors into a hot zone. We are lucky she only killed one person and brutalized another. It could have turned into a blood bath.”
“Every god damned day the streets are getting worse. The drug cartels are moving in and with them the violence and cruelty as well. Glitter Kitten is even having trouble with how many Diablos are pouring into the city. Enforcer is bearing the brunt of this shit. The east side is a literal warzone between the Diablos and the Sixes. We have to step things up or we are going to get massacred out there!”
“This isn't a war. There will be repercussions and the press is going to try to tear us apart over this. We have to be prepared.”
“Fuck the press. Lets see them take bullets trying to save people. This smells like a damned war to me. I would know, I have been through five. This is a war and those drug peddlers are bringing it to us. Look at what they did to LA!”
“That was Kraken!”
“Oh sure, everything is Kraken's fault. Stop using them as a scapegoat for everything.”
“If it was not Kraken then who the hell was it?”
“The Diablos obviously. We are next you know.”
“What are you guys talking about?” I asked meekly.
“You did not hear?” asked Medavac. He continued when I nodded, “The last Los Angeles Hero League Head Quarters was blown up this morning. We have effectively no presence there now and the survivors have already fled to here and other places. I think you are going to be getting a new member to the group.”
“Wait they got the last one? I thought there were three left?”
“The others fell two nights ago. If this shit keeps up Chimera is going to start moving.”
“Is that a good thing?” I asked. I mean I had heard bad things about Chimera, but that was from Molotov so it was probably a bit skewed.
“No. It will not be a good thing at all if Chimera swoops in. They only deal with Supers, which means we will get caught up in the cross fire.”
I held my head again. I did not hear about that. I knew that it was bad down there, but not this bad, like holy shit. I curled my legs up and ended up in a ball. Why can't this all just be a terrible dream? I just want to wake up from this. Did I choose the losing side on this? From the sounds of it the Villains are winning.
Chief said, “Vesper look I am not mad at you. Sure you could have done things better, but under the circumstances it is understandable. I am angry at Overseer for sending you in there. That was no place for you two.”
“Oh... well, thanks Chief. Am I going to be punished?”
He shook his head, “A little, it won't be anything too harsh. That was legitimate self defense there, they were shooting you. Just try to hold back next time.”
“I understand.”
“Good.”
We got rather quiet waiting to find out if Sunshine will be alright or not. The light above the door turned off after another half hour and Neon Nurse walked out, her gloved hands stained red. She peeled them off and tossed them in a disposal unit. She looked us over and smiled.
“Sunshine is going to be just fine. Give her about five days to heal up and she can return to active duty.”
“You did not do anything weird to her right?” I asked.
“Weird?” Neon Nurse cocked her head.
“You know, like pervy stuff.”
“Oh, oh,” she chuckled flapping her hand at me. “Silly. Why would I do that to a boring organic? Honesty there is nothing arousing about a human. Besides while I am performing surgeries and operations I automatically shut down all emotions, including arousal, fear, sadness. You get the picture. What do you take me for? I am not some rapist you know.”
“Then why do you always come after me?”
She placed her hand on my shoulder, “My silly little alien do you really need to ask that? I absolutely adore you. You are the only one I ever mess around with, you should be flattered. It is pretty hard to get in my strike zone you know.”
I looked away from her, changing the subject. Not exactly in the mood for that. “How bad was it? Sunshine I mean.”
“Not too bad. Luckily the bullet went right through her and missed every major organ. In other words, I just had to feel around to see if there was bullet lodged in there or if anything needed fixing. Now let me tell you, a little bit of bad news that turned out to be good news. Sunshine has cancer. Or rather had cancer before I got at it. As Chief will attest I have something of a vendetta against cancer so I always check for it.”
“Where was it?”
“On her left arm. I had to amputate to cut the source before it could spread. Don't worry she now has a fancy new robo arm. Top of the line, one of the best that I have made so far,” she said with a smirk.
“Why did you take the arm?”
“Well it was almost stage three you know. She is lucky it was just an arm. After all cancer is the reason I got into the Cyborg stuff. I used to have it myself.”
“You had cancer?”
“Yup. Ovarian, skin, breast, stomach. Lets just say when I found out that I had max two years to live, I flipped out. I was always smart, but I had never really been driven. Let me tell you though, learning you are about to die a slow and agonizing death that no one knows how to cure tends to get your ass moving. In my desperation I did some rather unpleasant things, but self preservation trumps morality. This is part of why I am helping everyone I can to atone for what I did.”
