Superheroics Chapter 1: Holding Out For a Hero
 

Mars City! A bustling metropolis where the old meets the new! Rising from humble origins, it was a sprawling, anarchic blend of architecture and styles, built up over the years and succession waves of colonisation.

In the sewers beneath the city, a threesome set on villainous deeds convened. They were a most unusual trio.

The first to draw the eye was a hulking, robotic figure. It had the look of an impossibly heavily armoured knight to it, additional armoured plates - currently undeployed - suggesting it could virtually become a wall of solid metal. It was rounded, almost stubby in appearance, possessing no flat surfaces and its battered armour gave the impression of vast age.

"It matches the map. This is as far as we can go undetected. Cyst, place the bomb." the machine rumbled, red optics on its small head examining the spot.

The second member of the trio climbed the wall with apparent ease. Her lithe figure was wrapped in a brown, curiously chitinous looking, body suit studded with greenish orbs which combined with her yellow-gray skin and cable-like hair to give her an unhuman air.

She dropped back down, having positioned a shaped charge on the ceiling. "Vector, are you ready to go?"

The third member of the team simply nodded. He looked fairly normal, save for the grey hue of his skin. He had the look of a wrestler to him - tall and powerfully built, an impression helped by his complete lack of shirt.

He walked over to the robot, which grabbed on to him with one hand, holding him firmly against its armoured torso. He pointed one arm back and downwards, seeming to guage where he should point it.

"Relic, how's the angle?"

"Within parameters. Cyst, status?"

Cyst had clambered onto the machine's back. She rubbed a protruding green orb at the nape of her neck reflexively. "I charged before we left. Let's do this." she said impatiently.

"Commence operation."

* * *

Above was a neighbourhood, one that had seen better days. The only real thing worth of note was that it came very close to the exclusion zone of Tartarus Penitentiary. The place had been built decades ago, when a more unforgiving mode of justice had been in fashion. It had been remodelled for the storage of superpowered prisoners due to its excellent clifftop location. Motions to rename it had thus far been unsuccessful. Unfortunately, in the years since then, the city limits had encroached on it, but its defenses were considered top-notch. There had never been a successful breakout. Some claimed there never would be.

Never is such a long time.

A quiet intersection suddenly and literally exploded. Pieces of road, each no larger than a man's fist, rained down as explosion ripped up the ground. From the hole torn emerged a familiar trio, hurtling as though shot out of a cannon.

Propelled upwards by a powerful, coherent beam of kinetic energy, they flew towards the cliff. As gravity started pulling them back down again, Vector pointed back and to one side. Another beam shot out, a distortion in the air that knocked down a streetlight cratered the sidewalk. Its recoil thrust them higher and faster. Vector fired again and again, keeping them on target with blasts to each side.

On the walls of Tartarus Prison, the bored security staff were shocked to see the three come flying from up over the cliff top. But it hadn't been built as a super prison for nothing. The ground was kept completely bare for hundreds of meters to give a clear view of anything trying to get in or out and they'd even gone so far as to mount weapon emplacements on the walls.

"WARNING! YOU ARE ENTERING A RESTRICTED AREA! TURN BACK AT ONCE!"

The trio hit the ground running. Cyst slid off Relic, dropping safely behind him along with Vector. The robot's extra armour folded and swivelled, locking into place to provide a considerable bulkhead for its fleshy companions to hide behind. Relic activated some device, a tracery of lines appearing about the shield on its left arm.

Seeing they didn't hesistate for a second, the hardly inconsiderable firepower of a prison designed for the containment of superhuman beings was unleashed. A hail of nonlethal fire came first: rubber bullets, tranquilisers, gas grenades and expensive and rare energy weapons.

The flight path of the incoming projectiles was warped, pulled in towards the heavy shiled the robot carried. Most splattered harmlessly on the shield, grenades exploding but the gas spread curiously contained.

