M&M Episode 1: Silver Storm Warning
(James' version is here. It is very readable, and only my overweening pride and desperate need for gratification lead me to write my own version.)
M&M Episode 1: Silver Storm Warning
Chiclet looked out over the Grand Circus park at the Occupy Steel City rally, now in its fifth day. The news reports put the attendance at five thousand, but she saw only about two, and it was a lovely Friday at lunch time. At night, Uncle Vito said it went down to about four hundred. He had said an exact number because he counted them, but Uncle Vito had super speed and tended to do things like that.
Uncle Vito wasn't really her uncle, of course, just another of her parents' friends. The city had a large colony of retired supervillains. She didn't have powers, anyway: not even super techno, like her mom. Kind of unfair, that was life.
She raised her voice to sell more coupons for drinks and lunch. They'd printed them on the second day, made arrangements with the vendors. Occupy rallies attracted police, so doing things the straight way made sense here.
An androgynous person like a blond Patrick Nagel drawing gave her a temporary tattoo; she glanced at it. Lawyer stuff. She tucked it into a pocket of her purse: her family knew lawyers, if it came to that. She glanced across the street, at Uncle Jerry in the alleyway.
Uncle Jerry made a darn good wino, though Chiclet knew he'd given up drinking when her folks retired.
A cute girl in a sundress bought coupons for a drink and a lunch. She fumbled with the money, gave Chiclet a one instead of a ten, then apologized ("all the money looks the same"). Colour blind? No, Canadian.
Couples milled around on lunch dates. The police were there-some of the streets were blocked off because of traffic-and Chiclet moved a bit to avoid being caught by a television news crew. What do you use? Videotape? Get into the twenty-first century, people.
The Patrick Nagel lawyer person was scanning the crowd with a phone. Looked like a BlackBerry. Puh-leeze. Android or go home.
A Hightecker van making a delivery obscured her view of Uncle Jerry for a moment. He got up, fumbled and made the sign for "rest room" in the process, then staggered off.
She sold six more coupons while he was gone, and noticed that the People Mover had dropped off even more people.
Then the van exploded.
* * *
Hadley had hopes that Sonia might be worth telling the truth about him and his family; certainly their first date had gone well enough that this was (sort of) a second date, visiting the Occupy rally together. When it came, the explosion was so loud that everyone stopped, and everyone in the park stood motionless for a moment, while the silver clouds boiled out of what had been a working van. He couldn't even tell what company it had been with and he dimly thought that might be important.
Then somebody screamed, and lighting hit someone right in front of them. And someone else. And someone else: lightning bolts dangled like a fringe over the park, hitting people everywhere.
"First aid?" Hadley shouted to Sonia. She nodded. "Me too. Start there." They ran to the first person, now down on the ground, a derelict black guy in castoff camos. The goth guy just ahead got hit by lightning, too. She checked for respiration on the derelict while he headed for the goth guy. "Hang on!" he shouted. "I'm coming!"
He stopped.
The goth guy was now floating ten feet off the ground, yelling, "Now Lord Etheric has the power he has always wanted!" The goth guy cupped his hands together, then released something like a swarm of glowing insects. They spread out fast, fastened on to people like stinging insects and people started screaming.
"You could be helping!" shouted Hadley, over the screaming and noise.
-and lightning hit him. It held him there motionless for what seemed like minutes. He was dimly aware that Sonia had touched his back to try and keep him from falling over. The electricity (if it was electricity) was beautiful.
The lightning stopped and the world faded to something like normalcy.
"How are you still alive?" asked Sonia.
"Dunno," said Hadley. "But I feel fine." Better than fine, really: he felt that nice tight empty feeling that came after a long period of eating right and working out, but amplified.. He hadn't felt this good in ages, not since he was rowing competitively. "You help the others."
He swung at the goth guy, who was floating out of reach, and then pointed at him. "If you have powers, you have a responsibility-"
His finger went off. A bolt of electricity shot from his finger into the sky like a reverse lightning bolt, missing the goth guy.
He stared at his finger.
* * *
Vieno saw the chaos. A number of people in the park had drawn pistols; the police were tasering people. One old woman had pulled out a stun gun and was using to ward off all the nonexistent attackers. The squid guy with tentacles looked like he was going to hit someone nearby, which meant putting away the cell phone and taking action.
Off to one side, Vieno saw lightning hit one of the portapotties, which exploded, splattering everyone in line, and leaving behind a woman clutching the hand of a toddler. The toddler's pants were around his ankles.
Vieno leaped over someone else who was kneeling, saw lightning hit another person who almost instantly fused so he had something like a chrysalis around him, jumped over another woman who was lying on the ground moaning about the tigers, and lightning struck.
Vieno felt muscles contract and then loosen, then rolled like you should after a fall. Everything looked sharper, brighter, clearer, and the world around slowed just a little bit.
Cool beans, thought Vieno. I think I just had an origin.
