1.13 Breakout Part 7

I shove the section of solid metal wall aside as I get to my feet. The thing slammed me  into the wall.

“Everybody out!” I yell as I realise how bad the situation is.

Somebody let all of the prisoners out. Every single last one and the power restrainers won’t keep their power neutralised for long.

And the person to blame is without doubt Glenn Bateson.  I should have known, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it without any proof or evidence of wrongdoing.

How would have that gone? Hey, I think is prison officer I just met isn’t to be trusted because I think he might be a bad guy. Let’s arrest him and throw him into one of the cells.

But that would explain why a chuck of the wall just flew into me.

All of the country’s native supervillains, Vengeance, Vistorix and a rogue superpowered prison officer scattered between the ground level and the two walkways versus me, Treves and the other officer on the tour.

I can take them. Or hold them off long enough for someone else to arrive.

“Hey Janelle,” I say into my League communicator, “We got a breakout here at Blackguard. Officer Bateson just released all of the inmates.”

“I understand,” comes the swift reply, “Informing all relevant authorities.”

“Don’t bother calling for help,” Bateson tells me as several more chucks of the wall hover around him, “I’m jamming all signals in or out. No one will hear you.”

Now there is a trick up my sleeve. If they don’t realise that I have already called for help and their jamming is actually affecting me, then I might be able to catch them off guard.

Both Treves and the other guard have drawn their stun guns, but they’ll do little against the freed prisoners.

At least the crowd of reporters are heading back out. No idiots hanging around to get some footage.

Target priority first. Who are the biggest threats and which ones to use spyders on and which to use missiles on?

Black Death’s touch won’t affect me through the Sentinel armour while Gaia’s Vengeance doesn’t have any vegetation to work with. Hall’s lightning and Avenger’s fire are also useless.

With high amounts of metal in Blackguard, Bateson and Forsworn could be pretty dangerous as well. The rest also have the potential to cause some trouble for me, but I can probably take them if I play if smart.

But Vistorix, along with Gravilord and Edison, is the most dangerous with a very real chance of beating me. The three of them are easily the biggest threats of the assorted supervillains.

Two missile for each of the Mad sisters and the last two for Vistorix. Electro-spyders will take care of Edison and Gravilord. The rest I should be able to take.

I open fire with all of my missiles and electro-spyders as I activate the rocket pack. I zoom straight at Bateson.

I crash into the rogue prison officer and we both slam into the other wall that has mostly been stripped away by Bateson.

I hear something cracking and huff of breath from Bateson before I pull away. Bateson starts to drop to his knees, but before he can collapse into a heap on the floor, I slug him one in the face.

Not too hard, just enough to break a jaw. That combined with the ribs I probably just broke will keep Bateson out of the fight.

I spin back around to face the rest of the supervillains. Both Mad sisters are transformed, but only Mad Cat is down with Mad Dog shaking off the effects the missiles that caught her. It seems that her missiles were intercepted by Forsworn and Avenger judging by how those two are on the ground.

I should have expected teamwork from Vengeance. They were a successful team back when they were ‘heroes’.

Gravilord is also out while Edison is staggered. It seems that he was able to catch two of the three spyders I sent at him in his temporal field.

Vistorix is getting back to his feet after being blown onto his back.

Time to thin the herd. I grab one of the chucks of metal that were floating around Bateson and lob it at Mad Dog before reactivating my rocket pack and flying up at Nightmare.

Best to take Vengeance out of the fight.

The metal takes out of the stunned Mad Dog and knocks her off the walkway while Nightmare is better prepared for me. He shapeshifts out of the way, but I still catch him with a kick that sends him flying.

I unleash a flurry of low-power laser shots at the other villains to scatter them. Edison is still busy dealing with the electro-spyders. That leaves only White Lord or Redmund McNamara as main threats until Vistorix or a member of Vengeance recovers.

I launch myself at White Lord, ignoring Hall’s crackling lightning. My armour can more than handle bit of lightning.

White Lord attempts to dodge, but even with his enhanced speed, I’m still faster in the Sentinel armour. I catch his arm and yank it out of the socket before tossing White Lord into a wall.

I feel something ding against me and somebody yelp in pain. I turn around to find Gaia’s Vengeance clutching her fist in pain.

I punch her in the gut, kick her knee before finishing her off with a backhanded slap that knocks her aside.

I spare a glance at Treves and his officer. The two of them are covering the door and have even taken out Black Death with their stun guns.

I turn to take on Vistorix only to find his fist coming straight at me.

1.2 Partners Part 4

Hall fires a stream of lightning at me from both hands. It crackles around the outer plating of my armour.

