Marian
had seen wonders during that afternoon that she had never imagined in all her
life. Mechanical buildings, bio-engineered plant-life, futuristic advancements
that the humans back on the ground won’t achieve for decades; all was shown to
her under the guide of Alexander Jackson. He answered all her questions as
thoroughly as he could, and proved to her during their time spent together that
he was a man of high respect and honor.
Unfortunately,
all that awe and respect began being sucked out of her once they sat down to
talk business.
“I’m
just asking you to help us with this one villain,” Marian pleaded with Jackson.
They had been going back and forth for a half hour now, yet he still would not
budge on his stance.
“What
makes this one villain so difficult that you have come all this way to ask for
my help? Your father has never come to me for assistance in all these years, so
why do you assume this lonely metahuman is powerful enough to warrant my
intervention? Frontier has stood solid without my presence for eight years. I
do not believe this single villain will bring the downfall of such a strong
team.”
Jackson sat in a throne-like
chair in the center of the pavilion they were in, the breeze gently blowing as
he talked with utter calmness. It was chilly so high up in the atmosphere, but
the ground beneath them had ambient heating installed throughout. Still, Marian
pulled her jacket tighter and stared straight ahead at Jackson. Marian stood
across from him, not daring to sit on the silken couch behind her for fear of
losing her drive. Jackson gave off an eerily relaxing demeanor, one which
Marian felt herself fall to easily.
“We’re not as strong as you
think we are,” Marian replied, her eyes dropping. “There are some days I feel
like we are barely hanging on anymore.”
Jackson looked upon her with
sympathetic eyes. “Marian, you are too young to feel such things. I told Steve
he shouldn’t have brought you into this world at such a tender age, but he
insisted. Being a strong warrior is not just about skill and power; there’s a
mental state that must be reached, and I don’t believe you have had the time to
reach that point yet.”
Marian looked up angrily, and
Jackson put up his hand to make her pause for a second, allowing him to
continue. “That was not an insult against your abilities, Marian. One can
possess much power without properly knowing how to use it.”
“Sounds like Tony,” Marian
snorted.
“Yes I have seen footage of the
newest member. He wields too much power for his own good.”
“You got that right,” Marian
said rolling her eyes, “but let’s not get off topic. Will you please come help
us?”
Jackson sighed, “You’re not
going to give up on this, are you?” Marian shook her head in response and
folded her arms. “Well then,” continued Jackson, “we might as well eat dinner
while we talk.”
The scene of the call was a
disaster. What was left of the well-kept little park was in ruins; trees were
either toppled or on fire, cars were thrown across the street into the adjacent
storefronts, and there was not a single soul around. Steve and Natalie had left
the car a few blocks away as usual and ran here on foot. Carefully they looked
around the destroyed park, wondering where the police were and where Volt went.
Out of the corner of his eye,
Steve saw movement. From behind a toppled car walked Volt, wearing an evil
smile on his face. “Well well, if it isn’t the mighty Fist, leader of Frontier.
Come to save the day, have you?”
Steve eyed Volt up. Volt was
slightly bigger than Steve, both in height and overall mass, but Steve was
confident in his strength. He did notice the electrical sparks that popped out
of Volt’s muscles now and then, and knew that a blast of electricity was not
something he wanted to feel. But no matter what Volt threw at him, Steve would
endure. Marian tried her best; now it was his turn.
“No,” Steve said clenching his
giant fists, “I’m here to kick your ass.”
At that instant they both
charged at each other and collided with such a force that the dying embers
around them blew into flames once more. Natalie heard the collision and came
running, but stood back. She knew Steve wanted to do this on his own, and she
had promised him on the way here she would only intervene if he absolutely
needed it.
The two titans smashed fists
into faces and bodies, each impact sending sparks from Volt’s body. Steve had
been fighting his entire life, and it shown by his expert technique. He hit
Volt in every weak spot a human body has, but Volt still stood strong. Volt was
using the electricity to add devastating power to his attacks and extra
protection to his body. Steve kept fighting on, using his hands as shields, and
then bashing them into Volt, trying to weaken the enemy. Steve’s father had
been a boxer, and trained Steve in that technique. In a hand to hand fight,
there weren’t many beings on the planet who could outfight Steve.
Volt punched Steve in the face
with a charged up fist, causing Steve to stagger back a few paces. With a
little distance between them, Volt cut loose a powerful blast of electricity,
knocking into Steve and sending him to one knee. Natalie started forward, but
Steve waved her back. Steve put his two hands together and came up right under
Volt’s chin with a mighty uppercut which sent Volt flying backwards to the
ground.
Steve stood over Volt, who had a
hand to his bruised jaw. “You’re not going to win this one, Volt.”
Volt looked up at him with a
malicious grin. “That’s what the fast one thought, too.”
Before Steve could react, Volt
slammed his hand onto his own chest; his body exploding with the contact into a
surge of electricity. Steve was blown backwards along with any rubble in the
close vicinity, while Natalie, even though she was a dozen yards away, had to
shield her eyes from the flash. When she could open them again, she gasped.
Volt was getting to his feet, and although he looked much smaller than he
previously was, it was evident he had won this fight. Steve lain in a heap on
the ground, his body twitching slightly due to the ambient electricity still
hanging in the air.
“Steve!” Natalie yelled as she
hurried over to him. Volt looked at her, finally aware of her presence. He
laughed as he sent a few small bolts of electricity towards Natalie. She
managed to block one of them and dodge another, but she had never fought anyone
with Volt’s ability before. The other hit her squarely in the stomach, knocking
the air out of her and dropping her to the ground. She struggled to her knees
and pressed the emergency signal on her belt, alerting the base that they
needed help. She knew Steve didn’t want Tony out here with his injuries still
not healed, but any help would be nice. And there was always Marian and
Jackson…
Another crack of sound as a bolt
hit the ground near Natalie. She looked up and saw Volt walking towards Steve.
“You mind if I finish him off first? We kinda had something going on here
before you tried to interrupt.”
Natalie bared her teeth and
stood up, throwing a knocked-over fire hydrant at Volt as she did. He took the
hit but kept walking towards Steve. However Natalie noticed Volt was hurting
now. That huge attack of his drained a
lot of his power, she thought. She tried lifting a nearby car to throw at
him, but found herself unable to do so. “Damn,” she said under her breath,
“that bolt must have screwed up my telekinesis! I can’t move anything heavier
than a pile a trash now!”
She looked up as Volt reached
down and grabbed Steve by his throat. Volt had his trademark evil grin on, and
she knew time had run out for them.
“Where the hell is everyone?”
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