1.10 Ancient Warriors Part 6

“So her main power is her toughness?” asks Adalbern.

“I would say that her main power is more her inability to go down,” I reply, “Even then, if you do take her down, she doesn’t stay down for long short of being killed. And that is just the power she uses the most. At her best, she is a Class 6. I first got my suspicions I saw her in battle with Vengeance and confirmed it when testing her limits back at the base.”

“But enough about Narszara for now,” says Adalbern, “How is the rest of the League of Heroes? I would like to find out before I have to enduring the boring side of this state visit. Nothing exciting actually happens in modern politics. It’s all talk and no action.”

“We’re doing well,” I reply, “Of the originals, only Bolt, Vibration and Psychic are still alive and only Bolt is still active, through that is just public relations with no fighting. The first Bulk is still helping out with some the equipment and is willing to go out into the field if it gets bad enough. As for the rest of us, we been keeping active helping out the police. With every native supervillain in prison, we only really have been dealing with petty crime with something more serious coming up now and again. I will admit I have been dabbling with white collar crime recently. It costs people a lot more than blue collar crime by the way and nobody apart from me is a position to deal with it.”

“Commando, Storm Knight and I have also been looking at dealing with organised crime,” says Sam, “Taking out drug dealers and drug farms that the police can’t touch.”

“Vigilantism,” muses Adalbern, “Can’t say I’m surprised that the League of Heroes is prepared to casually break the letter of the law to up hold the spirit of the law. Your grandfathers always had that noble side to them and I expected them to pass it on to their heirs. Did I ever tell you about that time I fought them in Rouen? Back in the Second World War, shortly after D-Day, back when they were still called Lion Squad. I was leading a company of soldiers when we clashed. Lantern and I battled while Commando and Sentinel fought my men alongside your own soldiers. The rest of them were scattered around the rest of the town at the time. I slightly out-matched the original Lantern to be honest. He lacked my experience, but he was good enough that he was able to fight me to a standstill with those magnificent powers of his. It helped him I hadn’t faced a real threat in a long time and wasn’t expecting any real challenges. Even Supersoldier, Captain Magnificent and Strongman hadn’t been able to best me when they combined their might at Dunkirk. To be bested by a relatively new fighter was humbling to say the least. In my desire to break our stalemate especially as the rest of Lion Squad was effectively on the verge of winning the battle for the town as a whole, I destroyed the support for a nearby building. One containing French civilians and German soldiers. If I had known it contained my own men, I wouldn’t have done as I did.”

That was definitely true. Adalbern was a patriot, a determined one even if he wasn’t one of those fanatics that springs to mind when patriots are mentioned. Instead of short, visible bursts of enthusiasm, he was always there for his people, protecting them and fighting for them. He had literally always been there for them as he was already defending his people and conquering their enemies when they started recording history. He was several centuries old when his compatriot Sir Gawain for born.

Actually, now I think about it, I’m certain that Adalbern once mentioned something about being over seven thousand years old...

“But I did and I took that opportunity to get away,” continues Adalbern, “Lantern however moved to hold the building up and saved those inside. The rest of Lion Squad had rallied nearby to help Lantern stop me and I had to fend them off as Lantern saved those within the building. A noble deed that one could have easily excused him for not performing. Yet he did it anyway, without a moment’s hesitation. I also respected him for that. But at least he died a good death in the end, sacrificing himself against the greatest threat our world has ever faced.”

The Sektain Invasion. The one that the first Lantern died stopping.  Not many today still believe it was that great of a threat, but Adalbern is one of the few to fully understand what the Invasion meant especially as he played a key part in it.

“The American Government wishes for me join their Defender Initiative,” says Adalbern, changing the subject abruptly, “Not so much myself due to my history and politics, but the Gardisten. Both Wald Ritter and I refused their offers.”

“It isn’t so bad,” says Britannia, “All of the government teams in the Isles are part of it. So are most in the world. It is just you Germans, Russians and Chinese who resist the most.”

