Donnie Rhodes — Silverheart — broke through the brick wall and crashed through three cubicles of Inner Metro City National Bank with the velocity of a rocket entering the atmosphere. Splintered wood and dust plumed around the crater in which he lay, and not for the first time that day Donnie regretted his life choices.
He wondered how long he could lay here and listen to his own labored breathing. He counted the seconds and reached a total of four before a searing burst of flame, clap of lightning, and scream of some unearthly thing broke the street outside. He pulled himself to his feet, hurrying to the street. Above, the citadel hung in the air, casting its bleak shadow across the city. Donnie winced, eyes narrowing; from so far below the edifice’s sleek metal fascia he could barely see the sun. The street was dark, not yet twilight, but illuminated by the rhythmic flashes of the ensuing battle.
Something moved, hurtling down from the raging conflict above, colliding with the road beside Rhodes. He covered his eyes, letting his gaze acclimate to the dust. Already Eric was standing, rising from the crash site, clutching one of the twitching green fiends in each hand. A twinge of jealousy grew in Rhodes’ chest as he watched his friend. “How do you get back up from a fall like that so quickly?” he shot.
Eric Donner hurled one of the creatures into the ground at his feet, lifted its twin, and brought the two creatures into a fierce impact with one another. Even in that moment, Donnie couldn’t help but admit he was impressed. The man was astonishing; every part the Captain Lightning his chosen Mantle implied. Despite the frantic nature of the battle, his costume was immaculate — even down to that silver cape. Rhodes had refused to wear such a thing; tasteless and excessive, he’d decided. On Doctor Tigrillo’s insistence, Rhodes had settled on a mask. Subtle, discrete, and far more in keeping with Rhodes’ aesthetic; but even that had been torn and scuffed in the day’s onslaught.
Donner wiped his brow. “Practice. Where’s Brigitte?”
Rhodes winced. “Codenames!” he replied. “We don’t know if these things can understand us.”
Donner glanced down at the creatures. One of them twitched. While he was certain these ones no longer posed a threat, he knew it’d take only a momentary glimpse upwards at the huge metallic construct which hung in the midday sky, disgorging swarm after swarm of the creatures into the city like a horde of enraged warps, to feel his confidence sink. “Fine, where’s Lady Grim?”
An explosion rippled through the sky; a miniature aurora of heat which wavered the air even down to street level and illuminated the shadows. The shock brought memory jarring its way back to Rhodes’ mind. Brigitte! He was standing next to her a moment before he was hurled across the intersection into the bank. He turned, glancing at the building. The National Bank itself was a wreck; pock-marked with impacts and ray blasts. He’d always had a fondness for it; his entire career as a masked vigilante had begun here, preventing bank robbers and hoodlums. The days seemed so much easier than before whatever monstrosity sat in the sky blocked out the sun and caused most of Inner Metro City’s inhabitants to flee.
Thankfully, though, it didn’t appear the building had suffered any other caped hero colliding with it. “She can’t have gone far” he stated, authoritatively.
Donner nodded; then, without a word, shot into the sky. A trail of crackling lightning tinged in his wake, arcing slightly across the site of his departure, then dissipating harmlessly. Rhodes looked upward, watching Captain Lightning’s take off. Sharply he turned in mid-air, correcting his trajectory into a horizontal plane and vanishing over the rooftops.
Rhodes watched his friend soar away, gave an annoyed sigh, and started to jog down the street. He wished that his superpowers allowed him to do similar. Yukiko’s mastery of speed and acceleration allowed her to charge across the city in the blink of an eye, while Tigrillo had mastered the mystic art of materializing from creeping fog, and even Farrow had adapted to soar through the sky, but Rhodes? He was stuck with foot travel. Somehow, he wondered if Aphrodite was smiling.
Settling into a steady jog, Rhodes hurried into the main street. He turned, leaping atop an overturned bus, and unleashing a volley of energy blasts at the creatures which beset the road. His fingers tingled with each shimmering shot scattering rays of silver. The street seemed quiet, aside from a handful of the creatures tipping waste bins and upturning motorcars. He wondered at the beings. In the three years since the masked vigilantes — he and Donner and the others — had come together to form their… what was it? A group? A society? He didn’t know what to call it, only that it had changed the world. Alone, each of them had made a difference, but together? They gave people hope; hope which, with the enormous metallic citadel blocking out the sun itself, was itself at risk!
A crack erupted above, quickly escalating into a roaring bellow. Above, a crimson trail tore atop the skyline, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Rhodes raised his fist; “Finally!” he thought to himself. “Yuk—Jetwire! Down here!”
The red line trailed, spiraling a skyscraper at the far end of the street, descending its towering structure like a helter-skelter, tore its way along the road towards Rhodes and came to rest beside him. Only as the figure stopped did her features fade into view. She sheathed her tsurugi, which Rhodes hadn’t even noticed had been drawn. “They left you behind, Silverheart?” asked Yukiko.
Rhodes adjusted his mask, ensuring it was firmly attached. “Could you give me a lift?” he asked. He knew what he was asking and knew how terribly uncomfortable the sensation of travelling at terminal velocity was for him, but time was growing short, and their group had grown too widely separated. Doctor Tigrillo, if he’d been here, would have ordered them to regroup long ago.
But Tigrillo wasn’t here; he was trapped somewhere on Planet Sigma-4, lost hurtling through the event horizon of a black hole following the group’s previous run-in with Apophis. Now, without his leadership, they only do so much. Still, bracing his eyes shut, Silverheart felt rippling velocity as air whipped across his face. He squeezed his grip on Yukiko’s hand — he didn’t open his eyes, didn’t want to see the ground grow small below. But he was Silverheart, he challenged his fears. Pulling his eyes open, he realized he could once again see the sun.
Leaping from the building top, Yukiko’s velocity brought her upwards to crest along the side of the citadel, with Rhodes clutched tightly in tow. The pair blazed their way along its side, up and over its outer rim to come to rest on the upper deck. From this perspective, Rhodes finally recognized the floating object for what it was — a glistening space battleship.
He sighed. “Get the team; it’s going to be a long day.”
