Wandering Edge

[Electra]

"Uh, great," Erin said, keeping her eyes on the approaching UFO. "I hope they've got something that can take out a good-sized spaceship, or our fake Freedom City is going to be blown into little computerized smithereens. Even my new little stick thing isn't going to take out this destroyer thing, and it doesn't look like it's ready to stop anytime soon. You got any ideas on where we're supposed to go from here?"

[Avenger Assembled]

The next few parts of the simulation seemed to go by very quickly, certainly much faster than they were likely to do in reality. Edge reflected that it certainly made things easier to skip over some of the worrisome, stressful bits of waiting and planning, but it wasn't necessarily the most realistic way of doing training. Still, he supposed that this was one way to keep them from spending all day in the machine and still get the feel for the scenario. When the aliens touched down at Lonely Point, he and Wander joined them for a quick consultation. The Freedom League had spoken to the aliens inside the Destroyer, a starship of their own making, and learned of their dire intentions for the Earth.

The team would go into space alongside their new alien allies to battle the aliens inside the Destroyer, but Edge and Wander, along with other ground-based heroes, would be charged with the defense of the base at Lonely Point where the Friendly alien spaceship had landed. "The aliens in the Destroyer have teleporters, and this will be a natural place for them to seize if they do get close enough to land invasion troops. It gives them the opportunity to cut off our mundane defenses and to capture a great deal of super-science technology."

Edge took the opportunity, finally, to speak to Captain Thunder and the rest of the team, telling them how safe he felt in their hands and how sure he was that they were going to prevail that day. "This world may never have faced a threat like this before, but I'm sure the heroes of Freedom will prevail." The speech was evidently an inspiring one; there was some scattered applause from the assembled heroes before the fliers and their allies took off into space. That left Edge and Wander, and a few others, down in the naval base with the US Marines while the flashes of light began in the sky.

[Electra]

Erin had moved past keyed-up to bored during the round of negotiations , and now sat on the grass outside the installation with a radio in her lap, watching the sky. She looked over as Edge stepped out to join her, then back up. "Do you really believe those things you say?" she asked, with more curiosity than antagonism. "When you're giving those inspiring speeches. Do you mean it, or is it just to make people feel better and fight better?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I don't mean every word all the time," Edge admitted unexpectedly, watching the skies nervously. "I mean, I'm not Pollyanna; I didn't just jump off the pages of Freedom Friends or something. I know not every fight is perfectly right, and that not every battle is going to be won." He looked down at Wander feeling a little better for his teammate's presence. "But I do believe the meaning behind it. I do think that at the end of the day, on a broad enough scale, the good guys are always going to win. It's just sometimes...you know, the day, or whatever, is long. And the scale can be too broad."

[Electra]

"Just being right isn't always good enough," Erin agreed ruefully."And if you're dead, it doesn't really matter if you're right. Do you think the simulation is supposed to be over now? I mean, Paris is probably not going to end up burning, now that we're a few thousand miles away. I thought we were supposed to be learning to link up our powers, but this wouldn't be the first time he's psyched me out." Even though Erin knew Archer was surely listening, she didn't mind talking in front of him. She was sure he already knew how she felt about his training techniques.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I dunno," said Edge with a shrug. "You never know with Mr. Archer. If it does take that long, I hope we get lunch after this..." As Edge continued talking, Wander noticed six columns of energy forming on the roof of a nearby warehouse, the shapes coalescing into the twisted, menacing form of alien invaders carrying massive, power-packed blaster rifles that glimmered with energy. The transportation had been a stealthy one; no one but Wander seemed to have noticed!

[Electra]

In a heartbeat, Erin was on her feet and lifting her radio. "Aliens on the roof, not the good guys. Armed with guns. I'm moving to intercept." Dropping the radio, she picked up Edge bodily and leapt with him up onto the roof, putting an HVAC unit between them and the alien contingent. "Sorry," she muttered belatedly. "Guess we pissed him off." She spun her bat back out to full size. "You ready?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Ready," called Edge, just as the aliens opened fire on them! The combined blasts from their death-ray guns struck not the two teen heroes, but the HVAC unit, making the metal glow red, then white hot before it vanished utterly before Edge and Wander's eyes.

