Knock Knock


    “So called superheroes can be extremely jumpy when they go into an unusual situation. To be fair, for experienced heroes the unexpected is their bread and butter but that’s part of the problem.”


    “When you work in a job where, at random intervals, you might end up with you and your teammates being tried for capital crimes they didn’t commit, getting ambushed by splicer beast ambush predators, and occasionally sniped at by conventional foes, this leaves them with a bit if shoot first and ask questions later philosophy.


    “Fortunately, they tend to not use lethal attacks that way. That’s more of a grey cape routine.”


    Living Avatar, Leader of the St. Louis Sentinels during a television interview.


    Zoya smiled as she took the car keys from Levi, a week with the other young adults saw her happier than she’d been in a while, her black hair was shiny and cut into a sharp bob, and she’d gained two pounds eating Anzy’s food. “Anything special I should be watching for? She was shifting better last night, and I kid you not I think my tips have gone up like 20 percent in her!”


    "We did a wheel alignment, but I''m not totally familiar with the set of tools we used, so let me know if she''s pulling at all." Erica said. "Other than that, just let us know if she does anything odd." She said, leading her out to the Maserati they''d found at Copart for shockingly low. It was an older, but not classic, Maserati but still.


    “Will do I’ll find some straight ways to see how solid she is.” She tossed her insulated bag in the front and took off. Anzy who’d ridden in with the younger girl. “So, what are we working on tonight?


    "I got the door and panels for the bug. They''re not the same color, but she''s a good car to do the first paint on when we set up a booth, so I say we change those out and get rid of that gash.''


    Anzy nodded. "I was going to break away from the actual car fun for a bit, and do some calling about kitchen stuff. I''ve got the first batch of things delivered, but I wanted to talk to some vendors about some nice service I''ve been eying. I figure the boss is going to do a big dinner party at some point with that twenty person table she has, so I want to get all the stuff lined up to serve it that I can, instead of relying on delivery on a time limit."


    Makes sense to me. Levi said, has Mercades found the right evergreen for the front yet? I know she needs to get it in before she gets the Gazebo installed.


    "She found a Frazier Fur that she is coaxing into being its best self. It''s a little small at the moment but she has high hopes for it."


    “Cool, I know boss is really looking forward to Christmas. Levi went over to the bug to help Erica pull the door off; this is going to be adorable once it’s done. He said carrying the door to the recycling bin near the door.


    "Hell, yeah it is, and I''ve ordered all the parts to upgrade it too." Erica said happily.


    Did you See Mercades sketch, baby blue with sunflowers and hummingbirds. I think she kinda wants this one.” But that would ruin getting her a real Mercades. He tipped his head as a slick looking black and gold custom car roared into the lot.


    "I mean, if she really wants it, we could just not do it.


    “Who’s that?" Levi asked, seeing a car pull in front of the shop.


    “I don’t know, it’s a little late for most drop offs but our lights are on, so he probably thinks we’re open. Erica said. “Maybe it’s someone who knows the boss?” Levi began walking out, wrench in hand to see what the potential customer needed Frowning as she saw the costume and mask. She began to follow her boyfriend.


    Qilin got out of car, a frown on his masked face, the chop shop was a rundown Lamborghini shop. He saw several grubby looking young adults tearing apart a car, he could see other high-end cars sitting in the lot waiting to be broken down. One of the young troublemakers was heading straight for him. He ran forward and punched the fellow in the face following it up with a kick to the boy’s midsection.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Levi took the shot to the face completely flatfooted and went down gasping, clutching his face and gasping for breath. The kick had been powerful, blowing through his limited enhanced durability and knocking the wind from his lungs with savage efficiency.


    "The fuck!" Erica yelled, unimpressed with the bastard who just hit her boyfriend’s attempt at an intimidating glare, throwing a screwdriver from her bibs pocket with laser accuracy, only for it to be caught in midair.


    Before the strange man could advance and press his attack, however, three Anzy''s came out of the garage and dove for him, one going high, one going low, and the third swinging a two by four like a bat right at his midsection.


