Ryuami Rising


A fan fiction by Robin "Dragonryder" Carlisle,

With help from Ashley "Upload" Uhl,

and occasional input from David "Jitter" Krause and Courtney "Mnemonic" Schwarz.

Beta-read by Courtney "Mnemonic" Schwarz, Tiffany "Piper-Mage" Braford, and Caith "Sparrow" Donovan

Based on the superhero character Feedback, created by Matthew Atherton, from season one of the Sci-Fi show Who Wants to be a Superhero? and characters created by his fan club, Tech Support

Dedicated to my Tech Support family—what would I do without you guys?

Special thanks to Adam "Arc" Ledzion for letting me do something with his character that I don't think anyone is expecting.

Prologue

I look down on the building—the one I just blew up. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I dimly register the fact that I am currently floating above a smoldering pile of…well, of ex-building for lack of a better term. I also recognize the fact that I should be a dead body within the building—one of only two—not floating like some angel of death above it. Hell, I shouldn't be floating at all, explosion notwithstanding. But none of that matters at the moment. The screams of civilians on the streets vaguely catch my attention. Something in the back of my mind says I should help them—I know I should—but I can't bring myself to care. The shrieks of people on the street, the wails of the sirens of the inevitable emergency vehicles, the laughter of children in the park two streets over—should I even be able to hear that?—becomes mere buzzing in my ears, echoing the single tortuous thought within my mind, repeating over and over like some sadistic war cry:

They are all dead. And all of it is my fault.

Chapter One

One Week Earlier.

Dragonryder—known to her friends and colleagues at Robin Carlisle—was deadly quiet as she approached her target. Her training as a superhero in the group known as Excelsior Beta Flight, part of a larger group called simply "Tech Support" had taught her how to be utterly silent when approaching potentially dangerous situations. However, Robin's current target was far from a psychotic supervillian—or even a common street mugger or pickpocket. No, the man she was currently approaching was her fellow super and good friend Jitter. Jitter—known by his real name, David, to most of Tech Support, had "adopted" Robin as his little sister—a role that the young woman enjoyed greatly, having no blood siblings. However, as "siblings", they had their battles—and at the moment they were in the midst of one of their frequent "I can scare you worse than you can scare me" wars. David almost always won these battles—his super-sensitive hearing made it well near impossible to sneak up behind him, not to mention the fact that Robin was simply much easier to scare in general—but that never stopped the younger hero from trying her hardest. Indeed, Jitter had often suspected that Dragonryder enjoyed losing these battles almost as much as she enjoyed winning. As Robin approached her big brother (who was engrossed in something or other on his computer—or so the woman thought), he spun around in his chair, wearing a rather disturbing-looking rubber mask. Robin screamed and jumped backwards, stumbling and falling to the floor in a rather undignified heap. Jitter laughed, pulling the mask off and helping his friend to her feet.

"Aw, damn, how'd ya know I was there?" Robin asked rhetorically—she knew full well how hard it was to sneak up on her big brother. He answered anyway.

"I heard your heart beating. You're getting better though," he replied, knowing his little sister would appreciate the compliment—not that it was undeserved, as she was improving on her stealth. Robin grinned.

"Had to do SOMETHING to get my mind off of tomorrow—I'm nervous as anything," she sighed with a slight smile. David nodded.

"You ready to perform, then?" he asked with a smile. Being a theatre major at Chaffey College, not far from the Tech Support compound, Robin had been cast as the lead role of Beatrice in the winter production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. She loved acting, but that didn't stop her from being nervous about opening night. Robin nodded, slightly hesitantly. Her big brother smiled at her.

"You'll be great, lil sis," he reassured her. Robin smiled. She loved having family, even if she wasn't related to them by blood. Giving her big brother a hug, she turned to leave.

"Oh, and Robin?" Jitter called after her. The young woman turned in time to reflexively catch the mask her big brother tossed at her. Upon seeing what she caught, she yelped and dropped it. Jitter laughed.

"I borrowed this from your vast collection. Why YOU of all people have an evil clown mask, I have no idea…" he trailed off, smirking and chuckling at the look of annoyance, embarrassment, and amusement on his little sister's face. Robin's fear of clowns was a running joke throughout the wild and crazy family that was Tech Support. Picking the mask back up between thumb and forefinger as though it was something disgusting—which to her, it was—she sent a glare at David.

