Kihonne: Alright folks, I've brought you another story. This should be interesting, since it's part of my Elite Force series, but is the first story to not be based at all on any episodes, so let's see how it goes, shall we? A bit of advice: if you haven't read The Days of Our Lives or The Power of Seven, I highly recommend it, because otherwise, you probably won't know who half of these people are. Seriously, check them out. Anyway, let's get started!
Lily: Kihonne doesn't own Mighty Med, Elite Force, or anything else you recognize from the series. She only owns her OCs, this story, and anything else that wasn't on TV.
Xxx
Liam's POV
I coughed in pain, rolling onto my back. I blinked up at the sky in confusion, part of me wondering where the flames and smoke had come from, the other part of me wondering when I'd gotten outside. Hadn't I been in Mighty Med?
I sat up slowly, wincing at the painful tug on my ribs. Something was broken in there – I could feel it. I frowned, trying to remember what had happened. One moment I'd been heading to the punch table, intending grabbing some drinks for me, Spark, and Geminus, and then there'd been some sort of bright light and the sound of a deafening explosion.
Before I could even try to figure out what had happened from there, something big, black, and ominous flew out of the smoke. It was pitch black, almost invisible in the night sky, and though it looked very similar to a cloud, it moved around the sky like it had a purpose, like something was controlling it. Unsure of what was going on and not wanting to be caught unaware, I tried to get to my feet, but the moment I tried to put weight on my left ankle, a stabbing pain shot through it, bringing me back down to my knees.
That was when the cloud seemed to target me. It stopped midair, then darted towards me. I raised my hands to defend myself, but before I could do anything, a large piece of cement flew through the air and through the cloud, dispersing it. A tall, red-clad figure made her way through the smoke until she stood a few feet away from me. Her eyes were wide, panicked, and her shoulder length brown hair was covered in soot, her bangs stained crimson from a large cut across her forehead. "Spotlight!" She exclaimed, recognizing me.
"Scarlet Ace." I greeted. She offered me a hand and helped me up, letting me use her as a type of crutch. "What happened?"
"I don't know. They came out of nowhere." She explained in a rush as we began to move through the rubble. Looking around, I realized that we were standing in the ruins of Mighty Med, the hospital utterly obliterated. "They killed Horace."
I grimaced at the news of the man's death. He'd done a hell of a service to the superhero community for centuries before I'd been born. He would be missed. "We have to-" I broke off, coughing, "Geminus, Spark, any of the survivors."
"I haven't seen anyone. No one alive, anyway. There are so many bodies." She murmured the last bit, horrified. She shook herself suddenly, as if to get rid of the images in her head. "We have to get out of here."
"No, we have to-" I broke off again, not to cough, but because the nineteen-year-old hero suddenly gasped and pulled me back, just in time to avoid another one of those black clouds. I raised my hands, shooting the cloud with a beam of pure light. But I knew it wouldn't last long. "No, you're right. We have to go." I agreed. I gave the area around us one more look, hoping that one of my old friends would come out of the flames next, unharmed, but I knew it was pointless. With this much destruction, how could any of them have survived?
We managed to escape the hospital after a couple of more encounters with that cloud, and out of the area. We stole a car – turns out, the Scarlet Ace was pretty good when it came to hotwiring stuff – and drove for hours, only stopping when we reached the next state.
And as we sat in the waiting room of an ER, having told the nurse that we'd been in a car accident, I wondered – what the hell were we going to do now?
9 Months Later
"How is this not interesting to you?" Lily questioned, sitting on the counter as I refilled the coffee grinder. She waved a newspaper in my face. "Girl in Portland freezes pond with her care hands." She read the headline. "Totally a superhero."
"Totally a fake." I rolled my eyes. Ever since we'd given up our superhero personas, Lily had been desperate to get back in the game, whether it was helping some lady get her cat out of a tree, or tracking down other superheroes. "The last three headlines you showed me were fakes."
"It doesn't mean this one is." She insisted, giving me an annoyed look. I rolled my eyes as a customer walked into the store.
