Chapter 4
"I'll send you all my love,
Every day in a letter,
Sealed with a kiss"
The Magnificent Six shuttle slowly VTOLed its way down the
second rooftop landing pad atop the Big Heroes HQ. Getting FAA clearance
for such things was no more difficult than arranging for helipads on top of
buildings -- indeed, the Big Heroes own aircraft was at least as maneuverable as
a chopper. It sat on the primary landing pad, looking equally streamlined
and cool, though -- as such high-tech inventions were prone to being in this
brave new world -- looking completely different, as though designed around
greatly varying principles.
In fact, the Big Heroes' aircraft was modified from an invading
spacecraft donated by Masterman, when he briefly served with the BH. The
Mag Six shuttle was designed by Doctor Miracle, as peace offering between them
and the Arch-heroes; the feud between the two teams when the Gambler
"defected" had been fairly heated.
The large turbo-fans inset into the wings began to spin down as
the Mag Six shuttle came to rest. Copper disconnected the wireless network
between himself and the craft -- which allowed him to fly it with similar mental
feedback to his own armor's flight. He reached for the button to pop the
large glass dome over the pilot/passenger compartment, but hesitated, and turned
his captain's chair around to face Zebra.
Sh'heyla snorted. "I know. I know. Play
nice. Smile. Don't kick anyone in the balls who doesn't deserve
it."
Copper cleared his throat. Sh'heyla sighed.
"All right. Don't kick anyone in the balls who isn't committing a
violent felony."
"THAT'S PROBABLY FOR THE BEST," Copper agreed.
"I'D JUST AS SOON AVOID AN INCIDENT FOR AT LEAST THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF OUR
TRIP."
Sh'heyla grinned. "In that case, we better keep you
away from an open mike." She laughed. Adrian frowned -- though,
of course, the expression wasn't visible on the armor. The national media
had picked up on his remarks of that morning. He was already regretting
letting his wife script them. Zebra, of course, thought it was a
riot.
He snorted himself. The two had gotten along together
quite well at that picnic a few months back. No wonder.
"So are you gonna make me recite the Pledge of Allegiance,
or are you going to to pop the top and say hi to Flag Boy over there? I'll
bet he's already said the Pledge three times today."
Copper swiveled back around. Victor had stepped out of the
rooftop stairs, and was waiting patiently for them. Despite himself,
Adrian felt a small knot in his stomach. He had nothing to be ashamed of,
and he'd certainly proven himself time and again. But -- damn, that's Victor
out there. He was fighting Nazis when my Dad was still a twinkle in
Gramps' eye.
Well, here goes nothing. He pressed the large green
button, and the bubble top began to rise up and away.
"Copper! Zebra! Welcome to New
York!" Victor stood at the base of the small ladder/steps that
automatically unfolded from the side. Copper used at touch of anti-grav to
simply float over and onto the landing pad (he looked ridiculous using the
steps). Zebra vaulted out to the opposite side.
Victor held out his hand, and Copper took it. The feedback
in the gloves was excellent, and the armored figure was able to avoid crushing
the Victor's hand. "THANKS. IT'S GOOD TO BE HERE. AND THIS IS
MY TEAM MATE, ZEBRA."
The New Yorker turned to Zebra, as she stepped around the craft,
making the same offer of a hand. She looked at it, at him, and then around
them. "Huh. The air stinks here."
Adrian moaned. It came out as a slight mechanical sound,
but Zebra glared at him anyway. "Of course, it's better than the
cockpit," she said, and stalked over to the stairs.
Victor looked at Copper, who was glad his helm was
impassive. The Big Hero grinned. "Don't worry. Her
reputation precedes her -- by newspaper and by a briefing Ace sent me."
Copper cleared his throat. "DID HE MENTION HOW GOOD
HER HEARING IS?"
Victor glanced over at the stairs. Zebra was looking
daggers at him. She turned with a swish of her tail and mane, and went
downstairs, slamming the door behind her.
"Ah -- yes. But I forgot." Victor slapped
Copper on the arm. "Oh, well. She'll get a chance to meet the
others without my being there making stuffy introductions. Maybe that will
improve her mood."
Copper touched the outside button to lower the shuttle bubble
top. "SOMEHOW, I DOUBT IT ...."
* * *
Zebra reached the bottom of the stairs. The corridor
stretched ahead to a half-open pair of doors, from which came some general
chatter. I hate this. Why the therk did I have to come on
this stupid mission? Though it does get me away from Ace. If not from his
'briefs.'"
