CHAPTER 10

Alex rose to consciousness with a gasp, as though surfacing from underwater. He thrashed for a moment, kicking the pristine white sheet off his legs, where it fell beside the narrow hospital bed. A heart monitor beside him began to beep rapidly, and Hierro stirred from the stool beside Alex's bed to place a clawed hand on his partner's chest and force him to lie still. Hierro stared intently into Alex's eyes, willing him to be calm, and Alex felt his breathing relax as his heart rate lowered.

The sunlight streaming in through the two story floor-to-ceiling windows bathed the room with light. Through the large glass panes, Alex could see the midtown Clarus City stretching out below him. His hospital bed stood in the middle of the bank of windows, connected to a heart monitor and IV drip. The rest of the room was done up in chic modern décor, with leather sofas, an electric fireplace, a titanium and steel workbench, and what Alex could only assume were expensive minimalist paintings.

Alex tried to ignore the pain in his ribs and struggled to sit up, only to have Hierro flick a switch on a small console, raising the upper part of his bed into a sitting position. Alex nodded his thanks and surveyed the room "Where the hell are we?"

An elevator at the far side of the room swished open and a man and woman stepped out. The woman wore a modest black dress and heels, her hair held in a sharp up-do with not a single strand out of place. Her makeup was minimal and rather severe. The man wore a collared shirt and charcoal gray slacks with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Though his beard was well-trimmed and he gave the appearance of unflappable professionalism, Alex could see deep dark circles under his eyes.

"You're awake, thank Arceus," the man said, pulling over a stool from the workbench. Alex winced as its metal legs dragged across the floor.

"What's going on? Where am I? How long was I out?"

The woman continued walking past Alex, her heels clicking rhythmically. "You've been unconscious for fifty-odd hours. And you're in Sasaki Tower, obviously." She sighed. "Pretty much the only place spared from this clusterfuck."

"Easy, Takeda," the man said. "He's still going to be disoriented. We agreed we'd take it a little at a time." He turned to Alex. "Thank you for all your help, Mr. Alvarez. What you did was incredibly brave, but it was also incredibly dangerous."

Alex jerked as he remembered his attack on Sloth and turned to his partner. "Are you all right? You aren't hurt?"

The man placed a hand on Alex's arm. "Your Hawlucha is fine. With your help I was able to temporarily disable Sloth's armor, and we had the upper hand for a little while."

"You disabled…? Does that mean… Oh Arceus, you're Blaziken Man!"

Jiro Sasaki smiled. "I am."

"What happened to me?"

"Archangel managed to catch you, but the force of Sloth's throw knocked you out. You had a mild concussion, and when the fight was over I brought you back here so you could recover. Aside from that, you had minor cuts and bruises. You were very lucky."

"What about the others? What happened to the Sins?"

"The police arrived shortly after you were knocked out, but Sloth managed to get his systems back online. We apprehended plenty of their men, but the four Sins all managed to get clear. The Phantom and Volcarona Mask pursued, but they lost them. The other heroes fell back with me to regroup."

"And the Hammer?"

"He was captured." The woman, Takeda, turned from the windows. "Greed grabbed him in the confusion."

Seeing Alex's stricken look, Jiro held up a hand. "To the best of our knowledge, he's still alive. The Sins have holed up in Nimbus Tower, and they're holding him there."

"Along with plenty of other hostages," Takeda added. "Commissioner Bright, the mayor, the president of our board of directors…"

Jiro Sasaki nodded. "It seems that the chaos the Sins created was just a ruse so that they could kidnap the elite of Clarus City, hobbling the bureaucracy and the police. From what we can gather, their erratic operations the past few months have allowed them to seize control of several notable pieces of property and other assets throughout the city. The property allowed them to place the bombs that crippled the infrastructure, and once we were preoccupied trying to contain that, they went after their ultimate goal."

"So now what do we do?" Alex asked. "Hierro and I, we want to help." The Hawlucha nodded and turned to Jiro.

Jiro inclined his head. "For now, stay put. Volcarona Mask and I are convening a meeting of all available heroes shortly where we'll plan our next move. We know where the Sins are, and for now the police have them pinned. But if we act too hastily, we could jeopardize our chance."

