Disclaimer: Just for the sake of no longer disclaiming at the beginning of
every chapter, I don't own Static Shock. This whole story is simply a work
of my imagination, and though a few characters to appear are my own
creations, the familiar characters aren't mine. Please remember that when
reading this story.
# # #
Static Force Chapter 1: Welcome to My Nightmare
"What's the world coming to?" Sharon Hawkins demanded from the living room of the home she shared with her father and brother, holding a particularly wrinkled blouse in her hands as she continued to shake the delicate garment in response to her anger.
"I spent 20 minutes in line to purchase this blouse, and then when I finally get to the cashier they tell me the sale ended yesterday and charged me an extra $30! If that was the case then they should have taken the sale signs down. But do they give me the sale price for the hassle? NO!"
Virgil sat on the soft and, what he often thought to be, overly comfortable sofa, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes closed as he tried desperately to ignore the ranting tirade of his sister's most recent life- altering crisis. Having spent the past five days at home on his father's instructed grounding, these emotional outbursts of his sisters were all but a daily occurrence. Truthfully, Virgil expected he could have set his watch by her tirades.
So was the course of his life these past days, and despite having adjusted the volume of the television in a failed attempt to drown out his sister, he found himself rolling his eyes behind his closed eyelids, hoping his father could in some way placate her temper. If only he had school to go to, but summer had taken away perhaps his only escape from the drama of his sister's life.
"What does it take to get good service?" Virgil's eyes sprang open at the sound of the words, for the statement hadn't come from his sister but from the television. On the screen, a small Channel 8 news logo in the lower right corner, was Hotstreak, terrorizing what appeared to be patrons of the Dakota Heights Mall.
"All I want when I order a Cherry Icy is cherry...not Cherry Cola. You stupid people can't even get a simple order right can you?" Hotstreak snarled, blasting apart a large portion of the wall of Karlie's Food Shack with a well-placed blast of fire.
The initial shock of seeing Hotstreak dissolve large portions of the mall's food court on television was coupled by the shock of seeing Hotstreak at all. The last time Virgil had seen the temperamental pyromaniac was when he had fused with Ebon. The fact that he was now at large and incinerating massive portions of the mall meant he had somehow separated from the other villain. Regardless of the dramatic reemergence of Hotstreak, Virgil couldn't let the raging psycho continue.
"Uh, pops..." Virgil began, worried about interrupting his sister when she was rolling into the argument lest she turn her fury toward him. "I just remembered I promised to meet Ritchie, we were going to clean up the center today, remember?"
Mr. Hawkins turned to face his son curiously before his eyes flashed to the screen of the television. A frown of deep worry creasing his features, Mr. Hawkins weighed the potential risks of his son's alter life verses the as of yet, still recovering injuries. Biting his lip in his own nervousness, Virgil's father nodded one, his eyes screaming a need to say something fatherly to his son, but unwilling to do so with Sharon in the same room.
"Thanks pops, I'll be back before dinner." Virgil said, jumping to his feet and racing up the stairs to his room to grab his duffel bag before heading out of the house.
"I've never seen him that eager to do chores." Sharon said suspiciously, watching her brother run from the house.
"Anyway sweetheart, what were you saying about the cashier?"
# # #
Virgil had long since left the ground, replaced in form and attitude by Static, as the young hero raced toward the Dakota Heights Mall. He had already radioed Gear and asked his partner to meet him in route so they could coordinate their attack. Hotstreak wasn't what he'd considered a viable threat, but he also wasn't the type to pose for the camera. His newfound glory-seeking actions didn't make sense, and certainly didn't ease Static's mind. If Hotstreak was crass enough to commit a crime that open, then he had either finally lost it, or wanted Static to come.
"Yo!" The friendly voice of Static's partner echoed through the air as Gear came up beside his best friend. "So, it looks like the little firecracker finally cracked." Gear joked as they neared their destination.
"Looks like." The young man on the flying board replied, his eyes fixed on the fast approaching mall. "I don't like it Gear, Hotstreak never intentionally calls us out. What's the deal?"
"Maybe he's lonely." The tech-wizard smiled at his own failed attempt at humor. "So, your dad let you out?"
