Superhero Epic Ch. 4

Chapter 4: Treachery
A dense fog filled the morning air as an angry yell echoed through a hidden underground building.
“They got to the hunter!” Mindbender shouted.
“Why is some freak chaser so important to you anyway?”
“One word, my scaly friend: leverage. You see, Dracosaur, this hunter is a very tortured soul. She struggles everyday with the choices she has made. She has built a wall around herself, and presents herself as though nothing will ever harm her, but inside, she is very fragile indeed.”
“And you know this…how?” Dracosaur said with a quizzical look.
“Her subconscious mind calls out to me, as though it is trapped. I can hear its pleas to escape. It’s sort of sad, really.” Mindbender said smiling.
“And how exactly does this make her important to you?”
“Because tortured souls are the easiest to manipulate! I could use my mental abilities to control anyone I wanted, but I don’t.”
“Why? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just take someone over?” Dracosaur asked quizzically.
“Of course! But I do not because it gives me much greater joy to watch a person twist and turn due to a problem they created. This hunter could be a powerful ally, but I will not pry her away from them when they will go to such great lengths to protect her.”
“Well we need to get on creating that army,” Dracosaur said irritably.
“Which is why we must gather troops immediately! We’re leaving!” Mindbender said as he blew a hole in the ceiling, and Dracosaur followed as mindbender flew out it.
“Where are we going? Dracosaur asked, flapping his massive wings.
“There is an abandoned building nearby that has become a haven for misguided metahumans. Society has not exactly discovered us; they’re too busy living their sad little lives.”
“You’d think that with us freaks gatherin’ places, people would figure out what’s goin’ on.”
“People are far too idiotic to realize what happens right under their noses. This is the place,” Mindbender said as the two of them landed in front of an inconspicuous four-story building.
“Freaks live here?”
“It may not look like much, but any ‘freak,’ as you put it, that needs a place to stay can feel like they belong here.”
“How do they survive in a place like this?”
“How does a normal homeless person survive? They beg, steal, and do whatever else they can to survive.”
“Why go through all that when they could just use their powers to get whatever they want?”
“That, my friend, is what we are here to convince them of.” Mindbender ripped the boarded up door off its hinges, and both he and Dracosaur entered the building. Upon entering, a pitch-black darkness engulfed the entire building.
“You think they know we’re here?” Dracosaur said sarcastically.
“I think at this point, that is rather obvious,” Mindbender replied. “Would you mind shedding a little light o the situation?”
“I will if I don’t have to hear any more of those terrible puns,” Dracosaur said, shooting a jet of fire from his mouth, igniting some of the wallpaper.
“Good. Now that we can see where the walls are,” Mindbender said as he ripped a board from the wall, “we have a torch. If you don’t mind, could you light this for me?”
“Fine. You know, this whole ‘light me a fire’ thing is getting pretty old,” Dracosaur said as a jet of fire issued from his mouth once again, igniting the tip of the board. The board-turned-torch now illuminated a three-foot radius around Dracosaur and Mindbender, the latter of whom gave a quizzical look.
“It’s odd, this building is usually full of metahumans, but now it’s empty.”
“Maybe they’re on higher floors?” Dracosaur said, phrasing his statement as a question.
“Do you always have such brilliant ideas?”
“Shut up,” Dracosaur said irritably.
“My, my, we’re not feeling friendly today, are we?”
“Let’s just go upstairs, there’s an elevator over there.”
“What do you think the odds are that the elevator still works?” Mindbender said, eyeing the rusty elevator doors.
“You could make it move, you know.”
“I could, but why would I?” Mindbender replied playfully.
“Forget it!” Dracosaur said as he flung his massive tail at the ceiling, knocking a large hole in it.
“Thank you. Was that so difficult?”
“Will you knock off the games and get up there?”
“All right but rudeness isn’t the way to get what you want,” Mindbender said as he flew through the hole in the ceiling, led by the torch he was holding in front of him. They searched the second and third floors, but found the same thing they did on the first: no signs of life, and a darkness that still engulfed the building. When they had finished searching the third floor, a thumping noise could be heard above them. With a final thud, the thumping stopped, followed by a crash, to indicate that the ceiling had been broken through, apparently by a shadowy figure who was presumably staring at both Mindbender and Dracosaur.

“I don’t know who you are, and I don’t even care, but I know that if the two of you don’t get out of here right now, the police are gonna have to sweep you off the floor!” the figure said angrily.
