෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Balance of Power

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Single perception treatment. I guess it could be worse. At least I probably won't end up with one of the scary unbalanced abilities. The worst of those seems to be physical stuff. It’s too bad that guy is right about teleportation. Popping right out of here and making it out intact is a pipe dream at the best of times. Now I have a new terrible idea. Teleporting into solid objects sounds terrible.

Thinking of unbalanced abilities brought to mind a series of horrible images. In the early years after the big release of information from the man the media would come to call Doktor Midnight, there was a trend for people purchasing abilities to video themselves using their abilities. This had led to a darker side of these sorts of abilities, people with abilities going wrong, or unbalanced abilities leading to accidental self-injury. He remembered watching a video playlist called “so-called abilities gone wrong” and shuddered. Having nothing else to think about, he couldn’t help but recall the guy who tried to pop a knuckle and ripped his own finger off.

In the restraints, his right hand ached sympathetically to the memory. He recalled the guy who could summon insects or small mammals, though not at the same time. That the guy couldn’t control or send them away afterward was at least just amusing rather than horrible.

He stared at the wall and let his mind drift to a discussion with his girlfriend.

She must be losing her mind by now. I’ve got to find a way to get out of here if I ever want to see her again.

He thought back to the last time they’d had a chance to talk the previous week.

The two of them were sitting entwined on his couch waiting for dinner to be ready when the topic of getting tested came up.

That cannot be legal!” Sia exclaimed.

Raz shrugged. “You got me, I have no idea if it’s legal. But if Clive gave me that heads up, it’s probably a legit tip. I could just get one rank from grok or perception and be the top candidate for the job. The reality is that if the board wants it, no candidate without it is getting that job.”

She shifted and nestled in a little closer to him. “Wasn’t it you that said getting abilities is ‘ridiculously dangerous’?”

Raz took advantage of her new position to let his hands roam a bit. She writhed, pushing into his caresses. He tried not to allow the alluring feeling of the soft knit shirt over her fit frame distract him. “I did say that, and I still think the risk is very high. But that's the point of getting the testing. I can reduce that risk down to a reasonable level.”

She purred in appreciation of his wandering hands but didn’t say anything in response.

He paused and kissed the top of her head. “You’re right though. Its a risk no matter what. You don’t even know all the ways they can go wrong.”

Sia shifted and looked out the window. “I’ve heard some things. I heard that even if they get you into that 5% risk category, things can still go horribly wrong.”

“I did some research into treatments gone wrong, and unbalanced abilities. It’s terrible stuff, the ways it can kill you.”

Raz waited for her to reply, and when she didn’t he pulled her into a tighter hug and just held her for a moment. “I know it’s scary. I’ve seen some things too. There is stuff out there that would just about make you lose your lunch just seeing it.”

She shifted her position, turning to face him. She put her arms around his neck and pulled herself in for a kiss.

The kiss was warm and open, passionate but not urgent. The second kiss was more urgent, promising, inviting.

“Now you’re just trying to distract me with your body and feminine wiles.” He protested.

“Am I? Well, that does present a problem, doesn’t it? Maybe I am. Maybe I just don't want you thinking about any of that stuff when you could be having your way with me instead.” her expression turning coy as she ran her hands up and down his back.

He pulled her in close and kissed her ear then whispered. “What changed? When we first started dating you seemed strongly in favor of my getting tested and picking up an ability. I recall you were kind of upset when I told you I was never going to get tested.”

He could feel her breath as she nuzzled his neck. “I don’t remember that. What I remember is the you came up to me in a room full of beautiful women and swept me off my feet,” she whispered.

“Well, as dashing as I was, if your girls’ night hadn’t ended early with them leaving you stranded, I doubt we would have ever met. Still hard to believe your own sisters would leave you stranded in Little Five Points.”

She shrugged. “I’ll admit my sisters can be kind of a bitch sometimes, but I doubt it was intentional. Tavi and Nona party more than I do. I think they were just drunk enough to not notice I was getting left behind when the group went home. They were so sorry. Tavi was in tears about it the next day, at least until I told her how the night ended up.”

