Hope

"Ready for the test run?” Sebastian’s calm voice came through the earpiece.

Hope donned her mask. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

This was it. The point of no return. One more step and she’d be in open defiance of the law. No Captain Bradley to bail her out. No ‘love of the people’ to support her. No ‘enthusiastic fans’ defending her actions on internet forums. One more step, and she’d be public enemy number one.

But, for some reason, she was not afraid. The risk was great, yes, but the excitement of returning to the superhero life was far, far greater. Flying over rooftops with ziplines, taking down evil criminals, and defending the downtrodden as an agent of justice was exhilarating. But even more than that, it made her feel special, like she was somebody who could change things. Somebody who could make the world a better place.

The visor came to life with the congratulatory message of ‘Welcome Back, Vega’ scrolling across her internal display. Hope rolled her eyes at the cheesiness, even though she was giddy as a child on the inside.

“Initiate systems check,” said Sebastian spoke “Visor?”

Hope pressed two fingers against her mask as she looked upon the city from the rooftop. The display zoomed in to give her a bird’s eye view of the New Manhattan streets. “Visor is online.”

“Mobility suit?”

The Vega suit glowed with neon green veins that supplied power to the limbs. The suit worked by storing momentum and converting it into usable kinetic energy. Hope flexed her wrists to check for rigidity. The motion was smooth as butter. “Perfect.”

“Cape?”

“Stylish as ever.”

“Utility belt?”

“Looking good.”

“Boots that you insisted on being heels despite the design not being practical at all?”

“Yes,” she groaned. “And for your information, I walk better in heels than regular shoes.”

“How does that even-- never mind. Last check. What about my babies?”

“Hey! Don’t call them your babies, they’re mine,” Hope protested.

“Really? Who designed, constructed, and maintained them for over seven years?”

“Yeah, but who used them to kick butt and made them actually iconic?”

The earpiece rang with a soft jingle and their spirited discussion was cut short by a call from Trent. “I’d rather you save the childish talks for after you’ve done your part, Miss Hastings. Need I remind you of your mission?”

Hope sighed and answered him, “Gain access to the server room and blow it up.”

“You will meet my contact on the ground floor by the storage facility. I trust that you have access to the building schematics, hmm?”

“Yeah, gottem. Anything else?”

“I know you must be used to these words by now but… try not to disappoint me.”

The call ended with a beep.

Hope gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and leaped off the roof. Despite having done it a million times, the free-fall still made her heart race. The neon veins on her suit glowed brightly as they converted her kinetic energy into potential energy. One free-fall would give her enough power to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Once sufficiently low in the air, she eyed her surroundings through the visor for a vantage point. The pedestal of Raytech Multinational caught her eye.

This was it.

She fired a zipline from her Whiplash pistols and watched as it embedded upon the concrete slab. Tools in a class of their own, the dual Whiplashes had been by her side for as long as she could remember. They fired ziplines that could fly over three hundred meters across the air, allowing her to swing from building to building like a certain other superhero.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

With the press of a button, they transformed into dual handguns capable of firing ice bombs, tear gas, stun grenades, shrapnel, and even explosive rounds. Everything except for real bullets. That was Hope’s only rule.

She did not kill.

“Sending coordinates to your visor,” said Sebastian. “There’s a ventilation duct on the lower left heel of the building. That should lead you straight to the storeroom.”

Hope fired another zipline and swung all the way to the back of the building. No one had noticed her just yet. “Got it. By the way, where’s Altair the magnificent? Feels kinda strange to hear your real voice for once.”

Sebastian gulped. “He’s gonna be on vacation for the foreseeable future.”

“Why? Did something happen with Miss Meanie?”

“No! Yes? Look, she’s not as bad as you think. It’s just… well, she gets me. She knows what it’s like to not belong anywhere.”

Hope bit her lip as she perched upon the glass heel of the building. She tapped it with her knuckle to hear a hollow ringing sound coming from within. “I think I found the duct. I’m going in,” she sighed and retrieved the laser cutter from her utility belt. One carefully carved circle later, the path into the building was open.

“Just give her a chance, that’s all I’m saying. Whether you like it or not, we’re stuck with each other. We might as well get along.”

Hope hated that he was right.

“Fine,” she exhaled, jumping into the dusty metal duct. “But I’m still not super thrilled about working with criminals. Speaking of which, I better find Trent’s contact. See you on the other side.”

“Good luck in there,” said Sebastian and ended the call.

