How to Date a Superhero Ch. 06

Apollo's face twisted with vengeance, "Aye, demon. I have come to enact punishment for thy foul deeds, and that punishment be death."

Rapture's legs gave out from beneath but her form remained upright, held aloft by the spear's shaft. A grin formed on her lips even as a trickle of blood appeared at a corner of her mouth, "You cannot kill me, son of Zeus. My spirit will return to Hades and I will one day have my revenge on you."

"Nay," Apollo denied her, "This spear is crafted of quicksilver, forged by Hephaestus himself. Any demon killed by its wound suffers a final death."

Her eyes filled with sudden fear, "N-no..."

"Thy death has not yet come. Tell me who sent you to this plane to kill Penelope and I will remove my spear and snap thy neck, allowing thee to reincarnate in foul Hades."

"P-Penelope...?"

"Mega-Girl," he clarified, twisting the spear's shaft to encourage her words.

"Your uncle," she muttered, her voice growing weak, "L-lord Pluto, it was."

"Why?" Apollo growled.

"P-please, kill me," she begged, "Before it is too late. I can feel my life force slipping..."

"Why!?!" Apollo yelled, his face twisting with anger.

"The b-bow," she whispered, her lips becoming coated with blood, "My lord placed a spell upon it. Any soul slain by its arrows is condemned to Hades. He w-wanted her... w-wants her..."

Apollo reached out and put his hand to her throat, "Wants her for what? Speak!"

Rapture's eyes fluttered, "...to be... his bride..."

Letting her die, Apollo's promise to kill her by other means went unfulfilled. He couldn't risk the succubus returning to Hades and informing Pluto that he was aware of his uncle's plot. Lowering his spear he let Rapture's lifeless corpse slide off its shaft and crumple limply to the floor.

"Mmmf...uhnmf...!" the man on the bed was still struggling against his bonds.

Apollo turned to him, casually stepping to the bedside and reaching to remove the man's gag.

"You killed her!" he gasped.

"Aye," Apollo replied, remorseless.

"I loved her!" the man cried, "And you killed her in cold blood. As soon as I'm free I'm calling the cops!"

Apollo snorted, "Then mayhap I should kill thee as well." He looked around for something to clean the blood from his spear and found a shirt.

Fear decorated Johnson's expression, "No! Wait. Please. I won't call the cops, I swear! This can be our little secret."

After replacing the spear on its harness at his back, Apollo moved to untie one of the man's wrists, "Fear not, mortal. Though many have died by the hands of Apollo, I am no murderer. Look to thy floor and see mine evidence."

Freeing his other wrist himself, Johnson sat up and looked to the body of Rapture. In its death, the demon's body had slowly reverted to its true form. Leathery wings had sprouted from her back and wicked talons extended from her fingers. Rapture's skin had changed into a pale grey and her visage had become something animalistic and frightening.

"I suggest burning the corpse," Apollo said as he began to glow. A bright light flashed around him and then he was gone, teleported away.

=======

Penny found a television remote on the nightstand shortly after Apollo left. She powered it on and began flipping through channels, wondering how long it would take her leg to heal. Her attention was caught by footage of Gateway City's recent storm, a product of the villain Cyclone. Penny had seen some of the damage after returning from Olympus but it was mostly downed trees around campus - nothing too serious. But the news was showing devastation in the Warrens, Gateway City's slums, where a tornado had touched down. Penny felt guilty that she had been in Olympus and wasn't able to stop Cyclone before he was able to wreak such havoc.

When a special report suddenly interrupted the broadcast Penny turned up the volume.

"...warning all inhabitants of Gateway City not to leave their homes or places of employment at this time. The Leviathan has escaped from Blockade and is at-large. Though the monster's whereabouts is currently unknown, other super-powered criminals freed in the chaos are terrorizing the city. The mayor has declared a state of emergency, activated all off-duty police officers, and made a formal request to the Governor pleading him to send the National Guard. But the question on everyone's lips following her absence during yesterday's storm... where is Gateway City's favorite daughter? Where is Mega-Girl?"

"Shit," Penny cursed, moving to get out of bed. Pushing herself to her feet she tried to put weight on her left leg but yelped in pain and nearly fell over.

"You are a lioness," she growled through gritted teeth, trying again. The leg could take her weight, but the pain was intense. Unfortunately, staying in bed was not an option.

