Heroes Rising Fiction: A Hollywood Ending Part 8

 Justin held his gun at the ready as he spoke to the police chief. “Get the civilians out of here, now!”

She watched while dozens of black-clad mercenaries traveled down on ropes from the hovering fleet of enemy helicopters. “I can have the force here…”

“No, get the civilians away and keep your people at bay. These mercenaries are dangerous and won’t
think twice about killing everyone.”

She ran, shoving citizens. Justin joined Supernatural and Strength as they stared down Arx.

Arx said, “so, here’s how it’s going to go down. Either these two come with me willingly, or I’ll use my powers to take them and probably do a lot of damage to this nice little city.”

Strength said, “you want a fight? I’LL GIVE YOU A FIGHT!” Just as he lunged for Arx, Supernatural held him at bay.

“Wait. Do you not feel it? His power, the morphons in him.”

Strength paused as he absorbed this sensation. “Yes. The power in you, it is unnatural. It comes from the others. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?”

“Your friends are the guests of my employer. You can be our guest too.” He held out his hand in invitation. Several dozen mercenaries joined him, holding various weapons at the ready.

Supernatural answered, “we will not join you. Furthermore, we will get our friends back and remove what which you have stolen.”

“So, it’s a fight. Sadly, you’ll lose. Perhaps you will be a more interesting fight than the others. They were so easily taken, I…” A two-ton barbell crashed into Arx and sent him flying backward through his mercenaries.

Gar came out, another massive barbell in his hands. “That jerk talks too much.”

Arx, coughing as he caught his breath, yelled, “GET THEM!”

The Mercenaries went into action. They focused on Supernatural first, firing strange golden, glowing nets at him. Gar intercepted the nets with his wings and then dashed at the soldiers, punching them in the face.

Supernatural released a broad, white beam of light that struck several soldiers just as another net hit him and his wings were wrapped around his body, and he fell to the ground. The nearest mercenaries were almost upon him when laser blasts hit their helmets and they fell back. Justin stepped up and defended Supernatural, who struggled to remove the net.

Gar punched and kicked at the soldiers. They fired weapons at him, but he was impervious to most of what they had. One came running with strange tech hammer that had lights and controls on it. He swung it to smash into Gar’s head when Master of Strength caught the hammer and wrenched it out of the man’s hand. Strength then swung it around and cracked the helmets of two soldiers with one blow.

“Good one!” Gar said and then spun around, using his wings like blades to knock back the mercenaries.

Strength dodged the wing spin and then slid under Gar and used the element of surprise to grab a man by his legs and yank him down. With a swift punch, he broke the helmet and part of the man’s face.

Five more of these mercenaries came running up with those electrified hammers. They had on armor that appeared to be the same style of technology.

Strength got to his feet and punched, but the armor reflected his power, causing him to fly back. However, Gar caught him, twisted around, and threw him into the air. Strength came down with a hard slam of his fists right into the shoulders of two men, breaking their bodies.

Gar held out his arms and wings and dashed through the soldiers, clothes lining several on the way and allowing those electric hammers to crash into him without damage. Finally, he and Strength were back to back, fighting with the same gusto they had been competing against one another.

“It is good I know your moves, my stone friend.”

“I guess the training is paying off.” Gar answered and then kicked a man in the crotch so hard that he flew into the air.

Strength roared, “THIS IS FUN!”

***

Justin fired over and over, fighting off these soldiers. He lost ground quickly and that net still trapped Supernatural.

“I could use some help!” He said to his earpiece.

The BADGE shuttle lifted and turned, laser turrets on the bottom opened up and blasted entire sections of the soldiers.

“HA! Take that you…”

A missile came from the overhead helicopter and the BADGE shuttle exploded. Justin flew through the air, his eyes filled with fire and the bodies of mercenaries raining down.

Arx stood over Supernatural with his hands held out, a bubble of energy protecting him. “Nice try, BADGE, but this is my show now.”

“I don’t think so.” Supernatural stated and then shoved the net away from him. He released a beam of white light and hit Arx in the face. The villain stumbled back, blinded by the power.

Supernatural got to his feet and punched Arx in the chest with a fist, and then twisted around and kicked him in the gut.

Arx fell onto his rear. “You overgrown pigeon!” He launched directly into flight at his opponent.

Supernatural flew straight up, dodging the attack. Sailing right over a building, Supernatural avoided several laser blasts from the helicopters as he landed on the roof. He moved left and right to keep from being hit and then used both hands to throw blasts of energy straight up, slicing the blades from the vehicles. Both helicopters spun out of control and crashed into the alleys.

Just as Supernatural was about to examine the damage below, Arx landed in front of him. “You think I’d go down that easily?” Arx held up his arms and various parts of the destroyed helicopters came flying up, joining into a weapon for him.

Supernatural readied a blast of energy, but was hit by a newly created mechanical arm. Crashing through a water tower, he careened off the roof and down a street below. A new model corvette broke his fall. Arx slammed into the ground next to him, massive tech arms attached to his body. He swung down to crush Supernatural, but the winged Master got away just in time, allowing Arx to finish demolishing the sport car.

Supernatural formed a ball of light and threw it at Arx. It destroyed the massive right mechanical arm. “Enough of this, human. You may have our powers, but you don’t know how to use them.”

Arx yelled and thrust his remaining mechanical arm at Supernatural. The Master dodged this and the arm crashed into the pavement, shattering the amalgamation of broken parts. With a primal scream, Arx yelled, “I CAN PLAY ANY PART! TRY THIS!” He used a blast of mental powers.

Supernatural blocked the blast by covering himself with his wings. He spread them out, dissipating the energy. “Not enough. Give up, you don’t stand a chance.” He flicked his wrist, and a blast of light hit Arx and threw him through a newspaper stand.

Arx lay there, tattered papers flying all around him. A New York Today paper hit him in the face and he peeled it off. Before throwing it away, he saw the headline. Role of Arx in newest movie recast. “They can’t replace me so quickly! I am Arx... THE ARX... I defined that role!”

“Time to give up.” Supernatural strolled toward him.

Arx threw the paper away, air cutting between his teeth. “Want to see my power? Fine!” He slapped his hands onto the pavement and a green energy crawled over him. Supernatural stumbled and then fell back as the earth rolled and rumbled. Waves grew quickly, rippling out from Arx like a stone thrown into a pond. Buildings rocked and rolled, cars smashed into each other, hotels fell to the ground, trees crashed into walls. The entire island rocked with the unmitigated power of the Earth.