The Elite pt. 18

Chapter 18: Clear as Crystal, Part 1

Sports Woman trudged through the streets of Kirby. Her usual confidence and vigor had vanished, leaving her walking through with a glazed look in the eyes. Not helping her feeling of being lost was the fact that people gave her a wide berth. Her attack on Roger Ellis, his disappearance, and her isolation for the last few days, refusing to make contact with her friends or even address what she did, really did a number on public opinion of her. Now, the public viewed her as a dangerous vigilante.

She had dealt with this all night. She didn’t care by now.

Okay, I screwed-up. I admit it. After spending a day in my room, I finally came out and chatted with my parents. The weren’t impressed, but they also got the idea that I realized what I did wrong. For the next week, though...

MONDAY...

It was a bright, sunny day in Kirby Park. The typical, young girl was crying that her cat had climbed too high up the tree and was unable to come down. It was a problem easily remedied. Sports Woman thought this would be a good time to get her mind off things. She nimbly climbed the tree and scooped the kitten up with her free hand. With a yell, she let go and landed on her back. Landing on a baseball bat, a cricket bat, and a golf club wasn’t a pleasant experience, but she quickly sprung up, handing the girl her cat, who was no worse for wear.

“Here ya go!” she said, the girl taking the kitten with a wide smile.

Before she could say anything, the girl’s mother grabbed her daughter and dragged her off with a defensive, “STAY AWAY FROM HER!”

“She’s fine...” Sports Woman murmured. She shoved her hands into her pockets before trudging away.

Didn’t matter what my intentions were. After Ellis, people expected me to go nuts any second. So, this kinda left me with some major aggression...

TUESDAY...

“This is me telling you, NICELY!”

POW!

Sports Woman had cornered a drug-dealer who had tried peddling his wares outside Kirby High at sundown. He quickly realized that this was the worst idea, possible. She had began wailing on him with a golf club. He was on the ground by now, his drugs on the ground.

“You try selling drugs to KIDS, then you’re in for a world of HURT!”

“STOP! PLEASE!” the dealer screamed, holding up his hands in front of his face.

Sports Woman raised her club, but halted. She looked down at him and saw a shadow of Roger Ellis, crying in pain. She backed away, but turned and ran when she heard someone approaching. From an alleyway, she saw Lion Man approach the dealer.

“Why didn’t you just autograph it?” he asked out loud. Sports Woman gave no answer. She simply ran as fast as she could and climbed a fire escape to get away from her former-comrade.

Just SEEING my friends hurt...

WEDNESDAY...

Sports Woman was walking through the streets, hands placed firmly in her pocket. Kirby’s citizenry were avoiding her like the plague, but she was thankful that she wasn’t getting pelted by garbage. But, knowing her recent run of bad luck, it wouldn’t be too long before that happened.

“HEY, SPORTS!”

She looked and saw Puppet Man running towards him. The look on the younger hero's face was one of relief and excitement. All the outcast heroine was feeling was like she'd been kicked by Captain Stinger again.

“Where've ya been? We've been trying to find you EVERYWHERE!” the young hero called. Sports Woman immediately bolted. Confused, Puppet Man kept running after her, “Hey, where are ya going? I just wanna talk!”

Puppet Man caught up with Sports Woman and grabbed onto her wrist. She wheeled around, pulling a fist back.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

With that, she punched Puppet Man in the jaw. The sting of the metal face-plate he wore stung her fist, but she still managed to knock him to the ground. He yelled as he pulled off the plate, showing that part of the edge had cut into his chin, which he winced as he touched. Sports Woman looked ready to go to her friend's help, but halted and ran as fast as she could in the other direction.

No matter WHAT I did, I just wound up hurting someone. So...what else was there for me to do?

THURSDAY...

Laura hadn't gone out all day, just sat on the couch, staring at the TV screen. She was watching a Western shoot-out, clad in her Sports Woman outfit, sans the mask. Her face had tear-stains on it and her eyes were red and blood-shot. She had clearly been crying earlier, but now, her expression was one of absolute defeat.

“Laura, are you alright?” her mother asked as she walked in. She sat down next to her daughter, a look of concern on her face, “When you asked me to call the school to say you were sick, I thought it was so you could go on patrol or something like that...”

“Why would I do that?” Laura asked, blandly, “It's not like they'd want me.”

