Battleforce #8

[Glippernip]

#8 Smack Down/Rising Phoenix

Written by Joel A Sawyer



It was going very badly, that much was certain.

The electrical power transformer was gone, blown apart by Lee Wakefield in the opening moments of the battle. Starfall and Lee fought in the air but stray blasts fell from the sky frequently like yellow and orange lightning on a bright and sunny day. What troubled the police was the fact that the hub of this community was only a mile away and that Wakefield was becoming more and more angry and out of control.

And it appeared that Starfall was losing.

**************************

[Glippernip]

Florida: Windstorm, Spellbinder, and Perseus land and rest (well, Perseus didn’t really need any rest, just time for his slightly burned skin to heal). Perseus transformed back into Michael Richardson, who carried his wallet, so he could buy them some food. Where does my stuff go when I’m Perseus, he found himself wondering.

While they ate, Shawnee took a moment to check in with her friend Carol Jenner with a bit modern magic: her mobile phone.

“Shawnee!” Carol said excitedly, “Are you done now, or are you heading for that hot spot in Virginia?”

“Hot spot?” Shawnee repeated.

“It’s all over the news. This guy they are calling ‘The Atomic Maniac’ is fighting Starfall right now. The reporters are saying he’s out of control and has killed an unknown number of people.”

“Where?” Shawnee asked Carol while shooting a concerned look at her companions.



“I think I can get us there in just over an hour,” Windstorm told them after hearing of the situation.

“You can fly us that fast?” Perseus asked with surprise.

“That’s why I chose to operate from Chicago,” Windstorm explained, “If I know where I’m going, I can reach any point in Continental United States within an hour and a half. Spell’s bubble will slow me down, but Virginia is not that far from here.”

And the trio set out again.

******************************

[Glippernip]

In her years as a paranormal crime fighter, Starfall had never faced an opponent like this. She and Starburst were almost equals in power and had a few impressive aerial duels in the past, but this Wakefield person who seemed to come from nowhere was far stronger. And somewhere along the way, he realized he could absorb Starfall’s energy as well.

I’m not going to win this, she thought bitterly, I don’t know if I’ll even live through the day.

She gave a last ditch effort relying on her years of experience. Starfall pretended to flee and when Wakefield pursued, she twisted and suddenly reversed her direction, running into Lee, turning on the acceleration, and slamming him into the ground. He grimaced, his breath forcefully exploding from his lungs, but he reached through her orange corona and grabbed her by the hair. Little orange sparks ran up his arms to join his own yellow glow.

“That one hurt, but don’t worry,” he told her with a crazed grin, “I’ll make this a quickie!” Wakefield began to siphon off her power.

“GET OFF!” a deeper voice bellowed. In his blue uniform, bald head, dark visor, and flowing blue cape, Shield smashed into Wakefield. Without stopping, Shield flew upwards and drove Lee away from his victim.

“Another one,” Lee spat while regarding his new opponent, “More fun.”

“You can’t steal my powers, asshole,” Shield shot back through clenched teeth.

Lee noticed Shield concentrating on something, subtly adjusting their direction and keeping them on a certain course. Wakefield turned to look ahead to see them aimed directly at a huge tree trunk. He growled and stretched a hand out, a thin yellow light bursting from his fingertips in a constant stream, slicing through the trunk. While the tree burst into flames and fell, Lee turned his power on Shield. Shield let go and the opponents separated.

Without pausing Lee blasts Shield with huge solar flare. Despite the protective field around him the blast hurt, and the temp around him quickly reached 130 F. The impact slammed Shield into the ground, stunning him.

Wakefield smirked at his fallen foe. “I could just kill you now,” he said calmly, “but then you would just be dead. Instead, I think I’ll go to the city. Each death I cause will be a testament to your failure! It’s time to paint the town red!” Lee Wakefield flew away even as Shield passed out.


“Now, Ace!” Dennis Richter shouted into his phone, “I have a platoon closing in, but I don’t think they have a chance. He’s heading downtown!” Disconnecting, Richter dropped the device and picked up his Justice uniform while thinking grimly, I’ll never get there in time for anything.

*****************************

[Glippernip]

They moved in groups of four. In each group, two men carried standard semi-automatic weapons with several types of bullets, one man carried a reloadable rocker launcher, and the fourth carried some newtech, a device that fired a radioactive beam than would mess with the target’s nervous system. They each carried grenades and a stun gun as well. They were Vortex, highly trained agents skilled in tactics against paranormals Right now a platoon of 30 men, seven of the four-man squads along with their Commander and RTO (radio-telephone operator), moved as fast as they safely could. They dressed in purple and deep blue uniforms with American flag arm patches, government issue PFGs (Personal Field Generators reversed engineered from Machine Maker’s own designs), basic body armor, and helmets with detachable night-vision goggles. They were probably the highest tech military operatives in the United States, not meant for war but for taking down a small number of powerful targets. If they can reach them.

