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.
Author's Note: Hey everyone, sorry for my absence but I've been busy with a new job and so forth. Now that I've learned the unique skill that is "time management" I will be able to update on a regular schedule again. Thanks for reading and please review, let me know what you think.
Sentry's Duty: 1 of 3
Her name was Betty Taylor, one of the most promising scientific minds in the history of Galaxy Tech. Right now she was sitting down in her dorm room, at her desk focusing entirely on what contents were strewn across it. Parts of machinery, wires, sounding boards, and so many other little pieces cluttered the entire desk surface. She remembered what her brother had approached her with, a problem concerning a mutant that made his appearance a week or so ago. At the time Edward was chasing some electric person but her brother wouldn't go any further into detail. Betty could recall the taciturn expression he wore that day, so nervous after seeing the mutant's brute strength.
She knew for a long time that Edward was really the Bard, the martial artist hero of Galaxy City. Living with someone their entire life meant that they could hide very little from you after all.
So here she was constructing her first robotic enhancer armor for Edward to wear so his strength would be at least in the same page as this mutant. Personally she never understood why Eddy took every single hero and villian alike as a threat to this district. So, this mutant must have been driving her brother simply batty. On one occasion the mutant stopped a wave of Clockwork robots from killing tourists at a welcoming party in Steel Canyon, then just as quickly he was raising general havoc through Kings Row. All police efforts to catch him were futile. When a man can simply leap over the massive war walls that seperated the city into sections to make an invasion more difficult, he was hard to catch.
Betty had just placed the finishing touches on her latest invention, the Sentry battle suit. A suit of full body armor with a visor that had an abundance of functions and weapons. It was an all together grey toned suit, with the chest, shoulders, boots, and the visor were a dull white. It was pure art in her opinion, a suit that would actually amplify the abilities of whoever the suit was tuned to several times over. Thrusters on the back plate and bottoms of the boots for catching all those nasty leaping foes that you just couldn't catch other wise.. and once again the massive weapon system that was crammed into the Sentry.
Once the last armor plating was in place, a grinning inventor looked around and softly called. "Oh Eddy.. what's that? You want me to take the Sentry for a test drive? Well if you insist.."
The Bard sent a brutal kick into a Skullz member's face, eliciting a muffled scream of agony as the gangster held a broken and bloody nose. Right in time he rolled to the left, avoiding gunfire that made several holes in the man that had his nose broken. The body fell with a quick thud while the gang members looked on in disbelief for a second. Heroes weren't supposed to do things like that!
However the cultural stun was their last mistake for the two Skullz members. The Bard charged, and grabbed the muzzles of both guns with a sharp twitch to tilt them upward. With a burst of adreniline he pushed them further, until they were aimed at each man's fore head. "Give up." He kept his eyes focused straight ahead, but he was waiting for even the slightest tensing of muscle in the thugs hands to react. Just as he was starting to recieve signs of what he was waiting for a large hand grabbed the back of his shirt and with just the slightest twitch sent him flying through the air onto the hood of a car. The Bard groaned, and began to try to get his bearings back.
Garm turned to walk after the fallen hero, all but ignoring the gang members that were wisely choosing to run away as if their very lives depended on it. Which was true considering the two men that now stood facing one another were less then benign towards enemies. The taller man cracked a grin, "Heard you've been looking for me little man."
The Bard spat at the larger man's feet and then slid into a defensive posture. With two fingers he beckoned Garm to bring his attack. "You heard right. You're a threat to this district and you must be removed. If you had just stayed away from Galaxy City then we would never of had any problems with one another."
"You call me a threat?" Garm cackled as he leapt forward, swinging down a massive fist that the Bard rolled out of the way from. The car's hood nearly imploded as it's entire frame shuddered from the power behind the blow. Garm spun around, leveling his foe with a light backhand. "You're crazier then I am! At least I help people occasionally instead of just killing common thugs like a coward!"
The Bard spun up from his flat position, using his shoulders as the focus for his rotatations and sent a hard enough kick into the big man's side to make him take a step or two back. "I take out the bad element, you just cause chaos." He replied in a calm monotone while he leapt up and brought both his clasped hands along into a sledgehammer uppercut that made Garm's head snap back from the impact rather then any pain. "Galaxy City is mine to protect! Now be gone!"
The Bard leapt up to deliver a devastating knee to Garm's jaw. However, the big man had something else in mind as he caught the smaller hero by the knee and spun around to slam him into the asphault on his stomach. "Heh, do you think that really hurts me at all you insect!"
He watched as the Bard started to get up, waiting until he was nearly on his feet and then delivered a kick that was so hard the sound of ribs breaking rent the air with the Bard's scream of agony. The Bard fell to the ground, barely moving as each tiny shift caused pain to fire throughout his entire body. He coughed, and tasted blood at the back of his throat.
Garm cackled as he knelt down and grabbed the man's hair with a rough jerk. "Listen good pal, I won't be going anywhere just because you think you're some sort of lawman. All you are to me is a reason to leave one more grease stain on the pavement." The mutant grinned and brought his fist high into the air, clenching it until a small pop was heard. "Well look it's been fun kicking you around like a football but I have a nap to catch."
The high pitched whine of a flame propelled rocket was suddenly head, causing Garm to jerk his head upward at the sound just in time to watch a micromissle fly just over his shoulder. The projectile travelled ten yards further before detonating in a small ball of fire, completely harmless at that distance. However, all eyes were on the individual that had fired the missle. Standing at the head of the alley was a single woman wearing the strangest armor Garm had even seen. "Get away from him or the next one won't miss!"
She wasn't very tall, maybe five feet six inches at the most and her short auburn hair came down completely straight. It actually brought more attention to the off white visor over her eyes. All it took was one look for Edward to realize who it was. He tried to raise his voice to order Betty away but the attempt brought on a wet cough.
Garm actually did as he was told and backed away from the downed Bard. A grin on his lips however betrayed the fact that he wasn't particuliarly worried about the unexpected guest. "I was done playing with him anyway. He broke way too easily but you on the other hand wench.. that sardine can looks like it can take a pounding before I get to the meat."
Offended didn't describe the utter look of hatred that came from the woman as jets on her back and boots fired up, causing her to jump a little before her flight path was evened out. "My name is Sentry and I'm more then a match for the likes of you villian!"
Down, far below the city streets in the forgotten chapel Billy Young watched the enchanted stain glass window with a deep frown. He had been here for a while now but was eventually able to talk Crystal into running him back to his dorm to pick up a few clothes and other necessities. What was happening now between Garm and Bard was making him want to be out there again so that he could help. Eden Rolt however simply stressed the concept of waiting to him, saying that it would be unwise to disrupt the events that were now in motion.
Billy didn't care though. Even if the Bard's intentions had been rather homicidal towards him Billy didn't have to like seeing him being completely overwhelmed by that monstrous pyscho. Even with the new edition of this woman who'd shown more courage then actual brains.. Billy did not feel any better and if it counted for anything, he would force Eden to let him get involved if it got any worse.
How will the Sentry suit stand up to Garm? Even if it does will it be enough? Find out in the next issue of Sentry's Duty..