In the Public Eye: Part 45

Only as I passed over the house did I realize that we didn’t have much of a plan. I was going to attack Future Knight and they were going to do what to the water elemental guy?

Too late to stop now.

In the streetlights’ illumination, I could see Travis, Jaclyn, and Cassie standing in the street. All of them were up to their knees in white stuff that reminded me of shaving cream or possibly meringue.

Future Knight stood on the sidewalk, talking with Water.

Not good.

I didn’t want to end up within arm’s reach of both of them.

I dove toward Future Knight, taking the most direct route that allowed me to avoid power lines and low hanging branches, bobbing and weaving in the air to make it just a little harder if he tried to shoot me.

I hit him going more than two hundred miles per hour, grabbing him with both arms and dragging him down the sidewalk, sparks flying. Then I cut the power and we both hit the concrete, him first, tumbling over each other I don’t know how many times, and finally ending up lying on our backs about ten feet apart.

We made it to our feet at almost the same time. He began to draw his oddly wide barreled pistol.

I jumped for him, catching him before the gun’s barrel had left the holster.

I aimed my jump for just behind where he stood, making him stumble backward when I landed. Grabbing his right arm with both hands, I moved my right hand toward the gun and we struggled for control, somehow firing into the air.

A long line of a white substance shot out — kind of like of Silly String only thicker and not green. I didn’t see where it landed.

He punched me in the side twice. It didn’t hurt much.

I managed to get a get a grip on the gun, and pulled. I had it. Then I threw it away as hard as I could, paying no attention to where it went until I heard a crashing noise.

I’d broken the picture window of a house a few doors down from my grandfather’s.

Great.

During my moment of distraction, he punched me again.

Deciding I wanted to end it quickly, I punched for his face. The faceplate had been a weak point last time.

I didn’t see exactly how he did it, but he grabbed my arm before it reached him, twisted it, and sent me tumbling toward the ground.

I looked up to find him pulling his sword out of its sheath. The edge of the blade glowed white. I raised my arm and did what I should have done before. I aimed for the face and blasted him with the sonics.

Unfortunately, I didn’t hit the faceplate. The sword shivered during the blast, but didn’t break. Still, he stopped to check it which was enough time for me to send the rockets some fuel and slide halfway across the street.

I stood up and then flew upwards even as he ran towards me, sword still in hand. On the off chance that it could actually pierce my armor, I decided that I would keep some distance — but not so much distance that he would try the rifle on me.

I landed next to a flowerbed on a lawn about ten feet behind him even as he turned around.

This time I activated the sonics on both arms, hoping that at least one of them would hit the faceplate.

They rewarded me with the familiar spiderweb of cracks and completely opaque white spots I’d created the last time. I only needed to punch through and knock him out. Unfortunately, he still held the sword as if he believed it could actually hurt me.

I decided not to chance the possibility that he knew his stuff. Grabbing a rock from the flowerbed, I threw it at him.

I missed. It flew past him, crashing through the garage door of the same house where I’d broken the window with the pistol.

“Still afraid of me?” He asked. “The first Rocket would have taken me out by now. Don’t you feel like there’s something wrong?”

He started walking toward me, but not, I noted, with the same confidence he’d had earlier.

My second rock knocked him over.

As he fell, I jumped forward, my eyes on the sword and the arm that held it. I dove onto him, grabbing his arm and pushing it to the street. It felt like trying to pull the pistol out of his hand before, but with one difference. This time I knew my suit was stronger than his.

Pulling his fingers apart, I grabbed the sword, the white glow disappearing as I handled it, and tossed it a short distance. It landed point first, falling to the road.

“Are you going to kill me now? Don’t do it. You’ll kill an innocent man. You don’t know the whole story. You’ve been brainwashed by the –“

I punched through the faceplate, knocking him unconscious. How many other memories had the mayor modified? How many other people would I have to hurt?

13 thoughts on “In the Public Eye: Part 45”

  1. Charles: Why wait till morning? They can be upset now — or at least as soon as they get over feeling scared.

    Hg: And as you might guess, Future Knight’s not exactly the last one we’ll see in this arc…

  2. Whoa. A little too twisty (at this point in the story at any rate), but if I’d thought to have him say it (even untrue) it would have been amusing.

    Incidentally (for those who don’t remember), the Mystic is what Daniel calls himself when in costume.

  3. I’m thinking it’s Dan’s dad, rather than Dan himself. What strikes me is the amount of power the psychics wield in the Heroes League. Knock the psychic out, and the whole team fails in a fight.

  4. To be honest (and maybe I didn’t do it quite right), I mostly had Future Knight say what he did to remind people that he and the other heroes on the mayor’s side had all been messed with in the head by the mayor.

    That and because Future Knight is the kind of guy who would go to his death trying to prevent someone from doing something that would haunt them forever.

    As for the place telepaths have… Yeah. Take out the communications infrastructure of a group and they’re really in bad shape.

  5. I disagree with all the telepath fans out there; maybe it’s favorite character bias but I think Nick has proven himself the true ‘brains’ of this operation.

    Because he’s been working on all the League’s equipment and he’s actually studied the MO of the original league he’s total bad-ass in a fight.

    I love Danny to death, but really all he can do is think really hard. Nick has already dropped how many bad guys like third period French. And some twice.

  6. Wouldn’t it be weird if the League really HAD been brainwashed and Future Knight was trying to warn them? Like the whole story was told from Nick’s perspective inside the brainwarp?

    That would be a twist…

  7. I can’t say I’d never do anything that twisted, but I can say I’d never introduce it this late in the process. I’d hint at it for a while first.

  8. I don’t know, that’s a swerve no one would see coming.

    I’m thinking about it now (probably too much) — it would make an awesome climax to a story. Something the protagonist finds out way way too late.

  9. It could be. I’ve tried climaxes like that before and pretty much failed at it. That was a long time ago now, so it may be that it’s more doable (if not for me, for others) than I’d think.

  10. It would actually still be possible with this story — the way Daniel set up Nick’s brain to shut down when he faced the mayor? That means he can get in and out of your head without you knowing.

    In theory (in a different story, since this one isn’t headed that way) the alternate dimension Daniel could have manipulated Nick and the rest of the team into villainy that they think is heroism, pissing off the Tomahawk and others, provoking a response.

    The best part of the twist would be the reverse explanation. “The Mayor is a telepath telling them they’re heroic, but really they’re doing evil deeds.” Ironic because he’d be honest about what was happening, but not about the source.

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