The Fall of Awesome

Chapter One

Incredi-Girl,also known as Linda Smith, struggled up from unconsciousness Her mindwas filled with terror, of falling and falling. The ground rushed upto meet her and she jerked awake. She was in the lounge, back in theTower. A quick look around showed her everyone still in uniform, notmoving. What had been happening? Some new villain over Super City.They had gone out to confront him.

Thenshe noticed Freedom, Roger Sinclair. His suit was dark, somehow moreinanimate than normal. She moved to fly over and check the diagnosticpanels he had shown them and ended up on the floor. She couldn't fly.An echo of the dream came back...falling...but she dragged herself toher feet and stumbled over. The suit was fully isolated from theatmosphere. If he was trapped inside long enough without power hewould suffocate. She looked at the indicators, he was alive. Shereset the power relay and heard him start to power back up.


Shemade her way around the room, waking the other heroes except CaptainAwesome. He was snoring and nothing she could do would wake him. Shetried hitting him and it just hurt her hand. She looked at herknuckles with a frown. Nothing had hurt her hand before.

Witha beep Freedom's helmet swung open. He looked around. “Is he gone?”

Hermind was still fuzzy. “Who?” Then she remembered. Ruler. “Crap.”She looked around, trying to use her spectral vision to see throughthe walls. There were areas that were shielded and she wouldn’t beable to look through, but she should be able to see most of thebuil...

Nothing.The walls didn't turn transparent. She only saw the lounge. Freedomwas looking at her and something must have shown on her face. Hishelmet clanged shut as he rose. “Where is he? Which way?”

Lindarealized Freedom thought she had seen Ruler, but that wasn't it atall. “No, I don't see him, I can't...” she looked around. Therest of the team, except Awesome, was awake now and looking at her.“Ruler did something. I don't have my powers anymore.”

“What?!”This from Speed-Girl, Amanda Roland. The only two girls on the teamthey had become friends. The Lightning Lord, Mark Gibson, justcollapsed back onto the couch. He held a small box. Linda didn'trecognize it. He looked back up at her hopefully.

“Rulerhit me with this.” He held up the box. “I couldn't get it offuntil I completely shut down, then it just fell off. Maybe he hassomething like this on you?”


Therewas a brief search, but nothing was found. Linda's memory wasn'tclear and the only hero who was in position to see what happened wasstill snoring.

Lindaneeded them to stop talking about what was done to her and how. “Weneed to focus,” she said. “First, we need to re-establish controlof the Tower.” She turned to Speed-Girl. “Amanda, you handle thesearch. Grab a com and be careful. He must have had a plan. We don'tknow what the goal was. He certainly could have done worse thanbringing us back here, but we need to know if he's still here and thestatus of our perimeter.”

Speed-Girlnodded once and was gone with a strong breeze.

NextLinda turned to Freedom. “Roger, we have security issues. You needto get to the control room, new codes all around. See if you can getfootage of the battle, and of what else the Ruler did while he washere.”

Witha nod he headed out. Next was The Lightning Lord. He looked at herexpectantly.

“Withme and Awesome out you are our fastest flier. The Guardians were ourback up and they didn't show. Head over to the Gold Guardian and findout their status.”

Hehesitated. “That isn't leaving a whole lot in the Tower.”

“Wejust got our ass kicked” Linda answered. “Even if we were allhere I don't think it would matter if Ruler came back. Anything lessthan him Amanda and Roger will have to deal with. Try to bring somehelp though, if you can find any.” Linda didn't want to think aboutreasons why the Guardians hadn’t responded to their call for aid.It had happened before, and that time was bad. But the Ruler couldhave killed her and LL at least, and hadn't. He must be made ofdifferent stuff.


TheLightning Lord moved out, leaving Linda alone. The Super Squad hadnever suffered a defeat like this one, and certainly not in public.The two most famous, powerful and public members were disabled forthe time being. She glanced at Awesome. He had to have a real namebut never shared it, rejoicing in his crappy codename. And he wasstill snoring. Linda gave the sleeping hero another slap but itdidn't even interrupt the snore. Then she walked towards the commandcenter.

