The
rain hammered down on the warehouse in the docking section of Hopling’s wharf.
Standing outside the entrance, huddled under the tiny awning smoking
cigarettes, were two guards. Each looked miserable, but they knew better than
to leave their post unattended. In the darkness of night and the cover of rain,
all that could be made out of the two men were the red tips of their cigarettes
and the puffs of smoke.
On
the roof of the next warehouse over, Natalie was using her telekinetic
abilities to keep herself dry. Still, she could not keep the dampness away, and
her patience was wearing thin. Steve
should have been here half an hour ago, she thought as her eyes scanned the
lightened windows which were obscured by either wood or dirty glass. She
couldn’t make out any of the activity within, but she knew there was something
big going on; multiple moving vans had come and gone since she arrived.
Suddenly, a shot rang out from
inside the building. “I can’t wait any longer,” she said as she dived off the
roof. The two guards had turned around to face the entrance when they heard the
gunshot, and neither saw Natalie ran up to them. She slammed the two men
together, knocking them out quickly. She really didn’t want to just walk right
in, but breaking in through a window was reckless and would bring much more
attention to her than needed. She took a breath and pushed the door open, ready
for whatever would meet her.
Steve was out of breath when he
answered his cell phone.
“Is this a bad time,” Dr. Lopnol
asked, his voice emotionless.
“I’m just in a hurry,” Steve
replied without slowing down. He had been in such a rush to get to Natalie that
he ended up driving right into the middle of another gang fight. The drug had been
spreading, and now nearly every criminal had at least some sort of super power.
While he dove into the battle to help the police, Tony appeared to give aid.
The battle was quick but fierce, as some of the more powerful criminals refused
to go down easily. The riot was put down in the end, although Steve’s car
wasn’t lucky enough to make it out in one piece. Steve told Tony to keep at it,
and he sped off in search of more crimes.
Steve had stared off in Tony’s
direction for a few moments. The poor kid was working himself ragged, just like
the rest. But ever since the incident with Volt, Steve noticed Tony was more
willing to help out. He was glad Tony was taking the job more seriously, but he
was worried about the young man as well. After
I check out this location with Natalie, I’ll have Tony go home for a day or
two, Steve thought. Tony, out of all of them, had the most potential. But
he was only human.
“I’ve found an antidote.” Dr.
Lopnol’s utter calmness while delivering this message is what rocked Steve the
most. He never doubted the doctor would find a way to stop it, but the eerie
detachment the doctor’s tone had was a little disturbing.
“Is something wrong? You don’t
sound very enthusiastic about it. Are there consequences?”
“No,” Steve noticed a spark of
emotion in the doctor’s voice now, “but I will need time to create enough and
implement it.”
“How long?” Steve was entering
the docking area, and he could have sworn he heard gunfire.
“Give me a day or two. Finding
the antidote was the easy part. Creating a stable batch will be a struggle.”
Steve was distracted from the
call by the distinctive sound of glass and wood breaking and men shouting.
“Just get it done.” He clicked off his phone and ran towards the sounds of the
fight.
Natalie threw another guy into a
pile of wooden crates, cracking the crates and spilling packing peanuts on the
ground. More men from the catwalks above shot down at her, but the bullets were
deflected by her force field. However since she was concentrating on her
defenses so much, her offense was lacking. She couldn’t hit the enemy ranks
hard enough to keep them down for long, and there seemed to be dozens of them.
Many had super powers of their own, which added to the difficulty.
“Dammit Steve,” she yelled as
she threw two men away from her who had tried to get in close. “Get your ass
here!”
Right on cue, one of the walls
of the warehouse came crashing in and Steve joined the fray. His tough skin
gave him protection from the bullets as he plowed through the ranks, swiping
away criminals with his enormous hands. Now that Steve was taking the brunt of
the attack, Natalie dropped her force field and concentrated on taking out the
ranged attackers. She used her telekinesis to push the gunmen off the catwalks
and levitated herself up onto them, giving her a much better vantage point to
help Steve. She picked her targets carefully, taking out those who were too far
for Steve to efficiently reach.
Meanwhile, Steve fought on,
punching and slamming his enemies around like rag dolls. He was out of breath
from the long sprint here, but the battle invigorated him, giving the boost of
energy he needed. As an enemy with superhuman strength collided with him, Steve
kicked him back, sending him flying through dozens of crates and out of the warehouse.
The drugged up humans were no match for a real metahuman, especially someone
with Steve’s power.
It was at that moment Natalie
saw him. From the dozen armed guards surrounding him, it was obvious he was the
leader of the entire operation. The man was wearing all black and hid most of
his body with an ankle length trench coat. His head was shaved bald, and his
ears were gauged. On each side of his neck and extending down underneath his
clothing was a tattoo of a serpent, with the open mouths facing each other on
the back of his head. He wore sunglasses, even though it was nighttime, yet as
he looked up and saw Natalie, her heart froze and it felt like his gaze pierced
her soul.
“Steve!” She called out,
pointing to the group. He turned and looked, seeing the new arrivals to the
fight. As he ran to meet them, the guards pulled out heavy automatic weapons.
Even with his invulnerability, that kind of firepower could cause some damage.
Natalie flew down from the catwalks just as the men opened fire on Steve. Using
her telekinesis, she put up a force field in front of her husband, stopping the
bullets from hitting him. She landed on the ground in front of Steve and kept
her hands up, reinforcing the field.
The leader was yelling
something, but neither Steve nor Natalie could make out his words. As the
bullets kept coming, Natalie dropped to one knee, the constant impacts taking
their toll. Steve was too preoccupied taking out the remaining grunts that were
running in from behind to help her out. Finally, a split second break in the
fire allowed Natalie to push out the field, smashing it into the front line of
guards and pushing them to the ground. She struggled to her feet, using
everything she had to send the men flying through the air to keep them off
balance.
All of a sudden, a single shot
rang out through the warehouse.
Time seemed to slow as Steve
turned around and saw Natalie slowly collapse on the ground. In front of her,
the gang leader had a gun out, the barrel smoking from the recent shot. A smile
on his face told of his victory shot. Steve erupted in a rage, charging
straight towards him. The few guards left opened fire as the leader ran out of
the building, covering their employer’s escape. Steve took the bullets as if
they were drops of rain and tore through the men. He crashed out the back door,
but saw no sign of the leader anywhere. Hurrying back in, he fell to the
ground, picking up Natalie’s body in his powerful arms. The wound was bleeding
heavily as he pressed his giant fingers to it.
“Oh god, Natalie,” he sobbed,
tears running down his sweat soaked face as he rushed outside, carrying her as
fast as he could to the hospital. He fumbled with his phone as he opened up the
team’s radio. “Tony! Tony I need you by the docks!”
Steve looked down at his wife as
she lay bleeding in his arms. “Natalie no, please don’t leave me. You can’t
die. I can’t lose you too.”
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