(A/N) Hey guys, I'm sorry that there's been such a delay with this chapter, my fault again, was really busy this weekend with my brother's debs, a friend's birthday and suffering through hangovers, but I've got the latest update here for you now, and at least it's long enough for you to really get into. At least, I hope it is! Anyway, here we go, picking up from where we last finished, with Ryan holding a bank hostage, after undergoing a transformation at the hands of the Community.
Enjoy!
Chapter Sixteen – Black Hawk Drowned
Dr Gavin Free / Vav
Written by NicKenny
"Most have been forgotten. Most deserve to be forgotten. The heroes will always be remembered. The best. The best and the worst. And a few who were a bit of both." ― George R.R. Martin, A Feast for Crows
"I can't believe that you convinced me to do this," X-Ray muttered through clenched teeth, as their pilot took them over the rooftops of Achievement City.
"What?" Vav asked innocently, looking slightly disinterested as they swooped through the air, the rotor above them whooping away reassuringly above their heads. "It makes perfect sense! Firstly, those robot things that Ryan has looked bulky and clumsy, so the chances are that they can't look up. Secondly, Ryan will want to have an escape route, even if he leaves those monging robots behind, so, logically, he's gonna want to leave the smegging roof non…un…not booby-trapped, right?"
"I guess so," X-Ray groaned, shutting his eyes as another building whizzed by next to them. "But I still don't see why we have to be in the fucking helicopter! Why couldn't you let the FBI guys handle this part, and we provide the distraction out front, huh?"
Vav looked slightly affronted and shook his head to demonstrate his disappointment in his partner. "Come on now, this is all because of us, and who we are. If anyone's taking any risks today, it should be us." He paused for moment, his chin jutting forward heroically, then blinked and glanced back over at his partner. "And after all, if we crash, all you've got to do is jump out at the last minute and you'll be fine."
X-Ray groaned once more, raising his hand to his head. "How many times do I have to tell you, that's not how the laws of physics work! You'd still end up dead!"
Vav paused for a moment, running this thought over in his mind. "What if they're more guidelines than rules? I mean, has anyone ever tried it, or is this just scientists crapping on people's dreams again."
X-Ray gaped at him, still unable, after all this time, to understand how his friend, who worked as a goddamn surgeon, could be so ridiculously dumb at times. "No, Vav, it's a real thing. If you want, when we finish dealing with the Community, you can test it out. I'm sure I can think of a few people who would pay for the helicopter."
Their pilot finally made herself heard over the radio in the cockpit, just as the helicopter began to descend towards the bank's rooftop. "Could you two please shut up?" she snapped, her patience finally wearing thin before their onslaught. "Or at the very least, turn off your damn headsets? I'm trying to land my goddamn bird here!"
The two heroes looked at each other sheepishly, and didn't speak for the remainder of the flight, part from X-Ray mouthing "What a bitch!" to his partner, and the two felt more than a bit relieved when they finally felt the chopper lightly kiss the concrete roof, the doors next to them slowly opening.
"You guys have got ten minutes, then I'm getting out of here, you understand?" their pilot asked, just as they prepared to exit. "I'm not paid enough to put my life on the line against robot supervillains and that kind of shit."
"Got it!" X-Ray replied with a swift nod, and Vav snapped off a sharp salute as he exited the chopper, though he was slightly thrown off when the pilot rolled her eyes and shook her head in despair.
"I think she's got a thing for me," he murmured to X-Ray as they made their way over to the door connecting the rooftop to the staircase, much to his friend's amusement.
"Sure thing, man," he replied, shaking his head in a similar fashion to the pilot that they had just left. "And I'm secretly a millionaire, who just lives in one of the shittiest houses in Achievement City for the hell of it!"
Vav stared at him suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. "Are you?"
"NO!"
The two had little trouble forcing the door open, X-Ray melting the hinges and Vav carefully catching it before it fell and placing it on the ground next to them, ensuring that those below wouldn't hear anything. From here on out, the two would have to be silent, communicating using only the series of hand and body gestures that they had agreed on several years back, just for this sort of scenario.
