Okay everyone, just a heads up but March first was my birthday so happy late birthday to me. Anyhow here's the next chapter to Heroes of Empire City.
"Luna" Normal speaking
POV changes or yelling
Used for quotes
Thoughts
Secondary thought speaker (Sasha or any other telepath)
**Luna's narration**
"Great and good are seldom the same man." ~ Winston Churchill
EMPIRE CITY. DAY: 17
"You've got one more substation to link up. I'll let you know when I find it," Moya informs the three of us once we re-surface from the sewers. We've got a new power this time: the ability to fire kinetically-charged projectiles of electricity from our hands that detonate upon coming in contact with an obstacle. The short version: Megawatt rockets.
"Now that is how to get rid of your enemies," I said when we tried out the missiles on more Dust Men. Silver and Cole seem to agree with me; a larger grenade that can fly towards our targets. I've notices that if I fire a lightning bolt after launching the rocket; said rocket will fly towards wherever my bolt hit. This will be helpful; to redirect a rocket's power in case a civilian is near the target's path. We walk down a street block when I get a call from Trish.
"Hey Luna, are Cole and Silver around? The Reapers have been attacking the bus on my last trip and I need to ask you three a favor. I'm in the Neon and I'll have the bus loaded by the time you're here." So then we travel in style, grinding on the power lines while gliding with our static-thrusters (or in Silver's case flame-jets). When we land on the ground, we notice three buses with fence-wire on the roofs.
"I had Roger rig up the buses with wire mesh and a generator, should provide a non-stop source of power for you three," Trish explains, pointing to the roof.
"Wow, that's pretty smart," Cole comments.
"Well they don't let dumb-asses into med school Cole. Try not to fall off the buses or we'll need to stop and wait for you to get back on." Trish then heads into one of the medical buses. I hop onto the left bus, Cole gets the one with Trish and Silver takes the right. A grin makes its way onto my lips as I feel the energy flowing into me, making me feel overcharged.
We pass through the Neon without much damage to any of the buses, thankfully. Our buses come to a stop when we find a mob of twenty Reapers rush out of an alleyway across from SC. All three of us tense up, thinking that they will try to assault us at the border; electricity crackles in our hands and on our feet. I raise an eyebrow when I notice how they don't seem to even bother with us; instead rushing across the bridge with their rifles and shotguns towards the advancing Dust Men. Junk crabs and Conduits from both sides assault each other like they're on two different factions of street gangs. And in a way, I guess they are.
"Keep moving!" I hear Cole yell out to the drivers. "Ignore them! Luna, Silver; help me move those cars!" The drivers compile and start to move forward while Silver and I launch rockets and grenades at the piled up cars on the bridge. Several Napalm grenades blow up the cars, sending them flying upward when the gas tanks catch fire while my rockets send them flying in other places. Most of the cars and chassis pieces fly onto Reapers and Dustmen while other cars go flying over the bridge. We take a left and then a right, leaving the hospital in front of us. It's almost too good to be true when I notice the lack of Dust Men at the hospital.
Almost; an RPG flies from the roof and sends Cole flying off his bus. Two more rockets fly towards the other buses and I barely have time to jump off before they explode. Moya calls me and tells me she knows about the Dust Men's leader just as I recover from my roll.
** As I dust myself off I notice this man; this old grizzled man, lift a bus… with his mind. I'm strong, so are Cole and Silver, but all three of us combine aren't nearly that powerful. Moya rambles on everything she knows about the old man. Alden was born to the leader of the First Sons. As a powerful mentalist he was groomed from an early age to assume control. At least until Kessler took control with his girls. Alden disappeared into the streets, growing up scared and homeless. But that fear is long gone now thanks to the blast giving him the power to overcome his paranoia. With a flick of his wrist he sends Trish's bus on top of the hospital, sending a message to anyone who dares to stand against him. With Trish still in the bus, we had to act fast. Didn't matter as Alden was gone when we turned back to him.**
"TRISH!" Cole cries out, rushing over to the hospital. I follow as well, in case Cole can't make it. No! I can't lose faith in Cole! I shake my head and start climbing up the hospital walls, but not before delivering a kick to one of the transient's heads.
"You just signed your death warrant." I hear Cole say darkly to the transient as he throws him off the edge of the building. Dustmen try to shoot at me, but Silver helps provide cover for both of us as we make our way up. Cole slips a little nearing the top, but I grab his wrist before he can fall. He grunts out thanks as we both climb to the top.
"Get away from her!" Cole growls out in rage as we fire off lightning at the transients around the medical bus. They don't even have time to turn around before they either get electrocuted or thrown over the edge.
"You alright?" Cole asks as soon as I throw the last one overboard.
"When he threw the bus up here, the only thing going through my head was you, and how things stand between us," Trish says with some tears in her eyes.
"I'd never let anything happen to you Trish," Cole replies, walking over to her.
"I know you didn't mean to kill Amy, Cole; that you've been trying to make things right. And I need to stop being angry at you, and the twins. It's just been hard for me," Trish sniffles a bit as Cole wraps his arms around her. "I want us to be together again. Like how it used to be."
"So do I Trish. So do I." I stay silent and watch them kiss. Silver actually hauls her head up just in time to see it. We have the sense to stay quiet while they kiss, although that doesn't stop a smile from creeping on either of our faces. Then one of them seems to remember who else came with Cole and they both look at us.