She strode down the corridor, the sound of her hooves muffled in
the grayish-blue carpeting. The whole place was painted very nice,
soothing colors, photos of various notables on the walls, former members (Jay
Leno once quipped that the only two people who had never been members of the Big
Heroes were himself and Doctor Dread -- and the BH had immediately offered him
an honorary membership), current members, newspaper clippings ... Hr'rehirr
-- some folks have a hell of an ego.
She got to the doors and pushed them open the rest of the
way. The room was huge. A large high-tech table with various
monitors and controls at the different seats dominated the center. It was
currently set up with tablecloths, flowers, and some chafing dishes with a
variety of foodstuffs, none of which smelled particularly palatable.
There were other tables against the walls of the room, which
were wood-paneled, something dark and rich-looking. The doors she'd
entered were at at an angle at -- well, think of it as five o'clock, if the huge
display screen at the front of the room ("WELCOME COPPER AND ZEBRA!"
it said, with various media shots of their exploits flashing around the words)
was twelve. There was another pair of double-doors at seven, off to her
left. To her right, breaking the symmetry of the place, was a large niche
on about half of the wall, filled with various workstations and electronic
folderol.
Her eyes flickered about the room, as they always did.
Over where the niche ended, and a large, ominous-looking podium with the Big
Heroes logo (A "B" and an "H". How original.)
was a man in a padded leather jacket, sitting in a wheelchair. A slender,
darker-skinned man in a tuxedo was leaning against the podium, chatting with
him. The guy in the wheel chair (Kid Castle. Teleports.
Gadgets. Crip, from what Ace was saying) did not look happy, and the
one in the tux (Rococo. Crystal matrix manifestation, like the Tok'heel)
was clearly trying to cheer him up.
Standing by the steamer trays was a non-descript man, bald,
dressed in a white form-fitting garb that went from toes to neck. He was
poking with a toothpick at something in a chafing dish. Proteus.
Shape-shifter. Feh. Can't stand 'em. Sneaky as all therk.
Opposite, a young woman with long, black hair was sitting in one
of the comfortable-looking (If your body contorts that way) chairs, one
leg up on the another chair. Wild Iris. Teek. Gets in
trouble. Might liven things up. Next to her, arrested in
mid-gesture and the first to spot her enter, was a tall man, powerfully muscled,
but in a lean, well-balanced way. He was wearing bluejeans (with a hole
cut in back for his tail) and Doc Martins, and a white muscle shirt with
"Man-eater. And women, too," silk-screened onto it, but all the
rest of him was covered in luxurious orange fur, striped with black. Tigerman.
Strong, agile -- and Ace thinks I get a lot of press? Three times on the
Top Ten Bad Boys of the Year in People. Well, we'll settle this plenty
quick.
"Well, well, well," Tigerman said, turning the rest of
the way from Iris, and giving Sh'heyla a broad, toothy smile. His voice
was low and smooth, only occasionally echoing the rumble of his namesake's
growl. He started walking over toward her, grinning the whole time like a
little boy who'd found a new toy. "And this is why I told Victor,
'Vic,' I told him, 'how the hell do you expect me to fly off to Chicago when
this little lady is on her way to New York? Somebody has to take her under
his wing and show her the City that Never Sleeps.'
"Unless," he added, one tufted eyebrow waggling at
her, "the little lady wants to ... sleep." He uttered a laughing
little cough of a growl that was probably meant to be endearing.
She stood still, apparently frozen -- like a small prey creature
transfixed as the predator approached, his tail switching from side to
side waiting for him as he approached her. Closer.
Closer. And -- now!
That was when she kicked him in the balls.
Or nearly did so. Even from a stop she was blistering
fast, but Tigerman's reflexes were nearly as good, and he managed to twist just
enough so that her left hoof smashed into the inside of his thigh, twisting him
around onto his back, whence he rolled away as fast as he could (narrowly
avoiding a stamp with her right hoof) and, tucking as he did, bringing him up
onto his feet.
He growled, not nearly so endearing, and leapt at her. She
ducked and turned and planted a hardened fist in his kidneys as he lunged past,
though his speed away from her took away most of the impact.
He roared at her, she whinnied at him, and they were off,
circling around each other, lashing out and charging and dodging and riposting
and leaping and rolling and spinning and kicking and punching, moving with
blazing speed, almost blurring in their swiftness as each sought to place the
blow that would end the conflict.
"Now that's a hell of an entrance," Rococo noted to
Tommy. "Ten bucks says she takes him down, hard."
"Hey," Tommy protested. He knew he should be
alarmed about all this, but it was kind of fascinating. "You
shouldn't be betting against Tiger. He's on our team."
