The Fall of Awesome

Chapter Two

Freedom'ssuit began the the hissing, clanking noises of disassembling. Rogerwas left standing in a damp muscle shirt and tight running shorts.Still in excellent shape despite the gray starting in his hair.Mechanical arms extended from the ceiling, picking the armor up andmoving away to hold it against the wall.

“Yousure you should unsuit? We still don't know what Ruler is up to.”She asked.

“UntilI do a full software re-write I won't be much use against him. Heknows the remote codes, which is pretty impressive. I’ll probablyhave to deactivate the whole subroutine until I get a better lock onit.”

“Theother teams are still locked in, I don't think-”

Rogerdropped into a chair and spun to face her. “You know as well as Ido that Kevin, if he feels like it, could deal with anything thatcomes up in the near future. He’ll have Awesome back on his feetshortly and while I hate to admit it, there probably isn't anythingthat could handle the two of them together. Ruler possibly excepted.”He added as he ran his hands through his hair. It glistened.“Linda...I just don't know if this was a good idea.”



Lindaturned back to the screen. Ruler was frozen, still holding the sticktoward Awesome who was already falling. A ballistic object ratherthan a hero. Falling. She had a flash of vertigo and closed her eyes.

Rogerwas looking at her closely. He had been there when Kevin left theteam. Well, when he became a reserve member and gave Linda thatcrystal. Kevin said any active member of the Squad could call him bytouching it but Roger had known it was for her, not the squad, he hadleft it behind. So she could ask for him to come back. Ask him toreturn to her. But she hadn't. The crystal went into the securecabinet and through countless emergencies no one had ever mentionedit. Awesome had been unconscious at the time and the Lightning Lorddistracted so it was possible only he and Linda had known it wasthere. Looking back that had been dangerous. At least Amanda shouldhave been told.

Nowshe had called him, but not to her. To the city which she was unableto defend. Against a threat that had defeated her, defeated all ofthem. No, it probably wasn't what he had hoped for when he had placedthat crystal in her hand but he knew what was expected of him.Expected by her.

“Ihaven't heard any explosions.” Linda said. “Perhaps he wasn'table to wake Awesome up.”

Rogersnorted. “You know that's pretty unlikely.” He keyed a panel thelounge appeared and on the display. Amanda was standing near thecouch looking down on Awesome who was still sleeping. He had moved,rolling onto his side. Roger's mouth curled into a frown. “I wishI’d stopped that from happening.”

Lindaknew what he meant. It had been clear Awesome was working on seducingAmanda. It was just a seduction - there wasn't any emotion. Not onhis part. Amanda, younger and star struck, had fallen for it despitecareful warnings from Linda and Roger. Perhaps too careful. Anyway,the damage was done now.


“Youdon't think she still...” Linda asked. She had thought Amanda welland truly over Awesome, but the look on her face as he lie there....

“Ithink you never forget your first.” Roger said. Linda took a breathto say something and he quickly continued “Not her first, first. Weboth read her file and she wasn't what you could call inexperienced.No, he was her first hero, and he’s one a lot of other heroes stilllook up to. To regular people he is…I don't know.”

“Asuperhero.” Linda said. She knew what he meant. She checked hervision. Still nothing. Was she normal now? At least she wouldn't fallfor Awesome's charms. That left other problems. “I need to go andtalk to him.”

Rogernodded. He was surprised she had stayed this long. But this wasn'tfacing down a tank or flying into a melting down reactor. That waseasy.

Amandalooked at the sleeping man and considered her options. Her brain hadgotten faster although she still wasn't a super genius or anything.She would never be able to build armor like Freedom’s. Franklycalculus gave her fits, but she always knew she had time to think ifshe took it.

Sheshould have inspected the light pole. She had been shocked before butthen the pole had still been connected to the power grid. LightningLord had once sent a bolt into a pole she was holding. It had movedvery fast but not so fast she didn't see it coming and let go.

