Shock to the Eco System
A/N: Thanks to my reviewers!
Anacsadder: Most of the humour comes from my friend Angelo who designed the characters for this fic to play opposite the original ones. But glad you liked it especially since you chose two comments - one from each of us if you get what I mean. I wrote the pot-kettle in and he wrote the insult...he insults a lot. With a rope is sweet but there's so little Hottie-Gear out there it makes me sad (. And no Shiv-Gear! Or Tantrum-Gear. Also keep an eye out for a secret metahuman hidden int he cast all along next chapter!
Moonjava: That's Javaliscious! Glad you like the story. My spell checker automatically turned Richie into Ritchie maybe it's a Euro thing? Keep reviewing though!
"Wither"
Richie scrambled out of the house shouting his goodbyes to his parents. "Overslept, overslept, overslept!" he grumbled to himself as he swerved around a corner, using a lamppost to prevent himself shooting out onto the road. A pair of arms grabbed him and pulled him into an alleyway.
"Hello Foley" it was Francis Stone. Of all the pyrokinetic, bullies-turned-to-pyrotechnically enhanced supermutants in the world...wait...that didn't sound right.
"Oh come on Hotstreak! Gimme a break!" Richie grumbled. He'd watched a Judo instruction tape last night if he had to use it...
"What's wrong Foley? I'm just feeling board...how about I take you dumpster diving?" leered the metahuman...his brown eyes bore into Richie and made him tremble despite his recent spate of super-learning... he was terrified.
"What do you want? I haven't got any money not even for lunch!"
"Oh please! I'm past that!" the flames licked across his shoulders. "After all, I'm still the baddest pyrotechnic in this town and that means I could rob a bank if I wanted to!"
"Hunh...yeah okay...that's nice...can I go now?"
"Don't push me Foley" growled Francis as his flames withdrew into his body after a particularly big blaze. He raised his wrist. "This bracelet tells my parole officer the level I'm using my powers at so I can't barbeque you on the spot" Richie thanked every deity he could think of. "Doesn't mean I can't bruise you all over"
Richie shut his eyes...suddenly he wasn't so sure of his Judo...
"Stone" grunted a voice. The man had a stun rifle in his arms and a prison guard uniform. "No fighting"
"Just talking to an old school chum CHUCK" smiled Francis in a hostile voice through gritted teeth
"Showing off your fireworks?"
"Just got a little heated for a moment" sneered Francis as he was dragged away by the guard. He looked over his shoulder and smirked at Ritchie.
"Dude you look shaken" Virgil said. Richie sat down in class.
"Yeah...Francis Stone...he's got big anger issues" Ritchie moaned as he sat into the seat and dropped his books onto the small table before him. "Why me?"
"He has a crush on you?" Virgil laughed.
Richie froze. "Why would you say that? I'm not like that, doesn't matter what the bathrooms say I amn't"
"Chill Rich!" exclaimed Virgil. "I wasn't talking about you!"
"Yeah...well...don't do that!" Richie murmured as he busied himself in Quantnum physics and let Chemistry Class pass by. Virgil looked to Daisy on his other side. She shook her head and turned back to the class.
Class dragged on but then it finally ended with the thankful bell. Virgil and Daisy waited for Richie until he finally came out of the classroom. "Are you okay Richie?" Daisy asked.
"Ye-Yeah" Richie murmured.
"No you're not" she frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just a little - freaked by Hotstreak coming after me" said Richie. He felt like blood had stopped running to his face for some reason. He felt dizzy too...
"Listen, I wasn't trying to offend you - I was trying to dis Francis" Virgil explained. "I didn't mean to -"
"Nah I just overreacted!" Richie said. "Hey is that the time? have to go!" He darted down the hall and vanished. Daisy frowned.
"You're worried about him" she stated
"That obvious?" Virgil sighed gloomily
"Guess so" shrugged Daisy. She patted her sometimes-boyfriend on the back. "Give him time. He's a teenage boy going through a tough time we'll just give him some time, huh?"
Virgil nodded.
It was lunch when he next saw Richie as the blonde made a beeline for the lunch tables. "Hey Rich! Wait up!" shouted Virgil as he squeezed through the crowd to reach his friend. Richie jumped as Virgil caught his shoulder. "Man, Francis has you on edge!"