Unknown to Hall it seems, the armour acts as Faraday cage, leaving me unharmed.

I fire the sonics at him and Hall and the two of his men next to him drop to ground, clutching their ears in agony.

I jump back and rush one of the remaining men with a pistol.

He panics as he fumbles with his weapon. I notice that he’s reloading as I close the distance. Lucky break if I didn’t have bulletproof armour.

I punch his arm and he bends over in pain, dropping his weapon. I stamp on the pistol, crushing it beneath my foot.

It occurs to me I might have broken the man’s arm with my enhanced strength.

My next thought is to figure out who is still shooting me.

Two with pistols and a guy with the assault rifle is the answer. Plus one of the guys down next to Hall still has a pistol.

“Lucy has gotten the hostages out to safety,” says Charlie over my communicator, “She’s going take Edison and the guys inside down.”

“Good,” I reply as I march towards Hall, “I got Hall and the rest of them out here covered.”

“I’ll tell Lucy,” says Charlie before hanging up again.

I notice the men are fleeing at this point. The two standing guys with pistols are rushing to the police, their hands above their heads. Smart move.

The assault rifle guy is stumbling backwards, struggling to reload his gun in his fear.

I fire my last electro-spyder at him and he drops down. Down and out for the count.

“&*%$ you kid,” spits Hall at me as he gets to his feet, “Get him!”

His pistol man tries to aim the gun at me, but I fire my laser at it. He drops with a cry of terror as its barrel melts slightly.

The other one rushes me with a knife. I sidestep and kick his knee.

He begins screaming in pain as he writhes on the ground.

The screams are starting to get to me. No one warned me about them and how bad they get to you.

“Damn, damn, damn,” repeats Hall as he backs up, trying to think of a way to win this fight.

I don’t give him the chance.

I charge and he fires lightning at me in reflex despite knowing it is useless against me. I punch him in the gut, lightly as lightly in the Sentinel armour means it still packs an amount of massive force behind it.

I hope I done it gently enough to avoid doing any permanent damage to his internal organs.

He drops to his knees, tears in his eyes. I respond by kicking both of his elbows so he can’t use his powers anymore. I might be immune, but he could still blast any police officers who tried to arrest. Besides, he’ll recover in time.

Hall topples over unconscious. I look inside the bank. All four men inside are down and ice is everywhere.

Edison is in the corner, having slowed down Lucy with his powers.

That simply means that her super speed has mean reduce to normal and she’s still got her ice powers. Lucy is still coming at Edison, but unless he stops using his power, her attack won’t pack any real punch to it.

I fire a quick sonic burst at Edison.

The villain is so focused on holding Lucy at bay he never sees it coming. He staggers and his ability to slow down Lucy is gone with his concentration.

She freezes his arms to the wall and punches him with a fury of fists.

Kingsley Edison slumps against the wall, held up only by the ice around his arms.

“Okay Lucy?” I ask.

“I’m fine,” replies Lucy as she stops in front of me, “Thanks for distracting him. I n”

“Does the screaming make you want to puke?” I ask suddenly in a hurried voice, not sure why I’m talking about this now.

I just really need to get this off my chest right now.

“What?” she replies, confused.

“I just wanted them to stop,” I continue in the same hurried voice, “I had to continue fighting them, but I just wanted their screams to stop. I hated it all.”

“Uhhh,” replies Lucy, unsure of how to respond, “Let’s talk about it later.”

“Okay,” I answer, getting a hold of myself

I turn on the PA system built into the suit as I exit the bank. I turn to face the police at other end of the road and activate it.

“Inspector Oakley!” I call, the sound amplified by the PA system, “The coast is clear. Feel free for you and your people to move in.”

I march down the road, back toward the police line as they swarm down towards us. Lucy is next to me, walking more normally.

Inspector Oakley is waiting for us when we reach him.

“Good work,” says Oakley, “We couldn’t have done this without you two.”

“Yeah I guess,” I reply, “I just couldn’t stand the screaming. No one tells you what it’s like to hurt people like that.”

“I understand that,” says Oakley, “Still, Accelerate got all three hostages out safely and unharmed and took down Edison. And you managed to take out most their men and Hall without getting hurt by the bullets and lightning. None of us could have done that.”

“What about the aftermath?” inquires Lucy.

“You’ll still need to make a police statement,” replies Oakley, “Don’t about the media. We saw what happened and know how bad it would have been without you guys helping. And when it comes to court cases, between the laws, the authorities and your secret identities, the prosecution and defence won’t effectively call you as witnesses. Unless you agree to it of course.”

“We ought to get back to base,” says Lucy, “I only got twenty minutes until my parents expect me home.”

