How to Date a Superhero Ch. 09

Story Info
The death of Mega-Girl.
7.7k words
4.62
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Part 9 of the 12 part series

Updated 06/07/2023
Created 05/19/2014
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frozenhero1
frozenhero1
3,730 Followers

Steam filled the air above a Styrofoam cup as Travis poured some coffee. He was standing in a communal kitchen shared by his dormitory floor, wearing a pair of cotton pajama bottoms and the wrinkled tee shirt he woke up in. Glancing down the hallway he made sure no one was in sight before pouring a second cup of coffee. Travis didn't need anyone to know he had company.

Slipping quietly back into his dorm room, Travis set both cups on a low coffee table before locking the door. With a glance towards his bed in the far corner he saw his guest was exactly where he left her, laying on her side sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, Travis sat down on a loveseat couch to read from a college textbook but found he was unable to focus on the words. His gaze was distracted by the blonde in his bed, her beauty drawing his gaze as though it had magnetic pull. Her face had petite but even features, with a cute nose, rounded eyebrows, and a perfect golden tan. Her mouth hung open just-so and Travis could hear the rhythmic breathing of her sleep.

Guilt seeped into his stomach like a knot when he suddenly thought of Jordan. It had barely been a week since her death and Travis felt inappropriate for thinking about other women so soon after losing her, even if the other woman in question was a world famous superhero and sex symbol.

"...is that coffee I smell...?" Travis heard a groggy voice just as he was attempting to refocus on his reading assignment.

"Yeah," he replied, closing the book. "I brought you a cup but I hated to wake you. You were sleeping so soundly."

Penny slipped from beneath the covers and sat on the edge of the bed to stretch her arms. She was wearing one of Travis' tee shirts which was baggy and loose over her petite frame. Skinny tanned legs poked out from beneath the shirt and her shoulder-length blonde waves were tousled.

Once properly stretched she crossed the small room to sit beside Travis and enjoy her coffee. "You're such a sweetheart," she said after a sip.

"It's no big deal; I was getting some for myself anyway."

"It's not just the coffee," she glanced at him, "Thanks for letting me stay here. I feel bad for putting you out. I could have slept on the floor instead of you."

"I think you have enough to worry about," Travis commented, "You lost your apartment, your best friend, you're wanted for murder, and you're being hunted by a syndicate of super-villains trying to kill you. On top of all that, you caught your boyfriend cheating on you."

"With his twin sister," Penny added before lifting another sip of coffee.

"Right," Travis nodded, "You know, your life would make a really great country song."

Penny let out a breathy laugh, "Sad but true. You remind me of Jordan, you know that? She had this amazing ability to make me laugh under the worst circumstances."

Travis looked down at his lap, "I miss her."

"Yeah," Penny agreed, "I wish she was here right now, I'd ask her to find out where that Master Disaster creep is hiding. She could find anything online, it was unbelievable."

"What are you going to do about the warrant out for your arrest?" Travis asked delicately.

"I don't know what to do about that, either." Penny set her cup down and sighed, "The problem is that I'm guilty. I killed Deathstalker - I can't deny it. No judge, no jury. I took the law into my own hands and killed him to satisfy my own need for revenge."

"He had it coming," Travis stated firmly.

"I agree with you," she pushed a hand through her messy hair, "But I don't think that defense will hold up in court."

"Are you going to turn yourself in?" Travis wondered.

"I don't know, probably not. At least not until I've dealt with Master Disaster," Penny took a deep breath, "So I need to figure out a way to actually find him."

"That might be hard to do without anything to go on," Travis reasoned, "But look on the bright side. If he's trying to kill you, it's only a matter of time before he finds you."

=======

"The costumed girl all over the news?" Hercules lifted a thick brow, "What is your interest in her?"

Hermes climbed the two steps to stand on Hercules' porch but still had to look up at his half-brother who was easily a foot taller, "I'm convinced she has Olympian blood. Though the abilities of mortal heroes are wide and varied, there are no others like her. Her might defies reason. She's easily as strong as Apollo, perhaps stronger. The only other person I know who has ever been able to claim that in this universe or any other... is you."

"She's not mine," Hercules sounded sure of himself.

"You're certain?"

Hercules leaned on the railing of his porch, crossing heavily muscled forearms on its wooden beam, "Have you ever been to Hades, Hermes?"

Hermes moved to stand beside him, "No."

Hercules gazed across his herd of cattle, "I have."

