Origins of a D-List Supervillain (23 page)

Unlike Patterson’s killing machines for sale to the “legitimate” governments of the world, Doctor Albright’s creations were programmed not to kill. That probably pissed an amoral bastard like Eddie off more than anything else.

I appreciated fine robot workmanship that didn’t blindly maim.
Hell, I didn’t even kill Barton. Probably should’ve.

“Gotta admit, though,” Eddie continued as I began removing the collapsible bags so we could fill them. “You’re better company than Seawall and his clowns. Those shits would be running around, all over the place acting like they own the joint. You’re just doing a job. That’s why I like you.”

“That’s me,” I said. “Your average blue collar supervillain. I’m hoping that if you take another shot at Ultraweapon, you bring me along for the ride. I’d be willing to get my hands bloody on him, or at least say I was there when you killed him.”

He laughed and then discarded a stack of hundreds. “Tracker in there. As for Ultraweapon, I’ve tried a couple of times, but haven’t gotten him. If I ever go after him again, I’d have to be sanctioned by Devious and the Overlord first.”

Sanctioned? Is this like the mob where you have to go to a boss for permission?

“Really? That’s the first I’ve heard about that.”

“I’m guessing if they ever think you might have a shot at killing old Lazarus, they’ll let you know whether you can.”
He could be messing with me. Then again, maybe not. Vicky would know. I’ll ask her.

“Looks like we’re done here,” Eddie said and zipped up the three bags. “How long is it going to take for you to get your plasma cutter rebuilt?”

I shrugged. “Three days.” It would really take two, but I didn’t want to fall behind on Vicky’s quota. I was only getting sixty grand per robbery—fixed fee.

“All right, bring all this back to my warehouse and I’ll meet you there.”

I followed Eddie out the door and he transformed into his full electrical form and zipped into the streetlight. I took off with the burnt out shell of my cutter dangling from one side and three duffel bags full of cash in the other. In a way, I looked up to Eddie, but at the same time, I knew he was scum.

• • •

My arrival at Eddie’s temporary base was greeted with the sight of his topless girlfriend trying to get him out of his clothes. His crazy-ass flame was hot enough, but she had a penchant for the nose candy and that kind of turned me off, even though I could appreciate her plastic surgeon’s attention to details.

“If you want, I’ll just take the money and go,” I offered.

“You could always stay and I’ll do you both,” Susan, Sammy Joe, or whatever her name was, countered.

Eddie had bragged that she was some kind of nympho, but seriously?

“Have to pass,” I said. “My girlfriend wouldn’t like it.”

“She never has to know,” the woman retorted and pulled her top back on. “Too bad this one works alone, Eddie. I kind of miss all the guys. Try and find some better help next time, or at least someone who owns his balls. Finish up your business, Edward, and then come join me.”

The nut job walked out of the room and left me with the equally psychotic male.

“Is she always like that?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” he said. “Your pal Maxine got ahold of her a long time ago and something strange happened that she never talks about. I’m kind of glad I spend half my time in my lightning form sometimes. Sally is just a hardcore freak.”

That’s her name!
“Nice,” I said, while thinking that it was anything but. Vicky was more my speed. We could do things like talk to each other.

It wasn’t like I was down on the female species. I just knew that my line of work wasn’t conducive to attracting the really sweet ones. That’s what made Vicky special. That’s why I...

Oh shit! I almost thought the L word!

Eddie pulled a small bag out from under his table, while I wrestled with my new moral dilemma. “I already have your fee ready, Mechani-CAL. Get your plasma torch ready and get back with me and we’ll do this again.”

I took the bag from him and dropped it in my cargo box, not even bothering to open it. In this, I could trust him. He couldn’t carry anything in his lightning form, so I was kind of necessary for his next set of jobs since Seawall and his band of miserable goobers were out of action.

“Nice doing business with you, Mr. Pulsive. See you in a few.”

That’s when the wall across from me exploded. On the other side was The Discus and She Dozer.

“You two are coming with us!” Discus said.