“Don’t forget the League,” cuts in Aunt Mary.

“We don’t resist them,” I protest, “I even help fund them and most of their equipment is Sentinel Tech. I suppose that technically makes the League part of the Initiative.”

“But as an established private organisation with lots of ties and connections already, you don’t need the help of the Defender Initiative as much as everybody else,” says Aunt Mary, “I think that is one of the reasons that the Initiative officials seem to avoid involving me. I have too many close ties to the League of Heroes for their taste and not as dependent on them.”

“Makes sense,” mutters Adalbern, “It also seemed like an attempted by the Americans to dominate the superhuman world even further.”

1.9 Mad Beasts Part 2

I look around granddad’s house. Despite telling people this was where I was spending most of my time when I was at the base, I haven’t actually been here for quite a while now.

I notice a police car roll up outside and it occurs to me that, as Daniel Griffin, I haven’t given a police statement about my fight with Nightblade yet due to my attempts to avoid the press.

I look out the window to see who’s in the car and I blink in surprise when I spot Inspector Oakley get out. I consider him a helpful associate when dealing with the police as Sentinel and we get on fairly well.

Of course I have to pretend I don’t know him thanks to my secret identity.

I look at the second officer to get out on the passenger side, wondering if it is also someone the Sentinel knows.

The answer turns out to be yes as I spot Constable Melville, one of the three supers on the Hampshire police force.  I guess the reason both of them are here is due to this involving a superhuman and them both being part of the superhuman department.

I walk towards the door and open it before the officers can knock.

“Hello?” I greet to them.

Let me tell you something, it is weird meeting two people who you know, but they don’t know you and don’t know you know them and you have to pretend not to know them.

But something must click into place as Oakley blinks at me and stares for a moment. Melville gives him a look.

“Daniel Griffin?” asks Oakley as he focuses again.

“Yes Inspector,” I reply and I flinch internally at my mistake.

Not many people know how about different police ranks, particularly the higher up ones, here in the UK due to the lack of them on TV, especially how to recognise one. That must have tipped him off about something.

“We’ve here to collect your statement about your fight with the supervillain assassin Nightblade last Thursday at St James Park,” says Oakley as he looks at me, “May we come inside?”

“Sure,” I tell him.

Normally I wouldn’t invite the police inside, but I know Oakley well enough to trust even if he doesn’t know it.

I step aside and let Oakley and Melville inside.

“I saw your face after Narszara arrive,” says Oakley in a causal manner.

Yup, he’s figured it out. Next time, I need to be more careful.

“So you pieced it together,” I reply as Melville looks at the two of us, confusion on her face.

“What’s going on?” asks Melville.

“Meet Daniel Griffin, Eleanor, also known as the Sentinel,” answers Oakley.

“Him?” blurts out Melville.

“Me,” I reply, “By the way, my identity is secret so keep it secret. You weren’t supposed to find out and you don’t want to find out the consequences if you reveal it.”

“After all the trouble that it’s caused Britannia, I’m not revealing any super’s secret identity,” says Oakley, “But you sure do make a lot more sense now.”

“Pardon?”

“We were looking over your background over the last few days, especially since you held your own against Nightblade,” says Oakley, “And kid, you are not normal. You’re a millionaire that lives like middle-class. Not only that, but you got your grandfather’s money, company and house over the rest of your family. And people you hang out with just don’t fit. I’m going to guess they make up the rest of the League? Anyway, you and your friends are very mysterious. You seem to go off the grid while hanging out with each other, but it’s not only when the League shows up. Not to mention how well you have avoided the media, it’s almost unreal. You also took on Nightblade and almost beat him. Yet you don’t have any powers like he does. But you do have training from an old family friend who we can’t trace at all. Plus you’re associated with the Sentinel and the League like your grandfather was. None of it made any sense.”

