The Protectors

"Hate for the Eight" by Martin Maenza

It was a hot summer night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, but that did not keep the diehard sports fans of New York City from packing the venue.

The seventh inning stretch was nearly over. People were making their way back to their seats with fresh beverages. The two teams prepared for the final part of the game.

However, before the visiting team could take the field, a shimmering rectangle of energy materialized near the pitcher’s mound. From the ominous portal stepped confidently eight costumed figures who had more on their mind than baseball.

One of the black and white striped referees accosted the new arrivals, at first with a loud series of whistle blows and then his own voice. “You can’t be out on the field during the game!” he exclaimed as he ran in from center field.

The blue-skinned man with stark white hair spun about, his purple cape whipping around sharply, and faced the confrontation with a menacing stare. He looked like something out of a nightmare or a Wes Craven horror film. “And who will stop us? You?” He lifted his purple gloved hand and made an unnessary gesture in the ref’s direction.

The officiator fell to the ground. His face contorted in a painful-pleasure sort of way; his eyes rolled back in their sockets. The man’s body convulsed once, then again, and then went gruesomely still.

Doctor Delirium grinned at the results of his work.

Most of his colleagues smiled in satisfaction too at his deadly display of force.

The crowd let out a gasp of surprise and shock.

“Let that be a lesson to all of you!” the caped super-criminal shouted. “Anyone who stands against us will suffer the same fate!”

A large, muscular blonde woman in brown and yellow took the lead in continuing addressing the crowd. “And now that we have your attention,” Madame Mammoth said, “we will continue to present our demands! The city of New York will pay us eight million dollars, or it will feel the wrath of the Octagon!”

The capacity crowd of over fifty thousand people gasped again.

All, that was, but one person.

“Hey, jerks!” called out a young male voice. There was a whoosh of air as a blue and red blur raced across the Merion Bluegrass surface. “No one pulls a stunt like this on my home turf and gets away with it!” He stopped long enough for the crowd to get a look at him. The brown-haired youth wore a costume of light blue with red gloves and boots. The white triangular insignia on his chest contained a large red-R.

The crowd immediately recognized the hometown hero and began chanting his name. “Ricochet! Ricochet!”

“It’s that punk kid speedster!” the Mimic exclaimed. “I’ve read about him in the papers before.”

“Bah!” Prince Pyro spat as he took aim at the stationary target. “He’s not such hot-stuff! Or at least, not until I’m through with him!” Fire rushed from his outstretched hands.

The speedster saw the flames coming his way and kicked in the super-speed. “Too slow, PeePee!” Richochet boasted as he cut around and nailed the flaming fiend with a punch to the jaw. The crowned villain went down.

“Everyone! Stop him!” Madame Mammoth ordered. “He can’t beat all eight of us at once!”

“You’re right! He might not be able to,” a voice called from above, “so it’s a good thing the kid’s not alone!” From the air, Larynx swooped in as his sonic powers provided him with his own soundtrack.

Behind him, being carried along by a mystical energy platform created by Mystifier, were the rest of the Protectors.

“We can take these brats!” the Golden Greek insisted as she launched into the air. She fired upon the red caped magic user, disrupting Mystifier’s concentration. Her energy blast sent those held aloft by the energy disk leaping to the ground.

“I’d love to see you and your funky friends try!” the User said as he landed firmly, his form already transformed thanks to a small piece of steel he kept on his person. Now his own body had the same attributes as the metal. He charged forward, swinging his fists. “And this first one is for my sister!”

***

Karen Page shifted through the outfits hanging in her closet and paused to stare at a violet unitard with blue trim. The dangling costume only reminded her of the conversation she had a few days earlier with her brother.

“Sis, can you believe this?” Jerry Page exclaimed. Behind him, the television news repeated their top story – that the rumors had been confirmed about the brutal murder of the heroine Star Light. “They’re saying it happened last night in Central Park. And get this – the creeps behind it left a calling card charred in the grass.”

Karen just turned away from her brother and went silent.

Jerry was still vocalizing his train of thought. “Remember what Hydro Girl and Larynx had told us awhile back? That the guy who tried to kill her, the Geometric Man, said something about a group called ‘the Octagon’. The symbol burned into the grass was also an octagon. I bet anything all this stuff is related!”

He rose from the couch, flipped off the television and turned to his sister. “Come on, Karen. It’s time for us to get into costume and call together the rest of the Protectors.”

Karen looked down and said something softly.

“What’d you say?” he asked as he had not heard her soft mutterings.

