Other People's Heroes (The Heroes of Siegel City) (18 page)

Somehow, it worked. With the heat expelled I not only felt my flesh crystallize, but my head started to clear again. I removed one of the gauntlets to look at my own, frozen hands. The orange slime-flesh froze a deep red, almost matching my armor. Losing the helmet wasn’t such a big deal after all -- my face probably looked monstrous enough by now. The cold, crystalline sensation I felt was unusual, to be certain, but it was a hell of a lot better than being made of slime.

My perceptions back together, I turned my attention to the battle. Hotshot and Spectrum were using their powers in concert to try and melt a trap into Icebergg’s mound (Spectrum with a steady laser-burst, Hotshot having to constantly refill his blasts and mostly laying down cover fire.)

I leapt from the roof, my joints cracking with each motion, and flew at the mound, pulling shafts from my utility belt as I went. “Can you guys use a hand?” I asked. At least, that’s what I
tried
to ask. My frozen vocal cords didn’t exactly vibrate, though, they just kind of chattered together and the resulting sound came across like a Zamboni attempting to belch in coherent sentences.

“What?” Hotshot shouted. Then, seeing the plastic in my hands, nodded. “Oh. Yeah.”

As I charged up the shafts and fired I realized I was having the same disadvantage with the mound of ice as I did with the burning building -- these shafts simply didn’t have enough mass to do much damage. All Hotshot and I were really doing was herding Icebergg towards Spectrum’s trap, and I wondered offhandedly how Hotshot used these things in combat. Then I figured it probably didn’t matter how strong the blasts were, his opponents could doubtlessly fake a much stronger result.

The Gunk, meanwhile, was still slipping and sliding up and down the mound. Goop, on the other hand, was making some headway towards the battle.

As Icebergg fell backwards into Spectrum’s pool, I found myself counting the combatants. Gunk, Goop, Spectrum, Hotshot, the Conductor... who was I missing?

“
NNNRUUUBBULLLH!”

“Hey,” Hotshot yelled, “where’s Doctor Noble?”

And, according to the rules of dramatic effect, that is the precise moment the ice mound began to crack.

“Stinger!” Hotshot shouted, “the civilians--”

“Aaaahnneeett!” I growled.
On it!
The two of us pulled away from the man-made glacier and began snatching bystanders from the Square, getting them to shelter. I grabbed a couple walking from the cathedral, a pretzel vendor, a caricature artist -- I didn’t even regret saving the mime before the mound exploded like a hail-bomb. The ominous violin music in my head stopped when the Conductor got nailed by a chunk of ice the size of a baseball. Doctor Noble, at the epicenter of the blast, brushed some ice chips from his hair and grumbled, “At least that stupid music stopped.”

“Dillweed,” Icebergg muttered.

“I’ll kill you, you overgrown Popsicle!” Noble snarled. “I’ll grind you into a snowcone!” He was oblivious to everything but Icebergg now -- I wasn’t really to his left, the Goop wasn’t almost directly behind him, Spectrum and Hotshot weren’t really in the night sky.

The lamp posts in the Square -- those that hadn’t broken when the ice mound detonated -- each cracked and popped and electricity arched in towards Noble. He thrust his hands out and shoved at Icebergg with a teke-blast that hit the Mask in the gut. There was a terrible cracking sound and, for the first time, I saw there was actual, pale flesh beneath his sheathe of ice.

“You know what, Noble?” he said, spitting out a couple of ice cubes. “I always
did
hate you.”

He fired off a blue bolt of energy at Noble that I knew would freeze whatever it hit. Noble probably knew it too, as he telekinetically lifted himself into the air, leaving a new target in his wake.

Goop, get down!
I tried to shout, but the clattering, grinding syllables sounded like I’d just dumped an ice sculpture down the garbage disposal. I lunged at the addle-brained sidekick, hoping to get him down before the bolt struck, but when I slammed into his cold, hardened body, I knew I was too late.

