Night Life


    “For the experienced Cape Watcher, it is common knowledge that if you want to see a cape battle you don’t hang out at banks, or financial districts. Sure, things happen there, but you are rarely in the position to see anything.”


    “The real ticket for super fights is to make major monuments or large art displays a hang out place. Villains can’t seem to resist picking fights at them, and heroes can’t seem to stay away from them either. It’s like they live for set piece battles! The Bean in Chicago seems to be especially popular, probably cause it doubles as a mirror?”


    CapeCatcher Podcast


    The lights of Vegas where all around them, all a bit magical. Elizabeth’s new fledglings where having a blast, and the plan was to go see the fountains at the Bellagio, get dinner then head to the pirate show. “So how many people are you going to be at dinner tonight? I know you want to try everything." She teased Anzy. The girl had been triplets at the buffet in Ceasars.


    "Just one. Amalfi is gonna be too crowded for more." She laughed, stepping around a man snapping cards she chose to ignore the topic of. "I''m just glad they all agreed. Helps that it''s a Bobby Flay restaurant. You might not know who he is, but most folks do."


    “I am just enjoying all the food. This place is intense” she said. She had been shocked by all the flesh peddlers with their trading cards, Penny had to explain Nevada’s prostitution laws to her. It was just so brazen and flagrant, by the end of the evening the sidewalks and roads would be covered in a pornographic snow that would somehow disappear with the sun. “How are you doing Mercedes? Handling the crowd alright?”


    "I''m managing. It helps that they''re all completely out of their minds." she said wryly.


    "You mean drunk."


    "I think I mean both."


    “I spotted another Elvis!” Levi said snapping a quick picture with his phone. Granny and Solaris had put out a challenge to see how many they could find, after explaining Elvis to the Brit when she asked why so many people were dressed as the sparkly man.


    "I still think my Tiny Elvis should get double points." Erica muttered as they pushed their way towards the rails to watch the upcoming fountain show. "I think it’s supposed to start soon, so hurry up guys."


    Solaris, not wanting to accidentally launch people into the road, followed more slowly, ending up at the railing a few meters down from the group of kids. Penny was with the kids, listening to them with a smile, giving Solaris a salute, before her attention was drawn by a question from Mercedes.


    "The future sure is weird, isn''t it Major." A voice said from beside Solaris. She turned, finding a man with sandy hair, a somewhat unremarkable face, and wearing what looked like World War Two era fatigues, only without any markings. "But you have to admit, they know how to do flashy."


    A visceral terror went through her, this place was chock full of bystanders, though she let nothing show on her face. “Hello Nathan. Indeed, they do. What brings you to Vegas?” She was trying to think of some way to alert Penny and the fledglings, already assessing where there was space which was pretty much nowhere except in the fountain.


    "What, I can''t gamble like any other fella?" He asked with an innocent expression, arms spread. "You can stop looking, there''s not enough room to swing a cat.


    “Honestly, I was in town because I heard there were some interesting things to see, and eat, in the Atomic museum. Sadly, nothing I particularly cared about. But then I noticed an old friend was in town! How could I not say hi?" His tone was mocking, his disdain nearly dripping off the words.


    “Have you changed your spots then?” She remembered this man all too well he’d been drummed out of camp X for bad behavior. The longer she kept him talking the longer Penny had to notice and get people out of the way.


    "You know my spots are constantly changing." He said. "But I am curious what you''re up to. I Noticed you with your little group of ducklings. I wonder, forming a new team, or just feeling... motherly."


    She snarled “Neither. You know better than most that the mother’s path is not for me. They are employees I hired to cook and take care of my house for me. I didn’t have the pleasure of going through time the long way.”


    "Well, you got to avoid the seventies, so that''s not entirely bad. But enough chit chat. You know what I really want."


    “I suppose I do.” Her aura flared golden, as she prepared to take the first move, but she was already too late.


    The man she was talking to seemed to turn into semi-solid goo, even as it moved towards her with ferocious speed. Hitting, and grabbing, her. Solaris heard screams fill the air as what hit her was revealed to be the end of a camouflaged tentacle.


    From the water of the huge fountain lifted a massive form, vaguely humanoid in the most putrid of senses, like a month-old corpse had grown four stories tall, as well as three diseased looking appendages. The head had a face, that bore only the barest relations to the man she''d known.


