“Stupid altered reality!” Still, she threw. They met Steelfist’s tiny glasses and his spectacles went flying.
“YA STUPID DAME!” He bellowed and came down hard to smash Chase.
Der Engle pulled Chase aside just in time and the fist plowed into pavement and stuck.
Zombie Ex Girlfriend grabbed Steelfist by the other arm and yanked him out of the ground as she flipped him over and slammed him, face first, into the pavement.
Silver Paladin took advantage of the enemy’s inglorious position and blasted him with a powerful beam of light. Steelfist crashed through a building, across a street, into the mast of a ship, and down into the harbor.
Chase and the others paused when they saw this and waited a moment. Finally, Painless said, “I doubt someone with a solid steel fist would float. He’s a goner.”
Silver Paladin came up. “The fight against Rutkowski and his men isn’t going so well.”
Suddenly, Der Engle yelled, “What the hell!” He stumbled back as his color drained.
Chase huffed, “the reality altering is still happening.”
Silver Paladin asked, “what do we do now?”
“We move. We have to help them bring Rutkowski down. It’s a long way across this city. We have to move fast or be sucked into this reality.”
The heroes launched themselves into the streets and over the buildings. All were heading toward the smoke and fires of the fight on the north side of town.
Private Eye Peyton punched two goons in the face and then pulled his gun and fired, nailing another in the leg.
Heroes were fighting against not just one man, but Rutkowski’s entire regiment of mobsters.
Midgardsomr punched the ground, creating giant potholes in the pavement. Rutkowski was quick enough to evade being smashed.
“GET OVER HERE, YOU STUPID LITTLE MORTAL!” Midgard yelled.
Five goons rushed in, each firing Tommy Guns. Heroes dodged and protected themselves from the bullets.
Rutkowski laughed, “Nice try, capes. You ain’t got nuth’n on my crew. Surrender.”
“Like hell!” Skelanimal rushed between Midgard and the goons. He dodged bullets and grabbed one Tommy gun. He used it like a bat to slam into the side of another mobster and then used his fist to gut-punch a third. Lumpsum dashed over him and clotheslined the last two mobsters.
“Take that!” Lumpsum stomped one gun, destroying it.
Private Eye Peyton grabbed his walkie talkie, “heroes, focus on Rutkowski. His goons are endless. Cut the head off the snake…” he saw that glare from Midgard. “Rutkowski, not the giant scary monster fighting with us.”
Heroes poured over the buildings and converged on the seemingly unstoppable crime boss.
Rutkowski merely laughed and his eyes created a burst of white light that spread over the incoming heroes. People rained down, falling to the ground and curling up on the streets. Their color instantly drained, their clothing changed. The mob boss laughed, “welcome to my world, capes.”
Peyton saw even Midgardsomr was colorless and shrinking down to a human size. No one had a reason to fight. They didn’t know why they were even here.
Rutkowski strolled up to Peyton. “See, it’s over. You and I, we both love this time. This here reality, it was the best and can be again. Booze, jazz, and flappers.”
Peyton nodded. “Your right, I loved this time. It was my favorite era. The curse of living for so long means fewer and fewer people are around to remember what we remember, to enjoy what we enjoyed. Life is too damned fast now.”
“See. Now yer talk’n.” Rutkowski grabbed him around the shoulders and walked him away from the suffering heroes. “Give me a few days. This world will be mine. You join my gang, and it’ll be swinging speakeasies every night.”
Peyton nodded, “sure. It’ll be the world I once loved. But, this world ain’t mine to decide how it works, and it sure ain’t yours.” There was a loud bang and Rutkowski stumbled away. Peyton pulled his gun from where he had tucked it at his side. The crime boss held his ribs where he had been shot.
“You stupid gumshoe. I offer you the world and this is what ya repay me with. KILL HIM!”
