City of Heroes: The element of surprise….

This is a short story I’ve come up with to flex some of my creative writing skills. I have a plan to write some fan fiction some day, and I want to try and get some of the kinks out before I tackle something of that magnitude. Plus, some of this stuff is just plain fun. So here is a short piece based on some characters that the Bohemian and I play in City of Heroes. FYI: I play TechSabre, the Bohemian plays Kicking Snake.

“Four on the right, five on the left, and I see the boss in the back right of the room.”

Kicking Snake whispered into his headset, sneaking quick glances around the corner.

“If I pop out with my stealth-field active, I figure I can take out two or three before everything goes to hell.”

The comm was silent as he checked his bow and sorted his arrows so that his heaviest hitters came up first. Timing was crucial in every battle when you weren’t packing any armor. Every second you waste is just one more second the enemy has to take you out.

“Dude, are you even listening to me?”

“What? Yeah, I’m here,” came the reply. “I’m just finishing off the last group of these jokers now. Gimme a sec.”

“What did I say?”

The comm crackled and came back, “You said four on the right, five on the left, boss in the back. On the move….”

The bright metallic ring of swords being redrawn burst over the comlink.

Kicking Snake sighed and readied his bow. “Great, here we go again,” he thought.

Suddenly, a blur of steel and light flashed by him and entered the room. Where there once was tense silence and low conversation, angry shouts and gunfire erupted in it’s place. Kicking Snake counted three, and burst out firing his bow as rapidly as he could. His companion was a flash of swords, seemingly in every corner of the room at the same time. Seconds passed as foe after foe dropped to their knees and collapsed, arrows protruding from their bodies. One by one, they each disappeared as they were instantly teleported away to the hospital’s criminal recovery wing.

His breath came hard as he fired his final arrow, dropping the villain’s boss to the ground with a heavy thud. Kicking Snake tasted the metallic tang of blood in his mouth and he stopped to evaluate his condition. Blood seeped through several wounds, but nothing appeared serious. Looking across the room, he saw his companion take a knee, blood streaming down his side and pooling on the floor beside him. Miraculously before his eyes, his friend’s wounds began to close as his armor quickly repaired the damage. Within moments, his friend was back on his feet with a spring in his step.

“I tell ya, these nano-machines were worth every penny. Remind me to thank the doc when I see him next,” TechSabre grinned.

Kicking Snake groaned and stood, taking a few moments to pop some of the recovery tabs in his pouch. After he finished, he glared back at his friend.

“You’re a moron, TechSabre,” he cursed, “what would you have done if I wasn’t ready to go? Twice I thought for sure you were going down, and I worked my butt off trying to peel those guys off you! Never, NEVER, go before I’m ready! Geez, think about it!”

“Dude, the element of surprise gets ‘em everytime. If YOU’RE not ready, how can they POSSIBLY be ready?”, TechSabre grinned and adjusted his comlink. “C’mon, I think I hear a robbery in progress over in Talos Island. The police sound outmatched. You up for another round?”

“Only if you promise to actually listen and work with me this time,” Kicking Snake replied. Checking his wounds, he saw that he was almost healed, so he took a moment to count his arrows. “I’m not kidding, man, you have to listen or we’re gonna get pasted one of these days.”

“Yeah, yeah, you say that everytime,” smiled TechSabre, and activated his teleporter. “You need a lift?”

“Would you at LEAST let me try and drop a few before you rush in this time?”, Kicking Snake sighed. “You know, fewer bad guys, fewer bullet holes? You remember how that works?”

“Where is the fun in that?”, TechSabre called back, and stepped through into the shining portal.

Kicking Snake sighed, stretched and checked his arrows once more. “Here we go again,” he muttered and stepped through.

~ by Carl on March 21, 2009.