17- A Walk in the Night
As the Beta team started their trek down twenty-seventh Avenue, Imago called a halt. “Captain, if we’re going to help wounded, we all better carry first aid kits. We can get them at the station.”
Proton thought for exactly three seconds before replying. “Good idea. Team, let’s do it!” he commanded before running back to the police station.
Four minutes later, the Beta team exited the North Shore station, each member but Imago carrying two first aid kits. Imago carried an EMT’s gun bag. As the one with the most medical training (even though it was veterinary medicine), she knew what to do with the gear.
They didn’t go far before the team all heard groaning coming out of an alley. Shining his lights, Proton found an older lady in a pile of trash, bleeding. “First target, team!” he called out, going past the hurt lady to the far side of the alley. Shocker and Imago went to treat the victim, and Grey Man and Breaker warded the street side. It only took a couple of minutes for Imago to clean and bind the ladies wounds, and give her some painkillers.
“Can you make it to the police station, Miss?” Imago asked the lady.
“I think I can now. Thank you for helping me,” the lady said as she slowly stood up, with Imago’s assistance.
“Go straight there, okay? We’ll call ahead and you can shelter there,” Imago reassured the lady. Proton, hearing that over the general frequency, did just that.
Once the lady started walking north on 27th Ave, the team commenced walking south. “Quieter than I expected,” Shocker said as she looked around.
“It’s been almost two hours since we shut off Mayhem’s chaos signal. The only ones left should be the ones to really worry about. If a person got only a light dose, it should have worn off by now,” Proton said in reply, just before he heard the clicking noise of an automatic pistol’s slide being worked in the darkness ahead.
Proton got a fix on the location of the sound. “Hold up, everyone… ambush waiting. Let me take lead.” he said over the general frequency before moving up. He took five steps past the group when a shot rang out, followed by two more.
All three rounds struck Proton full in the chest, causing him to stagger a little, but not fall. “You had your turn! We’re next!” he shouted as he turned on his forward lights.
Caught in the lights is a big, bulky man wearing bloody remnants of clothing, holding an automatic pistol, squinting at the light. Shocker, Proton and Grey all fired at once, catching the bruiser in a crossfire of electric arcs and a stun bolt. The bruiser roared in pain, threw the gun away and charged at Proton, grabbing the comparatively thin man and lifting.
“Up you want? Up you’ll get!” Proton laughed as he hugged the big bruiser to him before activating his lift jets. At about ten feet up, he slowly spun so that the bruiser’s back was facing the group. “Imago- let him have one!”
Imago swiftly drew her pistol and fired, catching the bruiser square in his left butt cheek. The bruiser bellowed, clinging on to Proton, keeping his arms away from the jets. Proton settled slowly to the ground, but let the bruiser have a full power electric shock before landing. The bruiser fell to the asphalt, as limp as a half-empty bag of rice. “Another one down! Nice shooting, Imago!”
“Thank you, Captain. Looks like my range time has paid off. What shall we do with him?” Imago asked, looking at the unconscious fellow.
“Help me pick him up in my arms and I’ll fly him to the station. He did shoot at me three times,” Proton said as he started lifting the bruiser up, Grey and Breaker moving in to help. “Shocker, you’re in charge until I get back. Keep moving down twenty-seventh and I’ll catch up.”
“Understood, Captain!” Shocker said as Proton lifted off. “Let’s go, Beta team! Eyes open and ears sharp!” She took point, Imago and Breaker behind her, Grey bringing up the rear.
It was only a few minutes walk before they got to a major cross street, Palmerston Pike. The traffic lights were out, as was most power in that area. Looking both ways, to the west it was dark, because the Commonwealth River was a short distance away, but to the east, not only could they see a fire burning, the four could see several people lying in wait to catch whoever fled the burning building. No police or fire vehicles were in sight, and the fire had not yet taken full root in the building.
