FEVER PITCH
a City of Heroes story
By
Shawn M. Franklin
"Why can't these dudes ever infest rich-ass penthouses, wid' a lotta Cristal?"
When you're waist high in human sewage, tending your wounds, and mentally preparing yourself to face down another horde of the undead, a sense of humor should be made illegal. At least, that is what Dr. Kenji Murasato thought to himself, while the hero known only as Enzyte tended to Kenji's latest wound. Enzyte ripped the poisoned dart free from Kenji's leg, and quickly cauterized the injury with a directed gamma ray pulse.
The question was posed by the tall black man, called Blazinshock, who stood watch over the opening of the pipe which served as the team's hideout for the moment. The Vahzilok that were infesting this part of the Boomtown sewers had proven annoyingly resistant to being removed, much like a malignant tumor that Kenji once removed before his life changed that fateful day in Tokyo when the Avatar of the Divine Storm chose Kenji to be the emissary of that ancient storm god. The tumor was removed, but the patient did not survive the experience. Kenji only hoped that this particular cancer would be removed without incident.
The next statement from Blazinshock shook Kenji out of his reverie. "I think I know why. If they got an apartment, then they'd never get the cleaning deposit back!" The former rap star smiled big and wide back at his companions, hoping they'd at least laugh.
Enzyte and Kenji, now known as White Maelstrom, eyed Blazinshock with a look that said neither man was in the mood for jokes.
"Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye open for Fly? He's been gone for quite awhile," Enzyte queried.
"No need," came a voice from Blaze's back. Blaze whipped around and allowed the hero known as Dark Fly to enter the pipe. Blaze waved and said, "So wassup out there?"
Dark Fly was another type of hero altogether. Whereas a lot of heroes that Maelstrom had run across in his first month in Paragon City subscribed to the "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" mentality, Fly was a firm believer in using tactics and several well placed electrical blasts to get his point across. Come to think of it, all the heroes that currently shared the sewer pipe with White Maelstrom, himself included, knew the dangers of flinging themselves headlong into a horde of villains and thugs. That sort of approach usually meant a stiff bill from the local general hospital. White Maelstrom knew he had found some proper heroes for once.
Dark Fly twitched his two antennae and proceeded with his report. "It's pretty ugly in there. I counted at least thirteen Vahzilok in the opening a half click ahead. Abominations, Reapers, Mortificators; even a few of those goddamned walking bombs they like to use. It's the works, White. You found a damn good nest, I must admit." He finished with folding his arms across his black chitinous armor and staring straight back outside, where the Vahzilok horde waited.
Enzyte followed up with, "Great." The red and white hued cyborg finished tying the bandage across White's leg. "We should be fine, so long as we have no more ambushes like before. Damned eidolons." Blaze rubbed a sore spot on his shoulder, and Fly flexed his right hand twice with a painful grimace. These and the injury that White's leg had suffered served as silent testaments to the ambush that this team of heroes had weathered just moments before.
"Can you walk, White?" Enzyte's armor shone even in the oppressive gloom of the sewer. White Maelstrom respected these men already, despite having known them for only three-quarters of an hour.
White Maelstrom got to his feet, Fly unfolded his arms, Enzyte closed his arm-mounted healing kit, and Blaze cracked his knuckles, sending fiery sparks from beneath his gloves.
White looked at them all for a moment, and then said, "If we get out of this alive, drinks are on me."
Fly took point around the far corner of the pipe where the Vahzilok went about thier ghastly tasks. The charnel stench of undead flesh, brought back to a twisted mockery of life by the zealous Mortificators, filled the senses of the four heroes. White couldn't help but emit a small cough...it was that, or choke on the smell.
"Shhh," Fly said. Blaze had positioned himself next to Fly, in hopes of getting a better shot at the macabre gathering ahead. White Maelstrom fell in line behind Fly. Enzyte brought up the rear, inwardly wishing he'd spent more time developing more offensive capabilities. Still, the cyborg had chosen the life of the healer, and had no regrets about the lives he'd saved many times over.