    She was slammed into the concrete, fragments flying all around her as shrapnel causing nearby onlookers to cry out in pain from minor injuries. She rolled with the strike, letting her light shine full and bright, it wouldn’t distract her eyes, but it would make it harder for Chimera to see through her.


    “My goodness Nathan, you’ve really let yourself go,” She said as she pushed off into the air from her crater. “That’s a face even a mother couldn’t love.” She surged forward, driving a savage, double heeled kick into his chest, shoes shattering as she tried to force him towards the center of the fountains.


    The kick met flesh that was pliable as clay, absorbing the impact with shocking aplomb. "She was a bitch, anyhow." He roared, two pseudopods diving towards her, the tips turning from slimy meat to shining, hardened bone moments before striking her in the chest and back.


    She hissed in pain, her t-shirt ripping on the bone spurs as she pulled herself free, flying higher into the air as she considered her options. She couldn’t flare her aura to blinding brightness, it could harm panicking bystanders. Instead, she whipped around in a tight orbit around him, trying to build as much speed as she could before flying towards his face, trying to get as much momentum as she could, flipping at the last moment to slam her locked legs around his throat.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Oh, such an improper lady you are." He choked out a laugh, his hands grabbing her, and his throat, as he dropped into the water, pulling her under with him. "Need to cool you down."


    She struggled not to gasp as the shockingly cold water of the fountain hit her skin. For all her power, she still needed to breathe. No fear found her, however. Rage, on the other hand, did.


    “You want to swim arsehole.” She thought she grabbed one of his fingers and pulled, for the first time in a long time holding nothing she was back, her light a small sun under the water as she ripped his pointer finger off his body letting it fall deeper in the fountain.


    Chimera howled, releasing the glowing woman as he pushed away in the thirteen-foot-deep water, deeper into the wide curve of the pool. He burst back out of the surface, almost simultaneously with her doing the same.


    "That hurt!" he howled, only to pause as gunfire from behind him drew his notice. Three cops were shooting at his back. "Oh, you''re just adorable." He grumbled, flexing. Eight pods launched from what looked like boils on his back, landing with wet slaps on the concrete, before unfolding into smaller monsters, who pounced on the police. "Now where was I."


    Solaris, hovering high above him, glared at the monsters, but shook it off. She knew she couldn’t help them, leaving that up to Penny. “I have to keep on him.”


    She dove, skimming only inches above the sidewalk, grabbing and ripping out one of the globed street lamps ripping it out of the ground, barely avoiding another spike driving into the ground as she arced back, flying towards him using the dirt covered cement lump on the end to batter at Chimera like a pi?ata.


    He staggered back for several hits before gaining his footing, throwing a lazy looking but staggeringly fast haymaker, slamming into her with enough force to crack his own bones. Even as unmovable as Solaris usually was, she flew back several feet, knocking a tree over as she impacted it.


    On the ground, Erica and Anzy ran towards the struggling police, Anzy splitting into five parts, one staying with Erica, the other three running harder, one of her scooping up a dropped shotgun and firing it point blank into a monster’s head.


    Another clone grabbed a pistol and vanished, the pistol appearing in the hands of the girl next to Erica. "Catch!" She said, tossing her the pistol. Smoothly the mechanic caught the gun and snapped off three shots seemingly without aiming, a round drilling through a different monster with each shot.


    Elenore threw her hands out, and two solid black winged sabretooths swirled into reality the two cats pounced on one of the Chimera’s minions. “Iteration get some clones on crowd control. Dryad, help Iteration, and get barriers up!”


    Several clones ran towards the crowd, helping people who had fallen, urging people to run who hadn''t started yet, particularly the idiots who were taking pictures from a cell phone.


    Erica cursed as another group of pods slammed into the ground, one gun going dry as she emptied rounds into them before they could get up. “I’m running out here!”


    Mercedes grumbled. "Yeah, I know." As she seemed to grow herself, tripling her original height as she sprouted wooden ''armor'' and huge bramble like spikes on her limbs. She flexed, and several decorative plants began to move, their limbs like hands grabbing people and pushing them away. She, herself, grabbed two of the new monsters and flung them back at their creator, their bodies bursting into slime as they hit.