    Qilin cursed to himself, of course his delinquent daughter actually had fallen in with super thieves with actual training. The trio of blondes were far more skilled than he’d expect from someone their age, and they all had different styles. He was trying to push them back towards the building, while seeking holes in their defenses to disable them. He needed to see if Zoya was there.


    Two Iteration''s of Anzy fell back, leaving a well-timed opening for Erica who had grabbed a pair of ball pean hammers from Levi’s tool chest. She came in swinging, thrusting with one heavy hammer, knowing it wouldn''t be expected by most people who think of hammers as something you swung.


    Unfortunately, the costumed man wasn’t most people, and twisted out of the way of the hammer enhanced punch, bringing his fist around in a spinning backfist. Erica, using the other hammer like a short tonfa blocked the blow, but her slight form was light enough that she staggered back from the strength of his blow. Her technique was far from as polished as Anzy''s.


    However, Erica cheated. Tachyon''s were a very energetic particle, and gave her a few moments warning, and an tenth of a second meant a lot to someone with her reflexes. His next two blows were too fast for her to counter, but easy enough to dodge.


    The martial artist cursed as he took a punch to the ribs from one of the triplets, sending a short rabbit punch at the brunette with the odd eyes as he head butted one of the blonds. Another man, this one with longish brown hair peeked out of the garage.


    He was followed, bizarrely, but a Roomba that seemed to have extra arms.


    “Chuck no! Stop!” He shouted as the tiny assistant bot popped a switchblade out of nowhere, and a small torch as it raced towards the intruder.


    Qilin snapped a kick into the bizarre charging killbot, sending it bouncing off of a double arm block another triplet threw up as he sent the robot flying at her, the white disk spinning into the wall with a crash of plastic and metal.


    The hero heard more voices, and what sounded like tigers roaring and realized he had come into a situation without enough information, and no backup. He swept both girl’s still engaged directly with him feet and dove into a roll, managing to get into his car and spin around in a reversing turn, getting out of the parking lot with what looked like two winged sabertoothed tigers barely missing the tail end of his supercar.


    “Chuck!” Badger yelled, running over to his bot, seeing if his programming core was alright. “Who the fuck was that? “ He asked, cradling the bot’s black box. “Levi you okay man? He said as Erica ran to her boyfriend’s side.


    Five minutes ago:


    Penny and Solaris were watching a small airplane fly around them. "Think they''re just taking a look at the boat?" Penny asked absently. It was a little plane, so not exactly threatening. Just kind of odd to see this far out.


    “No idea. Maybe it’s a media person?” Solaris sipped her drink, she was in a royal blue one piece bathing suit, with a wide brimmed hat and a robin’s blue indigo dyed silk hip wrap. “If they came all the way out here, I have to commend their dedication.”


    "Makes you wonder how they even found us. We''re even in international waters, so not like they saw us from shore."


    "Oh, they''re coming around for a landing?" Wearing a modest mono-kini, Penny had to pull a pair of pocket binoculars from her bag, looking up. "Oh, that''s an amphibious plane, I think it''s like the ones we saw at Guardian Atoll."


    Garret ran up to her with her. “Lady Summers, we just got a call from your manager, Eleanore. Someone attacked your employees at the garage. They have retreated to the house.


    “Penny I have to go, have the ship continue on to Islip. Someone attacked the fledglings.” She dropped her wrap and hat on the lounger and took off like a shot her golden light a dim star in the daylight.


    Penny watched as Solaris took off straight up, then turned a right angle and shot northward at maximum acceleration, disappearing quickly as she broke 400 miles per hour. Then she looked over the rail at the small plane, a man looking up in confusion and concern. "So, you came to talk to Solaris, right?" She called down.


    "Yes. Did she leave to avoid me? I''m from the Public Relations department with the Guardians, and was hoping to patch up relations after whatever Pinnacle did."


    "No, someone attacked her employees. Tell you what, I''ll come down and we can chase her." She hurried to the bridge. "Keep heading for Long Island. I''m going to go with the Guadian''s guy to chase your sister.


    "Of course. It''ll likely take us until tomorrow morning to get to the island, and then a bit longer to navigate the sound to the house. See you there."