City of Heroes: The Doctor is In.
Disclaimer: The setting of Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and their environs are the property of Cryptic Studios and NC Soft. The characters herein, however, are mine.
I
Captain Jim Kilrain, the senior-ranking corrections officer at the prison commonly called the Zig, surveyed the damage from atop the prison wall. "I tell you, Warden, it seems like Arachnos breaks one of these lowlifes out every five minutes. It's a wonder we have any inmates left."
Warden Harry Lafferty nodded. "Who was this afternoon's benefactor of Arachnos' freedom lottery?"
Kilrain flipped through the pages on his clipboard. "According to reports, Arachnos freed the prisoner in Cell 2298—Woody Lawless, a.k.a. the Eco-Activist—and the prisoner in Cell 2299—David Grant, a.k.a. Dr. Robotico. Those are the only two so far..."
Kilrain's voice trailed off as he gazed skyward.
"Right on cue," Lafferty murmured. "Here come the capes."
Three figures alighted on the parapet beside the two prison officials. In any other town on Earth, these three might look odd. In Paragon City, however, they were a dime a dozen.
The tallest of the three was clad from head to toe in blue armor trimmed in red and white, white stars adorning his chest, and a red cape billowing off his shoulders, providing a patriotic motif. The American Crusader was the acknowledged leader of the superhero supergroup known as the Liberty Brigade.
The second figure gave Kilrain no small comfort. The Kheldian warshade, Shadow Vision, was in his native form that most in Paragon City called the Kheldian squid. Technically, he was called a Nictus, a scientifically-modified version of the Kheldian race that, as Kilrain understood it, tended to commit acts of evil and villainy. The warshades in Paragon City were reformed Nicti. Kilrain still didn't trust them. Once a criminal, always a criminal.
The third hero, a woman with dark hair spilling over her shoulders, was strikingly beautiful under her blue mask, and her lithe tanned athletic figure was clad in a blue and yellow outfit that looked like a one-piece bathing suit. She wore yellow-trimmed blue boots with matching gloves, and a bright yellow M adorned her ample chest. Although she now resided in Paragon City, Rhode Island, she took on the name of the state that was presumably her place of birth: Miss Michigan.
Kilrain found his gaze glued to Miss Michigan's bosom as the warden spoke with the heroes.
"Which prisoner did Arachnos free this time?" the Crusader asked in a deep voice that was altered by the helmet he wore.
"The Eco-Activist and Dr. Robotico," Lafferty said.
The armored hero exchanged a glance with Miss Michigan. Under her mask, her eyes betrayed her concern. She laid a tender palm on the Crusader's metal-encased forearm.
"They were presumably taken to the Rogue Isles like the others," Shadow Vision said.
The American Crusader activated his armor's anti-gravity field, and he leapt into the air and flew off in a blue and red streak. Miss Michigan and Shadow Vision followed.
"What was that all about?" Kilrain asked.
Lafferty shrugged. "I dunno. I'd better call Major Grant, let him know his brother's out."
---
The passenger door of the Arachnos flier lowered as soon as it touched down on the landing pad in Fort Darwin, one of Arachnos' outposts in the Rogue Isles. David Grant, clad in his blue and red armor that sported a yellow oscilloscope symbol on his chest, strode away from the craft, toward the ramp leading to the ground level.
"Hey!" cried his companion on the flight. "Hey, Dr. Robotico, where you going?"
Dave turned to look at the super-villain who stood just outside the craft. The Eco-Activist was a slender man with long greenish-brown hair and wearing a brown-trimmed green spandex suit with green gloves and boots, a tree emblem adorning his chest. The crazed eyes behind his round wire-framed glasses bored into Dave.
"None of your concern," Dave said, his voice altered by his helmet.
The Eco-Activist jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Kalindra is this way."
"I'm not going to see Kalindra."
"But she's Lord Recluse's liaison. He freed us, it's only proper we see his agent."
"I don't know why he freed me, but I don't intend to associate with a known villain like Lord Recluse."
"Hello, you're a convicted criminal, just like me."
"Wrongly convicted."
"And so was I."
"You're guilty of your crimes. I was framed."
"And so was I."
Dave took his pulse rifle off his back and thumbed off the safety. As he leveled it at the green-clad villain, the Arachnos guards only watched in curiosity.
The Eco-Activist held out his hands. "Whoa! Hey, go on. If you want to piss off Lord Recluse, that's your business. He only released us from prison, gave us our costumes and gear that had been confiscated by the authorities, that's all."
"I don't care about Recluse's agenda," Dave said. "All I want is revenge."
"Against who?"
"Against those whose lies sent me to the Zig. Crey Biotech."