All of this was old hat to Vav, he had served in the army after all, even if he had been a medic. After all, that was what had led to him being here today. Hell, that was the entire reason that he was in the US, let alone being a superhero.
He remembered the day that he had been shot on like it was only yesterday. His squad had come under fire from local Insurgents in whatever particular region of the Middle East the western world had decided to plunder at the time, and they had responded with due force, taking down several of the Insurgents while trying to make it back to their Humvees.
Gavin's best friend, Daniel Gruchy, had been running along behind him, the two providing covering fire for the rest of their team, when a shot had rung out from the other side, and Gavin saw Dan stumble next to him, falling into the dirt beneath them, his blood mixing with the red earth.
Have crazed with grief, he picked up Dan and dragged him to the Humvee, only to be knocked to the ground seconds later as one of the Insurgents found their mark. He felt hands reaching out to drag him onto the Humvee as well, but everything quickly faded before him, as it all went black.
He woke up three days later, a serious-faced doctor looking down at him through wire-framed spectacles, rubbing his black beard, flecked with silver hairs, thoughtfully. Gavin was informed by this man, Dr John Marshall Reed, that his internal organs had been ruptured by the bullet, which had fragmented upon entry, and was certainly going to result in his death.
Gavin tried to speak, but found that his throat was too dry to speak, and it hurt like nothing he had ever imagined. Where was Dan? He had wanted to scream. Is he ok? Did he survive? The doctor, of course, understood none of this, but informed Gavin that he may have a way out, a way that Gavin could survive, but it would be dangerous, and may still kill him. More importantly, the pain would be worse than anything imaginable.
Gavin, of course, agreed to this experiment, choosing, like any man would, to live, or at the very least, to have a chance of living. A few hours before the experiment was to be conducted, another doctor came into the room, asked him if there was anything he wanted to know, and pushed a pencil into Gavin's weak fingers. He wrote three short words.
Where is Dan?
The grief that he felt when the doctor informed him that his friend had not made it, and indeed, had probably died immediately from his injury, even before Gavin had managed to move him into the Humvee, had completely consumed him, and when Dr Reed reminded Gavin of his former warning, that this would hurt like nothing he had ever imagined, Gavin found it hard to believe him, for nothing could trump the pain that he felt at the loss of his friend.
He had been wrong.
He had survived the experiment, much to the surprise of those carrying it out, and it was only then that he was informed that he had been the tenth person to undergo this experimental procedure, and the first to survive it. The bold red X printed on his military service records served to prove as a reminder to both himself and the military that he was more than just a soldier now.
He was a weapon.
However, throughout his recovery period, the agonizing pain that had accompanied the experiment swiftly faded away, yet the pain he felt due to Dan's death remained, as strong as ever, and he now knew that it would never fade away. It was a part of him now, just as much as the serum that flowed through his veins, granting him his superpowers, or the persona that he hid behind, that had saved Achievement City from the brink of destruction time and time again.
Dan's death had led to him gaining his superpowers, but it was the memory of him that had led to Gavin becoming a superhero. To have done any less with his abilities, after the sacrifice that Dan had made for Queen and Country, would have been to shit on the memory of his lost friend, and Gavin could no more do that than fly to the moon.
Vav sighed, wondering why on earth he was reflecting on this as the two heroes slowly crept through the bank, X-Ray's eyes glowing as he made use of his x-ray vision to ensure that they kept out of the way of Ryan's golem patrols. His friend glanced back to him and smiled, although the reassurance that he was not doubt trying to express was somewhat mitigated by the glowing eyes, which had never failed to creep Vav out, but he appreciated the sentiment.
