“What are we dealing with?” Melody asked over the comms.
While Stella carried me, I swiped on my tablet. The analysts almost gave me too much information. There was a lot to sort through still, but there were plenty of pictures.
“It looks like a massive bear, with six legs.” More information came flooding in, and I kept flipping through, trying to pull out the most important information. “Everything suggests it has come into the city looking for food. Currently, it is in a grocery store. Our primary objective is to get the people trapped in the store out, or lure the monster away so we can deal with it safely.”
Chewing my lip, I had to decide how to use both of my heroes. “Okay, Melody, it’s time we talk about what you can do.”
“It’s Pulsar. We are on duty,” she corrected me. “I have physical enhancements tied to my gravity manipulation, and I can shoot concentrated electromagnetic pulses from my hands.”
“Sorry, Pulsar,” I went with her correction. “Electromagnetic pulses?”
“Laser beams,” she sighed. “I can shoot lasers from my hands.”
“Your flight?” I asked, even as I checked it with my own powers.
Pulsar did a little spin in the air for effect. “Gravity manipulation on myself to make me nearly weightless, and low concentration beams from my hands to propel me.”
“Must be nice to fly,” I said, even as Stella crushed me into her chest as if refusing to let me go. She really seemed to love carrying me when we flew. I was less than enthused.
“Since you have a ranged attack, you are going to be in charge of trying to lure the monster bear out of the grocery store. Focus on getting its attention and leading it out. Secondary objective is to minimize damage with your gravity manipulation,” I started laying out a plan.
Pulsar nodded as she flew next to Stella. There was a resolve forming in her expression, and I realized it was likely her first act as a hero.
“Demoness, I want you inside the grocery store. Look for anyone that might need emergency medical attention or help to get out of the store.”
“I don’t get to fight the bear?” she asked.
“No one fights the bear until we get it clear of the buildings. Get it out of the city, or hell, get it to a park.” I started swiping on my tablet. “There’s a park three blocks east of the grocery store. If you can get it there, Pulsar, then Demoness will come in and the two of you will work to take it out.”
“Roger” Melody replied.
“Yes, Master.” Stella wasn’t so serious with her bubbly voice.
“Don’t call me Master. I thought we talked about this.”
Stella hugged me. “But I’m just a demon that needs her master. Plus, Kim said it didn’t matter.”
“Cut it out.” I looked up from the tablet, giving her the reaction I knew she wanted. Really, it was bothering me less. I was getting used to her and that might not be such a bad thing.
Melody laughed. “You two are so cute together.”
“Clear the comms. I can see the grocery store.” I pointed down the street. “Demoness, drop me off on that building. I want both of you to get down there in heroic style. This is your first photo op.”
I knew Melody had goals to push her modeling career, and Stella needed some good press to change her image. And so I was dropped off before they both swooped into action.
Stella dove, landing on the street outside the grocery store, the pavement crunching underneath her. Melody swooped in and effortlessly halted her descent right before she landed, holding her hands up as they glowed orange.
A few gawkers raised their phones to take appropriate pictures.
“Ten out of ten girls, but enough posing. Get to it, ladies.” I swiped a couple times on my tablet, and the video feeds from the store instantly connected into it.
“Target is over by the deli counter, probably drawn to the hot bar,” I relayed to Pulsar.
She laughed. “It's pretty hard to miss the twelve-foot-tall bear. I got it.”
Pulsar leveled out her flight in the middle of the store, and her hands built up a bright orange glow before she blasted orange beams forward.
The monstrous bear stumbled, but shrugged the blast off, its head leaning over the deli counter, snacking on something.
“You’re going to have to give it more than that,” I told Pulsar. “Hit it with your best shot.”
She landed on the ground and hunched her shoulders as her hands glowed bright again. “Take this, stupid bear!”
Bringing her hands together, she sent a massive beam at the bear.
It staggered to the side from her beam before raising its head and opening its mouth. Fresh meat dripped from its mouth as it let out a roar that I could hear all the way across the street.
“I think you got its attention. Now lead it out.”
“Easier said than done.” Pulsar was dodging the bear as it went wild in the store.
I noticed Stella wandering around the store, almost looking lost. I cursed. Pulsar’s task was the more exciting one, but from where I was, I could help Demoness far more.
Swiping through the cameras, I spotted several people trapped under fallen shelves. “Demoness, aisles six and two need your help. People are trapped under collapsed shelves.”
“On it.” She jumped into action, flinging the shelves off and pulling people from the mounds of displaced products.
Trying to multitask, I switched back to Pulsar. “What’s the holdup?”
The bear was going on a rampage, not particularly aimed at Pulsar, as it thrashed the candy section at the register.
“I don’t know; I can’t get it to the main doors. It keeps getting distracted.”
Pondering, I chewed my lip, caught up in all the damage the bear was doing now that it had been hit by a hero. I was becoming part of the problem I’d always complained about.