Which explains why Captain Hughes swore like a sailor when two of his squads reported contact with the target…and then dropped out of communications completely. One of the teams apparently didn’t even get a shot off.

“Hustle, men,” he shouts, “If he stops for even a moment, I want to be on him like stank on a skunk! Move out!”

[Glippernip]

Lee had no idea what city this was but wasn’t really curious enough to find out. The downtown area was small, only three buildings that might be considered skyscrapers and the entire downtown area taking up about a twelve city block radius total. Still, there were many people around as well as millions in property to damage, he thought gleefully to himself.

Now, for one second, Lee Wakefield’s will and personality rose up, his military training, sense of duty, and sense of wrong and right trying to override his current attitude. This is wrong! That inner self seemed to scream. The accident and advent of these new powers however were affecting him, degrading his mind and body. It was the last time the true Lee Wakefield had enough to even try before the blazing energies fried him from his own brain.


First, he tested his output, pushing himself and emitting a powerful blast with concussive force which collapsed a local steakhouse into a flaming, smoking mass of rubble. Then he emitted heat without concussion, melting the softer parts of several automobiles and SUV’s parked along the street. It didn’t matter at all when the gas tanks exploded. He laughed like it was all a game even as the few onlookers fled for their lives.

Then Ace stepped out into the street about a block away, a bullhorn in hand. “Leon,” he said through the instrument, “I’ve come to talk with you.”

Lee faced the crime fighter, muting the energy output. “Are you next?”

“I hope not. I’ve seen what you can do. I don’t really stand much of a chance, do I?” Ace talked in a slow, clear, calm voice, trying to de-escalate the situation. “What’s going on, Leon? You are a U.S. soldier. Why do all of this?”

“Soldier?” Lee laughed and shouted back, “I quit! I know I signed my name and all, but a contract is only good if it is enforceable. No one can enforce anything on me now! I’m like no one else in the entire world!”

“Then I’m asking you respectfully to stop now, Leon. There’s no point in all of this.”

“I’ve killed a lot of people,” Wakefield said loudly, calming just a little.

“This is not a normal situation, Leon,” Ace replied, “If you cooperate, I’m sure you’re circumstances will be taken into account. We have no prison that could hold you anyway. We can help you get over this.”

Leon smiled, a grin that haunted Ace later, as the murderer stated, “I’m just having too much fun.”

[Glippernip]

Even down the street Ace could feel the change in the atmosphere. The information from his hyper-senses attacked him: changes in temperature, air pressure, moisture suddenly evaporating, the smell of ozone, all at once even as Lee raised his hands, yellow energy crackling across them. Ace readied his jump; it didn’t matter how powerful the blast was if Ace’s senses allowed him to dodge it.

But Wakefield wasn’t paying attention, and that is when Rubberball hit him. His fist and forearm hardened like a baseball bat he swung and connected, sending Lee sprawling to the now sticky tarmac. The new hero was mad, almost as angry as he had been with those who had imprisoned him. Dressed in a light brown sports singlet with hunter green trim along with green boots, armbands, and wrestling mask, Ted Lynn retracted his extended limb and glared at the murderer before him. Ted was not a ‘stretchy guy’ able to contort himself into knots. He could only elongate about 15-20’ total and his mass didn’t suddenly change, so the singlet was the only thing he knew of that he couldn’t literally ‘slip’ out of when he stretched. It seemed embarrassingly simple but he considered himself a simple man. Right now that didn’t even matter. Righteous rage burned in Ted Lynn’s heart and mind almost as hot as Lee’s solar fires.

“You know, the day will be over soon,” Rubberball told Lee, “What’s going to happen then?”

In hindsight, the comment may have been a mistake. Lee heard and processed the words, looked at how low the sun was on the horizon…and didn’t have an answer. Absorbing the solar rays happened automatically, but absorbing other energies require effort and concentration. He know the authorities would be on him, but how long could he last after dark?

So Lee struck. Without even rising, he blasted RB off his feet and square into a stone building front. Rubberball dropped to the pavement landing on his feet and he spat, “Not nearly enough to take me out, blondie!” Leon prepared to fire again when Molecule appeared on his right, her eyes glowing green even as she disengaged her invisibility. Two green beams shot from her eyes striking Lee in the chest. He expected to deflect or disperse some damage with his defensive heat; it had worked so far, but Molecule’s blast hurt him and left two yellowish-orange welts on his skin where they struck. Molecule disappeared even as Lee aimed at her.

Then, with a strange whistling sound, the ground erupted at Lee’s feet as two mini-rockets slammed into the street. His defensive screen did protect him from some of the damage but the explosion threw Lee 15 feet through the air. Starknight stood on the edge of the roof of a nearby two-story building looking down at his target.

