City of Heroes

Birth of the Brotherhood

Disclaimer: I don't own City of Heroes. Though I do own a few of the characters in this fic.

New Age: 2 of 4

Over the following weeks the new hero known as Tempest made his presence known to the crime world. Especially to members of the Hellions. So far the hero had busted two bank robberies, four turf wars, and had jailed one of the gang's leading suppliers of the drug Dyne. With each passing sucessful mission Tempest was becoming a little more recognized in Kings Row.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Paragon known as Galaxy City, at the local university a pair of guys were sitting outside on the steps leading up to the main office. They had always hung out about this time of day for the last two years. The first had short, combed forward blonde hair, green eyes and was wearing a pair of blue cargo jeans, a white undershirt, and an unbuttoned black shirt over it. He was sitting a couple of steps lower then his friend who had spiked back dark red hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a light orange shirt.

The red haired male grinned as his friend finished laughing at something just said and spoke. "So Billy, up for the frat party this weekend?"

"Maybe not Eddy, I've got a few things to look after." Billy Young, age twenty four, replied. He did have alot of physics and chemical science to look over. Billy had scored highest in his old school in those fields and was immediately offered a scholarship a few months back to Galaxy Tech. He wasn't on campus long before he became good friends with Edward Taylor, the guy he was speaking with now.

Edward rolled his eyes as he stood up and walked down the stairs upon checking his watch. "Okay, well whatever man. You gonna actually show up for Tetson's class today?"

"You know good and well the Professor lets me in with the students that get a more hands on approach to chemistry. Besides.. I get to share that time with sweet, cute little Betty." Billy said with a mock leer at his friend who gave him a light punch in the arm. Edward however had fallen into 'tough guy' mood as he glowered at his friend. "Hey now, that's my baby sister punk."

Billy just grinned. "Oh come off it Eddy, you know your sister isn't my type. Anyway.. I gotta get going."

Edward watched Billy as he walked off, shaking his head in bemusement. With that last gesture Edward stood up and started walking in the opposite direction.

It was a calm day Edward decided, there wasn't alot like them anymore. He wished he could wash all the evils and the injustices in this part of Paragon City. While he loved peace the dark haired man wasn't foolish enough to think it could be omnipresent. That was just impossible when dealing with such an easily corruptable element such as the human soul. He saw no use for anything out of the Galaxy City district, and so it could all burn as far as he cared.

He was passing a cop car when he heard the call. "KZZZT- We have an emergency in progress. An unidentified mutant has entered Galaxy City, whether he is friend or foe can not be confirmed. Suspect is to be considered highly dangerous."

As the cop car sped away, Edward scowled. Well it had been a nice day. Quickly he checked for the nearest alley, then looked around. He'd have to make it fast, class was scheduled to begin in an hour.

A giant of a man, nearly seven feet tall leapt from a building and landed with asphault shattering impact on the interstate. However instead of this being a good way to kill yourself, to this man it was nothing more then a habit. With a grunt he leapt again, nearly sixty feet into the air. The wind whipped around him, sending his dingy grey hair hair flying behind him. This mutant, was dressed in black leather pants, boots, a sleeveless matching shirt, and a trenchcoat that was so dark it had a red tint to it in the right light. His eyes matched the color of his hair, and under his clothing one could easily tell the man was solid as a rock in the muscular sense. The man's skin was tanned, normal for all appearance.

Again he landed, but this time in the middle of a store district. A quick look around the area showed that there was nothing of interest. The man began to leap once more.

"Hold it right there!"

With a grunt he turned his head to the left to find himself staring down the barrels of two police issued shotguns. The officers were nervous despite the apparent upperhand they had, but they didn't let their aim waver. For all this the mutant gave a smirk as he turned fully to the cops and began to slowly walk over.

"I said hold it!" Officer Perez yelled as he cocked his shotgun, his partner following suit. "Stop right there or we will open fire!" However it was clear even now to Perez that this mutant freak wasn't about to just stop. "You were warned!" Perez pulled the trigger, unloading buckshot into the man's gut. The mutant's eyes went wide and his arms flew to cover the area of impact as he doubled over and staggered back. Though he did not fall. Perez figured that it would take more then that to kill someone who had powers akin to those of the superheroes. "Now we will get you medical attention but you have to come quietly. Otherwise I will fire again!"

No answer from the hunched man as he suddenly became very still. Then his large frame began to shake, next came the laughter as he stood up, hands still on his stomach. "I think I'll choose to.. go kicking and screaming." His hands dropped, allowing the crushed slugs to fall from his stomach, his shirt was torn, but the flesh beneath it looked utterly unharmed. The officers were stunned at this turn of events and now opened fire without hesitation.

Each shot proved as useless as the first as he continued to walk forward, shirt and trenchcoat steadly becoming more tattered from each impact of slugs. Suddenly the mutant charged, striking out with each fore arm and connecting with each officer's neck, sending them into a low backflip before landing on their faces. The mutant grinned as he looked at his handywork. "Little stupid men... I'm not just some big target... I am Garm, and I am unstoppable!"

Something struck him in the back, it didn't hurt but it did get Garm's attention. He spun around and searched for the cause of whatever that had been. "Someone else want a piece?"

A bolt of electricity hit Garm squarely in the face, making him stumble back before two stronger blasts slammed into his chest, making the mutant's body jerk as the voltage jumped across his body. Not for long however as with a yell of frustration Garm broke the hold the electric currents had on him. Finally he was allowed to look up in the air above him for his attacker.

Tempest came back around, thrusting his left arm forward so another blast was released from the swept forward wing. Now that he saw it coming Garm braced himself and backhanded the attack, still getting a bad shock but only for an instant. Garm roared a battle cry before he grabbed the bumper of the police car and with a bit of effort threw it into the air at the flying hero.

"Whoa!" Tempest rolled out of the way to let the car continue it's path into the side of a warehouse. The hero turned his attention back to the very large, very annoyed mutant on the ground. "Alright.. let's see just what my little helmet tells me.." He reached up and tapped the side of his helmet. Tempest wasn't just any ordinary blaster class, he'd gotten to where he was through high mechanical skills, such as the wings and his helmet that served to show him various statistics.

First he checked with the city database on his opponent, and found that there wasn't any previous record of the mutant prior to right now. So basically all Tempest knew was the mutant's name was Garm since he'd arrived just as the police were opening fire. From what he was witnessing Garm showed all the signs of a serious tanker class. Billy brought himself to a hover quit a few yards above the mutant, who was still giving him a predatory glare. "Alright, now that I have your attention why are you doing this!"

The mutant grinned, the laughter started back up. "Why? I want to destroy.. and I'll continue on with you!" Garm crouched down, hand slamming into the ground before he leapt up fast. Faster then Tempest could hope to avoid. He could only charge up a blast and fire with all his strength, hoping that could stop the madman from slamming into him. From the outlook, Tempest was in trouble.

To be continued.