Brass Ring Chapter 9: Bouncing Back From The Pain

Bruno smiled wistfully as he entered the doors of the Loaded Swallow. When he had accepted the position of Assistant Mayor, this had become Paul and his favorite place; it was far enough from the city offices to give him a legitimate break from his duties but close enough that he could run into the offices if the mayor needed a save. The position was perfect for him, especially as he had just retired from being The Corsair. He smelled a Reuben and knew Paul had beaten him here. For once. He smiled.

He walked over to a waiting Paul, whose feet were tapping. Bruno's smile disappeared as he noticed Paul's frown. He first reached his hands across the table. “What happened?”

Paul looked into the deep brown eyes in front of him. “The Telemachus Ultimatum has been released.”

Bruno gulped and he almost released his grip, but it became an anchor for him as well, steadying him. “Are you worried?”

Paul grabbed Bruno's arms. “I probably should be, but having you at my side...I think Telemachus had a soft spot for me. I don't think I have much to worry about. And if someone is told my secret identity,” he smiled weakly, “Well, that hasn't been a secret for years.”

Bruno tried to return the smile. “Same here. And I was a member of the community for just a couple of years. Throw in the vetting from the mayor's office, and I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear.”

Paul released him. “Yeah, I think we should be okay.”

Bruno rubbed Paul's shoulder and then retrieved his arms so he could grab the sandwich. The cafe did not make small sandwiches, and the house Russian dressing was worth the price of admission alone. He then caught the minor eye twitch, almost invisible due to Paul's superhuman speed; if not for Bruno's intimate knowledge of Paul's every motion, he would have missed it. He put the sandwich down. “So what's the real problem?”

Paul almost looked away, but he needed to look Bruno straight on, to see his reaction. “I'm debating bringing back Blue Shift.”

Bruno slumped against the back of his chair and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was glaring at Paul. “Say what? You keep debating it, but this is the first time you may be serious.”

Paul exhaled. “I may be. The city is in chaos due to the supers running after their shadows and Imago has no doubt been told to use the Valhalla Protocols.” Bruno closed his eyes for just a moment. “It may not be a bad idea for an experienced super to help out the newbies.” He looked at Bruno expectantly.

Bruno grabbed his sandwich and took a big bite. He chewed it. He took his time chewing it. He savored the juices and that spicy Russian dressing. Bruno knew that a normal man would be driven crazy by the dramatic flourish; Paul was hyperkinetic. The wait was evil and Bruno knew it, but Paul had no choice but to endure it. Bruno put the sandwich down. The rest of the sandwich was not going to be easy to swallow.

Bruno went back to glaring at Paul. “You had better be sure of this. The paperwork needed to bring back the Blue Card program alone...”

Paul smiled. “I'm sure.”

Bruno let his eyes roll. “Fine.”

Paul popped over to Bruno to hug him. “Making Imago mad alone will be worth it, and you know it.”

Bruno shrugged. “True.” He straightened up. “So shouldn't you be bugging them at CAPES HQ?”

Paul kissed Bruno on the forehead and disappeared as fast as his legs could carry him. Bruno steeled himself for the disappointment he knew was coming. He then looked down at his empty plate previously filled by a Reuben; he hated being the husband to the fastest man in town. He then motioned to the waiter for a second sandwich and then pulled out his phone. “Time to make this a business lunch, I guess.” He logged into his business account and started the paperwork for the Blue Card program. “So many people are going to be happy to see that back in action.”

* * * * *

What Commissioner Sandoval had said struck a nerve with Oliver, so he had asked the team to undergo some testing after lunch. They had consented, and so they had assembled and were fighting holographic opponents in the gymnasium. Their opponents were putting everyone through their paces while Oliver and Imago watched. The targets were meant to test the capabilities of the others; Oliver wanted to know what everyone's capabilities were so there were no surprises. Each had been put up against a squad of holographic gunmen just to see what would happen.

Oliver looked around at the group and decided on Teddy. The orange-furred giant was going through his target like a tidal wave. His fists had no problem going through the holograms, no matter how solid they were; the power had already been increased several times and he was even beheading some. He wasn't just punching them; the kicks and throws he was using testified to his recent karate classes.

“Okay, show me Teddy's grid.” A screen projected in front of Imago, showing everything from vitals to punching strength and reaction time. “He's gotten stronger since college, and he wasn't a slouch then. Your graphs suggest he can lift close to twenty tons.” He looked at the graphs a little closer. “He should also be able to shrug off most small arms fire.” He caught Teddy looking at him; he gave him a thumbs up. Teddy smiled and returned to his workout.

Imago dropped the screen. “He is definitely earning the sobriquet of 'Crusher'.”

Oliver smiled. “He got it from his drinking style: He would finish each beer by crushing the empty can against his head. Without changing into his enhanced form.”

