Chapter 56: Bleeding Heart
The Baxter Building
Angelica Jones|Firestar
Angelica Jones was a Nineteen-year-old high school graduate who fell victim to several unfortunate events. Her father neglected her after the passing of her mother, and soon afterward, heartbroken at the loss of his mother, her beloved grandmother died abruptly.
Angelica was frightened to discover she was manifesting a strange superhuman power to generate significant heat. At the time, she hadn't known about mutants; that realization would come much later.
With her grandmother gone, Angelica lived alone with her father, Bart Jones, who had developed a nasty dependency on drugs and could not cope with helping Angelica deal with her new power and losing two parents abruptly. Angelica was desperately confused, lonely, and miserable.
Firestar had not thought nor cared about her problems and the memories that reminded her of the emergence of her powers under the brutal campaign of the Tombstone drug cartel that had taken over her neighborhood.
Firestar had learned her power was more complex than she thought. Her power was Weak Force Manipulation, allowing her to tap into Earth's electromagnetic field and convert it into microwave radiation emissions, which she can utilize in different ways.
Angelica's testing of her capabilities taught her that her body broadcasts its microwave energy at low levels. She and Alfred suspected her mindset toward technology had something to do with her power; she could disrupt, interact, and produce electromagnetic signals, which meant she could manipulate electronics.
Firestar's body continually absorbs microwave energy from her environment, including microwave energy from the stars; the latter has yet to be discovered. Alfred had warned her that the nature of her power granted her potential for large-scale destruction, a warning she took to heart.
At present, Firestar is still learning how to use her powers. Moreover, she is still relatively young, and the strength of her powers will surely increase as she reaches adulthood. Hence, the full extent of Firestar's powers has yet to be determined.
"Firebug," Angelica hollered, zooming into the cordoned-off area, ignoring the flashing lights of the electronics; even without her powers, her suit would disrupt any image of her taken, courtesy of her savior.
Firestar took in the scene in wonder. She knew Anne had access to some advanced technology, but how she engaged the Goblin was borderline superhuman. The two gliding opponents would ram into each other. Anne had leaped from the Boas and fought with The Goblin atop his glider.
Firebug had been kicked from the glider. The Goblin mask was half-destroyed, half of his appearance visible. Her bio-contact identifies him with 89% accuracy as Norman Osborne, C.E.O. of Oscorp.
Her H.U.D. flashed as the Bat computer broke into Oscopr's operating systems. Her eyes moved around each popup. She sent the data to Jeremy and refocused on the battle.
She glanced down, catching Jeremy sending the charging brute backward again, laying him flat on his back. Not letting up, Jeremy had sent a mighty gout of superheated flame at the downed beast.
Firestar had known he had powers like her but not like her for a while. She had thought about asking him to train her. Still, she had realized she was broader across the spectrum than just being able to generate heat, which Jeremy York could do at second notice.
'He's good,' she thought, turning her eyes back toward Anne. She accelerated toward The Goblin's back, her hand cocked back, her power whirring around her as she pulled on her abilities to manipulate microwaves before she blasted him into The Baxter Building.
Alfred's monotone voice emanated in her ears. Firestar contacts sparked to life as battle plans were laid out in real time. She switched tactics and psionically attacked his glider. Jeremy would want the tech.
'Who am I kidding? I want the glider.' She thought internally.
The glider spluttered, the final engine failing. Anne's eyes pulsating white as she cocked back and landed a decisive blow on the Goblin's exposed face, sending the man off his glider. Firestar trailed behind him, unburdened from her traumas as she used her powers. She had one goal: to help her friends. She handled the emotional fallout another time.
Anne looked at her, her eyes still white, and nodded, a smile stretched across her face.
Red Hood| Rhino
The favorite weapon of John Henry Irons, Steel's hammer, is usually a sledgehammer that Iron uses as an offensive weapon. Inspired by the legend of John Henry, the hammer mimics the worker's tool. Several hammers have been developed, with a new one usually made to accompany a new suit. The first was a simple weapon with a retractile hand-grip and magnetically attached to his back.
John Steele's more advanced and versatile version of the hammer was created upon his decision to move to Washington, D.C. After that, a kinetic hammer with the ability to increase its kinetic energy the farther it is thrown was built. At a distance up to 20 yards, it can stop a car; at 30 yards, a truck; at 60 yards, a tank; and at distances greater than 60 yards, it can generate enough force to rival blows from Superman. The hammer also had a programmable flight, could be controlled by voice, and had several sensors and electromagnetic applications.
The Kinetic Hamer was a powerful weapon, but the components and design that went into its creation still amazed him; recalling Steeles' reluctance to share his tech with others made him wonder if it was alien technology.
Red Hood spun in place, the hammer trailing behind him; he dodged another heavy blow and countered, slamming the hammer into the off-guard human mutate. Rhino's head slammed into the ground, cracking the parking lot and sending parked cards skidding across the pavement.
Red Hood flittered around the human mutate, his kinetic charge rising from each blow that connected; even the glancing blows he received charged the suit meter.
Angelica had turned up, blazing in the sky. Cole smiled underneath his cowl, his mind off of Anne's situation. He had no hangups about Anne being able to stop The Goblin. Still, he also was aware this Goblin was a super-soldier.