Freedomwas standing at the console, plugged into the computer system. Sheknew he didn't have to sit down when wearing the armor and the chairswouldn't hold the weight anyway. He was mumbling, the large displayssplit to show twenty different views. The data on most was movingfaster than she could read.

“Whathave you found out?” she asked, walking up behind him.

“Thisencounter is defying analysis.” The gently modulated tones ofINDEX, the Squad’s supercomputer answered. “There has been nocontact with Ruler since your battle, which was three hours ago. Theother Super City team’s communications dropped offline as yourbattle with Ruler was joined. Remote cameras show their buildings areundamaged, but no one has been able to enter or exit.”

“Hehad a plan,” Freedom said, “and it was a good one.” Some of thescreens changed. Linda saw Ruler, hovering there just as she had seenhim before. “He made his proclamation, then gave us some time toassemble. Since it was a city wide threat, all the licensed groupshad to at least return to their headquarters. He gives us some timeto get here, then appears within sight of the Tower, drawing us out.”

Lindawatched as Lightning Lord closed on Ruler in a frame by frameadvance. It reminded her of how the world looked when she forcedherself to speed up. She tried her vision again. Nothing.


Anotherscreen showed Ruler, the disabled members of the Super Squad floatingbehind him, as he punched in the unlock code for the Tower. Then itjumped ahead to so him holding Linda's head up to the retina scannerconcealed in the door frame of the lounge. “That doesn't eveninclude what he did to my suit, or to you and Awesome. This guy didhis homework.” He paused. “Was there any change after I left?”

Lindashook her head, “He is still sleeping like a frat boy on a Mondaymorning.” The screen showed Lightning Lord's bolt being absorbed bysomething. “Was that a force field?”

“Stillunder analysis.” INDEX answered. “The field does not conform toany of the three known types of defensive energy shielding. Furtherinput from Freedom's recorded sensor data suggests new theories maybe at work.” This caused Linda to look at Roger.

“Iwas able to get some readings on the field in certain spectra. Notreally all that great, but it was something. Anyway, when energyimpacted the field it actually got stronger and gained somecharacteristics of the energy which impacted it.” He paused. “IfLord hadn't already hit it a couple of times it's possible I wouldn’thave seen it. When I hit it I could see it just added my energy tothe field. Switching to sonics didn't make the field any stronger,but I don't know if it would have ever gotten through either.”

“Firstanalysis is that it would have penetrated. It was under Freedom'sattack that Ruler moved from his hovering position closer to groundlevel.” INDEX chimed in.

“Iam not so sure.” Linda said. She thought about the way Ruler hadlet her and LL live through their falls. “Roger, how much of a fallcan you take in that suit?”


“Iwouldn't want to fall more than ten stories or so, even then I wouldget beat up.”

INDEXchimed in “New information understood, recalculating.”

Freedomswiveled it's armored head around to look at her. The metal mask wasexpressionless but there was the feeling of a question.

“Rulerdidn't want to hurt us, just defeat us. He dropped down to force youlower so when he disabled your suit-”

“-Iwouldn't be hurt by the drop.” The mask rotated back to thescreens. “What sort of villain are we dealing with here? Thatdoesn't even make sense.”

“Analysisconfirmed.” INDEX spoke. “Ruler's range to Freedom did not alterduring the last 30 seconds of their encounter, but Freedom's altitudereduced by 40%. Since this was the only tactical change it is can beassumed with a high degree of probability the goal was to reduce thedistance of Freedom's fall when the attack was executed.”

“Thisdoes not make me feel better.” Roger said.

Ona different screen, Linda was pinwheeling her arms, falling. Sheshivered. Whatever had hit her had already done it's job. “Any ideawhat that was?”

“Stillrunning analysis on it, but guessing it was some sort of ray designedto counter the radiation fueling your powers. Frankly I didn't eventhink that sort of thing was possible.” There was an uncomfortablesilence. “I’ll figure out how to reverse it.”


“Thankyou, but the priority has to be Super City.” Linda tried to pushthe feeling of falling from her mind. “What’s the word on theother teams?”

“LightningLord is trying to get into the Golden Guardian right now.”