A thought strikes me as I'm about to leave.

“Inspector,” I say, “Do you know where they got the guns? I thought they were rare and hard to get around here. Especially the Uzi and assault rifles.”

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” replies Oakley with a frown, “If I find out anything, I’ll pass it on. It is worrying though.”

“We’ll be going now,” I say as I activate my rocket pack, “If I find anything, I inform you as well.”

“Thank you Sentinel,” says Oakley as I and Lucy fly and run off respectively.

1.2 Partners Part 3

“Actually I'm going with Accelerate as my codename,” says Lucy to Inspector Oakley.

“We got supers of our own and we outnumber you tend to one,” shouts the voice and my armour says it belongs to Kendrick Hall, “So why don’t you kids go back on home and leave this to grownups.”

Kendrick starts laughing again and several of his men join in.

“Inspector Oakley,” I say, ignoring them, “What’s your plan?”

“Well, do you know their powers first of all,” asks Oakley.

“Hall got bolts of lightning and Edison can manipulate time in a small area around him,” I reply, “I got the Sentinel armour while Accelerate got Vibration’s superspeed plus ice powers from her mum.”

“Normally I might ask you to go in and take them down,” says Oakley, “But we got three hostages in there. I was kind of hoping you might have some ideas because we got nothing.”

“I could get the hostages out with my speed,” offers Lucy, “But I will need a distraction.”

“I can engage them,” I say, “I can take the men and Hall easily, but Edison will be a problem.”

“Once I got the hostages out, I deal with him,” replies Lucy.

“I can hack the security cameras,” says Charlie over me and Lucy’s League communicators, “I’ll be able to get some limited information about what they’re doing once I'm in.”

“We’ll hang back,” says Oakley, “None of us stand a chance against them. We don’t even have guns while half of them have sidearms and two have SMGs or Assault rifles.”

“You can dodge bullets right?” I ask Lucy.

“Of course I can,” answers Lucy, “Besides the costume you made me is bullet-proof.”

“It’s resistant to bullets,” I counter, “There’s a big difference, especially if you get hit something with a punch behind it.”

“Good point,” concedes Lucy, “I’ll remember that.”

“Going yet kiddies!” shouts a man from down the other end of the street before he and some of the others start laughing.

“Another thing first Inspector,” I say.

“And what would that be?” asks Oakley.

“Accelerate and I will need to get back in time for tea with our families and we will also want to avoid the media if it’s possible,” I reply.

“I’ll see what I can do,” says Oakley, “But no promises.”

I turn to face Lucy.

“Ready to go in?” I ask her.

“As much as I can be,” she answers.

I dash down the street, aiming my sonics down at the men. I can’t use my lasers on them as someone will definitely die or get maimed. Lucy is a blur, almost invisible as she zooms towards the bank.

“I'm in,” calls Charlie, “Eight guys in the bank with Hall and Edison. Two of the guys inside have assault rifles while three have pistols. One has an Uzi. And at least two guys outside have pistols. Hostages are guarded by two guys, one with a rifle and the other with a pistol.”

When Charlie is finished, I'm only half a dozen metres away from the closest men and they are beginning to respond to my charge.

I fire my sonics and the three I am aiming at drop down to the ground, clutching their ears in pain. I notice one has a pistol in his hands before he dropped it. Better do something about that.

Lucy is already inside by now.

A couple of men open fire on me and more gangsters start to rush out of the bank in response to me.

I spot Lucy come out on my HUD with a hostage. I doubt the men noticed at the speed she’s moving at. I wouldn’t have seen her without the armour.

One of the men rushes me with a knife. I turn to face him and kick in the knee. It cracks and he falls to the ground screaming as he grabs his broken knee in his pain.

I flinch at his pain and screams beneath my armour before shooting a Spyder at him.

The spyder hits the man in the neck and delivers an electric jolt to knock him out. Sort of like a taser, but more effective.

As the man goes limp, I notice two other men charging me. Both have knifes and are hesitating at the sight of their fellow’s failure.

At this point I have lost track of Lucy during the fight. I hope she gets all the hostages out.

I rush one of the men into front of me. I slam into him and he goes flying.

I try to ignore his screams as I spot one of the men shooting me. Three more open fire on me as half of men inside the bank are now outside, including one of the men with an assault rifle.

I hear another one the men go down behind me as he’s hit by a stray bullet. Another soon follows him. These fools are shooting their guys. I hope nobody dies and not just because of the bad press it’ll give me and Lucy.

Four of the seventeen men are down along with a possible three.

I spin around to check on the men I took down with the sonics. One is out cold while the other two are getting to their feet.

I fire another two electro-spyders and both are down for the rest of the fight.