"It was a joke gift, if you must know. I forgot who from," she snapped. She put a mock thoughtful look on her face, and then put on a faux surprised look. "Oh, I remember now. It was YOU!" She then spun on her heel and stormed out of the room. She wasn't truly mad of course, but she had to keep up the status quo. Laughing to herself at her brother's antics, she made her way to her room to put up the mask. She then headed down to the game room, hoping to get her mind off of her impending big day, grabbing a large cup of coffee from the kitchen on the way.

In the game room, she found another member of her adopted family, Mnemonic—usually called Courtney, or Mnemo (puns about "Finding Mnemo" were prevalent throughout the headquarters). The younger girl was looking through the shelves for a game to play. Quietly, Robin snuck up behind her.

"Boo!" she screamed, grabbing Mnemo by the shoulders, then jumping out of the way as Mnemo turned around quickly. Realizing it was just her "big sister," Mnemo rolled her eyes and went back to looking for a game to play.

"Big bro gives you a lecture when you use 'boo', ya know," Mnemo commented absently, referring to Jitter. "He says it's overused." Robin laughed.

"Which is why I don't USE it on him anymore, hon," she chuckled. "How are you, lil sis?"

"I'm good. Just thinking about maybe playing a game or something. Why, what did you want to play?"

"I was thinking a few levels of Ratchet and Clank 3. I love that one gun—you know, the one that turns enemies into ducks?" Robin grinned.

"And the highest level on that gun gives you a guardian angel type duck? That looks really awesome? Yeah! Oh, I would LOVE to see Feedback with that power!" laughed the younger woman. "Go ahead; I enjoy watching you play as much as I do playing." The two sisters sat down and began a round of gaming.

An hour or so later, Robin was heavily into the game. "C'mon, fly, fly! Yeah! Flying flaming phoenix-duck of DOOM! Woo-hoo! Yeah, level up!!" the girl yelled at the screen. Her little sister looked on, having trouble not laughing at her sister's hyperactivity. After a while, Mnemo heard a pair of distinctive voices coming from the hallway and approaching the room.

"What I don't get is the sign on the door that says 'No Coffee Allowed in Game Room'," said one voice, which was quickly identified as belonging to Adam—Tech Support janitor by day, Arc the Superhero and leader of Beta Flight by night. His words caused Mnemo to look at Robin's now-empty mug and snicker to herself. Adam continued, "I'd understand it if it said 'No food or drink', but why just 'No Coffee'?" The girls heard the door open and an even more familiar voice speak.

"That's why," said their friend and hero, Matt Atherton—better known to the public as Feedback. At her hero and mentor's voice, Robin paused her game and looked up.

"Why what?" she asked, causing the other three to crack up laughing. "What's so funny," she asked, confused, which just made the others laugh harder. Finally, Courtney calmed down enough to answer.

"This is why you aren't allowed to have coffee while video gaming, big sis," she remarked, which set everyone off laughing again.

After the group had finished their laughing fit, Robin saved her progress and switched to the Nintendo Wii for some group gaming. After a particularly hard-fought win at Marvel: Ultimate Alliance—it had come down to Matt as Spiderman (no surprise there) and Robin as Elektra (once again, not exactly a shocker) with Robin winning with about 10 hit points remaining—the young heroine took a moment to reflect on her situation.

Here I am, probably the luckiest girl alive, she thought. I have a family—not blood kin, but they're family in everything that matters—who cares about me and wants me to succeed in life. I'm a superhero who helps save the world on an almost-daily basis. I'm doing well in college, and I'm told I have a future in acting—it'll be nice to have a "day job", since being a superhero doesn't get the bills paid. I'm happy, and I'm doing good things in the world. What more could a girl want?

The Next Day…

"Fifteen minutes till places, performers, that's fifteen minutes till places," the voice of Leigh-Anne, the stage manager for Chaffey's production of Much Ado, blared through the speakers in the dressing room. Robin and her fellow actresses looked up from where they were busy applying makeup.

"Thank you, fifteen," they said out of habit more than anything—there was no way Leigh-Anne could hear them, since the speaker only went one way. Robin was just finishing her lipstick and lip-liner when there was a knock on the door.

"Robin?" the voice of Casey Franklin, one of Robin's friends and the man playing the villain of the piece, Don John, came through the door. "Everyone decent in there?"

"Yeah, Casey, what is it?" Robin asked, opening the door. She didn't mean to be rude, but it was her first ever performance in front of an audience larger than 30 people, and she was understandably a bit nervous.