“I’m not coming,” she said again a bit louder.

Jerry Page did a double take. “Sis, what do mean?”

“Jerry, I…” she started to say, but her voice cracked a bit, “…I just can’t…”

The young black man sat down on the couch and put his arm around his sibling. “Karen, what’s up with you?”

The young woman gathered herself and looked her brother in the eye. “Jerry, I’m scared,” she said. “First, they attack on our friend. Now this. It’s too much.” She swallowed. “I’m…scared. I don’t know if I can take this any more.”

“But, Karen, we’ve done this for awhile now, and nothing has happened to us.”

“I know, Jerry, but how long before our luck runs out…” Her voice trailed off.

Jerry realized how hard the recent events had hit his sister and knew there was little he could say to make change her mind. They had been through so much the last few years – losing their parents, gaining their amazing powers, etc. Maybe she just needed a break.

“Okay, Karen,” he finally said. “But you know I feel like I’m doing what I have to do.” He started to rise. “I’m going to suit up and get in touch with the others.”

Karen nodded. “I know, Jerry,” she said. “Please…be careful.”

And with that, Karen Page hung up the costume she wore as Emotion.

She knew she had a gift, the empathic powers that came out of a hate crime against her parents. She would find a way to use them somehow – in a way that could help people who needed it without the chance of putting her own life at risk.

What else could she do?

***

The big-haired brunette dressed in a blue peasant blouse and long flowing skirt saw that the African-American hero was going after one of her teammates. In particular, someone she actually cared about. “Uh, uh, dark and handsome,” she said with a wag of her finger, her dangling bracelets clacking together. “No one dances with my Mimic but me.”    She made a gesture with her hands in the green costumed hero’s direction.

“Look, sister, I usually make it a point not ta hit girls,” the User hesitated. “But if I have’ta make an except…” Suddenly he felt something tug at his back. He turned to see an odd sight. “Wha…?”

Shadow Dancer giggled. “Silly, you’ll be too busy with your own shadow to be hitting anybody!” She spun about in a circle, laughing at her own creation, before skipping off in delight.

The User struggled as a dark construct with his exact size and build was wrestling him to the ground. “This is nuts!” he muttered under his breath. “How can I fight my own shadow?”

Meanwhile, a battle of the blonde powerhouses was in effect. “You and your little playmates don’t stand a chance, Amazon!” the brown and yellow costumed muscle-woman said as she slammed her fists down like a piledriver on her opponent’s back. The villainess was out for blood.

“We’re more than a match for you, Mammoth!” The heroine in orange and red shook off the blow and then spun about to deliver her own two-fisted slam to the other’s stomach. The heroine liked not having to pull her punches when it came to battling her arch-enemy.

Madame Mammoth sneered. She so enjoyed a good fight, especially against someone she hated so much. “Time will tell, sweetie, time will tell!”

Across the way, two of the villains stood together as one of them took aim with a triangular-shaped weapon in his hand. “Watch me blast the blonde canary out of the sky!” the blue and costumed villain boasted.

“Do it!” the red haired villain in blue and purple encouraged.

Energy crackled from the weapon and grazed the flying Larynx. “Yeah!” Geometric Man exclaimed.

“Go for the kill!” Mimic encouraged him.

“I don’t think so!” Ricochet rushed up and whirled around and around at super-speed. His action caught both of the super-criminals in his galeforce back draft, lifting them off the ground and dragging them about like leaves in an autumn breeze. “Hey, guys, welcome to a real E-ticket ride.”

Then, after making sure the pair was sufficiently dizzy, Ricochet stepped out of his own path and sent the pair sprawling across the field. “Ha ha,” he laughed. “Looks like you guys won’t be walking straight and narrow any time soon. Heck, I doubt you’ll be up to any walking for awhile.” The speedster turned to face his teammate hovering in the air. “Hey, Larynx, you okay?”

The blonde hero shook his head once to clear it. “I’m cool, kid. Thanks.”

Kid? Ricochet thought. How he hated that monicker. The rest of the Protectors are only a half dozen years older than me. What’s it going to take to prove myself to them?

“Better watch it, Ric,” a female voice cautioned as she rushed his way. The red and purple garbed Hydro Girl saw one of the other villain’s taking aim at the speedster. She let loose her own attack - a high pressure water blast.

The shot was met by Timewarp’s own temporal attack; the result was a cascade of water stopped suddenly in mid-air. “Damn!” the villain cursed.

