Chapter 1.2.10 — Summit of Heroes / Serenity 1

Emmett stood frozen, staring out the window at the cape hovering just outside.

Clara didn’t lower her weapons. “State your names first.”

A second shadow rose up beside the first, and Emmett thought he heard a man scoff. But the woman outside replied, “My name is Serenity and—”

The man interrupted, “I am the Ninth Wielder of the magical Ring of Shelok, but you can call me Hunter Nine.”

Serenity added, “We’re with 3rd Summit segment of Belport. We just want to talk.”

Venture’s voice came through the comm link. “Cooperate unless they try to take you in…” Abruptly his voice degraded into static before cutting off completely.

Hunter Nine said irritatedly, “We’ve locked communications in the area, failure to comply—”

“As I was saying, cooperate unless they try to take you in. If they do, run.”

Hunter Nine muttered, “Our jamming isn’t working…”

Serenity raised her voice. “We’re coming in to talk. Stay where you are.” She said something quietly to her comrade.

Then a giant ethereal hand reached around the bars of the window, breaking the remnants of glass. It wrapped around the bars and pulled. The wall of windows bowed outward, metal frame screeching and glass cracking, before it finally screeched—

Half the wall came free in a spiderweb of metal frame and broken glass. The floating hand released it and let it crash to the street below.

Both Emmett and Clara stared out at the two heroes floating in the air.

Serenity wore a crystalline blue bodysuit and mask, the latter of which was criss-crossed with an intricate geometric design.

Instead of floating, Hunter Nine stood on a misty platform beside the ethereal hand. The eerie conjurations were a stark contrast to the dark Victorian-era outfit and masquerade mask the man wore. Then again, magicians often had eccentric tastes.

Serenity shot her partner a glance of irritation before turning her attention back to Emmett and Clara. “As I was saying, the Summit of Heroes is monitoring this area in response to the events regarding the deceased cape, Porcelain. Do you know anything about that?”

“We don’t know anything about that,” Clara lied, reluctantly lowering her weapons. “Only what was released publically about the Champion street attack.”

Serenity nodded. “Then you won’t mind releasing the seal on your helmet open so that I can confirm your story?”

Emmett’s heart skipped a beat. He’d recognized Hunter Nine’s description of his magic ring. There were a dozen or so rings forged by the sorcerer, Shelok, and their capabilities were public knowledge. Each gave the bearer the ability to seamlessly make constructs—an ability somewhere between magic and telekinesis. If he was a ninth rank, then he was somewhere between a Class 1 and Class 2 super.

Serenity was the real problem. She was psychic.

But she couldn’t read Clara’s mind—not through Clara’s exosuit.

Clara didn’t answer the demand right away, and when she finally did, her voice was firm.

“I refuse.”

A flicker of irritation passed over Serenity’s lips and she turned to Emmett. “Do you consent—”

“No, he doesn’t,” Clara said sharply.

Emmett cleared his throat and added, “I know my rights.”

A registered psychic couldn’t read a person’s thoughts without consent—and unless Serenity was a Class 3 or higher, she wouldn’t be skilled enough to read Emmett’s thoughts without him feeling it. Still, Emmett looked from one cape to the other, suddenly wishing that he had a complete helmet like Clara.

Hunter Nine spoke up, not bothering to temper his irritation. “You either consent now, or you come back to headquarters with us, and then consent.”

Serenity shot Hunter Nine a fierce look, but her partner didn’t stop.

Clara scoffed. “Sounds like you’re close to overstepping.”

“Sounds like you’re resisting.”

Serenity sneered, “Stand down, cape.”

Hunter Nine glared at Emmett and Clara. “Choose.”

Dr. Venture’s voice came through again. “Don’t kill them.”

Clara raised the palms of her exosuit and fired. Shockwaves from her kinetic blasts shook the room. Each exploded harmlessly in front of the Summit capes. Hunter Nine’s ethereal hand widened to encompass the entire window, and something else shimmered with blue power—Serenity adding her own reinforcement to the magic wall.

Shit. So Serenity was a psychic and a telekinetic.

Emmett resisted the urge to glance at his bag of mods on the floor. It was only a few feet away. Right now, he had his concealable pistol equipped, but if Clara’s blasts couldn’t punch through, then his pistol probably wouldn’t either. The impact shield was probably worthless, but if he could switch to his whip…

He’d only get one chance—

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his entire body locked up. He hadn’t even turned to look at the bag. Couldn’t turn to look at it. He could barely move his eyes. Just breathing took all his concentration.

Serenity stared at him knowingly. “Stand down, and no harm will come to you.”

She had read his mind—or at least been ready for him—and there had been nothing Emmett could do.

Clara wasn’t faring any better. Through the swirls of dust and impact, the two capes were completely untouched.