“I think I know where we’re heading next, team,” Shocker said before calling the Captain. “Captain Proton, head east on Palmerston Pike from twenty-seventh. Building on fire and a bunch of people lying in wait.”
“I’ll be there about the same time you will, Shocker. Approach with caution, I will enter the building from above and see if anyone needs rescue. I trust you with crowd control,” Proton replied.
“Sounds like a plan, Captain,” Shocker said before looking at her team. “Let’s do this.”
The foursome approached the fire on the same side of the street, Grey and Shocker on point, Breaker and Imago trailing. They approached with caution, which was a good thing because it was obvious (once they got close enough) that a bunch of about ten people were beating on four others, and taking manic glee doing so.
“Grey, let me get a shockwave in, then you start picking off the rioters. Can do?” Shocker asked.
“Ja,” was Grey’s usual terse response.
“Let’s close in until someone notices us before we open fire. Breaker, Imago, you check the victims when you can. Get them clear and see what you can do for them,” Shocker told her team.
“You got it, Shocker,” Breaker said while Imago just nodded.
“Let’s roll,” Shocker said as she took point, approaching slowly towards the crowd. So intent they were on their beating, Shocker got to point-blank range before someone noticed her and Grey’s approach. The man only had time to open his mouth before Shocker let out a blanketing stun field, catching the nearest six, who fell twitching to the street. Grey fired off some stun rounds, getting three. He did hit the fourth, but the fourth one glowed some when the bolt struck him. He looked up from his mauling.
“Fresh meat!” the man shouted as he started running towards Shocker and Grey. Grey fired three more stun rounds, which bounced off whatever force field the man had. Shocker let fly a lightning bolt, catching the man in the chest. The man stopped running upon impact and fell, twitching some. Shocker went right up to the man and touched him, applying an electric shock directly to him. He twitched once, then went still.
“Looks like he couldn’t handle the juice,” Shocker said, looking at the fallen. From inside the building came a noise like a large extinguisher going off, the smoke and flames diminishing quickly.
“That takes care of the fire,” Proton said. “Let me look closer to make sure it’s out and I’ll do a building sweep. How’s it going out there?”
“Ten rioters, four victims. Rioters are down, starting to look them over now. One had some sort of force field. It handled Grey’s bolts, but not one of mine.” Shocker reported before she downed a bottle of lemon juice.
“Okay, then. Bind the perps and treat the wounded. I’ll call the Lieutenant and see if some help can be sent. If you need an ambulance, say so,” Proton told Shocker.
“On it, Captain,” she reported before relaying instructions to the others. Imago and Breaker started checking the wounded, while Shocker took a handful of long strong cable ties out of a pouch. Passing some to Grey, she simply said, “Let’s get started.”
“Ja.”
It took about fifteen minutes to finish binding and treating the people there. Fortunately, the most serious wound they found is a possible broken arm, so Imago improvised a splint and bound the arm tightly. Proton arrived after doing a building check. “Everything looks okay inside, the fire didn’t get into the walls, just made a lot of smoke. Residents may return to their homes, and let’s get the perps arranged for pickup,” he said over his loudspeakers. Soon, he and Grey had all ten perps lined up against the wall of the building, hands bound in front of them, feet bound together as well.
“Which one repelled your bolts, Grey?” Proton asked. Grey pointed to the one, and Proton doubled the bindings. “Who knows what else he can do?”
“Good point, Proton. Shall we keep moving? I don’t want to stay still for long, I may get tired,” Shocker told her big brother.
“Good point. Anyone, if you feel you need a stimulant, see Imago. Let’s get back to Twenty-Seventh. North Shore Hospital should be a quarter-mile away, and we should check there,” Proton told the group. Seeing no dissent, he took the lead.
Turning onto Twenty-Seventh, they could see the hospital in the distance, the only building in the area with lights on. As they got to the entrance, about to speak with the guards, the lights flickered and dimmed, some going out.
“Shocker! You, Breaker and Grey find out what happened to the power. Imago, you’re with me. Let’s see what we can do inside,” Proton snapped out.