Takeda dropped a canvas gym bag at the foot of Alex's bed. "I took the liberty of getting a change of clothes from your apartment, Mr. Alvarez." She glanced over at Jiro. "I also expensed him a mop and a vacuum cleaner." Before Alex could formulate a reply, Takeda had crossed the room to the elevator and disappeared to another floor.

"Noriko doesn't mean to be so brusque," Jiro said. "She really does mean well. Sorry if she ruffled your feathers."

"No, it's fine," Alex said. "Wait. How did you know where I lived? How do you know my name?"

Jiro smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry to have outed you. I understand how important a secret identity can be. But I needed to figure out who you were so that we could look up your medical history and make sure that we alerted any family in case things went south. I hope you understand? If it makes you feel any better, the only people who know outside of Noriko and myself are her brother and my Blaziken."

Alex shrugged. "And you trust them?"

"With my life. Your secret is safe."

"Then I'll live with it." Alex shifted to a more comfortable position and looked down at his hospital robe. "Where's my suit?"

Jiro walked over to his workbench and picked up the red and white garment. He silently passed it over to Alex, who ran it through his hands. A large rent had been torn in the right wing, and there were various tears along the material. "No," Alex whispered. "No, this can't be happening. The whole design is compromised. I'd have to start from scratch. I don't… I can't afford to make another one." He felt his throat close up. "I can't be Hawlucha Man anymore."

"That may not be entirely true," Jiro said. He hefted a silver briefcase off the workbench and carried it to the hospital bed. "See, when I get stressed, I like to keep my hands busy. Repairs to my armor are mostly automated now, so after what happened three days ago, I was kind of a wreck. But after I saw what happened to your suit, well, I couldn't help myself." He set the case on Alex's lap and pressed the clasps. "I tried to stay as loyal to your original specs as I could, but I couldn't resist adding in a few little tricks of my own."

Alex opened the case and gasped. He ran his hands over the black and red material inside. "It's so light! How did you…?"

"Carbon nanofibers. It should be more durable than your old one, but with far less weight. It won't be stopping any bullets, but it should protect you from knives, and it's mostly heat resistant and non-conducive. We ran some simulations, and you should be able to fly just as well as before." Alex slowly removed the new suit from the case. The black and red material ran smoothly through his hands, and he tugged at the wings beneath the arms. Jiro watched as Alex inspected it. "I opted to go with the black and red color scheme that some Hawlucha have. I figured it would be better than your red and white, since you're doing most of your work at night. If you prefer the old colors, I can make a new one…"

"No, no, this is great." Alex tugged at the wing beneath the right arm. "This seems smaller than my design. Will it really be able to glide?"

"The nanofibers are elastic. They'll expand when you need them to. Check out the mask." When Alex held up the black and green headpiece, Jiro leaned over and tapped the lenses over the eyes. "I installed night vision, infrared and heat sensors. And," he reached into the case and drew out two metal batons. "I'm particularly proud of these." Alex turned one over in his hand, feeling the solid heft of the metal, roughly the same density as his old pair. His fingers found a switch on the handle. "What's this?"

Jiro grinned. "Stun feature. I know electric types aren't really your gimmick, but I thought it would be a good idea to have some extra power behind it. It's not a particularly strong current, but I wouldn't advise putting your hand on the end."

"This is… it's incredible." Alex shook his head. "I really can't accept this. It's got to cost a fortune."

"Don't think of it as a gift," Jiro said. "If it makes you feel any better, call it an investment."

"But why me?"

"Because I saw you throw down with some of the most fearsome and deadly criminals in Clarus City without a second's hesitation. Because I see the potential you have to become a truly great hero. I've read your file, Alex."

"I'm not anything special. I'm just a broke student from Avenbrooke."

"Nothing special? Are you crazy?" Jiro shook his head. "You're a three time regional mixed martial arts champion. You could have been a professional gymnast, but you gave it all up to go to AIT on a full merit scholarship. And because that's not enough, you're an engineering prodigy too. For Arceus's sake, you built a functioning wingsuit on… what's your R & D budget?"

Alex blushed and looked down at his hands. "Whatever's left over after rent and instant noodles."