Nishimura was hardly a surprise but Oliver was still impressed by her skill. Her glowing blue armor shrugged off the fire; it was the armor that had earned her the name “Neon Samurai.” She could also summon a pair of katana; they were sharp enough to shear steel and concrete. Backed by practicing kendo and iajutsu since a child, a skill that her father had ingrained into her as a way of dealing with her hyperkinesis, and she was deadly on the battlefield. Based on conversations the two had had while she was earning her master's in computer engineering, she saw the battlefield like others would see a chessboard but updated in real-time; each opponent had its strengths and weaknesses attached to it. He also remembered that he had never seen her really get drunk.

Oliver smiled. “She's performing as expected. But I think she's holding back; she may be capable of so much more.”

“Agreed.” Imago performed a quick search. “We may want to revisit her powers after the current problem. I have tagged several files that you may wish to read.” Oliver nodded.

They had given Kubwa several separate challenges. She was given a series of hoops to go through and she had armed drones instead of gunmen. She had also been blindfolded, but was doing well: She was flying through the hoops with almost no problem and still blasting the drones. However, she was apparently limited to using her echolocation, flight, or blast; she could only do any two at the same time.

Using his headset, Oliver had suggested several modifications to her strategies, such as an upward burst just before letting go with her blast to keep her altitude or pinging the area and relying on memory for a few seconds. With those modifications she had done much better, eliminating the enemy faster while allowing for her power limitation.

Oliver smiled. “She seems to be pretty good at her abilities, but not so good at handling surprises. She also seems to have some sort of sixth sense; we need to test that when we get a chance.”

Imago made notes. “Understood.”

Of the four, Cass concerned him the most. The Wraith suit should have amplified her natural abilities, as well as adding phasing, invisibility, and teleportation to the mix. She should have been punching a lot harder than the computer was saying she was, especially given her black belt in taekwondo. Oliver slipped down onto the combat deck. “Cass, take a breather!” She nodded and he took over; he may as well add to the information being gathered. She sat down and pulled off her helmet.

He put up a shield, compressing the air around him telekinetically. He then started tossing the holograms around, throwing them into walls and each other. In a few minutes, he had gone through all of the holograms. He shut down the exercise and let Teddy, Nishimura, and Kubwa go to the showers. He marched over to Cass.

He sat down next to her. “What's going on, Cass?”

She paused for a moment. “What do you mean, 'what's going, on?'. I'm doing fine.”

He cocked his head a bit. “Are you? You were hit seven times more than you should have been in a suit that adds to your natural mobility; between the suit's teleportation and you're own ability to flow like water you should have been able to dodge more often. I've seen you at championships and in training, remember? You're also hitting a lot less powerfully; even your regular hits would hit with more power.” He straightened up. “I know something's wrong.”

She grabbed the helmet. “I'm still getting used to the suit. There is a lot to get used to.”

He nodded. “Understandable. It is a new way of thinking about things, after all. You need to integrate the stealth options and teleportation into your thinking. It'll help.” She nodded. “I'm also worried that Kubwa's hitting you may be causing you to think about being one of the team. If that's an issue, we can deal with that as well.”

She glared at him. “I've taken bigger hits.”

He returned the glare. “True.” He smiled. “There was that bruiser at the Tri-Counties meet. You ended up slamming him pretty well.” He lost the expression. “However, that was a situation you were able to control. With teammates, you can't always allow for that. You're not the one in control; others are. You need to adapt to that.”

She sighed. “I'll adapt then.”

He smiled. “Good, because if you can't then you could die out there and I would be devastated.”

She smiled. “Hmm. You acting all gloomy. It would be worth dying just to see that.” He punched her in the arm. “Okay. So give me another couple of minutes here and I'll see you in the sauna.”

He stood up. “Sounds good.” He motioned to Imago. “Give her another 20 targets then close things down.” Imago nodded. “You better be there. I'd hate to be seen in nothing but a towel all by my lonesome.”

She smiled. “Go!”

The two left her alone in the gymnasium. She put her helmet back on and charged into the fray, but then stopped. Something he had said about “flowing like water” struck a chord in her; Today she was treating the opponents as single targets but when she was competing she saw multiple opponents as one large mass. She needed to refocus, re-imagine, re-visualize.

She decided to try seeing them as islands in a river, then shifted her mind's eye to see the image. When she saw the river with its eddies and rapids, she smiled and charged in. She now saw herself not as moving to intercept targets but as a fish diving, attacking, and diving again. As she did so, the teleportation circuits started humming; when she imagined herself appearing in one spot in the river and popping up in another spot, she started dodging more hits by simply not being there, fading from one spot to another, as well as launching attacks from places she hadn't been a split second before.

She wrapped up her twenty far sooner than she had thought she would. She smiled. He may be scarily effective at this 'leadership' thing, after all. She ran to the showers. She did have an appointment to keep, after all.

[The last chapter can be found here. The next chapter can be found here.]