Superhero Adventures, UK Style

The force of the twin explosions in Carpathia sent Sam flying through the closing portal bridging him straight through to the BASEment. While the heat could never affect Sam, the force of the blast certainly did as he fell heavily in an ungraceful lump on the reception room floor as the portal closed a second later. The bamboo roll above the concrete was little comfort.  His muscles would definitely be sore tomorrow.

He took a minute before getting up with a groan, nodding his head to let the others know he was ok.

Everyone by then had already begun to see to the wounded and the final logistics. Aura and Mary looked to be handling the immediate care of Jeeves. Sam didn’t understand the powers displayed, but the calm and reassured faces above the retired soldier had a positive outlook. Mary helped Jeeves up and Sam saw the look of assorted emotions flash across his face; pain from bruises and torn muscles mixed with a realisation of his liberation at last and sheer, unadulterated happiness.

“The Amazons” already looked like they were making their way to the communal area. They were obviously in safe hands as a smiling Jeeves dismissed Mary and headed straight to the kitchen, they were already being soothed and guided by Donna who had the initiative to look for a (non-existent) painted map and then  quickly ask one of the Balance members where they should go. He made a mental note to check in with Donna and Lillian as soon as he could.

His first concern, however, was to check on Adam and Mikey.  They were gathering up the Dwarves, deactivating their Taser arms and collecting up the unused grenades.

Mikey held herself up well and had good initiative for heroic sorties! Sam mentioned that Junkpile would be a valuable asset on more missions on occasion. What Sam didn’t know, however, was the amount of work and preparation required to build a suit as such. He eagerly patted her on the back.

“Sorry about Junkpile but it was really good work. Can you rebuild it?”

Mikey smiled a sad smile. “Junkpile was a one off; I’m an artist remember? Not an assembly line or a trained operative. I need some time to sort out the junkyard, but I’m sure I can come up with another last resort at some point. Just don’t need it too soon, ok? In the meantime I need some sleep and to check on project Hercules…”

“Project Hercules, what’s that?”  “You’ll see soon enough, they’re for upstairs. Just remember they, unlike Junkpile, come in a pack of three.”

He checked on Adam. From what Sam could remember and in momentary glimpses, he and the Raft (^TM) had by far taken the most focus and punishment throughout their international visit. Sam had been victim and witness to Dementia’s terrible blend of cold terror before, but the Raft look positively covered in the frosty-fear based ice.

“Adam. I know you’ve got the dwarves, but let me help you with this. Let’s get the raft back into the hangar for now. Let’s get out of here.” Adam was bent over double and apparently out-of-sorts, but hopefully with Mikey’s help and his own support, he’d be able to pull through. Sam gently shook him on the shoulder. Brother in blood and brother in arms, and flashed a sympathetic smile.

He looked up and to Sam’s surprise smiled. “Quite the rollercoaster ride brov’. Did you get everyone out?” Before Sam could answer, he deactivated the control cable from the mounted guns on the Raft and directed Sam to lift the front of the raft so he could check the grav plates underneath.

Sam could feel the frost of the front of the vehicle on his palms but endured it until Adam crawled back out.

Truth being Sam had been worried about the techies and support even before they’d left home. He was even more worried now. Adam shouldn’t be considered a meta-human toy to be put at risk in this way. For the first time he realised just how much he really cared for his brother; his annoying, brilliant brother.

Adam stepped up with an augmented forklift. With one icy half of the Raft raised onto it and the other hoisted by Sam, they took these moments to waltz towards’ the raft’s proper resting place.

When they arrived, Sam asked how he was doing, a genuine look of concern struck on his face. Adam would reveal as much as he wanted to and no more. Adam wasn’t one for long emotional conversations with family, usually. Sam suspected he’d try and be stoic as usual. Adam was Sam’s primary concern over everything else. Adam had cared so much for his well-being before and throughout, it was Sam’s turn to return the gesture.  Sam thought to himself, they could probably do with acquiring a counsellor for The Balance at some point.

As he expected Adam shrugged it off, though he admitted that he’d prefer they didn’t do that too often but was pleased they had succeeded in rescuing Donna and the others. He did accept Sam’s suggestion that he order bulletproof vests for the support staff after he gently reminded Sam that yes, he’d been scared and yes he’d prefer to not go through that every day but they’d proven their worth and deserved to be considered part of the Team.