A warning flashes in the corner of my HUD. Only one more electro-spyder left in my armour.

Damn you kid!” shouts Hall as he exits the bank.

His hands are crackling with lightning as he raises them at me. 

1.2 Partners Part 2

“This is Sentinel,” I reply, “The new one that is. All of the old members are either dead or too old for action.”

“Personally I don’t really care who you are or how young you are if you know what you’re doing,” replies the man, “We can’t handle this and you’re a lot closer than the Defenders are.”

“You do realise that we’re not official yet?” I answer, “You might get into trouble if you ask us for help.”

“Can’t be worse than the mess I’m already in,” laughs man grimly, “You coming?”

I look at Lucy and Charlie. Charlie shakes his head while Lucy gives me the thumbs up.

“Vibration’s granddaughter is with me and already suiting up,” I reply, “I’ll take me two and a half minutes to suit up.”

“Do you need to know my location?” asks the man.

“We already traced it,” I answer, “We’ll be about five minutes, maybe six.”

“We’re counting on you Sentinel,” says man before disconnecting.

Technically speaking I was lying to the man when I said Lucy was suiting up, but she did go to change when I mentioned it.

I make my way to the lab and begin suiting up. Great, now the police are calling us for help with supers. I wasn't that to happen this quickly.

I guess this was to be expected. The League of Heroes and Albion Defenders are only major hero groups in England. Of course you have the more minor teams such as Guardians of Ireland and the Scottish Highlanders for Ireland and Scotland respectively. Not to mention about three dozen street level loners scattered throughout of the Isles.

In hindsight I should have expected the authorities to count on us for the stuff they can’t handle since we will often we closer and quicker to respond than the London based Defenders.

Lucy’s Accelerate costume is made of cos-mat like pretty everyone else’s. It is just one colour, a dull yellow that covers all of her apart from her lower face.

Charlie on the other hand wears an upgraded version of the old Bulk armour just as I wear an upgraded version of the old Sentinel Armour.

Unlike Sentinel armour, which you wear like you would with clothing, the Bulk armour you sit in middle of it and wield using controls.

The modern Bulk armour is relatively smooth and slim. While many would consider it angular and blocky, its edges are curved and smoothed compared to its older versions.

As for size, the Bulk armour is roughly four metres tall and about one and a half metres wide.

Like with our advantage with Vistorix, the old Sentinel had the advantage of flight over the old Bulk 

while they were enemies.

Whether or not the new Bulk suit can depends on whether you count being able to hover as being able to fly.

But I can see why Charlie doesn't want to come. Apart from using the armour of a well-known former supervillain, the Bulk armour will be extremely impractical in urban and sub-urban environments.

“So what’s happening?” asks Lucy as she arrives in the lab while I’m still halfway through suiting up.

“I'm going to stay here as mission control and back up if needed,” says Charlie from door way.

“So it’ll be just me and Accelerate dealing with the problem,” I reply, “Almost done suiting up. I’ll fly there. Lucy, can follow me on foot?”

“Sure,” says Lucy.

“Come on,” I state as I rush out of the lab now the suit is on.

The flight is calm, but as I reach our destination, trouble is clearly seen below.

A couple of cars are on fire and several more are wrecked or damaged. Eight police cars are parked down the road, the closest two already destroyed.

The civilians have already cleared the area it seems while there are two different groups are at either side of the street.

About a dozen police officers are hanging around the remaining police cars while eight, maybe nine men are down on the other side, hovering by a bank.

I feel uneasy as I take in the scene. I can’t spot the supers that were mentioned in the call and if the men could be dealt with easily, the police would have done it with their superior numbers by now.

Or maybe not. I don’t what procedures they have to follow.

I spot a man waving at me as I land. His uniform says that he is an inspector. Things must be bad if they got someone of his rank out in the field.

“Glad you got here quickly,” says the man and I recognise his voice as the person I spoke to as Lucy stops next to us, “They’re robbing the Lloyds TSB bank down the street. There are nine of them out here and another eight inside. And that’s not including Kingsley Edison and Kendrick Hall.”

At the sound of those names, I cringe beneath my helmet. Those two are minor supervillains, single power Class 3s like most supers. Not that they won’t put a fight and they got seventeen or their lackeys with them. That has to be most of their followers.

I really wish that Charlie had decided to come with us right about now.

“I'm Inspector Norris Oakley,” says the man, holding out his hand for me to shake, “I'm a Class 2 by the way. I can set up mental communications and psychically locate someone, but that is it.”

I am about to really reply when another voice rings out from the other end of the street.

“Ah,” laughs the voice, “The new Sentinel and Vibration.”