CITY OF HEROES - LIBERTY SERVER'S
The SOLUS Foundation
Excerpts from
"Heroes - The Rebuilding
of Statesman's Camelot"
Chapter 212 -
In the Beginning - Jack Thomas AKA Kid Komet
BLAM! BLAM!
The noise burst out of the warehouse,
breaking the stillness of the morning air. Terror gripped the young
boy and girl, but their eyes did not leave the dirty building in front
of them. Moments stretched into minutes, and it almost seemed that
the very world had slowed down.
Then there was a flurry of movement, and
a single portly figure stumbled out of the door the kids were staring at.
Finally letting themselves breathe again, the two watched as the figure
brought himself shakily to his feet, then lunge towards the hiding place
they had chosen behind barrels and crates.
Jack muttered to himself, “C’mon, c’mon…what
are you waiting for?”
Past the shambling boy a new noise could
be heard in the warehouse. There is no mistaking the unique “CHA-Chunk”
of a shotgun being pumped. It was just the motivation the husky youth
needed to fling himself into concealment at his friends’ feet.
The door swung open violently. A
man stepped out. He was covered with tattoos that were evident because
the sleeves had been torn off his shirt. Coupled with the ugly black
and white horned mask, it could mean only one thing…Hellions. The
Hellions had become something more than a bunch of thugs or your run of
the mill street gang. They seemed to be ruthless, but organized;
a combination that did not bode well for the citizens of Paragon City.
They dealt in all sorts of petty and organized crime. Ironically,
they seemed to be held in check by their rivals, the Skulls. While
in turn, they kept the Skulls from getting any more powerful. It
seemed the two were at a stalemate for turf and reputation.
All this was lost to Jack, though.
His attention was on the long double-barreled shotgun the Hellion held,
swaying back and forth across the lot. Each time the gun was pointed
towards the youths, they all paused, in mid-breath. After a couple
of minutes, he lowered the barrels, shrugged and stepped back into the
warehouse.
“My GOD, that was close!” said the girl
at Jack’s elbow. Her name was Heather and the look on her face betrayed
how truly scared she was.
The other boy, Chris, stood up and brushed
himself off. He seemed to calm down a little too quickly. “Really?
You think so? I wasn’t worried at all.” His performance did
not impress either of the other two. Perhaps it was the sweat still
pouring down his face, or the fact that it was this bravado act that got
them into this situation in the first place.
The three of them had known each other
for years, eight, in fact. They all lived in the same King’s Row
Tenement, Barclay Commons. They met at the age of four and had been
fairly inseparable since. Chris had all the makings of a geek going
against him. He was interested in computers, actually anything electronic,
and was good at fiddling with them. The only thing that was remotely
athletic about him was that he could spell it. In fact, he was spelling
bee champ for three years in elementary school…something that got him beat
up more than three times. And he had no social filter between his
head and his mouth. It was almost as if speaking was just a reflex
action for him. His over the top showmanship he displayed today was
typical of any situation that he was uncomfortable with.
The trio had just graduated the sixth grade
and were facing the fact that they were about to start at John F. Kennedy
Junior High in a couple of months. Something that Jack was dreading,
even if he would not admit it. Jack was the idealist. He liked
big plans, exciting things and amazing places…at least, he liked hearing
or reading about them. His greatest interest was the Supers.
Jack was an avid collector of comic books and followed all sorts of Superhero
exploits in the news. On a trip to Steel Canyon with his folks once,
he even saw Valkyrie save a family being held hostage by some criminals.
It was a story that his friends were more than a little tired of hearing.
Most of the time they just hung out, but
the three always had a knack for getting into some kind of trouble.
They did their best to rotate parents, though. Once they screwed
up bad enough at one house, they would hang out at the next. This
way, they never got into too much hot water with any one set of parents.
Heather was the brains of the group and cunning to boot. She was
usually soft-spoken and had the adorable habit of smiling all the time.
It was not by accident. Boys, especially adolescent boys ate it up
and she knew it. There was little anyone could put past her and if
they did, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing it.
At twelve, she already knew she was going into law, just because she ultimately
wanted to go into politics. Of anyone in King’s, she had the grades
that would make it happen. Something the boys secretly were awed
by.
“Not worried…my we are so impressed.”
Heather was advanced in sarcasm, even for a teenager. She could be
subtle as a brick or gentle as a feather, she opted for the brick.
“I wasn’t. I hardly ran from that
guy. I wasn’t scared,” said Chris, a little too desperately.
Jack cut in, “Yeah, Heather. That
was a HELLION! You would’ve been scared too.”
“I’m telling you I wasn’t scared!”
“Of course he was--they were firing a shotgun
at him. I just think he needs to face it.”
“I wasn’t scared!”
“Jeeze, Heather. I know, I was right
here. I just think you could give him a little slack. He took
your dare and did it,” Jack argued.
“I wasn’t goddam scared!”
“I know the rules of the game. You
don’t have to tell me. I only asked him the question because of the
way he acted when I lost on the last one. Serves him right to be
scared.”
“I WAS NOT *@#%@’N SCARED!”
CHA-chunk. Three faces went white.
The proximity of the sound was right behind Jack. Each of them looked
past the others to see that half a dozen Hellions had them surrounded.
If there was any doubt that any of them were scared, it was moot now.
“What the hell do we have here? A
kindy-gahden field trip?” The voice came from the same direction
as the shotgun. A number of others chuckled in way that could only
be perceived as evil.
“What ever it is, its on our turf, Dante!”
A chorus of “yeahs!” chimed in.
“Put your hands up, you stupid little punks,”
said the one named Dante.
All three kids slowly obeyed.
“Inside, MOVE!”
“Heya, Dante. They ain’t all that
little…hehehe.” The laugh ended with the Hellion reaching out to
grab at Heather.
