2.9

The next time my pager rings, I almost ignore it. But it rings again. So, I pick it up.

It’s a deployment alert. For everyone, this time.

Something curdles in my gut as I jog out of my room.

The fast elevator’s full when I get there, Rory, Eva, Cooper, and Olivia standing around in the corners. I see Rory open his mouth to tell me I’m late and spit out a quick “zip it.”

Miraculously, he shuts up, and I situate myself in the center of the elevator. I try not to look at Olivia.

The elevator drops, and I have to crouch a little to maintain my balance, but we reach the ground floor relatively quickly and file out. The others leave me behind as they sprint towards the lockers. I jog along behind them.

By the time I jog out to the garage, everyone’s seated around the van. And so is… Crane? The Junior Division handler.

“Redline! Glad you decided to show up!” He calls out, smiling. I elect not to answer.

“Well, regardless. Your briefing today is as follows; an unidentified mutant super has been spotted near the center of District 3.”

“Another one?” Eva asks.

“There is currently no evidence that these two individuals are related, in activity or ability,” Crane recites. “The USMW Containment Division has successfully established a quarantine around the neighborhood. Your assignment is to enter the quarantine zone and subdue the individual. You are authorized to use complete force.”

I scowl. “Can’t they just take care of it?” I mutter, snarkily.

Crane smiles wider. “The USMW? But then, how would we get footage of all your pretty faces?”

He can’t be serious.

Crane, seemingly noticing my expression, laughs. “At some point during your operation, you’ll have backup from the Brightheart Hero Organization. When they arrive, your assignment will have ended.” He motions at the van. “Well? Hop to it.”

We jump in the van, but before Rory — Shield Warrior has a chance to close the doors, Crane motions for us to pause. “Oh, ah — one more thing, before you go. We have reliable intelligence that Einherjar and a large portion of Front 18’s membership was caught in the quarantine. Subduing them is your secondary priority, so remember to keep an eye out! You’ll get their location in the debrief on the way.”

He winks. I think I’m having trouble breathing.

Shield Warrior nods curtly, and slams the doors closed behind us. As the driver pulls out of the garage and onto one of the highway ramps leading out of the tower, I spot Crane through the window, grinning and waving from his spot by the door.

I feel like I’m going to puke. I can still remember the story on the late night news, watching it from the stairwell after spending the day locked in my room, feeling nothing.

It’s a stupid fuckin’ name.

I keep my head down and try not to think about it. This is my first big mission. Can’t get distracted.

The audio packet we get as a debrief mentions a known Front 18 base, a reputable tattoo parlor at the edge of the quarantine zone. It’s the only thing I end up retaining.

When the van rolls to a stop at an intersection, we all climb out and try to get a good look at all the expensive equipment the USMW isn’t using over the heads of a crowd of onlookers. Rumbling echoes over the tops of two-story houses and white picket fences, only broken up by the matte-black barricade erected in the middle of the road. It looks multiple feet thick, and metal legs dig into the earth and tarmac below it, securing it to the ground. A number of small doors line the base of the wall, and a contingent of vehicles including a large truck sit parked along its length. It isn’t the only structure like this we’ve seen on the way here.

None of the vehicles are actually big enough to carry that entire wall, though, so I figure there must be some super tech involved. The USMW isn’t usually open about their equipment, so I guess it could be anything.

A number of reporters dot the sea of heads, pushing towards the van and spitting questions at our little group. In our media training lessons, we usually just get told to not talk to them.

So we don’t. Shield Warrior pushes past the crowd of people and speaks to one of the soldiers, while I follow Eva and the others toward the wall. I only really catch snippets of their short conversation, but I do hear the soldier mention something about a disturbance at one of the other checkpoints, on the other side of the zone.

He’s still here? Why doesn’t he just fly out? I was expecting him to have ditched. Is he taking something from the hideout, something he can’t carry on his own?

Or maybe it’s not an object. Front 18 has been bleeding membership ever since Rapture was caught.