“So you’re the Sentinel?” says Melville as she looks at in mild surprised, “You’re not what I expected, but then again, I’m not sure what I expected. I never really fought about what the Sentinel was beneath the armour. Apart from he was male. But even that, along with your age, we only had your word for.”

“That was sort of granddad’s idea,” I reply, “He felt that he should keep his normal identity separate from the Sentinel’s.”

“Except for when he was the Sentinel’s number one business partner it seems,” points Oakley.

“People just figured he worked with Sentinel, not that he actually him,” I reply with a shrug, “But aren’t you here to get my statement regarding Sunday’s events?”

“Good point,” concedes Oakley, “We best get onto that.”

***

I watch the police car pulls out before I call Sam.

“Hello,” answers Sam.

“Hey Sam,” I reply, “I called to called to tell that the police just collected my statement about Sunday at granddad’s house.”

“Anyone we know?”

“Just Inspector Oakley and Constable Melville. That’s part of the reason I called. Oakley put two and two together about our secret identity.”

“Is that bad or good?” asks Sam.

“Neither, just unexpected,” I reply, “Oakley and Melville can be trusted.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah,” I say, “Can you remind the others about the meeting this evening?” 

1.8 Assassins Part 7

Nightblade is crouched over us on the cafe roof. He has gotten one of his swords fixed, but the other isn’t there.

The reporters turn and start speaking as they realise it is Nightblade.

He jumps down and points his sword at Oliver.

“You’ll do nicely kid,” growls Nightblade, “I’m sure with you along, I’ll persuade your father to come along nicely.”

Harry gives out a strangled cry of “Oliver” as my cousin freezes in terror.

This bad, like really bad. I’m in my secret identity without the Sentinel armour. None of the League will be able to show up in time.

I might not count as a Class 4 without the armour, but I still count as Class 1 with my fit body and training from Laura.

And I am not able to let Nightblade go after my family without a fight, even family I dislike and don’t agree with.

I grab Nightblade’s arm and twist the sword out of his hand. He doesn’t react, probably out of shock. He also doesn’t react when I swing the sword into his side, getting the blade stuck inside him.

“Run!” I yell at Oliver as Nightblade staggers back.

“What the £$@&?” mutters Nightblade before he pulls his sword out of his side.

Oliver and I run past the crowd. Both of us are good runners and while Nightblade might be better than us with his enhancements, he’s injured and we got a head start.

Meanwhile I set out a subtle distress signal with my communicator as I run. I doubt Nightblade will underestimate me next time and the best I can hope for without the Sentinel armour is to delay him until another member of the League shows up in costume.

I hear Nightblade cry out in anger as he rushes towards us. I halt as he catches up with us.

I duck as he swings at my head and grabs his arm. I twist it behind me and knee Nightblade in his cut side. He grunts and shakes me off.

I try to get to my feet, but Nightblade is already over me with his blade raised to cut me down.

That’s when Night Beast intervenes. Carrie has turned into a basically a bipedal wolf-cat hybrid that’s two metres all. Her grey and black fur can only be seen on her snout and mane as her black cos-mat suit covers the rest of her minus Carrie’s wolfish yellow eyes.

She grabs Nightblade and tosses him back, swiping at his armoured chest.

I spot Kevin behind her, stretching towards his twin his grey costume that leaves only the eyes visible.

It occurs to me this is the fight time I seen the Walter twins fight a supervillain. When they fought the Machine and Gaia’s Vengeance, I wasn’t there.

Nightblade kicks Night Beast off, but is then engulfed by Multiform. When he uses his powers, Kevin is basically a morphing grey mass that is near impossible to harm. Which Nightblade finds out when he tries to get rid of Multiform.

I decide that since Daniel Griffin is a civilian, he ought to get back and out of the way. I back off into the crowd as Carrie attacks Nightblade again. Oliver is nowhere to be seen.

I watch from the crowd as Kevin latches onto Nightblade’s arms and holds them behind his back while Carrie rips his helmet off.