FRIDAY...

Laura packed her backpack for the day at school. She needed to get out. She needed to do something, ANYTHING to get her mind off the guilt that was eating away at her.

On pure instinct, she picked up her hockey mask. She was about to put it into her backpack, but stopped. Her face contorted before hurling it at her wall. She stormed out of the house with a loud, “Off to school!”

She rode her bike and walked in. She was a few minutes late to class, so her English teacher was starting on their lesson. With a hurried apology, she sat down as far away from her friends as she could. Ken looked over only for Laura to avoid eye-contact. She took a heavy breath, keeping herself from bursting into tears again, and put her hand in her face.

“Is everything alright, Miss Michaels?”

Laura looked up and saw her English teacher, looking at her with a genuinely worried expression. Laura put on a smile, “Yeah, everything's fine.”

Her teacher looked skeptical before moving on. Laura looked at her book and ran her fingers through her hair.

And it would just get BETTER...

“RELEASE KAPPA!”

The next day, a group of mutant thugs had put Kirby Prison under siege. Having gotten wind of it, Tanner contacted the remaining heroes to provide back-up defense. Now, they were pinned down. Inside, people like Captain Stinger and Professor Crustacean looked out in curiosity.

The mutants were clad in black, shell-like armor and wielded cannons that fired green energy bursts. They numbered about fifty strong, but were better equipped than the heroes and policemen who were now cornered. Only five heroes could be gathered—Super B, Sharpshot, Game Boy, Gooey Girl, and Puppet Man. Silverback was running his shift at El Macho and Lion Man said he would be there as fast as possible, but was on the other side of town.

“WE DEMAND THE RELEASE OF KAPPA!” the mutant shouted as he fired another energy blast.

“I heard you the last five times!” Espinoza yelled, firing her pistol, only to see them bounce off.

Game Boy fired his Zapper, but even the short flashes of light couldn't slow them down. The mutants kept on coming as Puppet Man took cover behind a truck. Super B grabbed a discarded car and hurled it at the mutant horde, only to see it disintegrate after being blasted by the army.

“RELEASE KA-”

WHAM!

A large blue fist slammed into the leader as Gooey Girl re-solidified. She then shifted into a puddle once more and slithered away as the mutants began shooting at her. She reformed behind the truck Puppet Man was hiding behind. The younger hero smiled at her.

“Knew there was a reason we kept you around!”

The heroine looked at her comrade as Game Boy darted over, taking cover, “Um...th-thanks.”

Game Boy peeked out and began firing his zapper, “Yeah, for all the good it's doing!”

Super B flew up, evading the blasts as he sent a blast at the mutants. He found out, to his dismay, that his energy blasts consumed a lot of energy and would take about fifteen minutes to recharge. He grit his teeth before a blast of scarlet energy flew from nowhere to hit a small group of the mutants, sending them flying. Crystalline spikes began flying out of nowhere, impaling the legs. He looked to the top of the police station to see two people standing on top of it. He couldn't clearly see them, but they seemed to shine rather brightly.

On the ground, three newcomers had entered the battle—one was a black, teenage girl clad in a green pantsuit, swinging what looked like a large monkey wrench around to slam into the mutants. Another was a young man, early twenties at most, wearing a violet zipper hoodie, who was knocking the mutant down just by touching them. The last one was...a little girl, slamming her fists into mutants, all the while shouting “Tag!” or “Gotcha!”. Suddenly, a woman's voice was heard over a megaphone.

“Listen up, ya stinking mutants, there's a new band of heroes in town! Now, am-scray or this is gonna get messy!”

The mutants looked up before grabbing their wounded and promptly making a retreat. The speaker jumped down and landed just as Super B came to the ground. The newcomers gathered.

“The day is saved! YAY!” the little girl whooped.

“Indeed. Yay.” The black teen said in a monotone.

“Eh, cool.” The young man said, noncommittally, as he stood next to the girl.

“BLASTIN'!” exclaimed a man with a clear, Spanish accent.

The other heroes got together and walked over to the people who saved them.

“Well...” Game Boy said, clearing his throat, “Thanks.”

“Eh, no prob.” Said the woman, looking around. She was gorgeous, in her mid-twenties, with deep blue eyes that seemed to shimmer and hair the color of a clear sky. She had a blue vest and a black sports bra over her sizeable breasts, her bared midriff having splotches where it was blue and glittering. She had black, form-fitting pants and boots, “Saw you guys needed help and, after all, we heroes gotta stick together.”