Sam listened intently and tried to say the right things at the right time, trying to be the supportive chirpy younger brother.

Adam was determined to get the Raft back to its normal operations, Sam was on deck to assist but was soon replaced by the far more capable Mikey, the mechanical dream team returned once again. Minus one was the silent thought at the back of his mind as he tried to put thoughts of Annie out of his mind – for the moment at least.

Sam surrendered to the inevitable, but demanded that before anything else in their shared near future, they got some rest. With his leave, he plied the donated arms and weapons from the pair and deposited them with the other leftovers from the reception Room in the Armoury.

Waste-not-want-not; It’s England! There are always rainy days! Why do we even have a lock-up if we don’t keep anything in it?

His next destination was the communal hall where their guests were already resting and most of them were already fast asleep, admittedly with the alien-looking one floating in mid-air, various objects forming out of the air, apparently created in her dreams only to vanish a few seconds later. The consoles were set to play a relaxing “healing” playlist made by Mary previously, with soothing light simulations surrounding.

Jeeves, naturally, was not on hand to assist this time around. The Amazon’s had found their own spots and places of comfort. A few half-eaten sandwiches could be seen on makeshift plates around.

But Donna, alone, stood overlooking them, in a state of deep meditation. Sam approached and apologized for disturbing her. He’d seen a state similar in Akira before on occasion. He struck up a conversation with her as he slowly collapsed into a sitting position against the wall, enjoying the music.

He sympathized deeply with Donna and her whole new situation: she’d always be welcome in the BASEment but he saw the determined look in her eye and the kind of non-deliberate yet friendly distance she kept in her conversation. This was a girl on the move. He’d been in that position before. An emphatic observer may have said the same thing about himself once in a comic-book convention hall once before. He couldn’t truly gauge Donna’s age, but he suspected she was as young as she looked though she acted throughout as though all of this responsibility and turmoil was natural to her. He left some notes, contacts (including at her request, Bethany’s contact details: where did she know her from?) and a single piece of advice with her. “Put the girls first.”

She asked him what had occurred after her kidnapping. He quickly relayed what had happened – he worried about telling her about her grandfather’s death but that didn’t come as a surprise thankfully. Given that his ghost hadn’t been seen since their return, he decided not to mention that. He did explain about the risks Akira took to rescue her and then try to resuscitate her grandfather; sort of hinting that was how they knew where to go to rescue her.

He knew Lillian already had his contact number, but she hadn’t recollected him in the bunker previously. She was a wondering, affected innocent then, and she’d been missing her amulet and her normal swagger. He left his contact number and his name on a bit of scrap paper and left it where she couldn’t miss it when she awoke. He double-checked that this was okay with Donna, naturally.

He was momentarily saddened about the loss of a draconic ‘friend’. Her previous host was a source of guidance and advice however brief, and though they may have rubbed each other the wrong way, he personally and quietly mourned her absence. Their relationship was a negative one and parasitic but a loss was a loss.

He was quickly soothed however, by relief and potential of this renewed young woman whom Sam was keen to meet properly for the first time. She looked a person who was on the cusp of an adventure.

Sam went to the med-bay to check on Jeeves. Mary had insisted that he stay there for tonight at least rather than heading up top. He was resting but was otherwise stable. Sam came to re-check the monitoring and apply painkillers, all standard procedure. He also cleaned and applied a bandage to his own neck where the bloody bat bit him. Akira had teased him that he would contract Rabies, but it never hurts to be careful.

While he was doing the round, his rugged-phone-tablet vibrated again in his pocket. He stepped out into the corridor and checked the display; one picture message received a few hours ago? He opened it. A perfect map of the facility, signed only with a crying-smiley emoji.

He smiled. She was still alive. A strong wave of relief brushed over him, followed by a quick blast of anger, followed by waves of quiet sorrow, and then eventual glowing hope. She was still out there, somewhere.

He replied “Thank you. X” but he knew the message would never arrive, the comm-route would have been randomized countless times since. He chucked a sad, dark chuckle and shed a tear that rolled slowly down his chin. He’d never understand her truly. He must be like an open book to her particular brand of genius. Every reaction already anticipated, simulated and planned. He wiped his face. He was determined not to dwell on it. Now was not the time.