“Activate shields! Power to weapon systems! Bring flight systems to standby,” I ordered and spun to face them. K-Otica and Spirit Staff broke through the north door and Eyelash came out of the room dragging a struggling Sally in her ocular whips. The woman held a stick in her hand and one of the bags from the bank glowed.

They must’ve hit up The Grand Vizier or Mystigal for a tracking spell.

“Guardians!” Eddie hissed after shifting to his form. “I’m gonna enjoy this!”

All the power died in the warehouse and, from what my scanners could tell, the surrounding blocks.

“They’re boxing you in Eddie,” I warned. “They cut the power to the area.”

“Who wants to die first?” Eddie said and made globes of energy in his hands. I was tracking Dozer and the Discus, guessing my cohort would go after K-Octica and her beau. Eddie didn’t like to be beaten, especially by a woman.

I fired first, because someone had to and I really didn’t care for stupid posturing. Discus shielded most of it, but it still was enough to send him backward. Dozer hurled a crate at me, and I smashed it with my fist rather than wasting energy on it.

Eddie’s globes of power sped toward the other two Gulf Coasties. Spirit Staff stepped in front to block them, but he never had to. Instead, the balls stopped short and simply disappeared. I spun and looked at Pulsive, but he was just as stunned as I was.

“We brought a friend, scum,” She-Dozer said. “Why don’t you come on in and introduce yourself?”

Helping Discus come back through the hole I’d sent him out was a man standing about six five and built like a Greek God, literally. The large Z drawn with lightning bolts on his costume left no doubt who we were dealing with.

Zeus! We are so screwed!

Eddie lost whatever remained of his sanity and started throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Olympian. Zeus swatted it aside like Eddie was shooting nerf toys at him. With a wave of his hands, Zeus froze Eddie like a high-voltage statue.

Near panic, myself, I threw everything I had at him. My blasts were a little more effective than Eddie’s nerf bolts. It might have amounted to a slap on the face or a really good noogie, but I wasn’t sticking around for it.

“Activate jets!”

About the only thing I could be grateful for when the Olympian turned on me was that his blast knocked me farther away from him. It still cost me almost half my shielding. My jets sent me careening through the back wall with K-Otica in pursuit.

The Olympian couldn’t fly and none of the other Gulf Coast Guardians could either, so my continued freedom hinged on being able to out fly her...and the helicopters converging on the area from all directions. There were six in all and they weren’t police choppers either. I had either National Guard or regular US Army Apaches coming after me. Four of them were coming in from the waterfront, determined to prevent me from doing my patented “swim away” escape. In the distance, two coast guard cutters circled, daring me to try them after running the Apache gauntlet.

That had been my first thought, but now I had to abandon it.

The lead copter’s chain gun started spitting out munitions and I dived low and headed back toward the city. Their firepower outclassed me, but if they wanted to use it, I’d make them do it over a populated area.

K-Otica barred my way, floating with a wide smile on her face, and I realized that I’d have to go through her. Assuming she was at her peak, she was faster than I was and her energy bolts were stronger, but I had shields and she didn’t.

An absolutely stupid plan, formed in my head. Vicky would say that those were my best kind.

“Divert weapon power to shields,” I said and turned toward her. “Maximum acceleration.”

The woman flexed backward and unleashed her concussive energy; I only made quick course corrections that kept me from the worst of it. Only twenty feet separated us when she caught on to what I might be doing. She tried to go vertical, but I was at my top speed and she had only just started accelerating.

I angled up slightly and rammed the superhero. Her hand glowed and she tried to bring her power to bear, but I reacted first.

“Taser charge! Taser charge!”

Twin jolts of energy stunned the injured woman and she collapsed like a rag doll in my arms.

I held onto my newfound hostage and turned to face the helicopters, daring them to open fire. They seemed suddenly reluctant.

“Shields at fourteen percent. Structural integrity at eighty-one percent. Weapons at six percent.”

Engaging my external speakers and transmitting on police bands, I said. “K-Otica and I are going for a little trip. I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have, but that’s on you fellows.”

With that, I turned northwest and headed toward Baton Rouge.

• • •

Thirty minutes later, my hostage came to. Her pained screams were the first thing I noted.