Therewas a burst of wind. Speed-Girl appeared. “The building is clear.No one is in the restricted areas other than us. The lower levelsdon't show any unusual activity. In fact, they’re pretty muchempty. I guess that’s unusual in itself.”

Rogerspoke up. “Ruler was seen to enter, but no one has seen him leave.The civilians are getting out of dodge.”

“Andthere's no chance he's down there?” Linda asked.

“Ofcourse there’s a chance.” Amanda answered. “I don't knoweveryone on sight and Ruler had his face hidden.”

“INDEX,”Roger said, “sound the evacuation alarm for the building, please.That will get the die-hards out. Monitor and make sure everyoneleaves.”

“Verywell.” the computer answered. An evacuation alarm was required inall Super City buildings, as well as a “Seek Shelter” alarm toget everyone to the bunkers. Being the superhuman capitol of theworld was sometimes hard on buildings. Inside the Super Squad'sheadquarters nothing changed. If the building needed evacuating, itwas expected they would already know all about it.



Onthe screen Ruler was pointing something at Awesome. The hero'strajectory was already falling off.

“Isthat a stick?” Amanda asked, squinting up at the screen.

“Affirmative.”INDEX said. “It appears to be made of ash. Ruler said a single wordafter targeting Captain Awesome but the microphones were unable todetect it.”

“Somagic.” Linda said.

“Thereis a 75% probability.” INDEX replied. “Relayed psychic attackcannot be ruled out.”

“Sureit can.” Linda said, walking over to one of the secure cabinets. Itopened to her thumb print revealing a clear crystal cradled in astand of thin wire.

“Areyou sure that's necessary,” Roger asked. “He creeps me out.”

“I’msure he feels the same way about you. Think about it, Ruler used atleast one magical or psychic item and we are short handed untilAwesome wakes up. Hell, he might be able to reverse whatever Rulerdid to him.” What happened to Linda was something else again. “Andhe is definitely a heavy hitter when he is around.”

“Hestill creeps me out.” was all Freedom replied.

Lindareached out, touched the crystal and said “We need you.” Thecrystal turned green. She took her hand away and closed the cabinet.


“Howlong do you think it will take for him to get here?” Roger asked.

“Notvery long at all.” The voice was calm, deep. There was somethingunder it, some current that touched the subliminal. Linda turned,Speed-Girl had alraedy moved, getting some distance and appearingnear Incredi-Girl. Freedom, plugged into INDEX, didn't move.

Kevindidn't have a superhero code name. People called him The Sorcerer orThe Magician. He didn't operate in Super City anymore, though he wastechnically a member of the Super Squad. It was how Linda had methim. Her eyes met his and she felt some of the fire return from longago.

“Ah,Speed-Girl. Amanda, isn't it?” He said. He was dressed in abusiness suit, red tie loose in front of an open collar. Tan coat andpants. He pulled one hand out of a pocket and offered it to her. “Iapologize for startling you, it was not my intention. Call me Kevin.”

Witha glance at Linda, who was just looking at him, Amanda walked overand shook his hand.

“JustKevin?”

“JustKevin is fine.” He turned to Freedom. “And how are you Roger?”

“Ihave had better days, to be honest.” He turned and the mask openedand folded away. “This might be bad, and to prove it I will say'Glad to see you, Kevin.'”

“Thenthis is serious.” Kevin replied, but he was looking at Linda. Shefelt oddly naked under those eyes. She always had. “Hello Linda.”He stepped over to her, gently taking her hand. He bent over it,giving it a small kiss on the back. Speed-Girl let out a snicker.“You are looking...unusually soft.”


“Soyou know?” Linda asked. He straightened, but didn't let her handdrop. She could have pulled away, he wasn't really holding it. Itjust sat there, fingers folded around each other.

“Fromthe moment you touched the crystal, but seeing you confirmed it.”He looked towards the lounge. “And...Awesome?”

Lindafollowed his gaze. He was looking at the wall, but it was the rightdirection. She tried to see through to the lounge, still nothing.

“He’ssleeping, as near as anyone can tell.” she replied. “INDEX, canyou bring up the footage again of Ruler engaging Awesome?

