Powerhouse: Legend of the Archwave

Chapter 31 (Act IV): Loco Motives

We last read Chapter 30, in which Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave actually has a relatively meaningful conversation with her captor—Special Agent Warren Schaefer of the FBI—regarding the latter's excessive hatred for non-Americans, constant xenophobia, and overreactive measures when it comes to dealing with her and her unauthorized entry into the United States. After some slightly amusing banter on what an "alien" actually is, Archwave then shares her past as an incredibly sheltered heiress to an illegal cannabis cartel—though she makes sure to let Schaefer know that she never got to personally deliver a single brick—and that her family, particularly her father, never really taught her or interacted with her on anything other than touring the cartel's compound and lecturing her on its operations. In turn, Schaefer eventually opens up as well—despite still not allowing Archwave to get up from her seat and the both of them still being on a hijacked train full of hostages—and reveals that after he became a regular FBI agent, he was sent on at least two raids to attack a different drug cartel that dealt with cocaine rather than cannabis. The first was a failure, but the second was a complete massacre because Schaefer was sold out by a foreigner whom he made fast friends with during his trip......and said foreigner happened to be an inside man of the targeted cartel. Archwave sincerely and unironically offers her condolences, but Schaefer delivers a warning shot in her vicinity that harmlessly impacts the cushion of the seat Archwave is on; even when Archwave tries to draw a relationship by stating that they've both gotten the short end of the stick, Schaefer sneers that he's nothing like her.

Their conversation is interrupted when the Paragon James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse shows up, trying to chase the runaway train down in the tricked-out convertible to save Archwave. After a failed attempt to skewer Schaefer's face with the convertible's rear-mounted harpoon, he instead resorts to latching the harpoon onto the back of the last car's roof.....pulling both himself and the entirety of the convertible onto the roof of the train in the process. The convertible perfectly lands on all four of his tires and stays in place, while Powerhouse jumps out of the vehicle, rushes to the fifth train car, and jumps in through the roof door, slamming down on the floor with his prosthetic arm and sending out a shockwave that knocks Schaefer and the nearby loyalists off of their feet and onto their backs, with Archwave remaining steady due to being able to grab onto a pole; after that, the chapter ended with Powerhouse summarily ordering Schaefer to let Archwave go.

This time, Powerhouse subtly tries to distract Schaefer by trading verbal barbs with him about the latter's twisted worldviews, and successfully buys enough time for Schaefer to be met with a rather unpleasant surprise.....

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"Don't hurt him!" Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave cried to her mentor, James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse, as the former kept holding onto her pole. "He already told me everything......betrayal blinded him!"

"How can I be sure whether or not anything he says is true anymore?" Powerhouse challenged. He didn't bother to look at his partner, instead choosing to keep both of his wary eyes on Special Agent Warren Schaefer as the latter groaned in pain while returning to a standing position. "He's done nothing but harass us at every turn up until this point!"

"How predictable......" Schaefer sneered as he returned to his full height. "Powerhouse......the beloved, 'patriotic' Paragon.....I knew you were going to come."

The other Schaefer loyalists nearby immediately took the barrels of their MP5s off of their current hostages and trained them all on Powerhouse.....but Schaefer himself motioned for the group to lower them.

"Back off. All of you," Schaefer instructed his own minions. "I want to make sure Powerhouse pays dearly for everything he's done......and I want to do it personally."