It bothered me that I was even contemplating this. This was exactly what I hated about heroes, but here in the moment where I had to decide, it was the right move.
Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts and focused back on supporting my two heroes. “If we can’t get it to a big enough door, then we’ll have to make one. Blow a hole in the wall next to you.”
I hoped an exterior wall would be easier than guiding it through all the interior mess. But lives were the most important. We’d save more if we got it out immediately.
The side of the building exploded from one of Pulsar’s beams. “Door number two made. Getting the bear out.”
Flipping through the options on my tablet, I found one to connect myself to the public announcement system nearby. “All citizens, please leave the area around the grocery store. We are attempting to remove the monster to assist those still trapped inside.”
All the bystanders quickly started scooting back, but they still stayed far too close to the building with their phones out and recording. I rolled my eyes.
A chunk of the building collapsed further, and I reached out, leaching the kinetic energy from the falling bricks. A mother swooped up her child and pulled her from the fall zone. Finally, the crowd seemed to take the danger a bit more seriously.
Pulsar shot out of the dust, lingering in the air as the bear followed her out, its front paws swiping in the air as it moved on its back two pairs.
I got a better look at the monster, surprised that it had enough ki flowing through it to compare to an A grade hero. And given the bear's body, it was naturally more resilient than a human’s. It now made sense why Pulsar wasn’t doing much damage to it.
It also meant that we needed Demoness free to join in fighting it.
“Keep leading it away,” I reminded Pulsar as the bear turned toward the crowd, losing interest in chasing the hero.
“It’s the people. They’re distracting it,” she grunted before another huge beam blasted the bear on its side and regained its attention.
“Demoness, we need you out here when you can. Pulsar, use gravity to pin it down.”
The bear suddenly struggled to move, tossing its head, trying to keep it up. But it strained against her powers and threw itself forward.
Pulsar was nearly caught as she swayed back, just out of reach.
“Keep your distance. You got this. Turn right and lead it down the street.” I went quiet, wanting her to keep her focus.
“I have one more person to pull out here, and then I'll help,” Stella spoke into the comms.
There were others who were going to need help, but I realized that was something a non-hero could do.
“Requesting civilian aid. There are people trapped under wreckage in the grocery store.” I used the same public speaker system.
The crowd may have failed at properly backing up, but they were ready to help the masses inside. People stopped gawking and ran into the grocery store to assist.
“Demoness, you are off the hook; bag me a bear, please.”
I watched the video footage as she handed off one little girl to a stranger, then her wings flared as she shot out of the grocery store.
“Take a right. You can’t miss it.”
“What do you need?” Demoness asked.
“Get it to the park and kill it, or get it out of the city.” I thought for a moment before adding a more concrete plan. “Pulsar, I want you to make it as light as possible. Demoness, I want you to hit it out of the park.”
Pulsar stopped leading it to the park, a smile spreading on her face. “Batter up.”
She threw her hands up into the air, and the bear went from straining to run to being lifted into the air and tumbling a few feet above the street level.
Demoness swooped in, her arm cocked back as her eyes glowed blue. Her fist shot forward fast enough to break the sound barrier. With a boom, the bear was sent flying.
“Home run!”
I chuckled. “Let’s make sure it’s dealt with. Come pick me up. I’m tracking it.”
Demoness flew up to chase after the bear, and it was Pulsar who snagged me off the roof, using one hand to hold me and the other to rocket herself through the air.
“You two did well.” I turned to face Pulsar directly while speaking to both of them, then I went back to my tablet. “It looks like it landed outside the city, but a hungry bear that learns there’s food in here isn’t going to stay away. We need to put it down.”
Pulsar shook her head. “I can’t finish it. It’s too tough.”
“That’s what Demoness is for,” I reminded her.
She dropped me off on the one-story wall that separated the city from the land beyond. It was more of a marking than an actual deterrent. It simply cost too much to fortify an entire city.
Demoness was out next to the bear, fighting it and winning. Here, where she didn’t have to worry about collateral damage, she could let loose. The bear didn’t stand a chance. She just suplexed the bear, crashing it headfirst into hard-packed soil.
I winced. That looked painful.
“Enough playing around. Can you drain it?” I asked.
“Tried. It is really hard to drain.” She shot back up into the air, kicking the bear in the gut.
I frowned, interested in learning more about why, but we didn’t have the time. “Then put it down. Pulsar, get in there and distract it. Demoness, get something big and heavy.”
Pulsar swooped in, firing beams at the bear once again. Without all the other distractions of the store, it was focusing on her easily.
Meanwhile, Demoness was uprooting a tree and hefting it over her head like a huge club. “This big enough?”
“Yep. Put it down.”
Demoness swooped in and started clubbing the bear with the tree.
I looked away. It was gruesome and bloody, but effective.