"Ooohh!" the Eco-Activist exclaimed. "You're going after a big corporation? Ha, count me in. I never pass up a chance to strike out against Corporate America."
"I don't need your help."
The Eco-Activist raised a hand, and vines crawled up over the side of the fort's walls, across the landing pad to Dave's feet, and wrapped themselves around his lower legs. Dave glared at the snaking plants.
"Very well, I may have use of your talents," Dave growled. "Just remember, we're only going after Crey Biotech. No innocents get hurt."
"No one in Corporate America is innocent. They are all guilty of crimes against the planet."
Dave fired a shot into the ground a scant few inches from the Eco-Activist's feet. The green-clad tree-hugger backpedaled.
"All right, no innocents get hurt."
"Good. Let's go."
"Domo arrigato, Dr. Robotico."
Dave leveled his rifle at the Eco-Activist. "Say that one more time, and I will shoot you."
"Oh come on, you have to expect that with a name like Dr. Robotico."
Dave set his rifle into the rack on the back of his armor and punched a code into the keypad on his left forearm. From somewhere on the mainland, in a secret lab that no one—not even his brother—knew about, a pair of robotic drones activated. Within minutes, the battle drones alighted on either side of Dave. He looked at his creations with affection. Right now they were all he trusted in this world. He'd even given them names, calling one Hal and the other Joshua.
---
Upon the trio's return to the Liberty Brigade's base of operations, Benjamin Grant doffed his helmet to reveal golden hair that was still cropped close from his days in the U.S. Marine Corps. He turned the helmet around in his hands to look into the white eye screen that amplified his vision when he wore it.
He'd created the American Crusader armor. He'd always been good with engineering, had even majored in engineering at the Naval Academy. He'd been an infantry officer in the Corps, but he'd dabbled with inventions on his off time. After seeing so many of his brother Marines killed or wounded around him in Iraq, he wanted to create a set of body armor for the men in the field.
As good as he was, however, he was not nearly as talented in engineering as his younger brother Dave. Dave was the technical genius, and it was Dave who'd helped Ben create the armor that was now recognizable as the American Crusader armor. After Ben had returned Stateside from Iraq, he and Dave had set to work on the armor in Dave's lab in Paragon City, where Crey Biotech had its headquarters. They worked on it privately, expending a sizeable portion of the Grant family fortune to build it.
After the armor was complete, they took it to Crey's board of directors. Dave's employers, however, refused to develop the armor for mass production, citing cost and production concerns. The armor sat in storage when Ben's outfit returned to Iraq.
During his second tour, Ben's tenure in Paragon City haunted him. The people there were tormented by powerful gangs of super-powered villains, and even the multitude of heroes congregating there barely kept them in check. With his tour completed, he again returned Stateside and went on leave to his home state of Michigan. There, he'd met Kari Wilson, a University of Michigan anthropology student and beauty pageant winner who eventually became his wife.
Deciding to put his and Dave's creation to good use, Ben resigned his commission and returned to Paragon City, where he added a little patriotic flair to the armor and donned it as the American Crusader. Little good it did. He couldn't even help his little brother.
Slender fingers settled onto his armor-clad arm, and Ben turned around to face Kari Grant, nee Wilson, who was still wearing her Miss Michigan outfit sans mask.
"Arachnos freed Dave," he said.
She nodded. "I know."
"Recluse has been freeing super-powered prisoners from the Zig for months now. Almost as fast as they're being incarcerated. Why?"
"Recluse has his agenda, honey."
"But why Dave? He shouldn't have even been in the Zig in the first place. He was convicted of a white collar crime, not anything severe enough to be sent to the Zig."
Kari said nothing, but wrapped him in her embrace. He held her in his armored arms, inhaling the flowery fragrance of her hair.
Unlike Ben, whose powers came from the technology of his armor, Kari's powers were derived from magic. Specifically, the amulet she wore hidden under her outfit, as if it were possible to hide anything under a garment that covered not much more than a single-piece swimsuit.
The amulet had come from an Ojibwa burial site in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a site that Kari's anthropology class had been studying. Kari was very interested in Ojibwa culture, being part Ojibwa herself. When she'd found the amulet, it had nearly jumped from the ground into her hand. Perhaps it was her Ojibwa blood that drew the amulet to her. Regardless, once she came into contact with it she discovered she could magically heal the body as well as throw bolts of lightning. So she joined Ben in Paragon City and created a costume to fight villainy at his side.
A chirp sounded in his armor. Kari stepped back out of their embrace, and Ben flipped up the protective cover of the communicator attached to his left forearm. The LCD screen indicated a call was being forwarded from his and Kari's home phone. He tabbed the connect key.
"Hello," he said.
