That Hero Feeling

I push the lid up and off with my feet and hop out.

"I'm ready," I say, my confidence returning slightly.

"Like hell you are," Ray says, walking to a table in the back of room.

"What do you mean?" I ask confusedly. "Was there something else you need to teach me?"

"Probably, but this isn't about that." Rachel lifts up a shiny metal briefcase. She unfastens the lid and flips it open.

"What's that?" I ask inching closer.

"Drum roll please…" she says, a weird sparkle in her eye.

She looks at me expectantly, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing here, so I do nothing.

"Alright then…" she says, her attitude unchanging. She dramatically takes something out of the briefcase. Clothing? The clothing flutters to a halt and hangs in Rachel's hands. "Ta-daaa! Your hero-suit!"

It is a one-piece jumpsuit which (hopefully) stretches, because it looks super snug. The suit is completely black, accented with sharp blue lines with two bold stripes down the sides, similar to those of a circuit board. The suit has built-in pads on the elbows, knees and shoulders, with gloves built into the sleeves. In short, it looked like scientific pajamas.

"It kind of looks like pjs, Ray," I say observantly.

Rachel holds the suit in front of her face, as if checking to see if I had lied to her.

"I guess so. But it'll be comfortable all the same!" She tosses me the outfit. I catch it, and it's slightly heavier than it seems.

Rachel must have noticed my reaction. "There is also temperature regulation and vital monitoring sensors in there. Then things like light shock-absorption, bracing around your joints…"

I look back at the blue and black pjs with new eyes. "Okay, that's pretty nice."

"I know," Rachel says, but I can tell the compliment meant a lot to her. She then clears her throat. "Okay, okay. Hurry up and put on the suit. Time's wasting!"

I nod and hurry over to the room next door. The emergency alert has every officer in the field right now, giving me plenty of privacy to put the suit on.

The suit did in fact stretch, but not only that. It slid over my body far smoother than I could have ever hoped. Rachel was right too; the suit was shockingly comfortable. No chafing or rubbing on any of my joints! It was almost like wearing water. I return back to the lab, my street clothes in hand.

Rachel sees me and hops up off the table she had been sitting on. She squeals and skitters over to where I'm standing.

"Oh my gosh, Evan!" she gushes, excitedly. "You look so good! Does it fit okay? Nothing is poking you? Anything shocking you? Any burning?"

"No, I'm fine," I say laughing. Then I replay what she just said in my head. "Wait… shocking? Burning??"

"I'm glad it feels okay!" she says, skipping to the back of the room.

"Are you just gonna ignore my ques-"

"Now to complete the outfit!" Ray says, picking up what looks like a matching pilot's helmet and a pair of matching army boots; only this helmet has a tinted visor and a covered mouth.

"You can't let people finding out who you are," she says, handing me the helmet and placing the boots down. "Especially since there's a chance, we'll encounter the drug cartel. Plus, if my superiors find out I let you out, we'll both become criminals."

"You said that last part awfully casually," I say, looking over the helmet.

Ray shrugs. "I took care of it. As long as they don't see you out, we'll be fine."

"Whatever you say." I put the helmet on. There is a small click as the helmet fastens to the neck of my suit. Suddenly a blue display appears in front of my eyes.

"Whooaa…" I whisper.

"Neat, huh?" Rachel grins. "I used the same tech that I used in my Holo-screen, in the visor. Now you can see your own heart rate and vitals, so you should be able to see if your power is wearing off. I'll be able to speak to you through the speakers, and there are other little tricks in the helmet, as well."

"I see," I said, even though I was actually listening. The technology in the helmet was unbelievable. Ray's technology overall was incredible. Why couldn't we have scientists like her working for the government?

"Okay, Evan." Rachel's voice comes through the helmet, snapping me out of my daydream. She is across the room, in the holo-display.

"The outbreak is over on the northwest side," she continues.

