Mod Superhero

Chapter 4.4 - Maximillian 4 / Serenity 1

Out of the corner of his eye, McGuire saw Mod, Arsenal, and the giant black crow fly off toward the icy building and the fish-mage.

Serenity had called for two more supers to swap from other towers to replace Mod and Arsenal, but that didn't make McGuire feel any better. They weren't members of his team. Besides, Mod and Arsenal were monsters. Unless these replacements were absolute ringers, their roof was handicapped.

McGuire grit his teeth as he fired his slingshot. A bolstered marble slammed into the face of one of the monsters. The fish-soldier whimpered and slipped through the ice—presumably back into the waves below.

He'd lost count of how many marbles he'd shot, but his arm and shoulder were already burning with effort.

The marbles were similar to the sledgehammer rounds that Mod used in his pistol. They were imbued so that they were four times as light when in his backpack, and four times as heavy when out of it. He'd never wanted to carry a gun, so these were a nonlethal compromise.

The marbles were one of the first things McGuire created when he became a super. And the first time McGuire used them, he'd broken his sparring partner's arm.

He hadn't used them since.

Now he had hundreds of them in his backpack. Or had... Again, McGuire had no idea how many he'd fired already.

Sweat beaded on McGuire's forehead as he weaved between his teammates. Despite the crazy scene and despite being down their two strongest teammates, he couldn't help but smile. He wasn't having fun, per se. If they survived, maybe one day they'd look back on this fight and laugh, like one of those you-had-to-be-there jokes.

Maybe it was the ridiculousness of it that he was smiling at. Either way, McGuire felt like a lunatic. No one else was smiling—not even Krystal.

Deep Ones climbed over the barricade of ice spikes and were thankfully cut down just as quickly. These dudes gave McGuire the creeps; the only reason he didn't shiver each time their cold, white eyes glared at him was because McGuire was already sweating through his clothes.

The few Deep Ones that made it over the spikes were batted or blasted away. Larian's tree, despite its bulk, moved startlingly fast when it wanted to. The blue mage was another solid defender. She blasted enemies back with waves of force that reminded him vaguely of Athena—

Goddamnit, they could've used Athena right now. She probably could've taken half of these guys by herself. The next time McGuire saw Athena, he'd give her a piece of his mind... Which would really entail begging her to work with them again.

McGuire turned to see two fish-men climbing over the ice barricade. He loaded a rocket-powered bolas onto his slingshot and fired. The trap wrapped around both soldiers, pinning one's head to the other's chest.

McGuire slipped his brass knuckles over his fingers, then leapt forward. His boots hurtled him through the air and McGuire hit the tied-up soldiers with a flying punch. They tumbled back and over the edge, and McGuire ducked back into the ranks.

He spared a glance at the ice-covered building, wishing that Mod and Arsenal would hurry the hell up.

~ ~

Serenity hovered over the battlefield, both maintaining the soft psychic link between teams and probing the hive-mind of her enemies.

For now, Summit forces were holding their ground, but they couldn't keep this up forever. Some of the capes were better suited to prolonged fights than others, and she could already feel that some of them were getting tired.