"Yeah, so we know him well. I'll make it fifteen
bucks." At Tommy's look, Donato added, "Hey, I think he'll take
her. But as to what I'd like to see -- that's where I'll put my
money."
"I will take some of that action," Proteus suggested,
moving over to them. "Tiger's strength and bulk should prove
successful against Zebra's speed."
"If he can catch her," Iris contented, hobbling over
to join her team mates. Tommy glanced at her, but didn't catch her
eye. "I'm with you, Donato. Ten bucks on the cranky girl."
Rococo flashed her a smile. "Actually, I got an even
more sure bet."
"What's that?" Iris replied.
"Vic is gonna be pissed."
"Tiger!" Victor's voice boomed through the
room.
"No bet," said Iris.
"ZEBRA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
"Nice speakers," Tommy commented.
The pair had arrived at the other set of doors and were standing
there, aghast at their respective team mate's behavior.
Neither exclamation seemed to have an impact on the
combatants. If anything, they were moving even faster now, weaving in and
out around each other. Even Victor didn't want to get in the middle of
that melee.
"Iris," he said, "if you're done watching --
would you?" Victor gestured to the pair.
She sighed. Why do I have a feeling I'm going to be
making two enemies here? She gestured, and a violet glow
surrounded her. She reached out with psychokinetic hands and literally
pushed the pair apart by several feet.
"Hey!" snapped Zebra.
"What's the big idea, Iris?" snarled Tiger.
"That's enough, you two!" Even Zebra
jumped at that tone of voice from Victor, and she had a sudden flashback to boot
camp, many years (and systems) ago.
"He started it!" "She started
it!" The pair levied their accusations simultaneously, then turned
and glared at each other.
"I don't care who started it!" Victor shouted.
"Whoa. Major flashbacks here," Iris murmured to
Donato.
He smirked. "'I'm finishing it,'" he whispered
back.
"I'm finishing it!" Victor continued shouting.
Iris had dropped the telekinetic barrier. Suddenly, Tiger
leaped forward and got Zebra in a bear hug from behind. "This little
minx --" he began, then howled in pain as her differently-articulated leg
let her stamp a hoof squarely down on his instep. He let go, and she
whirled around and planted one square on his little triangular nose.
"Aaaaaggghh!" Tigerman went down.
"Pay up," Donato said to Tommy.
Before Sh'heyla could move to finished the job, two large,
armored hands grabbed her from behind on each upper arm. "DON'T EVEN
THINK OF TRYING THE SAME TRICK WITH ME. YOU'LL SERIOUSLY BRUISE YOUR
HOOF."
"She broke my nose!" Tiger was shouting.
"She broke my foot, and she broke my nose!"
"So help me God," Victor said, standing over him,
"I'm going to break more than that. Rococo!" Donato's head
snapped up at the tone in Victor's voice. "Take Prince Charming here,
go up to the roof, get on the Magnificent Six's shuttle, trigger the
auto-return, and get the hell out of Dodge before somebody does get
hurt. By me."
"Damn," Rococo said, shaking his head as he walked
over, holding out a white gloved hand to help Tigerman back up. "They
were serving carrot cake for dessert. This is all your fault, Tiger."
"My fault?! She tried to break my foot! She
tried to break my nose!" Tiger limped out of the room, guided by
Rococo. "You saw her! She's a menace! All I did was try
to be nice, and she --" He was cut off by the doors swishing softly
shut behind him.
"And as for you," Victor continued, in his best
parade ground voice, turning to Zebra. "While you are a guest in this
house, and serving on this team, you will exercise appropriate restraint and
decorum. Do I make myself clear?"
"But he --"
"Tigerman can be a pain in the hindquarters, but that's no
excuse to assault a team mate. Is that clear?"
"SHE WON'T BE ANY MORE TROUBLE," grated Copper.
He tightened his grip on her arms ever slow slightly. "WILL
YOU?"
"No," she said, abruptly quiet. "And, yes,
you were quite clear, Victor."
"Good," Victor said -- then abruptly smiled.
"And while I can't condone it, I've been waiting for some woman to do that
to him for the last two years." He held out a hand.
"Welcome to the Big Heroes, Zebra."
Copper let go of her arms, and, after a moment, she shook
Victor's hand. "Great to be here, Vic," she said, and if there
was a bit of sarcasm in her tone, he seemed willing to let it slide.
He simply smiled again -- and, damn, but it was tough to stay
angry with the man -- and said, "We had a bit of lunch brought in so we can
get to know each other. Let me introduce you now to the rest of the
team. I know it's going to go a lot smoother from here on out."
* * *