Vieno celebrated by planting both feet in the squid guy's face.
* * *
Chiclet looked at the pandemonium and tried to catch the eye of Uncle Jerry, but he wasn't there. She didn't know the tentacle guy, so he might be safe to hit. Her mother had whipped up a self-defence gadget for her that should be good-
Then lightning hit her and everything went dark.
* * *
Why is there dirt in my mouth? thought Izzy. I was running for the octopus guy, jumped in the air to get over that…cocoon or whatever…and lightning hit me. But I'm not dead. She got up slowly and looked around.
She was in a crater, about twice as wide as she was tall. She looked over the edge. The old lady with the stun gun had sprouted oily-looking white spines. Maybe the lighting did things to my head? thought Izzy. I'm hallucinating and in a hospital somewhere. At least there's no dirt in my mouth now.
The octopus guy hit someone else and had grabbed a hostage-a young man who looked like he was on missionary work for some church. Religious literature lay scattered on the ground. Izzy didn't know what she could do against an octopus guy-he probably had powers now-but she couldn't do nothing. She dove for him in a flying tackle, and missed-
-and didn't land.
I'm flying. She laughed. "I'm flying! I hope this isn't an hallucination!" She could turn just by thinking about it. I wonder what other powers I have? She glanced down her chest-nope. Boobs weren't bigger. That was good; she liked her girls as they were.
The goth guy cupped his hands together and opened them, releasing a swarm of glowing insects that were suddenly everywhere. Some of them landed on Izzy and had no effect; one sliced a chunk of the androgynous lawyer's ear, but the damage healed almost instantly; the ones that landed on Hadley just sizzled and fried. People who weren't so lucky started screaming.
* * *
Vieno said, "Use your words! What do you want?"
The young missionary screamed as though he were being squeezed and a tentacle lashed against the young flying woman. It might as well have been an overcooked spaghetti noodle for all that it did. Yup, thought Vieno. Origins galore.
The squid guy wasn't talking…and then tripled.
Three of him stood there, three hostages. The flying girl had moved on so there was no way to tell which of the three hit her. Ah, thought Vieno. Someone with new light powers is trying them out.
Apparently the flying woman didn't have trouble telling them apart, because she grabbed one of the squid guys, squeezed, and misjudged her strength, because the squid guy fell down almost immediately. The missionary guy looked shaken. The illusory duplicates vanished.
Vieno immediately shifted focus. Some woman was yelling.
"-a meek victim of circumstance! Now I am death. Now I am magnetic. Now I am…Death Magnetic!" Street signs, umbrella struts, things made of metal flew to the woman and made a kind of armour, shaping themselves to her body.
"That's a stupid name." Vieno covered the distance easily. "Do you mind if I say that? Death Metal. How's that going to look on a card?"
A hot dog cart flew at Vieno, apparently of its own volition, but missed. "Or did you get the order of the words wrong? Maybe you were excited. Is it Magnetic Death you wanted? Because people are just going to call you Fridge Magnet."
She ignored Vieno and flew to the street.
Note, Vieno thought. Talking doesn't seem to get anyplace with these people. Hitting does.
* * *
Something hit Hadley from behind, and he rolled onto the ground, surrounded by fur and claws and teeth. He had the impression of a humanoid honey badger. He felt something against his arm for a moment. A humanoid female honey badger. None of the attacks seemed to penetrate his force field (I have a force field? Keep doing it, force field!), so he shot the goth guy again with a sound like frying bacon. The goth guy went down, thumping to the grassy ground.
The honey badger woman squared off against him in a pose Hadley recognized from college martial arts. And then she tripled. Hadley shrugged. If one couldn't affect him, why should three?
She attacked him with a vicious series of attacks that didn't penetrate. Behind her, though, Hadley could see a trail of a half a dozen bleeding victims. The badger woman suddenly moved to the top of his to-do list.
* * *
Fridge Magnet levitated a bus and started taking it apart. This wasn't going to be good for the people on the bus, Vieno knew, and wished for the wings that were sitting at work in a closet. They were alien tech, a gift from a previous client. Well, another route: off that sawhorse, up the lamppost and onto Fridge Magnet's shoulders.
Best end things quickly, thought Vieno. It's not like she'll have trouble hitting me. Vieno launched a flurry of blows against Fridge Magnet's head.
On the plus side, Fridge Magnet dropped the bus-with people in it. Vieno couldn't think of a way to stop it-when the flying young woman caught the bus and set it gently down. Strong and flies, thought Vieno. Good powers.
On the minus side, Fridge Magnet suddenly zoomed up, and the ground shrank beneath them. They were so high so fast, that Vieno suddenly had trouble breathing.
A fall from here? thought Vieno. Might be bad.
* * *
One of those blows might get through; that would be bad, thought Hadley. Maybe if I think a little differently-
The honey badger woman's next blow went through him. Um. I'm…insubstantial or something. Well, that will keep the furry thing occupied.