"Yeah, kinda" mumbled Richie. They walked out into the afternoon sun. It was a cool day, the breeze and the sun made it a pleasent balance of hot and cold outside. "He's just been freaking me a bit"
Virgil was about to crack a joke when his eyes bulged. Wildcat was backflipping across the courtyard she vaulted onto the high fence, held her body in the air on it and then flipped off into another blitz of backflips which ended in a flip onto the roof of the nearest Burger Fool.
"You think..." Virgil murmured
"She could..."
"Does she want..."
"Can we?"
Three seconds later Gear and Static were jetting overhead. Wildcat was perched on the F in Burger Fool. Her ankles crossed and her legs swaying a little.
"Wildcat...what brings you out of the alleys?" Static asked.
"I had to find you, your scent led me to this school" she replied. "That little Demo got your attention. Here" she handed him a disk. "These files are on the N-Syndicate...I can only hope they haven't had an upsurge in people looking for parttime jobs." She gave the small case to Richie. "I can't stay for long, broad daylight is only good for bathing, not avoiding being seen" the bell rang. "Time flies boys...you're due back in class."
The heroes turned and looked at the school yard nearby. When they turned back she was gone.
"Gotta admire a girl who can make an exit like that" Richie mused.
"Batman won't be happy that a girl is stealing his gig" sighed Virgil
There is always one of those moments where you're getting over trauma and a reminder drops itself in your lap...Richie nearly passed out when Francis came in the door. His parole officer was talking to a nervous looking teacher and the gestures towards the wrist were confirmation on their topic of why Francis wasn't a danger.
"Very well" the teacher said as she returned to the head of the class. "Let's see...Tamryn change desks with Richard" the girl nodded and rose from the computer console near the back of class and Ritchie changed there.
"Now Mr Stone, join Richie there" Richie felt his feet stop working as he collapsed into his chair at the new console. "You two can be console partners, Richie can update you on the class work you've missed"
Hotstreak stalked up the aisle and sat down beside Richie. Richie was wishing the earth would either a) fly of course into the sun, b) swallow him up or c) open into a mini-volcano for a few seconds under the feet of Mrs Miles.
"Heya Foley" grinned F-Stop. Richie wanted to died. "So what have I missed?" Richie looked around for a spare extension cord he could hang himself with.
"You don't care" muttered Ritchie.
"Probably" shrugged Francis as he put his feet on the desk. "Got GTA on these?" he wondered. "Pinball? Doom? Solitaire for fucks sake?"
"they're class computers not arcade machines" muttered Richie.
"Yeah that's why I've been trying to drop out...damn court order" he muttered. "Keeping me in school..."
Typhoid Maria checked her dyed purple hair in the mirror and gave a nod. Shiv was getting edgy beside her so she ignored him. She touched the stud on her spiked collar. "You see him yet?"
"Yeah" replied Gel. "He's coming down the street now."
The city had a problem with manufacturing the cure for the bang baby juice. It took a LOT to make it and it only worked in a large enough dose ever since the Second Bang. There was a waiting list of Bang Babies who wanted to get cured and the courts had some stuff stockpiled for anyone who repeat-offended by their 3 strikes law. Shiv had been on his second probabtion when he was last caught, now he was cured of the cure.
"Okay, lets go" she said as she revved up her motorbike. "Come on Shiv!" she snapped. The purple haired Japanese teen leapt onto the bike with her. She slapped down the visor of her helmet and spread towards the target.
Tarmack...once he was Tarmack. Right now he was on parole and turned into a human by the cure. He'd been a priority. And he was constantly followed by three stun-gun wielding men.
Shiv's light blades sliced the tops off the guns and Gel slid down in a huge tear drop shape to snare Tarmack and pull him away. Typhoid let Shiv use a light mallet to knock the guard aside and then she took care of the other two with a breath of purple bacteria.
The guards clutched their throats and collapsed, twitching... "Okay boys lets roll!" she said with a snap of her fingers. There was a crackle and Gel was shoved back from his swift sliding path towards the alleys by an electric bolt.
"Not so fast Little Miss Punk" Static exclaimed as he descended with Gear nearby. "Tarmack didn't make parole!"
