Post by cross on Sept 9, 2014 10:07:17 GMT -5
Ultimate Catman #1
A Fresh Start
Hub City. It's been called a few different names since it's creation. The Hub, and The asshole of America come to mind. Crime is organized, Good people live in fear, and of course, No capes call this place home. Which, for how horrible of a place Hub City really is, is pretty surprising. Capes where all the rage now. We were everywhere. Gotham, Keystone, Hell, even Metropolis had a mayor who was a Cape. None chose The Hub as their home to protect though. I got that honor. I had training from the Court, I had some basic training from Ted, and by basic training I mean that I could take more than one hit from that old bastard and not forget what day it was. I had what I needed to make myself into a Cape. I was missing one thing to complete the transformation. The code name. I had really gotten excited when I started going through code names for myself. Ultra Hunter, The Hunter, Wild Beast, none of them really stuck. It was the bane of my superhero existence, What was my name? What would my enemies be too afraid to say when they discussed the dangers of their crimes? Eh, I'll get to it later, This guy trying to break into a black van outside of this bar looks like he could use a beating.
***
William Cayce jiggled the pick trying to get the door handle to open. Nothing. He didn't want to break the glass due to the ten armed men inside the bar who just so happened to own this locked van. William walked around to the other side of the van facing away from the street lights. He would have to do this as quietly as possible and standing in the shadows away from public view would be the best for his health.
"Whatcha doing?"
William's whole body jerked by the sudden low yet booming voice. He turned around and didn't know how to answer the question. In front of him was a man, at least he thought it was a man, dressed head to toe in what he could best describe as Riot Gear from a police officer.
"I'll ask you one more time, What are you doing?"
"I.....Who are you?" William had found his voice.
"That all depends on your answer to my question. If you locked your keys in your car, then I am just a shadow that will fade away. But, If you're trying to break into that van, then I'm the reason that you're going to wake up in police custody later after I knock you the fuck out."
William got the feeling that this lunatic was all bark and no bite. "Listen cape, you have no idea what the situation is here wit this van and if you did know then I imagine that you would be with me helping instead of standing there like an idiot dressed up in plastic."
"I have always wondered why they call us Capes? Not everyone wears a cape. I don't have one on right now, but you still called me a cape. Why?"
William pondered the question and looked at the helmet covering the shadowed man's face. "Seriously who the fuck are you?"
As the words left his mouth the armored man was on the move. He was fast too. With in a mere three seconds he was in front of William jumping and slamming his knee into William's jaw.
***
The guy was built. He must have worked out regularly. I imagine that a thug in The Hub would work out a bunch. No love from other criminals here. The city was vicious to the good guys let alone the bad guys. Criminals ripped off their own all the time. I guess they figured that they probably had money too. What a beautiful hit. I knew that he had to be hurting after the knee, but watching his head bounce off of the side of the van was just icing on the cake. I dropped down and he was ready for me though. I felt his shoulder slam into my gut and lift me off of my feet. I it the ground just as hard as he had hit the van. He had to have training. No one could have taken a jumping knee right in the jaw and come back swinging. Who in the hell was this guy? African American, shaved head, little goatee for some facial hair, this guy was pretty well mannered looking. Not the typical look for a thug trying to steal a van.
***
Thomas slammed onto the cement next to the van and all of the air left his lungs. He gasped for air but couldn't get it back. William took advantage of the stunned Thomas and mounted up on top of him.
Click!
Click!
Thomas could hear and feel his helmet unlock and pull off of his head giving William free reign to use his head as a punching bag. The punches rained down hard and fast. Thomas had been hit nearly four solid times to the face before his counter swing connected with William's face. He toppled off of Thomas but was back up on his feet in seconds as was Thomas.
"You're one of those MMA guys aren't you? It figures. You doing this for another person? Yourself?"
"I'm doing it for them."
William elbowed the Van's passenger side window shattering it. He reached in and unlocked the vehicle. The big side door rolled open revealing three children with their hands tied together and a rope gag in each one of their mouths. Thomas knew that this mistake was one of the worst that he could have made as a Cape.
"I, I didn't know." He pleaded. "I am so sorry. Let me help get them out of there."
"You want to be a Cape then you need to start getting all of the info before you swoop in for the save and the glory."
Thomas felt bad enough but getting lectured from this guy wasn't helping.
"What's the story here?"
"The Hub is controlled by crime. Everyone from here to Jump City knows that. What out-of-towners don't know is that The Hub's crime is mostly controlled by a man named Mario Falcone, and their family's crime syndicate."
Thomas had heard of the Falcone Crime Syndicate but he had never heard of it reaching out farther than Gotham.
"Okay so what's the plan now?"
Thomas looked for an answer but received nothing. He finished untying the small child and looked up to see a look of fear in the eyes of the man he was trying to help.