I see a light in the air and spot Sam coming down from the sky. I better slink away before the fights over. I’m a non-super who just took on a supervillain and held my own and now I’m in a crowd of reporters.

Ever since the League restarted, I developed a dislike for the media and the press to the point of borderline hatred.

Fortunately for me, the reporters are all distracted by the fight as I slip away. Once out of sight of the crowd, I run for it.

I’m sure they’ll come after me later for interviews, but at home, I can refuse more easily than if I’m caught out in the streets.

Home’s not too far away, but do I really want to go home with how I fought Nightblade on the news. I don’t want to hear what Dad or Mum has to say.

I’m better off taking refuge in the base. An entrance isn’t too far away from my current location.

It is an old one behind an old building. The system recognises me as I approach and opens up, showing a hatch that two feet by two feet with a ladder going down. I look inside.

Definitely one of the older entrances. It seems to be the same as an old, worn sewer without actually being part of the sewer system.

I with a glance around, I climb now the ladder. Once I reach the bottom, the hatch closes behind me, leaving me in darkness with no lights.

“Darn it,” I mutter as look for an emergency light that I also carry around.

I eventually find it and pull it out. It’s nothing fancy, merely a three inch long stick with a decently bright light on the end.

I walk down the tunnel when I hear someone access the hatch behind me.

1.7 Bounty Hunters Part 5

“It was interesting,” answers Narszara, “There were only three of us. Myself, Warden and Robyn Hood. The Syndicate had over a score of people and four supers. A Class 2 illusionist, a Class 3 Mind Controller, a Class 3 Acid Shooter and a Class 4 Telekinetic. They needed me to defeat the supers while they bested the normal foes. It was rather fun. Then we went to the Great Lion for a drink. I still did not get any mead much to my disappointment Have you heard about the others yet?”

“No,” I whisper as my stomach plummets.

Are the others in trouble? Did anyone get hurt?

“There were two different fights that were involved in,” explains Narszara, “Vision, Commando, Accelerate and Storm Knight fought a villain known as Gravilord while the rest fought a woman called Gaia’s Vengeance. No one other than the villains was hurt and there was minimal property damage.”

“Excellent,” I says with a sigh of relief.

Nobody back home got hurt other than some supervillains. After my brush with death, I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am.

“Indeed,” agrees Narszara, “I shall meet you back at our base.”

She cuts the connection. I look at Sam. I called Narszara on a private channel so he didn’t overhear us.

“The rest of the League had their own adventures while we were away,” I tell him.

“What happened?” asks Sam, always eager for an exciting story.

“Narszara helped out a couple of the Defenders against the Baglio Syndicate while James, Skyler, Lucy and Stefan fought Gravilord while the Walters, Charlie and Helen took down Gaia’s Vengeance,” I answer, “I doubt any of them had it as hard as we did.”

“You mean none of us had it as hard as you,” corrects Sam with a frown, “You flow the Star Guardian up there and the only one who knew what he was doing. Then you investigated the second signal after I flew off on my own. You beat Spartan and his people after he attacked you. I figured that much out on my own by the way. I’m not stupid you know. And you held your own against the Machine without any help. Well you didn’t die at least.”

“I almost did,” I mutter quietly and a shiver goes down my back, “And I have help from Darrac and Spartan. That was the only reason I survived.”

A week and a half into my superhero career and I’ve already killed and almost died more than once.

Then again, no one said being a superhero was easy or fun and games. In fact, most of them warned me about this aspect of leading this sort of life.

Not that I would trade the Sentinel armour and the League of Heroes away for anything mind you.

“Do you realise the time?” asks Sam, “My visor says it’s almost nine.”

I groan. Dad is going to kill me for this.

“Don’t worry,” says Janelle suddenly, “I was contacted by Laura Aquiline. She has informed Sentinel’s family that you three were with her today for some defence training.”

Thank goodness for Laura. I’ve forgotten out many times she has gotten me of trouble in private life because of things from superhero life.