"Indeed," Hermes nodded, "I am well aware. Pluto claimed the woman you loved and you swore to all of Olympus that you were going to kill our uncle and bring back the Olympian maiden. But you never returned... or so our fellows in Olympus believe."

"As you have discovered, I survived my trip to Hades. Among men and gods I am the only one to make the journey to Hades and return to the realm of the living."

"How did you manage to enter Hades?" Hermes asked curiously, "I know of no roads or conduits into Pluto's realm."

Hercules turned aside to give Hermes a simple reply, "I died."

"That sounds rather unpleasant," Hermes quipped.

Hercules snorted at the sarcasm.

"And your fair maiden?"

"I was unable to rescue her," Hercules answered ambiguously, turning back towards his pasture. "I was barely able to return with my own soul intact. Hades is a nightmarish place, unfit for anyone to maintain reason or sanity. It changed me, Hermes. My time in Hades opened my eyes to what is truly important in life. Upon my return I gave up my vices; brawling... drinking... women..." He rubbed his thick black beard, "I have lived a celibate life since my return, which should assure you that I did not father this mortal titan you're so curious about."

It was plain to see that Hercules was indeed different from his youth; Hermes felt no reason to doubt his brother, "Perhaps I am wrong about the girl. But if she is not the child of an Olympian, where did she come from? How did she achieve such power? Is she only the first of more mortals to come whose strength and power rival ourselves? Have mortals evolved?"

=======

Located upon a man-made island, on the Hudson River between Wall Street and Ellis Island, the Headquarters of the World League was one of the most famous buildings in the world. Five stories high and over a half mile in length, it served as home and base of operations for Earth's premier team of superheroes. The fifth floor laboratory was as sophisticated as any other place of scientific research on the planet and was often occupied by Walter Jobs, a.k.a. Dr. Prizm - leader of the World League.

Walter was a fit man in his mid-forties with salt-and-pepper hair, glasses, and a seemingly perpetual white lab coat. His attention was completely occupied with an image on a monitor that looked like a static-filled blob.

Lilly Swann was looking over his shoulder, "What are you looking at, Walter?"

"A hydrogen atom," he replied distractedly, typing some new commands into the controls of a massive electron microscope.

"Why are you looking at an atom?" Lilly grew mildly upset, "There are people trying to kill my daughter."

"Hm? Oh, yes, I am aware."

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Lilly threw her hands up, frazzled.

Walter glanced at her, "I have my best man on it, Lilly. A young man by the name of 'Cypher'. Locating Master Disaster is his top priority."

Lilly took a deep breath and sat in a stainless steel chair next to the microscope's work station, "I'm sorry, Walter. I'm sure you're doing everything you can. I'm just so worried about her. I know she's bullet-proof but lately she's gotten mixed up with that Apollo fellow and Greek gods... or Roman gods... I can't keep track."

"Technically they're not 'gods' at all," Walter pointed out. "They're simply another species of Homo sapiens originating from a dimension outside our own, albeit a very powerful species. Early civilizations understandably mistook them for deities and -"

"My point is," she interrupted him before the scientific explanation grew too long, "Is that I think she's gotten into something over her head and... wait, how do you know so much about them?"

"Apollo was a member of the World League in the seventies," Walter explained, typing into his keyboard while talking, "My predecessor, the original Dr. Prizm, kept extensive files."

The pressurized noise of a hydraulic door sliding open broke their conversation.

"Dr. Prizm," a man in a crisp black suit entered the large lab.

Walter rose from the stool he was sitting on and lifted his glasses to rest on the top of his head, "Yes?"

"My name is Agent James Lee," the man flashed a wallet badge, "I'm with the O.S.S."

"O.S.S.?" Lilly looked to Walter.

"The Office of Superhuman Services," Lee replied.

Walter further explained, "A government office that deals with superhuman investigations, crimes, and licensing. The World league is chartered through them. What can I do for you, Agent Lee?"

Reaching into the innards of his suit jacket James Lee produced a document of paper folded three ways and offered it forward, "I have here a federal warrant for the arrest of Penelope Swann, otherwise known as Mega-Girl. I need the World League to apprehend, detain, and escort Miss Swann to the Blockade supermax prison, where she will await trial for murder."

=======

Okay, what should I be doing?

