The young
superheroine and her two teammates are chasing the veteran supervillain Void
Knight. One of her teammates, the Iron Protector, flies over Liberty’s head in
his set of dull grey power armour.
“I’m going as
fast as I can,” retorts Liberty’s other teammate, Noble.
Liberty
understands Noble’s feelings on matters like this. Unlike Iron Protector, who
has his suit of power armour, and herself, who has her body enhanced to the
natural human limit in a state known as Peak Human, Noble lacks any powers as
he relies on his own fitness, skills and gadgets.
Void Knight is
slowly getting away as only Iron Protector stands a chance of catching the
supervillain.
You would
think someone clad in a midnight black set of plate armour wouldn’t be so fast,
Liberty thinks as she jumps across another rooftop.
She puts it
down to his powers as Void Knight has a versatile power set of low level
superhuman reflexes, senses, strength, toughness and stamina. Not only does he
have all that, but Void Knight also has the ability to drain light and sound
around him.Which renders Iron Protector’s main attacks, wrist mounted lasers
and sonic projectors, useless against the supervillain.
That means our
best chance of stopping Void Knight is with good old fisticuffs, thinks
Liberty, which still puts us at the disadvantage. Darn it!
Liberty’s
costume is a variant of her grandfather’s, the WWII superhero the Paragon. It
consists of a bright blue full body costume with red and white stripes down the
sides. On her face is token blue domino mask with a white outline as Liberty
not only inherited her grandfather’s powers, but also his publicly known identity.
Covering her hands and feet, Liberty has red gloves and boots.
Noble’s
costume is also a blue full body costume, but where Liberty’s is a bright blue,
Noble’s a dark navy blue. The only part of his body that is showing is the
lower part of his face. Even his eyes are covered by eye pieces.
His utility
belt around his waist contains his assortments of gadgets while his hands and
feet are also covered by gloves and boots, in his case, they are brown rather
than red.
Both of their costumes
are made of highly versatile material known simply as costume material or
cos-mat for short, an invention of the British superhero Sentinel.
“Hurry up
Libby,” yells Noble from behind her, using the nickname he insists on giving
her.
“I’m also
going as fast as I can,” Liberty yells back as her blonde hair flows in the
wind.
She could have
had it cut short as the most pragmatic choice, but instead Liberty decided to
keep her hair at a nice shoulder length. At least she didn’t have her hair
long.
Just ahead of
her, Liberty spots Iron Protector slam into Void Knight as the villain is
leaping to another rooftop. Both of them going crashing into alley below.
“Down here!”
Liberty tells Noble as she jumps down into the alley.
This going to
be a tough fight, thinks Liberty, Not only does Void Knight have all his
powers, he also has that protective set of armour.
Iron Protector
and Void Knight are already engaged with the supervillain having the upper
hand.
Without a
moment of hesitation, Liberty joins the fray. She kicks Void Knight in the knee
to little effect. Between his armour and powers, the villain is pretty much
unaffected by Liberty’s attack, but he is distracted.
As Void Knight
turns his head to face Liberty, Iron Protector swings a fist into Void Knight’s
face. With one of the world’s most advanced sets of power armour behind the
attack, Void Knight is sent flying into the wall.
Fortunately
the wall doesn’t break to Liberty’s relief. They have enough bad press as it is
without extra collateral damage mixed in.
Void Knight
quickly gets to his feet, but Noble has also joined the fray now. He tosses a
pair of explosive spheres at Void Knight. While the explosions do little harm
to Void Knight, they do stun him.
Iron Protector
swiftly uses the opportunity to engage Void Knight again. As he battle Void
Knight again, Liberty takes the chance to grab the armoured jewellery box that
Void Knight stole from the armoured truck. She as backs away from it, Noble
moves in to assist their teammate.
Within
moments, Void Knight has disentangled himself from Iron Protector and Noble and
is fleeing into the night.
“Let him go,”
says Liberty, “We got what we came for.”
***
After
returning the box to police at the crime scene and beating a hasty retreat, the
trio return to their current hideout in this city.
“Any idea what
Void Knight was after Libby?” Thomas Anderson aka Noble asks Julie Smith aka
Liberty as Brian Morrison aka Iron Protector worked away on his laptop.
“No Tom,”
answers Julie as she prepares to change into civvies, “I know as much as you
do. That Warden gave us a tip off that Void Knight was going to be there.”
“Speaking of
Warden,” Brian cuts in, “I have just been speaking to her about tonight.”
“Got anything
new Brain?” inquires Tom, using his nickname for their quite intelligent friend.
“Warden made
some inquiries and asked around a bit while we were busy,” says Brian, “That
box contained several rare gems by the way, valuable for either selling or
using in devices. Which brings us onto whom Void Knight was working for. Turns
out tonight he was a mercenary and not for the Consortium as usual.”
“Then who was
it?” asks Julie as she puts a jumper on her over costume.
She’s hoping
to unwind by spending her night in town. Despite the late hour, the teenager
doesn’t have to worry about many bad things happening to her with her powers.
“A mad
scientist and self-proclaimed Doctor Sadler,” says Brian, “A few open arrest
warrants out for him, but nothing serious. The worst he’s hurt someone is a
broken arm. He’s in town awaiting Void Knight’s arrival. Warden recommends we
go after him now and I agree with her. If he hasn’t heard about Void Knight’s
failure, we can get the drop on him.”
“Great,” says
Julie with a sigh.
“Was that
sarcasm Libby?” asks Tom, “I honestly couldn’t tell.”