He checked again then left Jeeves at rest. He was approaching his room when he saw Donna leaving Akira’s room with an alluring style of walk he’d seen in the movies. All hips and attitude-like.

He smiled.

He poked his head round his door and saw Akira; he was a whirlwind of emotions. He tried to lighten the mood and quietly spoke “Danger Will Robinson, Danger!  You do know she’s got a teenage crush on you don’t you?”

Sam stared after her and shook his head, “Don’t know whose childhood is more messed up; her or Bethany’s? You know Donna’s trying to sort out schooling and a safe home for her Amazons don’t you?  She’s grown up way too fast…”

He closed the door and wandered into his own room.

He knew everyone had their plans, and everyone was either busy at work preparing for the steps ahead, reflecting or recovering. However, after Annie’s message, that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Sam was going to bed, and boy was he going to enjoy it. He momentarily scheduled in a visit to Wessex’s heroic pub into his tablet. Sam flicked on Mary’s mix-tape, collapsed onto his nest and attempted to sleep deeply and dream.

Dream of her; dream of better times.

As he closed his eyes and exhaustion overtook him, he failed to see his computer console momentarily flare into impossible life and the camera activate; ‘Tin Can’ Annie in all her original mechanical glory stared out. Annie’s head looked out and a sad smile crossed her face before the red activation light died and the screen froze leaving a brief afterimage of Annie’s sad face to fade away.

Sam woke up the next day, good as new; since he’d learnt how to sleep without the recurring nightmares, he’d found himself waking up invigorated and renewed; yet another perk of his new form. He shook his head, he thought to himself, how new was it exactly? How long was it now, 4 years or 5? Can’t keep being surprised though or use it as an excuse, nobody else does.

He could have sworn he dreamed of Tiamente throughout the night and for some reason Doctor Arcane, but he’d already forgotten the details. Oh well!

Stepping from his nest of various colourful duvets, Sam began his routine of flicking on his nearby personal coffee pot. He leaned nearby and idly scanned the room. His PC monitor was slowly flickering a dim red light. It was on standby. Strange, he would have sworn that his whole system was shut down correctly last time he’d used it. He left his coffee pot bubbling as he turned on his computer to look for anything amiss or different. Never hurt to be careful, especially after what they had performed yesterday.

Nothing, beyond the computer had apparently tried to close down at the same time as a computer upgrade was being installed and had crashed the system, failing to properly close down peripherals like monitors, hence the blinking light. Except of course, he hadn’t used the computer yesterday and there had been no upgrades happening the last time he’d switched it off.

Sam wasn’t the smartest meta-human to grace the planet, but if anything is funky to do with computing, it was a safe bet would be that Annie was behind it, but hell if Sam were going to find any trace. He’d have to take some cyber-defence 101 classes sometime, certainly.

He reached the pot just before it boiled over. He always used coffee as a crutch to support him through his early nightmares back in container town or to fuel his old feverish midnight oil essays at university. It felt strange to now enjoy the drink as part of his easy morning ritual. He looked into a nearby mirror and scratched his chin slowly, a low gravely scratching sound emanating. He didn’t miss shaving, that was for sure. He remembered what Lillian said to him in a recent time before: something about the perception of the self, clarity of mind and image.

He was always going to be a red wyrmling, that wasn’t going to go away any time soon. Gods and clay. No harm in trying though, he’d already stretched his dexterity and agility with Mikey through training, what would be the harm? He closed his eyes, and tried to clear his mind and listen to his physical self. He felt a surge and momentarily was stunned. Eyes still tightly closed, he took a step backwards. Had it worked?

He quickly opened his eyes and… Nope! He went back to his coffee, flitting around his quarters. Truth was, he didn’t know the harm any shapeshifting might do and he’d need to experiment with a friendly onlooker.

Had that onlooker been present seconds before, they would have seen Sam just  for a split second become chameleonic and vanish into the background before reappearing a second later as the human Sam Myres; admittedly a very tall and powerfully built Sam Myres, but recognisable as a man nonetheless.

However when Sam opened his eyes, he only saw what he expected to see.

He wondered what Adam was up to, left his quarters and began his search around the BASEment. If anyone were going to help Sam remember what he looked like, or what he might look like 4 or 5 years into the future, it would be him. Sam barrelled off in his search, a strange mix of excitement and anxiety swirling in his torso as he strode. What would she think if he succeeded?