Thecenter part of the screen changed. Awesome swooping in. Ruler liftinghis left arm. The stick pointing at the approaching hero.

“Freezethere please, INDEX.” The image stopped moving. “Thank you.”Kevin was always polite to the AI, but then he was always polite toeveryone. His eyes narrowed a little, but he didn't move away fromLinda, and her hand still rested on his. She thought she could stillfeel the kiss. How long had it been?

Kevinnodded. “That appears to be a twig from Jezebel's Tree. They areuncommon, but not particularly rare. If you know where to get suchthings in any case. I know of perhaps a dozen examples but withoutcloser examination I can't know if this is one of them. With the useof a command word the sticks are capable of various minor magics.Mostly sleep or brief hallucinations.”



“Briefsleep?” Roger asked.

“Itvaries. Fairy tales suggest it could last hundreds of years, but thelongest documented sleep was four days. The needs of the body tend toforce the sleeper awake.”

“Sohow long will Awesome be out? Can you wake him?”

“Ican wake him.” Kevin was still looking at the screen. “I think Iwill be staying for a few days. I am assuming my rooms are stillhere?”

Freedom'sface got a little darker, but Linda answered. “Even though youprefer to live out of the tower, you are a member of the Squad. Yourrooms haven't been touched since you left.” Left me, she could haveadded. The words were in her mind and Kevin turned back to her. Hehad heard them, even if they weren't said. One of his fingers gentlybrushed hers, then he allowed their hands to part.

“Thankyou. I will see to...Awesome...and then go to my rooms. Given thethreat there are some things I can do.” He gave Linda anotherglance, Roger a nod, put his hands back in his pockets, and walkedout of the Command Center.

Amandalooked at Linda and raised an eyebrow but say anything.

“Ihope this was a good idea.” Roger said, looking out the door.

“Hehas never failed to do his job,” Linda said.



Rogerlooked back at her, his face unreadable. The silence was stiflingbetween them.

“I’mgoing to go and check on Awesome.” Amanda said, and left the roomonly as fast as Speed-Girl could.

Amandahad only been with the Super Squad for 9 months. She had beenoperating as an independent in Super City, which didn't really paythe bills, and writing for local webzines. She still did the writingand enjoyed it. There would be several articles about today'sexcitement, written later and at super speed.

Eventhough she was the newest member of the team she wasn't blind. Infact, she generally saw more than most people, even Incredi-Girl andAwesome. She couldn't see through walls but she paid attention towhat happened in front of her.

Amanda’swas a progressive power. She hadn't suddenly become fast one day. Shehad done track, ever since there was track for her to do. Before thatall she did was run. She ran everywhere. It drove her mother crazy.When she started racing she was always faster and she didn't get astired as the other girls. As time went on her margin of victorystarted getting larger and larger. She was different, and like alldifferent kids it meant she attracted attention. A bully namedEd...something...she didn't remember anymore. He and his friends hadtried to catch her, probably to scare her and take her lunch money.Like theycould catch her.

Afterthat Amanda allowed herself to slow a little. The other girls caughtup. She tried to look tired after a run. Never the first to recoverher breath, but never the last either. When she was alone she wouldlet herself go.


Itwasn't just running. The whole world seemed to be slowing down toher. It was hard to pay attention in school. When every second seemedlike four or five even good lecturers couldn't hold her attention.She learned to move more slowly, adjusting to the world around her.Inside she just kept getting faster.

Byhigh school she was letting other girls beat her. Never by much andnot all the time. Her body had grown, filled out a little. Now shegot other kinds of attention. She never filled out like Linda, whofor an alien was simply too beautiful. That was part of Linda’sproblem, she was simply too beautiful. It made her unapproachable.Amanda was attractive without the touch of the otherworldly. Hertrack skills were good enough to get her the scholarship heracademics couldn't. High school boys were replaced with college boys,their fumbling more confident but no more effective. She was stuck onfast forward and even the fast boys moved through molasses.