Hobbling to her bag, Penny removed one of her costumes. She also found her cellular earpiece and paused to look at it, recalling the image Jordan and Travis making-out on her couch. Turning it on and placing it at her ear, Penny decided she had to set her hurt feelings aside.

"Harbinger," she said, hopping on one leg to the bed so she could take trade Apollo's clothes for her red spandex uniform, "Harbinger, come in, do you have a copy?"

It took several moments before any reply came.

I copy. MG, is that you? Where are you? The news feeds are going nuts! Evidently a bunch of super-baddies have escaped from Blockade.

"I'm laid up at Apollo's place," Mega-Girl replied, sliding the costume over her legs with a wince, "I was shot in the leg."

What!? How?

"The same bow that got me in the shoulder, if you can believe it. Different shooter, though. It's not important." She pulled the tight costume up her chest, sliding her arms into the sleeves, and reached behind herself to zip it up, "I need you help me with locations on these escaped convicts, so I can help round them up."

The costume left Mega-Girl's legs bare, her boots rising only to mid-ankle. Reaching for the bandages Apollo used, she wrapped another several layers around her left thigh as tightly as she could to give her wounded leg as much support as possible.

I've already got several possibilities. Look, MG, about yesterday...

"Now's not the time," she stood, testing her leg once more, "Give me the closest target to the Keppler Building."

Downtown. Third Avenue and Vermont; police are in a stand-off with Slipstream."

=======

After one of his cell walls and most of the ceiling above was reduced to rubble by the rampaging Leviathan, the criminal known as Slipstream was one of the first Blockade escapees. Gifted with the power of flight and jet-like speed, he covered the sixty miles between the heavily-damaged supermax prison and Gateway City in mere minutes.

In his first act as a free man, Slipstream tried to rob a liquor store. Unfortunately an off-duty policeman was walking by the store at the same moment. Moments later police squad cars cordoned off the street outside and officers were crouched behind them, guns out and aimed towards the liquor store.

"Come out with your hands up," one of the officers was speaking into a megaphone, "No one needs to get hurt!"

Slipstream appeared in the storefront window, still wearing his orange prison jumpsuit. He held an old man in front of him, a handgun leveled at the hostage's head. "I ain't going back to jail, pigs! Back the fuck off and let me fly outta here, or I'll do the old man!"

Julia Martinez, a female officer with over ten years' experience, assessed the scene. A massive crowd of bystanders had gathered on both ends of the street and there were at least three hostages in the liquor store. Martinez understood that things could get ugly in a hurry if Slipstream felt caged and decided to start shooting. She was about to move towards one of the crowds and instruct them to move back when they all began to cheer in her direction.

"...I can't believe it..."

"...is that...?"

"...it's Mega-Girl...!"

"...I read on the internet she was dead...?"

Martinez turned around to see Mega-Girl on the street right behind her, leaning on the hood of a police car and favoring a bandaged left leg. "Mega-Girl, I'm glad you're here... are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. What's the situation?" Mega-Girl limped towards Martinez.

"We've got Slipstream trapped inside with multiple hostages. He's armed and threatening to kill the store owner if we don't let him go. The only way in or out is through the front door."

"Keep your fellow officers back," Mega-Girl instructed, bending to pull a sewer manhole off the street as though it weighed no more than a quarter.

"What are you going to do?" Martinez asked.

"Make my own door," Mega-Girl replied, crawling downwards.

A minute and a half later, after smashing her way up through the floor of the liquor store, Mega-Girl was carrying an unconscious Slipstream as she limped out the front door with three beleaguered hostages behind her. The crowd of bystanders erupted with cheering and applause as Martinez grinned and shook her head thankfully.

MG, do you copy? What's your status?

Mega-Girl handed the criminal over to police and lifted her hand to the cellular device at her ear, "I'm here, Harbinger. I just took down Slipstream,"

The police band is going nuts; Heckyl and Jeckyl have killed over a dozen people in a strip-mall thirty miles north of the city, including two cops; Two-fold and fifty of his duplicates just stole every car at a Ford dealership in Stanton, leading the police on a high-speed chase along I-90; and Inferna was sighted over the northern suburbs lobbing molten balls of fire towards a school.

"Jesus," Mega-Girl replied, wondering how long her leg would hold up.

You're not alone out there. Apparently Apollo is duking it out with Muscleman outside a grocery store in Grove Heights, and I've heard reports that Velocity, the Phazer, and Major Asskicker are all doing what they can. But it's unbelievable, MG... it's like the city's being overrun by super criminals.