Then he got a look at the Vahzilok within.
"That's more than thirteen, Fly," Enzyte said.
Indeed, he was right. By Maelstrom's count, there were more than twenty walking corpses and their fanatical leash-holders spread about the antechamber. Even over the smell of raw sewage, the stink of death and decay followed these creatures like a tight-fitting shroud.
But, something was different. White couldn't put his finger on why, but that instinct had served him in the past. This was no ordinary Vahz hunt.
"...then Blaze, you hit him with the firebolt...we should only attract the attention of three...White? You ok?"
White stared back at his teammate. Fly looked back quizzically, and Blaze stopped his preparations to see what was spooking the storm summoner.
"This isn't right," was all Kenji could stammer.
"What the hell are you talking about? This plan is perfect, it's what we've been doing for over a half-hour, man!" Blaze replied.
"I don't think he means the plan, Blaze," Enzyte said, "What is it, White?"
As if to answer the cyborg, a loud thudding noise echoed thru the antechamber. Footsteps, and large ones at that. The four heroes turned thier attentions back to the antechamber to see who the new arrival was. However, looking too far in would attract attaention, and right now, attention was very unneccessary. The team had to settle for listening.
A low, guttural voice, twinged with a hint of Austrian, demanded, "Report, my loyal Mortificators." The voice was accompanied by the sound of several whirring gears and puffs of air, like from a respirator or a pneumatic drill. A second voice, awed, yet fearful, responded with the sentence that the four heroes crouched low in the pipe would never forget: "Dr. Vahzilok, the preparations for the distribution of the diseased corpses moves ahead of schedule."
Blaze couldn't help himself as he whispered, "No fuggin' way!"
"Wait, THE Dr. Vahzilok?" , replied Enzyte, "The leader of the Vahzilok horde?"
Fly came back with only, "He must be overseeing this one personally." He turned back to face White Maelstrom. "Like I said before, 'this is a nice nest you found.'"
Kenji swallowed the lump of fear in his throat, hard. Things just got far more complicated.
The heroes knew what was at stake. If Dr. Vahzilok and his cronies were allowed victory, the Vahzilok wasting disease that had claimed the lives of several dozen victims, some of whom were powerful heroes in thier own right, would be spread to every corner of Paragon City. Hundreds of thousands would die, and, if Vahzilok had his way, be reborn as hideous abominations. There was no debate. If the four men had any right to call themselves heroes, Vahzilok had to be stopped, here and now.
Even though all four men had the same idea, it was Maelstrom who spoke first.
"We need a distraction."
The two-meter tall creature that called itself Dr. Vahzilok stood and watched as his Mortificator lieutenants began to pile the diseased bodies alongside the sluice gate that would lead to the city's drinking water reservior. His body could no longer be called human; grotesque patchwork pieces of skin stretched across excess bones from fallen heroes, his right hand replaced with a gleaming titanium gun barrel, with a wickedly-barbed scythe-like blade attached to the underside. His face was the only part of his body that was still orginal, but even that looked freakishly small and pinched when placed on the oversized skull that Vahzilok had stolen from some unfortunate hero of the past. The creature began to grin. A razor sharp maw of teeth glistened with black bile, and Dr. Vahzilok began to laugh...
...and then shiver.
A freezing cold mist swept around the feet of Dr. Vahzilok. The Mortificators looked about for the source, but the mist was soon everywhere, obscuring the vision of all of Vahzilok's servants. Then came the wind. Howling, and soaked with freezing rain, the gale-force wind swept thru the antechamber, causing many unwieldy Abominations to stagger about drunkenly as they struggled to retain thier footing. The undead horde took no notice of the two men that moved within the mist towards the far gate that led back to a sealed chamber of the sewers. The wind continued to increase in force, and the freakish monsters were losing the battle with gravity. Out of the corner of Dr. Vahzilok's eye, he saw his carefully-stacked weapons of pestilence begin to stir. Only too late did he realize...