Super B looked her in the eyes (with great difficulty, since she was very attractive) and cleared his throat, “Well, if we're going to be operating in the same city...”

“We will.” The black girl said.

“We need to trust each other. Who are you?”

“Fair enough.” The woman shrugged, “My name's Claire Queen, but you can call me Sapphire. My buddies are Emilio Delgado...”

“Call me Ruby.” Said the Latino man. Everything beneath his head was solid, red crystal. His eyes and hair (which had been styled into a mohawk) were blood-red.

“TJ Rider...”

“Emerald...” the black girl said. Her hair was bright green along with her eyes, but her most noticeable feature was that the lower half of her face had been turned into glimmering, green crystal. She was in direct contrast to Sapphire, wearing a dark green pantsuit.

“Oliver and his little sister, Stephanie Dickson.” Sapphire concluded.

“Amethyst.” The man said. His hair and eyes were deep purple. He appeared to be the most normal out of the group.

“And I'M Topaz!” the girl exclaimed. The area around her right eye was covered by solid, yellow crystals, which matched her remaining eye and hair. Crystals also covered her hands and she was wearing a bright yellow shirt and denim overalls.

“Crystal themes...cute.” Game Boy said.

“Said the guy with the Pikachu mask.” Sapphire said, “Besides, with OUR looks, kinda unavoidable.”

At that point, Espinoza walked over and made a small laugh, “No masks AND open about their identities? You kids could take a few tips from these guys.”

“YOU, we're ignoring.” Game Boy stated.

“We'd continue the chit-chat, but I think this is too...” Sapphire searched for the right word for a second to describe the situation, “Informal. How about we chat over lunch? I'm buying.”

“Um...”

“B, you NEVER turn down free food.” Puppet Man said.

With that, the two teams were at El Macho Pizza. The restaurant had recently included a Superhero Discount as part of a promotional stunt, thinking that seeing people in costume regularly would increase sales. People were ogling the two hero teams as a Filipino man laid out their orders of pizza and Mexican food.

“So, what's your story?” Game Boy asked.

“Pretty much what you'd expect.” Sapphire shrugged, eating her enchiladas, “During that meteor fall we got some hands-on exposure to the radiation. Ruby and Emerald got the worst of it...”

“Not that you could tell.” Ruby said with a laugh.

“Amethyst, Topaz, and I seemed alright  but turns out it was a delayed reaction. We all probably would've kicked the bucket if it wasn't for Dr. Fazer. Guy knows mutations like I know George C. Scott movies.”

Game Boy remembered reading about how a doctor from Joon Industries had pretty much solved the treatable mutations in Kirby, single-handed. He was the one who developed the medication that had stopped Roger Ellis' pheromone control.

“As an added bonus,” Emerald said, “Our mutated DNA resulted in abilities one would define as super-powers. I have technopathy, meaning I can talk to and manipulate machines. Amethyst has telepathic powers...”

“Explains why he's staring at me.” Game Boy said, pointing to Amethyst who was staring at him with pure confusion.

“Who worries that much about door knobs?” the man said.

“Topaz has enhanced strength, Ruby can refract energy, and Sapphire has tactile telekinesis.” Emerald continued, “Added with that are enhanced durability and reflexes.”

“And, since superheroing's the latest fashion, we figured 'what the heck?'.” Sapphire concluded.

“And, just after getting out, we ran into you guys.” Ruby said.

“And it was AWESOME!” Topaz exclaimed.

“Since I'm the oldest, I was considered to be team leader. So, AS team leader, I'm thinkin' it'd make all of our jobs easier if we worked together.” Sapphire raised her cup, “So, here's to new partners in justice?”

The other heroes of Kirby looked at each other, uncertainly. Super B then cleared his throat and raised his own cup in a toast. The other heroes joined in.

Unknown to the heroes, Laura was outside, watching them. She saw the teams toast each other and grit her teeth. She had just wanted to get some lunch, but now this firm reminder that she was essentially a pariah...

“Wouldn't you know it? Barely been a week and they've ALREADY replaced you. What a world!”

Laura looked around, trying to find the source of the voice only to find nothing. She let out a growl and stormed off.