“Yes, Captain!” Shocker said before looking at Breaker. “You can trace where the generators are, yes?”
Breaker nodded. “I can, and have. This way!” he said as he led the way.
Captain Proton turned to the guard and explained that they were Rare Innovation’s Beta-team, two of the three have electrical abilities, and are willing to help restore power to the hospital. “You better come with me, Captain, and explain this to the duty administrator. Right now, we can use any help we can find!” the guard said, waving to the packed emergency room waiting area.
Shocker and Grey followed Breaker to the emergency generators, which were working fine, but they spotted someone at the generator control panel, trying to work it. “Grey…” Shocker said, pointing at the person at the panel.
Grey lifted his crossbow and fired a stun bolt, which hit the person square, dropping whoever it was to the ground. The three hustled up to look, Breaker checking out the panel while the other two checked out the person.
The person was a skinny young woman, clad in tattered clothing. Shocker could sense something unusual about the woman, her power senses giving her strange feelings. As Shocker checked her over, she spotted small sparks in the woman’s eyes. Thinking quickly, Shocker called up her electricity and carefully ‘fed’ the woman power. “I think she’s a meta with a dependency on electricity, and she sought out the nearest source to feed from,” she told Grey.
“Right you can be. Stun bolt work, but effects not expected be. Awake soon, she could,” Grey droned.
Breaker said from the control panel, “Everything is set here. Don’t know what it did, but the generators are running smooth now. Full power to the hospital.”
“Good to hear,” Shocker said as the woman started waking up.
“Need power… was running low…” she whispered.
“Easy there, we have you now. I’m feeding you electricity carefully. How long have you been dependent on electricity?” Shocker asked.
“Just today, after those two bright flashes. When the lights went out, it wasn’t long before I felt hungry. Batteries didn’t help. Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Shocker, deputy beta-team leader for Rare Innovations. Who are you, and how are you feeling?”
“Wanda Edston. I’m improving, I can feel it. I’m not hungry anymore. What do I do now?” she asked.
“Right now, let’s get you checked out inside. I’ll stay with you until you tell me to stop, okay? Let’s get you up,” Shocker said. She and Grey helped Wanda to her feet.
“I didn’t know there were such good people to be found in the city. North Shore is not the best part of town,” Wanda said as she was helped to the hospital.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Shocker asked.
“No, I’m not. I’m from Kallisaw, in the Western Territories. I wanted a career in performing arts, so I applied to the Sundowner School for Actors, got a position, and moved here at the start of semester. One thing the teachers are working hard with me on is my western accent. It’s not easy,” Wanda told Shocker.
“If I may ask, how did your clothes get shredded?” Breaker asked.
Wanda blushed bright under the lights of the admissions area. “I’d rather not say right now. I know WHAT happened, but not WHY. I have some ideas, but I’m not yet certain,” she said.
“That’s okay, Wanda. We won’t push,” Shocker said. “I would like to keep in touch with you, though.”
“I would like that, Shocker. This new electrical ability is going to be hard to manage,” Wanda said as they entered the emergency room. Shocker stayed with Wanda, while Breaker and Grey sought out Captain Proton.
The team wound up staying at the hospital until three in the morning, when the situation was declared under control and Doctor Sparkle released the team from duty. “Everyone, good work tonight, come in tomorrow night at six for a debriefing. Get some sleep, everyone!” Twilight said over their comm links.
“Yes, Doctor Sparkle!” Proton said before looking to his team. “Imago, take everyone home. I’ll fly and walk.”
“Let’s find a big enough mirror first, okay?” Imago asked.
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It’s been a while since there have been two chapters released in the same month, nice work
10553804
Three, if you count 'Horse Play'. I have a third ready to go here, waiting on the main line to catch up with me.
Either Covid released its grip on me long enough, or the need to write overcame the Covid for a while. Can't say which.
10554270
Take your time, I can wait
Nice update!
10595817
Thank you for saying so!