The Good Fight Read online

  The Good Fight

  An Anthology of Superpowered Fiction

  Presented by the Pen & Cape Society

  All stories Copyright their respective authors.

  Published by Local Hero Press, LLC

  Local Hero Press Edition

  Local Hero Press Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

  Cover art by Jeff Hebert, inspired by Wonder Woman #21 (DC Comics) by Cliff Chiang

  Ebook design by Ian Thomas Healy

  “Bedtime Story” Copyright 2014 by Scott Bachmann

  “Two Hearts” Copyright 2014 by Frank Byrns

  “Omega Night” Copyright 2013 by Marion G. Harmon

  “Zephyr Phase Zero” Copyright 2014 by Warren Hately

  “Out of Mind” Copyright 2014 by Drew Hayes

  “Archenemy” Copyright 2014 by Ian Thomas Healy

  “Hunting Rabbits” Copyright 2005 by Hydrargentium

  “The Fire of the Fly” Copyright 2014 by Michael Ivan Lowell

  “Firedrake: A Frosty Reception” Copyright 2014 by T. Mike McCurley

  “Who is . . . the Whitecoat?” Copyright 2008 by Landon Porter, reprinted with permission from descendantsserial.com

  “Rocco” Copyright 2014 by R.J. Ross

  “First Date” Copyright 2014 by Cheyanne Young

  “Thawed” Copyright 2014 by Jim Zoetewey

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Bedtime Story – Scott Bachmann

  Two Hearts – Frank Byrns

  Omega Night – Marion G. Harmon

  Zephyr Phase Zero – Warren Hately

  Out of Mind – Drew Hayes

  Archenemy – Ian Thomas Healy

  Hunting Rabbits - Hydrargentium

  The Fire of the Fly – Michael Ivan Lowell

  Firedrake: A Frosty Reception – T. Mike McCurley

  Who is . . . the Whitecoat? – Landon Porter

  Rocco – R.J. Ross

  First Date – Cheyenne Young

  Thawed – Jim Zoetewey

  The Pen & Cape Society Welcomes You

  If you must blame anyone for this anthology, you should probably start with Drew Hayes. After some back and forth social media discussion between him and me, he created a now-defunct Facebook group for superhero fiction authors in early February 2014, inviting many of the authors he knew. His circle tended to involve more serial authors, while mine tended more toward novelists, so between us we had a lot of folks to invite. You might be surprised just how many people are writing superhero fiction out there, and how much of it is really, really good. Then again, you’re reading this anthology, so you might have an inkling of what kind of fantastic entertainment is barreling your way.

  After a few fits and starts, the official Pen & Cape Society came into being, with a website designed by Jeffrey Allen, a mascot named Willow Wisp, whose badassness is gracing the cover of this volume, and content from some of the best authors working in the superhero fiction genre today. Want to know more about any of the authors whose work is in this anthology? Visit the Pen & Cape Society for all the information you could want.

  As a group, we are dedicated to promoting the genre of superhero fiction, whether in online serials, ebooks, or in print. We are committed to providing quality stories for our readers, and to sharing each others’ work far and wide. So whether you prefer gritty realism, fanciful romps, college re-imaginings, stylish alternate worlds, or a mashup of them all, you’ve come to the right place.

  Ian Thomas Healy

  May, 2014

  Back to Table of Contents

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  Bedtime Story

  by Scott Bachmann

  About the Scottcomics Universe

  In the Scottcomics universe, super powers are simply a part of the continuum of normal to gifted people, plotted on the bell curve of average human abilities. Most of the gifted are impressive, like concert pianists or brilliant scientists, but a few have abilities beyond the rest of mankind. They are rare, but they have had a big impact on history. After World War II, when the organized use of the gifted as weapons happened for the first time, the nations of the world declared regulations on their use, along with nuclear weapons. The United Nations sanctioned a team of the strongest of the gifted to aid the nations of the world with dealing these individuals when they broke law or were involved in threatening other nations. This team became the Defense Force, led by the Paragon. Liza Lang-Ramiro was the fourth person to become the Paragon, and many of the Scottcomics stories revolve around her. The stories are told in both novel and graphic novel format, and are written for different age groups depending on the subject matter of the story.

  About the Author: Scott Bachmann

  Scott is the founder, publisher, and primary author for Scottcomics. Scott's works are available in both print and digital formats at http://scottcomics.com. He also has an all ages webcomic about Liza at http://oursupermom.com featuring the art of Scott D.M. Simmons. You can follow Scott’s work at Twitter: ScottABachmann, FaceBook: Scottcomics and the Pen & Cape Society.

  * * *

  “When’s daddy gonna be home?” Markie moaned as he and his older sister Gail climbed onto his bed.

  Liza, Markie’s mom, hovered in the air by the nearby bookshelf, trying to pick a book they hadn’t already read a dozen times, and one that she didn’t hate. “Just two more weeks, hon, then his book tour will finally be over. Promise. I miss him too and he forgot to call again so he is in trouble.” Liza straightened some of the mess on the shelf and found a book she hadn’t seen in a long time. “What about the Jonas the Grumpy Plane? You used to love that one?”