Just as a changeover to heavier weapons was being made, the trio had passed some invisble line and made their counterattack, Cyst and Vector emerging from behind their robot shield. Bolts of energy leapt from Relic's eyes and Cyst's hands, trying to pick off the gunners. Relic directed strange energies too, space momentarily crumpled, while Cyst seemed to be growing. Vector launched lances of force, the fortified structure groaning as each hammerblow splintered on it. Still close in, Relic's shield was enough to protect them on, high explosives and particle weapons drawn in and stopped by his heavy armour.

The madness of crossfire lessened by their proximity to the wall and firing success, Cyst sprinted ahead of the rest, nodes glowing and her body twisting and bulk piling on. Hands stretched into claws, a face extended into massive snapping jaws and armoured plates thickened all over her body. By the time she was at the wall, she was something vaguely resembling a spiky, armour plated tyrannosaurus. Shots hit her, but did not down her as she rammed her target. The weakened prison walls shuddered and gave as several tons of hurtling mutant hit it.

They were inside, security forces taken off guard by the breach, their own few superpowered members still moving into position. Frantic seconds of pitched battle and complicated destruction later, some of the prison cells were cracked open.

Chaos ensued.

* * *

The news channels went wild, an emergency warning for people to stay indoors and report any suspicious individuals. Tartarus Prison had just been attacked, successfully releasing many prisoners. The perpetrators had thankfully been forced to retreat and prevented from breaching the highest level security section, but prison forces were stretched to contain the rioting prisoners and dozens had successfully escaped into the city. It was being called the worse mass breakout for decades.

A city in chaos needed its heroes.

A raincloud began to form over the prison and one of the hallways began to shake as ¡The Elemental! made good his escape, finally free of the shackles which prevented him from walking.

"Oh man, you don't know how good it feels to finally be able to walk again!" ¡TE! remarked to one of his fellow former prisoners.

******************

Alpha wasted no time hunting down guards like some of the other villains were doing. He could sense where his children were, and they needed him. Alpha Wolf dropped to all fours and sprinted in the direction of the city zoo.

Gary emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist and a cloud of steam following him. He picked up a remote from a small coffee table and turned on the tv. He was about to change channels when he he saw the large title behind the news caster. "Mass Prison Breakout!" it read. Gary turned up the volume to hear what the news caster was saying.

"-the escaped convicts are believed to be extremly dangerous. Even if they appear unarmed, please do not approach them. The police are doing everything they can to keep the situation under control. The safest option is to remain indoors and contact the authorities if you see anything suspiscious."

Gary turned off the tv and finished drying himself off as he walked into his bedroom and opened his closet. He popped open the hidden compartment and removed his Enhancement Suit. He quickly slipped on the suit and secured his goggles before heading over towards the window. His body seemed to become blury for a brief moment, then he disapeared, reapearing on the sidewalk infront of his apartment building. He teleported across the street, then began to sprint in the direction of the prison before teleporting away once more.

-------------

Frank sat in a luxurious leather chair facing three monitors, the only source of light in the large room. Each monitor held the same corporate logo on the center of the black screen - a large, sky blue X outlined in white, followed by the word Gen colored the same way but half the size. Beneath each logo was a straight green line stretching across the monitors.

"Hello Mr. Neilson," said a modified voice as the green line on the center monitor spiked up and down. "Thank you for taking the time for this meeting."

"What exactly do you want?" asked Frank.

"Have you seen the news recently, Mr. Neilson?" asked a subtlely different voice as the left monitor's line spiked.

"Unfortunately, no. I do have a normal job to maintain."

"Well, you might find it quite interesting," said the left monitor, the screen changing to show news of the breakout.

"What does this have to do with X-Gen, let alone me?" Frank asked.

"We see this as an oppertunity," said the right monitor. "A chance to bolster our ranks, so to say."

"You see, Mr. Neilson," added the center monitor. "Recently you have been growing... less effective. If you wish to maintain your position, we suggest you follow our suggestion."

"It doesn't seem like I have much of a choice," said Frank, irritation present in his voice. "What is it you want?"