"That's the Wealth district, right?" I ask, stepping into the boots.

"Yep. The third largest drug mafia has turf there. So be careful. Don't engage anybody you suspect to be a part of the group. You don't need to end up on their list. Just like last time, in and out. And don't get your ass handed to you this time."

I scoff. "Whatever. In and out. No sweat."

"Alright. Go get 'em."

I power up and take off.

The Wealth District is one of the most referenced spots in Fulton City. As Ray said earlier, the third largest Azure-dealer group in the group has turf there, meaning that visiting that area means that you could get high or die. Both options are far too easy there. Now you're probably wondering, if everyone knows that the mafia lives there, why doesn't the government go flush them out? The first answer is there are too many suspects. The wealth district has up to 5 possible ring-leaders for the mafia there. There is not enough proof towards any of them to try and take them down.

There are 2 other huge drug cartels that we know of. One is in the slums of Fulton and the other has people scattered throughout the city. Believe it or not, the group we believe to be the largest in Fulton is also the hardest to locate. Almost nothing is known about it. The fact that there even is a third gang is a mere rumor.

There is a little more traffic at this time, which means I'm going to have a few more eyes on me this mission. I'm glad Ray finished the suit when she did. I'm making my way to the Wealth District, dodging pedestrians and avoiding vehicles in the street. At my current speed I should be 45 seconds away. There is a little beep in my headset and Rachel's voice starts coming through.

"Foster, do you copy?" she asks.

"Loud and clear," I say, narrowly avoiding a semi. "Rush hour is not a good time for a run."

"Well tell that to the mutants who all decided to spawn in," Ray replies. "I'm on a drone feed and the authorities are already down there. They got the general public out of the way I think, but they're having trouble containing the outbreak. You have to get there before one slips away."

"Right," I say.

I come up on still traffic. The visor notifies me that the road up ahead is blocked off. Looks like the police set up a perimeter. I change my stride and prepare to jump the traffic. Right at the bumper of the cruiser in front of me I jump up as hard as I can, flying up and over the stopped vehicles. I get a good view from my aerial vantage point.

There are way more mutants this time around. My visor counts out about thirteen of them. The officers were able to surround the creatures, putting all thirteen in a tight ring of cruisers and riot-shields.

Then my descent begins. I start falling. At my current trajectory I should land just outside the ring. Perfect. Then an officer spots me. About half of the officers turn to look at me, flying towards them. One officer yell something and they open fire. Shit.

Azure charges fly by me. I contort in the air to avoid being hit, making my landing not as pretty as I could have hoped. I quickly stand up, facing the large number of guns pointed at me. I don't even want to know how many there are. My visor then chose to tell me there were about 31 guns pointed at me. That's way more guns than I'm comfortable with.

I raise my hands, palms out to show I don't mean harm.

"Who are you?" an officer yells. I'm able to tell that it belongs to Commander Valice. She can't know it's me.

I clear my throat and put on my best superhero voice. "I am here to help stop the mutants."

"This is a restricted area," commander continues. "You are not allowed back here."

"You won't be able to stop them without me," I press. "Your weapons have no effect on them."

"How do you know that?" Valice yells back.

My throat feels dry. Oops, now what do I say…

There is a fearful cry from the left side of the mutant border. A few moments later a police cruiser comes flying my way, as if flung by a large creature. I take a few steps back and lock in on the vehicle. It feels like time slows down for me. I calculate which direction would result in me NOT getting crushed.

If I try to slide under, I'm getting crushed for sure. I could dodge to the side, but if I do there's still a chance I could get hit. I guess I have to try and jump it, but if my timing is off, even a little bit, that's game over for me. I place my right foot behind me and watch the car barrel towards me.

Three…

The car is about 8 yards away.

Two…

5 yards away…

One…

3 yards away.

JUMP NOW, my brain screams at my legs.