There was no thought, only movement.
Jack lunged forward and put his head in the small of the back of the one
touching his friend. Unfortunately, Jack was only about 75 pounds
and his target weighed three times that. He bounced off rather harmlessly
and got the butt of a shotgun in the back of the head for it. The
world got wobbly, and he found things spinning. Jack was aware he
was struggling and could hear his friends doing the same, although it almost
seemed like he had a third-person point of view. As Jack’s vision
melted to black, he saw a flash of yellow armor and a large lance swing
through the air.
“Look, I think he’s waking up. Yeah,
he’s blinking.” Heather’s voice was a welcome sound after the nothingness.
Jack tried to sit up and regretted it immediately.
He felt like he was hit again.
“Easy…easy.” The new voice was unfamiliar.
It was husky and feminine at the same time. “Still trying to be the
brave one?”
His eyes finally came to focus on a pair
of blue eyes framed by honey blonde hair and a golden pair of downy wings.
“V...V…Valkyrie?” His head felt like
it was pulling together, but slowly.
“Yes, little warrior, I am Valkyrie.”
“What were you doing in Atlas Park?
You’re the Defender of Steel...” He began to speak faster once he automatically
switched into comic book mode.
“My duty is to Paragon, not just Steel
Canyon. And you three are fortunate that it is. This could
have turned out far worse.”
“We were just…”
“I think I have an idea of what happened
here from your friends. They are good friends, too. They would
not leave your side when I gave them a chance to escape. But you
must promise me this…you will not come to Atlas looking for more trouble--game
or no game. Do I have your word?”
Jack’s eyes dropped, he did not want her
to hold his gaze and mumbled, “Yes, I promise.”
“And you two? Do I have your word
as well?” The voice had a commanding edge that did not allow for
disagreement.
“Yes, ma’am,” they responded.
“Time to get you to your feet. Can
you ride your bicycle, Mr. Thomas?” asked the heroine.
Although he was still shaky, the comforting
aura of the woman was of great assistance. His head hurt terribly,
but he was not dizzy. The trio got on their bicycles and headed home.
Four months later…
“I can't believe I let you talk me into
this, Chris.” The exasperation in Jack’s voice made it crack, as
it had been doing periodically.
“Don’t worry. You won’t break your
promise to your girlfriend.” The last word was said as childish as
possible. “She made us promise not to go to Atlas Park. We,
my friend, are going to Faultline.” The ridiculous bravado had returned.
Heather felt the need to speak up.
“Just for the record, I am here just to make sure you two don’t get each
other killed. This Truth or Dare crap is going to get us into trouble…AGAIN.”
“Relax. It’s all under control.
All I dared him to do was to go in far enough to throw a rock off the ledge
and we are out of there. Then we all got to ask a question and the
game is over. Fair’s fair.” As Chris said this, they came to
a stop at the underpass leading to Faultline.
“That reminds me, what did you ask him?”
Heather asked.
Neither boy even looked at her; they just
started pedaling into the dark tunnel. Both boys felt extremely uncomfortable.
Chris was worried that Heather liked Jack more and wanted to make sure
that he didn’t like her back. He used the game to ask him point blank,
assuming Jack would just answer rather than risk breaking his word to Valkyrie.
Boy did that backfire.
Jack didn’t want anything to change between
the three of them and saw it ultimately coming to that. Heather had
been giving Jack a lot of attention lately after their run-in with the
Hellions. It was also clear to him that Chris had a huge crush on
their female friend. He had been playing out the potential scenarios
over and over in his head lately. It always came down to the three
of them splitting up. Even if he had told Chris that he didn’t like
Heather that way, he knew Chris wouldn’t believe him; he was too googly-eyed.
Why did being a kid seem so tough? He couldn’t wait until they were
all grown up and relationships were easy.
The three bikes stopped as they reentered
the sunlight. They paused to take it all in. None of them had
been there before, Faultline wasn't a place kids were allowed, and they
needed to make sure they didn't get caught. The afternoon sun bleached
the uprooted buildings and the folded earth. The air was heavy and
still almost as if it was soaking up all noises. The scene was stark
and depressing, not what they expected.
“All the people that lived here…”
Heather’s muttered remark reflected what they all were thinking.
Ten minutes passed and Jack finally spoke,
with air of authority neither of the others recognized. “Let’s do
this and go. Heather, Chris, get behind that broken wall.”
He bent down and picked up a rock, waited for the others to duck out of
sight and headed forward.
As he closed the 200-yard distance to the
edge, Jack Thomas reviewed the events that led up to today. Of all
of them, the one that figured most prominently in his mind was waking up
in Valkyrie’s arms. It wasn’t the infatuation that he felt…and yea
howdy, he felt it…it was her words that day. “They are good friends,
too. They would not leave your side…” It almost haunted him
that he might lose that. What was he to do? Answer Chris’s
stinking question, not answer, holding Heather at arm’s length, letting
her get closer….AAARRRGH! It was too hard!
But the decision was made for him as the
answer came suddenly from the sky…
The world slowed down again, just like
the day in Atlas Park. He heard the shouts of his friends from behind
him. They seemed lost and muffled. Jack turned to see them
back by the tunnel, jumping as if in slow motion, pointing in the sky.
He turned again, and became conscious of the shrill noise. It was
like in old war movies when a mortar was incoming. Jack looked where
they were pointing and saw a huge orange-purple ball hurtling to earth.
He actually furrowed his brow, knowing that meteors aren’t usually purple.
The plume of lavender that trailed behind the globe was almost beautiful.
As he stood, awed, he realized it was headed right at him…and with that,
time sped up again.
The last thing he remembered was an explosion
on cliff side just below where he was standing. The blast blew him
through the air... |