It only takes a second longer before the soldier comes with us, coming to a stop next to one of the doors in the wall.

“Go on in. You know the drill,” he says, swiping a card. The door slides open and we file through.

I definitely don’t know the drill, but everyone else seems to, so I don’t bring it up.

“Boy Gadget, anything on radar?” Rory — Shield Warrior asks.

“Y — yeah, and it’s big. Seismic activity too, from the looks of it,” he mutters, messing with, well, a gadget he pulled from one of the many utility belts strapped to his person.

His costume strikes me, at that moment at least, as a bit haphazard. Maybe he forgot some of it back at the garage? What he’s wearing now essentially boils down to an armored jumpsuit, decorated in belts and pockets of a startling variety of shapes and sizes.

He’s also wearing a pair of high-tech looking goggles on his forehead, but I don’t remember those from his debut. They must be new.

“Seismic? As in, it’s generating earthquakes?” Shield Warrior replies.

“No, it’s, uh. It’s just really, really big.”

Shield Warrior stays silent for a moment as we walk. “It’ll be easy to find, at least. We’ll confront it and focus on damage control. Detain any Front 18 members and aid any civilians along the way. Got it?” He says, looking over his shoulder at us.

We all nod.

“Good. Move out.”

The others break into a jog, startling me into running to catch up.

As we jog closer to the center of the quarantine, the rumbling grows louder. Eventually, distinct thumps are audible, along with the unmistakable crack of gunfire. Anxiety churns inside of me the closer we get.

And then, all of a sudden, the noise magnifies. We all stop in our tracks.

“It’s — it’s coming toward us!” Boy Gadget yells, the device in his hand beeping frantically.

Shield Warrior takes a step forward as plumes of dust just barely rise above the field of suburban homes. “Jet, Rebound —” He cuts himself off as a small contingent of guys dressed in Front 18 colors and vaguely tactical gear round the corner of an intersection, just in front of the source of the noise.

I catch him hunching over slightly. “Jet, Rebound, on me! Redline, Boy Gadget, subdue the suspects!”

This time, we all explode into action. Boy Gadget and I split off from the other three while they sprint, or in Jet’s case fly, toward the intersection. The gang members look like they’re trying to cut through the backyard of a house a little ways down the street, and it seems like both my temporary partner and I have decided to cut them off.

I can’t help but be distracted, though, as a house on the corner of the intersection explodes, and out of it soars a monster.

Not a Disaster. Not quite.

The thing looks like an eel, stretching far enough behind the destroyed buildings it’s climbing over that I can’t see the end of it. Its head is the size of a car and muscular, grotesque, mammalian limbs sprout out in intervals along its flank, clumsily crushing concrete and drywall trying to hold its gargantuan weight.

Its eyes are lopsided and numerous, favoring the left side of its head, and underneath its jaw a number of thin, slitted mouths lol open in addition to the main one. Its mouths drip with saliva and its eyes leak fresh tears.

“It’ssss… aaalllllll…” The thing wails in discord, many voices reverberating from its flabby neck, fighting to be heard. “It’sss aaallllll sooooo… beautifuuuulll…”

I force myself to keep running. Shield Warrior manifests a sword, the blade snapping into existence with a yellow flash and sparkle, then tosses it to Rebound, who takes a position a little ways behind him.

Jet takes a different approach, burning her way across the sky toward the thing’s head.

“Iiiit’sss sooo… aaaiiieee muuussstt….” It grumbles, raising an arm even as Rebound slams the sword into a fumbling limb and Jet snags its neck, swinging herself around to ride it.

“Cruuusshhh aaalllll offf iiiiit…” The creature finishes, swinging down its arm at Shield Warrior. I just barely see him throw up a barrier before the house I’m running behind obstructs my view.

I try to ignore the heavy thump and the way the ground shakes as we run.

The gang members don’t get very far before Gadget and I round the corner on one of the houses, kicking up dirt as we sprint out onto the street. I pick up speed as I approach the group, tackling one of them to the pavement while Gadget throws something into the center of the rest.

