League of Super Heroes: Rise of the Villain (Book #1)

The League of Super Heroes

Rise of the Villain

By Celeste Ayers

Published by Celeste Ayers at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Celeste Ayers

All right reserved.

No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form without the prior
written permission from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. The names,
characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s
imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely
coincidental.

Written in Canada.

More from Celeste Ayers:

League of Super Heroes (The Hit Party
Games):

Rise of the Villain

Enter the FREEZE

Royal Rumble

CHAPTER ONE

The sound of a car
alarm rang out, waking Justice Man from his sleep. His eyes open,
adjusting to the darkness that filled the room. It had been another
long night patrolling the streets of Rusten City and he was having
trouble drifting off. Earlier that night, Justice had caught a
group of thugs hanging out around Muscle Man’s Auto body shop and
the things they said to him were now embedded in his mind. Justice
shook his head, he knew better than to think of such negative
things, it was rule number one in the Super Hero Handbook.

Rule 1: Always think
positively, villains can smell fear and they grow strong off
negative energy. Starve them of this power by never questioning
your abilities as a hero.

Justice pulled back
his sheets and got out of bed, his muscular legs flexing as he
stood. He stretched his chiseled arms above his head and yawned,
“Hey Freeze you up?” he called out to his roommate. Freeze was a
fellow Super and a damn good friend, they had known each other for
many years and trained under the same man. Hearing nothing but
silence, Justice assumed Freeze was still out patrolling, but he
wasn’t worried, he knew Freeze could take care of himself.

The cool hardwood
felt great on his feet as he walked towards his immaculate kitchen,
it was clear to him the maid had been earlier that day. Justice
opened the double doors of his fridge, the bright florescent light
stinging his eyes. Inside there was a pizza box with a note
scribbled on it in black marker.

Hey J, gone away on
assignment might be gone a while. Can’t say where I’m going, take
care of yourself. –F.

The note was short
and simple; much like the man who had written it. Justice wasn’t
surprised his friend had taken off without saying good-bye; he
frequently got called away on hero business. Justice on the other
hand, considered himself a free agent, working as a Defense
Attorney for the Rusten City Court was his primary job. He hadn’t
considered himself a full time hero in a long time, after all crime
was down by nearly thirty percent. There was no need for Super
Heroes’ anymore, not since the new mayor had taken over. Mayor
Masterson had taken over the city two years ago when it had been
revealed the previous mayor was in the pockets of multiple
gangs.

It had been a great
two years for J, putting away drug traffickers and mob bosses
alike. But now the city had cleaned up, it had lost some of that
edge. At first, he only noticed this at night when he roamed the
streets for evil only to find everyone had already been locked up.
But after all the trials and hearings passed, he began to notice he
was no longer necessary at work. This had Justice dreaming of
action and adventure, but with crime rates so low, it seemed such
times were far from possible.

CHAPTER TWO

It was already bright
out just as Justice had finally fallen asleep, the sounds of the
morning birds sending him to bed. His golden hair stuck up in all
directions, as though he had been electrocuted. Drool pooled on his
dark red pillow case and glistening on his tan, chiseled cheek.
Ghost Girl sat at the end of his bed waiting for him to wake up,
she never liked to startle people when it wasn’t necessary, but he
wasn’t showing signs of waking anytime soon. She walked into the
bathroom, grabbing the cup on his bedside table, and filled it with
cold water. If he wasn’t going to wake up on his own, she would
have to give him some…encouragement.

The water spread over
his face as J flung open his eyes, the cold chilling him down to
the bone. “WHAT THE HELL!” he called out, jumping up and laying his
wide eyes on Ghost Girls petite silhouette. “What the hell Genny,
what was that for!” his voice boomed, as he pulled a shirt over his
well defined chest. He saw her eyes follow, as if trying to look as
long as possible.

“
Sorry J, I waited as long as I could but we have a bit of a
problem. Freeze is away on assignment and”, she paused for a
moment. “Well, a League Super Hero turned up dead last night, I
didn’t know who else to turn to. I’m sorry.” She batted her
eyelashes at him, knowing full well he couldn’t resist.

Justice smiled at
Genny, she was a great hero with a strange power. He had met many
heroes in his day, but none that could take on non-corporeal form.
She had certainly been an asset when he was in the field, she could
break into any facility without tripping any alarms, and she was
quick too. Justice realized he was still smiling and that she was
looking at him a little strange, as though he had done something
wrong. “Oh, about the hero who died? So sad.” He said hurriedly,
“I’m not sure what you want me to do though Genny; you know I’m no
longer apart of the league of super heroes.” The statement made his
stomach drop.

“
Justice you know that I wouldn’t come to you unless I had to.
Like I said, Freeze is gone and someone out there is after us,
someone out there killed a hero last night. I’m just trying to
protect the league; I thought you would help.”She disappeared, the
look of disappointment lingering in the room. Ghost girl was always
making speedy exits with no warning, something Justice Man had not
missed in her absence.

CHAPTER THREE

The sun was bright
and the roads seemed to shimmer in the summer heat, Justice walked
into the dirty garage and looked around for his friend. Mike was
the strongest guy he knew, a feature that Mike loved to show off,
especially in the company of women. Justice caught a glimpse of his
friend buried beneath a 1964 Ford Mustang, his bald head peeking
out from beneath the exhaust. He walked over to the car and
crouched down, “Hey Mikey. Got some bad news about the LOH, think
we could talk in your office?”