The crept silently through the building, making their way towards the balcony above Ryan and the hostages, their hearts hammering throughout their journey, and Vav continued to suffer from flashbacks from the war, quickly realising that it was the action of creeping around that was causing this. As a superhero with super-strength, and working as a surgeon with whatever time he had left, creeping hadn't really been taking up much of his time over the past few years. It was little surprise, then, that it would remind him of the army, where he had spent most of his time praying that no one would see him and decide to put a bullet through him.
When they reached the balcony, X-Ray turned and glanced at Vav, who nodded affirmatively, if a little hesitantly, removing the M4 Carbine that had been slung over his shoulder, handed to him by J-Roll in order to allow him to make the best use of his abilities, without having to get close to the enemy. He gripped the weapon tightly in his hands, finding reassurance in its familiar weight, it being not all that dissimilar to the C7 that he had used in the army.
The two nodded to one another once more, before simultaneously taking a deep breath, and leapt over the ledge of the balcony, yelling as they did so.
Everything seemed to slow down for Vav, indeed, it did slow down for him. His finger squeezed the trigger of the carbine, sending a bullet through the head of one of Ryan's golems, but before it had even made impact, he had turned mid-air and fired off two more shots, removing two more of the golems from the picture. Next to him, as he continued firing at the golems beneath them, X-Ray unleashed his optic blast on a nearby group of golems, but, lacking Vav's enhanced reflexes, he had little time to recover and fire again, before the two hit the ground.
Rolling after the fall and swiftly coming back to their feet, the two surveyed the room as some of the hostages began to scream, only now registering the heroes' appearance. Around them, the golems began to collapse to the floor, the assault of the two heroes having sufficed to take them down, and only one figure remained standing across from X-Ray and Vav.
Ryan.
"Why are you doing this?!" Ray shouted at the figure, whose mouth pulled back into a wry smile, his prosthetic eye glowing in the darkness that had fallen over the room.
Ryan opened his hand and held his arms out wide, rolling his shoulders back, as if to say 'why not?', and Vav reached out and grabbed his friend's shoulder, in order to prevent him from acting hastily.
"We know you're a good man, Mr Haywood," Vav said, his eyes locked on their cyborg opponent, unblinking. "You've got a wife and child. Don't you want to see them again?"
The man just stared at them, the smile fading, his face utterly expressionless at the mention of his family. "I'm sorry to say, I don't know if I do," Ryan replied slowly, and his voice, even with its artificial, tinny quality, sounded confused. "I haven't felt a thing ever since this," gesturing to his robotic enhancements. "Happened to me. The only thing I know for sure if that I have to kill you."
Hearing this, X-Ray gave a start next to Vav. "Ryan-" he began, but the cyborg cut him off.
"My name isn't Ryan anymore," he stated calmly, and his glowing red eye flashed as he said this, causing Vav to shiver. "IT'S IRON-RYAN!"
Suddenly, his body began to vibrate, and he began to levitate several feet into the air, glowing red thruster pads built into his hands and feet making themselves apparent as Vav and X-Ray's jaws dropped, stunned at the sight of Ray's former colleague flying. "You have saved these people," Iron-Ryan conceded, gesturing towards the hostages with a look of contempt. "But next time, you will not be so lucky."
With this, he looked up, and a beam of red light flared out of his prosthetic eyes, carving a hole through the ceiling, which Iron-Ryan passed through, exiting the room. The two heroes glanced at each other, then at the hostages, then at the ceiling, and, within speaking a word, began to run towards the nearest stairwell, making their way towards the roof.
Iron-Ryan had clearly beaten them to it, if the smoking hole next to their helicopter was anything to go by, but the heroes were relieved to see that the helicopter was still intact, and leapt in, yelling at the pilot to take off an follow the cyborg, who they could see in the distance, flying out towards the harbour.
Slightly baffled by the current events, their pilot just cursed to herself and sighed, firing up the helicopter as took off after the villain, pointedly remarking to the heroes "I don't get paid enough for this shit!"