“Uh, how much detail did you tell her?”

Her gaze met his with an sly expression that devolved into a lascivious smirk. “Everything. We don’t keep secrets, and you were worth talking about.”

She kissed his neck. “I guess I just don’t want to see you in one of those abilities gone wrong videos or locked in a hospital wing catatonic or just dead.”

She let go of his neck and pulled off her shirt. “How about we talk about something else and agree not to do anything crazy.”

He held her shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss mumbling a noncommittal reply as he did so.

She pulled out her hairband and shook her long brown hair out. “So no more talk about getting tested?”

“Ok, no more talk about it.” He agreed.

She reached back and unfastened her bra. “Now, let’s revisit the topic of you, having your way, with me.” There was no more talking after that.

෴WD40෴

෴Hex෴

෴Richard ‘Rhino’ Sanderson෴

෴Rachel ‘Razor’ Messerschmit෴

෴Darby O'Cellan෴

෴Doktor Midnight෴

෴Phillipe ‘Fugue’ Dormire෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Rampage

෴෴෴෴෴෴

“Hex, this is Alpha actual, Alpha team at site one is ready to move.” A low male voice whispered into a mic.

“This is Hex, you’re the last check in. What took you?” A cool female voice responded.

“No trouble encountered, damn site has no good places to stage, more hardened than expected, and lots of possible lookout locations.” He replied.

Hex answered after a brief pause. “Thank you for the update Alpha One, the intel discrepancy has been noted. Remind your team, masks not optional. Expect a go signal within 60 seconds.”

Alpha actual switched comms to the local team only. “Ok everyone, we’re last in place, let's make sure we make a better showing of it from here on out. Get ready to move.”

Less than thirty seconds later Alpha 1 heard Hex’s voice over the comms, “All teams, you are cleared to engage.”

Nothing further needed to be said. Hearing the signal, Richard ‘Rhino’ Sanderson, one of the designated door chargers activated his ability, sprinting toward the security gate a few hundred feet away. His ability rapidly increasing his mass, physical strength, and durability as he ran. His straight-line sprint wasn’t anything faster than a fit human could run, but the muffled thumps and divots he was leaving in the parking lot revealed how much power was being put into each heavy step.

The rest of the flash entry team sprinted behind him. When he reached the heavy security gate he struck the gate itself with a burst of kinetic force akin to a loaded semi moving at near highway speeds.

His target was a heavy security gate. The gate was reinforced to withstand those with low levels of enhanced strength or conventional battering rams. The building wall it was attached to was also reinforced, but not nearly so well. The impact tore the gate away from its mounts, launching it inward into what looked to be abandoned factory office space.

Automated security measures deployed from hidden positions and firing at the lone figure. He was hit dozens of times in seconds, the flechettes bouncing harmlessly off his incredibly dense flesh.

He rushed to the first automated gun and tore into pieces by hand. He threw a chunk of the first weapon at the second turret. The throw smashed the area denial weapon into a harmless sparking mess of components. The man felt himself powering down and retreated instead of dealing with the third weapon. Back outside the building Rhino spoke into a local comm link.

“This is Alpha Seven, breach completed, two lethal area denial shrapnel based weapons neutralized, one still in play. It’s at your nine o'clock as you go in the door.”

A voice replied over the radio, “Good work Rhino, get to cover before you’re all powered down.”

Rhino jogged back to his original position. The largely shredded outfit falling off him.

Another voice came on the radio, “This is Alpha five, I’ll get that last gun out of the way and we’ll get in the rest of the way,” she said.

Rhino glanced back just in time to see his coworker, Rachel Messerschmitt, the operative who went by Razor move into the building through the gaping hole where a door used to be in a bright flash of violet light.

Rhino got behind cover and grabbed his gear. Watching the door he pulled on the spare outfit and ballistic armor. Once dressed he took up a position with his rifle. By the time he was in place, the flash team was already inside.

