The Fall of Awesome

Chapter Four

Lindawalked through the garden. Following Kevin’s instructions she hadkept to the sunny side of the building. The sun was warm, whichwasn’t new but she hadn’t thought about before. Would things hurtnow…would they feel more intense? Memories of her life before beingtrapped on this Earth were fading. A slightly different color sun,the gravity was different. She couldn’t fly back home of course.Laughing faces. There had been a man there too, but when she tried toremember him all she saw was Kevin.

Sheclosed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun. The weight of theamulet was a pressure on her chest. She realized she had missed it.Having it back around her neck was a comfort. Having Kevin was backwas a comfort too, she hadn’t realized how much she missed himuntil she had held him again. Looking back allowing him to leave hadbeen a mistake, basically condoning Awesome. She had been tooconfused, unfocused, after the battle with the Seven then dealingwith what almost happened in the control room. When Kevin and Rogertalked over what to do afterward she hadn’t taken part. Sheremembered the crystal, a feeling that he shouldn’t be leaving.Then he was gone.

Shehadn’t believed it was real. Simple denial. When she had beenmarooned here, was it twenty years ago already? She had the samereaction. It was a mistake. Her people would realize she had beenleft behind and bring her home. Kevin would come back. He would seehow she had been left behind again and would come back for her. Thenshe realized he wasn’t coming back. He had left. She knew thereasons. Even though she hadn’t been playing enough attention atthe time they seeped into her mind. She understood them, almostagreed with them, but still felt abandoned. Again. For a while shehad hated Kevin.


Butshe had still worn the amulet. Had still gone looking for it when theMechanic blasted her with something and the chain snapped.

Sheremembered when she had met Kevin. There was something about him.Everyone was treating her…oddly. She still didn’t understand allof it. She had learned about beauty and how it affected others. Sheknew how people were affected by her. They seemed shy, standoffish,but not Kevin. He treated her just as he treated everyone else - as aperson. A human being. The friendship was natural.

Whenshe was lonely and needed to talk he had been there. He helped herlearn to disguise herself so she could go into Super City and seewhat she was defending. It was longer before she noticed how peopletreated him. There was similarity to how they treated her. The samedistance. He wasn’t beautiful, not as she understood it but therewas something about him. A power seemed to lurk just under thesurface. She wondered if people on the street noticed it when theywalked by. She did notice how rarely Kevin appeared in news, how lowof a profile he tended to keep. She asked once, after they becamelovers and were tangled in the sheets of her bed. He had shrugged,saying he preferred it that way. He didn’t want or need theattention. It made sense to her at the time. She wasn’t sure shewanted the attention but she didn’t have his ability to fade intothe background.

Shewasn’t sure how or when their friendship had become more. It seemednatural, just something that was supposed to be. She realized she’dbeen happy. Years after he left she’d had to admit to herself she’dbeen dependent on him. He had been a crutch for her to deal withworld. A filter for her to view it through. She was a better personwith him gone though she missed him. She had taken the amulet back toKevin’s old rooms. They still smelled of him. Then she closed thedoor and went back to living her life.



Sheopened her eyes wondering how the briefing was going. Then somethingexploded next to her.

Freedomopened a new computer window on the screen showing a graphic of SuperCity with several yellow and red flags. “Even though we didn’thear anything from Ruler until earlier today I have been able totrack down independent level activity in the last month which pointsto his being around.” The yellow flags blinked, “Rumors of avillain quickly or easily defeating a hero without supportingevidence or confirmation from the hero,” the red flags flashed,“and attacks where we have a hero who definitely battled and lostto a new villain within a minute of the hero arriving on scene.

“Thosearen’t necessarily Ruler.” Mystic pointed out. She had seatedherself close Freedom and across from Kevin. Angel sat next to her,while Awesome and LL were at the far end. LL looked uncomfortable.The chair between Kevin and Freedom, closest to the door, was empty.Speed-Girl sat on the other side of Kevin leaving two empty chairsbefore LL.

“No,”Freedom said, “but look at last month.” The flags changed. Therewere a lot fewer. “Someone significantly more powerful moved intotown but only met independents. They network some but rarely talkabout how badly they just got their ass kicked so we missed the datashift until I went digging for it.”

“Soreally, this is pretty standard,” LL said, throwing a glance towhere Awesome was sitting. “He moves in, does some low level stuff,then makes a big move.”

“Notreally.” Freedom said. “One, I can’t find any referenceanywhere of his being fought off. No independent has claimed a winagainst a new super villain in the last three weeks. The one fromfour weeks ago was against female with spider powers. She got awaybut definitely wasn’t Ruler. Also, in several of the incidents,”Relevant flags of both colors flashed. “Not only was the villainjust standing around after triggering the alarm he didn’t takeanything once he’d dealt with the hero.”


