1.9 Harbinger Part 5

“Cor donn Hor!” cries Guardian as she stabs Armageddon in the left eye, letting out the first battlecry that comes to mind.

He will pay for that.

Do not lose your temper Legacy! Letting your emotions control you will get you killed as well.

I…I know that Ceta.

Armageddon didn’t stand a chance as he was just turning his head to face Guardian when she struck.

Armageddon lets out a painful roar as Guardian twists the blade lodged in his eye. Before he can recover and let out another blast of energy at her, Guardian yanks Gord’Ang out and blasts off from Armageddon with her KEPs at full power.

Will he heal from that? He’s been healing from the other wounds inflicted on him.

He won’t heal from such a severe wound until a few days and one from Gord’Ang will take months to fully recover from. In fact, any wound inflicted by Gord’Ang will take Armageddon several months to recover from.

So we’ve hurt him.

Yes we have.

Then let us hurt Armageddon some more.

As Guardian stabilises herself for another strike, but Atlas flies at Armageddon just as Alexandria did.

But Atlas is significantly more powerful than his fallen younger sister and slams into the Harbinger at high speeds. Armageddon goes stumbling backwards before regain his balance as he blasts Atlas away another burst of energy.

“Now!” cries a strong feminine voice and Guardian watches as about dozen flying parahumans attack Armageddon.

She spots Glowbug, Iris, Flamefly and Ebony amongst their number and are led by a stunning Aphrodite in tight fitting white spandex with a glowing white energy spear in one hand pointed at Armageddon.

Fools.

They’re going to get crushed.

Armageddon is ready for them and punches Atlas away before firing a large, wide burst of energy at the group. Most dodge, but the slowest members of the group at unable to get out in time.

The white woman, Iris, Glowbug and four others are all about to avoid Armageddon’s attack, but Ebony and three others don’t. Flamefly barely manages to dodge due being at the back of the group, but is still knocked out of the sky.

Ebony and one of those caught in the blast are battered, but stay in the air while the other two are sent tumbling to the ground, one of them a mangled mess.

As the white woman teleports above Armageddon and the others begin their attacks, Guardian also launches another attack against Armageddon.

The white woman stabs her energy stab down into Armageddon as she also unleashes several bolts of white energy on the monsters. Glowbug, Iris and one of the other fliers hang back and pelt Armageddon with energy attacks while the other white attempt to engage him up close.

As she flies in close, Guardian notices more parahumans on the ground engaging Armageddon alongside military tanks and heavy weapon teams.

Guardian slashes Armageddon with Gord’Ang across the arm, but the monster soon recovers. Moving quickly Armageddon blasts the closest heroes away with more energy bursts before grabs a hold of the white woman.

The white woman doesn’t get a change to react before Armageddon snaps her back with a flick of his waist and tosses her limp body aside.

“It just killed Lightbringer,” whispers one of the fliers close to Guardian, sounding terrified.

Guardian uses her KEPs to direct herself at Armageddon, but the Harbinger just already moved on to his next victims.

Iris tries to dodge, but Armageddon is quick enough that his punch catches her in the legs and finishes the job with a concentrated energy attack from his fist as it makes contact. He then turns on Glowbug and the other energy projecting flier and blasts them both out of the sky with another energy burst.

But while her fellow is sent tumbling to the ground, Glowbug steadies herself as her yellow energy glows brighter than Guardian has ever seen it before. She fires a shining beam at Armageddon, causing the monster to pause.

For a moment it looks like Glowbug has actually hurt the Harbinger, but Armageddon suddenly slams his fist into her, sending her flying into the ruins of a half-destroyed building.

Human backs don’t bend that way.

We can’t do anything to help her until Armageddon has been dealt with.

Nic...

As Ebony flies past him, Armageddon catches her with a backhand swipe, knocking her out of the sky as well.

But as his hand comes past Guardian, she strikes out with Gord’Ang. Armageddon roars out in pain as the Linx Sword slices through his little finger.

That will take him a good couple of years to grow back at the very least.

He needs to pay.

Don’t let revenge consume you.

I know! I’m not stupid.

Once again Armageddon focuses his full attention on Guardian, even as a score of missiles slam into him. He staggers back from the force even though he isn’t actually hurt, but the Harbinger doesn’t break eye contact from Guardian.

With a sudden burst of speed, Armageddon rushes Guardian, but the smaller and more agile warrior dodges out of the way and catches his side with a slash from Gord’Ang.

Armageddon suddenly spins around and smashes his fist into Guardian. She raises Gord’Ang in front of her and sent flying none the less. But Gord’Ang absorbs most of the damage, leaving Guardian unharmed other than a bit more damage to the outer plating of her armour.

She smashes into the pavement of the path below and gets to her feet just in time to see Armageddon bring his foot down on her. But an orange ray beam that Guardian recognises slams into the throat of Armageddon.

The massive monster staggers backwards, unbalanced before toppling over and landing on his back.

1.7 Guardsmen Part 9

“So what do you want to talk about then?” asks Iris warily.

