And now... the winner of the Fiction Contest: Lykos
Congratulations!!!
I was still coming into my powers, learning how fast I could fly, testing the limits of my strength, and figuring out why bizarre powers would just pop up out of nowhere and disappear again just as quickly. I had tried fighting against the Krampus and Phoenix things, but I really have trouble wrapping my head around supernatural bad guys. Give me something normal, something regular, something like a…
“ATTENTION B.A.D.G.E. Operatives! A giant Robot is crashing through Las Vegas and threatening the populace and buildings. Report immediately to Las Vegas and put that Robot DOWN!”
Yeah… Yeah, a giant robot was perfect.
I jumped up so fast that I forgot the Dr. Pepper entirely. Zooming off into the sky I was able to feel that rush of adrenaline you get when you fly, completely on your own with nothing between you and the ground. I love the feeling of the wind, the sound of the wind, the smell of sea salt…
Wait… crap.
I quickly turned around and headed back inland in the proper direction of Las Vegas – I hoped. I mean, I am not Google or anything. Within minutes I was approaching the city and it was clear where the chaos was. The Robot itself stood well above most of the buildings. Clouds of dust and debris rose up around the metal behemoth, while small dots swirled around it. As I got closer, the dots focused into other heroes, already attacking it.
Explosions and flares of light erupted all around the robot. Lightening streaked and load clangs reverberated across the city as the as the more physical heroes punched it directly. Every once in a while, the monstrosity would stop smashing buildings and blast a huge green laser-like beam at one of the supers. They would get blasted into the next county, and eventually coming flying back in to attack again.
I paused to decide what best I could do and decided to try a straight up assault. I flew in hard, fast, and bounced off the thing like it was made of rubber. Or maybe I was the rubber ball. Hard to tell when your head is ringing like a gong.
Over the next several hours, more and more heroes made their way to Las Vegas. I kept punching it from different angles, mostly with minimal effect. I am stupid strong, but nothing compared to this thing. I am not really even sure I was damaging, or even distracting, it.
Director Nova called me off the attack after several more hours. I think he was keeping an eye out for heroes that were losing their stamina, slowing down. He directed me towards search and rescue, using my hearing to locate buried survivors, my strength to lift the beams or concrete, and my flight to get them out of there to distant hospitals in other cities.
I was surprised Director Nova was sending us so far away to take survivors and refugees. Until on one of the flights back I dawned on me: Nova is afraid the robot won’t be stopped. It will keep destroying Las Vegas until nothing but rubble remained.
Anger fueled my speed back to Vegas and I began attacking with renewed vigor. It had been learned that the metallic beast had a countdown on it and we now knew it was going to blow if we couldn’t defeat it. Every single hero was now hitting as hard as they could. I don’t think anyone was letting up.
Nova wasn’t calling for search and rescue anymore. I guess it wouldn’t matter if the whole place was leveled, so he had us all on assault. I saw a group of heroes trying to push the robot over by all hitting it from one side. I thought maybe I could help by digging under the robot’s feet, causing it to loose its footing while they pushed, but I hit a water main. A blast of water to the face sent me spinning backwards.
Exhaustion finally took me down before the Robot did. B.A.D.G.E. officers grabbed while I was swinging feebly at the thing and dragged me away. They must have a way to drug invulnerable heroes because they next thing I knew I was waking up in a tent. The first thing I noticed was the silence. I assumed they must have removed me to another city, but I could still taste the dust in the air.
I sat up and wearily moved to the exit, stepping out from the tent flap into the desert sun. B.A.D.G.E. forces ran around, yelling into comms devices. I clicked on my own Comms and soon discovered that while I slept, the robot had been defeated.
The city was in ruins though. A lot of people were still missing. I reported for duty and began my work in search and rescue again. It was always gratifying to find someone alive, but heart-breaking to discover you were too late. I was going to need a lot of counselling I think after this one. Luckily B.A.D.G.E. has experts for us Supers to talk to just for cases like this.
Yeah, I am definitely going to need it.
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