“Thatdoesn’t even make sense.” Awesome snorted. “What sort ofvillain doesn’t steal anything?”

“Thekind that is after something else.” Speed-Girl answered. “So,what ishe after instead?”

“Wedon’t know. We can’t, until he asks for something. I do havesomething else.” Freedom opened another display window showingNorth America. The yellow and red flags reappeared. “This is thefrequency of hero/villain encounters where the hero is defeated inthe first minute of contact using data from one year ago. Now watchas I roll the data forward to the current date.” The pattern offlags changed. It was quickly apparent there was a group of flagsmoving around the country. It ended at Super City. “I haven’t hadtime to do much more than this. I did request information from theareas affected before us but there is a clear pattern.”

“Whoa.”Speed-girl said, leaning forward. “How come no one saw thisbefore?”

“Co-ordinationof super teams, even individual heros is spotty at best.” Kevinanswered. “Most prefer to handle their own affairs and only callfor help when clearly outclassed. Ruler didn’t stay in one place…”he paused, looking off. “Speed-girl, you need to get to the westgarden balcony right now.” She was gone. Kevin stood, heading forthe door. “Incredi-girl,” he said. Freedom felt a chill down hisback.

Explosionshave a life of their own. They are born, live and grow, then fade anddie. The Bombardier loved all explosions they way some people lovedall children or all dogs. He especially loved the ones he createdhimself.


Heheard Ruler’s claim on Super City and remembered thinking Ruler wasa stupid name. He had watched, in some awe, as Ruler easily defeatedthe Super Squad. He watched in glee when the news services reportedthe other super teams were trapped in their headquarters. The streetswere turning wild as villains saw their chance and the independentheroes moved to counter them. Banks, reserves, art galleries, theywere either under siege or had managed a complete lock down beforevillains could reach them.

Bombardierdidn’t care about that sort of thing. He just wanted to watch theexplosions. There had been several but not enough. There were neverenough. He added some of his own to the city, watching them born,grow and die. Sometimes he started whole families, parents makingtheir own children, generation leading to explosive generation.

Thenhe had seen it. The Tower. The home of the Super Squad. It wasn’tsurrounded by the field that enclosed the Hall or the GoldenGuardian. He could plant explosions there to grow, like plantingseeds of ivy.

Theflight pack he had just stolen wasn’t the best but it wascompletely quiet. He particularly liked this feature since it allowedhim to hear the life roar of explosions better. It wasn’t fast, soit took him a little while to gain altitude and reach the Tower. Hecircled it, even with the terrace garden near the roof. He picturingin his mind how the explosions could wrap around, growing up thesides.

Incredi-girl!She was standing in the garden, her head back, eyes closed. She wassupposed to be gone! Defeated! Any second she would open her eyes andsee him. He didn’t have enough speed to get away, not from her. Shewould see him and catch him, and there would be punching. He hatedthe punching. Then jail. He really didn’t like jail. They didn’tlet him see an explosion, let alone give birth to one himself. He hadto slow her down. He had to give himself time to get away. He pulledone of his seeds, a large one, set the fuse, and threw it. Then heturned to flee.


Speed-girlwas in the garden instantly. The explosion had already started,growing like a flower near the far edge of the terrace where itcurved around the building. Whatever the explosive was, it was fast.Incredi-Girl was about halfway between her and the blast, a littlecloser to Speed-girl but not much. Normally Incredi-Girl was fast.Not as fast as Speed-girl but faster than she was moving now. Shewasn’t going to get out of the way before the blast reached her.Normally that wouldn’t even be a problem since it was unlikely shewould be hurt.

Butthat was before.

Speed-girlhad pulled people out of explosions before. You had to get betweenthem and the blast then work with their center of mass. If you justgrabbed an arm and pulled the arm would come right off. People werefragile and you had to be careful but it was possible. Just for amoment after coming through the door she stood frozen, unsure of whatto do. When she started moving again, less than an eyeblink later,she realized there wasn’t enough time to safely get Incredi-Girlout of the blast area. Speed-girl was going to watch her friend, oneof the greatest heroes on the planet, die.

Sheremembered all the times Incredi-Girl, Linda, had saved her, hadstood between Speed-girl and some danger speed wasn’t enough todeal with. Speed-girl pushed herself faster, knowing her speed wasn’tgoing to be enough this time but unwilling to stand and do nothing.She reached her friend just before the blast wave, passed her andturned. Speed-girl wrapped her arms around Linda’s torso and sether feet to run then explosion reached them.