"Ben Grant," said the voice of Warden Lafferty, a voice he remembered because he'd just heard it while on the wall of the Zig not a half hour ago.
"This is he."
"Hi, Major, this is Warden Harry Lafferty."
"Hi, Warden."
Those in the law enforcement community of Paragon City still called Ben by his Marine Corps rank of major as a term of respect. After settling in Paragon City, and dipping into the Grant family fortune, Ben and Kari had opened up Grant Technologies, a technical firm to develop new technologies with which to give the city's police force more firepower in dealing with the super-powered bad guys plaguing their streets. And it proved to be lucrative work, helping the Grants to finance their crime fighting endeavors.
"Lord Recluse has released more prisoners from the Zig," the warden said.
Ben feigned mild surprise. "Again? I've heard about those breakouts on the news. But why call me?"
"Because this time Dave was one of the inmates released."
Ben feigned greater shock. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. The Arachnos agents even got his armor out of impound."
Naturally, Ben thought. Arachnos was only interested in super-powered inmates, and without his armor Dave was a normal guy. Like Ben without his armor, or Kari without her amulet.
"Thank you for letting me know," Ben said.
"You're welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a hell of a follow-up report to fill out."
"Yes. Good-bye." Ben disconnected and flipped down the communicator's protective cover.
---
"Here it comes, Doc," the Eco-Activist said in glee. "Oh boy, here it comes, spewing noxious fumes into our atmosphere."
Dave magnified the image inside his helmet's face screen, revealing the details of the approaching armored car. The vehicle belonged to Confederated Security Unlimited, a security company owned by the Crey Biotech conglomerate. Dave suspected that alongside its legitimate business moving money for banks, Confederated Security transported funds for Crey's less public endeavors.
Such as its genetic mutation program and science experiments on creating super-powered beings.
"Remember," Dave said, "the guards are not the enemy. They are low-paid employees just trying to do their jobs. They are not to be harmed."
"Whatever," the Eco-Activist said. "They shouldn't be working for Crey."
Dave rested a hand on the back of his companion's neck, his armored fingers wrapping around his slender neck. "They don't know they're working for Crey."
"You're the boss, Dr. Robotico, you're the boss."
"Good. Now do your thing."
The Eco-Activist scrambled down the embankment and raised his arms. Thorny vines grew from the ground on either side of the road and wove themselves into a net. The driver of the armored truck saw the impediment too late, and tires screeched as he hit the brakes. The vehicle slammed into the vines and jerked to a stop.
One of the guards emerged from the vehicle, his side arm drawn. The Eco-Activist unleashed a salvo of plant matter, striking the guard unconscious. At least, Dave hoped he was unconscious.
Dave sent his drones into action. Hal and Joshua landed behind the truck. Their lasers fired, burning open the locked rear compartment. Dave activated his armor's anti-gravity device, and he soared from his observation post to the rear of the truck.
He ensured his pulse rifle was set to stun, and he shot both guards in the rear of the truck. Dave peered at the racks of safety deposit boxes lining the walls.
"Whoa," the Eco-Activist breathed. "What kinds of riches do you suppose are contained in those boxes?"
Dave took one of the boxes from its rack and forced it open with his armor-enhanced strength. Instead of jewels and other valuables, as the Eco-Activist apparently hoped, the box contained several vials of differently colored liquid.
"What is that?" the Activist asked.
"Genetic serum," Dave said. "It's for Crey's illegal genetic experiments."
Dave set the box back into its rack and dragged the two guards out of the back. He pulled all the guards to a safe distance from the truck and ordered the Eco-Activist to stand clear. Once everyone was at a safe enough distance, Dave ordered Hal and Joshua to open fire. The drones' lasers strafed the truck, detonating its fuel tank.
"Do you know how much that serum would be worth to Lord Recluse?" the Eco-Activist demanded.
"He would have misused it as Crey would."
Dave looked skyward, watching as an aircraft approached. A dark blue swept-wing jet swooped low and came to a stop, hovering on V/TOL nozzles. It alighted gently not far from the burning truck.
The rear half of the cockpit canopy slid back, and a man in a dark blue caped costume emerged. His yellow belt and the yellow wolf's head adorning his chest contrasted with the rest of his outfit.
"Bloody hell," the Eco-Activist groaned. "Another one of Paragon's costumed do-gooders."
Dave knew the costumed hero as Richard Strader, one of the engineers working for his brother's firm, but the rest of Paragon knew him as the Blue Wolf.
Blue Wolf strode clear of his aircraft, touching a device on his belt. A force field shimmered around him, fitting as closely as his costume did. He relied on technology for his powers, but in a different manner than did Dave or Ben. Blue Wolf's suit was as flexible as wool or cotton, but was virtually impervious to most impact hits. Further, his formfitting force shield provided additional resistance to damage. His strength was enhanced by cybernetic implants.