  Gail rolled her eyes as dramatically as possible, “Mom, that was my old book, when I was little. Could we at least have a chapter book?”

  Markie barked, “No!” making Gail jump and Liza drop the picture book. “I want a NEW story! Daddy always makes good stories. I want one of those!”

  Liza selected a few more books and floated over to the bed. Markie had a full on pouty face going as Liza settled into the big chair beside the bed. “We’ve been over this. There are some things I’m not good at, and stories are one of them. Now which would you prefer?” She held up two books, “The Powerful Puppy Adventures or Fairy Magic Quests?”

  Gail groaned, loudly, making sure everyone heard. “Can I just read my own book?”

  Liza ground her teeth, but took a deep breath so she didn’t snap the books in half by accident. Super strength required a super temperament. “Young lady, this is family time, and it will remain so.”

  Gail knew better than to argue when her mother used that tone, but then an idea brightened behind her eyes. She tilted her head, the idea rattled around in it, and then fell out. “What about a REAL story?”

  Markie’s eyes went wide, knowing exactly what Gail meant, “A Paragon adventure! Please? Please? Please?”

  Liza sighed, “You know I can’t talk about a lot of them. They’re classified.”

  Markie pleaded, “But some aren’t crassified? Please?”

/>   Liza stared at the ceiling trying to think of a way out of this, and coming up blank. “I suppose I could just leave out some of the details.”

  Gail said, “You’re retired mom. And you’re old. The statute of limitations must have run out by now.”

  Liza’s brow furrowed, “Where did you learn about ’statute of limitations’?” Liza asked more out of habit then genuine curiosity. Gail’s voracious studying habits were endlessly surprising—to the point that they weren’t really surprising any more. It was like raising an encyclopedia, with an attitude.

  Gail opened her mouth, but Markie interrupted, “I want fights! And super stuffs! A REAL adventure!”

  Liza pursed her lips, thinking. “Have I told you about the Serpent Lord? That was back when I first started out. Before I met your dad even.”

  Gail shook her head, “No, but I know ALL about it. It’s on Superpedia.”

  “Superpedia,” Liza chided, “is more wrong than its right. But if you already know it and don’t want to hear it . . .”

  “SURFANTS! SURFANTS!” yelled Markie, bouncing on the bed.

  “Serpents dummy,” said Gail, “They’re snakes. You’re scared of snakes.”

  Markie’s motions came to a dead stop. “I don’t like snakes.”

  Liza reached over and scooped up her son and set him in her lap. “He wasn’t a real snake. He was just a crazy guy that wore a snake mask.” Liza spun her fingers next to her head to emphasize the crazy.

  “Did he bite people?” Markie didn’t look convinced.

  Liza shook her head, “Not that I know of. He called himself the Serpent Lord because he could hypnotize people.”

  Markie asked, “What’s, hippo-size?”

  Gail leaned over Markie with a spooky look in her eyes and wiggled her fingers, “He could control your mind! Bwa-ha-ha! Though yours would be too easy.”

  Liza frowned, “Do you want to be sent to bed right now?”

  “Do I get to read my own book?” Gail asked, hopefully.

  Liza’s frown deepened. “No.”

  Gail flopped down on the bed with her backside, head slapping the pillow.

  “Good choice,” said Liza. “Now let’s see,” she said as she tapped her lip with an index finger, “Who was actually on the Defense Force back then? It changed a lot back then. It was me, Cinaed, Shokkuchan, CyberSoldier—no, wait, he’d quit by that point, along with Blurr - um, it was before Rain joined, and the Serpent Lord was why Sci-mage formally joined so he wasn’t there yet . . . There had to be someone else. It wasn’t just the three of us.”

  Gail offered, “Superpedia says CyberSoldier was there. And Maximum Force.”

  Liza tapped her lip again, “No, Cyber was definitely gone. Maximum Force might have been there, but that’s who CyberSoldier ran off with. Force wasn’t on the team very long. He was only around for maybe a few months before he quit. I think he just wanted to date CyberSoldier.”

  “Story!” Markie yelled, pounding his little fists on his own lap.

  “I told you I wasn’t very good at this,” said Liza. “You sure you wouldn’t rather have a book?”

  They both stared her down.

  “Ok then, fine. I tried to warn you.” Liza floated up a bit and settled into a better position on the chair. “The whole thing started in Sci-mage’s lab. I can’t say much about that because he was making things for the military when he wasn’t on stage. You remember Sci-mage right? Markie was a toddler the last time he came by. He wore a lot of purple and gold, dark skin… ring a bell?”

  “He pulled quarters out my ear,” Markie said.

  “I’m sure he did,” said Liza. “He’s always performing and doing tricks. But he’s really a scientist. He designed most of the equipment we used on the Defense Force.

  “Well, he had an assistant back then, Rodney Gilliam, and Rodney was a very jealous person. He thought that Sci-mage was taking credit for his work, which led to lots of arguments. Sci-mage was forced to fire him when Rodney created a scene in front of General.”

  “Where’s the surfants?” asked Markie.

  “We’re getting to that,” said Liza. “When Rodney was fired, he went off for a while and sulked.”