“Whoa!” Ricochet said, noticing the situation he was almost in. The droplets hung eeriely in the air. Usually, the speedster witnessed things like this when he was moving at top speed. Seeing it while he was standing perfectly still was a little jarring. “That would have turned me into a teen turtle for sure.”

Nearby, the white costumed female with long brown hair was helping the blue robed mystic. “Are you doing okay?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m fine,” Mystifier replied. “It just took a bit out of me to track these rogues with my magic and then to transport most of the team here so quickly.”

“What can I do to help?” she asked.

“Our friend User could benefit from your talents right now,” he guided her. “You may not wield the Light of Galidon as I do, but I am sure your powers can suffice.”

“Right,” Rainbow said with a wink. She rushed across the way to where her comrade was engaged in battle with the dark construct. “Hold still, User!” She took aim with her white gloved hands. She wasn’t sure what her illusion powers could do against the construct, but Mystifier believed in her. That was enough to give it a try. The air shimmered around the shadow being, weakening it.

It was enough to allow the User to break free. “Thanks, lady,” he said. “That sure did the trick. Now, let’s go take out some of this trash!”

The Golden Greek threw up an energy barrier to separate the villains from the approaching heroes. “This is ridiculous!” she exclaimed. “We’ve beaten better than this!”

“Agreed!” Timewarp replied. “Most of us have faced the whole Justice Gang many times over! Plus, we killed one of them besides. Maybe I should send them all back to the stone age!”

“No!” Madame Mammoth called as she threw Amazon backwards over her shoulder. “We need to fall back and regroup now!”

“Retreat?” Timewarp questioned her. “You sure?”

“Get Geometric Man working on a teleportal!” she said. “I’ll get a distraction going!”

The villains started to disperse, taking swipes at the attacking heroes as they went.

“Looks like we’ve got ‘em on the run!” Larynx called out. “Let’s show them that seven can take eight any time.”

Amazon nodded as she rose to her feet. “Agreed! Time to throw our weight around too.” She started to grow to twice her normal height. “Too bad OTB is closed. We could place a sure-fire bet.”

“Did I hear somebody call for ‘fire’?” Prince Pyro laughed. He thrust his arms into the air, creating a fire-storm all about him. Within moments, the whole infield was ablaze. “How’s that for a distraction, boss lady?”

“Perfect!” the powerhouse villainess said. “Now, come on!” The two hurried off to where Timewarp was working with one the Geometric-Man’s devices on his belt.

“No, no…” the shape-using criminal said as he tried to focus. His head was still feeling the spin from before. “The left button…hit it twice.”

“Got it! Got it!” Timewarp said. A shimmering portal opened up near them and grew large enough. “Move it or lose it, Octagon!”

“On my way!” the Mimic called as he flipped away from the User’s grasp. The red-haired acrobat moved quickly to the portal. Pyro, Mammoth, the Greek and Delirium were already stepping through. He paused before stepping in, turning back to the field. “Wait, where’s Linda?” He could see Hydro Girl doing her best to put out the blaze, which caused more smoke to fill the air.

“Wait for me!” Shadow Dancer called as she ran across the field.

“Not so fast, lady!” Larynx said as he swooped down and grabbed her by the wrist.

“Creep! Let go!” The villainess tried in vain to turn into her shadow form, but the high powered stadium lights made it too difficult to find a shadow to melt into.

“Go!” Timewarp told Mimic. “Into the portal!”

“But we can’t leave her!” the red-haired villain pleaded.

“We have to!”

“Hold it right there!” a commanding voice called from above.

Timewarp looked up and cursed. “Damn it! Not them!” Despite the smoke, he recognized two figures approaching at top speed: Tempest and Robotman.

“In!” Timewarp said, shoving the Mimic through. He then grabbed Geometric Man and dragged him through the portal.

The energy doorway vanished just as the two members of the Justice Gang landed on the field near it. “Damn! They escaped!” the armor hero cursed. Robotman’s metal faceplate could hide anger and frustration but his voice did not.

“Not completely,” Larynx said as he landed with Shadow Dancer in tow. “We got one of them.”

“Only one?” the red and blue costumed Tempest asked.

“We’ll get the rest,” Larynx promised.

Robotman turned. “Hand her over to us! We’ll make her talk!” His metal gloved hand grabbed her other arm.

“This is our collar,” the sonic hero replied.

“You should leave this to the seasoned heroes,” Tempest added.

“You? Seasoned?” User asked. “I’ve been active as long as you have.”

“Who’s a member of the Justice Gang?” the red and blue garbed hero retorted.

“More than half of those criminals are our enemies!” Robotman stated. “That makes this Justice Gang business!” He tugged on the young woman’s arm.

