Others, like Defiant, found their lifelong nemesis (in his case, Maggot) and resumed their quarrels. A few heroes, like FTL and Technometer, used their ranged powers to scare the throng of villains away.
For their part, few villains stood and fought. Psychlok grew to huge proportions, transforming into a thirty-foot-tall man-lizard with mottled blue skin and a red slashing pattern on his back. His skin was near invulnerable, but alone the heroes were slowly overwhelming him. Satanica was another who didn’t fear any of us. She swung her Deathlash about, throwing curses and using her lifeater aura to rip the soul from anyone who got too close. A couple of heroes had dared, and their lifeless bodies lay at her feet, nothing more than denuded bone and dust.
This bunch of heroes was only concerned with me. They had caught Blackjack, and they weren’t letting me get away.
“I’m who you have to thank for being free,” I said, standing more upright than I felt, after the pounding I had received.
“We can take him between all of us,” Siverstone said, getting ready to attack.
“No, you can’t,” I smiled.
“Easy, buddy,” Coach said, making sure a few of her toughest puppets were between us. “Look around you. It’s over. Your boss is dead, and the rest of your buddies are captured ... or dead. Just turn yourself in and we’ll figure this out.”
A huge boulder flew overhead, making us all duck. Psychlok was giving them a hell of a fight, using churned-up pieces of concrete as missiles against FTL and other fliers.
“I’m here with Superdynamic,” I said, hoping he’d be listening, hoping he’d have my back, but the son of a bitch let me go down in flames. This way, I wouldn’t interfere with his plan for the White House. This way I was neutralized and he could be a hero, without me to worry about.
I thought of my boots, and didn’t figure anyone here who could catch me. FTL and Technometer were fast fliers, but their attention was on the huge monster, Psychlok. I could be halfway to New York City by the time they realized I was gone. The problem was Coach – she would mind-control me the instant my boots came alive.
I could attack her first, drop her before she got a hold of me, but there were others to contend with. Doppler could hold and keep me still if he got me early enough. Nitronic was a flier, but I had never seen him go that fast. I could probably outrun him, but I couldn’t out-distance his powerblasts and I couldn’t risk a lucky shot destroying my boots.
Still, there was an easy way out. I could get away, fly back to Superdynamic and rub it in his face. Thanks for the help, asshole. But something kept me from running. Maybe it was the thought of always running. I was probably just an obstinate bastard who didn’t know better, because, facing off against an overpowering group of heroes, I just laughed, inviting the fight.
“You people are so goddamned stupid,” I spat, my voice growing louder and louder. “I just saved you. I killed that piece of shit, the one that’s behind all of this, and now you want to fight me? Huh? Because of something that happened a year ago?”
Coach raised her hand, stilling me. Perhaps because of her age, because she was known as a serious hero, I quieted.
“Blackjack,” she began. “I don’t know much about you, but I do know that you escaped captivity along with everyone else here. I also know that you were put away for some serious stuff.”
“Then why help you? If I’m one of Zundergrub’s boys, then why kill him? Besides, there’s no time for this. Superdynamic and his team are headed toward the White House; they’re trying to free the President. They need your help, dammit!”
“Maybe you turned on him,” Nitronic said, slightly adjusting his ready pose. “Look, it’s easy. Surrender or we pummel you.”
I laughed again, “Take more than you guys to bring me down.”
“We’d take you easy,” Doppler said.
“Then why are you waiting?”
Coach shook her head. “Enough of this crap,” she said. A silver lash whipped the distance between us with such speed that I was barely able to flinch.
Memories flashed by my consciousness, like she was flipping through the card catalog of my life, one instance at a time. She was there at every important moment. When Atmosphero showed in the middle of the armed robbery I tried to stop, my first