City of Heroes
Birth of the Brotherhood
Disclaimer: I don't own City of Heroes, or alot of the characters that appear in this story. Though I do own Garm. Big woop.. the guy is stuck in the void. -.-' Also, Larry Peterson, aka Captain Energy belongs to ToasterOven11, forgot to add that in last chapter.
ToasterOven11: No, I'm not an actual author but I am aspiring to being one. Thank you very much though.
The Awakening: 3 of 4
The hours ticked back and Tempest had been working nonstop on trying to slip from either his bindings on his hands or the ones that held him to the ceiling. So far there wasn't much luck. With the ever so annoying fact that his bracers, the salvation to his captive state, were within eyesight but so far away at the same time.
At the thought of his bracers Tempest's gaze drifted over to them. Without them he could end up frying himself all too easily. If he could just generate a strong enough pulse then he'd be able to force the bindings open. The sound of a latch being pulled back snapped his attention to the door again and it admitted Necrose once more. Tempest didn't speak, he merely stared at her.
"Hello again." She quipped, coming to a stop just out of range of Tempest in case he decided to try and swing his shackled arms at her. "I'm glad you decided to not go anywhere." Necrose walked around the hero in a circle, sizing him up. "I know who you are now. Managed to get a hold of a newspaper... you're Tempest."
"I am." Was all he said in response.
The eidolon shot him an annoyed look but let it slide for the moment, he was her plaything now. What she would be doing with him specifically was really not thought out properly. Unlike most cliche female villians Necrose wasn't really keen on carnal pleasures, nor was she into mutilation. All that she knew was her apparent purpose, to serve father. Though that was quickly becoming strained at best since all the man did was have her run to morgues to pick up fresh corpses. What was the point of supposedly having the power he claimed she had when there wasn't any opportunity to test it?
She made a clicking sound with her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Well then, now I have to figure what I can do with you." A very slight grin had only started to form when another sound broke the nerve wracking moment for Tempest.
"Necrose where are-" The doctor had walked in, freezing in place with shock at the sight that greeted him. In a way it was almost like finding one's daughter hiding a boy in her room. Comical if it hadn't been for the utter seriousness of the situation. Doctor Coroner's eyes darted from his daughter to the captive Tempest hanging from the low ceiling. "Well.. you have some explaining to do."
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The hero known as Captain Energy descended from the sky, landing with a gentle 'pamph' on the rooftop. It had been a few weeks since he had donned the costume and even in such a short time away it felt strange to be wearing it again. The costume was largely blue, with matching gloves and boots. A long strip of black ran up his sides from the top of the boots, and seemed to follow up to his shoulders by way of going down the sleeves, then back up them to the shoulders. He wore a blue cape and a mask that connected to the outfit itself, which followed the pattern and left his lower face exposed while his eyes were hidden by a pair of starlite lenses. On his chest was a large, golden stylized 'C' with a smaller 'E'.
"Good to see you made it." Manticore said from his place near the roof edge. He was dressed in his usual intriguing red attire, bow and arrows across his back. The archer was facing away, binoculars raised and focused on an old warehouse across the street. "FlareStorm should be here any minute now."
Captain Energy strode forward and crouched down beside his ally, accepting the binoculars when they were offered to him. The Captain looked into them and then aimed for the building, spotting what Manticore had been looking at. Lumbering around the lot in front of the warehouse were a large amount of zombies. Not quite following the lines of the traditional Vahzilok in the fact they were less mechanized and more zombie.
"Sentries." Manticore supplied the other hero as an unspoken question lingered in his gaze. "I noticed that they seem to be capable of some level of speech. Every hour or so another one would come out and exchange a few words."
"You're sure we can do this? If I remember correctly the Vahzilok mass in great numbers near any base of operations for their masters." Captain Energy stated, he may not of liked Manticore very well but what happened off the field stayed off of it once the masks came on.
Whatever could have been said between the men was lost as a flash of fire announced the arrival of their fellow hero. Manticore didn't turn, for he'd seen her before but Captain Energy turned out of instinct.
