Battleforce #5

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Battleforce #5
Freak Out!

Written by Joel A. Sawyer (Glippernip)
Edited by Daniel Dyer (Spider-Man Beyond)

Daryl Parham stood in his apartment, speaking with his attorney. It was a sparsely furnished place with relatively cheap rent, which didn’t explain the 48" plasma screen TV and the expensive surround sound system. Simply, Daryl liked movies. He stood 6'2" with a thin muscular build, which belied the fact he could eat like a horse. Creamy brown skin with short black hair and sharp brown eyes, he was a product of public schools now coming to his own since his powers developed. Daryl really didn’t have a job, exactly. He had a role. When properly dressed, he called himself Windstorm.

The decision to become a costumed hero comes easily to Daryl. He had his rough spots growing, but he was generally a good person, not truly poor but not really having all of the opportunities. As Windstorm, he was a mid-range celebrity making enough money for a comfortable lifestyle while contributing to his community. He didn’t want to be obscenely rich; that would cause its own problems. He wanted to do what is right but be acknowledge for his efforts. And while he could sympathize with a poor person who fell to stealing, he truly despised bullying. Rapists, pimps, and thieves armed with guns sat at the top of Daryl’s shit list. He really enjoyed bouncing them off of walls.

“You need to stop roughing up the guys you catch,” the attorney told him through the phone. “You develop a pattern of causing injuries, and someone will jump on you for it.”

“Who, Michael Moore?” Daryl asked with a chuckle. “You really think a jury would convict me?”

“I’m not talking about criminal charges,” his attorney replied. “A few civil suits could hurt your credibility, turn public opinion against you, and make the police department less cooperative.”

Daryl glanced out his window at the darkening evening sky as he began to speak, then stopped. A spotlight shined in the night with a large “W” slashed through it. “I’ve got to check this out,” he said before disconnecting the line.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Shawnee Manchester stood in the chilly Chicago air at the top of the twelve story office building. She now dressed in an attractive sleeveless top and pants suit, both purple, with matching gloves to her upper arms and black shoes. A shiny metallic-purple tiara circled the front of her head, disappearing in her brown, wavy hair, and matching “S” shaped earrings adorned her lobes.

“You don’t even need a real costume,” Perseus had said earlier. “Pick a color, and developed several outfits with that color. Use older styles or foreign patterns so the outfit stands out. Maybe choose an emblem, a hairstyle, or paraphernalia that you would wear with each outfit for recognition purposes.”

“Like jewelry?” she asked.

“That would work,” Perseus continued, “but nothing loose or dangly. An enemy could use that against you. As far as a name, use something that has a mystical meaning, but could mean something else, like Enchantress. That sounds magical, but it can also mean someone charismatic or attractive. That would certainly fit.”

“Why, thank you,” she had said, causing him to blush.

Now, she concentrated on the spotlight effect she maintained above.

“So, your magic isn’t exactly spell-casting,” Perseus said, pondering the info she had given him. “You access and manipulate the natural forces of Earth.”

“That’s about it,” she replied. “Most of what I can do could potentially happen naturally, just normally doesn’t.”

Perseus nodded. It felt strange to him speaking to another super like this. A few weeks ago, this entire paranormal thing was a hobby. He had hoped to meet a hero one day. Now he was talking shop.

“I think he’s here,” Shawnee stated. Even as she said it, Windstorm arrived in his sky-blue and white costume. He almost looked like a Japanese masked wrestler.

“Is that for me?” the airborne hero asked.

“Assuming your Windstorm, and I doubt anyone else would be flying around downtown Chicago,” Perseus as Shawnee discontinued her signal. “My name is Perseus, and this is Spellbinder. We were hoping you might help us on a mission.”

Windstorm looked at each of them, then landed on the roof near them. “Tell me your story,” he said.

Spellbinder told Windstorm much the same tale she had previously told Perseus. Windstorm listened patiently, then replied, “So... we might go and find nada?”

“I’m afraid so,” Spellbinder informed him, “but if we do find something, we may be challenged.”

“Why should I believe any of this?” Windstorm asked.

Spellbinder floated off the ground about ten feet above the roof.