Mega-Girl took off into the air, "I'll start with Inferna and then see if I can take down those two lunatics, Heckyl and Jeckyl. I don't have time to deal with Two-fold, but he's Velocity's villain; I'm sure she's on it."

=======

Like a fiery phoenix, Inferna swept through the sky with her entire body ablaze. She was laughing with glee, lobbing balls of fire from her hands towards suburban buildings below. "Burn it!" she was cackling, "Burn it all! Burn the whole world!"

Several houses and a nearby car wash were already consumed with flames. Sirens filled the air as police cars and fire trucks raced through the neighborhood in an effort to keep up with the villainess.

"You are bat-shit crazy, do you know that?"

Inferna spun in the air upon hearing the voice behind her and was greeted to Mega-Girl's fist. She careened through the air and landed on the roof of a fast food restaurant, charring its shingles with her fiery body. But the punch didn't seem to damage her.

"Mega-Girl!" she seethed, sparks of flame spitting out of her mouth, "I'm going to turn your skinny little ass into ashes!"

Fire streamed from Inferna's out-stretched arms like her hands were flamethrowers, streaking through the air to engulf Mega-Girl in a ball of flame. Mega-Girl flew out of it as fast as she could, streaking through the air with her costume and leg bandages aflame.

"Hot superhero coming through!" she said to a group of pedestrians, landing on a nearby sidewalk and kicking over a fire hydrant. The jetting water snuffed the flames on her body. Her costume was intact, if a little blackened, but the bandages around her thigh were in tatters. Blood was seeping from the wound and pain throbbed through her entire thigh; Mega-Girl could barely put any weight on it.

But Inferna was on the move again, flying above. She began hurling balls of plasma towards Mega-Girl, the fiery stuff splattering like lava when it hit the street.

"Get out of here!" Mega-Girl yelled at the growing crowd of gawkers, "Run!"

Inferna laughed manically and swooped through the air towards a gas station.

"No!" Mega-Girl screamed, flying after the insane pyromaniac as fast as she could.

But it was too late. Inferna shot flames directly at one of the pumps, resulting in an explosion that rocked the entire block in a plume of flames and rising smoke. Several innocent people were at the pumps filling their tanks with gas, with several more customers and employees inside. Mega-Girl guessed at least a dozen people were killed in the blast.

Inferna was completely unhinged. "I'm going to burn the world!" she yelled towards Mega-Girl. "Right after I burn YOU!"

Flying straight towards her like a crimson bullet Mega-Girl snatched Inferna and carried her straight upwards, away from any more people.

"I'm going kill you!" Inferna shrieked, the flames on her body intensifying until she and Mega-Girl were like a comet streaking through the sky.

The heat was intense and Mega-Girl was having trouble breathing. Inferna was glowing with the power of a volcano, the very air around them beginning to ignite. She tried punching Inferna, but the woman seemed immune to physical blows, as though her flames were feeding her strength and rejuvenating her.

"I have the power of the sun," Inferna clutched Mega-Girls arms, actually burning her invulnerable skin! Inferna's eyes were wide and crazed, like two molten orbs, "The power of ten suns! Feel my heat!"

Mega-Girl screamed at the pain and did the only thing she could do, grabbing Inferna by the throat and snapping her neck. Mega-Girl gasped at the fresh air as Inferna's body reverted to that of a normal woman and hung limply.

Inferna was dead, her flames snuffed forever.

Landing next to an ambulance and police car parked near the burning gas station, Mega-Girl turned over Inferna's body. "I had to kill her," she told the police officer, tears streaming down her cheeks, "It was the only way I could stop her."

The police officer simply stared at her.

"What?" Mega-Girl asked him, "What is it?"

"You look like hell," the officer pointed, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mega-Girl looked down at herself as she lied. Her costume was a charred mess, burnt to a crisp and flaking off her form; it barely concealed her modesty. The bandages on her leg were gone and blood soaked her left leg from the thigh down.

Flashes from cell phone cameras all around her were going off as bystanders took pictures of Mega-Girl. She felt at her face and realized her mask was gone, not that it mattered. Her face and hair were blackened beyond recognition.

"It's okay," the police officer said, "No one is going to blame you for killing her. We all saw what she did. She burnt down a school for Christ's sake! You're a hero, Mega-Girl. You're a goddamn hero!"

"I have to go," she said, her face covered with sooty tears. Taking off into the air, Mega-Girl didn't feel like a hero. She had never killed anyone before and even though Inferna was going to kill her and countless others, guilt consumed her.