Mega-Girl was standing on a warehouse rooftop as Travis' voice came through her cellular earpiece, "What you said about Master Disaster and his goons finding me? I think you were right. And the best way to find me is to commit a crime in Gateway City. I know it's just a hunch but gut feeling is all we have to go on right now. My bet is that they'll try to lure me out by hitting a bank, kidnapping the mayor, or maybe terrorizing downtown with a giant robot. Bad guys love giant robots."

I'm guessing Jordan would have simply started watching the news feeds... I'm pulling up CNN, CNBC, FOX, as well as all the local affiliate stations. Sorry about not being very good at this...

Mega-Girl smiled, "You're doing great. I can't tell you how comforting it is to have you in my ear. You're my best friend. Hell, you're my only friend."

I'm here for you Pen... I mean, MG. Okay, that police scanner I bought at the Electronics Shack is making a bunch of noise; sounds like there's a purse snatcher in Byrne Park.

Mega-Girl shook her head, "Too low-brow. What else you got?"

Hang on, this thing is going crazy... um, holy shit. Police are responding to bank robberies on Second Avenue, 42nd Street, Silvestri Road in Glendale, and the First National downtown branch!

"They're all getting robbed at the same time?"

That's what it sounds like to me.

Mega-Girl made a wicked grin, "Bingo. Ten-to-one that's the work of Two-Fold."

Be careful. Remember, if he's working for Master Disaster it's probably a set-up.

=======

The duplicate looked to his rear-view while speeding towards Claremont Bridge. The mirror was filled with red and blue lights, "Boss, we got trouble - cops! And lots of 'em."

Two-Fold was in the passenger seat of their sedan as they raced along the freeway out of downtown, "Well, step on it you dumb shit! What the fuck do you expect me to do?" He kept looking upwards through the windshield as if expecting something to appear from the sky. "Get us to the river and keep an eye open for our target."

"You see her yet?" the duplicate asked.

"No. Maybe she's going after one of the other crews."

"Remind me how we're supposed to take down Mega-Girl again. Ain't she like, bullet-proof or something?"

"Just drive, you dummy!" Two-Fold glanced over the backseat to see a hoard of police cars closing in, "Our job is to get her attention. The others will handle killing her.

"Uh, boss...?"

Two-Fold's attention was held behind them, "What?"

"Boss!?"

"What!?"

"Uh, I think our plan worked... look!"

"Huh?" Two-Fold turned to see Mega-Girl in her red spandex costume, though she wasn't wearing a mask, flying beside the speeding car outside the driver's side window.

Mega-Girl tapped on the window and made a rolling motion with her hand.

Not knowing what else to do, Two-Fold's duplicate rolled the window down.

"You fella's mind pulling over?" she asked.

Two-Fold screamed, "Get fucked, Mega-Bitch!"

Mega-Girl frowned, "Wrong answer."

Two-Fold strained to see where she was when Mega-Girl flew above the car. He was leaning over the dash trying to spot her through the windshield, "Where'd she go?"

"Should I pull over?" the duplicate asked uncertainly.

"What are you, a fucking idiot? Drive faster!"

The duplicate stepped on the gas pedal, pushing it nearly to the floor. The engine revved but the car didn't respond. Instead, it rose into the air. The road shrunk beneath them and the car veered in mid-air towards the Mississippi River. Mega-Girl had hefted the car by its roof, her arms spread wide across it. Two-Fold and his duplicate could hear the straining of metal as the car's roof supports struggled to hold the weight of the entire vehicle and its passengers.

"I don't wanna die!" the duplicate screamed.

"Time to bail!" Two-Fold hollered when he saw they were over the river. He opened the passenger door and jumped out, falling thirty feet to the water below.

After both Two-Fold and his duplicate jumped clear of the car, Mega-Girl flew a little further and tossed the sedan towards an empty section of shore. She spun in mid-air to retrieve the villains but paused as the sky above rapidly turned grey. Clouds thickened and turned black far faster than was naturally possible. "Oh shi-" she began to say when a sudden bolt of lightning shot downward to strike her with a billion volts of electricity.

Mega-Girl plummeted limply to the river below and was consumed by its depths.

Cyclone swooped down from the clouds and cackled with glee, held aloft by winds under his control. "I did it!" he proclaimed triumphantly, "I killed Mega-Girl!"

"Don't be a fool," Cyclone heard Master Disaster's voice through a radio earpiece, "If she was that easy to kill Mega-Girl would already be dead. Doctor Death, I want you to hold back as a reserve. Jester... Madam Venom... move in!"