"We want you to find a partner, so long as the person is reliable and you're able to work well with him or her. Once who find a suitable person, we will deem if the person is actualy suitable."

"Fine, I'll contact you through the usual channels once I'm done, good day."

As Frank finished talking he pushed a button, cutting power to the monitors and plunging the room into darkness. It remained dark for a few seconds as Frank walked over to a shuttered window that stretched from the high ceiling to the floor. Light flooded the room followed by a gust of wind and Frank jumped out the window.

There was a bright flash from Frank's body as he turned into his energy form, or Maelstrom as he preffered to be called. He then arced gracefully upwards and began to fly towards the prison, and his new partner.

~Mars City, Downtown Grocery Store, an hour before the break out.~

The figure of Tesla was unimstakable as she wandered down an aisle searching for something she needed. It was most likely food, since she was going down the vegetable section. She'd just picked up a few of the more choicier tomatoes and broccoli, and was now heading to the counter, hand reaching into her pockets for change.

Suddenly, she straightened up, as if alerted to trouble. Her countenance was tense, and the cashier leapt under the counter. Last time Tesla had this look, she'd actually stopped a robbery happening in this very store, with the same clerk behind the cashier. He wasn't about to take a second chance.

There was the sound of dropped tomatoes and other things. There was suddenly a loud BANG, and all the lights went out. The doors opened and closed rapidly amidst the gasp of shock from other patrons (with some occasional scream and swooning), before silence descended like a suffocating blanket. The clerk peered out cautiously from behind the counter.

Tesla was gone.

Downtown Mars City experienced - yet again, for the fifth time this month - another power shortage.

~~

~Fenser St, 55 minutes before the prison break out~
Yakob was hanging up his coat in his luxury underground suite when - for the fifth time this month - his skylights were smashed in. His maid ducked from the falling safety glass, and promptly began clearing the debris away while Yakob swore and glared at the intruder that stood before him.

"What did I tell you? Use the door!"
"The door was locked."
"No it wasn't!"
"I couldn't find it easily."

Yakob threw up his hands in exasperation. He'd had the same conversation with Tesla over five times by now, and the woman still prefers a grand entry compared to the more discreet, logical, non-collateral side door.

He was about to open his mouth and argue further when Tesla pointed in a firm, directional manner. Oh god, here we go again.

"Marianne, you can stop now. I need to you get out of the room for a little bit. There are some complications I need to get through."

"Yes sir," Marianne quickly set aside her cleaning task and left without a word. Yakob turned to Tesla again, growling.

"I swear, woman. If you keep doing this to me, I'm going to be the man who pays the biggest electricity bill in history," he said as his feet brought him with quick strides to a painting done by an unnamed artist. Swinging it aside, he pushed the button hidden cunningly just behind it even as Tesla stood in the appropriate spot.

A small section of the plush carpet sprawled on Yakob's floor slid away, and a curious-looking rod rose up in its place. It was smooth, slightly conical, with a ball-like projection at the tip. It looked to be made out of something very similar to copper or silver, but the colour kept changing at different angles.

But it was clear what it did. The moment it anchored itself into the ground on Yakob's suite, the thick carpet hairs rose up on end, as if suffering from static shock. Even Yakob's short-cut hair tingled and sparked with static.

Tesla, however, looked totally oblivious. She reached out and caressed the rod with both hands.

Instantly, the lights in Yakob's suite dimmed dramatically, flickering weakly, struggling to fight for electricity with Tesla's sponge-like abilities. Static seemed to emanate more from Tesla than from the rod. The woman seemed to glow with unearthly energy as she drew power from the rod into herself.

Almost as fast as it started, it was over. The lights returned to normal, and Yakob could stop shivering from the experience as if he'd just experienced an electric shock.

Tesla turned to Yakob. There were sparks dancing in her hair, and her eyes were more yellow than electric blue.
"Get to the Tartarus Penitentiary in exactly fifty-five minutes' time. No more, no less. You'll know what to do from there."