As the week continued, the teams had occasional team-ups with the new team. The older team was even a little jealous since the newer heroes got a team name so quickly—The Crystals. It was a rather obvious name choice, but considering their shared abilities, it was at least understandable.

This day, however, was more chaotic than usual. A hospital was under attack by men clad in black and blue lightweight armor with visors. Some had AK-47's while others began displaying powers. None of the heroes had to ask who they were, since they were regularly on the news. These were members of the terrorist organization called New Wave, a radical group formed to right the injustices that metahumans faced in the less-developed parts of the world. They had started as a multi-national civil rights group...

And now, the combined teams were fighting, tooth-and-nail to protect the hospital while the patients and staff were evacuated. The New Wave operatives were attacking in a force so great that it required all of the team members, from Amethyst to Super B. All of them were engaged in combat, but the terrorists kept on coming.

“Join us! You're a metahuman, too!”

WHAM!

“Just SHUT UP!” Super B snarled after punching the terrorist in the face. Unfortunately, he was engaged with a metahuman who could duplicate himself.

“Why're they attacking the hospital?” Game Boy called, lashing out with his whip while firing the Zapper.

“The Joon Anti-Mutation medication.” Amethyst replied, using his telepathic powers, “There are rumors that it can be used to suppress metahuman genes.”

“Wild guess, THAT'S why they've got their undies in a knot?” Sapphire asked, shattering a gun she grabbed onto.

“Well, we all know it's a load of-”

“NOT in front of my sister.” Amethyst stated, cutting across Puppet Man.

With a loud, whooshing noise, a familiar, armored figure landed. It was a bright, shiny silver being, three short horns coming from the head. It was Steel Triceratops, standing up tall as she surveyed the area.

“I'm back.” She stated, “Activating Tri-Beam.”

The horns on her helmet opened up to reveal what looked like miniature chain gun barrels, which began opening-fire on the New Wave. However, one sprung forward and seemed to create a shield between them. She then flew towards the fighter and slammed her fist into the barrier, sending out a burst of sparks as the shield fluctuated. Super B grabbed a duplicate and threw him into the barrier, briefly breaking free to slam his fist into the barrier, shattering it into a million pieces. Steel Triceratops fired a concussion blast to send hi to the ground.

“Hey, Big Red.” She greeted, her voice still containing a metallic echo.

“Hey, it's been a while.” Super B replied. Immediately, the duplicates converged on the two heroes.

“Well, armor needed fixing. Figured this would be a good time to give it a test drive.” Steel Triceratops continued firing on the New Wave as Super B delivered powerful punches.

“Could always use a new member on the team.” The red hero said, continuing to punch with the precision taught to him by his boxing grandfather.

“No offense, but I don't play well with others.” Steel Triceratops fired a blast at a duplicate coming up right behind Super B, knocking it down.

“Seem to be doing a good job of it NOW.”

“Just doing what I've gotta do, Big Red. Just doing what I gotta do.”

Elsewhere in the fight, Lion Man was fighting a New Wave operative who seemed to be able to launch powerful, explosive energy. The vigilante was grabbing onto his wrists, forcing his hands downward to send an explosive burst into the ground. The operative quickly did a heel-stomp, making the more violent fighter recoil. The terrorist wheeled over to a room and send a blast into a room, making an explosion.

“NO!” Silverback yelled, bolting over with Sapphire.

The leader of the Crystals' eyes widened as she saw someone—a Caucasian with a short mustache and a lab coat. The white garment was now crimson as his empty eyes stared off into oblivion. Her face then contorted into a look of pure fury. Her teeth clenched as she thrust out her hand. A lance-like crystal flew from it and promptly impaled the man through the shoulder. He raised his hand to release an explosive burst only for another crystal blade to sheer right thorugh it as though it was paper. Silverback came to a halt, eyes wide as the blood spattered his face.

“Not smart.” She snarled, closing the distance between herself and the terrorist. She reached out her hand to touch the terrorist's face, “Now, let's see if you have any brains at all...”

Her hand was an inch away from the New Wave operative's head before it halted. Silverback had gotten out of his shock and grabbed her arm.

“Sapphire!” he growled.

“THAT'S DOCTOR FAZER!” Sapphire screamed, gesturing at the body with her free hand, “MY FRIENDS AND I WOULDN'T BE ALIVE IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM!”