Sheearned a little money writing, and enjoyed writing super heroarticles. They held her interest for obvious reasons. Stories aboutsaving the world, saving people, even saving kittens in trees. Aftercollege making the move to Super City seemed natural. Once here shestarted off as an independent. It was just like an actor who wantedto make it into the big time went to Hollywood. Superpowers whowanted to be more than local talent went to Super City. It was themajor leagues.

Amandawasn't sure she knew what she was doing. She had never stopped acrime in her life. Lucky for her Super City, despite the residentteams and number of independents, still had a lot of miner streetcrime. The teams dealt with major threats. Those threats generallyencouraged street crime to gain resources and develop followers. Itwas from arrests of street thugs most new powered villains were firstdiscovered.



Aftera couple of weeks Amanda had made a name for herself as Speed-Girl.She was still getting faster, much faster now she was pushing herselfall the time. She could see bullets. The super teams were starting tonotice her. She had a regular article online earning her enough tolive on. One night she was tying up a couple burglers whenIncredi-Girl lowered from the sky like an angel and asked if shewould like to work with the Super Squad for a couple of assignments,‘just to try it out.’

Howcould Amanda say no? She agreed. Looking back, she was probably toostarry eyed at the start. This was the Super Squad, the premieresuper team of Super City. With two major super powers in CaptainAwesome and Incredi-Girl. Adding in Lightning Lord and Freedom, theywere the class of the world.

Theyhadn't had a pure speedster since Rapid retired. He broke some bonesin the final battle with the Sinister Seven and seemed to have lostsomething after he recovered. Amanda had been young then, pre-teen.Freedom had been Squad’s rookie then, the armor he wore then a toycompared to the current version.

Hermissions went well. She was given a probationary membership. AndCaptain Awesome paid attention to her.

Everyoneknew Captain Awesome. The story was he came from another star butafter nine months around both him and Linda, Amanda was starting tohave doubts. In fact, her opinion of Awesome had changed a lot. Afterall the boys in high school and college the first time Awesome smiledat her she thought he was the first real man.

God,she had been a fool.

Ithad been good, though. Far better than any other lover she had everhad. It wasn't just that he was in much better shape, he could almostmove at her speed. She remembered the concerned looks from Linda, andsome from Roger. The Lightning Lord just smiled at Awesome, two peesin a pod. It wasn't long before Awesome lost interest in her andmoved on to other women. Variety was the name of the game for him andit took Amanda's heart a while to adjust. But it had adjusted, hervision had cleared. She knew that Awesome was just another frat boy,smelling of beer and more excited about to telling his pals he nailedthe track girl than actually doing it.


Amandaentered the lounge. Kevin was standing there, looking down atAwesome. Giving real names was a requirement for the Super Squad,Awesome had avoided it claiming his real name unpronounceable byearthly tongues. She had seen him naked and knew he was just asearthly as the rest of them. So everyone had to call him Awesome.Frat boy.

“Heis something of an ass, isn't he?” Kevin asked without looking upor turning to face her. “And he certainly could have treated youbetter.”

“Howdid you...” she stopped. She really didn't know anything about thisguy. Clearly he was one of the big powers. “Will he be okay?”Amanda felt a pang of concern and crushed it.

Kevinturned and looked at her. Speed-Girl was small, lean. She was morefit looking than Linda with smaller breasts and hips. Her costumeshowed off what she had even while covering her entire body. She hadfelt self-conscious the first few days in it, then adjusted. UnderKevin's gaze she felt naked and wanted to cover up. She tried not tosigh with relief when he turned back to the hero on the couch.

“Technicallyhe was never in any danger. The fall could not hurt him and the sleepwould not persist so long as for him to come to harm because of it.If his will were stronger he would have already shaken it off. Linda,I think, would have. Roger certainly.” Kevin shook his head. “Butof course you mean have I reversed whatever was done to him. Theanswer to that is yes. This is a natural sleep you would be able towake him from at any time. I allowed it to continue so I would begone when he wakes.” The gaze turned back to Amanda but it wassofter and didn't unnerve her as it had before. “He and I also havea history. I would rather he have some time to adjust before we faceeach other.”


Amandanodded. Kevin stayed for another few moments, than walked from theroom. Amanda watched him go, the turned back to the sleeping hero.