"Err… let's get you both off the roof," I say, my cheeks blush a bit at being caught by the two. Silver also blushes as she hauls herself onto the roof. We open our mouth to apologize but Trish waves us off with an understanding smile. Silver and I glide down while Cole carries Trish bridal style. I could think of a few comments to make, but I hold my tongue. As we land, both of us immediately help Trish unload the supplies and move them into the hospital. With all of us helping, despite Trish saying how we've done enough, it doesn't take long. Silver and I let out a few grunts as we exit the hospital after the third trip inside. We head back to the bus and go to help with the last of the gear. That's when both of us spot this one woman handing Trish the last box, the woman stepping out of the bus before shutting the door behind her. She wears a short sleeve shirt and jean-shorts that have been through a bit of wear and tear. Her brown hair is held still by a silver bandana and her brown eyes seem to look into your heart. What makes us meet her eyes is the thing on the bridge of her nose; a single band-aid.
"Morgan-sensei!" We cry out, rushing over to the woman. Both of us leap over piled-up boxes, sand-bag-barriers and other obstacles in order to greet our martial arts teacher. She looks at us for a second and then her eyes grow wide in recognition. Morgan calmly walks over to us, even though her eyes say that she wants to run. Silver and I weave around people and vault over the railings before we give Morgan a hug. She smiles and opens her arms as if to give us one. Then she bonks us on the heads with her fists.
"Oww! What was that for?" Silver and I complain as we nurse our heads. Morgan looks at us a little coldly, like we've goofed up big time or we've broken something precious of hers.
"Remember what I told you about greeting me?" She asks, not breaking her harsh gaze for either one. I look at her for a second before remembering what it was; to bow and greet her with respect when we see her.
"Sorry Sensei," Both of us put our hands together and we bow to her, a little ashamed that we forgot about that. It was one of the first things she pounded into our heads, the very first lesion she taught us; to show respect to our teachers no matter what. To our surprise she laughs and brings us in for a hug.
"I'll forgive you this once, after all that you've gone through," She says, her gaze softening. "I know what happened; how the 'Voice of Survival' says one thing and how citizens have been saying something else. You've been helping the city with your deeds, stopping crime when it happens and giving people heroes to look up to." Morgan looks up and we see Cole walking towards us.
"Hey Luna, Silver are the boxes out of the bus yet?" Cole looks to us and then to Morgan. "Who is this?"
"Morgan-sensei this is Cole McGrath, Cole this is our martial arts teacher Morgan." We make introductions to the two. Morgan nods and turns to Cole with an icy glare, as if analyzing what he can do as a warrior might. Behind that ice however lays a mischievous look only Silver and I can see.
"Nice to meet you miss Morgan. Your student's have told me a lot about you." Cole extends his hand to try and soften her gaze. Morgan takes his hand and shakes it, still looking at him. Then she brings her fist back and swings it into Cole's gut. McGrath seems to notice this and moves to the side slightly, but still gets hit. Cole falls to the ground, groaning at the punch before he gets up; shrugging off some of the force due to being a conduit and all.
"Do you always greet people with a punch in the stomach?" He groans, getting ready in case she punches him again, a little lightning crackling in his hands. Morgan chuckles: "Only to see if they can take care of themselves. The heroes of Empire City have to be able to handle themselves. The people view you as heroes, people who they can look up to for inspiration. Speaking of which I saw this one artist making posters of you three, said he wanted me to find you to let you decide which one."
Morgan pulls out two cards from her pocket and gives them to us. One shows Cole holding a lightning bolt up high and proud, while Silver and I flank him with our swords forwards like we're the leaders of an army; a blue and white color scheme on the background. The other shows Cole with an evil look on his face while we're dressed in weird leather cloths covered in red blood while our faces show joy in the slaughter. Our swords look barbed and the blades are tar-black on the red color scheme.
Hmmm… Morgan-sensei said that the guy was going to put these up, may as well decide which one. Do we want the public to love us, or fear us? I look at the outfit I'm wearing in the 'fear' poster and shudder, the outfit reminding me of crazy Sasha. All three of us point to the 'good' picture.
"That's the one." We all agree. Morgan nods and pockets the photos, like she knew which one we would choose all along.
"Come… I believe you three have an interesting tale to tell." She gives us a smile and heads to a table. Silver and I walk over to the table and take a seat immediately.
"You too McGrath. I would like to hear the tale from all three of you," Morgan says as she motions the electric man over to the table. He shrugs and walks over, sitting down next to us.
"If it's alright with you three, I'd like to hear this from the very beginning," Sensei says, folding her hands together and looking the three conduits before her.
"Well… the first thing I remember is waking up in a crater…" I begin.
So there we go. Morgan-sensei is finally introduced and next up is capturing Alden. Now to reply to some comments:
General Herbison: Thanks a bunch for the comments you've previously given me. I hope you like this chapter as well. And I will say there's going to be something new next chapter as well. So I hope you continue to read and review here.
Experimental Agent 1123: Thanks a bunch. Glad you think so.
Now that I've finished playing "Alden in Chains" I've got to write up a chapter for that too. Wish me luck.