“I understand that.” Silverback said through clenched teeth. The other heroes halted as they began to see what was going on between the two older members, “It's something horrible to happen, but we are NOT executioners.”

Suddenly, the New Wave operative began screaming. His limbs began thrashing around, wildly, as if seeing something truly horrifying. He then went limp, slumping forward, and a small sigh escaping his mouth. Silverback's eyes widened in horror.

“Wh-what did you-?”

“Showed him what I wanted him to see.” Amethyst said, “Guess it was too much for him.”

Sapphire wheeled around, blue eyes burning with murder, as she shouted to her team, “TEAR THEM APART!”

Without any more warning, the Crystals wheeled onto the other New Wave operatives. Two were hit, full-on, by blasts from Ruby, slumping to the ground with smoking holes in their chests while a third had his leg severed. Emerald grabbed onto one's helmet and her eyes flashed. It quickly sealed itself off, looking like some form of underwater function, only without the breathing function active. The terrorist struggled before collapsing, oxygen running out. Topaz put her fist through the duplicating operative Super B and Steel Triceratops were fighting. All of the clones vanished at that point.

“STOP!” Super B shouted. He yelled as he froze, Amethyst looking at him with an angry expression.

At that point, the police arrived, setting up a barricade to keep the onlookers from getting any closer. Sapphire saw this and walked forward, grabbing the dismembered New Wave operative by the head. She saw a news crew, capturing the entire scene and held the terrorist high enough to be seen.

“Here's a message for all of the scum of this city!” she proclaimed, loudly, as the metahuman tried struggling free, “We're DONE playing around! You see THESE guys?” she gestured at the other heroes, who were looking horrified, “How THEY'VE been doing things? Where you could get away with some jail time? Well, hope you liked THAT time, because it's gone.” the terrorist yelled as he began to vibrate. Shortly afterward, his head exploded outward, splattering some people with the telekinetically dismembered remains of the man's skull, “THIS is the new justice in Kirby!”

“Yeah.” Ruby said, “You hurt anyone? YOU'RE DEAD!”

The five mutated heroes then strode off, the crowd giving them a wide berth. The other heroes remained in place, still in shock by what Sapphire had just done. Steel Triceratops was the first to break out of it.

“Exactly why I'm a solo-act.” She murmured before flying off.

Still keeping their posts at the barricade were Tanner and Espionza. The Latina had fresh blood on her face as the older cop cleaned his glasses. He looked over to his partner with a grim expression.

“STILL think the kids could learn something from them?”

Espinoza had no answer.

The next day...

Laura had picked up a routine by now—get her lunch as quickly as possible, take it to the farthest corner of the cafeteria, and finish it was fast as she could. That way, she could avoid having to deal with those she went on patrol with. She still didn't want their pity, their criticism, or anything they had to offer at this point. She was digging through a salad when Ken, Rick, and Damian walked over. Clearly, THEY had picked up on her routine as well.

Rick cleared his throat as she stabbed at the lettuce with her fork, making it clear that they were there, “Hey, Laur-”

“Careful.” She said, moodily, “I'm dangerous, remember?”

“We're here because-” Damian said.

“Not interested. Buzz off.”

“We need your-” Ken began only to be interrupted as Laura stood up.

“Get your new friends to do it.” She said, venomously, as she stormed off, her food half-done.

Ken looked ready to go after her, but Damian grabbed his shoulder.

“If she wouldn't let us get a word in, edgewise, what do you think your chances would be?” He asked, sharply.

Ken looked at the ground, defeated, “Sh-she was...” he took a shaky breath, “Now what?”

“Now, we need to do it the old-fashioned way.” Rick replied.

The three walked off, giving a final glance at where Laura had stormed off, before going back to what they dubbed the 'Lunch Table of Justice'.

Meanwhile, Laura stomped to the bathroom and promptly began washing her face, still puffy-eyed. From local hero to town pariah...and no one aside from those closest to her knew that. She felt like a vice had closed around her heart while a knife plunged into it, time and time again. She looked into the mirror, seeing a broken, humiliated, and shame-ridden girl where a hero had once been.

She looked behind her, even though there was nothing in the mirror. She could have sworn that she had heard someone snickering just behind her. She growled as she dried off her face and left, not noticing the trickle of violent energy trailing behind her.

TO BE CONTINUED...