“Bring down Vance,” I yell up to the cockpit, “I got to get out of this armour and get home as quick as possible.

It takes a few minutes for us to land. Skyler and James are waiting for us.

“You guys won’t believe...” starts Skyler before her voice trails off as she spots me, “Looks like you had it worse.”

“I know you two and Stefan and Lucy fought Gravilord and the others fought Gaia’s Vengeance,” I reply, “I fought space pirates, Spartan and his people and the Machine. Vance didn’t fight anyone and Sam saved me from the Machine. Also Narszara fought the Baglio Syndicate along a couple of the Defenders.”

“We know about Narszara and the Defenders,” says Sky as she rolls her eyes, “I want to know what put the Sentinel into this shape.”

“The Machine,” I tell her, “Totally had me on the ropes. If it weren’t for Sam or Darrac, I would have died. Oh, let me tell you about Darrac, he’s a Neriarr space pirate.”

“A space pirate,” says Sky, “He doesn’t seem the sort of person respectable supers like us would hang out with. And what’s a Neriarr?”

“A Neriarr what the human sub-breeds created by the Sektain are called and Darrac is a licensed privateer for the Knights Hospitaller,” I reply.

“So maybe he is the sort of person respectable supers like us would hang out with,” concedes Sky, “Still what’s he like?”

“Dangerous and ruthless,” I reply, “Neriarr are the most dangerous and the most numerous type of human supers and Darrac isn’t an exception to that. I think he stands a good chance of defeating the Machine on his own if he didn’t have to worry about anyone else.”

“So when’s the Sentinel armour going to back running at full strength again?” asks James.

“I’m going to start working on it tomorrow,” I tell him, “Now please excuse me, I need to get changed and head home.”

***

“Had a good time at Laura’s?” asks Dad as I enter the house.

“Yeah,” I reply as I take my coat off, “A few lessons I been taught in the past finally got through today.”

“Sounds good,” says Dad, “Next time try to plan ahead. I prefer to be informed ahead of time you know.”

“I’ll remember that Dad,” I tell him, “But this was a bit on the go. And we never meant to be out so late. That just sort of happened.”

“Your mother and I worry for you Daniel,” says Dad, “You staying out this late worries us. I don’t know how we could cope if something happened to you because you were out on your own at the wrong time.”

“I know and don’t worry Dad,” I reassure him as head for the stairs, “Anybody who messes with me will find that they bitten much than they can chew.”

As I head upstairs to my room, I realise how I just avoided telling my dad the truth without actually lying to. Not the mention how much I hate that fact.

1.7 Bounty Hunters Part 4

Sam twists the Machine’s arm and I can hear the metal tearing and twisting. He grabs the Machine’s arm with his other hand and uses them both to yank off the Machine’s arm.

As Sam tosses it aside, the Machine punches Sam into the air with his other fist. I would have tried to help, but at this point, I have pretty much had it.

Not that the Machine gets a break either.

Darrac flies over the Machine again, this time with a trail of over twenty micro-missiles following him. Most of them slam into the Machine before it can react with only three going over the Machine’s head.

The Machine staggers backwards following the explosion, the armour and lasers on its chest a useless mess.

Then Sam zooms back down and grabs the Machine’s remaining arm with both hands. He gives it a good pull, yanking out and tossing it aside like he did with the other. Sam reaches down and rips away the remaining chest armour from the Machine.

Sensing it isn’t going to beat to Sam, the Machine uses its flight abilities to zoom along the deck and off the carrier.

Sam appears to be about to pursue, but takes one look at me and lands next to me. He puts a hand out for me and I grasp it with my left as my right arm is disabled.

“You’re in bad shape,” notes Sam.

“He had me on the ropes several times,” I say, “Without Spartan or Darrac, I would have been killed before you got here.”

“What were you doing here before the Machine came?” asks Sam with a glance at Spartan, who has landed not too far away.