“Let’s start with something safe and unimportant,” replies Gears, “Such what does your family think you becoming a superhero? Since you don’t have a secret identity or anything.”

“Well, my mum and older brother both have powers, less suited to combat and more to the respective careers,” says Iris, “My family approves of my choice to become a superhero and use my powers to help people. Oh and my sister Marcelle has also manifested powers. She is a singer with a siren voice, solid illusion and shapeshifting plus teleportation and flight. But is an Abnormal. A stunningly beautiful Abnormal, but still an Abnormal. She has just realised her first single since her manifestation. She is a newbie solo singer.”

Iris seems quite proud of her family.

And notice how she went into greater detail about her sister Marcelle. Alexis must be closer to her than the others.

“Is your sister older or younger?” asks Gears.

Wait. Doesn’t Gears know that Alexis’ only younger sibling is Joan, his girlfriend?

Perhaps he wishes to keep how much he knows about her family secret. Or maybe he is trying to steer the conversation towards Joan without directly bringing her up.

That makes sense.

“Older,” says Iris, “Marcelle is a couple of years older than me. My only younger sister is-”

Iris stops mid-sentence and her face pales as she looks horrified at a revelation.

“I’m a horrible person!” wails Iris suddenly, catching the other three completely off-guard.

What on Earth is she going on about?

Perhaps she just remembered about Joan and how she abandoned her?

Gears is the first to recover, not surprising consider his power.

“What do you mean?” asks Gears.

“My sister J-Joan,” sniffs Iris as tears go down her cheeks, “S-she is hospitalised and I-I completely forgot about her. W-we haven’t, I haven’t spoken to her in m-months! How could I f-forget my own s-sister? Especially one that has s-suffered so much.”

Well, this in intriguing reaction.

What should we do?

Offer to help. It is would we would do anyway and if Iris accepts, it will give us and Gears the perfect opportunity for us to actively help Joan without revealing Gears’ secret identity. He has been waiting for a chance like this ever since he got his powers.

“Is that anything we can do to help?” offers Guardian, causing both Gears and Ebony to look at her.

“I don’t know,” says Iris as she wipes her tears away.

“Well, I come look into it and see what I can come up with,” says Gears soothingly, “What exactly is her medical condition anyway?”

Okay, I know for certain Leo knows that. He spent two hours with Joan earlier before meeting me out here. And that isn’t counting how much time they spent together in the past.

While we know he knows that, the others can’t be allowed to know that Gears also knows that. After all, Leo is a separate person to Gears as far as anyone else is concerned.

True. I do wish he informed me of this beforehand.

He probably did and you just didn’t pay attention as you didn’t find out what you were agreeing to before doing so.

Yeah...

“I don’t know,” says Iris, looking both upset and embarrassed, “We haven’t spoken in months and I have just been ignoring Joan for at least a year now.”

“I’m sure she won’t to upset with you,” says Ebony hesitantly in attempt to reassure Iris, but seems unsure of her words.

“I would recommend apologising to her,” suggests Guardian, “I’m sure she would be receptive if you attempt to reforge ties with her. As long as you don’t abandon her again, I’m sure things will be fine.”

“You think?” says Iris.

“I’m certain of it,” says Guardian with the utmost confidence.

To get Iris to do that is the very reason Gears and I are here having this conversation so I’m sure Joan will be fine with it.

That said, we haven’t actually met Joan.

I trust Leo’s judgement of her.

Aye, I also have faith in Leo.

“I ought to get going,” says Gears, “I have stuff to be doing.”

“Uh, okay,” says Iris, “I’m not sure what to do now.”

“What were you doing before?” inquires Guardian as Gears flies off.

“We’re patrolling,” answers Ebony, “We’re hoping to find more Syndicate forces.”

“Syndicate forces?” asks Guardian.

“You know about the Syndicate right?” says Ebony and Guardian shakes her head, “Well, they work for Darkness. Darkness is the second most powerful known parahuman after Superior and is attempting to establish the first parahuman controlled organised crime syndicate.”

“In that regard, Darkness has been mostly successful given how strong this powers are,” says Iris, “We have had a major success recently. I personally took down the local branch of the Syndicate. It has been in the news.”

“I don’t pay much attention to the news,” replies Guardian.

“Well, it was tough fight,” says Iris, “Their leader was a B+ terrakinetic, but I took him down after a bit of a scuffle. It was my first supervillain fight and I got some really good publicity out of it. A massive interview and everything. It even looks like I’m getting my own toy line.”

“Sounds interesting,” says Guardian, “So are you going to do now?”

“I want to visit my sister,” answers Iris, “But I still have my patrol…”

“I’ll continue with our patrol while you go and visit your sister,” suggests Ebony, “I’ll call HQ and tell them.”

“I’ll go with you Iris,” offers Guardian.

“Thank you,” says Iris as she pulls both Ebony and Guardian into a hug.

1.7 Guardsmen Part 8

“Thanks for coming,” says Gears as Guardian joins him in flying over Grand Rapids in the afternoon the day after they visited Alexandria and Atlas.

Does he think that we would even consider not helping him?