“Brave talk from someone who’s too scared to show their face,” Mindbender sneered.
“Too scared, huh? I’ll show you who’s too scared!” The figure said as the darkness enveloping the building slowly faded away to reveal a young woman, about nineteen years old. She had long, curly jet-black hair that flowed nearly down to her hips. Her eyes were surrounded by deep, black eye shadow; her lips covered in black lipstick. She was also wearing all black.
“My, my, aren’t we looking gloomy?” Mindbender said with a smirk.
“I’ll give you one more warning. Leave now and I won’t have to rearrange your facial features!”
“Good luck rearranging mine,” Dracosaur chuckled.
“Dracosaur, there’s no need to antagonize the poor girl. We don’t want her to think that we wish her any harm, now do we?”
“Why the hell else would you be here?!” she said, slightly lowering her guard, but still prepared to fight.
“We have a proposition for you if you’re interested,” Mindbender said with a slight smile.
“Well make it quick. I might decide to put the hurt on you if you take too long.”
“Oh no! Please don’t hurt us!” Dracosaur said laughing.
“That’s it! You two are dead!” A large, formless shadow, seemingly solid, flung itself at Mindbender and Dracosaur. Mindbender reacted purely on instinct, creating a telekinetic shield around himself and his dragon-like friend.
“Impressive! You caught me off guard! I almost didn’t block that!”
“What the hell are you people? You and lizard-boy there—" she began, but was cut off by Mindbender.
“You thought you were the only one? There are hundreds upon thousands of us. We have been in hiding, but it is time for those days to end!”
“And you’re here…why?” she said confusedly.
“This mouthy little punk is getting on my nerves!”
“Calm down, Dracosaur. Anyway, we are here, as I said, because I am sick and tired of our kind being forced to hide. I was forced into hiding by doctors and such when I was a mere child, but I broke free of that terrible prison! There are, however, many of us who wish to remain in hiding. They believe that revealing themselves would cause a disturbance in the natural flow of life. They are naïve. It is the destiny of those who are great to rise above those who aren’t, and to destroy any and all who get in their way. Metahumans, my dear, are greatness personified. I am creating an army of metahumans to crush the weaklings, and take our rightful place as the owners of this earth.”
“Let me guess, you want me to join this little army.”
“If you pledge yourself to our cause, then it would be an honor to have someone with your talents.”
“What’s in it for me?” she asked, eyeing Dracosaur, giving him an almost quizzical look.
“Being a part of something larger than yourself, for starters. Aside from that, you will be respected, feared, empowered, and most importantly, you shall realize your full potential and use it to crush your enemies.” She shifted her eyes upward and gave the matter a moment of thought before moving her eyes toward Mindbender.
“All right, I’ll join your little club, but let’s get one thing straight first. I take orders from no one, got it?” She said bitterly.
“Just listen to him you little twit,” Dracosaur said getting irritated.
“Or what, you overgrown gecko?” she said readying herself to fight.
“Why you little—“ Dracosaur said, moving closer to the girl before Mindbender put up an arm to stop him.
"Now, now, you two, play nice. Do you have a name, dear, or would you like us to just call you 'hey you'?"
"Call me Shadowcaster," she said, still glaring at Dracosaur.
"Welcome, Shadowcaster," Mindbender said as he began floating.
"Where do we go from here?" Dracosaur said looking at Shadowcaster.
"It is time, my friends, for us to make ourselves known to the outside world."
"How exactly are you planning on doing that?"
"You ever been told you ask too many questions?" Dracosaur said, quite irritably. Mindbender ignored him.
"We do that my dear, by drawing the other mice out of their holes."
"What are you talking about? What mice? What holes?" Shadowcaster said with a bemused expression.
"The mice, my dear, are a metaphor for a team of metahumans that will undoubtedly do everything they can to try to stop us. Dracosaur and I have encountered them before."
"And the next time I see 'em, they're getting roasted!"
"As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm, Dracosaur, it would serve us better for you to save it until later."
"So how are we gonna draw 'em out?" Shadowcaster asked irritably, anxiously awaiting action.
"They work well as a team, especially since Frank has joined them. It's as if he has the ability to sense the actions and reactions of others, it's almost a precognitive ability."
"If you have a point, you could get to it any time now," Dracosaur said, also awaiting action.
"My point is," Mindbender began crossly, due to the fact he had been interrupted, "that wolves hunt in packs, not only for the added strength, but for the support of their fellow wolves. Break up the pack and both the strength and support disappears. What we are going to do, dear Shadowcaster, is attack key points in the city. No need in gathering global attention just yet."
