The Hero's Fall

A New Group in Town

"Does everyone have their gear?" Pirate asked as he finished tightening an arm piece. 

Twenty resounding conformations happened as the group was getting ready for a night out. 

"And no one is forgetting anything?" 

Another round of conformations.

"Alright then. Everyone knows your routes, so stick to them and radio in every ten minutes. We don't need anyone getting lost or abducted while we are out for the first time."

We followed Pirate out to the streets and climbed to the roof of the nearest building. He gave everyone a small GPS and an ear piece. 

"The GPS is so you don't go off your route. It has everyone's positions highlighted in their corresponding color. The ear piece is to keep in touch with each other and with The Hacker. She'll be monitoring from the base as well as keeping an eye out for trouble. Stay safe and in the shadows. Help wherever it is needed but don't stick around."

We split up to our designated rooftops and started our run. We were close enough to each other that we could still see the people on either side of us. But far enough away that we wouldn't cross paths. If we wanted to talk we would just do so over the communicators. And of course Venom and Zeus were using that to their full advantage and kept the rest of us entertained throughout the night.

"Ok, Zeus. Imagine you live in a zombie apocalypse. And you're being chased by zombies. But these zombies are faster than normal and they're gaining on you-"

"Zoombies"

The interruption from Zeus caused the rest of us to laugh to ourselves at the absurdity of the statement. 

"Did you really just name fast zombies, Zoombies?"

"Yes cause they are zombies and they zoom at you." 

"What kind of crazy things go through your head bro?"

"You don't wanna know."

That was the end of that particular conversation and we once more focused on maintaining our speed and momentum. It had been an hour since we started and there had already been a few instances that needed interference. Loki had stopped a mugger and left him tied up for the police to find. Pirate saved two young women from getting attacked as they took a shortcut through a shady street. And White Noise had stopped a drug deal in less than five seconds. 

All of the people we stopped were tied up and left by a street lamp for the cops to collect. They were left with a note explaining what they had done or tried to do. We even left a small 'calling card' of sorts. A small stamp on their forehead that pictured two A's overlapping. (See picture at the top of chapter)

We were nearing the end of our night out and were just about to turn around and make our way back. Venom and Zeus were talking to Kai and Tripwire about something or other that was causing everyone to laugh at them. 

I listened to the conversation with one ear as I noticed movement a few feet ahead of me in an alley. I slowed my run to a walk and crept closer to the edge to check it out. There was a faint light, probably from a phone light, as well as a male voice talking in a hushed tone. I muted the conversation on the ear piece to better hear what the man was saying. Usually I wouldn't be eavesdropping but the situation brought up some warning bells in my head. And I was glad I decided to listen to those bells.

"Yea, we've got a new shipment ready for pickup.....we managed to get five this month.....no older than ten years, I made sure....got it, we'll have them at the abandoned theater on the edge of town for pickup in a week....of course I was careful, no one will know what we're doing.....ok fine, we'll see you in a week boss."