"Surrender, Earthling!" came the voice of the lead alien invader, the biggest and most formidable looking of the lot. "Hit 'em with your best shot!" Edge replied Wander's way, firing a pew-pew blast from his blasters to help her out as he rolled for cover himself. He helped her out too with a blast of bad luck that rocketed through the alien horde, their guns wildly misfiring and their suits popping as energy shot through them. Two of the six were knocked down, though not out, and another two staggered as the blow struck them. Those still standing, though, brought their weapons to bear on the newly-exposed targets!

[Electra]

Erin leapt into action as soon as the chaos abated, jumping over the sizzling wreckage of the HVAC and into the middle of the alien swarm. She took out the one that was bruised but still standing first, smashing him across the throat with the bat and sending him flying. A flick of the bat and she was jamming the end into the solar plexus of a second alien, then bringing it up to smash into his chin, dropping it as well. A quick twirl and a hard smash across the head had another one seeing stars.

She took the bat in both hands to clothesline the fourth alien, making him gag and fall backwards, and then incapacitated his two stunned comrades with quick smacks across the head. With the battle over as fast as it had begun, she stood in the middle of the pile of bodies and caught her breath. For once, everything around her was still breathing as well. "You all right?" she asked Edge. "That was a good maneuver, I think you caught half of them before I got there."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'm fine," said Edge, shaking his head with a bemused expression on his face. "Wow." He grinned at her, walking past the unconscious aliens to slap her on the shoulder. "That was pretty sweet, Wander. We took them out like a house of cards. You're pretty darn good with that bat, too." He curiously picked up one of the death rays the aliens had dropped, studying the machine, just in time for Edge's comm unit to beep urgently. When he answered, he heard the simulated voice of Captain Thunder in his ear. "Edge, Wander! We've stopped the Destroyers, but they had time to beam down one of their big guns! It should be emerging from the ocean near your location at any moment. Bring it down if you can, or hold it off for us till we get there!"

[Electra]

Even as Edge answered, Wander was picking up another of the ray guns. "Let's go," she told him, jerking a thumb towards her back. "We can see if they're immune to their own weapons." When he was on board again, she leapt to the ground and sprinted for the beach, dirt and sand flying up around them as she went. His weight didn't seem to bother her or slow her at all, hardly a surprise given what she usually pressed in the gym. "Guns first if it's far away," she told him, not sounding winded by the running, "then you give me that boost again if you can, and I'll try and take it out."

[Avenger Assembled]

The monster rose straight out of the sea, a huge, amphibious alien with bulging eyes and a malevolent leer on its froggy face. Lurching up out of the sea, it towered high, water running down its slick body and cascading onto the sand below in a spattering pattern. Casting its eyes around, it locked its gaze on the teen heroes and smiled malevolently. It began chanting something malevolent in a dark alien language, big suckered hands moving in a disturbing combination of gestures.

[Electra]

Erin had hoped to wait until Edge could help her out again, but he just wasn't quite as quick to respond in a fight as she was. When the alien creature raised its... hand-things, she was done waiting. Keeping her own body between monster and teammate, she sighted along the barrel of the alien gun, took careful aim, and squeezed off a shot, right at its ugly head.

[Avenger Assembled]

Wander raised her gun and fired, striking the massive beast in the head. The monster staggered under the beam's brilliantly coruscating blue light, and Edge concentrated, focusing on the blast and on the monster, the air around him seeming to warp from the sheer force of reality shifting at his command. Cmoncmon, fall down! Fall down! Edge wound up exceeding his own wildest expectations, though, as suddenly the giant alien squealed, glowed a magnificent shade of blue, and faded away into nothingness even as its last spell frittered away right along with the creature itself.

"Wow!" A thoroughly enthused Edge stared in disbelief, then clapped Wander on the back. "Great shot! You're totally awesome!"

[Electra]

"Wow," Erin murmured, looking at the gun. "That's pretty powerful. I wonder if it's modeled on something real. Lucky it didn't hit us." She shaded her eyes with her hand and looked out to the sea. "Do you think that was it?" she asked. "There has to be something bigger coming, you'd think. We're supposed to be seeing a big gun here." She looked over at him. "You did something, didn't you? I could sort of feel it, sort of see it. You changed the way the gun hit."

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's one of the tricks I can do," said Edge with a little shrug. "I can do the really obvious blow-stuff-up accidents, or I can make things happen. Like make your blast hit harder, or make the monster get hurt worse by it. Not all the time, but it's a pretty handy trick to keep in reserve. Helping you evaporate that thing took a lot out of me," he said with a little smile. At Edge's words, the setting around them faded away, the sand off their feet and the gun out of Wander's hand, and the two of them were confronted with Mr. Archer.