"I got a temporary reprieve for good behavior." Static answered back as he flew up to the roof of the mall to peer into the skylight.
"Hey V, there's something I wanted to ask you." Gear said, his voice growing seriously cautious as he tentatively looked at his partner.
"What's up Rich?" Static turned his head from his attempted observation and looked fully at his best friend. He hadn't noticed before, but saw it now that they weren't flying. Ritchie's skin was a pale, pallid hue and beneath the visor Virgil could see large bags of fatigue under his friend's eyes.
"Uh...have you had any adverse reaction to the gas?" Gear asked cautiously, failing to keep his tone casual.
"Like what?" Static asked, looking closer at his friend and hoping to spot the sudden apprehensions his partner expressed.
"Nah, its nothing, don't worry about it." Gear said distractedly, turning his attention back to the mall and the problem at hand. "Let's say we put Hotstreak on ice."
"Yeah, let's go." Static smiled, yet stole one last look at his best friend before using his powers to magnetically open the skylight. Silently, the two heroes entered the shopping center and began scanning the area, Static using his powers to detect electromagnetic currents of individual aura signatures; Gear using Backpack to survey heat signatures, sound currents and energy spikes throughout the mall.
"The mall looks deserted. Everyone must have scrammed when Hotstreak started his little rampage." Static said, still scanning the stores.
"Not everyone's gone. Backpack is picking up a mass of energy down the south corridor." Gear responded, pointed in the direction of Backpack's signal.
"Man, that's where my favorite video game store is." The lightning powered youth said, charging his board before propelling himself in the direction of Hotstreak, Gear following closely behind.
The two heroes didn't have far to look as they heard the maniacal ranting of the angry young man known as Hotstreak carry on his angry rant for no particular reason than because that was who he was.
"Dirty, rotten, stinking mall! You call these savings?" He screamed at an apparent advertisement for a half price sale on all in stock ladies apparel in a lower level clothing store. He responded to his obvious frustration before sending a burst of searing flames into the store, catching the merchandise in question on fire.
"Wow, what'd you do Hotstreak, slip off your medication again?" Static mocked the temperamental vandal as he landed several feet from the arsonist, Gear by his side. "I wasn't aware you were into women's fashion...and here I thought Francis was just a name your folks decided on to torment you."
"Well, well look who it is, Sparky and Gearbot." Hotstreak snarled, turning to face his enemies, a flaming ball of fire forming in his hand as he measured his foes. "I was wondering what it would take to bring you out here." At this, Hotstreak began tossing the ball of fire in the air, staring down the two heroes like a pitcher preparing to deliver a fastball.
"Well we're here now, so you can stop your little fit." Static said, squaring his shoulders and preparing to combat the pyrokinetic villain. Gear however, tapped Static on the arm and directed his attention to the upper level banister where three others were watching them. Static's eyes went wide as he stared at Ebon, Shiv and Puff, positioned in a triangular flanking formation on the upper level.
"We was wondering what it'd take to bring you out of the woodwork hero," Ebon said, glaring at his prey. "No one's seen you since the incident on the ship, we thought you might not have survived the explosion, but I guess that was too much to hope for."
"Oh, you know me," Static smirked, trying desperately to appear calmer than he was feeling at this moment. "I'm like the Energizer Bunny," he said, sending a blast of electricity at Ebon but only succeeded in blowing a large portion of the upper level floor away. "I keep going and going." Jumping on his board, Static propelled himself to the second level to battle the three foes.
Gear turned his attention back to Hotstreak, ducking just as the fireball he threatened the duo with flew past his head. Mentally ordering the intended arsenal from his portable robot, Backpack extended the long tube from one of its many panels and expelled the foaming liquid onto the burning villain.
"CO2, common component of many household fire extinguishers; pressurized of course." With a smirk at the fallen, smoldering criminal, Gear activated the jets of his boots and flew upwards, intending to assist Static until a large, powerful hand seized his ankle and hurled him into one of the many indoor trees used to decorate the mall.
"Miss me?" Onyx said, lumbering his great, stony mass toward the downed hero.
"Yeah, but my aims improving."