"Which key points did you have in mind?" Shadowcaster said curiously.
"Wait, I don't understand. How's attacking the city going to weaken these idiots?"
"We will weaken them, Dracosaur, by attacking key points in the city…at the same time. You take a point, I take one, and Shadowcaster will take one. "
"Okay, I get it now," Dracosaur said as he gave him a nod of understanding.
"Firstly, we go after DracoCorp Laboratories. DracoCorp is Draco City's major economic contributor."
"Why not just go after the main headquarters?" Shadowcaster asked, looking confused.
"If that were to happen, then the city would collapse, and I am not prepared to lose this city when I haven't even gained control of it yet. Attacking the labs will only gather attention from the city and, of course the heroes," Mindbender said with a slight smile. "The second target is the Dragon's Burrow Bridge. This bridge is the only way in or out of town, and it receives plenty of traffic. Destroying this bridge would give us an enormous amount of attention. Our final target is the Draco City Police Station. We don't want any extra interference, now do we?"
"Could we get on with this?" Dracosaur asked impatiently.
"Very well, Dracosaur, you take the laboratory, Shadowcaster, you take the bridge, and I shall take the police station. Let us go," Mindbender said as he knocked a hole into the ceiling and flew off.
"Well," Dracosaur began as he glared at Shadowcaster, "see ya…if you make it back." He laughed and then flew out of sight. Shadowcaster gave an irritated look as she created a thin layer of shadow around herself and began floating. She then went out the hole Mindbender had created and flew off into the late morning air, moving toward her destination.
Back at the heroes' headquarters, Artillery laid in his bed, unable to sleep, when he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in," he said, his voice not as loud as he would have liked it to be. The door opened, and Pixie walked in.
"Morning, Frank," she said smiling.
"Morning, babe. What's up?"
"Just seeing if you were awake. Oh, and since you are awake, Tech wanted you for something."
"Did he say what it was?"
"He said something about protecting us from Mindbender," Pixie said. Artillery pulled off his sheets, and Pixie blushed due to the fact that she found herself staring at him in his boxers. Artillery saw her staring, and began blushing as well. He stood up and put on his uniform, which was next to his bed, and then pressed the symbol on the chest to make it fit comfortably.
"Okay, let's go," he said as the two of them walked to the mess hall, where Knightbeast, Jessica, and Twilight were already sitting. Artillery shot Jessica a nasty look as Tech entered the room and greeted everyone.
"Hello all. I hope you're all having a good morning."
"I was," Artillery said angrily, glaring at Jessica.
"Oh, well um…" Tech began uncomfortably. "Anyway, I called you all down here because ever since our fight with Dracosaur, when Mindbender knocked us unconscious, I've been trying to come up with a device that can protect us from his telepathic abilities."
"I'm assuming you did it?" Knightbeast growled.
"Yes. After much tinkering, I came up with this," Tech said, holding up a computer chip, a bit smaller than a postage stamp, with small spikes coming out the back.
"You mind tellin' us what that thing is?" Twilight hissed impatiently.
"This is a neural shield of sorts. Once activated, this device will protect all of us from Mindbender's telepathy."
"What's the catch?" Artillery asked, knowing something was up.
"There are a couple of them actually. First, these devices may stop his telepathy, but that doesn't mean he still can't use his telekinesis on us."
"Well that sucks," Pixie said, feeling a little down now.
"It wouldn't be fun if he made it easy for us now, would it?" Artillery said smirking. "What's the other catch?"
"These devices are tuned to Mindbender's specific 'brain frequency', so if we were to encounter another telepath—"
"These things wouldn't work," Knightbeast replied, finishing Tech's sentence.
"Well, yes, but—"
"Just put the damn things on us and get it over with," Knightbeast barked.
"Very well, turn around," Tech said as he loaded the chip into a small, pistol-like device. "This may sting a bit." He put the pistol up to the top of Knightbeast's neck and pulled the trigger. Knightbeast shuddered as he felt the chip go in. Tech then put the chips in neck after neck, until only Jessica was left.
"I'm good," she said irritably as she walked off, presumably to her room. An alarm sounded suddenly as Tech ran to the computer.
"We've got massive power fluctuations coming from several areas of the city!" he shouted
"What's causing it?!" Knightbeast roared.
"Mindbender!" Artillery screamed.
"Can't be, he'd have to be in three places at once!" Tech yelled.