With that, Tesla unwravelled her scarf, bound it around her waist, raised her arms, and suddenly she was borne aloft and away, leaving a very puzzled Yakob behind in her wake.

~~

~Tartarus Penitentiary. 0 Minutes before break out~

Tesla stood suspended, balanced perfectly upon her scarf, which had straightened out like a stiff plank and was supporting her weight in thin air. Over two hundred feet in the air, Tesla watched the scene unfold below her impassively. The walls were blown in, the prisoners were escaping. Tesla watched carefully, waiting...

The Penalizer was on patrol in his veggi powered van of justice when the prison break occurred. He had just turned on his CB and tuned to the police bands. This was lucky for him since the night had been kind of slow up until now. The Penalizer floored the gas and spun the justice van of veggi power in 180 degree arch. Heading directly for Tartarus Penitentiary he took mental stock of what he had in the van. Mostly lethal stuff unfortunately; though there were a couple of rubber rounds and some bean bags in a box in the back. Now that he thought of it he was sure that he had some experimental taser rounds left.

He was all suited up and now he had somewhere to go. It was time for The Penalizer to get himself some action.

T'was a normal day at Low Hills Middle School, and another normal day in Shimizu Ritsuko's life. Math class droned on through the day, and the girl found herself barely keeping herself awake through the instructor's monotonic attempt to explain geometry. To a rune mage, things like triangles and heptagrams were entirely basic, need-to-know information to prevent oneself from dying in interesting ways, but to your average middle school student, this was important. Ritsuko attempted to look busy, intermittently faking notetaking in her folder.

Naturally, all technologically enhanced classrooms have their own television, and sooner than later, the T.V. within the class blared to life, explaining the recent assault on the Tartarus penetentiary just one hour away from the school. Seconds later, the intercom came to life.

"Do not be alarmed. Please execute a standard code-red protocol. All students should remain within their classrooms until the situation is resolved. Thank you."

Ritsuko's eyes however, were locked on the television. Wasn't the penetentiary supposedly impenetrable? They kept extremely dangerous criminals there, and the police weren't exactly the type of people to handle stuff like... That.

Ritsuko raised her hand, and the instructor rolled his eyes. "Yes, Ritsuko?"

"I'm sorry professor Anderson, but... Can I go to the bathroom?" The girl asked, attempting to look quite physically disturbed by the sudden change of events on the T.V.

Professor Anderson sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Sure, whatever. Just be back before the Principal makes his rounds."

With that, Ritsuko quickly made her way into the ghostly-empty hallway.

----------------------------------------------------

"Master?" Breaking Dawn's synthetic voice asked Ritsuko as they moved into the empty girl's bathroom. The little braclet's inset sapphire blinked with each syllable.

"Dawn, did you see what happened? Isn't that place...?" Ritsuko began, quickly cut off by her companion's quick and informative response.

"Yes Master. The Tartarus Penetentiary has been reconfigured for the containment of supernaturally powerful criminals. An escape of this magnitude classifies as a Type-B single-dimension event."

"... So, we have to do something, right?!" Ritsuko responded, "The police won't be able to deal with the criminals alone, will they?"

"Correct." Breaking Dawn replied in an elementary tone, "As the only MCPB field agent in this city, it is your duty to respond to the event. The local authorities are not equipped to handle such a breakout. Shall we go?"

Ritsuko nods resolutely, "Mhm! If they can't handle it, then we've got to help them!" With this, she raises her left arm overhead, and presses the central gem of Breaking Dawn with her other hand. "Cosmic Dimensional Warrior Transformation Go!"

Time stopped within the girl's restroom, though no-one was around to notice. Several flashes of golden-azure light could be seen under the threshold into the hallway, but even then, not a soul was available to witness them. Moments later, Ritsuko was clad in her full regalia, Breaking Dawn held in her right hand like a regal lance.

Ritsuko swung him in a full 360 degree arc around her, creating a circular mandala of azure light upon the tile floor beneath her feet, which slowly spun into the form of a classic teleportation pentagram.