He had been appraised of her emerging abilities. Her white irises had brought back a memory from his previous life when he watched StarGate SG1. Anne had the same glow to her eyes as host to the tyrannical Goa'uld. Alfred had assured him she had yet to become a host. The strangest thing was that he now had Symbiotes available in the specialty shops.
Images flashed across his H.U.D. as he scanned outside of the cordoned-off zone. The police were still amassing. He checked his readouts and grumbled—time to wrap this up. The Goblin Serum had been a better batch than the original. Norman Osborn had managed to create Proto-Goblins, and from the data Angelica had unearthed, he would release his goblin army across the city.
"Pull back, I repeated, pull back; this isn't our battle." He ordered, his voice loud enough that everyone heard him.
Rhino clambered to get his tree trunk legs under him as each blow expounded on the last. His vision was spotted, and his consciousness threatened to leave him, enraged him. Rhino's broad head shook, eyes bloodshot, and a craze snarl rumbled from his throat before escaping his mouth.
T-spheres unleashed their payloads again, bruising and enraging The Rhino.
"Red Hood, you have been surrounded; surrender or we will open fire."
"Save your ammunition for our green friend over there, red friends." He sent the data directly to Misty Knight. She had remained at the cordoned-off zone watching him, her face a mask of anger; her boss didn't commit to whatever forces she wanted to bring.
He shrugged. She had the information. It's on her if she doesn't want to trust him. A helicopter rolled past. Cole sighed. He had spoken too soon. Luke Cage had arrived on the battlefield.
The man lunged from the helicopter, landing in a groundbreaking crunch.
Cole looked at Misty, her frown gone, a maniacal smile across her face. Cole had no idea the lady had such a hate boner for him.
"Did I kill her dog or something?" He asked Cage, who was walking toward him with a grimace.
He snarled. "You're coming-" He had been abruptly cut off as The Rhino backhanded him; he hit the ground like a pebble across a lake, skipping before tearing through many parked cars.
Cole shrugged, looked at Misty Knight, and retracted his cowl, allowing her to see his face. He smiled, noticing cameras flashing and taking his picture.
Special Agent Misty Knight's hand reached toward her sidearm. He smirked, shaking his head, tapping the side of his head, gesturing toward her to think for real about her outcome of harming him.
Cole shortened the shaft of the hammer. He whirled it around, mimicking Thor, the god of Thunder. The Rhino rumbled loudly and lept toward him, arms wide for a gnarly embrace.
He changed his chi at the final arc and pushed back from the ground, his spheres rocketing him at incredible speeds. He released The Kinetic Hammer, its humm reverberating across the battlefield, the windows in the vicinity flexing, and the Earth rumbling.
Rhino had immediately lost consciousness upon connection with the hammer; the blow had easily breached his heightened durability, but it was his body being taxed so much the blows that Cole had delivered had worn the man down.
The final coupe de grace had been overkill. The shockwave cracked the pavement and sent Rhino across the lot, his body detonating a building, causing the structure to cave in.
Cole hadn't sensed it, but his suit had sensors. Spiderman had shot consecutive rounds of webs at him. he dodged, each ball expanding into a trapping of webs.
"What have you done?" Parker hissed, swinging toward me, his hand extended, his attacks relentless.
Cole had no retort; what had he done? He did capture The Swarm, but in his defense, the man was technically dead.
He heard a shout and thunderous cheers from the crowd that forced their way near the cordoned zone. The police could only be in one place at a time, and other departments were either en route or caught up in their issues.
Cole ignored the round of cheering. "Oh. Look. Spiderman shows once I put down his rogue galley." He teased, dodging to the left, his hammer humming as it returned to his grasp.
"You had help, though," Anne said, flying down atop the Boas. The glider was captured and secured. She had her sidearm pointed at Spiderman. His real hangup for not continuing was Firestar, who hovered above, her power emanating around her, forcing attention to her presence.
"You shouldn't have harmed them. You cant keep hurt-"
Cole turned his head as he heard Luke emerging from the wreckage. He wobbled on his feet before falling to one Knee.
"Damn, that's the second time buddy had his ass handed to him, and I've been around to witness it," Cole muttered.
He turned back to Parker. He pointed toward the teen mask. "You might want to do something about your mask. I'm sure your identity has already been ascertain by the government."
He ascended Anne, following him; Parker's face turned crimson as he felt at the missing material.
"You can't leave." Spiderman Sputtered.
"He can't?" Firestar asked in his place.
And not to be outdone added. "Whose going to stop him? I hope it's not you. You have three broken ribs and a fractured fibula."
Cole's eyebrows rosed; he was still unmasked. Todd's identity was known, so he didn't bother concealing it. He was glad he hadn't brought out his advanced suit or the symbiosis suit that connected his Haunt ectoplasmic abilities to his armor.
"Take care of that bleeding heart," Cole warned, "and you might want to stop your rogue small army." The Goblin had activated the Proto-Goblins.
Cole had accumulated a lot of system prompts. He hoped the rewards were worth the exposure, though. Before he could ponder longer on his rewards system, prompt blarred into his vision.
He grumbled, halting in the sky as he read the prompt. The Goblin little proto-gobins had updated his already existing oscorp mission. He lowered his head and looked at the waiting women before he gave them specific orders.
Norman Osborn wasn't done with them tonight, and he should have put a stake in the man before this updated mission.