FlareStorm was a young woman, still a girl really and looked like she'd just hit her sixteenth birthday. Her hair was long and a dyed a bright ruby red to augment her matching eyes. Whether they were like that when her powers were active or if there were contact lenses involved, Captain Energy couldn't tell. Her outfit consisted of black bell-bottom pants with fire designs near the bottom and a sleeveless belly shirt of matching design. The only thing that concealed her face in any way was a domino mask, though it didn't hide her eyes. "Sorry I was late. Homework."
Stunned was a good way to describe Captain Energy's initial reaction. A quick smile and nod. "Ahh.. yes, excuse us young lady." At that he grabbed Manticore and pulled him closer, choosing then to engage in a whispered debate. "I thought you meant 'kid' as in the sense that she was new in the work. Not 'kid' as in a kid!"
"She can take whatever she dishes out Captain, I promise." Manticore waved him off, and then motioned with his head for FlareStorm to come on over.
The teen did as instructed and stood on the ledge of the roof, carefully scrutinizing the watch down below, that or preparing to doing something incredibly stupid. A minute passed and Captain Energy's nerves began to relax. She was acting with more sense then he'd thought-
"BANZAI!"
With a top of the lung battle cry FlareStorm leapt off of the ledge, igniting an aura of fire so bright it lit up almost half the block and flew straight at the zombies. She unleashed massive blasts of fire on the undead, causing them to groan loudly as the girl cackled in an almost gleeful fashion at her handywork of burning bodies.
Back on the rooftop Captain Energy and Manticore just watched on with rather disturbed expressions. Softly the Captain spoke, as if afraid FlareStorm would hear. "So.. did you know about her being a raving psycho?"
Manticore responded with an equally low voice. "Can't say that I did.. well I guess this means the suprise attack is off." The archer stood up and knocked an arrow before letting it fly, sinking it into the left eye socket of another zombie that had hurriedly ambled out the door to investigate. "Smash and bash Cap'n!"
"Right.." Captain Energy's powers activated, igniting his fists with a brilliant blue glow as he flew down after FlareStorm and then past her to deliver a wall shattering punch to the warehouse side. The wall as expected crumpled under the powerful energy strike, letting out a massive cloud of dust and debris. As the plan should have gone Captain Energy flew on in, keeping a moderate pace so that he could search for the captured hero.
"I wanted to have someone I could talk to besides you." Necrose snapped, moving in front of Tempest to keep the doctor from looking at him directly. "He's mine and you can't have him!"
The sheer fury of the doctor made her take a step back, "You stupid girl! Do you know just what you've done! In this city there are very few heroes that are not in league with a group! In your stupid pursuit of having another person to talk to who knows how many others are tracking him down!" Doctor Coroner glared at his creation, showing a mighty effort of restraining himself from striking her.
For a few seconds Necrose was truely afraid of the man that had called himself her father, it was a natural reaction afterall. An apology was already forming on her lips, but the doctor wasn't finished just yet.
"Not only have you proven how utterly STUPID you are but just how much of my time and effort was put into the trouble of creating you. What a mistake.. well at least I can always start over." Doctor Coroner brought a hand up to his chin, already mentally slicing her up to see which parts would be best conserved. With each of his insults Necrose's expression just grew harder and angrier.
Just as the doctor went to open his mouth again her hand shot out, clutching her creator by his throat and lifting him off his feet as if the doctor was a small child. Her glare froze his thoughts in their tracks as she spoke in a low, harsh whisper. "Don't you dare think you're going to kill me. I may have died once but now I will live and do what I want."
It was a tense moment. Tempest could only watch in mute suprise while Necrose slowly increased the crushing force she had on the doctor's neck. He had to do something right away if a murder was to be prevented. Tempest drew in a quick breath, prepared himself, and then let loose with a yell as a current of electricity shot throughout his body, magnetizing the locks and then redirecting their magnetic poles so that they forced themselves apart.
Tempest dropped to the floor, most of his body smoking as the smell of burnt kelvar armor wafted around the room. He bit back a pain filled sob and forced his neck to crane upward.