A beam of laser light hit him square in the chest and hurt. Hadley thought, Crap. I can still be seen, so light-based attacks- He traced the line of the beam back to a hippy-looking guy at the edge of the park.
All these people crazy at once? Maybe they're being mind-controlled, Hadley thought. Somebody got mind-control powers and figured they'd try'em out. He scanned the crowd looking for something that looked a bit off.
* * *
Ah, thought Vieno. Fridge Magnet has fashioned armour for herself. Maybe I can knock her unconscious and use her armour to protect both of us when we plummet to the earth. Like body surfing. But painful.
As plans went, it was sucky, but better than nothing.
While every blow Vieno tried to land against Fridge Magnet bounced against the impromptu armour, Fridge Magnet didn't seem to have any problem pummelling Vieno with pieces of armour that flew off to hit and then replaced themselves. Vieno's vision went blurry and there was a clicking sound. Good, she missed, thought Vieno and then realized that the sharp edge of Fridge Magnet's armour had actually cut off Vieno's face…and it had healed.
Okay, the fall might be survivable.
* * *
People were lying unconscious or injured all over the park. Swarms were trying to get into the People Mover to escape, and they were jamming up against people trying to leave the People Mover tower because it had been hit by lightning and was leaning. The lightbender that Hadley had already spotted had decided to surround himself with duplicates.
"Hey! Flying girl!"
"Woman!"
"Check out that chrysalis, there. Looks odd. Check it! I'll handle the illusionist!"
Hadley thought, Okay, I can't see which one is him, but maybe I can fry all of them. He thought about the area, about the space, and thought about the electricity in it.
The duplicates vanished, and the remaining illusionist fell down…but also, streetlights all over the park popped. Traffic lights exploded. The entrance and exit lights over the People Mover blew out and the escalators inside stopped. His "area" was larger than he had intended.
This is definitely bad, thought Hadley.
* * *
"What are you? Some kind of bad cosplayer?" called Izzy. The badger woman bounded at her and connected, but the claws didn't damage Izzy at all, though they did rip her sundress. Izzy ignored it. She doesn't seem like she can hurt me, and she's busy. Fine. Let's deal with the root of the problem.
Izzy got her fingers into a rough spot on the chrysalis and pulled, snapping part of it open-
Inside wasn't a person at all but a writhing mass of worms.
How do you punch a worm? she thought. Instead she hastily closed it. Her first thought was to take it to UNTIL…except the nearest UNTIL base was over the border, and she didn't know where the American equivalent was. Gah. She kept ignoring the badger woman and instead started slamming the chrysalis against the ground, hoping to knock the worms inside senseless.
The worms stopped moving, but the chaos didn't.
* * *
Vieno feinted and then drove a knee into Fridge Magnet's temple.
They started falling. It looked like maybe a mile to the ground.
Okay, part one of the plan completed.
At the half mile mark, Fridge Magnet's eye flicked open. She shot up, but Vieno, who hadn't been expecting it, didn't, and was suddenly falling free as Fridge Magnet left.
Vieno spread arms and legs to maximize air resistance, and wished that the Occupy movement had bouncy castles. I can practice law from a wheelchair, right?
* * *
Hadley tossed a lightning bolt at the badger woman. If she'd just stay down… He knocked her off the flying woman.
Instead, the furry woman attacked the leaning tower of the People Mover. Her claws sliced through the concrete and rebar and the tower started to crumble. It moved enough that elevated rails popped off their supports.
The train in the station couldn't move. Another train was gliding in, powerless.
Izzy hoped she could clip the badger woman on her way up to the train rails, but she missed. Rails are more important anyway. "Make better choices," Izzy called after the scampering furry. "Do good!" She got the railings and pressed up and over, holding them against the supports.
Annoyed, Hadley shot the furry badger woman. She bounced a few times before rolling to a stop. "Turn yourself in!" said Hadley.
The badger woman staggered to her feet. "I give up," she said, and fell face forward.
Izzy was holding the trestle and rails when another changed person flew up. "I'll take them. You continue to fight the good fight down there."
He could fly; Izzy believed him. She let him get a grip on the rails and then took off. He grunted as the rails fell down a foot. Izzy quickly grabbed them again as the train rolled in, bumping against the train already there.
"Hmph," he said. "Guess I'm not super-strong." He smiled at Izzy, who was straining to hold up the train and trestle and rails. "Why don't you give me your number and we can find out what I can do." He smiled; she rolled her eyes.
* * *
There was a sickening thud-splat sound in the middle of the road. Hadley turned and looked. What had fallen had been a person once, though it wasn't identifiably a man or a woman. Probably something humanoid.
As he watched, pieces moved and flowed. Eventually, the lawyer person sat up and pulled out a cell phone. "I am so tweeting this." He or she looked at it, and then looked up.
"Hell. It's busted."
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