I give Spartan a look and we lock eyes before I reply, “Nothing important.”

Darrac lands on the ground next to us. He’ is also pretty banged up.

“We should leave,” says Darrac matter of factly.

“I agree,” I reply, “Lantern, you need to carry me. The Machine took out my rocket pack early on.”

“Okay,” says Sam as he hooks his arms underneath my armpits.

***

I let Vance fly while I make some repairs to the armour in the Star Guardian. The ship doesn’t have the full resources of the lab back at base, but I can get the right arm of the Sentinel armour working again.

Mia got off at Sydney in Australia, her home city. We left her in the hands of the local heroes and authorities. Darrac took the Dust Corsair back to space while we headed home.

“What do you think will be waiting for us back home?” Sam asks me as we near the British Isles.

“Mary wanted to borrow Narszara for a mission and it’s pretty late so our parents might be worried.”

“Not mine,” says Sam, “Mum never married.”

“My mum knows, but my dad and sis don’t,” I say, “I’m going to be spending tomorrow getting the 

Sentinel armour back in working order.”

“I’m sure somebody will have an explanation for us to fall back on,” says Sam confidently, “Did you use your money to buy the stuff from Mia?”

I shake my head, “No. I used the Sentinel’s account. Using Daniel Griffin’s account would have been too traceable and just plain stupid.”

By the time we land, I have gotten both of the armour’s lasers working again in addition to the left arm’s sonics. The sonics of the right arm have been almost utterly destroyed and need to be rebuilt from scratch.

This means it’s going to be a while before Narszara’s suit is built.

I wonder what Narszara is doing now?

“Narszara,” I call her my comm.

“Yes milord?” comes the swift reply.

“How did your day go?” I ask her, “Because the Sentinel armour needs some serious repairs. We’re going to have to delay starting on your new armour.”

“I have aided the Defenders in repulsing an attempt by the Baglio Syndicate to gain a foothold in this nation,” replies Narszara, “What is the damage to the Sentinel armour?”

“Right sonic and rocket pack completely destroyed,” I answer, “The lasers and left sonic will need more serious repairs to be bought back to fully functioning. The helmet and HUD need fixing and entire outer armour needs replacing. The right arm also needs more extensive repairs as well.”

“Sounds like our upcoming days will be busy,” replies Narszara, “What happened?”

“The trip went well,” I reply, trying to make it sound like nothing major happened, “Then we got involved in fight between two groups of Sektain separatists. Next we made friends with some space pirates and I bought a good haul of Sektain equipment. I’m quite please with that. We went home with our new space pirate friends and investigated a couple of signals. An oil platform and Spartan’s aero-carrier.Spartan and his bounty hunters tried to capture me and my space pirate ally. It went poorly for them. Then the Machine showed up and beat up a few times. Darrac saved me a few times. Than Lantern showed up and save me and totally defeated the Machine again. We headed back home for proper after that.”

I pause for a moment.

“How was your mission?”

1.7 Bounty Hunters Part 1

“We’re receiving another distress signal,” reports Janelle.

“Now what?” demands Sam.

“We’re got an oil platform malfunctioning,” says Janelle.

“Let’s go!” says Sam and he flies out of the ship.

I’m about to shout at him when Janelle starts speaking again.

“I just picked up another unusual signal not too far away,” says the AI, “It might what’s responsible for what’s happening to the oil platform.”

“Should we split up?” asks Vance.

I start to reply, but then we receive a call from the Dust Corsair.

“What’s going on?” asks Mia, “Lantern just flew out of your ship.”

“We’ve got two things to investigate,” I tell her, “A distress signal and an unknown signal. Lantern is already en route to the distress signal.”

“I’ll take the Dust Corsair and help him out,” says Mia.

“I’ll go out on my own and check out the other signal.”

“Take Darrac with you and Bolt and the Star Guardian can help with the distress signal,” says Mia, “The second signal might turn out to be nothing, but we know the first one is actually something.”

