Nora_X — The New Age of Heroes Blog 1:

  There is a story we tell, about how to do the right thing. We imagine one guy, a man surely, has vast power, and we wait with baited breath, watching to see what he will do with it. Is power, the ability to change the world around us, the only thing holding us back from a better world? Or are we incapable of making the right choices?

  King Arthur, and The Scarlet Pimpernel, and all the heroes before him were antecedents, but we didn’t really know what the pinnacle of this idea would look like until Captain Iron donned his cape. After, it seemed like they all followed him — in his image — not the other way around.

  His secret origin is well known now: a baby cast into the past by a strange machine from a doomed future, raised in secret by sharecroppers. He comes out of hiding to fight the Nazi’s. He came out of hiding again, to stop the Red Menace. For our father’s time, it seemed he’d always come back.

  Some still keep hope.

  Then came Bronze Boy and his amazing technological suit, his first ally, his boy ward. Then more came to join his side, The Red Fox, and Energenia, and many others. Before the Eve of Doom, the Culling, it seemed as though we were headed into a brighter tomorrow.

  It is indeed brighter today, though much more dim than some imagined.

  Why hasn’t he returned? Where did he retire to? Is the most recognizable Black man in the history of the world just living amongst us unseen? What, did he just throw on a pair of glasses, and slump his shoulders?

  Maybe he died a normal, mundane death. Considering the fate of his peers, he should be so lucky.

  Whatever the case, his image lives in the hearts of our new heroes. There is a new Red Fox, a new Carla Quick. Some say Gem Girl has returned from her voyage across the stars…

  I’m gathering as much on the topic as I can. What if we were entering a New Age of Superheroes?

  Red Fox Action Log 48 Cont:

  A maniacal laugh echoed through the place. I didn’t think it was that funny, though I think I knew what he was laughing at.

  For one, that couldn’t be Excalibur. Excalibur was given back to the Lady of the Lake when Arthur died. Also, this sort of looked like the Sword in the Stone, which was an unnamed sword Arthur pulled out to become the King of England.

  All of this was bullshit because Arthur was probably a composite character created from Welsh folklore.

  But then if that was true, what the hell was all this?

  “It’s not Excalibur!” I said. An eldritch wind tugged at my clothes.

  “Then what the hell is happening?”

  “I don’t know!”

  Sir Cuthbert was wearing the glove, Bronze Boy’s glove. Well, damn.

  A wave of energy knocked me and Slueth off our feet. When I glanced back, I saw he held the sword in his hand.

  Bronze Boy flew in from behind.

  “Drop the sword,” she yelled.

  “Ha! And so she arrives,” Cuthbert scoffed. “I worked for months under your nose, and yet you were blind to it all!”

  Bronze Boy hovered there, thrumming with power.

  “I saw it all, Sir. I just hoped you’d make different decisions.”

  “Your pity means nothing!”

  A twisting helix of runes ran down the length of the blade, it flashed, and a beam of light issued forth. Bronze Boy flew, the beam striking wide, and blasted back.

  Cuthbert cut off the beam, and angled his sword, deflecting BB’S attack.

  I ran and ducked behind a car labeled ‘the Feathermobile.’

  “What do we do?” Sleuth asked, ducked down next to me.

  I peaked over the top of the car. BB and Cuthbert traded energy blasts, neither quite able to get past the other. BB played defensively. Cuthbert was more aggressive, trying to keep her on the backfoot to give himself space. As he did, he reached out with his free hand to a suit of armor, runes burning the patina pitch black, then sending the armor flying over to affix itself to Cuthbert’s lithe frame.

  “You’re being used!” BB yelled. “You’re so focused on your legacy, that you can’t see right from wrong! People need us to understand this power, to understand how to wield it safely. Not to wield it for our own selfish aims!”

  “The only ones that need understand are those powerful enough to take it for themselves!”

  “All your learning, and all your accolades, and you still operate from a cave man’s logic. Might makes right is the logic of those too weak to understand a better way.”

  “Then show me your power!”

  He let forth a beam of light that carved a path through the ceiling exposing the stars.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  I ducked back down.

  “I’m not sure we can help,” I said.

  My phone buzzed. I chanced a look at the screen. I texted back.

  I handed my phone to Sleuth who glanced at the text then nodded.

  The sound of an engine, 150ccs, a bike, whined in the distance. Light flashed overhead, vaguely woman-shaped. That couldn’t be good. A strange stuttering sound, wheels on a staircase, came from behind. I turned.

  Out of the door to the stairs came a robot astride a motorcycle.

  “Holy moly,” Sleuth muttered.

  Even expecting it, the sight was something.

  The robot was the same as what we’d fought before, but this one had a yellow smiley face painted on its chest. It dismounted, and walked the bike over. Not exactly sure how it got through the barrier, but maybe it was due to the fact that it wasn’t technically alive. If so, clever!

  I glanced back at the battle. Cuthbert wore black armor head to toe, locked in a grapple with Bronze Boy, each with an arm on the other’s sword as they swirled around each other in the air. Where had she gotten a sword?

  “You ready?” Gunnar’s voice said from the speaker in the robot’s chest. “Something bad is happening in that other building “

  He handed me my new arm.

  Sleuth took the bike, and tested the throttle. A beam of light swept the area, and we all ducked.