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Jiro exclaimed. "You built that on scraps? I mean, if you had access to a real lab, with the resources of one of my engineers…" He shook his head. "Anyway, sit tight for now. Like I said, we're arranging a conference with the other heroes we can reach to talk over what to do about all of this." Jiro rose and walked over to the elevator. "Hierro knows where the food is, he can get something for you if you think you can keep it down. I'll be back soon." The elevator doors hissed open, and Jiro shot off to another floor.

Alex put a hand on his stomach as it growled, and Hierro jumped down from his stool. The Hawlucha walked over to a small stainless steel refrigerator and opened a cabinet nearby. He quickly prepared two peanut butter sandwiches and fetched a fruit-flavored sports drink for Alex. He hoisted the tray up onto the hospital bed and nudged Alex aside so that he could sit next to him.

Alex took the sandwich in one hand and ran a hand through the feathers on his partner's head. "I'm sorry to make you worry about me," he said. "If things were the other way around, I know I'd be a nervous wreck." Hierro tore off a bit of his own sandwich and cooed. They stayed like that for some time, until Alex felt his eyelids grow heavy.

When he woke up again, the bed had moved several feet and now rested in a patch of shadow. Hierro had moved it out of the sun while Alex slept, and by the angle of the light, Alex guessed he had been out for at least an hour or two. The hissing of the elevator doors had roused him, and he saw Jiro and Noriko enter the loft again. "Think you can walk?" Jiro asked.

Alex slowly lowered himself out of bed and massaged his legs. "Yeah, I'll be good."

"Then you'd best get dressed. We're heading uptown."

Alex hurriedly pulled on the t-shirt and jeans Noriko had gotten from his apartment and went over to the elevator. He felt his stomach drop as the elevator descended, moving rapidly down the floors of Sasaki Tower before slowing as it reached the sub-basement. They emerged in a nearly empty parking garage, and Jiro led Alex and Hierro to an unassuming black sedan parked nearby. His Blaziken and another man waited for them there.

Jiro smiled when he saw his partner. "Ready to go, Masakado?" The fire type nodded and popped open the passenger side door, folding himself into the seat. The other man inclined his head to Alex.

"You must be Alvarez. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand. "I'm Takeda. Noboru Takeda."

Noriko saw Alex's glance. "My younger brother, and your driver today."

Noboru smiled. "Well, you do keep trying to get me out of the lab." He slid into the driver's seat while Alex, Jiro and Hierro piled into the back. Noboru waved to Noriko as he swung the car around and headed for the exit ramp. He caught Alex's eye in the rearview mirror. "Jiro says you're at AIT, right? I was a Clarus Tech guy myself, but I gotta admit you guys have a better campus."

"You mentioned you work in a lab?"

Noboru nodded. "I'm a chemist here. Mostly I'm working in the pharmaceutical division, but I dabble in some other stuff in my spare time."

"The Takedas are some of my oldest friends," Jiro explained. "When I was starting Sasaki Industries, I wouldn't have been able to do it without their help."

"Always a sweet talker," Noboru said as he turned the car out of Sasaki Tower and onto the main thoroughfare.

Alex stared out the window, where city crews were already working to repair the damage caused by the Sins' bombs. Workers in hard hats and reflective vests guided their rock and ground type pokemon to fill in the craters as cement mixers stood by. Fighting and fire types worked alongside welders on damaged municipal buildings. "Aren't they worried about being attacked?" Alex said.

"It's always possible, but it's not likely," Jiro replied. "We've mostly pushed back the Sins and their high ranking lieutenants to a couple blocks around the Nimbus Building. Any of their rank and file members are scattered, and the police are out in force. There have been a few flare ups while you were out, but nothing the police couldn't handle."

Noboru flashed a badge of some kind at a police checkpoint, and they were waved through. The driver sucked at his teeth. "We're going to have to take the side streets, Jiro. The expressway is still shot to hell."

"Where are we headed anyway?" Alex asked.

"Volcarona Mask is holding the meeting uptown, away from most of the damage. Try and relax a bit, it'll be a while before we get to Forbes Manor."

