Long Hot Summer 9: Running

“Susan, you know better than this. I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but you know better than this.”

“Screw you, Dad! I can do what I want! I’m sixteen and it’s my life!”

“Haven’t you already messed up your life enough? First it was the drugs and now this. I just want you to do the right thing for your future.”

“I am doing the right thing for my future! It’s my choice. I’m sorry if it makes the high and mighty police chief look bad.”

“This has nothing to do with my job, Susan. This has to do with the life you can lead. A child at your age, I just don’t think you’re ready to handle it.”

She pushed her father away. He barely budged, but she could see the change in demeanor behind his heavy gray mustache. He couldn’t believe that she would try to strike him. He took a deep breath.

“Susan, I will respect your decision, but I expect you to make an informed one. You need to go to the counseling your mother set up—”

“She’s not my mother!”

“Please, Susan, now is not the time—”

“I’m so tired of this, Dad. So freakin’ tired! Just lay off, okay? Let me make my own decisions once in awhile.”

“It’s letting you make your own decisions that got you in to this mess.”

Susan threw her hands up in exasperation. She turned and walked towards the door.

“Don’t you dare walk out that door, young lady.”

She turned only long enough to salute her father with her middle finger. As the door slammed behind her, she didn’t look back again.

Jane shot up in her bed. Her body was covered in a cold sweat. The sheets were soaked with it. Elijah and Mishelle weren’t in the bed anymore, both gone to do what ever they did when they finished with her. She was alone with her thoughts.

Susan. That’s my name, isn’t it? I’m not Jane. I’m Susan. I’m Susan. Sue. It felt right. For the first time in weeks, something felt right.

My name is Susan and I have a child. She wanted the other memories to return, but they still remained coated in a thick haze. She could feel them floating in the abyss of her mind, but she just couldn’t quite reach them. It was if a veil was pulled across her mind’s eye.

She knew now the memories would come back in time. She knew now that she needed to escape from this hole, as she had people out there that cared about her.

My name is Susan and I have a reason to live.

*****

Only seventy years earlier it was just farmland, but now the city of Federation stood as a towering metropolis of the twenty-first century. More metahumans lived in the largest city in the Midwest than anyone else in the country. It was a rare day that one could not look up in to the sky and see a hero fly by.

Today they could see at least two.

His cape billowing out behind him, Legend floated with arms crossed in front of Cyber.

He knew the young hero well. Really John Sprouse, a small time auto mechanic, he first came across his symbiotic suit of bio-armor in his teens. Over the next several years, he used the armor to fight both crime and alien invaders, usually successfully. He made his share of mistakes both in battle and life, but Legend knew the kid had potential to be a great hero. Still only in his early twenties, he could also serve as a mentor to the other young heroes that would soon make up much of the F.O.R.C.E. team.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again, Legend. I thought you would have your hands full with your new project in D.C.”

“That’s why I came here today. I want you as our first recruit.”

The bio-armor fit over Sprouse’s body like a second skin. It moved and flowed with his every motion. Still, it surprised Legend to see the suit’s glowing eyes open wide in astonishment.

“Me? You’ve got to be kidding.”

“I’m not,” Legend said. “I’ve worked with you. I know you have it in you.”

“I’m a screw-up. I got this suit by accident and I still can’t use it right after years of practice. Why in the hell would you want me?”

“Because you remind me of me, Cyber. None of us are perfect. You and I both know that. But just like me, for you every failure just serves as a reminder that you need to do better next time. Whether it was happenstance or destiny, that suit is bonded to you for the rest of your life. So shouldn’t you do a little bit of good with it?”

“When you put it that way, how can I say no?” He flew forward and shook Legend’s hand. “But I’m not really the first recruit, am I?”

“Dead serious. You’re the first. But we’ve got a lot more where you came from.”

“Cool. So what’s the game plan?”

“Let’s go change in to our civvies and have some lunch. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

*****

Jack smashed down in to the dirt face first. The fires burned down around him as he struggled to catch his breath.

“There’s got to be a better way to do this.”

He stood up and looked in to a procession of people. Dozens of people, all sporting long hair, loose-fitting clothes, and a lot of color. He may not have lived through their time, but he recognized hippies when he saw them.

Great, I’ve found my way to the early seventies and I can’t even get in on the free love.

They carried anti-war signs as they made their way down the main thoroughfare of downtown Valhalla. They walked over and around cars as their protest continued. They continued slowly forward as the little traffic already on the street pulled away.

A figure dropped to the ground in front of the crowd. He wore a bulky suit of blue and gold armor. A stylized E covered both his chest and back. His voice, amplified by his armor, boomed out and drowned out the sounds of the protesters.