    Levi ran slammed a glowing red fist into the face of one of minions gagging a bit at the smell of its cooking flesh as its head turned into a fine green mist. He turned to face another, but it’s head vanished as Penny put a .500 round through its skull. “Does this happen a lot?”


    “Eh, you get used to it.”


    Solaris wheezed a little working on getting her breath back after Chimera slipped a hammer like pod behind her, driving the air out of her lungs. She spun the cast iron street light over and used gravity and her own flight to spear down at Chimera, using the height his own strike had granted her to her own advantage, only to have to throw herself to the side as a massive geiser of water shot into the air, the show having apparently began on its preprogrammed show.


    “What the hell?” Chimera said, stepping away from the artillery like bursts of water, having completely forgotten in the fight where they were fighting. Realizing his surprise, Solaris smashed her streetlamp  at the back of the monster''s legs sending him to his knees, and directly into the path of three of the most powerful spouts.


    Chimera staggered, struggling to his feet, unaware of what was beneath him till they kicked off, several dozen water cannons going off around him, three slamming into his body, sloughing flesh from diseased bones. He screamed in rage and pain, not having realized the danger of the fountain itself before the pain came.


    Solaris punched his kidney, trying to force him further into the spouts, letting out a shout of joy as he stumbled again, before taking a blast to her front that finished off her poor shirt, driving her back in need of air.


    The rippling blast of several cannons ripped into his falling form, leaving a floating mass of flesh in the center of the fountain, even as the program continued. After several minutes, it finally stopped, leaving the monster and its blood staining the water.


    Solaris floated above the monster making sure he didn’t ''t get back up. Panting a bit and glad she’d worn a sports bra. “God Nathan you are such an ass. All these years and water is still a weakness.”


    Silence was all that answered, she drifted closer “Well, that’s a new trick.” Chimera’s skull seemed hollow, as if something had burst from it. “Till next time.” She said  softly looking for her friends then drifting over to them. “Are you all okay?”


    Anzy was sitting with her head between her legs. Mercedes patting her back. "We''re fine. Anzy had one of her clones get popped so she''s a bit nauseous."


    "Luckily we were close to where the damn pods fell." Penny said. "I don''t think anyone not already enhanced got a scratch. Well, no one lived through it." She said, glancing at the original targets.


    Solaris closed her eyes. “I am sorry I couldn’t divert from Chimera himself; Nathan was focused on me he would have just chased me.”


    "And there''s no safe direction to kite him other than keeping him in the water." Levi nodded. "We understand. Sorry we couldn''t help you in some way.".


    You did good, you worked together well, you got bystanders out of the way and took out his sub-units before they could do catastrophic damage, be proud of yourselves


    "We did our best." Evelyn said. Then she frowned. "Wait, did you call him Nathan?"


    “Yes. I’ve fought him many times. Since he first expressed.”


    "But... I mean... The Chimera, Champion of Chaos, Devourer of Degradation..." Evelyn shook her head. "His name is freaking Nathan? That''s...so mundane."


    Penny shook her head, taking off her sweater and offering it to Solaris.


    "Thank you, Penny." she pulled it on. the sweater covering the bruises that where beginning to form on her torso. "He''s just a man Elenore. An insecure, greedy fool who happened to get powers. She looked around. At least there isn''t too much property damage. She took her phone out and dialed Zakai''s emergency number.


    "Hello Solaris. Enjoying Las Vegas?" He asked.


    "Yes, up until Chimera decided to use the Bellagio fountains as an arena. I took him down, but he split part of himself off to run away. There are a few cops down, but no civilian casualties I am aware of, and minimal property damage. My new employees, students from the Nevada super school took out his spawn. Should I head back to the hotel and take cover or continue to our dinner reservations as a show of strength."


    "Go to the hotel, order room service." He instructed. "I am already aware of the event, though details in the media are still sketchy. Can you send me a more detailed summary of what happened?" He asked.


    "Yes. I can do that." She hung up. "Okay once the police release us, we are heading back to the hotel, we are all going to my suite so we can write reports while the information is fresh. We''ll order room service. She looked at Penny. "What all do we still need to do here,” she looked around to make sure emergency services where in route.


    "You all go back; I can handle the cops. One last hurrah for the UNLOC ID." She joked. "Order me a steak and potato. See you back at the suite."