Beneath the surface of the river, Mega-Girl regained her senses. The bolt of lightning had stunned her but the sudden rush of being surrounded by water quickly brought her back. She swam to the surface and took a large gasp of welcome air before looking around. Lightning flashed high in the sky and Mega-Girl could see Cyclone's hovering form above, waving and gesturing as he manipulated the brewing storm. She looked around for Two-Fold and didn't see him; she wondered if he was at the bottom of the river and considered diving to take a look when she felt something grab her leg.

"What the-" she began to ask, startled, but was then yanked back beneath the water.

A giant anaconda snake quickly began to coil around Mega-Girl, the creature impossibly fast and strong. She thrashed and struggled against it, but found it difficult to fight. Mega-Girl had no leverage beneath the water and the snake proved too slippery to get a hold of. Finding herself running low on air, Mega-Girl propelled herself upwards using the power of her flight.

The snake was massive, easily fifty feet long, and strong as steel. As Mega-Girl aimed her flight towards shore so she could gain some footing on land, the snake continued to coil and constrict around her body. They landed in a tangled jumble, Mega-Girl desperately squirming to free herself.

"Kill her, my pet!" Madam Venom shrieked from the sandy shore nearby, "Sssqueeze the life from her!"

When the anaconda opened its gaping maw to try and swallow her, Mega-Girl managed to free her arms and grab the snake by its jaws. It was the first firm grip she had on the creature and Mega-Girl took advantage, flexing her arms and ripping the snake's head in half.

"No!" Madam Venom screamed, "Curssse you!"

The anaconda's body went limp and Mega-Girl was finally able to free herself of its grip, "Giant snakes? That's a new one. What else have you got, Venom? Because it's going to take a lot more than that to bring me d-"

An explosion engulfed Mega-Girl, hurling her from her feet and sending her careening through the air. Cackling laughter erupted from beneath the nearby Claremont Bridge as the Jester re-loaded his rocket launcher. He fired again and the missile scored a direct hit on the reeling Mega-Girl, the fiery aftermath pluming high into the air.

Cyclone took advantage, summoning another powerful lightning strike.

Madam Venom, having retreated to a safer distance further down the river bank, began to lob grenades of exploding poison gas.

Every time Mega-Girl anticipated she'd have a moment to counter her enemies, another attack would come. She was bombarded by exploding rockets and bolts of lightning. She felt confident her invulnerability could withstand a thousand of the Jester's rockets, but Cyclone's lightning strikes were beginning to hurt! Making matters worse was the fact that she couldn't breathe without inhaling a lungful of Madam Venom's poison, and her earpiece was fried - she was cut off from Travis.

There was also no help in sight. The Police and SWAT crews who were following Two-Fold had surrounded the area on the freeways high above the river's embankment, but they were being harassed by a hundred of Two-Fold's duplicates all armed with machine guns. Mega-Girl guessed correctly that Two-Fold had survived his swim in the Mississippi and had created enough duplicates to tie the police up. She realized their attacks were coordinated. Alone, none of the villains were much of a threat to someone with the might of Mega-Girl. But together they had her on her heels.

High above it all, Master Disaster was watching and waiting in a hovering helicopter designed to haul heavy cargo. "Open the bay doors," he spoke into a radio, "It's time to drop the big guy."

Standing in the belly of the helicopter, a bluish-grey-skinned behemoth grinned as the cargo door began to lower and fill the helicopter with wind and rain, "LEVIATHAN GOING FOR A RIDE."

Wrapping his arms around curled knees the Leviathan fell through the air in a cannonball position, landing a half mile from the fight in a grocery store parking lot. The collision dislocated cars, concrete, and earth with the force of a meteor crash, forming an impact crater the size of a football field. Several shoppers were crushed instantly by the wave of ground and debris. Those who survived cried out in terror and tried to flee.

From out of the dusty chaos emerged the Leviathan, flexing his tree-trunk legs and leaping towards the Mississippi. He cleared the half-mile distance in one jump and landed within sight of his target, on a wide sandy embankment. Madam Venom, the Jester, and Cyclone relented their barrage and retreated - none of them were physically enhanced and would only get in the Leviathan's way.

Mega-Girl was on hands and knees in the sand, her hair and costume in tatters. She smeared what remained of her right sleeve across her eyes and slowly rose to her feet. The Leviathan was over twice as tall as she, three times as wide, and roughly nine hundred pounds heavier.

frozenhero1
frozenhero1
3,730 Followers