“Stay down, Wakefield,” the Emerald Tank ordered, “Let’s end this now.”

“Oh, I’ll end it,” Lee shrieked, his body suddenly pulsing with light and heat. Invisible but tangible, Molecule could feel the temperature rising to an uncomfortable level. Lee didn’t even stand up, he simply floated upwards and righted himself, and he blasted the front of the building Starknight stood upon. The facing of the structure collapsed and the hero fell into the now destroyed building!

Molecule became visible and shot him again, and this time a wave of weakness and nausea hit him. He gagged for a moment and Rubberball struck him hard with a stretch-armed, hardened fist axehandle, nailing Lee with his hands clenched together right between the murderer’s shoulderblades. Before Lee could react to that assault Shield arrived out of the blue slammed full-speed fist-first into the Maniac, bright yellow ooze spraying from a busted lip.

With a WHOOSH! like a jet engine, Lee hit Shield twice with beam attacks, but the hero’s field deflected them altogether. Lee cursed and created a funnel-shaped attack that swallowed Shield. The hero’s protective field helped somewhat, but without his deflection ability the intense heat seared him, his skin turning red. To escape, he rocketed backward and slammed into the side of a parked van.

With his great mechanical strength Starknight forced his way out of the wreckage even as Molecule reappeared, but Lee’s powers were becoming reactionary, able to fire as a reflex. He fired first and scored, knocking Molecule into the same building Rubberball had hit earlier. Stunned and suddenly vulnerable, Molecule could not react when Lee hatefully blasted the support structures at the corner of the building.

“No!” Starknight shouted, strafing his solar-powered nemesis with red lances of energy that barely hit him. Knight fired his twin mini-missiles but Lee again fired a cone-shaped heat wave that detonated the rockets prematurely as well as searing Starknight’s armor! Fists clenched Starknight strode forward with the idea that, if he can reach Lee Wakefield, one or two good punches would finish this. Lee narrowed his beam and fried Starknight with a continuous attack, but the Knight kept coming. With each step Starknight felt his temperature increase and he noticed the tar on the street starting to bubble!

With a terrible creak, the damaged corner of the building began to sag and lean.

Ace appeared wearing his usual body armor as well as a Vortex PFG and launching his way into Lee’s personal space with a circle kick. Lee’s reflexes were quickly becoming superhuman as the powerhouse zoomed upward 20 feet out of Ace’s reach even as the martial artist completed his kick. The constant beam on Starknight never wavered as he rose. Ace drew his recently acquired energy pistol and fired, but it failed, its internal components already melting.

Starknight heard something pop within his armor, and the suit suddenly lost power. The steaming mass fell on its face on the reeking tarmac.

The corner of the weakened structure gave way but Shield was suddenly there, crouched over Molecule and putting everything he could into his protective shield as tons of material fell on top of both. Wakefield grinned viciously at Ace then blasted, utilizing a widened beam that the crime fighter didn’t expect and couldn’t dodge. Ace slammed into an already damaged SUV ending up inside the vehicle. Lee blasted the truck itself, the vehicle rolling over and crunching into a storefront.

From behind, stretching to reach, Rubberball grabbed Lee and pulled him closer, punching twice with rock hard fists. The hero dodged two of Lee’s attempted attacks as the killer tried to fire downward and behind. Then, with most of the energy he had left, Lee zoomed into the air carrying RB with him. 100, 200, over 300 feet, Wakefield flew straight up. Once he decided he was high enough, he radiated pure heat from his body. Ted gagged at the smell of his own flesh as it began to cook, but he didn’t let go until he saw the flesh on the back of his hand and forearm begin to bubble and split.

The entire way down Rubberball thought about his wife, until his slamming into and through the wooden roof of a building ended his ponderings.

[Glippernip]

“I’ve found someone else. I think its Ace,” a male voice called out, rousing Ace from his unwanted slumber. “He’s moving!” the voice shouted. Then it quieted, asking, “Do you need some assistance, Sir?’

Ace’s ears were ringing. Not a good sign. He reached up and grasped the hand of the Vortex agent, using the man for leverage and climbing out of the remains of the SUV. He surveyed the scene. Someone small and light floated about 50 feet over the street apparently looking for something. Vortex agents scanned the perimeter while about six of them searched the rubble. A big, muscular man in a white dress stood near Starknight, who hadn’t moved at all since he had collapsed. Ace stumbled over to themand asked, “Is he all right?”

Perseus ran a hand through his curled black hair. “I can’t tell,” he said with a frustrated tone, “Until just now, I didn’t know whether I was looking at a man or machine.”

Ace nodded, then knelt beside the metallic warrior. “I’ll be able to hear you. Are you all right?”