“And some of them are our foes, making this Protectors business!” Larynx tugged back.

“Hey! Hey!” Shadow Dancer cried out. “I’m not a wishbone!”

“Let her go,” Tempest said. He pushed between the Protector and the captive, forcing Larynx to release her. Before the blonde hero could protest, Tempest leaned in close and dropped his voice. “Trust me. Robotman lost his wife to these creeps. This is personal.”

Larynx considered before saying another word. He had crossed pathes with the members of the Justice Gang a time or two before. Back then, they had dismissed him as he was a rookie hero. At the time, he didn’t like it but realized later why that made sense. With Robotman doing it again, he felt those old feelings come back up. Still, he thought, wouldn’t I react the same way if I were in his shoes and had lost someone I cared a lot about? He glanced over to see Hydro Girl working to put out the flames and realized what his answer would be.

“Fine,” the blonde hero said. “But maybe we can still…”

“No!” Robotman said firmly. “We’ll get the information we need from her and will track down the rest of her murderous crew ourselves! Come on, Tempest!”

“Wait, no!” Shadow Dancer protested. “I know my rights! I won’t say a word without my lawyer present!” She continued to protest as the two heroes dragged her off.

The rest of the Protectors regrouped.

“So much for our collar,” User said sarcasticly.

“Really,” Ricochet added. “We do all the work and they take all the credit.”

“Say, Mysty,” Amazon said, “don’t you have some connections in the Justice Gang? Can’t you change their minds?”

“I do know Phantom Lady,” the sorcerer admitted, “but that was a long time ago.”

“How long?” Rainbow asked.

“Ten to fifteen years ago.”

“What,” Larynx said, “did she babysit you or something?” Mystifier didn’t say anything, but the blush on his face gave him away. “Really? No way.” Larynx started to laugh.

Rainbow frowned. “Mystifier, can you still track them like you did before?”

“I believe my magic might be up to that now that I’ve recharged,” he said. “Why?”

Rainbow smiled. “I have an idea.” The group leaned into a huddle as she explained in more detail.

***

A few hours later, in their hidden warehouse headquarters, the seven remaining members of the Octagon go over the evening in great detail.

“Our king’s ransom – gone!” Prince Pyro grumbled. “Oh, what I could have done with my cut! The wining, the dining…”

Doctor Delirium grimaced, his expression only slightly more horrid than normal. “We lost control of the situation, due to those accursed heroes!”

“Yup, those accursed heroes…” Mimic said in a similar tone and inflection. He smiled when the evil Doctor glared at him.

“So what do we do now?” the Geometric Man asked, being the newest member of the team. “We’re one member shy right now, right?”

“The man has a point,” Golden Greek admitted.

“We can’t just abandon Dancer,” Mimic said, now more serious.

“She knew the risks, like we all do,” Madame Mammoth said. “We don’t have margin for error.”

The others all responded, talking at once. They stopped as soon as the metal door opened with a loud creak. There was varied reactions when in through the door stepped a familiar face. “Hey,” the brunette in the blue blouse and skirt said, “don’t stop talking on my account.”

“Dancer!” the Mimic exclaimed with delight. He rushed over and embraced the girl, placing a kiss on her lips.

Shadow Dancer felt a bit uneasy and managed to pull away as soon as she could. “Now that’s a welcome,” she tried to laugh off. She moved into the room to where the others were seated.

Mimic watched her go with an unsure look on his face.

“So,” Madame Mammoth addressed her, “you managed to escape, eh? Did you use your shadow powers to give them the slip?”

“Yup,” Shadow Dancer replied confidently.

“Smart girl,” Timewarp said. “Now that we’re whole again, we can decide how to recover from this evening’s losses.”

Mimic scanned about and noticed a piece of wood propped up against the wall. Picking it up, he moved into the room and swung it back. “Linda, if I’m wrong, forgive me,” he said as he swung it forward. The board slammed into the back of Shadow Dancer’s skull. She let out a cry as she fell to the floor.

“Mimic! Have you lost it?” Timewarp yelled.

“Nope,” he said. “I knew something wasn’t right when her kiss was so cold. Look!” He pointed to the floor where the girl The rest of the villains watched as the illusion faded, replacing the fallen black haired Shadow Dancer with the brown haired Rainbow.

“It’s one of those punk heroes!” Delirium exclaimed. “Let me at her!”

“No,” Madame Mammoth said. “If she’s here, the others are sure to follow. I have an idea.”

(to be continued)