  “That means pout,” offered Gail, cutting off Markie before he could ask.

  “I know what ‘soaked’ means. Mom. Gail’s doing it again.”

  Liza gave Gail a ’that’s strike two’ look. “Rodney wasn’t heard from for almost a year, but then he returned one night and robbed the lab. They’d changed the locks and codes, but he still knew enough to get in. He stole a lot of Sci-mage’s inventions and got away with them without being caught.”

  Gail shook her head, “How did you know it was him then?”

  “Cameras. He didn’t hide the crime, he wanted us to know he’d been there—he even waved at the cameras at one point. Like I said, he was crazy.”

  Liza paused for a moment thinking. “We guessed he went to ground and back to whatever hole he’d been hiding in. He resurfaced about three months later on the west coast. He robbed a few banks in San Francisco and got away without a shot fired. He just walked in and ordered the tellers to give him the money and they did. By the third robbery the police were ready, but he ordered them to…” Liza blushed as she recalled the details. “Errr, I don’t think I should tell you that part. Let’s just say a lot of people got hurt.”

  “Was he wearing a mask?” Markie asked, hopefully.

  “I don’t think so. He hadn’t completely snapped yet. But maybe he had. I don’t recall his face being in the papers. If he did have a mask, it wasn’t the Serpent Lord mask. I’d have remembered that. That thing creeps me out. It’s made out of real snakeskin.”

  Markie sighed, “You do tell bad stories.”

  Gail shushed her brother.

  Liza sighed, but continued. “Anyways, he was getting away with some bad stuff, so the Defense Force was called in to apprehend him. I was technically in charge as Paragon, but Cinaed had seniority and was the one really leading the op.”

  “That means operation,” whispered Gail.

  “I know!” said Markie.

  “Do you want to hear this or not?”

  “Yes,” the kids said in mopey unison.

  “I’d only been the Paragon for a few months, and I was still in training, but to the public at large, a Paragon was leading the Defense Force, and that was what mattered. Plus, Cinaed hates being in charge. She likes to boss people around, but she doesn’t like to take responsibility. Total back seat driver. Honestly, most of the time we just let CyberSoldier lead, until out of the blue he decided to finally come out, quit, and return to Canada.”

  Gail sat up. “Mom, you’re rambling.”

  “Am I?”

  Markie yawned, “What does ’come out’ mean?”

  Liza’s face reddened, “I am rambling. SO! Before we could act on the west coast, we had to be cleared to apprehend him. We were still a U.N. team at the time and weren’t allowed to act on U.S. soil without…“

  “MOM!” Gail yelled.

  Liza continued, “By the time we finally got there, he was wearing the Serpent Lord mask.” Markie sat up, shrugging off another yawn. “He had over a thousand people in his thrall by then. All he had to do was look someone in the eye for a few seconds and then they would obey him. It was some kind of device in the mask I think, or maybe his belt. Anyways, people had to obey his orders as long as it wasn’t something they would never do. There were limits. They wouldn’t kill somebody, I think, but they would follow him around. He clogged the streets with a parade of zombified people, with a shield of civilians to protect him from attack,” Liza ticked off points with her fingers, “Shokkuchan couldn’t use her lightning, and Cinaed couldn’t use her fire, and the police couldn’t use force. That left me to deal with him because I could fly, and because average people couldn’t hurt me.”

  Markie rubbed his eyes, trying hard to stay awake.

  “The Serpent Lord marched his parade d
own through the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, shouting crazy demands from a megaphone as they went. I don’t remember what the demands were, but they were crazy. Things like asking for tons of money, or to have Sci-mage fired from the Defense Force, and for a statue of him put up in the park. I flew down to snatch him, but he ordered the crowd to stop breathing!”

  Markie sucked in his own breath and looked terrified. Gail had moved to the edge of the bed, listening.

  “I backed up and he let them breathe again. I don’t know if they would have really stopped breathing until they died, but I didn’t want to take the chance. So I just flew up higher, trying to think of something to do as he marched the whole group onto the bridge and began to make even more demands. He wanted his old job back. He wanted everyone he’d worked with fired. He wanted patents put in his name. He wanted a national holiday named in his honor, and I think he also wanted a helicopter.”

  Markie’s voice cracked, “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t know what to do. I just hung there in the air, trying to think of something. That’s when he sprung the real trap.”

  Markie’s voice squeaked, “Trap?”

  “He must have known we were going to come after him, and had always planned to take people out onto the bridge. He didn’t care about the chaos of dozens of cars slamming on their breaks and trucks spinning out. Half the bridge became multi-vehicle pile-ups, total chaos. Then the explosions came.”

  “Explosions?” yelped Markie as he grabbed and hugged his pillow.

  “Explosions. Big ones. He had placed bombs on the bridge. On the big pylon. They sheared it off, taking out half the bridges support.” She gestured trying to demonstrate the bridge tilting, “The whole thing dipped this way towards the water, and cables started snapping with pinging sounds.”

  “What did you do?” whispered Markie.

  “I flew underneath and did my best to hold the falling end of the bridge up.”

  “Superpedia,” Gail said, “Says you held up the WHOLE bridge.”