“Yes,” the small muffled voice came to him. Ace should have been able to easily hear even the faintest sound, but his ears were not working one hundred percent. “I didn’t realize the armor was nearly soundproof without the electronic sound system.”

“What can we do to help?” Ace replied.

“I wish someone could move me out of everyone’s sight. I can …reboot my system, but I want some privacy.”

“You might have to wait a few minutes. It would take several of us to move you…”

“Forgive me if this hurts,” Perseus interjected and he lifted Starknight up onto his shoulder almost effortlessly. He looked at Ace and asked, “Where to?”

They walked into a store through the shattered front window and found a back room. “Do you want him to leave?” Ace asked Starknight, motioning to the strongman.

“No. Just stand back,” came the faint reply. Ace’s hearing was getting better.

Ace backed Perseus up as the big man introduced himself. “We heard about the Atomic Maniac and came to help. I’m sorry we were so late.”

Ace nodded and then spoke to Starknight. “Is this far enough?” he asked.

Starknight exploded in a flourecsent yellow and green flash. Scott Deyoung, dressed in light pants and a t-shirt and his skin pink with heat exhaustion, stood with the pieces of his armor at his feet. Ace moved forward to catch him but Scott waved him back. With another soundless flash, Starknight again stood before them. Then he stumbled, and Perseus rushed forward to steady him.

“Thank you,” Starknight said to both of them, “That takes a lot out of me, and I’m pretty weak right now to begin with.”

Ace started to ask, “How did you…”

“Another time,” Starknight interrupted, “We have others to think about.”

Together the trio moved directly over to the spot where Shield was buried. Molecule had recently awakened and had phased her way out. Several Vortex agents and Windstorm now worked at the debris, but Perseus ran to the pile and heaved larger chunks to the side.

“Where’s Rubberball,” Ace suddenly asked.

Starknight looked around the battlefield, then accessed his electronic tracer. He had already calibrated his systems to the signals of the devices Ace provided. “Two streets over,” Knight stated while motioning Westward. Ace and Windstorm moved quickly with Starknight guiding them electronically. They found Rubberball unconscious but breathing in the upper floor of a bank building. Carefully Windstorm carried him to the staging area even as Perseus uncovered a sweating, pale Shield who whispered, “Thank you,” before shutting off his field and passing out.

[Glippernip]

Hours later, they all were at Vortex’s own medical center, including Starfall. Each of them had minor wounds. Starfall and Rubberball were the worst off, though Ted’s injuries were healing at an extremely fast rate.

“Never seen anything like this,” the doctor told Ted and Ace during the examination, “After a fall like that, your body and bones should be shattered. Your burns have vastly improved just since you’ve been here.”

“Guess the government kept you out of the loop, huh, Doc?” Ted asked sarcastically, “I thought all Federal scientists knew about me.”

Unknown to the others, Molecule had spent some time regenerating herself as well. It did not happen automatically for her, but with concentration and a little time, she could repair her body and return it to her normal state.

Ace collected them together in a ward and asked the staff to leave. Perseus, Spellbinder, Windstorm, Starknight, Molecule, Rubberball, Shield, and Starfall waited for Ace to speak.

Ace sighed. “No one likes being wrong,” he began, “or maybe I haven’t been wrong but the situation is changing.

“For years I’ve harbored deep resentment for the team Battleforce, mainly because one of our own turned traitor on us and a woman I wanted to marry died as a result. Since that time, however, I haven’t seen a true need for another group like that, so I’ve always discouraged a new team and would have refused to join one. Recent events force me to reconsider. I’ve been wondering if a real team would have taken down the Techno-Warriors sooner. Today, a team would certainly have been more effective.

“What I want to know now is who is willing to join a new Battleforce?”

At first, no one spoke. Ace jumpstarted the conversation by asking, “Starknight?”

After a pause, Knight answered, “For the crime fighting resources I currently lack, yes.”

“Perseus?”

“In a heart beat,” the muscle man replied without hesitance.

“Molecule?”

“As long as no one bothers me for the next few days,” she said with a pained smile.

“Shield?”

“I can’t guarantee I’ll always be close enough to respond. Consider me the cavalry. I’ll be here when I can.”

“Spellbinder?”

She inhaled deeply. “I don’t know. I hadn’t considered anything like this.” She glanced at Perseus and added, “But I will try.”

“Rubberball?”

“I’ll give it a go. Maybe this is what I’m supposed to do.”

“Starfall?”

“Inequivocably, no! I do not ever want to be part of another group.”

Could have used her power, Ace thought fleetingly. “Windstorm?”

“Yes. I’ll be there if I can.”

That went amazingly quick, Ace thought to himself. Then he smiled inside his helmet and mused, Justice is going to freak!


THE BEGINNING…