Suddenly, the ethereal fist grew solid and swept forward into a punch, slamming into Clara and knocking her backward through the wall. Emmet would’ve winced at the first crunch—or the second—but he couldn’t even do that.

“Wait—”

Hunter cut his partner off. “Just read his mind and be done with it!” He set down on the floor and strode after Clara through the wreckage.

Serenity stayed hovering outside. She shook her head and then stared at Emmett, as if seriously considering going outside protocol. More shots and impacts echoed from the other side of the building.

Emmett wanted to turn and run. Wanted to shake his head and refuse, or try to talk to her and reason with her. But there was nothing he could…

Even though Emmett’s arms were down at his side, he realized that he could still move the fingers of his prosthetic arm. And it wasn’t just that—as the moment dragged on, Emmett realized he could still move his entire prosthetic arm.

Serenity stared at him, and then Emmett felt the subtle touch of a psychic crawling into his mind, like fingertips crawling over his scalp.

With mechanical speed, Emmett raised his arm, the forearm compartment opening to reveal the barrel of the pistol. Emmett fired, the crack of the shot echoing through the warehouse. The sledgehammer round hit Serenity square in the chest, and she tumbled out of the air.

The force of the shot knocked Emmett off balance, but Serenity’s hold over him disappeared, and Emmett only stumbled a little.

Instead of standing in shock, he stooped down to his bag and swapped the pistol for his whip. Then Emmett slung the bag over his shoulders and stepped cautiously through the Clara-sized hole in the wall.

She’d actually gone through two walls—through the second, Emmett could just make out a whirlwind of action. Clara fired kinetic blasts repeatedly and used her thrusters to maneuver out of the way of ether spikes and a colossal fist. Both sides seemed evenly matched.

Emmett paused just outside of the wall and waited for his chance.

The battle turned, and suddenly, Hunter Nine was in front of the opening. Emmett lashed out with his whip, grabbed the cape’s foot and pulled. Hunter Nine face-planted, and before he could roll over to defend himself, Clara hit him with a kinetic blast.

Hunter Nine groaned and curled up into a ball. That time, Emmett winced.

“Come on!” Clara shouted.

Emmett ran into the decimated room, and Clara blasted another hole, this time in the outside wall. A Fast-Response Drone was already open and waiting.

Emmett tossed a smoke pellet behind him for good measure, then jumped in and felt the drone close around him. A moment later, they were rocketing away.

TINA’s voice came through. “The Summit’s drones are attempting to follow. Cloaking engaged. Alternate route suggested.”

“Copy that,” Clara replied. “We’ll take the long way home.”

“Can they follow us?” Emmett asked.

Clara chuckled. “They couldn’t even jam our comms.”

~ ~

Serenity picked herself up from the pavement. She’d managed to telekinetically cushion her fall, but everything hurt. Most of all, her chest…

She clutched where she’d been shot, but there wasn’t any blood or wound. It must’ve been a non-lethal round. For that, she was grateful.

She levitated back up to the warehouse, but it was already quiet and covered in smoke; the battle was already over.

Serenity called out to Hunter, and immediately regretted it. The pain in her chest spiked when she took a deep breath. She heard her partner groaning on the other side of the warehouse. A moment later, a giant hand waved away the smoke to reveal Hunter—double over on the floor and just starting to stand. He looked exactly how she felt.

“Bastards,” he winced.

Serenity ignored him. “Are you bleeding?”

Hunter pulled away from her. “No. I don’t know what it was, but they’ll pay.”

Serenity had half a mind to call him out on his blunder, that they’d only gotten into a fight because of his vendetta and his ego. But she held her tongue.

With any luck, the Summit would see this failure as an opportunity to finally split them up. Then someone else would have to deal with him.

Hunter turned suddenly, accusation in his voice. “What happened to you? I almost had the bitch, and her accomplice attacked me from behind.”

“He was a cyborg,” Serenity said. She quickly recounted what happened to Hunter, describing how the super’s arm opened up and shot her with a nonlethal round.

Serenity had known something was off about the super, but she’d never faced a cyborg before. She knew about them in theory, but seeing the mechanical limb act independently was another thing entirely.

Hunter grumbled. “Goddamn tinjob. People just buy power nowadays.” He kicked at a piece of rubble, sending it tumbling through the hole in the wall. “Maybe next time, don’t give masks the benefit of the doubt. They’re worse than villains.”

Serenity grit her teeth and turned to walk away, ignoring that Hunter’s ring wasn’t that different from the mechanical enhancements he loathed. There wasn’t any use debating a man who used slurs as flagrantly as her partner did.

“Where are you going?” Hunter called after her.

“Debriefing at base.”

She flew away, ignoring Hunter’s muttering. She could guess what he was saying under his breath.

~ ~ ~