When the search of the site was complete, Alpha One would go on to report a failure to locate primary target.

At another target site, “All teams, you are cleared to engage.” came over the earpiece of Charlie One. She gave the go signal to her team.

Seconds later, a large number of low powered directed explosives placed along an exterior wall went off. The external wall was reduced to rubble with a muffled thump like distant thunder, courtesy of the shaped charges. Her two breach tanks charged in ahead of the rest, tearing through the building security. Behind the nigh invulnerable breach tanks came a stream of other attackers, with and without special abilities.

The highly trained team made short work of the onsite security forces and began to ransack the building.

Mere minutes later Charlie One reported. “Negative on the asset. Repeat, no VIP here.”

Elsewhere in the city, other mixed teams of enhanced and conventional forces attacked the locations of other underworld operations. Each location was hit hard and fast, with most teams in and out in under two minutes. The owners of each hit location would discover that while casualties were minimal, injuries were common, and the losses in capital and equipment substantial. Each site came up empty for the primary target.

The speed and short duration of the attacks kept actual conflict to a minimum and friendly casualties at a comfortable zero for most of the sites. One team wasn’t so lucky. Just west of the city was an all but abandoned industrial park, a cluster of rusty steel buildings on a large lot of asphalt and concrete. In this gray and brown piece of urban decay Delta team was having a bad night.

“I need help, I need help right now! Rick and Bill are down.” A scared sounding voice came over the comms. “We have a highly enhanced chimera in the field.”

The team leader responded, “Delta Four, support incoming, can you help them get out?”

The whispering voice over the team comms had moved into near panic. “That’s a negative. That's a really big negative! It spit acid at them and all that's left is half of Bill’s head and one of Rick’s boots. I can hear it slurping them both up right now.”

“All floaters move to the entrance. Chrome, Fugue,Triton, get to the entry as well. Tac map shows D4 to be 10 meters past the heavy security wall inside.” Delta One said over local comms.

Delta one switched to another outgoing frequency. “Hex, this is Delta One, Delta team needs heavy support immediately.”

The responding voice was slightly less detached than usual. “ Hello Darby, what is the nature of the opposing force.”

Delta One switched back to local comms, “Blur, stay calm and quiet, we’ll get you out of there. Did the acid dissolve their clothing and weapons?”

“Uh, no. Looks like the weapons are still there.” Blur whispered.

Delta One switched back to main comms, “It’s an enhanced chimera, acid that attacks organics, strong enough to take down Rock and Blaze in a single attack. Two enhanced are lost, others in jeopardy. I need very heavy support.”

Hex’s voice came over his ears, “Acknowledged.”

He switched back to local comms, “Delta Four, hold position if tenable, keep eyes on it so you can avoid that acid attack if it sees you. Does it have a stable form, and if so, what does it look like?”

“Ok, Blur, uh, Delta Four holding position. It’s like a human that turned into a spider. Fur, scales, spikes, mostly skin colored, but big. Big like, I think we didn’t see anyone else here because it ate them all. It came down from the ceiling. It’s between me and the way out. Kind of dark in here. Looks like some kind of crusty stuff covering most of the lights.” Delta Four seemed to have regained a sliver of calm, but the tenor of his voice showed him clearly still on the edge of panic.

“Delta Four, try to avoid detection. Chrome, Fugue, and Triton are coming in.” The team leader replied.

A female voice came on the local comms, “This is Delta Three, I cannot detect any minds in there aside from Blur, I mean Delta Four. I can’t affect what I can't detect.”

“Ok, Fugue, stay outside with fire support. Chrome, Triton, hold up, I’m going in with you. Oh, and Fugue, get to the truck and get a heavy weapon.”

The shiny metallic parts of the aptly named Chrome were visible outside of his battle gear. He and Triton scanned the hallway leading inside with his weapon light. Triton looked over his shoulder as Darby jogged up behind them.

Blur’s voice came over the comms, “Guys, I could really use some good news right about now. I think it’s done eating.” A short pause. “I’ve lost sight of the chimera, repeat, I do not have eyes on it. I just looked away for a second!” Blur yelled over the comms.