The car lifted off
the ground, as if with ease, Mike’s massive frame emerging from
beneath it. He placed the car down and motioned for Justice to lead
the way to his office. Once inside the room, Mike lit a cigarette,
a habit he had never been able to kick and one that made Justice
angry. “Put that crap, you know how much I hate cigarettes. That
stuff’ll kill you.” He coughed for emphasis as Mike put the smoke
out, he didn’t seem too amused with J’s surprise visit.

“
J,
I told you not to bother me with this league stuff. We ain’t needed
in this city no more.” Mike had a raspy voice as if his throat was
coated in tar and his lungs filled with smoke. Justice knew it was
going to take some convincing to get Muscle Man on board, but he
needed someone to help him figure out who was killing heroes and he
didn’t know who else to trust these days.

“
Someone is killing Supers Mike; I need your help to figure
out whom. You’re the muscle, I need you c’mon man.” Justice
pleaded, knowing that talking up the muscle head was the only way
to coax him into helping. “You know if we figure it out they might
give us a reward.” He added at the end.

Mike sighed, running
his oil stained hand over his weathered face as if he were
thinking. He turned to Justice and stared into his eyes, “This is
the last time you come to me, you hear me Justice?! I will help you
figure this out, and then I’m done. For good.”

The men shook hands
and agreed to meet up later at an old diner downtown. Justice
walked out of the shop smiling ear to ear, he was happy to have
Muscle Man’s help. He knew that it was going to be weird working
with his old team mate but did they ever work well together. It put
his mind at ease knowing that he had help in his search; little did
he know he wouldn’t have to look too long.

CHAPTER FOUR

The diner smelled
like old coffee and perfume, while same pictures that had been on
the pale blue walls for the past thirty years hung desperately
clinging to their wires. Their waitress, Flo, had come around to
take their orders and fill their cups with lukewarm coffee. Mike
and J had gotten right down to business, starting a list of people
who were possible enemies to the league of heroes. They sat in
their booth, exchanging ideas and reminiscing on old times stopping
only to turn Flo away. It had been a long time since they had
spoken of these things; sure they both patrolled a little here and
there but never really met any kind of trouble. Back in the day,
their lives were filled with action and violence. Killing villains
had been a rewarding job, but there were no real villains left
these days. They had all either died or had been locked up,
something the heroes found troubling.

Hours passed as they
went through the list, crossing off the names of people who were
gone or in jail. They couldn’t figure out who was doing this, which
was a foreign feeling to them. At the league of heroes, they never
lost. They always ended up triumphant and victorious, a record that
Justice was scared to break with this case. “What about the
Giggler? He always hated us for locking up his son, and no one
knows what happened to him. I bet you he’s the one behind this!”
Mike boomed, looking up at Justice with eager eyes.

“
No, no it couldn’t be The Giggler. I killed him four years
ago in Peru; he was running a cocaine plant. It has to be someone
we don’t know; we’ve exhausted every other option!” Justice was
growing tired of this; they had been at it for hours and had made
no progress. Ghost Girl was relying on him and he wasn’t about to
let her down. He just wasn’t sure how he was going to figure this
out. He closed his eyes, thinking hard when suddenly he felt cold
steel on the back on his neck.

“
Don’t turn around, we have both of you. I have a message for
you, from my master. You Supers think you hold the power in this
city, you believe that you rule Rusten, but it isn’t so. There is
another in control, and now he’s here to take this city back. You
will never stop him, for he knows what you will do before you do
it. You will live, but only for now. Good-bye HEROES!” the voice
cackled, Justice could feel the blade disappear, a drop of blood
trickling down his back.

Mike was enraged, his
body fully clenched and his eyes slit. He had never been defeated,
he had never been held down. But somehow this person was stronger
than the one and only Muscle Man, something that was not sitting
well with the muscled out, rage machine. “When I find that son of a
bitch, he’s going to wish for death. NO ONE MAKES ME LOOK LIKE A
FOOL.” Justice Man shrank back, the last thing he wanted was to get
in Mikes way when he was angry. He needed to let him cool off, so
he told Mike he had to go and to check in with him later.

Justice man ran out
of the diner, he wasn’t sure where he was going to start looking
but he knew time had run out for questions. He needed to find the
person responsible for all of this, before his friends ended up
dead. The world can’t afford to lose anymore heroes.

CHAPTER FIVE

Adrenaline pumped
through J’s body as he sprinted through the city, making for home.
He hadn’t felt this alive in a while, the threat of danger made his
heart race. He felt invincible; fighting evil gave him a rush. He
began to sweat thinking of that knife pressed against his jugular,
the cold voice ringing in his ears. These thoughts brought back
memories of the old days, when everyday could have been his last.
He stopped dead in his tracks, his brain was forming a plan, the
way it used to back in the day-effortlessly, and instantaneous. He
pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a familiar number,
“Hey its J, call the Healer Man and Ghost Girl, meet me at the old
lair.” He hung up, not waiting for a response. He changed direction
and headed toward Mikes, he would need the old teams support if he
was going to stop this disaster before it began. Justice wouldn’t
have any more hero blood on his hands.

Mike was sitting out
front his shop, sipping some herbal tea clearly deep in thought. “I
have an idea on how to make a pre-emptive strike against the
villains. I’m going to need your support Muscle Man, you’re going
to have to get over your fears and help me destroy these evil
bastards. I have Invisible Man and Ghost Girl onboard, the Healer
has always offered his powers when others are in need, now I need
you to help me break Explosion Man out so we can win with a BANG!”
he slammed his fist into his palm for emphasis, forgetting his own
immense strength.