# # #
Static was having difficulties of his own. He weaved and dodged his body at the various attacks thrown at him, all the while retaliating with poorly aimed assaults of his own. He managed a lucky blast that knocked Shiv off his feet. Puff, however had taken his place in the battle and began firing clouds of acid at the annoying hero.
He spun his board in a spiral, dodging the coming strikes before landing a well placed, if not lucky Taser Punch to Puff's jaw, knocking her against the far wall. Yet no sooner had he finished his attack than Ebon emerged behind him, expanding his body and delivering a heavy blow to the center of his back.
Knocked off balance and heavily winded, Static struggled to right himself before Shiv leapt atop the banister rail and lunged himself at the hero, kicking him in the chest. Thrown backwards by the force of the attack, Static's body felt as if it were snapped in half as he struck the second floor railing and tumbled in an uncontrolled freefall that stopped as he abruptly slammed into the ground below.
Coughing heavily as a stream of blood spat from his mouth, the suffering hero was sure he'd broken a couple of ribs. 'Pops is going to kill me.' He thought weakly, struggling to remain conscious as he felt the body of his partner slam into him, the heavy footfalls of the stone-like Onyx jarring him with every step.
"You see hero," Ebon stoked the advantage, glaring over the upper floor railing, "You're looking at the new and improved Meta-Breed. And this is just the beginning. We're going to own this town, and with you out of the way, there ain't no one to step up."
Static heard Gear groan somewhere beside him, but couldn't focus his vision to find his friend. All he could see was the dark shadowy figure of Ebon walking towards him, Puff, Onyx, Shiv and a fully dried Hotstreak following behind. "It's over hero."
'Yep,' Static thought to himself, 'Pops is really going to be pissed.'
-To be continued
# # #
A/N: First, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed my prologue, I know it didn't have much action but it just set the stage. After all, reviews are what help feed every fan fic writer's interest in continuing a story, so from everyone's reviews; I'm most interested in keeping this up. Again, a big thank you. Next, don't think that this is all I have planned for the Meta-breed. There are going to be more members joining them and more destructive forces at work. Mostly, I'm going to have characters from the TV. Show but I do have some interesting originals I'm bringing in as well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and thanks for any reviews, ideas, suggestions or critiques you may have.
# # #
Static Force Chapter 1: Welcome to My Nightmare
"What's the world coming to?" Sharon Hawkins demanded from the living room of the home she shared with her father and brother, holding a particularly wrinkled blouse in her hands as she continued to shake the delicate garment in response to her anger.
"I spent 20 minutes in line to purchase this blouse, and then when I finally get to the cashier they tell me the sale ended yesterday and charged me an extra $30! If that was the case then they should have taken the sale signs down. But do they give me the sale price for the hassle? NO!"
Virgil sat on the soft and, what he often thought to be, overly comfortable sofa, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes closed as he tried desperately to ignore the ranting tirade of his sister's most recent life- altering crisis. Having spent the past five days at home on his father's instructed grounding, these emotional outbursts of his sisters were all but a daily occurrence. Truthfully, Virgil expected he could have set his watch by her tirades.
So was the course of his life these past days, and despite having adjusted the volume of the television in a failed attempt to drown out his sister, he found himself rolling his eyes behind his closed eyelids, hoping his father could in some way placate her temper. If only he had school to go to, but summer had taken away perhaps his only escape from the drama of his sister's life.
"What does it take to get good service?" Virgil's eyes sprang open at the sound of the words, for the statement hadn't come from his sister but from the television. On the screen, a small Channel 8 news logo in the lower right corner, was Hotstreak, terrorizing what appeared to be patrons of the Dakota Heights Mall.
"All I want when I order a Cherry Icy is cherry...not Cherry Cola. You stupid people can't even get a simple order right can you?" Hotstreak snarled, blasting apart a large portion of the wall of Karlie's Food Shack with a well-placed blast of fire.
The initial shock of seeing Hotstreak dissolve large portions of the mall's food court on television was coupled by the shock of seeing Hotstreak at all. The last time Virgil had seen the temperamental pyromaniac was when he had fused with Ebon. The fact that he was now at large and incinerating massive portions of the mall meant he had somehow separated from the other villain. Regardless of the dramatic reemergence of Hotstreak, Virgil couldn't let the raging psycho continue.