Darby peered through the murk “Visibility in here sucks. Where is all that smoke coming from?” He pulled on a set of high tech goggles that replaced his shiny red eyes with a softly glowing violet. “I’m going multispectrum.” To his view the smoke became a little less thick.

The three armed men moved into the building in short dashes from cover to cover.

“Oh shit, it saw me.” Blur shouted over the radio. Several long bursts of weapons fire were audible from outside the building.

“It sprayed more of that acid at me. I was fast enough to dodge it this time.” Blur cut himself off with another extended burst of weapons fire. “Guys, I’m fucked.” Blur’s tone had gone eerily calm. “This thing has at least rank two toughness. I reloaded but I could see the AP rounds bouncing off it. There is a lot of acid on the floor now. I’m going to make a run for it if I see a chance.”

Darby toggled off his mic, “Guys, if this thing can defeat armor piercing ammo, switch to the thermite ammo, and be ready to go full out with your abilities if its ineffective.” Triton and Chrome both nodded and swapped out their magazines to magazines with a red orange tape around the bottom.

Darby toggled his mic back on. “Blur, don’t run for it, there's a lot of debris in the way. If you don’t have a clear path you won't make it. We’re in the hallway, almost there.”

The three reached the spot where Rick and Bill had blown a hole in the metal skin of the containment chamber. Chrome went left, Triton went right. Darby scanned the large open room with his goggles. I’m seeing a lot of what looks like cables strung around the room, and strings. Lots of gunk all over as well.” He whispered into the mic.

Hex’s voice came through his earpiece. “Heavy support incoming.”

Darby acknowledged the info and switched back to local comms, “Folks we have heavy support incoming. That is all I know for sure, so don’t assume another team showing up is hostile.”

Suddenly he recalled what Blur had said and looked up. High in one of the far corners of the room crouched a spider-like monstrosity. It clung to the walls and scuttled around back and forth. It appeared intent on Blur at the moment. Darby got the attention of his companions and pointed out the target.

Triton pointed his weapon light up into the corner to get a look at it. A hissing screech immediately echoed in the room. Darby saw it rear its head back. “Evasive!” he yelled. The three of them each dived out of their current position. A splash and sizzle came from nearby.

Darby rolled to his feet. “Open fire!” He raised his rifle and began firing single shots of thermite ammo at the monstrosity. He paced out the shots, knowing that his barrel wouldn't last more than two magazines full of this ammo, far less if he fired too fast. Chrome and Triton seemed to have forgotten that, both of them blowing through their magazine in several long bursts. Darby glanced over and saw Triton wrestling with his rifle that had malfunctioned. The barrel glowed in the dim room. “Triton, ditch the rifle we have a hostile to deal with.”

Triton dropped the rifle and barely dodged a burst of acid, his boots slipping on the acid slicked floor. Just as he regained his feet another splash of acid caught him in the chest. He screamed once, and then let out a long groan before collapsing into a loose pile of smoking flesh.

Blur looked over and saw him fall, glanced back up at the spider thing and made a break for it.

Darby saw the path Blur was taking and yelled out, “Blur no!” just as Blur engaged his super speed. Three steps later he was still accelerating but already moving at over 150 miles per hour, and two steps after that his body was sliced in half by the thin strand of web like material he never saw. Blur’s triumphant grin turned to a horrified grimace as he realized he’d lost feeling in his legs, and then saw his legs take a few more steps ahead of him and then collapse. His head hit the floor hard enough to knock him unconscious, which was almost certainly a mercy as the splash of acid washed over him.

Darby saw it happen but could do nothing. “Chrome, lets go. No one left to save.”

Chrome didn’t respond. Darby glanced away from the chimera at Chrome. The shiny man was staring frozen at Triton’s remain. Darby looked back at the chimera. It was nowhere in sight.

He swore and started scanning around the room. “Chrome, we need to go!”