Alex's eyes went wide. "Forbes Manor? You mean Volcarona Mask is Isabelle Forbes?" But as he said it aloud, it started to make sense. Volcarona Mask seemed to have a large array of varying types of technology in her arsenal, but she didn't seem to have anything in the way of technical know-how. Having access to the inexhaustible resources of the Forbes Corporation would allow her to supplement her acrobatics with the latest in non-lethal weapons technology. Not to mention, she needed to have the resources to support and care for her Volcarona, so she obviously came from some means.

And after what the Sins had done to the Forbes family several years ago, she had a solid motive for becoming a hero…

"Yeah, that's Izzy. We're pretty sure the Sins have figured it out by now, but one of the perks of having virtually infinite money is you can afford a really good home security system." Jiro laughed. "You wouldn't know from looking, but Forbes Manor more secure than most military installations. Whenever we meet with other heroes, we do it there."

The steel and glass canyons of the city gave way to upper class residential neighborhoods where the Sins' destruction was less evident. They had concentrated most of their attack on the commercial heart of Clarus City, striking primarily at the bastions of industry in the financial and manufacturing districts. Most neighborhoods far from the city center had been spared the worst. Eventually, the upscale brownstones and terraces receded as they reached the sprawling estates of the city's moneyed elite on Clarus City's northern outskirts.

Noboru stopped in front of a large iron fence accentuated by intricate whorls in the metal. The artistry of the barrier did little to hide how thick it was, and small metal nodes along its length subtly hinted that it was electrified. Noboru held up an identification card to a panel set into one of the pillars alongside the entranceway, and slowly rolled open. He eased the car up the tree-lined drive and parked just in front of the pillared veranda. Noboru popped the locks and swung out of the car, winking to Jiro as he leaned against the hood.

"I'll wait around out here. No need for me to get involved in the hero stuff." He dug in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes and lit one behind his cupped hand.

Jiro, Alex, and their partner pokemon ascended the steps to the manor. Alex followed Jiro, who seemed to know exactly where he was going. They passed through several large, open rooms, decorated in a more opulent classical style than the room Alex had woken up in several hours earlier. Crystal chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, and the art adorning the walls was several centuries old. Jiro led Alex to a wood-paneled room lined with glass cases and bookshelves of varying heights that seemed to be exactly in the center of the first floor. He tapped his knuckles against the doorframe.

The two women sitting within looked up as Jiro entered. The young woman in a white sundress was sprawled on one of the antique leather couches, and she lazily raised her head. "Hey Jiro. I don't want to play hostess yet, so just like, grab some food or whatever? Cool?" She glanced over at Alex. "Oh, you're the Hawlucha guy, right? How's your head, dude?"

"Honestly, it's like a hangover on steroids."

"Ugh, brutal." She fiddled with a remote on the table in front of her, pointing it at three monitors on the wall. Alex waited for her to say something more, but it seemed like the girl was done. The other woman gracefully rose to her feet and swept across the room, her red and gold sari swishing. She laid a hand on Alex's arm, and Alex caught a whiff of jasmine and saffron that seemed to cling to her caramel-colored skin.

"Don't let Isabelle's lack of social graces put you off," the woman said, leading him over to a table pushed against the far wall. "She gets like this when she's just woken up. Please, help yourself to something to eat. You must be exhausted after what you've been through."

Alex tried without much success to gather his wits about him. "Uh… yeah. Uh."

"Oh, of course, I haven't introduced myself! And we only met for but a moment the other day!" the woman said with an expansive gesture. "I am Lakshmi Kandhari. And you, Hawlucha Man, need very little introduction."

Alex could only nod at the Dryad. "Alex. I'm, uh, Alvarez. Alex Alvarez. That's me."

Lakshmi hid a dainty laugh behind her hand and handed Alex a plate. She selected several sandwiches from a spread across the table and piled his plate with fruit before getting food for herself. Alex walked in a daze to a couch perpendicular to Isabelle's and picked up a pesto and arugula sandwich. Hierro hopped up next to him and snatched something with meat in it. Jiro and Masakado sat off to one side, tapping away on a tablet, while Lakshmi returned to her chair on the far side of the room.

A matronly woman cleared her throat in the hallway. Izzy waved her hand lazily above her head. "Send 'em in, Vivi. Just keep 'em coming." She made what appeared to be an attempt to sit up before flopping back down on the couch and pointing. "Food's over there, dude."