“You fools go on and on about how the establishment ruins everything. You don’t seem to understand that it’s sissy peace-loving fruits like all of you that ruin this country. So if you hate the establishment so much, you can just die at the hands of Mister Establishment!”

Two blasts of pure energy coursed out of Mister Establishment’s hands. They caught a man and a woman at the front of the procession.The man and woman each fell, a hole burnt deep in to their midsections.

Two more blasts quickly followed, each cutting down another of the hippies. The panic set in almost immediately, as the crowd broke in to an insane mass of people. Everyone wanted to escape and no one quite knew where to go. Mister Establishment raised his hands to fire off another burst.

“No!”

Jack threw his body against the back of the armored killer. Mister Establishment’s blasts struck the ground in front of the protesters. Establishment turned and struck Jack across the jaw with a metal fist.

“Who dares?”

“I do,” Jack said. He reached up and grabbed the villain’s gloved hand. Jack channelled every ounce of heat he could muster right in to Mister Establishment’s hand.

“Aaaah!” Establishment pulled his hand away from the flames and staggered back.

“I don’t know who you are, but you will pay for that!”

“Not today, Establishment.” A man in billowing red, white, and blue robes dropped from the sky next to the armored fiend. Beneath his long wild hair and flowing beard, Jack could still recognize the face of Hero.

He remembered something about the days that Hero turned his back on the Nixon government, but he never realized the man so fully embraced the peace movement. He guessed it wasn’t the kind of story that played well on the eleven o’clock news.

Hero sunk his hand in to Mister Establishment’s chest plate. With only one tug, he yanked the chest plate away from the rest of the armor. He threw it up and over the crowd. Jack watched it until it disappeared in to the horizon.

Hero grabbed Establishment by his armored helmet. “Do you give up or do I yank off your head the same way?”

“I surrender,” Establishment said. “I surrender! Please just let me go!”

Hero shoved the villain down on to his knees. “The only place you’re going is jail. Hopefully this time you will stay there.”

Hero looked at Jack. “Do I know you from somewhere, brother? You look familiar.”

“I don’t think so,” Jack said. Not in over a decade at least.

“Strange, I never forget a face.”

“Yeah, well. I kind of look like a lot of people. Anyway, I’ve really got to run. I didn’t mean to be out here and involved with this today.”

Hero nodded. “I understand. The man’s on your tail. We’ve all been there, brother. Keep fighting the good fight.”

“Uh, yeah. You too.”

Hero turned to join the rest of the crowd. As soon as Hero’s back was turned, Jack summoned the flames around him. Seconds later, he was gone.

*****

The door exploded inward. Smoke and debris filled the office complex.

Freedom and Libertad wasted no more time. They charged in through the smoke as the confused EMPIRE agents looked around for the source of the explosion.

Freedom unloaded a pair of slugs from each of his Desert Eagles. Two EMPIRE agents fell without even seeing their attacker.

Libertad tackled two EMPIRE agents of her own. The men went down easily under her strength. She pummelled them both in to unconsciousness.

An EMPIRE agent turned away from his attackers to yell to someone else in the offices. “We’re paying you for protection, damn it! Get up and protect us!”

As soon as the last word passed his lips, Libertad hit him with a hard right to the ribs. He dropped to his knees a second later.

“You bitches always need us to handle all your business!” The woman’s voice cut through the smoke, but Freedom couldn’t pick her out. It sounded vaguely familiar though.

Bullets ripped through the air just above Freedom’s head. He recognized the controlled three shot burst. He quickly rose to his feet and returned fire.

A figure lunged through the smoke. Dressed only in hot pants and a PVC corset, she brandished a broadsword and shield. Freedom rolled away just before the sword could cleave him in two.

He recognized his opponents now. He met the assassins Tee and Ay years ago. They left him for dead in the Arizona desert, a situation he didn’t plan on repeating.

He raised his gun, but Ay swiped at him with her sword. He ducked to the right as she expected. But instead of falling back, he came straight at her. He hit her shoulder first and forced her to the ground.

The machine gun fire stopped, replaced by a low animal growl. He knew the sound of Tee’s transformation in to her tiger form.

He bent down and drove his fist in to Ay’s face hard. She laughed off the blow, so he delivered another one.

The tiger-woman caught him from the side. She pounced on him and held him down with amazing strength. Her teeth and claws scatched deep gouts in his arms and face.

“Lib, a little help here!”