A loud thunk went through the ground and building. Fugue spoke over the local comms, “Boss, I mean Delta One, you got one incoming. Came in hard and fast enough to shatter the concrete. If it's hostile we’re in trouble.”

Darby pulled Chrome along with him, it took everything he had to even shift the heavy metaloid form. He felt more than heard a whisper of movement behind them. Knowing he was about to die, he raised his rifle and turned to face the spider like monstrosity.

The fast moving blob of acid met an invisible force. It beaded up and slid off like water from a clean windshield. Darby didn’t stop to question it and kept dragging Chrome along with him. Chrome finally became responsive and started babbling under his breath.

“Come ON!” Darby whispered urgently. He started pushing Chrome ahead of him as they made their way down the hall toward the opening.

A man in black seamless armor walked past them with one arm extended in front of him. He glanced at them and then continued forward, his focus fully in front of him.

Chrome saw the man in black and freaked out. He leveled his rifle and opened fire. One shot struck the armor before the man’s other hand snapped out, pointed at Chrome and then he flicked his wrist. Chrome flew off toward the outside tumbling end over end. Darby took a look at the Chrome shaped hole in the outer wall of the building and hoped his friend was ok. Either way he was getting out of there.

He broke into a run and had barely cleared the outer hole in the building when he heard the creature screech again, a different sound this time, like it was in pain. Darby didn’t stop to listen, he didn’t stop until he got across the parking lot and found Chrome picking himself out where he’d been embedded in a brick wall.

Darby stopped and forced himself to calm down. Just as he was about to ask Chrome if he was ok, the man in black came back outside. He looked around at their arrayed force, and then looked upwards before he flew straight up and then disappeared so fast the unenhanced eye couldn’t follow him.

Eventually Darby forced himself to go back inside that hellish building. The spider thing appeared to have been run through some kind of meat grinder. It was thankfully very dead. Unfortunately, so were several members of his team. He shook his head, feeling the cost was far too high.

Darby finished packing up the few useful things they had found while he grumbled. “What a damn waste. I sure hope that VIP wasn’t here.”

෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Need to Know

෴෴෴෴෴෴

For what felt like hours Raz tried to get comfortable. The position was far too uncomfortable to relax, let alone fall asleep. He went over increasingly ridiculous plans for escape, most of which ignored the idea that he was locked up tight, in a facility with an unknown number of people with unknown abilities.

No clue where I am either.

He kept circling back to what felt like the key problem. I just need to be able to know more about this place if I’m going to have a chance to get out of here.

Every problem felt like it came back to not having enough information about the environment he was trapped in.

He started to nod off. Before he could get to sleep he felt a tension headache coming on.

This headache felt different, it filled his mind with racing thoughts.

He didn’t know how long it went on for. The rushing thoughts were taking him on an involuntary tour of his own life.

He remembered his best friend in grade school, Francisco, the youngest boy in a first-generation Portuguese family, and the only one who spoke unaccented English. He remembered the way Francisco’s parents would speak to each other in a barrage of rapid-fire words he didn’t understand.

Reinforcing the feeling that this walk down memory lane wasn’t fully under his control, Raz remembered his Spanish classes in high school, filling out worksheets and writing essays. His mind's eye jumped to a college class, the disastrous semester of German he’d taken to try and get a date with a girl whose name he could no longer remember. Then the name popped into his head. Jennifer. Just as he managed to recall her name, his mind began racing through what felt like every math class he’d ever taken. Images of fractions and equations and geometry and trigonometry flowed past his mind's eye. Mathematical proofs he’d long since forgotten were resurrected en masse. Then came the science classes. He was only halfway through high school science classes when he was gripped by a feeling of intense exhaustion.

Raz reflexively resisted falling asleep but lost the battle seconds later.

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

Raz looked over at the clock. Two more hours till quitting time. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took a furtive glance around for the manager. In the clear, he pulled out the phone and swiped accept to the incoming call from Mom.

“Hey Mom, I can’t really talk right now. I’m at work.”

His face tightened as he heard her reply.