"Determining exit point. Please stand by."

"Ether transposition drivee...." Ritsuko slowly chanted to herself under her breath, channelling the spell as Breaking Dawn calculated their arrival point.

"Jump in three. Two... One."

"Jump!" "Jump!" The two declared in unison, and with a bright blue and gold flash, Ritsuko vanished.

John, having by this time exited the penitentiary, decided that his best bet would be to get to a safe place and sit still there until this whole business had blown over. He couldn't help but feel, though, that his absolutely terrible luck should be kicking in right about now.

****************

Alpha reached the zoo and sniffed at the air, turning his head this way and that to seek out the location of his children. After a few seconds, he headed directly towards the wolf enclosure, ignoring everyone and everything in his way.

BANG!

Max Smith, better known as Shockwave, sat bolt upright on his bunk at the sound.

BANG!

Another tremendous thud and the door to his sealed, sound-proofed cell shook in its frame. What in the he-?!

KA-BOOOM!!

With a final almighty racket, the door was blasted off its hinges and clattered across Shockwaves cell, flooding the room with noise. The sound of sirens and fighting was enough to give Shockwave the general gist of the situation. But it wasn't these sounds that interested him the most, instead it was the fact that his cell door had seemingly just destroyed itself. The reason was soon made clear though, as two men suddenly appeared within his cell, the light itself parting to reveal them.

"Oh look, visitors! How nice", Shockwave snickered sarcastically.

"Boss, we've come to get you out", the larger man informed him, needlessly stating the obvious.

Shockwave gave the bent and mangled door an odd look, before turning back to the giant known as The Destroyer. "What, you couldn't find a key?", he asked him with a smile.

"More fun this way".

"Whole prisons rioting, they say someone breached the defenses. We need to get moving, before the supers show up", the smaller man announced, speaking up at last.

Shockwave gave The Unseen One a curt nod, realising the oppurtunity to escape was open to them. "Well then gentlemen, shall we?"

They all turned to leave, before once again vanishing from sight and making their way noislessly out of the cell.

--------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, across town...

Or rather, quite far above it, The Protector soared above the city at a lazy cruising speed. It really was a slow night, not a single crime to prevent, not even so much as a mugging! He turned sideways in the air and banked towards one of Mars' larger skyscrapers, slowly coming into land on the edge of its rooftop. Once down he shut off his forcefield and hunkered down over the ledge, looking out over the city. Captain Jack Walker gave a sigh of dissapointment inside his helmet. Not exactly the most auspicious start to my superhero career. I can't even find some half decent burglars to apprehend. Little did he know that his luck was about to change.

Even at this distance from the prison, the explosions of the attack and the ensuing sirens could be clearly heard. For a moment Jack just stood there (having already jumped to his feet at the noise), staring in the direction of the prison. And then he remembered he was supposed to be a superhero and that this was his big chance.

Without wasting another moment, The Protector powered up his forcefield around himself and rocketed skywards, before quickly changing direction and shooting off towards Tartarus Prison at rapid speed.

Arata had been working on his normal street bike at home, His favorite classic rock station blasting "Bad to the Bone" Arata had begun to like American biker culture, if only the were'nt so... mean. His music was interrupted by the radio announcement of the prison break. Arata tensed, he had to get there and do something. He Quickly ran out of his house, and headed to the abandoned building that secretly housed his wolfcycle. He activated the hidden lift and, as the bike rose up from the floor. He crossed his hands in front of his face, The wolf talisman's eyes glowed. "HENSHIN!! HUROOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Blue light flashed all around him, it swirled, encircling him, his suit materialized on his body, his gloves, his boots, his helmet flashed onto his head in segments, and his gauntlets seemed to appear like flowing water on his arms.

He swung his right leg over the wolfcycle and it howled off into the night , weaving through traffic at breakneck speeds. As he neared the area near Tarturus, he hit the boost, then the jumps, leaping over vehicles that had been abandoned, and parked it. The rest of the way would have to be crossed on foot, so his bike would be close enough to use, but far enough to be safe.