Lookingat Awesome she remembered being in bed with him, awake after he hadfallen asleep. He didn't look different from other boys then. Youcould forget seeing bullets bounce off, or him soaring up into thesky. Now, looking at him, she could forget the drinking, finding himwith other women, the casual dismissing of what she had thought wasspecial.


Notvery special as it turned out. She still wondered, sometimes, if itwas just the sex. He was the first guy to get her to climax. Perhapsthat clouded her thinking. Afterwords, after a fair amount of cryingand a girl’s night out with Linda trawling dance clubs out ofcostume, she had sworn it would never cloud her thinking again. Butshe remembered watching him fall from the sky. There had been atinge, something deep in her gut that froze at the sight.

Soshe hadn't been thinking clearly when she rounded the corner andfound Ruler. She just grabbed the closet thing and tried to smash himwith it. Clearly she still had some issues to work out.

Soshe picked up a nearby lamp and dropped it on Awesome's head. Itdidn't break but the thunk was quite satisfying before it fell to thefloor. Awesome sat up.

“Ohgood,” she said, “you're awake.” She bent over, picked up thelamp and set it back on the table.

“Wha...”he said, looking blearily at the lamp.

“Youknocked it over.” He always liked the be responsible for thingsafter all. In a way it was even true, his head had let it fall to thefloor.

Heeyes were on her. Since he wasn't really awake there was anundisguised lust in them. She had thought it was something else whenshe had first seen it but now knew it was just a hunger. The coldfeeling in her stomach returned. Hunger was fine, what bothered herwas his filling it with whoever was handy.



“Youlook a little singed.” He said. His voice still thick with sleepbut getting better. Awareness was seeping into him but he stillhadn't managed to get his eyes up to her face. She looked down. Therewas some soot on her custom. She resisted the urge to wipe it off.

“What’sthe last thing you remember?” She asked. She took a few steps away.Keeping him clear of her personal space and giving him a chance tothink about the question.

“Wegot an alert.” He looked around the lounge. “Some villain flyingover the city. We took off and...” He stopped. “Was I out?”

Amandanodded.

“Howlong?”

“Acouple of hours. Linda was up and moving first.” Amanda decidedtelling Awesome Linda had lost her powers wasn't something she shoulddo. “You were hit with something else. Some guy named Kevin came-”She stopped. When she said Kevin's name something crossed Awesome'sface. It was only for a moment but it was clear he was now fullyawake. Awake and not very happy.

“Kevinwas here, huh? He's probably back off to whatever hole he draggedhimself off to when he left.” There was a note of swagger in hisvoice, but Amanda heard something else. Concern? Maybe even fear?

“No.”she said it as lightly as she could, closely watching Awesome whiletrying not to be obvious about it. “He said he was going to stickaround for a few days.”



Thebluster was gone. It was as close to a poker face she had ever seenhim wear but the stress in his body was clear.

“Where'sLinda?” He asked.

“Commandcenter last I checked, with Roger.”

“Andthe Lightning Lord?”

“Offseeing why our back up didn't show.” Amanda wondered why she wasanswering his questions like a well trained school girl but supposedhe had to know. “There’s something keeping anyone from enteringor exiting the Golden Guardian. It’s blocking communications aswell.”

Hestood. “I should go and help.” He started to move for the door.

“Ithink Linda wants you to stay, in case Ruler shows up again.”Amanda would have sworn he was trying to get out of the building.

“Shecan handle it.” He was still moving for the door.

Amandastarted to tell him about Linda losing her powers but again somethingstopped her. “At least let her know. Last she heard you were stillout.”

Hepaused in the door, then nodded and was gone.

Whothe hell was Kevin?


Lindaknocked on the door. There had been a time she would just walk in butthat was years ago now. She had left the amulet he had given her inthis room after the last time the chain had broken. He would havenoticed she wasn't wearing it. She remembered the feel of her hand inhis. Warm, soft. The caress of his finger. She wondered if she couldfeel more, now that her skin probably wouldn't stop bullets. But shehad always felt his touch.