"NO! THEY'RE AFTER THE BODIES!!!"
"NOW!" came the voice of the epicenter of the storm, White Maelstrom.
At the prearranged signal, Fly and Enzyte threw the switch open, and the gate wrenched open. The two heroes flattened themselves against the wall, trying to avoid being swept away by the raging tempest. The bodies began to take flight, as did many of Vahzilok's servants. The diseased corpses flew on the wind towards the waiting opening. One by one, Vahzilok's carefully designed weapons were being thrown out of his reach.
In a panic, Vahzilok shouted to his remaining minions, "RETRIEVE THE BODIES AT ONCE!"
Eager to obey, the still-standing minions leapt for the gate and disappered down the pipe to retrieve Vahzilok's precious weapons. As the last one vanished from view, Fly reached up and flipped the switch back into place. The thick gate doors slid closed once more, and the storm began to subside. Dr. Vahzilok then saw how the tables had turned against him. His minions were no longer around to protect him.
From behind the freakish doctor came the voice of Dark Fly.
"You train your men well."
Blaze was next, "Yea, TOO well, fugly-man."
Enzyte followed suit, "Just between us now."
A winded White Maelstrom ended, "Your evil ends here, Vahzilok."
Vahzilok surveyed the four heroes around him. With a loud snap of his gunarm's action, he bellowed, "Then meet your fate, heroes! HAVE AT YOU!!!"
The freakish doctor cut loose with a high powered volley of machine gun fire at Blaze and Maelstrom. Both heroes dodged the volleys and responded in kind, a gout of flame from the fingers of the street tough and a loud strike of lightning from the outstretched palm of White Maelstrom. Dark Fly also launched deadly lightning from his fingertips, catching the enraged monstrosity on the back of the head. Dr. Vahzilok wheeled about and, with another flip of his gunarm, lobbed a grenade at Dark Fly. Fly nimbly jumped to the left, but still caught some shrapnel in the ribs from the blast. Enzyte rushed over to the fallen hero and produced his medkit from his belt, uncaring of the danger he was in.
From the other side, Dr. Vahzilok took aim at the medic and the injured Fly and prepared another grenade. Suddenly, several hundred smoldering embers rained on Vahzilok, scorching his cold skin whereever it touched. Wheeling about, the doctor spied the outstretched arms of Blazinshock, who had summoned a firestorm down upon the abominations head. The doctor charged forward at Blazinstorm, and prepared to slice the young man in two with his scythe. Then, a sudden gust of wind lifted the doctor off his balance, just enough to cause Vahzilok to overcompensate his attack, and the doctor's own momentum carried him crashing into the far cement wall. Blazinstorm uncovered his defensive stance and nodded over at White Maelstrom, silently thanking him for his timely intervention.
Fly had recovered thanks to Enzyte's timely aid, and all four men stood before Vahzilok, ready to strike the final blow. The doctor's headlong crash into the far wall had left him motionless. The heroes took a moment to obsevre their enemy. It was then that Enzyte noticed it. In an instant, Enzyte saw the containers on Vahzilok's repsirator system, and had figured out what they were. In that same instant, Vahzilok raised his weapon, surprising the other heroes. Vahzilok leveled the barrel at the gasping face of White Maelstrom, and before the high-caliber, head-splitting bullet could strike its target, a red and white blur jumped in front of the muzzle flash.
Enzyte hit the ground with a sickening metallic crunch; the high-powered round still buried in his chest. He didn't move.
Blaze yelled out, "ENZYTE!"