Apparently so.

What exactly are we doing?

Did you even bother to find out what you were agreeing to?

Leo asked for help and that required meeting him at this time. The details weren’t important for me when I was agreeing to help him.

I understand. None the less, details are still worth paying attention to.

“So what are we doing?” asks Guardian.

“Did you even know what you were agreeing to?” inquires Gears.

“I was agreeing to help you,” replies Guardian, “That was all that mattered.”

“Ahh, well, thanks for that,” replies Gears, “But first let’s switch to a private channel, I would rather not get overheard by anybody with super senses.”

“Sure,” says Guardian as she switches to the same private channel as Gears just switched to, “So why am I here?”

“The answer to that has multiple parts,” answers Gears, “Primarily it is to help Joan and, to a lesser extent, you. I think you two would make for great friends, but I need to arrange it so the two of you can meet in a way that isn’t suspicious so you can be friends publically. I am also trying to get Iris, Joan’s sister, to interact with her. I have to do in a way that won’t cause Leo or Joan trouble as I have no idea how Alexis will react to being reminded of her sister.”

“She has forgotten her sister?” inquires Guardian, “How could that happen?”

“Simple,” says Gears, “Joan has always been ill and is the youngest of six. Her parents are billionaires and need to manage their fortunes amongst other things. Even then, they are still mildly involved in Joan’s life if not directly. As for her siblings, Joan has been living in the same room for about two years now and they all have their own lives to live. Only Alexis is still living in Grand Rapids at the moment and she is most likely ignoring her memories of Joan because she can’t do anything about her condition. And if she still remembered Joan at the start of the year, I’m sure that her powers and ensuring mess have completely driven her younger sister from her mind.”

“So what are going to do?” demands Guardian, feeling determined to help Joan, despite having yet to meet her.  

Joan is important to Leo and Leo is a teammate, friend and family. I would help someone in Joan’s position anyway, but I share Leo’s personal stake in this.

We should follow Leo’s lead in this. He is extremely smart, has better knowledge of the situation and has already thought this out. I doubt he would risk messing up something so important to him. His plan will work.

Aye. And if it doesn’t, we shall be there to support him in whatever else he tries.

“Ahh,” says Gears, “Here comes Iris now. And she is with one of her teammates.”

Guardian watches a pair of girls. She has spent enough time around Alexandria to recognise them as Aphrodites.

One is wearing a full body spandex costume, consisting of blue with a gold undertone. It leaves only her head bare as her long brown hair flowing in the wind behind her. A blue domino mask with a yellow outline is the only thing on her face and doesn’t actually hide her facial features.

The second is wearing much less and Guardian notes that she has a darker skin colour like Protector, his family and plenty of the gangsters that Guardian has beaten up on the streets of Chicago. The girl is wearing black spandex shorts and sleeveless top that bares her midriff. A pair of silk gloves covers her hands while she wears a pair of high heeled boots.

Guardian takes an instant dislike the second girl.

That outfit is extremely impractical. Why on Earth would she wear it?

I see no logical reason for her to. But we shouldn’t negatively judge her for it.

Humph.

“What are you two doing here?” demands the girl in blue and gold as the two pairs come to a halt in front of each other.

“I was showing Guardian the skies of Grand Rapids,” answers Gears, “I am Gears by the way.”

“I’m Iris and this is-” the first girl starts to introduce herself and her partner when said partner yelps in pain, “What’s wrong Ebony!”

“I tried to use my telepathy on them,” grunts the impractical girl as she clutches her head, “Guardian was...undetectable. Gears....messed up....hurts a...lot. Completely....%&$@ed up.”

“I was not aware of that,” says Gears as Iris glances between him and her friend, Ebony, “This is interesting.”

“What is interesting?” demands Iris.

“If what Ebony is saying is correct,” replies Gears, “Then that means I passively fended her off. It means I have another aspect to my power that I haven’t found out yet due to not having a telepath attempt to enter my mind.”

“Let’s ignore that for now,” says Iris, eager not to move onto the subject of her friend attempting to telepathically enter the minds of the two vigilantes without their consent, “So what do we do now? Technically speaking, we are supposed to arrest you for all of your lawbreaking.”

“Let’s avoid that for now,” replies Gears, “Let’s talk instead.”

What are their powers? I want to know what do if they do decide to fight us.

Iris is Joan’s sister and has A Class superstrength, superspeed, nigh invulnerability and energy projection like Glowbug and Dark Tendril. She also has B Class super senses and healing in addition to flight that is closer to Alexandria’s if slower and slightly less mobile. She is also an A Class Aphrodite.

And what about the other?

That is Ebony. She is Iris’ best friend and rather powerful. She has A Class nigh invulnerability and weak flight and limited teleportation at C Class level. Ebony also has several B Class powers. There are telekinesis, telepathy, super strength, enhanced speed and reflexes, super senses, super toughness, regeneration and other enhanced physical prowess.

I wouldn’t have fancied our chances with them before today, but with our power armour, new molecular blades and teamwork, I believe we could take them in a fight.