“Whhhaaattt’ssshhaappinnneeeenngg?” Goop’s body twisted and crackled like red ice in stop-motion animation. He reached a creaking arm in my direction. “Iiiisssthaaaatttchhoooleettoolllghhiii?”

“Shhpeeehktrruuummm!” I yelled. Somehow the message got across. As Noble and Hotshot engaged Icebergg, Spectrum turned towards us, cutting off his laser and instead firing high-intensity sunlight. The beam melted our bodies back into slime.

“Hey, not
me
--” I started to protest, but as my muscles thawed out and returned to their normal temperature, I realized I had become flesh again. The Gunk was gone.

“Hey, where’s your boss?” I asked Goop. Instead of answering, though, he clasped me in a mushy hug.

“Thanks for trying to help me, little guy,” he said. “I heard ya try to warn me!” I nodded and slid from his far-too-receptive grasp.

Hotshot, meanwhile, had managed to get Icebergg into a full nelson. “Calm down, Frosty,” he was saying, “or I’ll charge up that charming little snowcap you wear on your face.”

“You idiot,” Icebergg growled, “do you really think you can
bluff
me? You were one of Lionheart’s original peons. You won’t kill me.”

I was about to rail against him in defense of Lionheart, but Noble broke in, growling, “Nah, but
I
might.” He grasped Icebergg’s head between two powerful hands and started to compress them. The ice cracked rather quickly.

“Noble, let him go!”I shouted.

“Buzz off, wasp-boy,” he said.

“Noble!” Hotshot released Icebergg and grabbed Noble’s hands, prying them off. Icebergg dropped to the ground between them and rolled away.

“Crazy son of a bitch,” he hissed.

Noble pulled out of his tangle with Hotshot and dove at Icebergg, who responded by blasting at Noble with razor-sharp spike.

Noble threw up a rampart of telekinetic force and the spike bounced away, flying through the air and going straight for Hotshot’s face.

“
Hotshot! Look out!”
I bellowed.

It’s amazing how natural this stuff was coming to me at this point. I reached out with Noble’s own teke field and caught the spike inches from Hotshot’s eyeball. I let it hang there for a second, then looked a Noble with a glare of pure fire. With a twist of my arm, I used the teke field to grind the spike into slush and then let it fall to the ground.

“Nice save,” Hotshot gasped.

“Thanks,” I said, failing to add, “and I’d do it again.” I never apologized to him for being such an ass earlier, either. I never
needed
to after that. He knew I was sorry, and I knew he forgave me.

He was right. When one person with the Heart of a Lion saves another, the two become bonded. Loyal and devoted to one another. For life.

“You want to finish this?” I asked him.

“Let’s shall,” he said. We both pivoted at the same time, pulling darts from our utility belts and charging them up. The ion streams surged forward, striking Icebergg in the face and melting holes in his frost helmet. He slumped to his knees and then rolled over, unconscious. He was stunned, but not seriously hurt. We’d focused our blasts just right.

“You
maggot.
Never,
never
copy my powers again, do you understand?”

“If you knew how to use your powers properly in the first place, there wouldn’t have been a
need
to copy them you pompous--”

“Gentlemen!” Spectrum said, stepping between us. “Perhaps we can settle this later? The rubberneckers are gonna be back any minute now.”

“Yeah,” Noble spat, slinging Icebergg over his shoulder. “We’ll finish this later. We are
so
gonna finish this later.” He took off, the others close behind, but Hotshot clapped my shoulder before I could take to the air.

I smiled, but I don’t think I’ve ever called him that except if we were in civilian gear in public. He’s always been Hotshot, where I was concerned.

ISSUE NINE

THE SOUL RAY

Unlike many residents of Simon Tower, Morrie Abadie’s skin tone was perfectly normal. Not green, not orange, not blue, but a simple, healthy fleshtone. So I was fairly impressed at the way he turned six shades of purple when I told him what happened during the hunt for Icebergg.

“
You used Noble’s powers?”
he shrieked.

“Hotshot could have
died
!”