Thedoor opened. He was in full view, his coat removed and tossed over achair, running his fingers over the book shelves looking at titles.He didn't turn to look at her.

“HelloLinda.” His voice was soft.

Shestepped inside. The door closed behind her. “Hello Kevin.” Shepaused, what to say? “You look...well you look just the same.”

“Sodo you, of course.” Linda had stopped aging when she was maroonedhere. Would she start again?

“I...it’sgood to have you back.” She said.

Heturned to look at her. His eyes met hers and she felt the resolvewhich had forced the crystal into the cabinet falter, begin to fail.“Why?” she asked, the word a gasp.

Kevinlooked back at the books. Few actually had writing on the binding shehad ever seen but he always grabbed the correct book for theinformation he was seeking. “You were there.” he finallyanswered. “It was going to come down to a choice, and how could Istay?”


CaptainAwesome walked into the Command Center. Roger was there, leaned overthe computer doing something nerdy in his sweaty clothes. He wasgetting gray. Soon he would have to hang it up. Awesome knew he couldcrush the man but Roger was brainy and sometimes that was good.Besides, Awesome was a hero. Heroes were supposed to look out for thelittle guys. Even the little guys with city leveling suits of armor.Even with the armor Awesome was sure he could take him, He was surehe could take anyone.

Well,almost anyone.

Rogerlooked up, “Good to see you up.”

“Where'sLinda?”

“Nothere.” Roger said. Awesome resisted the urge to snap at him. Rogerwasn't really a super hero after all, just a guy with a armored suit.He wasn't even in the suit right now.

“This,I can see. Where is she?”

“I’mnot really sure.”

Soshe was with him.Of course Roger wouldn't want to say.

“What’sLL’s status?” Roger seemed to bristle a little at this. Didn'tthe man even know his place?



“He’sfound the device creating the field on the Golden Guardian and isworking with the Guardians to disable it. He expects the field to bedown in less than ten minutes.”

Tenminutes. Awesome could be there in less time but it wouldn't speedthings up any. “What new demands as Ruler made?”

“None.”Roger paused. “I’m putting together a briefing and the LightningLord is going to bring some of the Guardians here for it. It would goa lot smoother if you let me finish up. Then I’ll have one lesstime to explain.”

Awesomewished he could break the little mans neck but it wasn't really anoption. “I am heading to my rooms, let me know when the LightningLord gets back.” He turned and headed out before Roger couldanswer.

Rogerwatched him go on the monitor. Awesome paused at the hallway that ledtowards Kevin's rooms, then continued to his own. Roger wasn'tsurprised. Awesome wouldn't try anything until he had the LightningLord to back him up. Not that it would help.

Amandahadn't used the Library much. She knew where the Library was, and asa full member had access.

Theroom was set up to look like a Victorian library, dark woods andcomfy looking chairs. Lots of little tables with lights on them.Bookshelves reaching so high there were little rolling ladders. Thebooks were real but they weren't why she had come.



Nearthe back was a data terminal. INDEX was accessible from here butAmanda figured all she had to do was look up Super Squad membersuntil she found Kevin. It didn't seem like it would be hard and shewasn't sure she wanted anyone to know she was digging. On a certainlevel of her mind she knew that was foolish. INDEX would know she hadbeen searching. So would anyone who was monitoring network access,but it seemed different if she was off on her own searching. Shecouldn't help the feeling there was something big she was missing.Too big to just ask about it.

Thecomplete history of the Squad was kept in the database, even stuffwhich had been erased from the memory of everyone else, or happenedwhere no one other than the Squad had seen. There was a surprisingamount and Amanda had to refocus her mind to the task at hand. Teamrosters.