Necrose had let go of her 'father' and was looking at him with a stunned expression. Unknown to her the doctor wisely slipped out of the door at which time a crash was heard, as if a wall had collapsed. Necrose turned, not finding the object of her rage and let out a curse. The undead turned back to Tempest, who at this point had tried to drag his fried carcass over to his bracers but had only managed to get just over two feet from his original position. "He got away because of you! Is this how you thank me for wanting you to be my friend!"
She kicked Tempest in the side, recieving a wince from the electrical hero. "You are a terrible friend! I'm going to be sure to kill you just like how I wanted to kill father!" Necrose dropped down beside him, forcing Tempest onto his back before her hands wrapped around his throat. The strength behind those hands nearly sealed his windpipe shut, gagging Tempest as he weakly tried to fight back.
Fortunately for Tempest it was around this instant that they were found by another hero. Manticore stood in the doorway, arrow aimed squarely for Necrose's head. "I know you're not just a brainless body miss.. so back away from the smoking purple heap and we can talk."
Necrose's gaze switched a few times between Tempest and the archer before she slowly released Tempest's throat from her grip and stood back. Much to her irritation Manticore didn't lower his weapon as she had thought he would, which would have given her the perfect opening to attack him.
"Good brain eating girl." Manticore quipped while Tempest managed to get over to his bracers and put them on.
Necrose watched as her only 'friend' abandoned her for that freak in red and her rage only sky rocketed with it. He should have been thanking her for showing him where she lived! Of course, this could have just as well been whatever brain damage the doctor's experiments wrought on her feeding this information, but it mattered little. With a snarl she took started to walk across the room.
Without hesitation Manticore let go of the arrow, sending it straight into the eidolon's chest. Necrose stumbled back, looking as if she were ready to scream in agony.. only to realize she didn't feel any pain. There was the feeling of impact, but that was all there was. Necrose looked at the arrow shaft, protruding from in between her ribcage, had she been alive a punctured lung would have been fatal. Now though, it was hardly a pinprick.
As the eidolon looked up at Manticore with a savage grin one thought ran through his mind before she ran forward. 'Ah crap.'
Necrose threw a punch that landed across the archer's jaw, making him stagger back as she followed close behind, attacking with wild punches, scratches, and kicks. She didn't care for stratedgy, why would she need it if she didn't feel pain?
Necrose struck out with her nails, drawing four bloody lines across Manticore's cheek before he struck her back with the edge of his bow, causing her to just scream in anger. She jumped back to try and claw Manticore's eyes out, making them both fall to the floor, both rolling to try and stay on top of the other to keep an edge.
Tempest, regaining strength but still out of the fight due to his own bid for freedom struggled to push himself up with the aid of the wall.
Captain Energy laid waste to yet enough zombie as FlareStorm followed behind him, burning the remains. Once he'd managed to get the girl to understand the concept of a plan she'd been very agreeable. Hence the current action of the Captain pummeling an undead, then followed by FlareStorm cremating it. The Vahzilok can't bring back something if all that remained awas dust.
It didn't mean she was enjoying herself as much. "Why do we have to do it this way? I could just go ahead and roast them while you go off in another direction."
The Captain was prevented from replying when a zombie tried to rush out in a poor immitation of a sneak attack. The resulting back hand to the undead completely decapitated it, the energy burning on the hero's fist cauterizing the stump of a neck.
After that FlareStorm didn't press him for an answer. Maybe doing this was alot safer then her idea. The teenager's thoughts were broken up by the sound of three pairs of footsteps running towards them, coming from where they'd entered. FlareStorm whipped around, flames around sparking on her palms as they aimed squarely at the chest of what was undoubtly another hero.
Bard slid to a stop, kicking up a small cloud of what FlareStorm had decided to call 'zombie dust' and glared at the girl. "If you're going to attack me kid, better make it count."
FlareStorm's eyes narrowed. "What'd you call me!" Before the situation got any worse Captain Energy put a hand on her shoulder and spoke. "Sorry about the kid here.."
"HEY! I'm not a kid!"