Hope found her vision obscured by spider webs as she descended down the duct. The path was fairly straightforward. Down. But there was one thing, one terrible thing, that even the visor’s filter and IR function couldn’t help her avoid: arachnophobia.

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If asked, Hope would call it less a fear of spiders and more of a ‘seething hatred for a stupid creature that deserves to burn in hell’. But that did little to prevent her from screaming every time she felt the slightest touch on her shoulders. It was a miracle that no one heard her voice outside the ducts. For the longest time, the only words that came out of her mouth were “ew ew ew ew ew” and “ihatethis ihatethis ihatethis.”

Eventually, she reached ground level. “Okay.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m in. I’m in. Finally.” She pressed a button on her visor and it pointed to a pair of slits covered by cobwebs in front of her. The hero took an almost sensual pleasure in cutting them away with her pocket knife.

After unlocking the vent with her trusty screwdriver, she protruded her head and felt, to her surprise, a metallic object rub against the side of her visor. From the shape alone, she could tell it was a gun. “You should be more careful,” a masculine voice greeted her.

She cranked her neck to see a young man, about her age, with long red hair and beige skin holding a gun to her head. He was dressed in a waiter’s uniform but she was willing to bet he was not a Raytech employee.

“Woah, easy there, pal. You must be the contact Trent was talking about. I’m Hope. Nice to meet you.” She extended an arm, hoping he’d help her get out of the vent. Ren sheathed his weapon and walked away to the door of the storage room. He kicked a few cardboard crates aside to reveal the door’s locking mechanism, tinkered with it for a while, and then returned to her side.

“We are safe. You may come out now,” he said, not giving the slightest indication of wanting to help.

“Great. Another one.” Hope grunted as she crawled out of the vent and dusted her suit.

Ren held two fingers to his chin and eyed her from head to toe. “Such beauty,” he remarked in a soft voice.

Hope crossed her arms and took a step backward. “What?”

“What amazing contours,” he spoke with admiring eyes.

Hope felt her heart race. Was he hitting on her? If he was, she had no idea how to respond. Despite what she claimed, she’d never had a boyfriend in her life. Superhero life left little room for romance. And this guy was a criminal, for crying out loud. For all she knew, Sebastian was her only male friend.

Her only friend even, now that she thought about it. That made her a little sad.

“Come on, t-that’s… you know, we have a job to do,” she muttered, averting her eyes.

“What remarkable design.”

Her ears perked up at those words. “Beg pardon?”

“Your suit of armor. It is beautiful.” Ren shook her hands in excitement. “That stunning contrast of colors. That cape, that visor, those heels. It is simply glorious to behold. I love it!”

“Oh, thanks,” she replied, a little disappointed.

“In any case, I am Ren. I hope we can work together to achieve our common goal,” he said. The excitement had all but disappeared from his face.

“Sure, buddy.” Hope nodded, still unsure about how to respond to him. “So, what’s the plan?”

Ren pointed to the ventilation shaft Hope had just emerged from. “The server is located underground. Just twenty floors downwards.” He proceeded to put his head inside the metallic duct and stare into the labyrinth of cobwebs and dust that awaited them. “Expect a lot of spiders on the way down.”

A soft but desperate cry escaped Hope’s lips. “Nooooo.”

∆∆∆

Hope wasn’t feeling particularly heroic at the moment. Well, there was nothing ‘heroic’ about working alongside criminals, but as she wiped the forty-seventh spider web from her visor, she wondered if her mission was actually worth it. Even rotting in jail was looking favorable with every minute she spent rappelling through the cobwebs.

“I should’ve let Seb install that flamethrower,” she muttered to herself.

“What was that?” Ren called out from beneath her. For some godforsaken reason, he didn’t seem to mind the spiders at all.

“Nothing,” Hope grunted as she rappelled even deeper into the abyss. “How much deeper?”

Ren pondered for a minute, then answered her, “Just eight more floors.”

“Are you sure?”

“I spent three months memorizing the schematics of this building. Yes, I am sure.” He emphasized that last word with a hint of aggression.

“Okay. So, how’d you get into this mess? What’s that bastard Trent got on you?”

Ren stopped in his tracks. “Sir Trent does not have anything on me. I serve him of my own free will. And you, Lucidean, you will speak his name with respect or not speak of him at all.”

“Fine. Fine. Talk about rude,” Hope groaned.