"Ah yes" sighed Typhoid Maria. "You two...my name is Maria...Typhoid Maria...and you've already met Shiv!" the Light energy blade slashed at Gear who leapt back and narrowly avoided it. "Yes straight to the point I like that in a man"
"Wow, so - he got his bang back" Gear murmured, he jetted backwards as Shiv swiped again and jetted up and over Shiv. Gel separated from the dazed looking Tarmack who instantly started cursing Static and Gear. Gear tossed the KO-bomb at the cursing ex-metahuman.
"Ah. Silence" sighed Gear as he jetted past.
Wildcat dropped on Gel with both her heels and pefromed a whirling kick as she vaulted off him that splattered him all around. He reformed instantly. "Nice to see you again Gel" she sighed. "But I prefer to see you...in splatters!" her slash splattered his face across a wall.
Wildcat leapt backwards and landed near Static. "Sorry for butting in but I can't turn down a good party" she cartwheeled at Shiv and knocked him into a wall. He spun and hacked at her but she moved too fast. Her flips and vaults around him made her too hard to catch.
Typhoid watched and then with a sigh walked over to Static. He didn't see her move until it was too late. Shiv and Gel had distracted him, Gear and Wildcat. Typhoid tapped him on the shoulder, he turned around and she blew the purple mist into his face.
"Whoops...I think I'm contagious" she sighed as she climbed onto her bike. Shiv hit Wildcat with a mallet and sent her shooting backwards while Gel performed a stretch punch that knocked Gear off to one side. They rushed for Tarmack, swept him up and escaped by Bike and witH gel slithering up the side fo a building.
Gear was about to follow the villains when he heard the pained groan. Virgil was shivering and clutching his body. Tiny black spots had broken out on his face.
"Static?" gasped Gear.
"Don't worry, Typhoid's bacteria's are confined to her victims no matter what, she can't make a person contagious" Wildcat said. "He needs medical help...now". She helped Richie lift him.
"I figured" Richie muttered. "I need somewhere with medical equipment...and fast!"
Eclipse sat across from Willow. She watched him and smiled a cool smile. "Royal Flush" she said. Eclipse didn't react he nodded and put his cards down...it wasn't a bad hand...but Royal Flush beat it hands down.
"Willow!" Froggy entered the room. He noticed Eclipse and became silent.
"Yes?"
"Typhoid Maria infected Static" Froggy said.
"Hot damn is it Christmas already?" she laughed. "What with?"
"Black Plague" he replied quietly. "No way he'll survive that..." he looked away and hopped out of the room.
"That's nice" murmured Willow. Eclipse nodded and rose. "You're quiet"
"Would you like me to yodel?" he suggested as he looked out on the mountain scene. "Perhaps I could burst a few eardrums with a Jimmy Hendrix Impression?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing" he replied. He sat down opposite her and she shrugged to an unspoken question. There was more silence.
"You wonder if this team is the "right size", don't you?" Eclipse asked.
"Yes, they're all so...alike" Willow nodded. "We have to stick together" Eclipse nodded and went to the doors.
"Come on, she'll be waiting" he said quietly.
"The Black Plague?" exclaimed Richie as Edwin Alva's scientists showed him results and charts. "Is that possible?"
"Evidently so" Alva Snr said as he entered. "I was surprised to get your call" he admitted. Richie knew that Alva had developed a respect of sorts for Virgil though he didn't show it. Alva knew that he had to get on side with the right people now. Who knows why he suddenly decided to aid the heroes but he'd made his decision.
"Yeah, well I didn't know where else I could get the medical help he needs" Richie said firmly.
Alva nodded. "We have no cure"
"Give me a microscope and the resources and I'll make one" Richie said. Wildcat was in the corner watching with interest...like a cat. An observer...
"Fine, it's yours" Alva said. "Remember, I'm doing this because the public likes it. Not because I want to help you".
That wasn't strictly true...he respected their power...moving on.
Richie sat down at the microscope. "Can you work a cure out?" asked Wildcat. "Or..."
"I can do it" Richie said firmly.
Eclipse's face shattered, flaking and breaking away, blood smeared it and there was a hiss of pain. He pulled the shards of mirror glass from his hand and wrapped a bandage around it. "Are you okay in there?" called Willow from outside his bathroom.