  I grimaced, but let the robot put the prosthesis on me. He glued a matching sensor behind my ear. This may sound like a lot, but it all came together quickly.

  I tested my new arm. It moved, but sluggishly, a millisecond later than I’d like. Like just that arm was submerged in water.

  “Thanks,” I said, taking the bike, and cranking the throttle to keep the engine warm.

  “What have you been doing all this time?” Sleuth asked.

  I wondered that too, and where he’d gotten the parts, but I doubted he would tell me even if I’d asked. I figured it had something to do with our adventure at the Sporting Goods Store. Robot Gunnar shrugged.

  “We should get back to the civilians,” he said. “Make sure they’re safe. This isn’t our fight.”

  Sniffer Sleuth sighed.

  “More stairs,” he grumbled, then turned to me, “what are you going to do?”

  “Kick some ass,” I said.

  I hopped on the bike, my new arm popping the clutch, and tore off down the slick floor. I’d driven on sand before, so I knew how to be safer on treacherous surfaces.

  I ducked my head, a beam of light passing over, as I made my way around the two locked in combat, then eased off the throttle when I hit the stairs down.

  I was no stunt biker, but I’d played around with dirt bikes enough as a kid. Not my first time down some stairs — but these were certainly steep. I put my foot out to help stop me from slamming into the walls, walked the bike to the next set of stairs, and kept going.

  On the ground floor, I opened up the throttle. I knew I was headed for a set of glass doors, and speed was going to be my friend.

  I lifted the front tire at the last moment, and the glass exploded as I slammed down onto the lawn.

  The wind tugged at my hair as I sped on, full throttle.

  Above me, above the translucent dome, a burning white figure blasted beams of fire at a figure in a dark dress. The dark figure was suddenly illuminated in blue light as a spectral bow appeared in her hands. An arrow appeared, and from it beams of light searched the clouds like twisting spotlights.

  It was the Glimmering Azure Starlight Arrow — Gem Girl’s signature attack.

  Good gravy, was I a sucker for a classic Superhero move. So freaking sick.

  I focused on the sidewalk ahead of me, and did my best not to look up. Gem Blade fought White Rabbit in a titanic struggle, and I didn’t have time to watch.

  The doors to building two had already been destroyed, and I sped through them. Shadowbats swarmed in a thick cloud. I just had to be faster. This building had one large central chamber, and a balcony that spiraled around it.

  In the center of the chamber was The Outsider, a giant thirty foot tall robot from outer space.

  You’ll have to excuse me a bit when I say that someone launched bolts of light/energy/heat or whatever. Unlike Gem Blade, I didn’t know exactly how everyone’s powers worked or how they channeled it. They didn’t have fun names for their feats, so I have to just describe how they look. On the other hand, when Gemblade launches a spectral arrow made out of starlight energy pulled from the Emotional Gemfield, to pierce just flesh and not harm anything else — I can tell you that.

  But here, I had no clue what Amulet was doing. She held her clenched fist up in the air and a bolt of dark energy surged from it and into the giant robot. Its eyes began to glow.

  Yeah that wasn’t good.

  I banked the bike and took it up the ramp. I began to climb higher. In moments, I was at the level of the robot’s waist. Feet slamming into the concrete with heavy thuds, Atlas ran toward me.

  Let’s see if he can think quickly. I plucked the sting of my Instinct and went invisible.

  I crouched, shoes on the seat of the bike, and balanced. Atlas swiped at me, where I had been, not the bike. I leapt into the air, his arm passing harmlessly below me, then slammed back into the seat.

  Idiot.

  The bats slammed into him. He toppled over the rail. I kept the bike steady, throttle cranked full out.

  I continued climbing the balcony until I got to the top. Like I hoped, I saw level with the robot’s head. I could hear the shadowbat wings beating against the air in a cacophony. I dismounted the bike, and let it fall. A horrible screeching sound came from the robot. It turned its head to look at me.

  I pulled three smoke canisters from my belt and tossed them. The shadowbats flew in all directions, away from the smoke.

  To my left was a boarded-up exhibit. Perfect. With the help of my new arm, I ripped the plywood off the window, and set it against the railing. Let’s hope it holds.

  No time to think.

  I kicked down two bats that got close, then hopped on the bike before the others got any bright ideas. I opened the throttle.

  Just like the ramps in Texas back home. I hit it just right. I was airborne sailing out of the smoke. I bailed. The bike crashed into the head of the robot, sending it pitching to the right.

  I grabbed at its arm as I fell. My new arm held, and I swung precariously. How much was left? Twenty feet? Close enough. I let go.

  Amulet was right below me. I kicked my foot, connecting with her jaw, a glancing blow but enough, then hit the ground and rolled. Not perfect. My new arm took some of the weight. It snapped off, clattering to the floor.

  I stumbled to my feet out of the roll. The shadowbats were gone. Atlas and Amulet lay unmoving on the floor. The Outsider’s eyes were dim, as it lurched and began to fall.

  I bent and scooped the dark gem near her hand and stuffed it in my pocket. If that thing was worth all this trouble, it should probably stay with me.

  Great! Now I just had to run back to the first building, and hope I was in time to help.

  I was just outside onto the grass when the building behind me began to crumble.