Brass Ring Chapter 8: The First Fight is Always the Hardest

Psyborg blasted away at the vault door of Ilsington Labs. While he had managed to knock out the office manager, the security guard had managed to get the door closed, initiating a time lock on the door. It was not opening up until the next day. He had bet his anger expressed through his arm laser would outlast the door. So far, his anger was winning. He would be through in another minute.

While he was occupied with the door, The Boom Brothers were keeping everyone else busy. Liam was in the black leathers of Twid, and his throwing knives were keeping everyone's heads down; he had already proven his accuracy on a couple of guards. Once they went down, no one else volunteered to help test his aim. Meanwhile, Sean had flown in as The Yelling Yeth and he could be seen in his red and blue fighting togs playing look-out from a second-story window. He smiled as cop cars surrounded the building; he was hoping for a new record of cars that appeared at one of his crime scenes and the current record was twelve. So far six had shown up. The black and whites weren't his concern, however; he was on the lookout for the local SWAT; once they showed things would get interesting.

A truck parked next to the press contingent. Cass and Teddy dismounted from it. A few seconds later, Oliver appeared with Kubwa and Nishimura.

Oliver gave Cass a quick hug. “This looks like fun.”

Cass pulled away. “Heck of a party so far.” She pulled out her armor and began putting it on. “Based on information from Imago, we're dealing with a sonic projector on lookout and a combat specialist inside.” She zipped up. “The police scanner mentions at least one more.”

Oliver nodded. “Well, every party has a host.” Oliver sighed. “Anyone have a problem playing this safe? I need information on these people, not casualties.” He looked questioningly at the group.

Teddy shifted weight from one foot to the other while Nishimura shrugged. Kubwa nodded. Cass smiled at Oliver; “Safety is not a bad thing.”

A member of the Overton Police Department walked up to the group. “Sorry, people, but we need you to clear out of the area.” Oliver flashed his ID card. The cop looked skyward. “Fine. Follow me.” The officer led the group to Commissioner Sandoval. “The CAPES Contingent, Commissioner.”

A muscular Latino man in a loose trench coat turned towards the group. “I was beginning to get curious about what Imago would cobble together.” He inspected each member of the group. “Okay, so how can we help you?”

Oliver gulped, and then Cass elbowed him. “We're just here to figure out what we're up against, so hopefully this won't get out of hand.”

Commissioner Sandoval stroked his chin, then smirked. “A group of heroes that don't charge in. I could get used to that.” He looked at the building. “We're here if you need us.” Oliver nodded.

The SWAT van showed up and parked. The officers began streaming out. The Yowling Yeth smiled. “Time to get busy.” He whistled and pure sonic force hit the SWAT van. The van rolled onto its back. He brought up the mic on his wrist: “Hey, Twid; we have guests.” Within moments, Twid bounced out of the building, knives flying toward the few SWAT members who had made it out of the van. They fell.

Commissioner Sandoval looked to Oliver. Oliver nodded. “Looks like we're tagging in.” Teddy nodded and hit his watch; his body was instantly covered by orange fur. He was also thicker and a good three feet taller. “Kubwa, take out the flier, try to match his amplitude. Cass, you and Teddy deal with the knife thrower. Nishi, you're with me.”

Kubwa closed her eyes and hummed. The rocks around her shook, and then the hum grew louder; she then flew towards the Yowling Yeth. Cass put on her helmet and it locked into place; she gave Teddy a thumbs up and the pair leaped into action. A bright blue spot formed near Nishimura and flew around her; she was soon covered in the neon o-yoroi of a samurai and two katana grew in her hands. She nodded at Oliver; he returned the nod and they ran into the building.

Kubwa's eyes glowed a light blue as she raced through the air to her target. The Yowling Yeth flew over to her. “Hello, darling! I bet we could make beautiful music together!”

She smiled as she listened to his scream. Her years of training as a singer enabled her to quickly suss out the amplitude of the sonic wave he was riding and matched the phase. Then she reversed it. The two of them fell to earth, but she switched the phase back just as she hit the ground so she was able to rise. The other screamer wasn't so lucky.

The Yeth glared at her as he wiped his mouth. “Neat trick, girl. That's your last one.”

Twid saw the orange behemoth that was Teddy about to slam his elbow into him. He rolled on the ground just as Cass came into view. He fell back. “We were told there were no defenders!” He smiled. “This just got interesting.”

In the building, Oliver and Nishimura approached the scene as stealthily as they could. A cyborg was carrying a couple of cases out of the building. Oliver pointed him out to Nishimura; she nodded and changed her approach to intercept. Oliver caught a glimpse of the cyborg's face as he exited the building. “No way! You're supposed to be dead!”

The Yeth leaped and grabbed Kubwa, pulling her to the ground. She panicked and screamed. Her scream punched the ground near her. The Yeth hit his brother with a sonic wave that partially neutralized the scream; Cass and Teddy were not so lucky. They were knocked to the ground. Teddy grabbed his ears; his sensitive ears weren't ready for the sonic assault.

The Yeth smiled at the damage she had wrought. “Saves time for us, darling!” He then punched her out and then flew over to his brother, picking him up, and then ending up at their own vehicle. Twid hit the fob and the 4x4 truck was ready to go.

Psyborg picked up his pace but had to go through Nishimura. His chest plate opened and two missiles launched towards her. Her blades sliced through them but Psyborg was able to use the distraction to run past her. Oliver focused but to no effect; his telekinesis just had nothing to grab onto. Puzzled, he quickly recovered. He grabbed some desks to throw at him but Psyborg had just ducked out of the building.

The squealing of a truck's tires announced the departure of the villains from the scene. The desks fell. Oliver punched a wall.

Cass and Teddy threw debris into a pile while Oliver did a head count then lifted any seriously injured victims into the arriving ambulances. Nishimura helped bandage those with cuts and bruises. Once the remaining SWAT team had either stumbled out of the upside-down van or had been carried out, Teddy and Cass helped put it back on its wheels; it had sustained some damage, but the damage was mostly cosmetic.

Oliver talked to the lab supervisor to find out what had been stolen; it was an experimental power generator. He then talked to Commissioner Sandoval. “Sorry, we messed that up. We hope to get better.”

Commissioner Sandoval shrugged. “You did what you could to protect my men and stayed to clean up. Yeah, you can get better, but this is a good beginning.” He held his hand out to Oliver; Oliver grasped it and shook it.

The would-be heroes were soon on their way back to CAPES HQ. Oliver could not concentrate on the drive as he wondered how his brother had returned from the grave. He hit his headset: “Imago, I need a number tracked down. It's not going to be easy....”

[The last chapter is here. The next chapter is here.]