"Some people with back-stage passes are in the Green Room—they're asking specifically for you," he replied with a shrug. Robin nodded her thanks, then made sure she was ready to go on stage before heading to the lounge used by the performers when they weren't on stage. She wondered who had bothered to pay the extra $20 to get a backstage glimpse—and ask for her, personally. Shrugging, she pushed open the door to find—

"—Matt! Sarah! Guys! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, looking around the room. Indeed, in addition to her hero and his wife, Jitter, Mnemo, Arc, and Upload—David, Courtney, Adam, and Ashley, she reminded herself, they were in public and not in costume—were all there. Robin grinned. She did, indeed, have the best family ever.

"Well of course we're gonna come see you, big sis! Most of Tech Support is here, but we decided only a few of us should come backstage," Mnemo said, laughing at her big sister's face. "You're a big-time star, now, ya know!" Robin laughed. Her friends all grinned.

"Heh, I guess I am," Robin chuckled, then produced a false snobbish air and stuck her nose up. "Yes, Starbucks? Deliver to my dressing room. I want a latte, not too hot, with soy milk, sugar-free vanilla, and—"

"NO FOAM!" everyone chorused, before breaking down into laughter. They all had heard Outsource's story about his experience in a coffee house, shortly before meeting Feedback—and Spectre—involving an extremely rude coffeehouse patron.

"Ten minutes till places, performers, that's ten minutes till places," the voice of Leigh-Anne interrupted their laughter and caused Robin to sober up quickly. Her friends smiled at her.

"Nervous, lil sis?" David asked her with a smile. Robin nodded mutely, causing her to be wrapped in an enormous group hug. Robin smiled at her friends as they finally let go.

"You'll do great, Robin," Sarah said, smiling at the younger woman fondly. "Go out there and break a leg. We need to get to our seats—we'll see you after the show, okay?" Robin nodded, and watched her friends leave the room with a smile on her face. Still, she couldn't seem to shake the dreadful knot in her stomach—and she had the awful feeling that it wasn't all due to stage fright.

Twenty minutes later found Robin on-stage, hiding beneath a table as Laura and Michaela—Hero and Ursula—discussed (quite loudly, so that Robin—Beatrice—could hear) how Benedick was in LOVE with Beatrice. Finally, the two left the stage and Robin, after a struggle to remove herself from the table leg she was tangled around, stood up and took a deep breath. It was time for Beatrice's famous monologue.

"What fire is in my ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much?" As she spoke, she looked imploringly to the audience, as though she were asking them for their advice. Suddenly, all the lights on stage and in the house died. Before she could do anything, she felt an arm go around her stomach. She let out a shriek, but was quickly cut off by something cold, metallic, and SHARP pressed against her throat. From behind her—picked up by her microphone—a frighteningly familiar voice spoke.

"Gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to restore the lights?" Immediately the lights went on, and the audience gasped. Robin saw a large block of seats empty near the front—odd, she thought absently, wasn't the house sold out? Before she could ponder this any further, the voice behind her spoke again. "Now, milady actress," he began in a mock-polite voice, "You are in no danger as long as you don't struggle. I'm sure that the town's precious superhero will be here to rescue you shortly. It's him I want."

Robin gasped and began to try and think of something to do—this was Spectre, she had realized, Feedback's own "evil twin" of sorts, and she knew he was dangerous. Before she could think of a plan of action, a voice from the back of the auditorium spoke.

"I'm here, Spectre," spoke Feedback—now in his infamous blue-and-black costume. Behind him, Robin could see several members of Tech Support evacuating the theatre patrons, as Sarah, Mnemonic, Upload Arc and Jitter stood behind Feedback—apparently the only ones who had their costumes with them—ready to confront Spectre. The villain laughed.

"So, you're here to protect the innocent, I see. You arrived much quicker than I expected, but that's just fine. And I see you brought your little fan-club too. How touching. So now, all that's left—" here, he tightened his grip around Robin, "—is to save the girl." Looking up, Robin saw that all the civilians had been evacuated. Robin made a threatening noise low in her throat.

"And who says I need saving?" Robin growled, before grabbing Spectre's arm and letting loose her electrical energy. Yelling in pain, Spectre's grip on the young heroine loosened enough that she was able to slip free. She quickly grabbed one of the steel rods holding the set up and charged it electrically, creating an electromagnet that was powerful enough, the knife flew out of Spectre's grip and attached itself to the pole. Grabbing it, Dragonryder tucked it into her belt, grateful that the show had been changed to take place in modern day and she was thus in slacks and a shirt rather than a large dress typical of the women of Shakespeare's time. That made it much easier to fight.

"So, you're the infamous electro-bitch," Spectre snarled, recovering from his shock. Before Dragonryder could answer, Feedback spoke from behind his evil doppelganger.

