Living Legends 1

by Nicholas Ahlhelm

Times Square, New York City
April 12, 2008, 9:47 a.m.

“Are you all ready to get ‘Mesmerized’?”

The crowd cheered wildly as the canned, thumping bass beat of the dance track flooded the plaza. Leila swirled her hips rhythmically on the America This Morning stage as she waited for her cue. The din of the fans continued as she raised the mic towards her lips.

Being the world’s biggest pop star definitely had its advantages.

“Mesmerize!” she sang along with the six backup singers who were doing most of the work. She started her choreographed moves on stages as she continued. “Mesmerize! Mesmerize!”

The fans’ cheers turned to screams as Leila started the first verse of the song. It was odd for a crowd to scream so wildly at a verse, but this was even odder than that. The cries didn’t sound so much like excitement as it did abject terror.

A massive black male form came at her from the side. He shoved her down to the stage floor before she even realized it was Ron, her head of security.

“She crashed hard to her back. “What the hell, Ron? What the—”

Her eyes traveled past him to the light show occurring onstage. She knew the pyrotechnics had stayed on the truck for this performance. What in the hell could be doing this?

The lights spiraled in a prism of colors as a thick mist seemed to flood directly out from them. The haze thickened over the next several seconds, and the entire back half of the stage disappeared in to its cover.

Dark shapes formed before Leila’s eyes. Human-shaped, over a dozen of them. Was this some kind of alien invasion?

A crimson, black, and navy-clad woman streaked above the crowd. She laughed maniacally as she flew up towards the top of the buildings. The other figures began to emerge from the mist behind her, some walked, some flew, but they weren’t like any metahumans she had ever seen before. A man in buckskins and a Davy Crockett coon-skin cap. A teenage boy dressed all in gold, and a slightly older young woman dressed in a matching uniform. A man dressed in a black and gray with a black owl-head mask. A muscular man in red and yellow costume and cape, both with a stylized atom emblazoned upon them. Another man in a yellow and green outfit right out of a circus. A Roman gladiator with armor and sword and an older teenager in similar gear. A furry creature barely distinguishable against the mist. A young woman in 40’s style skirt, blouse, and gloves, all with lightning patterns on them. Another older male/young male pair, this time in stars and stripes. Two more teenagers in full armor, one with a sword, the other with some kind of pole arm. A pale-skinned woman dressed in black and navy. And a man completely covered in some kind of blue and white containment suit.

Seventeen people dressed like some kind of metahuman period piece. Strange characters out of the mind of a comic book; no one she remembered hearing of or ever seeing before.

Ron rolled her off the front of the stage and followed just a second later. “Go,” he yelled. “These guys look like they’re the real thing.”

Ron shoved her out through the crowd as the metahumans moved towards the panicked masses.

She tried to look past Ron and the rest of the security team as she was hustled away, especially at the hunk flying above in the atom-costume. She heard him say four simple words: “This is not right.” Then he was gone. He disappeared as he flew upwards at blinding speed.

Ron pushed her towards her secured exit. Leila frowned as she lost sight of the action.

*****

Flag Man looked through the mist and chaos with a hint of confusion. Seconds ago he was in Brazil, fighting a camp full of Thule Society soldiers. Now he seemed to be back in America, but an America out of some cheap astounding story pulp.

“Damn you, Clown! Show yourself!”

The clown didn’t answer. Instead Rusty turned to him. “He was just here, Flag man. Where could he have gone?”

Black Owl turned to the star-spangled heroes. “I don’t think it’s him that’s gone anywhere. I think it’s us.”

Golden Lad and Golden Girl flew by over head. “Don’t be fooled by them,” Golden Girl yelled to her partner. “The damn Thule Society is playing tricks again. Foulplay must be hiding behind these fools.”

“I’m not sure, GG—”

“Fight, damn it! Don’t let them escape!”

The Golden Duo flew down to strike at the already panicked crowd.

“Wait!” Flag Man said, but they were already too far away to hear.

Black Owl returned to Flag Man and Rusty’s sides followed only a second later by Captain Fearless, coonskin cap and all.

“This isn’t right,” Black Owl said. “What the hell happened to us?”

“You better find out fast,” Fearless said. “Owl and I left our families to help you with this. If anything’s happened to them—”

“We’re come to that when there’s time,” Flag Man said. “Right now you have to help stop this anarchy.

Captain Fearless and Black Owl nodded their agreement.

“Good. Owl, get Lightning Girl, Dart, and Ace and bring Golden Lad and Golden Girl down before they make thing even worse. Fearless, get Blackout, Fire-Eater, Dr. Frost, Sword, and anyone else you can to get this crowd contained.”