They quickly closed in on Iron-Ryan, despite his head-start, as it quickly became apparent that his thrusters were barely capable of granting flight to a creature of his weight, without granting him any measure of speed. Vav stuck his head out of the side of the helicopter, his carbine in his hands, bringing it to eye level just as Ryan suddenly flipped around, a rocket appearing out of his wrist and flying towards their helicopter.
The pilot swore once more and began to pull up, apologising to the heroes. "I'd hold on if I were you two, things are gonna get a little…"
"Bumpy?" Vav offered tentatively, holding onto the side of the helicopter with all of his enhanced strength, as X-Ray groaned from the other side, just loudly enough to be heard over the noise of the helicopter's rotor.
"I was going to say 'crashy', but yeah, bumpy works," their pilot replied, her voice strained, just as the missile smashed into the bottom of the helicopter, the explosion almost throwing Vav out into the sea beneath them.
"Shit!" X-Ray yelled over to him, pointing towards the pilot. "She's out cold!"
The pilot was, indeed, unconscious, the blast from the missiles impact having thrown her about in her seat, smashing her head against the controls in front of her. Vav barged into the cockpit as the helicopter began to descend, tearing their stricken pilot out of her chair and placing her in the co-pilots place, her nametag flashing in front of his eyes as he did so, spelling out the name: Lee Eddy.
He sat down in her original chair, grabbing the controls and slowly taking the helicopter back up, as X-Ray looked over at him in obvious confusion. "You know how to fly one of these damn things?" he asked incredulously.
Vav just gave an airy wave, his eyes locked on the form of Iron-Ryan, and smiled grimly to himself. "Kind of," he replied, not noticing X-Ray's sudden paling. "I did all the training. Never actually…y'know…flew one of these things by myself before. It's bloody awesome though, right?!"
X-Ray just leaned against the railing next to him and began to pray silently, as the helicopter shot forward towards Iron-Ryan, who appeared to be slowing down, no doubt running low on power, and Vav didn't intend on giving him the chance to fire off another missile at them, his hands tightening on the chopper's controls, his knuckles whitening.
"Vav, don't you think we should be slowing down?" X-Ray asked cautiously, before realising what his partner was intending. "Oh fuck no, you've got to be kidding me! He's made out of metal, man! You're going to crash the damn chopper!"
Vav just smiled, ignoring his friend's advice, his eyes still trained on the cyborg before him. "At the very least, we'll take this frapping mong down with us."
X-Ray opened his mouth to reply, just as they caught up with Iron-Ryan, who spun around just as the rotors of the helicopter caught him around the waist, the force of the impact sending him sprawling into the ocean beneath them at a rapid pace, disappearing below the waves with a splash. Within the cockpit, an alarm began to sound as Vav wrestled with the controls for…well, control, trying to keep the bird aloft.
He met with little success, as they rapidly descended, splashing into the ocean soon afterwards, Vav swearing and carrying the pilot out of the wrecked chopper as they began to sink, keeping her unconscious form above the water as the two heroes did their best to remain afloat, their eyes locked on the approaching lights in the distance.
The noise of a motor-boat soon filled their ears, as two twin jet-black dinghies were revealed to be the source of the lights, with the letters FBI stamped onto their sides in a vivid yellow. Hands appeared from the edge of the boat, taking the pilot our of Vav's hands, before reaching out for him and dragging him on-board, and Vav looked up into the friendly features of Agent Heyman, a.k.a. J-Roll.
"You guys are a pair of crazy bastards, you know that?" the agent commented, smiling, before explaining that they already had a frog-squad getting prepped to search for Iron-Ryan, if he had somehow managed to survive the fall. Vav nodded as the agent continued speaking, tiredness washing over him, along with the glow of pride that accompanied every successful mission, knowing, without a doubt, that Dan would have been proud of him.
The moment was only slightly tarnished when the pilot woke up, a looked groggily around her, taking in the group of FBI agents and the fact that she was on a boat, before turning to Vav with a look of uncontrolled rage on her face.
"What the fuck did you do to my bird?!"