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A HERO’S HERO
By
Atomic
American
"Can one man be worth this?”
Atomic
American accidentally muttered this thought aloud as he surveyed
the carnage
around him. Several heroes were on the ground, either
unconscious, or too
injured to stand up. There were dozens of defeated
villains, plus a few
civilians too. Even though Atomic American's team
had won the fight, victory
had come at a high price. "Is he worth it"
Atomic asked, this time silently
"Even if he is the greatest hero
Paragon City had ever
known?”
* * *
Statesman was
missing; gone through an interdimensional portal at
Portal Corp. Now he was
trapped, maybe captured, perhaps even
dead. Atomic American had been called
in to investigate the mirror
dimension, which was presumed to be hip deep in
evil.
He hastily formed a team of heroes who were eager to help
search for
the Protector of Paragon. At least they'd been eager before they
found
out what tough opposition they were up against.
Atomic
American knelt next to Libertie Belle; she was alive, but too
weak to
move. "Up and At'em, Libertie Belle!" he screamed, using his
Atomic powers
to infuse Belle's wounded body with healing energies. The
hero regained her
feet, rejuvenated, and temporarily glowing green.
"Thanks AA."
she said, giving her muscles a cautious flex. Belle was a
scrappy gal; she
could pound most villains into the ground without
breaking a sweat. Of
course she had been helpless as a puppy after
getting whammied by a mental
blast from one of Malaise's evil minions.
"Um... a little help
here, Atomic." said a muffled voice. Atomic
American turned to see Hero Man
in a crumpled heap on the ground.
"Up and At'em, Hero Man!" he
ordered, and flooded Hero Man with
invigorating
energies.
"What hit me?" Hero Man asked no one in particular
after standing up.
"Psionic blast" muttered Libertie Belle,
still wincing with pain.
"Ow. I hate psionics." grumbled Hero
Man, rubbing his head. You could
pound on Hero Man's head with sledgehammers
all day long and get
nothing but a pile of broken hammers, but he hadn't
lasted much longer
than Libertie Belle in the
fight.
"Getting tired of looking at the floor, Mr. Fearless
Leader, sir." said
a quiet sarcastic voice behind him. The tiny Hellkitten
was facedown on
the ground surrounded by the bodies of a dozen
foes. Hellkitten wasn't
old enough for high school, and was small for age,
even. She could take
down scores of bad guys in seconds with her fire
blasts, but you could
knock her out with a feather pillow if you threw it
hard enough. She
had brought down the last of the psi villains with a
tremendous fire
blast, but one of them got her with a parting
shot.
"Up and At 'Em, Hellkitten!" and the little cat girl was
on her feet,
wobbling a bit in her high heeled boots.
"How
many more missions like this do we have left?" she asked massaging
her
temples.
"As many as it takes." replied Atomic
American.
"Great" mumbled Hellkitten "You sure this guy's worth
it?"
Atomic American found that he didn't have an
answer.
* * *
Several hours later
(Along with several Arch-Villains plus many an "Up
and At'em") Atomic
American put in a call to his contact, Maria
Jenkins. It took him a few
minutes to find a pay phone that worked (He
still didn't understand the
obsession with those portable phones these
days). After piecing together the
trail of clues, Maria seemed certain
that she'd found precisely where
Statesman might be... in the clutches
of the mirror dimension's greatest
villain, Tyrant.
She warned him that defeating Tyrant would be
the toughest mission
Atomic American would ever face, and he couldn't shake
the question
rattling around the back of his head, "Will it be worth
it..."
Stepping out of the phone booth, he addressed his
team:
"Heroes, I've just been told-"
"Dude,
why'd you use a payphone?" interrupted Hellkitten "Don't you
have a cell
phone?"
Atomic American ignored her "I've just been told that
Statesman's been
located. We're heading to the base of the villain who's
holding him
prisoner."
Hero Man's eyes widened "Holding
Statesman... prisoner. What villain is
tough enough to hold
Statesmancaptive?"
Liberty Belle stepped forward "Maybe we
should call in a few more
heroes..."
"A few?" squeaked
Hellkitten "Call in the whole friggin' Freedom
Phalanx!"
"There's no time to recruit help. The four of us
are going, and we're
going
now."
* * *
The inter-dimensional
portal glowed bright blue, and filled the lab
with an irritating racket, as
Atomic American's team assembled on the
runway leading to the
portal.
"Before we go through to the mirror universe I have to
tell you... It
appears that Tyrant is this mirror dimension's version of
Statesman".
"So, he's just as tough Statesman!" said Libertie
Belle.
"Statesman's fireproof!" exclaimed Hellkitten, audibly
alarmed.
"He's everythingproof!" Hero Man continued, his voice
betraying panic.
"I heard Lord Recluse picked up the old City
Hall and dropped it on
Statesman" said Libertie Belle "And Statesman wasn't
even scratched."
"Alright, settle down heroes" Atomic American
said, "We can handle
this."
"No way!" argued Hellkitten. "If
this guy's as tough as Statesman, then
he's unkillable! Statesman is like,
immortal er something."
"He's not immortal." admonished Atomic
American. "I've seen Statesman
bleed. He was almost killed in WWII. I know,
I was there."
END PART I
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