Windstorm started at the dark sky for a long moment. “Tell you what,” he finally said, “I’ve been stumped on a case I’ve been working on. If your hocus pocus is real and can help me solve this, we can be off to see your wizard.”

Perseus snickered, and Spellbinder rolled her eyes.

“What is your case,” Perseus asked.

“I’ve been following a trail of equipment and chemical theft as well as a rash of missing person reports. I believe they are linked.”

Perseus looked at Spellbinder, who shrugged. “Fine,” Perseus said, “where do we begin?”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Late Morning, Chicago suburb.

The door creaked open slowly, letting the morning light into the dark, dusty interior. Windstorm, Spellbinder, and Perseus entered the lobby of what formerly acted as a veterinary clinic.

“Site 3,” Windstorm offered. “Three people with links to this place just disappeared two months ago. Police came up with zero clues.”

The threesome wandered through the dozen or so rooms. Spellbinder, almost like a bird, looked up, down, to the left, and cocked her head as if listening.

Windstorm asked, “Something?”

“Well,” she answered, “we are in great danger here. It’s coming from the basement.”

“This place isn’t supposed to have a basement.”

“It will take too long to find a secret entrance,” Perseus mused, and then he turned to Spellbinder. “Can you find a room or open space beneath us?”

“Not really, no.”

“Can you locate the spot where the danger is greatest?”

Curiosity played on her features as she moved around the room, then down the central hallway. “Here,” she stated, pointing down. “This is the biggest threat.”

“Back up, please,” Perseus suggested. With a loud, vicious stomp, he crashed his foot through the floor, then started ripping chunks of flooring. Within a minute, a Perseus-sized hole led to a dimly-lit chamber below. He dropped down into the chamber, with Windstorm and Spellbinder floating down behind. The room itself looked like a good sized, multi-purpose vault with many electrical outlets and lighting, though most of the lighting remained off. Several doors exited the room, including a double-door much like that of a hospital or school. A man stood next to these doors, a man in his mid-twenties with unkempt, sandy-blond hair, piercing hazel eyes, and an easy smile.

“Welcome to my lab,” the man said. “I am Dr. Wilson Corbis. Once the police were done, I didn’t expect any to come back so soon, and two of you purported to possess paranormal powers. How perfect!”

“What awesome awkward alliteration,” Perseus responded. “So what’s your nefarious plan, Doctor?”

Corbis cocked his head knowingly and said, “Oh, I’m going to cut and run. I will lose my specimens, but everything else here is replaceable.” Corbis then opened the double door, stepping between one door and the wall.

What surged through the doorway were the living, breathing, stinking, chattering subjects of a hundred cheap monster movies. More than a score of white insects, each two foot long with vicious black antennae, eyes, and jagged 4" mandibles, skittered across the floor, followed by several larger, insectine-humanoid monsters. Actually, the things looked like insect men and women. There were six of the humanoids in all, and they advanced even as the white creatures swarmed the trio of humans. Windstorm jumped into the air and stayed there as Perseus began to kick at the repulsive white beasts, and Spellbinder grew serious, her form shimmering and becoming blurry, her hair raising as if effected by static electricity.

One of the creatures crawled up on Perseus’ bare leg and tried to bite, its mandibles unable to do any more than scratch his skin. For the love of Pete, it’s trying to eat me, he thought, an unnecessary fear rising in him. None of his stories ever put his characters against disgusting creatures as these. He grabbed at it a bit too hastily and too hard, and the thing squealed and crunched under the human’s great strength. Wide eyed, the hero held back the contents of his stomach as ichor dripped from his fingers and two more creatures crawled up to him.

This is so bad, Windstorm told himself. If he were alone, he could throw these monsters around easily. With his allies involved, he couldn’t do that, and it was more difficult to create small, isolated winds in such a small, closed in space. He found himself shoving the insects back but not really doing a lot of damage and wished for the same power himself. Windstorm relied on his speed and reflexes to not be hit or minimize damage. Then again, maybe the big man was harder to move.

“Perseus, what kind of wind would move you,” he hissed.

“I have no idea,” Perseus shot back, splatting an insect against the wall, “but it won’t hurt me, either way. If you need to, hit me.”

Windstorm smiled.