The next few floors passed in uncomfortable silence. Since Hope was used to Sebastian screaming into her earpiece at all times, it was doubly difficult for her. Ren, the stoic silent type, was hardly an ideal replacement. But she recalled Seb’s words about giving them a chance.

With a deep breath, she began the conversation anew, “It’s kinda scary in here, isn’t it?”

“It is acceptable,” Ren answered promptly. He felt the rough texture of the rappelling line between his fingers and noted that it had gotten thinner near the base. He pursed his lips and said nothing of it.

“So, you’re from the Mitsurugi Islands, right? I’ve seen them on the TV. They’re beautiful.”

“Hmm.”

Do you miss it? Your home, I mean.”

“Home,” Ren repeated in a sorrowful voice. He heard mechanical whirring coming from underneath. “What?” He reached for the flashlight in his pocket and pointed it to the ground.

He was hit in the face by a gust of dusty wind. When he looked down, he bit his lower lip and cursed as he saw the obstacle that lay ahead. A large metal fan was fitted at the base of the vent. Its blades rotated with such speed, that they became almost invisible to the naked eye.

“Impossible,” Ren gasped. “That was not in the schematics. Damn! It must be a new addition.” He punched the wall of the vent in frustration.

“Maybe, there’s another way around,” Hope suggested.

“Don’t be stupid. This was the only way in.” Ren shook his head. “We cannot proceed any further. Forgive me, Sir Trent. I have failed you. Come on, Lucidean, we will have to look for a different way in. Let us climb back up.”

“Oh no,” said Hope. “I didn’t come all this way, crawling through that freaking buffet hall of spiders just to give up in the homestretch. I am not turning back. I’m getting us into that basement whether you like it or not. Just you watch.”

“And what is it that you plan to do?”

“Oh, just you wait.” Hope smiled as she reached for the canisters on her utility belt. She loaded a blue tube into her gun with a free hand and aimed at the floor.

Ren tugged against his rappelling line and kicked the metallic walls to get out of the way. “Are you insane? Put that thing away!”

“Hey, easy there, champ.” Hope reassured him. “It’s just a teeny tiny ice blast. I’ll use it to freeze the fan and then-“

“No, get that thing away from me!” He screamed as his entire body shivered at the sight of the gun.

“Calm down, it’s not even a real gun. My friend made this. Trust me.” Hope attempted to relax him with disarming gestures.

Ren shook his head violently. “No, that thing, it’s the tool of the devils! Put it away.”

“What are you talking about? It’s just-”

Before she could finish her sentence, Ren’s line snapped and he fell towards the giant fan at the bottom of the vent. Not thinking for a moment, Hope let go of her line and jumped after him. She used one Whiplash pistol to fire a zipline upwards into the vent to halt their motion; and with her free arm, grabbed his vest and stopped him mere inches from the rotating blades of death. The force of the sudden stop nearly dislocated her shoulder but she kept an iron grip on him.

“Got. You.” She smiled painfully. “You okay?”

“I’m… I’m alive,” said Ren as beads of sweat poured down from his head. “I’m alive. You saved me.” He cranked his neck to look at Hope. Her arms quivered with pain as she struggled to maintain a grip on both him and the zipline.

“Not… letting you go… so easily…” she groaned. “Do me a favor. See that blue thingy on my belt? I’m gonna need you to grab that and chuck it down. It will stop the fan.”

Ren took a deep breath to calm his thumping heart. “Okay,” he nodded. “Keep steady.”

He clutched her left leg for balance and ascended her armor. The wind from the fan clawed at his skin but he refused to give in. His arms were skinny and not used to climbing but something had given him the strength to persist. Step by step, with one hand after the other, he somehow managed to reach her belt. It was decorated with all sorts of trinkets but his gaze immediately went to a pair of metallic cylinders with a thin blue line running through their base. He yanked one from its holder, said a little prayer, and let it fall to the ground.

There was a nasty crackling sound for a minute and then, the fan stopped moving.

“Finally.” Hope exhaled and let go.

The two of them went crashing through the sheet of frozen metal and plopped onto the marble floor in perfect synchronicity.

“We made it.” Hope gave him a thumbs-up without even lifting her face off the floor.

“Yes,” Ren answered weakly. In his exhaustion, he’d forgotten about the next part of the plan, the layout of the server floor, and, worst of all, what awaited them as soon as they exited the vents.

Almost immediately, they found themselves surrounded by a platoon of armed soldiers. One of them placed a foot over Hope’s back and spat. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

“God damn it all,” Hope cursed.