“What exactly did you do?”
She looked away holding her face, “It is embarrassing.”
“Just tell me will you?”
“Alright I suppose since these two already know anyway. I made the Cyber Sirens. They were such good kids, but I was a little mad back then and it kinda rubbed off on them. Poor little Vira caught my mad scientist bug and there is simply no recovering from that. Once you go crazy there is no coming back. It is not all bad though after gazing at knowledge that no man should ever lay eyes on, you tend to come back with some useful things.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Let me tell you, some things were not meant to be known and by learning them it breaks the world and how you see it. It lets you do things you are not supposed to be able to do. Case in point my Cybernetics. Chief is very much the same way too with his Mechas. You can thank me for that by the way.”
“Wait you gave Chief his powers?” I asked. They looked at one another and shrugged a little. What the hell does that mean?!
“Well it is complicated. Honestly I do not even know how to explain it. I can try though. Basically knowledge is sort of infectious? That does not sound right. Hmm. Ok I got it. You are either born with it or you can acquire it from being exposed to Super Geniuses, like me. It is kinda like cancer from second hand smoke. However most only get it for a short period of time and then it just goes away like a cloud or something. Sound about right to you Chief?”
He looked at his hand for a moment, “I don't know. One minute I was just your average guy and then this cyborg hand got put on me and images of things I never knew existed started going through my head. Then I could even make the things. It is just so weird. Not complaining, it is just really strange.”
“See,” said Neon Nurse. “Knowledge is a virus.”
“Wait how come you did not mention this when you were talking about powers?”
“It is something of a trade secret you see. Us Super Geniuses gotta stick together. Most of us don't even realize that we can spread the knowledge. So I am trusting you here not to tell anybody. That being said though not just anybody can get Super stuff you gotta have a knack for it, be compatible so to speak.”
I thought it over, something seemed strange about this. “Then if you are shipping out mass quantities of robo limbs wouldn't you be increasing the number of Supers out there just by exposing them to your tech?”
She grinned so wide and handed me a lollipop, “There you go, that is for being smart. You put the pieces together so quickly. Yes that is the other reason why I so willingly sell my creations. To make more Supers is to help our cause, more of us means less people trying to hunt us down and of course more Super Scientists is always a good thing. Just imagine what wonders we can create in the coming years. That being said though, the proliferation is not nearly as high as I would like. At the moment only one in ten thousand get powers from exposure to my robos and out of that only one in ten keep the powers for longer than a few months. In other words it is not a very effective way to spread super powers. Granted those who keep the power are rather potent. Honestly you have much better odds jumping into a vat of nuclear waste than from getting a robo hand.”
“Does this mean I have a chance of becoming a Super Genius?”
Neon Nurse pat me on the head with a frown, “Well as far as I can tell, no. It would have happened already if it was going to happen. I cyborged you and everything, but nothing so I think it is fairly safe to say no on this. Don't sweat it though.”
“That is weird though, I mean my brain is the size of a fucking watermelon. Does this mean I am a super retard or something?”
“You are not a retard,” Flatly said Neon Nurse. “With the amount of brain damage that you received from the growth, I can sort of see where you might think that, but you are getting better everyday. See, look at these brain scans. You are recovering. At this rate in a year your brain will have one hundred percent functionality. You are sitting at only thirty percent right now, you know, but that is still about the same as normal people at normal capacity.”
“I don't feel very smart though.”
“Look I know you are depressed, but stop putting yourself down. Besides I said normal.”
The tv in the corner for the room glared for a moment, it was the news. “Bronson Bridge under siege. Earlier tonight members of the Screaming Demons got into a shoot out with police. Junior Heroes, Sunshine and Mecha Fairy arrived on the scene shortly after it began. The following footage is graphic, parental discretion is advised.”
Oh God, someone recorded that? It showed me and Sunshine arriving over head. I flew into the truck and rose up. It was surreal watching from another point of view. I could hear the people cheering, odd that I missed that while I was there. Things played out as I remember. Me beating the shit out of some bastard and Sunshine stopping me before I could go too far. Then it skipped, they had edited out the part where I was desperately saving the bus and the car. I watched as the me on the screen charged a man already bloodied from bullets, screaming like a banshee and then proceeded to tear him to pieces and pound what remained into a smear on the cracked pavement. No one was cheering for me now, they were crying and screaming for me to stop. They even took out the part where I was cradling Sunshine and sobbing.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Is this really what we want from heroes? A super powered murderer? Tell me what the difference is between her and the man that she just smashed is. Are we really safe letting someone like this loose on the streets? Wake up America! Supers are not the answer they are the problem!”