“What about Lady Foulplay?”

“We’re worry about her when we have time, Fearless. For now, let’s get things under control.”

The two heroes moved in to action as the sirens sounded from a block or two away.

“Thank goodness,” Flag Man said. “Perhaps the local constabulary can help us sort this out.”

The police vehicles came in droves. All had a far more sleek design than an automobile Flag Man ever remembered before. The initial response vehicles were followed by larger, boxier vehicles. Hordes of men—and women!—all in navy blue body armor emblazoned with NYPD on the chest plate poured from the larger transports. Each carried automatic rifles far superior to the ones issued to soldiers back in the war.

So we’re in New York, he thought. But what has happened to it? Nothing is like I remember it.

He walked towards the police officers with a smile and a wave. “Greetings, officers.” He noticed again the propensity of females in the small army of police before him. “And ladies, I see. We’re glad you came to provide us assistance in this matter.”

“One of the officers spoke in to some kind of electric bullhorn. “Stand down and place your arms behind your head or we will open fire.”

Flag Man took a step forward. “Now officers, there is no need for that.”

A bullet rang out; Flag Man dove to his left and barely avoided the attack.

Rusty’s hand flew to his sidearm, but Flag Man threw up a hand to signal him to stop. He wouldn’t see Rusty or any of these supposed policemen dead in a foolish act of reprisal.

Flag Man stood upright and raised his hands above his head. “No need for gunfire, officers. My partner and I surrender. We are patriots, and no matter how strangely garbed you may be, we will respect your authority as enforcers of American law.” He placed both his hands behind his head, and Rusty reluctantly followed his cue.

The police swarmed around them and shoved both of them to the ground. Before he could even say another word, Flag Man felt his hands pulled down and behind him. They were cuffed seconds later.

He silently prayed he had made the right choice for himself, his partners, his allies, and his nation as they hauled him away.

*****

Lance turned to see his partner collapse to one knee. He ran towards his friend. The throng of humanity moved away from them, but something still seemed to affect Sword. Lance leaned down at his compatriot’s side.

“Art, what’s wrong?”

Sword looked up in to his friend’s eyes. Lance gasped at the sight of him. In the past few minutes, Sword seemed to have aged ten years or more. His face was far more haggard and rough than any nineteen-year-old, and his eyes were growing hazy.

“The spell,” Sword said. “Something is wrong with the Lady of the Lake’s spell.”

“What do we do?”

“We must travel to Avalon, my friend. We have no other choice.”

“I understand.” Lance placed Sword’s left arm over his shoulder and helped Sword to his feet. “Can you walk?”

Sword nodded.

With but a thought, their armor and weapons vanished. Arthur Lake and Lance Larter made their way through the crowd, knowing their journey was only beginning.

*****

Dart flew in front of the others. Ace Marlow, the Amazing Boy, followed only a couple feet behind. Ace knew his mentor’s warrior spirit well. He didn’t plan on letting Dart down. They flew towards Golden Lad and Golden Girl as the crowd panicked around the seemingly mad heroes.

Dart flashed past them, and Ace was momentarily confused. Dart raised his sword up towards the roof of a nearby building, just below some sort of massive movie screen. Ace now saw Lady Foulplay atop the roof.

He followed Dart up to the rooftop and left Black Owl and Lightning Girl to deal with the Golden Duo.

Dart dropped down to the ground across from Lady Foulplay. His armor seemed to glow against the rising sun as he pointed his blade towards her. “Stand down, witch. I do not wish to harm a woman, but your transgressions are unforgivable. Give up or die.”

Lady Foulplay laughed maniacally. “Never. You and the boy will be just the first to fall at my hands!”

She raised her hands and fired a burst of energy towards both of them. Dart twisted to avoid the blast, but Ace felt his shoulder burn at the blast’s strike. He crumpled to one knee.

Dart charged forward, broadsword raised to strike. Thinking him an easy target, Lady Foulplay fired again. She didn’t know him as well as Ace, nor did she know his tactics. She fell right in to his feint. He lowered the sword and caught the blast on the wide end of the blade. The blast ricocheted off in to the sky as Dart barreled in to her.

He let the sword fall away to keep it from being used against him, and instead pummeled her again and again about the face and neck. She swung back with her own super-strong blows, but he ducked out of the way. Ace could see Dart was her obvious superior in hand-to-hand combat, and he made short work of the woman. In only seconds, she lay at his feet, unconscious.

Dart retried his sword, and raised it over Lady Foulplay. Ace rushed over to him. “Martius, stop!”