White Maelstrom, Dark Fly, and Blazinshock at once lobbed another volley at the still-recovering body of Dr. Vahzilok. They pumped every ounce of electrical and fiery power they had into Vahzilok. The doctor slumped back against the wall, the torrent of energy forcing him back. Vahzilok, in depseration, fired a grenade at the feet of the three remaining heroes. The explosion threw the three heroes back into the sewage, all landing squarely on shoulders, back, and arms. Fly shook the cobwebs off, stood, and glared into the hideous face of Dr. Vahzilok.
Fly's jaw went slack in horror, for although the energy that he, Maelstrom, and Blaze had unleashed would have destroyed half a city block, Dr. Vahzilok appeared unharmed.
Dr. Vahzilok grinned down at Dark Fly, and raised his blade, ready to take Fly's head.
Fly froze, unable to move. He squeezed his eyes shut...
Then, Vahzilok began to scream.
Fly looked up and saw the monster thrashing about, futilely trying to claw at his back. Fly watched on, and Dr. Vahzilok spun around. Then Fly saw what had Vahzilok in a panic. A red and white hued cyborg was ripping out several tanks of a dark viscous fluid from Vahzilok. He heard Enzyte yell out, "It's his regeneration serum! HIT HIM WITH ALL YOU HAVE!"
Fly shook off his amazement, and yelled to the injured Maelstrom and Blaze, "C'MON! WE GOT HIM!!!" Maelstrom and Blaze looked up, saw the struggle of cyborg and beast, and as the last tank of serum crashed to the floor, spent and useless, Enzyte leaped from the doctors back. At once, all the heroes launched a volley of lightning, fire, and focused radiation into the form of Dr. Vahzilok. The horrid beast continued to flail about, fruitlessly hunting for more of his regen serum. But it was gone, and with it, Dr. Vahzilok's edge. The heroes pressed in, burning, shocking, irradiating... And then, Maelstrom yelled out.
"DIE, YOU UNHOLY BASTARD!!!"
With a final blast of fire to the chest from Blaze, Dr. Vahzilok fell to the floor of the sewer junction, scorched and sizzling. The leader of the Vahzilok was dead.
The four men crawled out of the sewer back into blessed daylight. Each one breathed an inward sigh of relief.
Blazinshock could contain himself no longer. Grabbing Enzyte by the armor, he demanded, "How, man? Vahz had you down fo' the count! We thought you was dead, foo'!"
Maelstrom added, "I must admit, Enzyte, it did look like a critical wound."
Fly merely craned an antennae, his interest piqued.
Enzyte reached down to his chestplate and removed the forward panel of his armor plating. Inside, two devices could be seen. The slug from Vahzilok's gunarm had pierced the larger one, and it's power seemed inert. The second, however, throbbed with a weak, yet constant, hum. Replacing the cover, Enzyte said simply, "Back-up battery."
Blaze wasn't satisfied, "But waht about that black crap that 'Double-Ugly' down there was pumping into his body?"
Enzyte said, in that same simplistic tone, "One cannot pursue a heroic career as a medic without doing some homework. I recognized it right away as a regeneration agent, and assuming it was the source of his recovery abilities, I destroyed it."
Fly replied, "Damn good timing if you ask me. Nicely done."
Maelstrom added, "Indeed. We have done a great service to the city this day, heroes. We'll remember it well."
Blaze laughed, "You're right, man. I'd be happy to call you guys my friends."
Fly smiled a little and responded, "No arguments here."
Enzyte replied, "Nor here."
Maelstrom looked at the three of them, knowing he'd not seen the last of these heroes. And Dr. Kenji Murasato, the man who wore the mantle of White Maelstrom, couldn't think of better comrades to have.
As the sun came up over the ruined landscape of Boomtown, Maelstrom finished, "Agreed. Now, how about those drinks?"
Deep in the sewers below, a lone shadow crept over the smoldering body of Dr. Vahzilok. The shadow set down a black medical bag next to the corpse, removed several vials of black liquid, and went to work. The Vahzilok needed thier mentor after all...and they had discovered how to cheat Death long ago.
THE END