A second figure emerged from Blue Wolf's aircraft. The raven-haired woman's tanned athleticism was on full display, as she wore what amounted to a leather bikini with leather bracers on her forearms and leather wraps around her feet and lower legs. Hyppolyta was not from modern times. A Crey Biotech temporal experiment had resulted in Hyppolyta being plucked out of her ancient Amazonian village and brought to modern day Paragon City. She was an expert archer, and she deployed many of the Blue Wolf's inventions with her bow.
She nocked an arrow to her bow and let fly. The shaft passed over the Eco-Activist's head and burst with a mild explosive. A net descended over the Eco-Activist and ensnared him.
Blue Wolf approached Dave and the unconscious guards at his feet, but on Dave's orders Hal and Joshua interposed themselves between the hero and their master.
Blue Wolf delivered a powerful punch that sent Joshua flying backward.
Hal opened fire with its lasers. The energy beams were absorbed by Blue Wolf's protective field. The hero delivered a jab to Hal's faceplate, then fired off a haymaker. The drone flew backward.
Joshua had recovered, and it unleashed a heavy stream of laser fire. The energy beams overwhelmed Blue Wolf's protective field, and he dropped to his knees. Another blast toppled him face down onto the ground.
Hyppolyta launched an arrow that struck and exploded, opening up a panel on Hal's flank. The drone stumbled and fell.
Joshua turned and, under Dave's instruction, fired a stunning blast at the scantily-clad Amazon. Hyppolyta slumped to the ground.
Dave tore the netting off the Eco-Activist before moving to inspect the damaged Hal.
"Oooh, hostages," the Eco-Activist said.
"Don't even think about it," Dave said. "We accomplished what we came to do. Now it's time to leave."
"But..."
"We're not taking hostages."
Dave removed the memory chip from Hal's CPU and set the self destruct sequence. As Dave, the Eco-Activist, and Joshua left the scene, the lifeless shell that had once been Hal exploded into unrecoverable debris. Once Dave returned to his lab and inserted the memory chip into another drone, Hal would be reborn.
---
Richard Strader lounged on the couch inside the Liberty Brigade's base, the cowl of his Blue Wolf costume drawn back off his head to reveal his trimmed auburn hair. He ached all over, especially his head. Kari Grant, dressed in her informal street clothes, offered cold packs to both Richard and Hyppolyta, who sat on the couch beside him.
Hyppoltya had two identities in the modern world. The world knew her as Hyppolyta, the Amazon warrior drawn to the modern world by a Crey experiment, and as Lyta Strader, an immigrant from Greece who was married to Grant Technologies engineer Richard Strader.
"It was Dave and that tree-hugger fella," Richard said, his voice betraying the slight drawl of his North Carolina roots.
"The Eco-Activist," Lyta said, her English heavily accented. Her Amazonian tongue wasn't Greek, but it sounded close enough to Greek that most Americans couldn't tell the difference.
Ben Grant, also dressed in informal street clothes, sat across from Richard and Lyta on another couch. His gaze was cast down at the floor. Kari sat beside him, lightly stroking his hair.
"He didn't take any money," Richard said. "He just blew the truck up with everything inside."
"It was a shipment of Crey mutagens," said Shadow Vision, standing nearby in the form of his human host, Derek Nox. Derek—wearing a dress shirt and slacks with his signature sunglasses, white fedora, and white vest—had been a professor of literature and lore before merging with the Nictus known only as Core Umbra to become the warshade Shadow Vision.
Richard understood complex technology well enough, but he still didn't fully understand what happened when human and Nictus merged to create the warshades.
"How would you know that, sport?" Richard asked.
"I have sources within Crey," Derek said.
"Some of your Nictus buddies?"
"They wish to remain anonymous."
"Whoever they are, they do give us good intel on Crey's activities, Richard," Ben said. "Too bad none of it is admissible."
"Or clears Dave's name," Kari said.
"He's not gonna maintain his innocence knocking over armored cars," Richard said. "Or by attacking those of us who are his friends."
"Your ego is bruised, love," Lyta said.
"Among other things."
An alert on the central computer sounded. Ben jumped from the couch and accessed the mainframe via the nearest keyboard.
"Bank robbery in Atlas Park," he said.
"Another one?" Richard said.
"Yep. Another super-powered villain not known to be associated with any of the gangs operating in Paragon. Probably one of Lord Recluse's new recruits. Those guys not only rob the banks, but they seem to get a kick out of destroying everything in their path on the way to the bank."
"Who's closest?" Kari asked.
"Not one of us," Ben said. "Looks like one of the other supergroups has a handle on this one."