"Her name is Dragonryder, Spectre. And you're going down. GAME ON!" With that, his black-and-blue costume was overlaid with a holographic version of Spiderman's famous costume. He then proceeded to shoot a large glob of webbing that hit Spectre right in the face, temporarily blinding him. Taking a moment to smirk at the fact that Feedback finally got to use Spider-Man powers, Robin turned to the others.

"Sarah, Upload, Mnemo, make sure everyone's evacuated from backstage. Jitter, Arc, let's help Feedback," she yelled, eyes blazing with a fury no one present had seen her exhibit before. "No one interrupts my stage debut, you jackass." With that, she turned back to the action in time to see Spectre place a kick that sent Feedback reeling backwards into the wall, where he collapsed and didn't move. Gasping, she ran forward.

"FEEDBACK! No!" She yelled, unleashing a torrent of electricity at Spectre, which he managed to dodge—barely. Standing up, he glared at the trio of heroes who stood ready to face him.

"So, the fan-club wants to play rough? Well, let's play rough!" Spectre taunted, before looking up, behind the group of heroes, to something off stage. Grinning nastily, he moved quickly, and was behind the group before any of them could move. Whipping around, Dragonryder screamed. In Spectre's arms, with one hand around her waist and another over her mouth, was Robin's best friend outside of Tech Support, Laura.

"LAURA! NO!" Robin screamed in anguish as she saw the terrified look in her friend's eyes. Spectre laughed.

"So, she's the spark plug's friend? I just wanted a hostage, but this makes matters even more fun…" he chuckled nastily, as Dragonryder ran forward. "I wouldn't do that," he said calmly, and as quick as a flash he had another knife to Laura's throat, causing the heroes to stop in their tracks. This, however, left Laura's mouth free.

"Robin! He's after you! Get out of here, save yourself!" she screamed. Robin, tears running down her face, shook her head.

"I can't, Laura. I can't," Turning to Spectre, she said, choking the words out through tears, "Let her go. She has nothing to do with this. Take me instead."

"Dragonryder, NO!" Arc and Jitter yelled in unison reaching forward to grab their friend and colleague. But Dragonryder shrugged them off.

"I have to—she's the first person outside of Tech Support to befriend me. I have to," Dragonryder said sadly. Spectre laughed.

"Very well, I'll take you instead. But that means I have no further use for her…" he laughed, before digging the knife deep into Laura's throat. Robin screamed as her friend's blood flowed from her neck, and the body collapsed to the ground, no longer held by the villain.

Running to her friend's side, Robin scooped the limp body into her arms. "Its okay, Laura, you'll be okay," she said, trying to convince herself of this fact as well as the other girl. Laura blinked slowly up at her friend.

"I'm glad…I got to know….you as a hero…and…as a friend," Laura murmured, almost too quietly to hear, before her eyes closed and she went limp in Dragonryder's arms.

"Laura, no, please don't die, I need you. Please," the young super-heroine sobbed, but it was no use. Laura was gone. She was interrupted from her grief by Spectre grabbing her from behind—this time with one hand around her wrists, so she couldn't electrocute him again.

"Well, it's been fun, but I have hostages to take, places to be…" Spectre laughed, before dragging Dragonryder away, out a backstage door.

"ROBIN!" yelled Arc and Jitter in unison, but it was too late—she had been kidnapped. Just then, Sarah, Mnemonic, and Upload ran back onto the stage from different directions. Sarah looked terrified.

"Where's Dragonryder?" Mnemonic promptly asked, looking around for her big sister.

"She…she's gone. Spectre captured her," Jitter said sadly. Upload gasped.

"We have to save her! Where did he take her?" the woman with the backpack asked hurriedly.

"I agree we'll have to save Dragonryder—but first we have to get out of here—NOW! There's a bomb set to go off in less than two minutes!" yelled Sarah. Quickly, they picked up Feedback's still-unconscious body and ran for the exit—Jitter and Mnemo each looking over their shoulder once as if hoping to see Dragonryder following them, though no such miracle occurred.

Outside the building Spectre held Dragonryder captive and forced her to watch as the theatre building was blown up. Seeing what had happened, Robin feared the worst.

"FEEDBACK! JITTER! MNEMO! GUYS! NO!" she yelled, sobbing. Spectre chuckled darkly.

"Yes, my precious Dragonryder," he said mockingly, "they were all just blown to pieces. They're gone. There's no one to save you. So, I'm sure you won't mind if I do this." With that, Spectre raised a fist and hit Dragonryder hard in the head. She quickly fell into the blissful unawareness of unconsciousness.

And a quick spoilerific thanks: Thanks to my best friend Laura for letting me kill you off in fiction...