I hear a click and flinch as a flash of light goes off behind me, sending the Nazis stumbling.

Gadget immediately gets to work zip-tying the goons as ominous moans and thundering crashes sound from a little ways down the street, and after a moment of disorientation, I snag a roll of them off of his belt and help.

My hands shake a little as I fumble with the zip-ties.

In the middle of struggling with the bald guys rolling on the pavement, I note that the fight with the monster seems to be going… not terribly. Jet’s still hanging on to its neck, focusing a stream of flame against its slick hide. Shield Warrior seems to have successfully blocked that attack from earlier, if not without substantial damage to both the construct and the pavement.

Rebound, after the creature rears up again, steps out in front and holds up her hands, catching the thing’s limb before it slams into the shield again. The air distorts around the impact point, dissolving into a fog of static even as she’s thrown back down the road.

She’s not thrown back as far as I expected. Did she absorb the impact?

“Redline! Over here!” I look over to see Gadget struggling to hold down one of the Nazis, a brightly-colored cylinder grasped in his other hand. A small pool of blood leaks through the cracks in the tarmac below them. “Hold him down, I need to stabilize him!”

I hesitate for a second. But only for a second.

While I’m pressing down hard on the guy’s shoulders, Gadget stabs the cylinder into his neck with a click and a hiss. Down the road, Shield Warrior slices at the monster’s limb with a sword he conjured around one of his metal rods.

“Do not move from this position,” Gadget orders the downed criminals. “The USMW has established a quarantine around the entire neighborhood. If you are found —” His speech is interrupted by another thump and a roar in the background, and he grits his teeth. “Just don’t move!” He nods to me, and we leave the goons behind to join the larger battle.

Shield Warrior deflects another of the thing’s advances, attempting to find stable footing before taking advantage of its size to take another slash at its limb before it can move. Jet gives up on her initial assault, swinging herself up with bursts of fire closer to the thing’s head.

Gadget, when we get closer to the beast, unclips another device from his belt and lobs it in the general direction of the fight. I hear comms crackle just before it goes off.

“Disruptor!”

Shield Warrior turns away, and Jet shifts her body to the opposite side of the creature as another bright flash soaks the surrounding area. The monster screams and rears back in response.

“Yoouuuu… yoouuu caaan’t!” It wails, dissolving into a mess of discordant noises.

Gadget stops a distance away, and I stop with him. “I only have a limited amount of those, so we need a plan to use them!” He shouts over the comms.

Down the road, Rebound staggers to her feet and begins moving to rejoin the fight.

“Rebound! Aim back towards the perimeter!” Shield Warrior shouts, moving around to set up a larger barrier. Rebound makes a beeline for it while the monster reels, limbs flailing and haphazardly slamming against the shield.

Jet seems to realize the plan. Instead of trying to directly burn the thing, she twists around to get a better grip on its pseudo-shoulder and points an arm away from it, producing a jet larger than I’ve seen from her with one hand.

The creature leans to one side, struggling to brace itself against the pavement. “Ceeaaaasssee…!”

Rebound skids to a stop under it, pulling back her fist.

I don’t even see her next movement. There’s an impossibly heavy thud, on the same level as the monster’s blows, a blast of wind, and then the thing topples, fluids spraying from its eyes and mouths, sounding an unintelligible roar.

“We’ll lead it towards the barrier; civilians are less likely to crop up, and we may be able to convince the USMW to assist!” Shield Warrior announces. “Rebound, on me! We’ll bait it —”

“Einherjar would get away.” I’m speaking into the comms before I can stop myself. “He’s our secondary priority.”

“He’s not the first priority. Follow orders, Redline!”

“If we let him go, he’ll —” I stop myself. “Rory, please.”

The monster stirs and groans. Rory remains silent.

“Fine. Redline, pursue the secondary objective. Recon only.”

I nod, even though he’s not looking in my direction, and break into a sprint, traveling deeper into the quarantine zone.