"It does, actually." I replied before taking the lady's offer and preparing her coffee. It was 12:02 AM in the morning on a Saturday, and while most people – most sane people at least – were asleep in bed, I was busy working the midnight shift at my local Starbucks with my somewhat crazy roommate, Lily. "Here you are, have a nice day." I told the woman in front of me, handing her a latte and croissant.
"Who drinks coffee at 12 in the morning?" Lily complained, watching the lady walk out. She brushed her long bangs away from her face, the straight, light brown locks tucking behind her ears.
"Old people, midnight drivers…" I shrugged. "I used to grab a coffee at 24-hour coffee shops like this if I was out late working."
"You went to Starbucks at midnight?" She laughed, leading me into the back. I shook my head, following her into the break room.
"No way. Tim Horton's." I replied. She rolled her eyes, the caramel colored orbs alit with amusement, as she pulled a water bottle out from her bag.
"Canadian!" She accused.
"Dude," I just shook my head at her, "you can't make fun of me for being Canadian…while we're in Ontario!"
She laughed, then tossed me a water bottle. I caught it with ease, finding myself smiling. I missed those old days, where I'd grab a coffee on my way to Mighty Max to drop off a bad guy. It had started out as the occasional treat, then had become a habit with every villain captured. It was one of the reasons I'd applied to work here – it reminded me of back when my days were a little more exciting, back when my uniform was leather and gloves, not a visor and green apron. But unfortunately, those days were far behind me.
"So, you want to hit up a McDonald's before we head home?" Lily asked me, but before I could answer, we heard the bell above the door ring, announcing that someone had entered. Two someones, if I had to guess by the number of footsteps I heard. "Oh, c'mon. It's two in the morning!"
"I got this one." I told her. I stepped out of the break room, and headed for the counter. "What can I get you…" The words died in my throat when I saw the two teenagers standing behind the bar.
The guy was vaguely familiar – tall, with short blonde hair and blue eyes – but it was the girl that really caught my attention. Fiery red hair, fair pale skin, and sharp eyes that could look right into your soul. She smirked at the slack look on my face. "Well, for starters, we'll have a couple of white chocolate mochas." She replied in a crisp, Irish accent. I stared at her, recognizing the voice instantly. "And then maybe we should talk."
"Gem?" I whispered, too stunned to say anything else. Her eyes twinkled. "Geminus?"
"It's good to see you again, Spotlight." She smiled back at me. "It's been a long time."
Xxx
"Damn, you've been busy." I commented once Geminus finished her story. "I mean, how many villains is that in nine months?"
She and her friend from Philadelphia, Barry, exchanged looks.
"We've had some help." Barry admitted. Lily caught onto that, a suspicious look crossing her face.
"What kind of help?" She questioned sharply. Geminus smiled.
"Let's just say, we're not the only ones who survived Mighty Med's destruction." She replied. Lily and I stopped, shocked. For the longest time, we had thought we were the only ones (well, aside from Skylar Storm, Kaz Broadman, and the Short twins, who'd sent us a message a few months ago), and now, here was Geminus, a fellow hero and friend, telling us that we weren't alone after all.
"There are others?" Lily whispered breathlessly, excited. She was looking at Geminus in amazement. The red-head gave her a nod. "Oh my…"
"That's why we're here, actually." Barry added. Geminus nodded.
"The League of Heroes is gone. Every one of its members were killed, and the villains are starting to notice that there are less heroes on the street." She declared. "Someone's gotta take care of them, might as well be us."
"I'm sorry, what is this?" I inquired.
"We're recruiting you. This world needs someone to protect it. I say we form a new League of Heroes." Barry explained.
"The New League of Heroes." Geminus insisted. She looked at us imploringly. "We're looking for any hero willing to get back in the game."
"I'm in." Lily spoke without hesitation. I, however, had my doubt.
"Now, Gem, you know I'm always up for a fun time, but…what can the four of us do against a world of villains?" I questioned. There'd been rumors lately, of villains getting bolder. Stories of old villains, criminals we'd thought were dead, reappearing across the globe. "We're outnumbered."