Dart turned to Ace. “What is it, boy?”

“We can’t kill her. Not now.” He gestured with one hand towards the sky line around them and the city below them. “Wherever we are, she may be the key to getting us out of here. We have to take our chances with the law this time.”

Dart nodded. One handed, he lifted the unconscious woman over his shoulder. “You speak wisely, Ace. Come let us rejoin the others and show them our prize.”

*****

The others acted like professionals at this, as Captain Fearless lead Fire-Eater and Dr. Frost in forming fields of ice and fire to lead the uncontrolled crowd in one contained direction. Meanwhile, Black Owl and Lightning Girl worked together to stop Golden Lad and Golden Girl’s rampage.

But as the chaos built around her, Ghost Woman could do nothing at all. She stood in the midst of the mob as the other heroes calmed their panic. She let the people pass through her as she kept her form entirely insubstantial.

She heard the deep rasping breath from only inches behind her just before she felt the icy mist rising off of him penetrate the ghostly form. She turned to see the modified gas mask decorated in white and blue. Once Doctor Frost had been a beefy blond hunk in a loose-fitting but still flattering costume. Now he seemed like some kind of inhuman monster in all that armor.

“What do you want?” she said.

Doctor Frost kept the dark glass “eyes” of his gas mask trained on her as he raised one arm and leisurely unlashed a sheet of ice between them and another wave of civilians. “The crowd is contained. We need to leave here. We cannot afford to be captured.”

“No way. I’ve got to stay and help.”

“Help?” He turned his head towards the ice wall.

“Yeah.”

“Suit yourself. You have been warned. The government operatives will not have our best interests at heart, no matter what they say.”

“Government operatives. You mean the police?”

“No, I mean them.” Doctor Frost’s visor rose to the sky. Ghost Woman saw the helicopters swoop over the top of the buildings as they headed towards the panicked crowds and the heroes in their midst.

“What? How did—”

Ghost Woman turned back to Doctor Frost, but the armored man was nowhere to be found.

The first of the helicopters touched down only a few feet away. Ghost Woman was surprised to see a young woman in her early thirties take the lead of several male agents. Just as surprising was her outfit. She wore the same dark suit, white shirt, and tie as her compatriots. What kind of world let a woman go out dressed like a man?

The new arrivals carried some kind of massive rifle that looked like something off the cover of a pulp. Some kind of fancy future gun.

“Attention, unidentified metahumans,” the young woman yelled. “My name is Johanna Chance, and I and the men next to me all work for the Agency for Counter-Terrorism: Infiltration, Observation, and Negation, better known as ACTION. We order you to stand down immediately or we will bring you down. You have exactly one minute to comply before we open fire.”

Golden Lad brashly broke away from Black Owl and Lightning Girl and flew down towards the new arrivals. He moved blindingly fast, but not faster then all the rifles. They opened fire on the nearly invulnerable young man. The guns unleashed a wispy green light ray. Several hit Golden Lad at various points of his body from his legs to his chest. Almost immediately, he fell from the sky. He crashed to the earth, barely missing the crowd in the process.

“I repeat,” the woman said. “We are agents of ACTION and representatives of the United States government. We possess weapons that can and will negate your own abilities. Surrender immediately or we will attack.”

“Stand down, friends. We are not going to fight our own government or our own people anymore.”

Ghost Woman turned to see Black Owl walk past herself and towards Agent Chance. Captain Fearless followed him only a few steps behind.

“We will all surrender,” Black Owl said. “We left on a mission for the President himself, and we damn well aren’t going to turn our powers against our own country now. Agent Chance, I don’t quite understand what’s happened here, but I’m sure if you get in contact with President Truman we can work this out.

Chance looked back to her fellow operatives before turning back to Black Owl. “You are serious, aren’t you? You recently spoke with Harry S. Truman?”

“Yes. He pulled me out of retirement for this mission. I’m sure he can vouch for all of us and our loyalty.”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but Harry S. Truman is dead. And he’s been out of office for over fifty years.”

“What are you talking about? That’s absurd.”

“Let me ask you something, Mister—”

“The Black Owl, just the Black Owl.”

“Black Owl, then. What’s today’s date?”

“March 11, 1948, of course.”

Chance shook her head. It’s 2008, Black Owl. Somehow you and your friends have jumped sixty years.”

Ghost Woman’s head couldn’t take anymore of this. The steady pounding rose to a cacophony of pure noise. Her vision blurred as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She collapsed to the concrete. Her body shook as it seized, and the first thing she heard was Agent Chance yelling for an ambulance.

Then everything went black.