Father said there would be monsters, Shawnee told herself as the small hoard advanced, but these things shouldn’t exist. She floated upwards, the strange, grey, blurry aura around her, and she noted with satisfaction as the bugs jumped and missed, often brushing her with just one leg. She liked her shimmer field, an optical illusion of light that shifted her image to the side by 6-12 inches. Anyone (or thing) targeting her by sight would miss or just graze her. She didn’t immediately realize how clever the little beasts were, however. As she fired lilac colored bolts that burned the creatures, one scaled the wall, crossed the ceiling, and dropped on her. Two legs brushed her back, and the others closed and locked on. Almost instantly, its mandibles sank into her shoulder. She moaned, and then the monster squeaked and Perseus grabbed with a sickening crunch.

Then a wind blew through the room, throwing many of the little creatures back. Upon hitting the wall behind the swarm, many of them cracked open, spilling white mess onto the floor. The larger creatures were not doing much better. One had collapsed near the doorway, though no one had even attacked it. Another seemed to have trouble breathing, its movement sluggish and its reactions slow. Two of the human-monsters had vanished completely, choosing to flee instead of fight. The two remaining fell to eating the dead and dying of the smaller white insects.

“I hope someone hits me the next time I agree to help you with something, Windstorm,” Perseus groaned. “Damn, but this is just wrong.”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Of course, in the melee, Dr. Corbis had escaped, and none of the heroes had a means of tracking him. Within an hour, Corbis rendezvoused with his assistant. “I already have a place in mind,” Corbis told the other man. “We can retrieve supplies from the rental unit tomorrow.” Corbis smiled excitedly, saying, “This turn of events has been most... exhilarating!”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The trio spent over an hour with authorities, Windstorm doing most of the talking. They slept on it, then flew to Miami the following day. There, they developed an interesting mode of travel. Spellbinder created an orb of force, but drew energy from Perseus’ stamina so that she wouldn’t tire to maintain the field. She nullified the gravity in the bubble, allowing Windstorm to push her and Perseus through the air. In the end, their travel speed was impressive, and Perseus didn’t even feel tired as they landed on an island South of Florida.

“Man, I feel envious,” Windstorm offered, shaking off his flight exertion. “Endurance and invulnerability. Wow.”

“And how fast can you fly?” Perseus asked.

“I’ve never been clocked,” Windstorm answered, “but I can reach most locations in Continental United States in just over an hour.”

“And you’re envious? I run or jump, and not faster than a speeding bullet, either.”

The place they had landed wasn’t exactly a tropical paradise. People had invaded and had altered whatever landscape had previously existed. There were cheaply made homes and muddy dirt roads with fields and hill between the settlements. From above, Windstorm noticed that the roads seemed to stab inward toward the island’s center, so the trio followed the nearest street.
Every human they saw worked very hard, and would not stop to speak with them. Spellbinder revealed another handy talent, finding an older local and mystically translating the speech.

“Our lord wants a temple built in his honor,” he stated, “and we will build it for him.” He motioned to the interior of the island as their master’s location.

“That was a good trick,” Windstorm complimented Spellbinder. “You have many talents.”

“Small ones,” she told her allies. “I have potential for great power, but right now, most of what I do is trickery. Bend light, defy gravity, things like that. I can’t even channel any significant electricity, and that’s pretty easy to do. It’s beginning to seem insignificant.”

“But you have the potential,” Perseus added. “I have power, but I don‘t expect it to grow. The real trick is finding clever ways to use what you have.”

“Are you Dr. Phil’s son, or something?” Windstorm asked Perseus, who laughed.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

At the work site, they found several hundred people working, building a large structure. It looked like a smaller, two-tiered Pentagon made from a greenish-grey marble with wooden pillars and roof.

“I know that shape,” Spellbinder said, and then she concentrated, staring at the ground. Suddenly, the whites of her eyes burned bright green, her brown hair shimmering with an emerald shine. “There’s a Ley Line here,” she gasped, “running right through the middle of the island. That structure will allow someone to access the line easily.”

Perseus interjected, “Ley Lines are real?”

“What’s a Ley Line,” Windstorm added.

“They are real, there is one here, and this is a nice, isolated spot and the only land this line touches for many miles.” Shawnee’s head shot up. “We’re in danger.”