“Look, I can’t leave. Yes, I see your car. If I just walk out in the middle of my shift I’ll get fired.”

He looked back at the car outside and then turned at the sound of his manager clearing her throat.

Raz ignored the manager.

“Mom, you’re freaking me out. Why can’t you just tell me now. Are you crying?”

He listened for a moment and then turned around to look at the news channel in the customer lobby. The scrolling headline caught his attention. “Apparent act of terrorism at old University Research Center.” Blurry video of a black figure floating in the air firing bolts of bright energy at the unidentifiable rubble below.

He stared at his phone then put it back to his ear.

His expression contorted in anger and denial “No!” He shouted. “You’re wrong. It’s a mistake!” He flung his phone at the screen, breaking both of them. He stared at the distorted image on the tv screen and then ran outside in tears.

Raz woke from the fitful sleep with tears in his eyes.

Damn it, dad. Why’d you have to be working late that night? I can’t even tell myself I’ll avenge you. What’s a normal guy like me ever going to be able to do about a force of nature like Doktor Midnight.

Eventually, Raz dozed off again, his stressed and exhausted brain dragging him back into the recollection of dark dreams and memories.

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

Raz knew he was dreaming. Sometimes realizing he was dreaming would wake him up. Other times this realization would allow him to direct the dream as he pleased. This time it made him feel as though he were a passenger, viewing a scene on rails he couldn't escape.

He sat up in his bed and looked around. His room looked like it had 10 years ago, in the wake of-. He wouldn’t allow himself to think about it.

His body got up and pulled a brush through his hair. It was morning. Time to get ready for school. He looked at himself in the mirror. In typical dream logic, he was somehow already dressed. His younger face had a little more acne than he remembered. The longer hairstyle he’d favored then framed his younger face. He walked out of his bedroom door and was instantly back in the kitchen.

His mother lay sprawled on the floor. Two wine bottles were on the table. He picked them up and tossed them in the recycle bin. One was empty, the other had a few drops left. He picked up the large plastic tumbler his mom had taken to drinking from after she’d broken all the stemmed glasses they had in the house.

He placed the cup in the sink, and then looked at his mother, shaking his head. She hadn’t barfed and appeared to be sleeping as comfortably as one could hope on a cool hardwood floor.

“Hey mom,” he whispered. No response. He shook her. She didn't stir.

He squatted down and slid one arm under each arm and lifted. He let out a grunt and made it to his feet with her limp body awkwardly leaning on him as dead weight.

Good thing you’re so small Mom, you’re getting heavy to move around like this. I should really get back to working out.

He dragged her to the bed with care and laid her down on her side. After putting a row of pillows behind her, he cleaned up the kitchen and realized it was time to get to school. He stepped out the front door and looked back at it. Raz ran his fingers along the painted wood surface. He remembered painting the door white as a Mother’s day gift to cover up a mural the previous owners had left on it. His memory of his mother’s happy expression and tight hug when she saw the freshly painted door brought a smile to his face.

He took one step toward the street. The world blurred and then was walking back up to the door. The white paint on the wooden door was flaked and peeling. The lawn looked as though it hadn’t been touched in long enough to go wild. The inside of the house was messy and cluttered. He took a breath and regretted it. The odor of mold and rotting food was thick in the air. Peering into the kitchen he could see dishes stacked up in the sink, the trash can filled with paper plates and old boxes of delivery and instant food.

Unable to divert the course of the dream, he could still recall what came next. He called out for his mother but received no answer. With a growing sense of dread, he walked up the stairs, heading for the master bedroom. He remembered the day he was dreaming of far too well. Like a passenger in his own body, he knocked on her door, and then went into his mother’s room. She wasn’t there. From her room, he went into her bathroom. Inside he found her lying in the tub full of sudsy water, an empty wine glass sitting on the floor. She appeared asleep, and as he watched she slipped a fraction of an inch lower toward the water.

Just like that day he stood there paralyzed by indecision for what felt like a very long time. Eventually, he carefully reached into the water and pulled the plug.

Raz turned to leave and abruptly woke up.