“Remind me to look for another member of the team that has some… more surgical capabilities.”
The bear finally collapsed, its head bashed in. It wasn’t going anywhere. I could see the massive quantity of ki bleed out of its body, and it made sense that Demoness couldn’t drain all of that.
“Hey, I killed it.” Demoness turned towards me with her hands on her hips.
“Great, now move the body further away from the city so it doesn’t attract more.”
Even from this distance, I swore I could see Demoness wrinkle her nose.
“Eww.”
“Part of the job,” I reminded her. “Try not to get bloody, or I won’t let you carry me.”
While they handled the bear's carcass, I focused back on my tablet and used the comms to call Beatrix. “Bear monster is terminated. Any others? I was hoping there might be a lead on Mindfuck.”
Beatrix made a sympathetic noise. “Apologies, Miles, but you won’t get any updates on Mindfuck. For safety purposes, we don’t let hero teams act on leads that might be personal.”
“What?” I wanted to be a part of dealing with her. She knew my damn secret.
“It’s for everyone’s safety,” Beatrix tried to reassure me. “You seem like you have a level head on your shoulders, but when things get personal, people make mistakes.”
I grunted in understanding. It made sense but didn’t fit my personal agenda.
Finding Mindfuck was vital.
“If it makes you feel better, we have two teams dedicated to tracking her down right now,” Beatrix said. “But in terms of what’s next, I’ll upload all the recent incidents to your tablet.”
“Thanks, Beatrix. I got this.” I switched my comms back to the super team.
Two teams tracking Mindfuck down was not good news. I needed to get to her before then. Looking down at my tablet, I spotted a robbery in progress.
A smile came over my face. Mindfuck used other people to perform robberies. Maybe I could catch a lead without the Bureau’s help.
Pulsar landed next to me. “What’s next?”
“Robbery in progress. Are you almost done, Demoness?”
“Just dropped it off; I’ll be back in less than a minute. No blood on me either.”
Pulsar raised an eyebrow at me, and I just shrugged.
“Okay, come pick me up.” It was more convenient than taking a taxi or a car. Not to mention, I was sort of getting comfortable being carried against her lush chest.
Demoness did a very unhero-like whoop over the comms and caught me off guard, snagging me off the city wall.
Pulsar flew up next to us, shaking her head.
“Okay, take a left here.” I already knew that Demoness had nearly no sense of direction. “Ten streets, then take another left.”
We zoomed through the air, and I was content to swipe on my tablet, knowing that Demoness wouldn’t drop me. And if she did, I’d just save myself.
“There it is.” Pulsar’s comment made me look up.
A line of police cars was stationed outside a large bank. They were resting with their guns on the hoods of their cars, waiting for the robber to come out.
Demoness dropped me off behind them.
“You the team sent our way?” A cop out of uniform caught my attention.
“Yep. Just checking the situation ourselves.” Using the tablet, I checked BSH’s imaging satellite. “Looks like three robbers and eight hostages?”
I couldn’t help but sigh. Mindfuck’s people always worked alone. This wouldn’t end in a lead for me, but we were at the scene, and we had a job to do.
“That sounds consistent with our information.” The cop nodded towards the bank. “They’ve been held up for the last fifteen minutes. We haven’t even gotten them to talk to a negotiator.”
He clearly thought it was odd, but I hadn’t exactly taken a course in bank robbery management 101 yet to understand the nuance. It seemed to not matter, though. Based on the way he was looking at me, I was suddenly in charge.
And the first thing I needed was a better understanding of what sort of powers the robbers were packing. “Do you have an ID on any of them?”
“Before the cameras went down, we got a positive ID on this man.” The cop grabbed a laptop and pulled up a program that had a blurry camera image on one side, and a rap sheet on the other. “He’s done time for battery and assault before. Nothing like this.”
The girls waited patiently behind me, but it still put additional pressure on me to hurry as I scanned the guy’s information.
“He throws fireballs. Okay, the hothead is your job, Pulsar,” I decided since she was moderately resistant to heat. “Nothing on the other two?”
“Nope, I’m afraid not. Cameras have been out for ten minutes; we are getting a little antsy.”
“Pulsar, you have this guy.” I shifted the laptop so that she could get a good view. “Demoness on the other two. We don’t know their powers; your goal is to knock them out as quickly as you can.”
They both bobbed their heads in agreement.
I went to let them go in, but then I realized I didn’t have any eyes on the inside. I needed to be able to help guide them, and that wasn’t going to happen if I stayed outside.
“I need a bulletproof vest,” I commented to the cop, wanting to keep up appearances as only being enhanced.
“Sure. Are you going in too?” He pulled a vest from the back of a cruiser.
“Can’t leave my team in the dark.” I slipped it on and adjusted the straps. “Demoness, take point. Pulsar, on her heels. I’ll be a room back. Let’s go.”