"Uh, pops..." Virgil began, worried about interrupting his sister when she was rolling into the argument lest she turn her fury toward him. "I just remembered I promised to meet Ritchie, we were going to clean up the center today, remember?"
Mr. Hawkins turned to face his son curiously before his eyes flashed to the screen of the television. A frown of deep worry creasing his features, Mr. Hawkins weighed the potential risks of his son's alter life verses the as of yet, still recovering injuries. Biting his lip in his own nervousness, Virgil's father nodded one, his eyes screaming a need to say something fatherly to his son, but unwilling to do so with Sharon in the same room.
"Thanks pops, I'll be back before dinner." Virgil said, jumping to his feet and racing up the stairs to his room to grab his duffel bag before heading out of the house.
"I've never seen him that eager to do chores." Sharon said suspiciously, watching her brother run from the house.
"Anyway sweetheart, what were you saying about the cashier?"
# # #
Virgil had long since left the ground, replaced in form and attitude by Static, as the young hero raced toward the Dakota Heights Mall. He had already radioed Gear and asked his partner to meet him in route so they could coordinate their attack. Hotstreak wasn't what he'd considered a viable threat, but he also wasn't the type to pose for the camera. His newfound glory-seeking actions didn't make sense, and certainly didn't ease Static's mind. If Hotstreak was crass enough to commit a crime that open, then he had either finally lost it, or wanted Static to come.
"Yo!" The friendly voice of Static's partner echoed through the air as Gear came up beside his best friend. "So, it looks like the little firecracker finally cracked." Gear joked as they neared their destination.
"Looks like." The young man on the flying board replied, his eyes fixed on the fast approaching mall. "I don't like it Gear, Hotstreak never intentionally calls us out. What's the deal?"
"Maybe he's lonely." The tech-wizard smiled at his own failed attempt at humor. "So, your dad let you out?"
"I got a temporary reprieve for good behavior." Static answered back as he flew up to the roof of the mall to peer into the skylight.
"Hey V, there's something I wanted to ask you." Gear said, his voice growing seriously cautious as he tentatively looked at his partner.
"What's up Rich?" Static turned his head from his attempted observation and looked fully at his best friend. He hadn't noticed before, but saw it now that they weren't flying. Ritchie's skin was a pale, pallid hue and beneath the visor Virgil could see large bags of fatigue under his friend's eyes.
"Uh...have you had any adverse reaction to the gas?" Gear asked cautiously, failing to keep his tone casual.
"Like what?" Static asked, looking closer at his friend and hoping to spot the sudden apprehensions his partner expressed.
"Nah, its nothing, don't worry about it." Gear said distractedly, turning his attention back to the mall and the problem at hand. "Let's say we put Hotstreak on ice."
"Yeah, let's go." Static smiled, yet stole one last look at his best friend before using his powers to magnetically open the skylight. Silently, the two heroes entered the shopping center and began scanning the area, Static using his powers to detect electromagnetic currents of individual aura signatures; Gear using Backpack to survey heat signatures, sound currents and energy spikes throughout the mall.
"The mall looks deserted. Everyone must have scrammed when Hotstreak started his little rampage." Static said, still scanning the stores.
"Not everyone's gone. Backpack is picking up a mass of energy down the south corridor." Gear responded, pointed in the direction of Backpack's signal.
"Man, that's where my favorite video game store is." The lightning powered youth said, charging his board before propelling himself in the direction of Hotstreak, Gear following closely behind.
The two heroes didn't have far to look as they heard the maniacal ranting of the angry young man known as Hotstreak carry on his angry rant for no particular reason than because that was who he was.
"Dirty, rotten, stinking mall! You call these savings?" He screamed at an apparent advertisement for a half price sale on all in stock ladies apparel in a lower level clothing store. He responded to his obvious frustration before sending a burst of searing flames into the store, catching the merchandise in question on fire.
"Wow, what'd you do Hotstreak, slip off your medication again?" Static mocked the temperamental vandal as he landed several feet from the arsonist, Gear by his side. "I wasn't aware you were into women's fashion...and here I thought Francis was just a name your folks decided on to torment you."