Libertad emerged from the smoke and grabbed the tiger-woman by the waist. She pulled Tee up and away. Using her own immense strength, she threw the tiger-woman against the far wall.

Ay’s hand was on her charm bracelet and another potential weapon when Freedom trained his gun on her forehead.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Screw you, Patton. We should have made sure you were finished in oh-four.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t. Now why in the hell would two nice ladies like you take a job for EMPIRE?”

Ay laughed. She spit blood out of her mouth as her chuckle faded.

“You think these losers were EMPIRE? Even EMPIRE isn’t that desperate. They were a bunch of wannabes, hired by someone local to do some damage. They’ve been bickering for weeks about their next target. They even got the explosives in back, but wouldn’t choose a site without their boss’s approval. Suckers, all of them.”

“If they’re such losers, why the hell are you and Tee working for them?”

“Hey, we go where the money is good. You should know that, Patton. Otherwise we would have finished the job on you years ago.”

Sirens blared outside. He knew they only had a few more minutes to make their escape. Freedom looked at Libertad.

“You know what this sounds like to me?”

“It sounds like we’re in the middle of a front. This whole thing is just a set up so that EMPIRE takes the blame for the attack on the park.”

“And the real culprits continue their ‘holy’ work. It all comes back to the Church again and again.”

Libertad looked at Ay. “What do we do with her?”

Freedom brought his boot up in to Ay’s chin. She dropped hard to the floor.

“You know some people frown on hitting defenseless women.”

“If you think someone like Ay is defenseless you will end up dead quick in this business. As soon as we stopped paying attention she would have another weapon in hand ready to strike.”

Libertad nodded. “What’s the next move?”

“We take this to the Church. But we’re going to need an army to get in to that complex.”

“Or someone that can burrow through the ground.”

“Hell, no. I’m not dealing with the snakes and the freaking Below again.”

“Do we have a choice?”

“We always have a choice, Lib. Let’s get back to Hit. I’ve got to get these scratches looked at anyway. We can plan battle strategy there.”

“You know I’m with you on this all the way, right?”

“I never doubted it. You’ve got my back. We’ve seen too much in the last year for me to believe anything different.”

Libertad smiled.

Voices emerged from the front of the building. The SWAT unit was here and on their way in to the building.

Freedom nodded towards the back of the building. Libertad lead the way out.

*****

Legend didn’t like the Seaside Islands. The alphium mineral mined on the island was his only weakness. Just going near the island weakened him. Actually setting foot on it left him feeling like he had a bad case of the stomach flu.

He resisted the urge to vomit as he landed a few feet away from the front door of the Electro Lab. As he approached it, a series of red and blue lights scanned his body from top to bottom, front to back.

A computerized voice emerged from beside the door. “Visiting entity, please identify yourself.”

“Legend. I need to meet with the Doc.”

“Scanning data,” the computer said. “I find no scheduled meeting with the Doctor today. Would you like to book an appointment, Mister Legend?”

“Not Mister, just Legend. Look, is she in? I need to speak with her urgently. It’s a matter of some importance.”

“I am sorry, Mister Legend, but I find no records of an appointment. Do you wish to book one?”

“Are you even listening to me, you blasted machine?”

“I detect elevated levels of anger in your voice. Please discontinue before automated security activation.”

Legend took a long breath. He truly hated talking to machines. In his calmest possible voice, he started to speak again. “Look, can you just tell me where she’s at?”

“Appointments are available beginning tomorrow at 1500 local time. Would you like to schedule an appointment, Mister Legend?”

“Listen you stupid machine! Just listen to me!”

Twin cannons emerged from the lawn around him. They quickly aimed their sights on him.

“Security, stand down!”

A young woman in her early twenties floated down on a hovering disc. She wore an outfit made up of khaki pants and an aging bomber jacket. Large goggles covered her eyes. Several gadgets hung from her over-sized belt. Her brown hair fell around her face but failed to hide a broad grin.

“I recognize you from television, Legend. What can I do for you?”

Her hover disc disappeared in to her boots as she landed in front of him. Arms crossed, she looked up at him and waited for a response.

Legend never met her father, but he could only imagine how proud the world-reknowned hero would have been of his heir.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, young lady. The infamous Doc Tesla, the girl that will destroy her family’s legacy. The illegitimate daughter that some people think has stolen this entire center away from its rightful owners. You have quite a reputation in some parts.”

“Yeah, what of it? I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t ask for any of this, but I got it, and I plan on keeping it. It’s all I got of a family I didn’t even know I had.”

Legend nodded. “Believe me when I say I’m not here to take any of this away from you. I actually came here to make you an offer. I want you in F.O.R.C.E.”