“True,” I muse, “Okay let’s do it.”

“Good,” says Mia and she cuts the signal.

“Janelle, you and Vance check out the distress signal,” I say as I get up and walk towards the open exit, “Darrac and I will check out the second signal.”

I jump out of the ship and activate the rocket pack. I’ve got 93% fuel left. Enough to last for at least two hours.

I turn to see Darrac exit his ship, a helmet now covering his face. He flies towards me using his wings.

“Follow me,” I tell him as the Dust Corsair and the Star Guardian begin to follow Sam.

I do a loop in the air and zoom off in the direction of the second signal. Darrac is barely keeping up.

Barely.

Still if he can keep up with the latest version of the Sentinel suit, I can see why granddad and the other old Leaguers had trouble in the Invasion and I haven’t even seen him in combat.

“Whoa,” I say as the source of the signal comes into view.

A flying aircraft carrier. You have a fair few flying around these days, some private and some government. Personally I dislike them as they’re too easy to be damaged or taken out of action. As granddad said, one seems to fall out of the sky every other Thursday.

I land on the topside of the carrier. Several men and woman in work clothes are running about. Several people in power armour are coming topside from the carrier’s below decks.

“Are we welcome?” asks Darrac as he lands next to me.

“Don’t count on it,” I say back to him as the people in their work clothes scurry out of sight. 

Fourteen, maybe fifteen people in power armour are coming towards us.

This power armour is different to the Sentinel armour or the Bulk armour. Whereas the Sentinel armour fits around the wearer and is self-reliant for extended use, these suits also fit around the wearer, but are bulky and have a semi-external power source on the back. I also doubt the suits are as hi-tech and well-built as the Sentinel and Bulk armours are.

The armours are black with the armour plating being grey while the helmets have a wide purple faceplate.

Then I spot their leader. He’s also wearing the same type of armour as the others, but is gold and red. His face plate is black and a crimson cloak is attached to his back.

An American bounty hunter called Spartan who owns his own private army. Makes his fortune by hunting down supervillains for assorted folk.

And I have a large bounty on my head and Spartan has been known to take down heroes or neutrals when he can get away with it.

It is only as Spartan starts speaking that I realise that they’re all holding guns, large sleek rifles of some kind, and they are aimed at Darrac and I.

“So what do we have here,” says Spartan in a deep baritone voice as he strides towards us.

“Sentinel and associate,” I reply, glancing at Darrac.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” says Spartan, his emotions concealed by his armour, “We’re out in international waters and you got a massive bounty on your head. And we’re the ones who are going to collect it.”

Normally I might have tried talking my way out or negotiating with him, but Spartan and his people don’t seem to be willing to be reasonable with such a prize at stake. And I don’t know if Darrac will avoid a fight if I ask him to.

Spartan laughs and waves a hand at his power armoured warriors.

“We out number you eight to one,” says Spartan loudly, “I don’t care how good your armour is, you’re just a kid going up against the pros. And your pal won’t stand a chance either.”

There’s his first mistake. I’m actually much more skilled than Spartan if I do say so myself and you never treat a Sektain soldier as if they're anything other than a deadly threat.

“So grand and mighty Sentinel,” sniggers Spartan in a snide tone, “What’s it going to be?”

“Non-lethal force,” I tell Darrac.

1.5 The Machine Part 1

I’m eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast when I find out about the bounty that has been placed on my head.

Lily came rushing into the dining room whilst mum and I were eating. Dad has already left for work about ten minutes ago.

“Guess what,” says Lily and she continues to speak before either mum or I can reply, “Somebody just put bounties on the League of Heroes. Isn’t it exciting?”

***

“How much?” asks Samuel.

Having heard about the bounties, Sam, James, Sky, Lucy, Stefan and Charlie have meet up before school outside the corner shop down the road from school.

“Most of us got fifty thousand in dollars,” I reply, “That’s over thirty thousand pounds by the way.”