"Yes" he shouted back. She had come to tell him to get ready for the next mission. Liberation of the Inhibitor Bracelets. Brilliant. He was the only one of the gang who had met Dr.Ishtar before yesterday. He had been her assistant since the first Big Bang.
Quietly he ran a hand through his hair. The shadows obeyed him, did whatever he told them to. Even unconscious he could make them maintain their shape...he'd spent his life in shadow and now they were deep into his body...they were part of him.
"I'm ready" he said.
"We'll only have Wildcat and Gear to worry about" said Willow as he stepped out of the bathroom in his costume. "Typhoid dosed Static well enough to kill him."
Eclipse nodded.
"Again with the silence?"
Wildcat sat up beside Richie. "Well?"
"I have something" Richie said with a smile. "I've figured the cure out and its quick and easy to use!"
"I'm happy for you" smiled Wildcat. "Let's go wake sleeping beauty" she rose and her heels clicked on the polished floor of the lab as she walked towards Virgil's bed.
Richie rose and stretched, microscope neck...murderous. His intellect wasn't limitted to technology! Wildcat watched as he stirred the chemicals and then treated them in various machines...she watched and judged and Richie found himself hoping she liked what she saw.
Wildcat bit her lip as the injection went in. "I hate hospitals" she muttered. Richie frowned and looked at her. She ignored the look and walked over to the seat. "So what now?"
"We give him time" decided Richie. "I've designed a Bio-shield to help protect us from any biological attacks the big tstse fly decides to bring"
"Christmas already?" smiled Wildcat as she clipped the band onto her upper arm. "Don't you have it in diamond?" she purred.
Richie looked her over. She smiled and sat in at the console. "I'll give you a guided tour of the N-Syndicate" she added as she slipped her disk into Backpack which was seated on the desk.
Froggy perched on the parole building wall. The guard walked underneath and he dropped down. The guard turned around and the headbutt spun him the rest of the 360 degrees in a circle until he collapsed in a heap in the grass. Froggy adjusted the body the a comfortable position seated against the wall and ran along the courtyard - he moved fast, not a blur but like a sprinting athelete in the Olympics. He performed a stunning straight up leap onto the roof of the main building and touched his ear piece.
"Froggy to Team, On roof disabling North East Cameras" he pulled the pistol from his leg holster and fired, the rectangular barrel fired off small square pegs that latched onto the cameras. The loop was immediately in affect.
The Team was Hauntress, Cyclone, Larva, Eclipse, Willow, Quagmire and Magma. He was opening the path for them. Once the cameras were out he signalled them again. Quagmires swamp and wood body exploded upwards and dragged two guards down where he stuck them in the mud. Head first. Gruesome.
Froggy didn't look...he turned away like always and pretended they didn't exist and he hadn't seen them. Eclipse had formed the solid black cane in his hands again, he did it to make people think his powers came from the cane or the hat or even his little jade medallion...
But the shadows were part of him. Froggy watched as Eclipse tapped the cane on the groudn firmly. The geyser of shadows rose taking the N-Syndicate with them.
The plan wa simple: Magma and Quagmire dealt with the guards, Hauntress cut the security, Cyclone destroyed the vehicles and Larva cut the power and then Eclipse and Willow made their way to the Main control room. Froggy would be there, willow would get to the control node and then it would be all over.
Eclipse gestured with his cane at the shadows swirled around an unsuspecting guard, he collapsed unconscious. These were no ordinary shadows, they affected the mind...
Magma and Quagmire walked to the main gates, the high and heavy gates... Metahumans went in, dogs with bracelets and no powers came out. Dr.Ishatar's words. But if felt wrong to Froggy.
"Good work toadie" snorted Hauntress. Magma blasted the gates with molten lava and Quagmire tackled the patch. It burst open like a pimple of some sort. The gaurds were unprepared. Cyclone laughed as she watched Magma and Quagmire attack. Quagmire grabbed the men by their heads or legs and swung them. Magma unleashed blasts of black rock or amber lava at them... The men were screaming and shouting...
The Syndicate moved on. They entered the building. Cyclone, Hauntress and Larva headed down a staircase while Froggy followed Eclipse and Willow up the steps. A group of guards came running at them.