"Like I said, sorry about the kid." The Captain continued, ignoring FlareStorm's outburst. "We're here looking for a hero that we heard was brought in. Do you know anything about it?" He'd already recognized the three as Bard, Sentry, and Widow from the papers concerning their victory over that maniac named Garm a short time ago.
Bard started to speak up but Sentry stepped ahead. "Yes, if it's who we think it is then our teammate will be in here. When we heard all the chaos we came running to investigate. Looks like our luck is starting to get better."
"Uhh.. guys I think Manticore is in trouble." FlareStorm said seconds later when the veteran hero could be seen getting thrown out of a room, the visible area of his face covered in bloody scratch marks and costume shredded at the chest. He landed on his side and scrambled to his feet, bow firmly in hand.
The reason for this stalked out of the room, ripping out the arrow shaft in her chest with a splurt of blood. Necrose snarled, snapping the projectile in her grip while heading towards Manticore. So focused on him that she didn't notice the other five heroes just down the corridor. "I'll kill you! You turned my friend against me and now you'll pay!"
"He was never your friend you lunatic. You hung him upside down in a cell!" Manticore yelled back before firing another arrow. It was dead on target, but amazingly Necrose caught it and snapped it before letting loose a scream of fury.
It was about this time Necrose met Bard's fist as it collided with her jaw, followed by a flurry of several other rapid blows alternating between her face and chest. Necrose tried to thrust her palm into his throat, but Bard grabbed her wrist and flipped her over him, causing her to land with a gasp. For a moment she just lay there, grimacing. That time she'd felt pain but only from the landing. All the previous strikes lacked the power needed.
She tried to get up.
Bard slammed the heel of his left foot into her head, knocking her out. "Well, that wasn't the fight I imagined."
FlareStorm ignited a fireball in each hand, a devilish smirk coming to her as she prepared to incenerate the zombie as per the Captain's plan. Sentry jumped in front of her. "Wait! We can't kill her, she's a sentient being."
The teenage fire user scowled as her eyes burned with the very same flames that were in her hands. "Don't be stupid, she's a zombie and needs to be burned!" When Sentry didn't move FlareStorm aimed a hand at her, smiling in a rather disturbing manner. "Fine, I need to let loose some steam anyway."
"Stand down." That order came from Manticore as he knelt down beside the unconscious eidolon and snapped a pair of handcuffs on her.
FlareStorm's eyes went wide. "What! That thing's a freaking zombie. What's to stop it from like eating our brains or something when she wakes up?"
Captain Energy walked forward to place a hand on FlareStorm's shoulder. "A nice specialized cell for villians like her. She has shown true thinking ability.. so that makes killing her a little different then the regular undead. It'd be like killing another human being." FlareStorm growled and let the fire die out, then stomped on out of the warehouse. Once she was gone Manticore and Captain Energy turned their full attention on the Brotherhood of Justice.
Manticore spoke first, "Your friend is in the room back there. He may be in need of some medical help. We'll keep a watch on this undead here until the cops arrive." With a grateful nod Sentry hurried on back to the room where Tempest had been kept, followed by Widow and Bard.
Captain Energy watched them go before turning his gaze back to Manticore. "Well, that wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be." He walked over to a computer console that was stationed on the farside of the room to begin routing through it to see what exactly had been going on here. The information revealed to him was disturbing to say the least. This wasn't a Vahzilok operation, as in fact the actual group had been wiped out some time ago. Rather this was a group led by a Henry Carson, now known as Doctor Coroner. The doctor's goals were clearly outlined in that he wanted to surpass Vahzilok. "Well, I found out what I wanted to know, where do we go from here?"
Manticore responded before he headed out to try and catch the Brotherhood to give them a frequency to contact him on. "At this moment we'll just need to focus on the dangers that we can handle with only three members, with any luck those heroes will prove to be of some use in the future."
RaneMetal: Well, not the huge climatic battle I'd hoped for but whatcha gonna do right? So, readers time to help Dear old Uncle Rane out and try to think up a name for the three person squad led by Manticore.