Peyton ran, ducking as the guns fired from the goons still around the parameter. He dove behind several of the changing heroes and found the man he wanted. “Please be the one.” He grabbed the man’s hands and pulled him back to reality.
“What the!? What just happened to me?” The man asked.
“No time. You that wizard guy?”
“Yes, The Wizard...HEY, SOMEONE’S SHOOTING!” He ducked when bullets flew past.
“Just help me out. I need someone to give my power a kick in the pants. Think you can do it?”
“I’ll certainly try.”
Peyton grabbed his hands again and when The Wizard gave him a signal, he focused his powers with all his strength. A fresh wave of energy exploded out and this time even the color came back to the heroes. Their clothing remained changed, but they were all instantly aware of their real life.
“Don’t just stand there, STOP RUTKOWSKI!”
Chase picked herself up off the ground and looked to see that the others with her were in the same state.
“What just happened to me?” Silver Paladin asked.
“We were all changing to this reality. I know the feeling.” She answered.
Der Engle ran by, “I hear fighting!”
They gathered themselves and dashed around a corner. Skidding to a stop, they found all the goons on the ground and Rutkowski being held by a furious man in a green suit.
Moments later, the local police arrived with a herd of ambulances. They strapped Rutkowski to a stretcher, heading for the nearest hospital to remove the bullet. “This aint over ya flatfoots! You can’t hold Rutkowski. I’ll be back on the streets in no time. Nuthin has changed, I’LL STILL WIN!”
Chase spoke with Silver Paladin and Hotwings, “Get the heroes out of this city. The reality is still altered, and I don’t want any more problems.”
Silver asked, “what about Gar?”
Peyton came over. “Chase and I’ll get him. I know where Rutkowski keeps his favorite hostages.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll get Gar and get back to BADGE.”
Hotwings and Silver Paladin left to gather the heroes.
I walked with her into the belly of the beast. Well, maybe not so dramatic. But this place stunk of old bathtub gin and cigars.
“You’re narrating yourself again.” Chase said.
“Sorry, force of habit. Besides, it just feels right.”
“You can keep narrating to your strange little heart’s content. I want Gar.”
I led her through the maze of rooms and tunnels. This place looked innocent, but it held lots of hiding places. It was at the end of a dark hall, inside a dimly lit room, that we found a strange statue.
“Can you shut up long enough to see if you can change him back?”
“Change him? Look, dollface…” a blade was aimed at my throat by this vixen, and she didn’t like me calling her a vixen neither. “Sorry, but I ain’t no sculptor.”
“He isn’t a statue. Well, he is, but he lives. It’s a long story. Just change him back.”
I wasn’t sure if this dame was daft...ooh, there’s that blade again. Taking hold of the stone hands on this thing, I used my powers. You couldn’t have paid for better shock treatment than what happened next. That statue grew in size and then lifted its wings and said thank you. Yes, I almost wet myself.
“Chase, why is he talking like that?” The statue asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. Gar, are you okay?”
He stretched his wings and rolled his shoulders. “I think so. What happened?”
“I’ll explain later. We both need to get out of here.”
They followed me back out of this maze, that statue staring at me the whole time. We got through town and back to the airstrip where a BADGE airplane waited.
“Why are we getting into an airplane?” the statue asked.
Chase shoved him toward the door. “Just get in, it’ll be a shuttle soon enough.”
Finally, it was her and I. A fog blowing across the tarmac, a soft piano playing in the background...who was playing is anyone’s guess.
“So, when will this world turn back into a modern city?” She asked.
“Soon enough. I’ll be here to help protect it. Glad you and BADGE were around though, it was a tough job.”
She smiled in a way that I liked. “Well, even though you were annoying, you saved us. So, I suppose you are capable.”
“I’ll take that as a high compliment from you. I just hope we get to work together someday. I like you, you have moxy.”
She stepped up the ramp to the plan. “Don’t count on it. But, if you need us, you can…”
“I know how to reach you, I just dial N for Nova.”
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