"Well, well look who it is, Sparky and Gearbot." Hotstreak snarled, turning to face his enemies, a flaming ball of fire forming in his hand as he measured his foes. "I was wondering what it would take to bring you out here." At this, Hotstreak began tossing the ball of fire in the air, staring down the two heroes like a pitcher preparing to deliver a fastball.
"Well we're here now, so you can stop your little fit." Static said, squaring his shoulders and preparing to combat the pyrokinetic villain. Gear however, tapped Static on the arm and directed his attention to the upper level banister where three others were watching them. Static's eyes went wide as he stared at Ebon, Shiv and Puff, positioned in a triangular flanking formation on the upper level.
"We was wondering what it'd take to bring you out of the woodwork hero," Ebon said, glaring at his prey. "No one's seen you since the incident on the ship, we thought you might not have survived the explosion, but I guess that was too much to hope for."
"Oh, you know me," Static smirked, trying desperately to appear calmer than he was feeling at this moment. "I'm like the Energizer Bunny," he said, sending a blast of electricity at Ebon but only succeeded in blowing a large portion of the upper level floor away. "I keep going and going." Jumping on his board, Static propelled himself to the second level to battle the three foes.
Gear turned his attention back to Hotstreak, ducking just as the fireball he threatened the duo with flew past his head. Mentally ordering the intended arsenal from his portable robot, Backpack extended the long tube from one of its many panels and expelled the foaming liquid onto the burning villain.
"CO2, common component of many household fire extinguishers; pressurized of course." With a smirk at the fallen, smoldering criminal, Gear activated the jets of his boots and flew upwards, intending to assist Static until a large, powerful hand seized his ankle and hurled him into one of the many indoor trees used to decorate the mall.
"Miss me?" Onyx said, lumbering his great, stony mass toward the downed hero.
"Yeah, but my aims improving."
# # #
Static was having difficulties of his own. He weaved and dodged his body at the various attacks thrown at him, all the while retaliating with poorly aimed assaults of his own. He managed a lucky blast that knocked Shiv off his feet. Puff, however had taken his place in the battle and began firing clouds of acid at the annoying hero.
He spun his board in a spiral, dodging the coming strikes before landing a well placed, if not lucky Taser Punch to Puff's jaw, knocking her against the far wall. Yet no sooner had he finished his attack than Ebon emerged behind him, expanding his body and delivering a heavy blow to the center of his back.
Knocked off balance and heavily winded, Static struggled to right himself before Shiv leapt atop the banister rail and lunged himself at the hero, kicking him in the chest. Thrown backwards by the force of the attack, Static's body felt as if it were snapped in half as he struck the second floor railing and tumbled in an uncontrolled freefall that stopped as he abruptly slammed into the ground below.
Coughing heavily as a stream of blood spat from his mouth, the suffering hero was sure he'd broken a couple of ribs. 'Pops is going to kill me.' He thought weakly, struggling to remain conscious as he felt the body of his partner slam into him, the heavy footfalls of the stone-like Onyx jarring him with every step.
"You see hero," Ebon stoked the advantage, glaring over the upper floor railing, "You're looking at the new and improved Meta-Breed. And this is just the beginning. We're going to own this town, and with you out of the way, there ain't no one to step up."
Static heard Gear groan somewhere beside him, but couldn't focus his vision to find his friend. All he could see was the dark shadowy figure of Ebon walking towards him, Puff, Onyx, Shiv and a fully dried Hotstreak following behind. "It's over hero."
'Yep,' Static thought to himself, 'Pops is really going to be pissed.'
-To be continued
# # #
A/N: First, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed my prologue, I know it didn't have much action but it just set the stage. After all, reviews are what help feed every fan fic writer's interest in continuing a story, so from everyone's reviews; I'm most interested in keeping this up. Again, a big thank you. Next, don't think that this is all I have planned for the Meta-breed. There are going to be more members joining them and more destructive forces at work. Mostly, I'm going to have characters from the TV. Show but I do have some interesting originals I'm bringing in as well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and thanks for any reviews, ideas, suggestions or critiques you may have.