Frontier #2 - Supercharged pt. 2

                Marian’s feet were frozen to the ground. Her entire body felt paralyzed, and she stood with an open mouth as the figure tossed Tony’s body to the side like a rag doll.

“Another super come to save the day?” He laughed as he walked towards her, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. His voice was hoarse and his skin glowing faintly with charged particles. “Good. I was waiting for you.”

Marian couldn’t decipher if he meant her in general, or if any other superhero would have done the job. Her eyes drifted from the approaching menace down towards Tony, who was still unconscious on the floor.

How did he beat Tony? He’s too damn fast for anyone to catch. It doesn’t make any sense…

Marian didn’t have time to finish that thought. The enemy grabbed her by the throat, making her choke and lifting her off the ground. “You sure you’re a meta? Not much of a threat, are ya little girl?”

The physical pain snapped Marian back to reality. She reacted quickly, being trained by her father for many years in hand to hand combat. Bringing a knee up into the attacker’s face, she smashed his lower jaw, dazing him momentarily and causing him to drop her. Falling to the ground, Marian rolled backwards, putting a few feet between her and her opponent. She sprang right to her feet and just barely managed to dodge under a punch. She delivered an uppercut to the trachea, getting a solid grunt from the hulking man.

Putting her hands on his shoulders, she lifted herself up and over his body, kicking the back of his head in the process. She took a few steps to try and put more distance between them, but was knocked to the ground by a searing blast that slammed into her back. The white hot pain ran through her body and she cried out, not being able to control herself. Marian struggled through the pain to get back on her knees, but the attacker swiped at her, sending her flying into an overturned desk. As she laid on her burning back, he stood over her, his grin replaced by a scowl.

“Last time I play with my food before eating it. Got me real good ya did. But I think I got you better.” He held up his fist as electricity surged through it. “You’re gonna feel this in the morning.”

He bent down to grab Marian, but was stopped by the sound of sirens and people shouting. He stood back up and bared his teeth. “Looks like you got lucky, girly. Have fun telling them how Volt kicked your ass.”

The man grabbed a few bags of money and ran, escaping the building before anyone else entered it. Marian tried pushing herself up on her elbows, but her body wouldn’t cooperate and she collapsed back down. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain. The last thing she heard before blacking out was the calls of the police officers clearing the area and finding her and Tony’s bodies.

The giant hands of Steve smashed into a punching bag over and over again. Dust and sand puffed out of the tiny tears in the bag’s seams with every impact, and sweat ran down the sides of Steve’s face. He grunted as he swung, letting all his anger and frustration out through his powerful hands. Steve’s strength was incredible, giving him the ability to lift multiple cars worth of weight and knock down walls with relative ease. This particular sandbags weighed over a ton, and offered a solid outlet for Steve’s rage.

Natalie appeared in the doorway, leaning against it with her arms crossed. She was worried about her husband; it was natural for him to relieve stress through working out, but he hadn’t stopped since Marian and Tony were rushed to the hospital two days ago.

“Steve, please come eat something.”

“I’m fine.” Steve hesitated for a second to respond before going back to swinging.

Natalie walked into the gym. Even with all the modern equipment, Steve still preferred a good-ole fashioned sand punching bag. Natalie went right up behind him and put her arms around his torso, using her telekinesis to hold his arms in place and stop him from taking more swings at the bag.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know.” Steve was breathing hard from the sudden exhaustion that was hitting him. He hadn’t felt it until he stopped, but right now he was a little envious of Marian’s resistance to fatigue.

“Marian’s a registered superhero; she can handle herself in the field. She was just caught off-guard, but she’s fine and coming home today. She doesn’t need to see her father like this.”

“I should have gone with, Nat. I could have helped her. Then this lunatic wouldn’t still be out running the streets and my little girl wouldn’t have been hurt.”

Natalie held him tighter. Steve was almost three feet taller than her, and her slender build was dwarfed by his size, but right now she knew he felt smaller than a mouse. “You didn’t know. This city hardly ever has this powerful of criminals. You can’t beat yourself up for something you couldn’t have helped. But now that you know, you can do something. Next time he pops up, you can be the one to beat the crap out of him for hurting your daughter.”

Steve turned around, putting his arms around his wife. Natalie had joined the team six years ago, but it wasn’t until four years later that he realized how much they both cared for one another. He never thought he would find someone to fill the void left by his first wife, but Natalie was the perfect fit.

“Thank you,” he said simply. They stood there holding each other until Francis announced over the intercom that Marian and Tony were arriving home any minute. After Steve toweled off, the couple walked out holding hands to welcome back their wounded family members.

At the sight of his daughter, Steve ran over and gently put his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace.

“Dad, watch it, that still hurts a bit.” Marian grinned as she hugged Steve back. “And you need a shower.” They both laughed, relief overcoming grief.

Francis waited a little ways back with Natalie. “Isn’t it amazing that, no matter how old she is, she’ll always be his little girl, and he’ll always be her hero?”

Natalie smiled and looked over towards Francis, who wiped his eye quickly. “Don’t worry Fran, I’m sure she has a hug for you too.”

As if on cue, Marian came bounding over and gave Francis a huge hug. Steve walked over to Tony, who was limping and using a crutch. “You okay Tony?”

Tony had been wearing a scowl ever since he woke up in the hospital bed and remembered what happened. Steve knew his pride was the most damaged out of anything, though. “Yeah, I’m fine. Bastard just got lucky. It won’t happen next time.”

The team walked back inside, with Francis demanding they all sit down to have a diner as a group. Nobody objected this time, and during the course of the meal the topic of what happened was strategically avoided, although the tension in the air was thick whenever someone hinted at it.

After diner, Marian pulled her father aside. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I have to get this off my chest.”

Steve held up a hand to stop her, but she continued. “I’m not gonna cry and complain or anything. It isn’t time for that; Volt’s still out there. But he used electricity, Dad. I don’t know if it was man-made or meta, but either way I think it’s time we paid the Electric Eagle a visit.”