Alex glanced up and dropped his sandwich. "Archangel!"

The young man's face lit up with a smile as he strode forward, his feet leaving the ground as he glided over to Alex. "Please, when I'm not working, call me Joshua." He eagerly pumped Alex's hand, though he had not yet touched down on the floor. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you're all right! I was so worried when I realized you were unconscious. In the heat of the moment, I didn't think to check my power and—"

"You don't have to apologize for saving my life!" Alex said with a laugh.

Joshua sat down beside Hierro. "You're sure you're both fine?" He turned his smile on the flying type. "You were terribly brave out there." Hierro puffed up his chest and began to preen. Joshua glanced over at Alex. "It's really awful about the Hammer. We'll have to do everything we can to get him back."

The woman from before, Vivi, appeared in the doorway again. "Captain Unova has landed on the south lawn. He should be joining you momentarily, Ms. Isabelle."

Isabelle groaned and looked over at Jiro. "Dude, why'd you have to invite Captain Loudmouth?"

Jiro glanced up from his tablet. "Captain Unova is as much of a hero as anyone else in this room. He earned his place here, same as all of us." Isabelle rolled her eyes and groaned again. She looked as though she was about to say more when the shadows in the corner of the room blurred, and a man stepped out from what had once been empty space. The Phantom was dressed in his full hero costume, mask in place. He inclined his head to the room.

"Eddy," Isabelle said, curling her lips into something that wasn't quite a smile.

"Izzy," the Phantom replied, and Alex could see him raising his eyebrow behind the mask. He swept across the conference room and fell into a chair near Alex and Joshua.

A moment later, Captain Unova strode through the door, also in his signature blue and white striped suit. "Hello! I hope I'm not too late?"

"Think nothing of it," Lakshmi said with a lazy wave of her wrist.

Jiro stood and used his tablet to send something to the large television screens that lined the room. The monitors flickered, showing a map of midtown, a red circle drawn around the block with Nimbus Tower. "I think that's all of us for now," he said, fixing a small microphone to his collar. "Echo, Gunslinger, Cavalier, do you copy?"

Two green circles appeared on the top right corner of the monitor. "Loud and clear, partner," the Gunslinger drawled through the connection. "The Cavalier's havin' a lie down at the moment, but I'll brief 'em on anything new and interesting later."

"Sounds good, Gunslinger. Echo, what about you?"

A crackle of static interference came through the speakers. "I-I hear you," a woman's voice said. "I'm j-j-just keeping m-my mic on mute in c-case something happens. Feedback, y-y-you know?"

"Good plan."

Joshua leaned over to Alex. "We've all taken turns standing guard with the police perimeter around Nimbus Tower for the last few days to keep the Sins pinned down. Those three are all onsite now."

Alex nodded and waited for Jiro to go on. "For the last sixty hours, the Sins have forced us into a stalemate. Not only have they captured the Hammer, but they are holding Commissioner Bright and Mayor Lynden, along with various other Clarus City elites. Dorian Westfield, the chairman of the board of Sasaki Industries and my personal friend, was kidnapped from his home. Volcarona Mask has also confirmed to me that Ms. Emily Sage, the CFO of the Forbes Corporation, was also taken."

"The CEO of Harcourt Industries is being held too," the Phantom said. "So I've been told."

Jiro nodded to him and then turned to the room. "As you can see, the situation is not ideal. The Sins have made it clear that if we move against them, they will kill their hostages. I've gathered us all here today because it seems the only way to effectively combat the Sins is to remove the hostages from the equation entirely. To do that, we would have to infiltrate Nimbus Tower unseen. Phantom, Archangel, both of you have pokemon partners that allow for some degree of teleportation, yes?"

Archangel nodded, but the Phantom folded his arms. "Archangel, I don't know about you, but for Gregor and I to take people along, we need to be physically touching them. That limits how many people I can bring along at once. Should I assume that you have a similar limitation?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Right. And don't we estimate that the Sins have something in excess of forty hostages?"

Jiro sighed. "Yes, that's correct."