“Those sons of bitches,” said Medavac punching the wall.
Chief pulled out his phone and dialed, “Hello, yeah it is just like you thought. Yes that is right, I will leave it to you Mark.”
“Hey what was that about?” I asked.
“Just watch,” He replied changing the channel to another news station.
That frizzy haired reporter was on, “Penny Peaches here! Breaking news on the Bronson Bridge shoot out, it seems one of our fellow News stations has been rather busy editing their videos to make our Heroes out to be villains. As a result I have it on good authority that the Hero League is pressing charges for defamation of character. I have right here the unedited and raw footage from the helmet of our very own Mecha Fairy. It does get graphic, but this is what our Heroes have to go through.”
Things played out much as they had before, but I noticed a distinct lack of cheering, their was only screaming and agonized voices in the back ground. They really did not cut anything out, my little monologue about hurting people included. I felt kinda embarrassed about it. They did not skip over our little fight and saving the school bus, me diving to catch a car that would have fallen. Not even the brutal beat down I gave to that criminal, nor me holding Sunshine and crying while waiting for Medavac to show up. They really had recorded everything, except my thoughts thank Helix for that. This must be one of those counter measures that Ring Master was talking about. This sort of stuff could be either incriminating or prove my innocents. I will have to keep that in mind from now on.
“Thanks Chief, you really saved my ass here,” I said before glomping onto him.
He did not really fight it, “Don't worry about it, you are one of us remember? We look out for one another. However you will be on probation for the next week or so since you did kill a civi.”
I nodded, “It is probably good to lay low for a while anyway. What do you want me to do?”
“You will be doing training exercises in the Fire Station. Also you are seeing your shrink today.”
“Why do I gotta see a weirdo doc?”
“You killed somebody in cold blood and as far as I can tell you are not even shaken by it.”
Oh... oh fuck. I killed that guy didn't I? Never really thought about it, kept pushing it to the back of my head. There is blood on my hands now. The realization hit me like a truck and I was not ready. My stomach emptied and I peeled off my helmet, throwing it to the ground. My knees gave out and it was all I could do to hold my head up from the floor and the expanding pool of digestive juices. It was starting to burn a hole in the ground.
“Gross man what the hell... Mecha Fairy?” said Gravity Squeeze staring down at me. When did he get here? Oh shit, the others are here too. Don't, don't look at me. I am a murdering bug monster. I could feel their judging eyes, their revulsion and disgust.
I floundered in my attempts to get up. This stupid body was still reeling from the revelations that I am no better than Molotov. Medavac saw all of this and grabbed my shoulder, lifting me to my feet. He set me down on the chair and I leaned against the wall, not wanting to look at them. I could not put back on the helmet, not when I felt like puking my guts out at any moment.
“What is going on here?” asked Glide.
“Sunshine is going to be alright,” said Neon Nurse, stepping in between me and them.
“That is good, but what the hell is wrong with Mecha Fairy?” asked Squeeze.
She glanced at me and I nodded vaguely, I can't really run from this. “She is just feeling a little sick at the moment.”
“NO, I mean is she a Sub Human or what? This whole time she has been sketchy as fuck about it.”
“Yes, she is a Sub Human. Are you happy now? Cornering her when she is not feeling good, you have a problem with her not being human? It is not nice to call people names. Organic. See it don't feel very good does it?” fumed Neon Nurse, she looked like she was going to stab him. What happened to violence is not the answer?
Squeeze took the hint and backed off. Although it was not just Neon Nurse it was Chief and Medavac backing me up here too. It was pretty obvious that there was some explaining to be done here so Chief lay on them. It took a good half hour to explain most things, granted they were not told about the Mutigene or Molotov. Surprisingly Squeeze was the quickest to accept it, seems he did not hate Sub Humans in the least, in fact it seemed to be something of the opposite. That would explain his frequent safaris into the Sparkle Kat hunting down some pussycat. Glide was kinda in the middle, he was being professional about it. Disk on the other hand was freaking out since now he knew that I could literally eat him. It took a bit to calm him down. I am starting to feel bad about that.