"I think the plan has changed Mr. hero man."
Thomas turned around to meet the barrel of a gun aimed at his face and a large group of guys waiting to hear this new plan.
***
I put my hands up and turned my whole body to face the obvious owners of the van.
"Keep those hands up and get out of my van. Get on the ground."
It was just instinct. I knew how to disarm people six different ways and even more depending on where I was at and how much room I had to move in. As soon as I planted my feet on he ground it was time to start this party. I moved as fast as possible. My closed fist hit ins arm collapsing it so that the gun was right in front of me. the hit had made his grip weak and he may as well have handed me the pistol because it was mine now.
BLAM!!
The owner of the van dropped wit a small hole between his eyes. I came back to reality with the shriek from one of the children in the van. Shit, The others were ready for a gun fight now. I fell back into the van and slid the door shut as fast as possible.
"GET DOWN!"
I grabbed two of the kids and covered them as the bullets started to fly through the door. I looked up into the chaos and could see that the other guy had the third kid under him safely. Guy didn't seem so bad when I wasn't kneeing him in the face. After what seemed like hours the bullets finally stopped. All I could hear was ringing, but I couldn't feel the movement of the van as it was being shredded anymore either.
***
The group of armed men waited. Nothing could be heard inside the van.
"C'mon man! You know they's dead. Just open the damn thing. We gotta go get rid of deem bodies, and deal with Mario. You know he gonna be pissed we he hears Bill is dead."
One of the men walked forward and opened the sliding door open. Out of the smoke filled van came William charging full force. The first guy was down and on the ground from the tackle. It was identical to the one he had delivered to Thomas not even ten minutes ago. Next came the Cape. The crew didn't know if he was flying or just one hell of a jump bu the guy in front dropped to the ground with Thomas landing on his chest full force. Thomas could feel the crack in the mans chest when he landed. He had easily collapsed his sternum. He didn't care though. He was in the air again flipping. His boot connected with the next guy's collarbone, snapping it under the hit. Both men were screaming in pain on the ground as the rest of the men tried to find a target to blast.
BLAM!
BLAM!
BLAM!
The next three guys dropped where they stood all three now sporting matching bullet holes in their heads.
"I thought you were a Cape! Capes don't kill do they?"
William was almost screaming at Thomas due to the effects of the ringing in his ears from he shooting.
"Who said I was a Cape?"
"YOU DID! YOU LITERALLY SAID YOU WERE A CAPE EARLIER!"
Thomas spun his leg wide tripping the next thug and sending him to the ground head first.
"Oh yeah, I guess I did say that. Well, I'm not your typical Cape."
William smiled and dropped his elbow onto the head of one of the final two guys still standing.
BLAM!
William froze in his tracks watching the last guy fire a bullet straight into the left shoulder of Thomas. Thomas spun from the shot and dropped to the ground clutching his shoulder.
"It actually protected me?"
Thomas sounded surprised by the protectiveness of the Riot gear he was wearing.
William dropped the man who had fired the last shot with a knee to the gut. The man toppled over gasping for air.
The thug looked up in between gasps and felt his pistol press against his forehead. Thomas held the gun looming over him while William glared.
"We have questions."
***
"This was your first time out as a Cape?"
He sounded shocked. It was a pretty eventful first run at the superhero thing but it went about a good as one could hope for.
"Was it that obvious?"
"You had moves that I cant even begin to try and pull off. I would have thought you had done this before."
I wont give him the full details but I figure I can trust the guy for the most part. He had told me his name was William Cayce. Former marine medic. He had come home from active duty and his niece had been killed by gang violence. He decided to do what the cops wouldn't and actually try to take down some of the crime in The Hub. He had heard about child trafficking in The Hub and he found his way to the van and the Falcone guys. Wherever he had gotten his Intel from knew his shit.
"Long story short, I've had training."
"It looked like it."
The police sirens started to come within earshot. William had called them once we had gotten the info we wanted from the last of Mario Falcone's goons.
"I got my truck behind the bar, c'mon!"
I followed him to the truck and started taking off my gear. We drove down a few back alleys before settling into the highway speeds towards the east end of the city.
"So what comes now?"
William concentrated on the road but he was laying the plans out in his head for what was coming next.
"Now we rest. We aren't nearly ready to take on the king of Hub City's criminals. We will do some reconnaissance on his place, get some more info on the guy and how he rolls, and if possible take out a few more of his crew along the way."
He took a deep breath an mulled the plan over. He had to admit that going in now was foolish. They would be killed on the spot with no prep going in. He knew that the three kids were in police custody by now and when they were done with Mario Falcone, Hub City would be in the early phases of being cleaned up.
"Alright. Rest and gather up our resources. We're taking this city back."