Lifting a hand to her ear, Mega-Girl realized the cellular earpiece was gone - melted off her head most likely. Though her connection with Harbinger was severed, she felt like the pain from her leg would overcome her, and her arms throbbed from where Inferna had grabbed and burnt her, it didn't matter... the murderous Heckyl and Jeckyl were still waiting.

=======

"Die!" Major Asskicker roared as two machine guns, one held in each of his arms, spat their fire. "Die mother fuckers!"

But the bullets bounced off Heckyl and Jeckyl's thick hides, simply making holes in their orange jumpsuits. The two monstrous villains were twins, born with superhuman strength and leathery skin as hard as steel plates. Heckyl had wild black hair while Jeckyl was bald. Both of them looked like a cross between a linebacker and a Neanderthal.

Major Asskicker dropped his guns when he saw that they weren't doing any damage and reached into his fatigues for a pair of grenades. Pulling the pins with his teeth he threw them both were Heckyl and Jeckyl were standing in a parking lot. Thankfully no one else was around, as police and pedestrians were forced to evacuate long prior.

The grenades didn't even faze the pair.

Heckyl was laughing while Jeckyl picked up a Toyota and threw it. Major Asskicker dove behind a pick-up to avoid being crushed, wondering how he could possibly stop the twin lunatics.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," Heckyl snarled in a throaty voice.

As they stalked towards the pick-up, Mega-Girl landed in front of them. She immediately cried out when she tried to put any weight on her leg and fell to one knee.

Heckyl laughed again when he saw Mega-Girl's sorry state, "Looky-looky what we have here! A little super-chump come to play. Is that you Mega-Girl? You've seen better days! Didn't your mommy teach you not to play with matches?"

Mega-Girl gritted her teeth and rose, hobbling on one leg. Her 5'7" frame was dwarfed by the massive brothers, but her fists balled at her sides and she didn't budge.

"Kill her," Heckyl instructed his mute brother.

Jeckyl snarled and charged forward, lunging with his hands.

Mega-Girl swung a massive uppercut, catching Jeckyl square on the jaw and sending the murderous fiend hurtling backwards to land on the hood of a car. The blow caused her burnt arm to explode in pain and Mega-Girl lost balance and fell to her side. She tried to push herself up but Heckyl was on her in an instant, hammering his fists against her and driving her into the ground.

Desperately clutching at the crumbling pavement around her, Mega-Girl found a chunk of concrete and smashed it on the side of Heckyl's head, knocking him aside. Pushing herself up with an outstretched arm, she struggled to her one good knee and fought to maintain consciousness. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jeckyl approaching once again, trying to stand and face him, but her legs didn't have the strength.

Jeckyl's snarling and drooling visage was nearly on her when from out of nowhere a speeding van slammed into the monster and crashed into another parked car, crushing Jeckyl between the two vehicles.

Major Asskicker held up his middle finger through the driver's side window of the van, "Take that, mother fucker!"

"I'm going to kill you for that!" Heckyl screamed, rising and stalking towards the van.

Mega-Girl propped herself up on both hands and her one good knee, pushing off and flying towards Heckyl. She impacted against the criminal's back and slammed him into the rear end of the van. Though she fell to her knee again, Mega-Girl was able to grab one of the van's back doors and wrench it free from its hinges, using it to hit Heckyl with all her remaining strength.

The metal door wrinkled around Heckyl's head, knocking him unconscious.

Mega-Girl collapsed, the world going dim around her. She was relieved, however, at the last thing her closing eyes saw: a bright flashing light she recognized well.

Apollo had arrived. Mega-Girl knew she was safe.

=======

Penny awoke in a familiar bed within Apollo's bedroom, her leg stiff but no longer throbbing. She looked around the dim room and saw a familiar figure sitting in a chair at her bedside.

"Jordan?" she muttered weakly, surprised to see her roommate.

"It's okay," Jordan rose, swiftly moving to the bedside, "Everything's okay. We're in Apollo's place, he brought you here."

"I-I know," Penny nodded, "But what are you doing here? How did you...?"

"I saw your fight with Heckyl and Jeckyl on the news, Channel 5 had a reporter on the scene. When Apollo teleported you away I figured he brought you here. You told me you were at Apollo's place when you called me, remember? You asked what the closest threat to the Keppler Building was, so I put two and two together and came here. I bribed the doorman and he told me which condo Apollo was in."