TheSuper Squad had been the first official Super Team of Super City. TheGuardians were technically older, but they didn't officially formuntil after the Squad. This might have caused a rivalry, and did leadto some good natured joking. In fact the two teams were close and hadjoined forces often. It had been the Guardians Freedom had tried tocontact as he lifted off into the air to face Ruler, watchingIncredi-Girl tumble from the sky.

TheSquad was definitely considered the premium super team. When it hadbeen founded it had three of the biggest powers on the planet, withCaptain Awesome, Incredi-Girl, and Rapid. There was also Clockwork,an android, and Chameleon, a shape-shifter. Oddly, there were severalmentions of the team having six members, but only five were listed.

Shefound a blurry action photo of an unknown hero stopping a car flyingthrough the air towards a crowd of people with some sort of energy.The hero was dressed in a large cape but she couldn't see his face.The caption said the Squad had stopped a mechanical ant fromrampaging downtown but didn't identify the hero.


Themake up of the team changed. Clockwork was seriously damaged.Chameleon retired. Iron joined the team as it's first powered armorhero but he didn't last. Angel lived in the tower for a while butnever officially joined and moved to the Guardians. Avenger alsostayed for a while before returning to life as an independent. Hedidn't have any powers, just a very sharp mind and excellent physicalconditioning. In the end he fit better on the streets. Nova was alight manipulator and left the team after being shot fighting theSinister Seven The same battle Rapid had broken a leg. It was inNova's retirement speech she had her first clue – someone he calledThe Enchanter had stopped the bleeding and saved his life. There wasno mention of The Enchanter in the Squad membership database. TheSuper City database listed several heroes and villains who used thename, but none were associated with the Squad, or Nova.

“GreetingsSpeed-Girl.” INDEX's soft voice made Amanda jump. “Perhaps I canbe of assistance?”

“Jeez,INDEX, don't you ever knock?”

“TechnicallyI was already in the room so knocking would serve no purpose. Wouldyou like me to repeat my query?”

Amandafrowned. “Query...oh, do I need help.” she paused. “What makesyou think I would?”

“Ihave been monitoring your activity Speed-Girl. It is obvious you aresearching for information on Kevin. His powers and information on hisstatus with the team.”

Amandafrowned further. “Why do you call me Speed-Girl instead of Amandabut call him Kevin?”


“Tworeason's. One, you have never expressed a preference. Two, when Iwas initially programmed the members of the Squad were stillmaintaining secret identities.”

“Soif I asked, you would call me Amanda?”

“Ifyou prefer, to me it makes little difference.”

Amandasat back in the chair. “What about to Kevin? Can you pull up hisfile?”

“ToKevin names are very important. He was a founding members of theSuper Squad and has always been resistant to revealing personalinformation. The only other member with as little information on fileis Captain Awesome.”

Amandawas reading the screen. Kevin had used The Enchanter, The Sorcerer,Cloak, and a few others while with the Super Squad. Unlike mostheroes he never picked one and seemed content with whatever the lastperson had called him. His power was listed as “Magic,” which wasa little vague Other heroes listed their powers as “Magical.”Mystic, with the Guardians, had several magical items and a lot ofmagical knowledge, but Amanda had never seen her cast a spell.

Sheclicked on blurred images. There was a video that looked like areversed building collapse. Then she froze, replaying the tape.

TheSquad had been facing Abomination, less of a villain, more of anatural disaster. Awesome had just flown in, gotten hit, and takenout part of the base of the building. Awesome collected himself andflew in again, looking pissed. Abomination hit him again and hesmashed back into the same building. It started to fall over. Itlooked like Awesome pushed off to get back into the fight. Thebuilding started to come down as if deliberately imploded. Amandacould see people start to fall. Then the whole thing reversed. Thebuilding reassembled, and even the people flew back inside.


“INDEX,”Amanda asked “did Kevin just cause that building to not collapse?”

“Technicallythe footage is 15 years old so the use of the word 'just' isinaccurate. However at the time of the fight, correct.”