“Yes and no,”
replies Julie, “I’m glad for the opportunity to catch another bad guy, but I
was also hoping to have the rest of the night to relax.”
“I know how
you feel Julie,” says Brian, “But you’ll other times to relax, but we won’t get
many chances like this.”
“I know, I
know,” mutters Julie with another sigh as she takes her jump off.
Julie reaches
over for her mask.
“Let’s go,”
says Liberty as she puts her mask on.
***
“Doctor Sadler
converted that abandoned warehouse over there into his current hideout,” says
Iron Protector, “It’s also where Warden said he was going to meet Void Knight.”
“An abandoned
warehouse as his secret lair?” sniggers Noble, “Isn’t that a bit cliché?”
“It’s a good
choice,” counters Iron Protector, “An abandon warehouse isn’t being used by
anyone else anymore and are generally areas that aren’t really used anymore.
Not to mention all the room you have available in one. But yes, it is a rather
cliché.”
“Cut the
chatter boys,” says Liberty, “We’re going in.”
As the one
with the blueprints, Iron Defender leads the way. Which, in the end, mainly
involves crashing in through the skylights in the roof.
Both Liberty
and Noble land on the ground while Iron Protector lands in the air. Luckily for
them, they were able to catch Doctor Sadler by surprise.
“What the?”
exclaims the stunned man.
Doctor Sadler
isn’t an impressive sight. With no powers to speak of other than his above
average intelligence, the self-proclaimed doctor is a thin and fragile man. As
befitting his reputation as a mad scientist, Doctor Sadler is wearing a lab
coat and some oversized goggles.
Despite having
several warrants out for his arrest and being able to hire Void Knight as
mercenary, Liberty can’t really take him seriously with his appearance.
“Liberty and
the Patriots!” exclaims Doctor Sadler as he recognises them.
Liberty
internally winces. This is one of the main sources of their group’s troubles.
Their grandparents were part of a group known as the Patriots that worked for
the US government and was led by her grandfather, the Paragon. These days, most
of their siblings and cousins work for the government and Liberty’s own twin
brother, also called the Paragon, leads the current Patriots.
But Liberty,
the other potential heir to the mantle of the Paragon, leads her own group of
Patriot heirs and they are much closer to the ideals of the original Patriots.
As a result, to the eyes of the press and public, there are two groups of
Patriots in the world. Liberty’s Patriots and the ‘official’ Patriots lead by
the new Paragon.
Some people
claim that Liberty’s Patriots are the true Patriots while the official team is
just a bunch of government lapdogs. Others say that the official Patriots are
doing as they are supposed by serving their country like the original Paragon
and Patriots while Liberty’s Patriots are just some kids who don’t want to do
as they’re told and think they’re big names like their grandparents.
Despite none
of them ever claiming to be the Patriots, the government still comes after them
for undermining their authority. This particularly irks Liberty as she’s being
punished for something she’s actively trying to prevent. It doesn’t help that
the only legal reason they got for going after her is because they added a
clause to the law making it illegal for descendants of the original Patriots to
commit vigilantism.
The Liberty
Clause is what they call it, Liberty grumbles in her head, Totally unfair and
completely outrageously.
“We are not the Patriots,” Iron Protector
retorts at Doctor Sadler.
“Whatever,”
sneers the doctor, “Leave or face my wrath! I have meeting with someone tonight
and you don’t want to get in the way!”
“We already
stopped Void Knight and returned the gems!” Liberty counters, “Give up now and
we won’t have to hurt you. The police are already on their way.”
Doctor Sadler
halts at this turn of events before cursing under his breath.
“Damn you
Liberty!” screams Doctor Sadler, “You won’t take me in!”
And with that
several of the crates around them burst open as several robot come charging
out.
Liberty jumps
over one as it rushes her. To her, they look like big metal gorillas with
armour plating and glowing red eyes.
A laser beam
cuts through the robot below her and it collapses in two. Unlike Void Knight,
these machines have no immunity to Iron Protector’s lasers.
Noble is also
doing well as he rolls out of the way and tosses some of his explosive spheres
at the robots.
“I’m going
after the doctor!” Liberty tells her teammates as she spots Doctor Sadler
running towards one of the side exits.
She chases
after him, dodging a swipe from robot and sliding under another as it tries to
grab her. By that point, Liberty is clear of the robots as Doctor Sadler
struggles with the door.
He manages it
to get open and scrambles out of the warehouse. Liberty pursues him, kicking
open the door before it slams shut on her.
Liberty
tackles the self-proclaimed doctor. With his fragility and Liberty’s enhanced
body, she quickly subdues him.
She hauls him
against the wall before tying his hands behind his back with a pair of
handcuffs.
“Curse you
Liberty and your meddling ways!” screeches Doctor Sadler as he slumps against
the wall.
“That is so cliché,” replies Liberty as she leans against the wall next to him, “Even for
you.”
Doctor Sadler
is silent, knowing defeat. As they hear police sirens, Noble and Iron Protector
exit the warehouse and approach Liberty and Doctor Sadler.
“Didn’t you
think to come back in and help with the robots?” Noble jibs Liberty.
“Somebody need
to watch the good doctor,” counters Liberty, “Don’t want him leaving before our
friends in blue show up. Besides, it’s not like you need the help.”
“True, true,”
says Noble with a smile as a pair of police officers show up.
“Freeze!”
yells one of the cops as they aim their guns at the group, “None of you move!”
Liberty smiles
as Noble grapples onto the roof and she grabs a hold of Iron Protector’s leg as
he flies away.
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