"Oh look it's a rent-a-cop seminar...rule one boys" Willow said. She blew the kisses at them. The men were knocked back by the explosions and bursts of bright smoke that came from the sparks she launched. "Don't charge people wearing leather and not carrying weapons who have JUST bypassed heavy security - they usually don't need guns"
One guard lurched at her. She rammed a knee into his groin and scraped his cheek with her nails...he passed out. Willow examined her nails. "Maybe she's born with it...maybe it's Mabeline" she mused.
"Which way?" Froggy asked.
Willow shrugged and grabbed a guard. She kissed him passionately. "That's Sodium Penathol" she said. "It's faster to act when I administer it...spill. Which way tot he control room?"
"L-l-left down the hall...end of the door"
"Thanks ever so" she said. She tapped his forehead and he collapsed. "See I let him fall unconscious, aren't I a nice-no not really".
The security officers turned when the door opened. "Snakes" the girl said. The men thrashed about screaming as heavy black, brown and green serpents wound around them from all over the floor.
Hauntress stepped over the bodies as they passed out from fear, wetting themselves in the process. She hit a button...all the alarms cut off and the automated voice chanted "This Has Been An Impromptu Drill. Resume Work Stations".
She giggled. "All set" she said. "Hauntress out"
Larva adjusted his rags and bandages, particularly the scarf of rags around his mouth. He burst apart and became a mass of insects, his rags and bandages were made out of insects anyway...he slithered under the door. The men at the power station didn't see it coming. The hornets and flies swirling around them, herding them into a booth and then retractings wiftly. Larva reformed and lodged the door shut with a heavy metal chair. He pulled a lever
The power went off. Quietly he tapped out the morse code on his tiny wrist piece.
Cyclone walked into the driveway for the vehicles that were armed with stun cannons. She whistled so the men looked at her...then she spun into a hurricane and whirled them into the orbit of her winds. There was a crash and crunch as one car hit a wall and another was launched with such force it exploded on the vehicular exit.
"That's enough I think" Cyclone said as she shut off her powers. "Cyclone here, they're all done."
The guard walked slowly around the corner. "Excuse me I'm a little lost which way to the infirmary?" he frowned at the girl in leather and lace holding the large fan.
"Down that way" he said as he turned and pointed down the hall. Someone removed his hat from above and the fan smacked him across his head. His hat was replaced and he collapsed.
"Good" she smiled. "Find your way there then" Willow laughed and looked up at Froggy who was on the wall. Eclipse stepped from his invisible shadows. He pointed a hand at the door. The shadow energy blasted out and tore through the thin metal doors.
The scientists and guards scrambled. A kiss from Willow blew three guards to different corners of the room. Froggy leapt about performing spins, flips, kicks and punches... Eclipse snapped his fingers and vanished in a blast of shadow. He reappeared behind a guard and snared him with black tendrils. Then he raised his cane and hands, the black shadows burst out, the world darkened for the men but not for Eclipse's allies. They saw perfectly albeit with less colour.
Soon they were all boxed up by shadows around them. Willow moved to the door as Froggy and Eclipse opened it for her.
"Thank goodness for gymnastics" she said. "I want a new pair of shoes after this" she added. The cartwheels and backflips through the sweeping laser lines were constant and unerringly fast, she landed on the white console and hit the buttons as she hung upside down on the rectangular obelisk.
"All set boys?" she purred.
Froggy and Eclipse took her signal and pressed the keys on either side of the door. There was a dull clunk. the binary flashed up the system. Willow pushed the hand held device's wire into the port on the console and hit the button. The download took all of 17.2 seconds and the upload even less time, then she valuted off into the backflips that she loved.
She stepped out, finding the entire team was waiting. "Done" she said. "The parole bracelets are 90 crippled, an outside force can removed them."
"Perfect" nodded Eclipse. "Let's go"
The guards burst in the doors, the real ones, the metahuman affair guards. "Oh look, someone's got outstanding library charges" sighed Eclipse.
"Don't move you are under arrest" an officer warned.
"Noooooo we're not" Eclipse said with. He snapped his fingers there was a burst of shadows around the group and they were all gone except Eclipse himself. "See? Now lets just agree to disagree and..." he vanished into darkness.
TBC
In the next chapter: Parole breaks early. And bios on the bad guys!