I leap up, but I miscalculated a little bit. The car is about to collide with my legs. In a last-ditch attempt to avoid the cruiser, a rotate my body to avoid impact. I feel my back graze the car but not collide. The car crashes behind me and I land on all fours, barely sticking the landing. I want to throw up then and there, but not in my new helmet. I steady my breaths and slowly stand up.

All heads turn to gawk at me then turn back to the mutants, but they never should have taken their eyes off of the creatures. One by one the mutants leap over the barrier, soaring over my head and making a break toward the stopped traffic.

"Dammit!" I yell.

There is a beep in my helmet as Rachel comes through my headset.

"This doesn't look good, Foster," she says.

"No shit," growl, thinking about my next move.

"We need to incapacitate the mutants with minimal casualties. Each cruiser should have Mammoth Cord in the trunk. It's a rope strong enough to suspend a freight train without wearing down for months. Use that to stop the mutants however you can. I'm on the way over as we speak."

"Got it," I say. I turn to face the cruisers behind me.

I use my power to search the closest trunk as fast I can. There is a coiled pile of silver and blue rope in the trunk. It's pretty heavy, but now isn't the time to get weighed down. I drop the roll and grab one end.

I lock in on the mutant closest to the blocked intersect. Go time. I take off and come up behind the mutant in a matter of moments. This one is a whole head taller than me, but I'm way faster. I race rapid circles around the mutant, cocooning it in the Mammoth Cord. The mutant flops forward, effectively immobilized.

There is still twelve other mutants stampeding my way. No time to rest, but I need to slow at least one down. I race to meet the next closest mutant, it swings out to grab me, but I duck the attack and grab it's ankle, tripping the beast. I have an extra second, so I race over to the next cruiser and get another roll of Mammoth Cord. As the mutant tries to stand up, I wrap it up. It flops back down, defeated.

Okay… two down. I start to feel a little tired, but I push those feelings aside. I goes myself another boost and take down 5 more mutants. At this point, the remaining mutants took the hint and stopped advancing. They turn back to me and the police squad.

Better situation for sure, but I'm starting to tire out.

"Keep pushing…" I tell myself. You can't be stopped now. Ray trained you for this. Take. Them. Down.

I give my body one last surge of power. I feel a sharp sensation in my chest though. I wince and shake it off. Focus.

I put my guard off and get in my stance like Rachel taught me. These monsters don't seem as aggressive as others had in the past, so I strike first. I close the distance between the first mutant, my guard still up. This one is the same height as me. It raises a hand to swipe at me, but I land a fast, heavy punch to its gut. I follow up the blow with a heavy hook to it's temple, knocking it out. It slumps to the ground. The other mutants back away, but I rush in. Taking them all out with rapid blows, one low, then one high to finish the fight.

All the mutants are now incapacitated, either tied up or unconscious. The fatigue is setting in now, I drop to my knees. The there is a crackling sound from in front of me. What is it now?

I slowly look up to face the noise. It's not crackling, it's applause! The bystanders were coming out of their cars, cheering and giving me a standing ovation. I slowly stand up, my chest racked with pain.

I look at all the people I had saved. I turn around, even a few officers were cheering for me. I smile and gives weak waves to everyone. I hear whirring in the distance. I try to see the cause of the sound. A hover bike. It's Ray.

She weaves through the traffic, sliding to a halt in front of me. She takes off her helmet, shaking out her curly red hair. I feel something else in my chest this time, it didn't hurt this time though.

"Well done… uhh… sir," she says.

"Uh… thanks… officer," I say in my hero-voice. I shake her hand.

I hear boot footsteps behind me. Rachel gets a panicked look on her face.

"Take off," she whispers.

"What?" I reply.

"Get out of here!" she says more forcefully.

Oh! I power up and take off, glancing behind me. It was Commander Valice that had been approaching me. I'm glad I left when I had. If we'd talked, no telling what would have happened. But I left feeling pretty good. My first successful mission. I guess I'm starting to get used to the hero work.