The attack came almost instantly, striking Perseus first. A vicious deep-orange energy engulfed him, trying to cook him... and failing. The attacker stood almost eight feet tall and possessed a thick, strong body. Humanoid and male, it wore no footgear, its feet being large, heavy, black hooves. Reddish-brown hair almost as thick as fur grew from almost every point of visible skin, with only the palms, face, and hooves hairless. The face drew their attention, though: Wide and thick face, golden eyes with silvery pupils, thin wiry hair on the head, a golden nose ring, and two ram’s horns curving from the sides of the head. The thick lips snarled.

“Centaurus,” Spellbinder whispered.

“You should not have come here, Manchester,” Centaurus stated in a deep, smooth voice that almost defied his bestial appearance. He raised his huge hands, and another orange beam shot toward Spellbinder.

Even as he raised his hand, Shawnee recalled the feeling of her “Ricochet Field”, a defense that tried to deflect all or most of an oncoming ranged attack. This was her strength, what made her different from most Earthly magicians. She didn’t cast spells, she manipulated the natural forces without words, gestures, material components, or even any kind of warning. She could react quickly and still bring her power to bear as long as she knew how to do what she wanted.

In this case, however, it was not required. Perseus intercepted the attack, baring his teeth against the pain and smiling at Centaurus. Perseus charged, intending to give a little back to the big wizard. Centaurus moved his hands in an intricate pattern, as if he were pinching the air. Just before Perseus reached him, Centaurus thrust his hand forward, palm out, and Perseus crumpled and fell to the dirt.

Stupid, Windstorm cursed himself while flying into action. I should have been right there backing him up! The airborne hero assaulted Centaurus with a gale force wind that blew loose items within one hundred foot radius around. The beast-wizard leaned into the wind, squinting his eyes as particles of dirt tried to gain entry into his visual organs. He launched a lightning bolt into the air, which Windstorm dodged easily. “You are not going to hit me,” the human said. “Up here, I’m too fast.”

Centaurus made a circle with his thumbs and pointer finger, his other digits spread outward while he changed his footing and stance. With an unintelligible grunt, he convulsed, and three rings of black energy shot from his hands. As they flew forward, one behind the other, the rings grew, becoming a cone of sorts. Windstorm nearly dodged the first ring, but it hit him in the calf and he lost altitude. The second and third rings nailed him dead on, and he fell twenty-two feet to the makeshift street. Then Centaurus turned to his third opponent and fired another orange beam.

Spellbinder let her Ricochet Shield do its work, negating the attack for the most part, and she hit Centaurus with her own violet bolt, the energy darker to match her anger and fear. She pivoted and readied her strongest attack. She would have to drop the field, but even a sorcerer as strong as her opponent would feel this! With another series of gestures, Centaurus launched several mystical tentacles meant to entangle Shawnee, but this was a tactic she had been prepared for by her father.

I doubt I can negate these, so I’ll do the next best thing, she thought, dropping the Ricochet Shield and igniting her Shimmer Field. The tentacles were normally guided by the vision of the caster, so they homed in on her image a foot to the left. She launched herself at her opponent, flying straight at him and, touching her toes to the ground, she slapped one palm onto his chest with a meaty Thump!

With a loud SNAP of force, Spellbinder detonated all of the power she could feel around her– kinetic energy, sunlight, photo-synthetic, gravitic, even tapping the Ley Line just a little bit. As big as he was, Centaurus’ body rocked, and he stumbled backward with a yell, a hand-shaped imprint burned into the thick hair on his chest.

Just as quickly, she shot over to Perseus, touching him on the chest. Paralysis, she thought, no long-term effects. Good! She flew to Windstorm, who lay unconscious and bleeding, but with no obvious broken bones or grievous wounds. As she stood, Centaurus rushed at her, She turned and paused, ready to hit him the moment he began another magic.

He didn’t. Instead, he closed and punched her in the midriff, driving the wind out of her. Centaurus then encircled her neck with his thumb and forefinger, neatly cutting off circulation. With her adrenalin pumping and her lungs fighting to draw in a breath, she lasted only seven seconds before passing out.

To Be Continued...