He hit the security controls, the tires became encased in block plates which prevented it from going anywhere, he jumped up, and swung from a streetlight, onto the roof of a building and leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

One of the few superhumans employed by the prison looked down on the chaos.

They called him Hydroman, for his powers of controlling water. He'd originally wished for a more active career, but seeing he needed to have water around to do much good, he'd settled into the role of prison guard. He looked down on the scene. Several criminals had broken the hastily gathered security team blocking the hole in the wall and many more were rioting in the courtyard, the interior turrets mainly overwhelmed. Some could fly and and concentrating on getting out of there as quickly as possible, gunners on the wall trying to bring them back to ground with netguns and stun weapons. There was fighting atop the wall tops, some criminals trying to get to the top and leap over or open the gates.

They'd activated the sprinkler system already, but he'd just opened up the water tower. He jumped in and then emerged on a geyser of water, splitting up into long tendrils of water. Water washed down, a bludgeoning wave smashing a pair that had cornered some guards. They were riding it out and hopefully they'd be able to contain the rest of the cirminals within the prison.

* * *

The threesome who'd caused all this chaos were already pulling out. They were slowly withdrawing towards the cliff edge, Relic once again using his space warp shield to draw most of the fire in on him. Some of the criminals seemed to have decided to stick close for the added cover, they were almost half of the way back to the cliff edge.

Others were running along the road, headed for the narrow, snaking path down the cliff, its security checkpoints already overurn by the first wave of escapees.

Vector was amusing himself by ripping up the barren plain with his kinetic lances, blasting pits and raising up mounds that provided more cover for the escapees. Cyst was back to a human shape and slowed slightly, her lower abdomen weeping thick, greenish blood from a number of slowly closing small holes seared into her side.

"You only have yourself to blame for being made of meat." Relic told her insincerely.

"I'll kill you."

* * *

Susan stood on a raised block for a moment, alone in splendid isolation. She'd changed, her normal clothes were packed away in her bag and stashed safely. She was ready.

It was time for swimming.

Susan's cellphone went off.

Caught about to dive into the cool waters of the pool, Susan's expression darkened. She hopped off the diving block, padded over to her bag and fished out the offending phone. The number identified the caller as her sister, Kirsten.

"Hello?" she said cautiously.

"Haven't you seen the news? There's been a mass breakout at the prison! Some have gotten into the city! Shouldn't you be out there, punching felons or whatever it is you do?"

"I was about to go swimming." Susan said mildly. "There's no TV up here."

"That's no excuse." Kirsten hung up.

Susan sighed, gathered up her belongings and headed for the elevator. The apartment complex where the two of them lived had its share of oddities but its amenities more than made up for it.

She let herself into her apartment. Kirsten turned from where she was watching the TV and looked at her older sister mischeviously. "You're not planning to go out and fight crime in that are you?" Susan was still wearing a white bikini.

Susan threw her towel at Kirsten and vanished into the other room. There came the muffled sounds of a struggle and she emerged again, wearing her skintight thermosuit. "I wish that thing wasn't so hard to get on." Celsius muttered, checking a small readout on her wrist.

"Maybe you should lose some weight."

Celsius was out of things to throw. "I'll be back sometime this afternoon hopefully." she said. "If I'm running late, don't wait for me." Kirsten nodded and turned back to the TV. A flung towel hit Celsius from behind on her way out.

* * *

Panicked zoo goers ran for it as the wolfman made his way into the place.

"Hold it right there."

A man slowly walked out into the open, wearing the khaki attire of a zookeeper. He was tanned and weatherbeaten. Zoo patrons continued to flee while he remained as calm as the eye of a tornado. A tranquiliser rifle was in his hands, one that appeared to have been modified. It included a high quality sight and was pointed squarely at Alpha.

"I won't have any funny business in my zoo." he said, pausing once he stood in the middle of the wide path. "Are you going to go quietly, or am I going to have to make you?"