"Great job, team," said Mr. Archer, his eyes a little wide. "You really...really took those things out." He smiled. "Wander, you did a great job negotiating with the friendly aliens, not to mention the combat ability you put to use. How did you like the bat?"

[Electra]

Erin looked for the bat she'd stuffed into her pocket, but it was gone too, just a simulation. "It worked well," she told him. "I'd do better with more practice. It's a little awkward getting it out to full length. I'd have to say the gun worked better though," she decided, with a half-amused look to Edge. "Part of that was probably Edge's doing, though. What would it've done to one of us if we'd gotten shot?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"It's hard to say," said Mr. Archer. "It's modeled after the ray guns the Mycanoids used during their abortive invasion in the early 1950s. They're powerful guns; they burn as well as blast, so they destroy what they hit. It could have given you a serious injury if you'd been hit by one of the blasts, Wander, or taken Edge out of the fight altogether. If they'd had a chance to actually use it on you. You both showed a strong grasp of combat and diplomatic strategy, and...a lot of luck," he added with a nod to Edge. "I will definitely have to upgrade what I throw at you guys in the future."

[Electra]

Erin actually rolled her eyes at that. "We're damned if we do and damned if we don't," she murmured to Edge, loud enough that Archer had to be able to hear. Normally she'd never be so rude to a teacher, but Mr. Archer had a special place in the dark and angry recesses of her heart after the rigors of this summer. "Is that it for today?" she asked the gym teacher.

[Avenger Assembled]

Edge winced, not looking happy about Erin mouthing off about Mr. Archer when he was right there and looking at them. He wasn't a suck-up; there were certainly teachers he didn't like and wasn't shy about criticizing or mocking when they weren't around. But luckily he'd never done that to their faces! "We did our best, Mr. Archer," said Edge carefully, putting his hands behind him. "I'm proud of what Wander and I did in there."

"As well you should be, both of you." Mr. Archer smiled thinly. "You made a good team today. Tomorrow afternoon, I want you both to report to me in the gym for some duo acrobatics training. That'll take the place of your usual gym time, Wander, and it'll fill up the vacant slot for you, Edge."

[Electra]

Erin gave Mark a slightly apologetic glance. Being assigned acrobatics training meant nothing to her; she was in the gym most afternoons anyway. It might seem like more of a punishment to someone who generally had free time. But it wasn't like he couldn't use the training, she thought, a bit uncharitably. It would be helpful if eventually she didn't have to pick him up and carry him into battles. She shrugged and nodded acknowledgment of the new assignment.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark acknowledged the new assignment with something of a sigh, wishing his luck was a little better-timed. He was well-trained enough not to say anything against the teacher until he and Erin had changed out of their uniforms and were in the elevator heading back up to the surface. "Well, that's...new. What do you think he'll want?" he asked Erin. "I'm pretty sure I can't do what you do for acrobatics training. Must be more team stuff."

[Electra]

Erin shrugged. "He doesn't want anything, it's just a punishment. I'm already in class so many hours that I've got no time to serve detention. Sorry it got dumped on you too, though. Usually when he and I have a go-around, it's just between us. I doubt he'll go very hard on you, he's sort of like Mr. Skyler that way, he only dumps on the people who are supposed to be really good at it. He's actually pretty good with a grappling gun," she admitted reluctantly, "I've seen him use it in old videos. He might be able to give you some pointers."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Back when he was Hot Rod," Mark agreed. "He told me once he never could do the run up walls trick very well." He sighed a little, then gave Erin a wry smile. "When I started school here, I was hoping that growing up with some of these teachers would make things easy for me. It turns out it doesn't work that way." He leaned back, stretching as they walked out of the elevator together. "I guess it'll be all right." He grinned a little wider. "I always know you and I make a good team; just ask that frog monster. Oh wait, he's not talking anymore." He snickered. "Where are you headed next?"

[Electra]

"I don't know, what time is it?" she asked him. When he told her, she pulled out her notebook and checked her schedule. "Counseling appointment," she told him, sounding like she was trying hard not to sound defensive about it. "Then I'm back in the Doom Room solo before supper. How about you?" She shoved the notebook back into her bag and ran her fingers through her hair to try and put it in order. They both still smelled a bit like smoke, thanks to the odors pumped into the room during the fight, but neither of them looked any the worse for wear after seven aliens and a little interstellar diplomacy.