“How badly are you hurt?” I asked and slowed down. I’d gone down to the tree line to avoid pursuit.

“Ribs are killing me. I don’t think they’re broken, but they’re definitely bruised.” I could see her thinking about trying her powers and elevated by another fifty feet.

“If you’re not at full power, I’ll probably drop you. It’s about eight stories down right now. Sorry about the ribs. Didn’t really have much choice.”

“You always have a choice,” she muttered. “You just keep making the wrong ones.”

“Probably,” I agreed and watched her smooth her skirt and try not to look like she was checking for her communicator. “Not much we can do about it now. I ditched your tech on the outskirts of New Orleans.”

“What are you going to do with me? Dump me in the swamp?”

“According to my maps, there’s a fire station three miles up the road. I was going to drop you there and get my ass out of here before your friends show.”

“You won’t get away,” she said. “Eventually, you’ll slip up and get caught just like your buddy back there.”

“Hopefully not anytime soon and Eddie’s a world class douchebag. Maybe you fine, upstanding people can figure out how to hold onto him this time. It’s just my opinion, but society would be better off if you could.”

Karina seemed somewhat surprised by my statement and couldn’t think of a comeback to it.

As we approached the fire station, I asked, “You’re not going to try anything funny when I put you down?”

She said she wouldn’t. Instead, she tried when I was only about ten feet off the ground. I got a nice face full of pretty colors, but not much else. Her temperamental powers must give her fits.

Even with the visor, I was still blinking it off when I unceremoniously dumped her on the ground. The money I’d gotten from Eddie was still there, but all of it and then some would be consumed by repairs to my suit.

Grimacing in pain, she looked up at me from the ground and stood while some of the firefighters who’d been polishing their engine came around for a better look.

“You got lucky this time, Mechanical.”

“Mechani-CAL,” I said slowly to correct her. “At least make an effort to say my name right, Karina. Gotta run. I’m sure these strapping young men can look after your injuries. See you around sometime.”

• • •

“I got you a present!” Vicky walked into the bunker in the side of the mountain where I was working, two weeks after the debacle with the Gulf Coasters, and announced herself.

“Hey, V,” I said. “You’re a sight for sore eyes and sore everything else! Gimme a minute or two to finish up this one. How’s work been treating you?”

One of the bots was powered up and my “helper” for the day. I’d tried doing the installations in the armor, but the connectors were too difficult to manipulate in the suit.

“It was a good week. One of my plans was put into motion and the results have been favorable. How’s the refit going?”

“We probably have about three hours left,” I answered. “And a crap ton of old plasma rifles. Got any idea what you’re going to do with them.”

She laughed and said. “I like your mercenary attitude, but they’re spoken for. I believe they’re being sold to a rebel group in Central Africa. Good thing I brought some reading material along with your really, really cool gift.”

“Quit teasing,” I chided her and watched as she set a couple of her trashy romance novels on the desk.

“You know you love it, Cal. I heard your tops on the Gulf Coaster’s Most Wanted list. Congrats.”

“It’s a dubious honor, at best. They’ve been on a tear lately and have caught most everyone else. Hell, I think Rodentia is number three and when he’s high up on someone’s list; they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel. More importantly, am I still on top of your Most Wanted list?”

“Maybe,” she said, playfully. “Then again, you might be on the bottom if I decide to be on top.”

I laughed and finished attaching the connectors. The panel would get sealed up later. There was flirting to be done.

“All right beautiful,” I said standing up and stretching, before closing the distance between us. “You have my undivided attention.”

She started to fish around in her bag before I stopped her. “I want a kiss first.”

“You’re just a big softy, aren’t you, Mr. Stringel?”

“Only around you,” I said and heard Bobby’s voice in the back of my head.
Damn, Cal, you got it bad!

After kissing for few minutes, she pushed me back. “If we keep going, you won’t have the energy to properly thank me for your gift later.”

“All right, whatcha got?”

She pulled out a thumbdrive and handed it to me. I connected it to the bunker’s system and opened it up. “Drawings? Let’s see what they...holy shit! Is that what I think it is?”