“So,” said Neon Nurse. “Any other questions?”
“Does she lose her shit like the Mad Dogs every month?” asked Squeeze.
“Not that we have seen.”
He looked real disappointed about that. What the hell man, you want me to go into a mindless mating rut? Wait I heard about people like that. It was on the news a while ago. There were these people that would go out into the slums every full moon, wanting to be raped... I guess it is not rape anymore then is it? It was mostly men, but damn how desperate do you gotta be to look to feral animal people to get off? I mean that shit is dangerous, you could die doing that. They are not exactly gentle from the sounds of it and you might get infected from the scratches and bites. There is no telling what the hell is running around down there. Something is wrong with people. Well to each their own I guess. I am not really one to judge fetishes or anything.
Honestly they were taking this a lot better than I thought they would. Well, mostly anyway. Disk was a work in progress. I have not given up hope just yet. I just got to give him a lot of breathing room and eventually he will get acclimated to the monster that I am. So long as I don't hurt him or approach him it should be fine. It is a little sad really, I just wanna be friends and play games with him. Maybe one day, at the least I have Sunshine. Unfortunately I could not go in to visit her since she was drugged out of her mind right now. They had to have her in a tube like thing that suppressed her powers just in case some crazy stuff tried to get out. I mean when you are that high, there could be a dragon guarding the pudding cups.
Chief motioned to me, breaking up the Scrub fest and I followed along. “Mickenson is waiting.”
Ah shit. Not looking forward o this at all. She was in another room, toad like as ever. This time her clothes were not a wreck to look at. She still smelled like a cheap perfume. Mark was as flawless as ever, taking calls in the corner. He is a rather busy guy. This room was cramped, but it was out of the way and afforded us some privacy.
“Miss Vesper. I hear that you have been having some problems.”
“I see you looked me up. Let's just get this over with, I want to get some sleep.”
“If you are going to lie to me then I will have to.”
“I did not lie about anything.”
“Walda was it?”
“That is my middle name, not a lie.”
“Since we are not lying about things. You did good today, minus the murder, but the rest of it was good.”
“That was not murder, it was self defense.”
“Tell me more.”
“Look I don't like you, nor do I trust you.” I said and she started scribbling.
“How did killing him feel?” she asked.
I looked away, “Awful. I just spent the last hour throwing up.”
“At the time how did it feel?”
“I was angry alright. He hurt my friend and I thought she was dead, so I snapped on him. Anybody would, in fact I would be rather weird not to.”
She nodded in agreement, writing things down, “Very well we are done here.”
“Wait what?”
“We are done. See you next week.”
“Why are you bailing so easily?”
“Simple, you are agitated and taking it out on me. As a result I am not going to be getting anything of substance from this. If you don't trust me, this is not going to go anywhere. Besides you are already being put on probation so I am not too worried about you killing anyone. Might I recommend this,” she articulated and handed me a weird little toy thing. It reminded me of a dog toy, it squeaked and everything.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?”
“If you are feeling angry give it a squeeze. Some people find it therapeutic.”
That is so stupid. Since I am angry I gave it a nice firm grasp and it squealed. The high pitched sound was oddly relaxing. I sort of liked it. Am I turning into an animal or something to get distracted by something like this? I gave it a few pumps and shivers ran down my spine. I stared at it, something is fishy about this thing. There is no way in hell there could be something this convenient. I will have Neon Nurse give it a look.
“Where did you get this thing?”
She just gave me a flat look, “At a pet store why?”
I fucking knew it! “I am not some animal you know.”
She rolled her eyes at me, “Say that when you are not obsessively squeezing it to make sounds.”
“You want me to cope or not?”
“I think you are going to be just fine,” she smirked and wrote some additional notes down.
I don't know why, but that pisses me off. I took my leave, the meeting was already over anyway. Mark had not really said anything, so I think we were in the free and clear. Sub really liked this damned toy though, she told me the reason why. It sounded like a small animal screaming in terror. Ah, son of a bitch that makes sense. It is no wonder Sub likes it so much and gotta admit it is sort of growing on me. A week without Sunshine... what the hell am I going to do with myself? Training is going to be boring. I know, I will make her some presents. That outta lift her spirits, assuming she is not riding on a rocket in Sunshine land already.
_____
Lots of foreshadowing for stuff arcs ahead plus right around the corner in this one. Hope you enjoyed. As always tell me what you guys think.