"It's a trap! He knows we are gonna go after him, no matter what, so he's trying to separate us! Who wants to bet that little pet of his is responsible for one of the attacks?"
"Tech said that there are three places being attacked. Who's behind the other one?" Pixie shouted.
"Will find out when we get there! Tech, where are the attacks happening?"
"Draco City Police Station, DracoCorp Laboratories, and the Dragon's Burrow Bridge," Tech replied.
"Pixie, Artillery, you take the bridge! Twilight, Tech, you take DracoCorp! I'll take the police station!"
"What about Jessica?" Twilight asked.
"She has to stay. She's not a member of this team yet and she can't go on missions 'til she is a member. Now, enough talk, let's move!" They dialed in their teleporters, and with a flash of light, they disappeared. Back in Jessica's room, the sound of communicator static filled the air.
"Report, Hunter," the communicator crackled.
"I've abandoned the current mission," Jessica said.
"What?! You mind telling me why?!"
"Trust me, it was worth it. I hit the freak mother lode!"
"What are you talking about?" the voice from the communicator said confusedly.
"They claim to be heroes, and they've made their home here. Two of them are my brothers and I have them convinced that I want to reconcile with them."
"How many of them are there?"
"Five. I don't think we've ever scored this many or any this powerful at once have we?"
"No. If you actually succeed, you will be rewarded greatly. How were you planning on capturing them?"
"I'm inside the facility now. I'm patching the coordinates to you as we speak. Very well, I'm sending guards to your location."
"Wait, before you do that, we need this place wired with E.P.E.'s and meta-nullifiers, just in case they get frisky."
"All right then, I'll send a technician as well, equipped with all the proper gear." Jessica waited a moment, and a flash of light filled the room, and when it faded, several armed guards and one person completely covered in technological equipment filled her room and the hallway outside it.
"All right boys, sit tight. When they get back, we get ready to rock!"
The sun was high in the sky as Knightbeast teleported to the police station, which Mindbender was in the air floating above, and where Mindbender had killed several police officers.
"Finally! I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it!"
"We both know that's a lie!" Knightbeast roared, charging at Mindbender, who used his telekinesis to swat him away.
"Come now, did you really think that would work?"
"Couldn't hurt to give it a try, could it?" Knightbeast smirked.
"How delightfully repulsive. In the middle of battle and still cracking jokes."
"It's what I do," Knightbeast said, once again smirking. Police arrived on the scene, presumably backup to the fallen officers and began firing on Knightbeast and Mindbender. Mindbender put up a telekinetic shield around himself, and surprisingly around Knightbeast as well. Mindbender then lifted the officers off the ground and flung them back into it with a sickening thud, killing them.
"Now it's just you and me mongrel!"
"You're a monster!" Knightbeast roared.
"That's incredibly funny coming from you, don't you think?" Mindbender chuckled.
Meanwhile, at DracoCorp labs, Dracosaur was circling the air above the building, followed by Tech and Twilight.
"Stop now and maybe we'll take it easy on you!" Twilight shouted.
"You should be more worried about yourselves!" Dracosaur said as he turned his head and shot a jet of fire from his mouth, nearly hitting Tech and Twilight, who both flew out of the way.
"You missed!" Tech teased.
"Who said I was aiming for you?" Dracosaur said laughing. Tech and Twilight stopped in midair, and turned to find a fuel tank in flames. "Good luck putting that out!" Dracosaur said as he flew away.
"Put it out!" Twilight screamed.
"He caught me off guard! I'm going to need a minute!" Tech replied.
"I seriously doubt we have a minute!" The flames continued to roar as Tech pulled out a tiny capsule and threw it at the fuel tank. Ice began creeping up the tank as a cracking sound filled the air. Flames still littered the top of the tank as the ice climbed further up it.
"Move!" Tech said as he flew into Twilight, knocking him a good distance from the tank, which developed a large crack in the top of it, exposing the fuel to the flame and creating an explosion large enough to destroy a large portion of DracoCorp laboratories.
"Son of a bitch!" Twilight yelled. "What do we do now?!"
"We contact Knightbeast and wait for further instruction." Tech turned on his communicator and the crackling hiss of static filled the air.
A few minutes earlier, Pixie and Artillery appeared at Dragon's Burrow Bridge, where a large, seemingly solid shadow was destroying vehicles on the bridge and the bridge itself.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Artillery shouted.