"I can take maybe four people at once," the Phantom said. "Archangel, what about you?"

"Yes, four or five would be about all I could take as well."

"So between us, that's only eight or nine people per trip. It would take at least five or six trips to bring everyone out, and I don't think the Sins will give us that kind of time once they notice their only leverage vanishing from under their noses."

"We can all do basic math, Eddy," Isabelle said. "If you have a point, like, get to it?"

"I'm saying that if it was as simple as us teleporting in and removing the hostages, you all would have found a way to do that already. So there's more to this plan, right?"

Jiro glanced at Lakshmi and nodded. "We'll need to work in three teams. The first group, the majority of us, would remain outside the tower, consolidating our resources with the police to draw the Sins' focus while the other two teams maneuver into place. The second team, should you agree to it, would be the Phantom and Archangel, who would work to evacuate the hostages as quickly as possible. The third team would be teleported inside the tower beforehand to distract the Sins from inside and give the second team time to work. This would be the most dangerous assignment, and I can't ask any of you to undertake it. I'll lead it myself, and if need be, Masakado and I will go in alone."

"Listen partner," the Gunslinger drawled. "That's all real brave and everything, but my skillset ain't suited to hallways and blind corners. I'm going to have to stay out here. I can't really speak for the Cavalier, but closed spaces and Rapidash don't generally mix."

A burst of static punctuated Echo's words. "I'm n-no good up c-c-close either. I ought t-to stay out here."

Lakshmi nodded. "My grass types and I can do our best work mobilizing outside the tower. It could inflate our numbers on the ground."

"I'll do what I have to do," the Phantom said. "But you all need to understand that Gregor needs shadows for his teleportation to work. If there's too much light around the hostages, I won't be able to reach them in time." He sighed and adjusted his mask. "But I'll deploy my ghost types to run interference outside either way."

"I'll do everything I can to get the hostages out," Joshua said. "Phantom, perhaps my Kadabra and I could carry in something that casts a shadow, to make things easier for you?"

The Phantom nodded. "We'll talk."

Alex looked around the room and then glanced at Hierro. His Hawlucha nodded, and Alex cleared his throat. "Jiro, I've got your back."

"Are you sure, Hawlucha Man?"

"Yes. Hierro and I won't be able to do much good outside, but we can handle close combat."

"I'm going too," Isabelle added. "Aethon will have to stay with the first group, but I don't need him to fight."

"Count me in." Captain Unova grinned. Isabelle scowled but held her tongue as the Unovan hero laughed. "Between the four of us, the Sins won't know what hit them!"

"I really can't overstate the danger of this—"

"I eat danger for breakfast," Isabelle snapped. "And I wash it down with a side of impossible odds! We're going to go in there and kick the Sins' asses and free the Hammer and Ms. Sage and everyone else." She smirked. "But like, if you don't think you can handle the heat or whatever, just say so. I'll go in and bust them up myself."

Captain Unova jerked his thumb at her. "What she said."

Alex nodded. "Yeah. We can do this."

Jiro allowed himself a small smile. "I'm sorry I doubted you. All right, the best time to strike will be in the middle of the night, which doesn't give us long to prepare. If we mobilize now we could—"

He was cut off by a burst of static. "S-Sorry to interrupt but uh…" Echo left the connection open, and Alex heard her Exploud bellowing in the background. "Uh, Gunslinger, d-do you see this?"

The Gunslinger swore. "Who is that? What the hell is that woman doing? She's going to blow this all to pieces!"

"What's going on?" Jiro demanded. The Phantom was already on his feet and running for the corner he had stepped out of. His Dusknoir appeared, and the two of them vanished while the room descended into chaos. "Gunslinger, Echo, come in! What is happening down there?"

"Some crazy broad's walked right up through the front door of the tower!" the Gunslinger shouted. "Ah, hell, we got gunshots! This is going to be ugly."

Jiro turned to the others. "All right heroes, suit up. We've got to contain this."

Isabelle was bounding out of the room. "Jiro, I'll get the helicopter going. Head out back once you've got your armor on!"

"See you there," Joshua said to Alex before his Kadabra appeared and whisked him away.

Lakshmi sighed as she got to her feet. "The best laid plans of Mienfoo and men…"