"I'm never outnumbered." Geminus reminded me, rolling her eyes. Barry shook his head at her.
"That's why we're recruiting. The more members we get, the better chance we have. We could use your help." He told us.
"I…I don't know." I admitted. Geminus looked at me, annoyed. "Don't give me that look, Red. Our entire community's been wiped out. Going into this without thinking about it would stupid and you know it."
"I suppose it's up to you." She agreed reluctantly. "But, Liam, we need you."
"You know, that whole you calling me by my first name to convince me to help really isn't fair." I commented. "After all, I don't know-"
"Alivia." She cut me off. "My name is Alivia Kimberly McLean, and I am asking you for your help."
"I need time to think." I told her. She nodded and stood up.
"Don't take too long." She told us. She nodded at Lily. "Welcome aboard, Scarlet."
Alivia walked out. Barry looked after her, sighed, then turned back to us. "What's with her?"
"She's…um, going through stuff." He admitted. He grabbed a pen out of his pocket, then scribbled something down on a napkin. He handed it to us. "This is where we're staying. But we're leaving at 6 AM to go look for other recruits, so make up your mind quick, alright?"
Xxx
The moment Barry and Alivia were both gone, Lily turned on me. "What is wrong with you?" She demanded. "How could you say no?"
"Well, not wanting to die is a pretty good motivator." I pointed out. I looked at her. "I know you're eager to go do something, but be smart about this. They're plan to go against the world is almost suicidal. There's not enough of them."
"There are more, though." She reminded me, a smile on her face. "Who knows how many are out there? Together, we can't lose."
"Really? Because there were at least a hundred superheroes at Mighty Med that day. Almost every hero in the universe, and we lost. Badly." I reminded her as I began to clear up the hot chocolate cups Alivia and Barry had left behind. "And I, for one, don't want to lose again."
"Regardless of the result, we have to try." She insisted.
"To do what?" I retorted incredulously. "Look, I care about Geminus and Barry as much as the next guy, but they are going to get themselves killed, and I'm not going down with the ship."
"Well, I am." Lily declared. I sighed.
"C'mon, seriously?" I looked at her. "Hey, if you wanna do the vigilante thing, I'm down, but this is crazy."
"But it's right." She insisted. She sighed. "Look, maybe we can't stop every villain out there, but even if we only manage to get one bad guy off the streets, that's still one more bad guy behind bars. And that's what counts."
"You are so sentimental." I muttered, shaking my head.
"But convincing." She added with a smirk. I sighed.
"Things get too hairy, we bolt. Both of us." I bargained. She nodded.
"Fair enough." She agreed. I sighed. "Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun."
"Sure, loads." I commented sarcastically.
Xxx
"Wow, you actually showed." Barry looked impressed as he lead us up to the motel room they'd rented.
"It took some convincing." Lily admitted, sending me a smirk. I sighed.
"Girls like superheroes. Girls are into superheroes." I muttered to myself, trying to give myself some positive motivation.
"Well, look who it is." Barry announced, pushing open the motel room door. Inside, Alivia was speaking to a slim, African-American girl with long, curly hair. Sitting on one of the beds was a familiar face – the short, chubby nephew of the one of the greatest doctors in Mighty Med history.
"Good." Alivia smiled, nodding at us. She gestured to the others. "Spotlight, Scarlet Ace, meet Crossbow. And you both know Alan."
"You're playing hero now?" I questioned, looking at him.
"Obviously." He retorted. I gave Lily a look, wondering how in the hell I let her talk me into this.
"Well, this should go well." I commented. Crossbow smiled at us.
"Welcome to the New League Heroes." She greeted us. "Ready for your first mission?"
Kihonne: So, that was the first chapter. I know it was a bit shorter than what you're used to from me, but it's just the first chapter. Anyway, please remember to review, because I want to see what you guys are excited about, and I'll be posting another chapter next Friday! Until then, I hope you liked it.