“Me? You got to be kidding.”

“I’m getting that a lot lately.”

“Look, I’ve only been doing this a few months and I’m not exactly America’s Top Metahuman. You could do a lot better than me.”

“Maybe that’s true. But I think your unique skills offer a lot to the team as a whole. I think they could prove key in a continued fight to keep the people of this country safe from metahuman-related disasters.”

Doc Tesla looked around. “Seriously? This isn’t some special meta edition of Punk’d?”

“I’m serious, Doc. I want you in the group.”

“I still can’t believe it, but sure. I’m in. What do we do first?”

“Our first mission is already in the works, but I’ll warn you it may end up costing you a few more fans.”

“Hey, I’m not in this to be Ms. Popular. What’s the play?”

Legend shook his head. He knew he made a good choice with this one.

“Let’s go inside your Lab,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to cover.”

*****

She waited until Elijah left her for another night before she rose from her bed. Susan quickly threw on her robes and made her way in to the halls. She knew she had only one chance to make it out of the building and on to the streets.

When the guards brought her to and from her newest room, they tried their best to get her lost in the winding corridors of the church. But she quickly learned to watch the formations of the river rocks embedded in the walls. Distinctive formations were easy to pick out of the various turns and corners they passed.

She needed every bit of that knowledge to make her way out of her room and in to the hallways. After the first one or two turns, just about anybody would be lost, and rightly so. She knew her escape rested on her keeping her head straight and follow the path up towards the surface.

With her every movement always watched by Elijah or his guards, it surprised Susan to see no sentries roaming the tunnels. No one came near her. No one seemed to even be around.

Her head ached as she continued towards the surface. Every time she stepped from the Below in to the real world, she felt the sharp stabbing pain in the front of her skull. She knew that she was on the right track.

She continued down the path. Memories of her mistreatment over the past several weeks flooded her brain. She could see the guards that held her by the arms as they dragged her from one room to the next. She could feel their cold, death-like hands.

She took a deep breath. I have a family to find. I can do this. I won’t let them control me a second longer.

She stopped short as she reached another corner. She heard the sound of voices down the next hall.

“Just go back to your room,” the female said. “We have to be careful. We can only do so much searching in one night.”

“I’ve told you before that I don’t have much more time,” her male companion said. “I need to find it now. I don’t have time to lolligag around.”

“Do you want to find it or do you want to end up back on the street right where you started? We have to play this carefully.”

“I’m running out of time for careful. We need to find it soon.”

“We will. Just calm down.”

The male sighed. “All right. I’ll go back to my room tonight. But we’re going back out tomorrow night.”

“Don’t we always?”

The male said nothing more. Susan listened to his steps fade in to the distance.

The female grumbled something under her breath. She started to walk as well, only towards Susan.

Damn it! Susan looked for somewhere, anywhere to take cover. But the halls were still empty. This near the surface, only a very few alternative passages existed. She was stuck.

She stood upright and tried her best to look like any other member of the church. The woman came around the corner and almost ran head long in to Susan.

“Oh, excuse me.”

“Yes,” Susan said. “Please I must pass. I have… places to be.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, sure. Please by all means.”

Susan pushed past her.

“Wait,” the woman said. “May I ask your name.”

Susan turned to look at her. “Jane.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Jane. I’m Bette.”

“Yes, good to meet you too, Bette. But I really must be going.”

“Of course. I didn’t mean to—”

“Stop that woman!”

Susan recognized the two men running up the hall behind her. They both were frequent members of her escorts. Susan pushed Bette to the side.

“Acolyte, hold that woman!”

Susan started to run, but Bette proved far faster than she suspected. The young woman grabbed her by the arm and held her fast. Susan struggled against her grip, but Bette locked her arm like a seasoned fighter.

“I’m sorry,” Bette whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Bette twisted Sue’s arm around. She forced Sue to the ground.

Sue yanked against Bette’s grip. She felt the tendons in her arms tear loose, but still the young woman continued the hold.

No! I was so close! I was so damn close!

The two guards surrounded her. Both men outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. They towered over her.

One guard turned to Bette. “Good work, acolyte. This one suffers from demons of the mind. It makes her act irrationally on occasion. We apologize if she put you in any danger.”

“No problems, sir.” Bette caught Susan’s eyes. “I only hope she can find the help she needs.”

The guards nodded as they dragged Susan away. Bette kept Susan in her gaze until they disappeared down the tunnel.

Today’s just a setback, Susan thought. They may have stopped this escape, but I won’t stop. And next time…

…next time Elijah will pay.