“When are you gonna get it through your skull? These guys are
pros
. Somebody else woulda stopped that ice. Noble
hisself
might have done it.”

Not damn likely
, I thought, but I managed to hold my tongue. As Morrie sat down behind his desk, his cheeks returned to a more healthy tone. Mental Maid, on the other hand, just stood there looking as alien as ever.

“This is even worse than
last
time. At least
then
you were using the right powers. Are you
trying
to blow the lid off this whole operation or something?”

I just gulped at that and dared a glance over at Mental Maid, who was still displaying all the emotional range of a mannequin on Ritalin.

“And you
lost your helmet
!” Morrie continued, still sputtering. “Do you know how many people may have seen your face, kid?”

“Oh come on, how many of them are going to recognize dumpy old Josh Corwood?”

“All it takes is
one,
” he said. “Or even worse, what if one of those rubes had a
camera
? Or a camera phone? People get their picture taken pickin’ their nose at every stoplight these days! Did you ever think of
that
?”

I hadn’t. In this confrontation with Morrie I was feeling less like James Dean and more like Wally and the Beav getting chewed out by Ward.

“I still think I did the best thing I
could,
” I grumbled, looking at my feet.

“You’re thinking
too much
, kid,” Morrie said. “That’s yer problem.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “All right, get outta here. We got Icebergg’s hearing to deal with now, I’ll decide what to do about you after that.”

“What, right
now
?” I said. “We only brought him in a half hour ago.”

“Whaddaya think this is, the Federal Court system? Nah, when we got a crime against a Cape we hold the hearing immediately, none of that screwin’ around.”

“That’s got to be at
least
three strikes at this point,” I said. I told them what Morrie had said about “deciding what to do with me.” Ted’s face lit up at this.

“You see? He didn’t say he was kicking you out!”

“He may as well have.”

“You’ve got to be more positive, Josh,” Annie said, taking my arm (which did far more for my demeanor than Ted’s pep-talk could.) “A lot of people have messed up a lot worse than
you
have and Morrie’s kept them around. Just look at the Photon Man fiasco.”

“You better. And
you,
” he said to Annie, his blazing voice resonating through a barrel-chest, “I don’t want to see you hanging around with these two wanna-be Capes anymore. I’m sick of ‘em shoving ideas into your head.”

“Oh yeah,” I hissed, “God forbid she have any ideas
you
didn’t put there, right?”

“Back off, little man.”

“The hell I will! Annie, are you actually gonna let this stupid prick tell you who your
friends
can be?”

“You think
you
can take me, worm?”

“You’re forgetting,” I said, “you aren’t dealing with an inferior here. You’re not dealing with a normal human and you’re not dealing with someone who’s scared of you. For
once
you’re dealing with someone who can give you
exactly
as good as he can get.”

We stared at each other down for a long moment and I briefly worried he would take me up on my challenge, but he finally turned on his heel and stormed away. “Come on, Annie!” he shouted over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, guys, I’ll talk to him,” she said. “He’s really not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” I asked once they were gone. “What is she waiting for, some accident to scar his face so he can wear sinister-looking armor? Or maybe it’ll just make his hair fall out and he’ll declare himself my arch-enemy. Christ, he’s as bad as they come!”

“You have got
serious
gonads, my friend,” Ted said. “I thought you two were going to throw down right here in the hall.”

“Yeah, well, you know how it is. My mother always said a bully will stand down if you face them on
your
terms. Thanks for backing me up, by the way.”

“Heh. Sorry about that,” Ted said. “Come on, the hearing must be half-over by now.”

“So fast?” He nodded.

We made our way to the auditorium, where Icebergg was being held by a pair of what looked like handcuffs from the starship
Enterprise
. “Power dampeners,” Ted explained as we grabbed a couple of seats in the back. Icebergg was clothed in a robe now, his ice-sheathe having melted away. His skin was very pale and there was no visible hair on his body, not even eyebrows or lashes. His only distinguishing features were his eyes, blue and freezing.