"I've got a hunch," Pixie began, "I just hope I'm wrong." She jumped on one of the cars and fired a flash bomb at the shadow-like creature. A low growl filled the air as the shadow moved toward Pixie and Artillery.
"If it isn't little Trixie. Haven't you ruined my life enough?" Shadowcaster said as the shadows around her subsided.
"Lacey?! What're you doing?!" Pixie exclaimed.
"Whatever I want!" she said, creating a large shadow, with which she picked up a car and flung it at Pixie. Artillery acted immediately, diving at Pixie, knocking her out of the way.
"You could've killed her, you psychopath!" Artillery screamed.
"That was the general idea," Shadowcaster said with a smirk.
"Why are you doing this?!" Pixie asked angrily, as she and Artillery got to their feet.
"Why shouldn't I? I can get anything I want, even if I have to inspire fear to get it."
"What happened to you? You used to be such a good kid!"
"Don't pretend you care about me! You didn't give a damn when dad used to beat me! You didn't try to stop him when he threw me out on my ass, did you?!"
"I was scared Lacey! What did you want me to do?!"
"You could've fought back! Not that it matters now anyway. All of that's over now. Finally, it's my turn to fight back! I can have whatever I want, and no one is gonna stand in my way!"
"You're crazy!" Artillery said, sword drawn.
"Don't…ever…call…me…CRAZY!" Shadowcaster screamed as two gargantuan shadowy arms grabbed the bridge and pulled up on it, breaking it away from its suspension. Artillery once again reacted instantly, diving at Pixie, knocking her onto the unbroken part of the bridge as the two of them watched a huge chunk of the bridge fall into the water below. Shadowcaster yelled in anger, crated a layer of shadow around herself and flew out of sight.
"Damn it! What do we do now?!" Artillery coughed breathlessly.
"We wait for Knightbeast's orders," Pixie replied. "Other than that, there's really nothing we can do."
Back at the police station, Knightbeast had made little ground against Mindbender. All of a sudden, Knightbeast's communicator began beeping.
"Ah, so your teammates are calling to report your failure, eh? Well, I'm afraid I can't stay to listen, but how would you like it if I gave you a little gift?" Mindbender chuckled as the police station lifted off the ground and was flung at Knightbeast, who just barely got out of the way. Mindbender ignored it and flew off in the distance. Knightbeast growled and tuned on his communicator.
"Report!"
"Tech here. Dracosaur got away from us. He caused an explosion that destroyed half of the building. We barely got away."
"Any word from Pixie and Artillery?"
"They couldn't stop the destruction of the bridge. They too, barely escaped."
"Damn it!" Knightbeast opened his communicator to all channels and shouted: "Everyone teleport to the police station, now!" Immediately afterward, a flash of light signaled the team's arrival. "What the hell happened?!" Knightbeast said, glaring at Artillery and Pixie.
"When we got to the bridge, she already did a lot of damage to it," Artillery replied.
"Who?" Knightbeast growled.
"My sister," Pixie replied. "She's become twisted. She broke the bridge and took off."
"At least the two of you made it out of there. Let's go back to headquarters and regroup," Knightbeast said. They all synchronized their teleporters and faded from sight. When they all arrived back at headquarters, they encountered a slew of armed guards, which now encircled their position.
"Freeze, scum!" the head guard barked.
"Who the hell are you, and how did you get in here?!" Knightbeast asked, seething.
"I would ask fewer questions and just do what he says if I were you," Jessica said as she entered the mess hall.
"Jessica? Are you the one who let these guys in here?!"
"Of course. Oh, and by the way, don't bother using those little 'powers' of yours. This place is wired with Meta-nullifiers, and in case you get any other bright ideas of, say, teleporting out of here, there's an electromagnetic pulse emitter that armed itself about a second or two after you got here. Try to teleport, and you'll get fried quicker than a French fry in hot oil."
"I knew you couldn't be trusted!" Artillery screamed.
"Jess, please tell me you didn't do this," Twilight said teary eyed.
"You're pathetic, you freak. Did you really think I wanted you losers back? I didn't like you back then; did you really think as freaks, I'd feel any different? You disgust me!"
"You bitch! You'll never get away with this!"
"Oh, I think I will," she said smiling. "All right boys, take 'em out!" The soldiers fired canisters into the air, which immediately exploded in a cloud of smoke. The heroes then fell to the floor as everyone else was seemingly unaffected. "Ah I love this stuff! Metahuman knockout! Anyway, take them all to the location." Then, with a flash of light, the heroes, soldiers, and Jessica all disappeared.