“Damn,” curses Skyler while Lucy, James and Charlie echo their similar sentiments.

“Personally I think it’s kind of cool,” says Stefan, “Perhaps people will take us seriously now.”

“You said most of us,” says Samuel, frowning, “What about the rest?”

“Me, you and Narszara have a hundred thousand dollars over our heads,” I tell him, “That is easily over fifty thousand pounds.”

“I’m jealous,” grins Stefan, “Any idea who it is behind it?”

“Well, it’s in dollars,” says Lucy, “And we defeated Vengeance, who people see as heroes for some reason, so maybe some good intentioned fool wants to take us down for that.”

“What do you think?” James asks me.

It’s strange how they see me as the smart one. Everybody in the League has above average intelligence and James and Charlie are just as smart as me. Lucy and Kevin are even smarter than me. 

I suppose it is because I run the base and all our businesses in addition to our logistics and supplies, our information and a bunch of other things.

“Sam, Narszara and I have a theory, but I don’t want talk about it here,” I answer, lowing my voice, 

“Back at base after school.”

“Okay,” says James.

At school, everybody is talking about us. Again. This time it is about the bounties and a few conversations about Vengeance. Stefan’s right about one thing, people are starting to respect the new generation of the League of Heroes.

“So Daniel,” says Sam at lunch time as he sits down next to me and Charlie, “So were we right about you know what?”

I understand Samuel’s coded words as not only are me and Charlie sat at the table, but two other people, Brandon and Jake. Two normal people that have no idea who the League of Heroes really are.

“Yes we were,” I answer, “As I said before school, I’ll talk about more after school at our hideout.”

“Good,” says Samuel and Brandon and Jake share confused look between them.

“Did you enjoy DT earlier?” asks Sam, “I bet you want make your own hover drones rather than just design them.”

“They would be nice,” I reply, not mentioning that I have already done that with granddad, “But why would I need them?”

“Besides, you would need to have the money to get all the parts and equipment,” points Brandon, 

“You would have to be millionaire or something to have that sort of money spare.”

“Daniel is a millionaire,” whispers Jake in Brandon’s ear.

I grin as Brandon’s face flushes red. It’s true that I have eleven million pounds that I inherited from granddad when he died. While he left everyone in the family a hundred thousand pounds, he left the majority of his wealth to me along with his vehicles, house and other processions. I think he surprised a lot of people who didn’t know he was Sentinel, but neither of his daughters cared they were skipped.

As to where granddad got his riches in the first place, he ran the League’s side businesses which supplied, manufacture equipment and other things. It started out small, but when he had been doing it for just over six decades, things build up.

It’s strange that despite being so wealthy, granddad and our family lived fairly normal lives. I guess it was mainly to do with granddad being the Sentinel again. He got his wealth from being part of the League and I guess he didn’t want to abandon the League to live the high life regardless of how rich 

he became.

He was a nice guy like that.

I also think granddad never wanted to forget what he was fighting for. Personally I feel that he wanted to stay in touch with being a normal person despite also being a superhero.

I wonder how many superheroes are in touch with normal people these days. I hope the answer is a lot.

I can’t help, but compare it to what Laura told me about feudal lords of the past. The nobles started off as heroes who rose from amongst the common folk. But as time went on, the original generation and their children died and the number of nobles rose. Eventually titles were inherited rather than being earned. This meant that the nobles stopped being in touch with the common folk they ruled over. A few stayed in touch and remained good leaders, but they were ultimately too few and most nobles been removed from power by the present day.

I wonder if the same thing is happening with supers. Minus the being removed from power part.

The old Leaguers were some of the first superheroes and were noble and moral as was the Paragon and the Patriots, their American counterparts. Now things have changed as more superpowered people have been born and things have gotten worse as time has moved on. Secrecy and security seemed to much more important days than a few decades ago.

But then again, at the end of the day, there are more than enough heroes to fight evil where ever it may be.