Chapter One - Capture
Songbird's thoughts turned desperately to her friend and mentor Liberty, a senior member of the Femme Fighters, the premiere superhero group in Beacon City. Wanting to impress her mentor, she'd gone out looking for Cyberdominus, a new villain rumored to be operating by the waterfront. He'd already robbed at least two banks using squads of robot drones.
She was well aware that it wasn't the smartest decision to go after him alone, but she was tired of being thought of as the helpless sidekick. It was time to make a name for herself, and she was confident that she could handle some science nerd tinkering away with robots. She had superpowers, after all, and her sonic scream was formidable enough. Once she'd bagged herself a real villain, she'd finally have the respect that she felt was lacking.
Unfortunately, it hadn't taken long for Songbird to realize she was in over her head. The whole thing was a trap orchestrated by Cyberdominus specifically to draw her in. She didn't want to call Liberty into this situation, but she no longer had a choice in the matter.
"Liberty, this is Songbird. I'm in Cyberdominus's lair and I need your help..."
* * *
"Dammit, she should have
known
better," Liberty muttered to herself as she punched the front door of the warehouse building. It exploded inward under the assault of her frustration and super strength.
She'd watched the exterior of the building looking for signs of Songbird, hoping she hadn't actually entered the building yet. But she was not in evidence outside, and she wasn't responding to her communicator.
Coming to a place like this on her own, trying to take on a villain by herself. She had
nothing
to prove to me.
But Liberty knew that Songbird had been a sidekick longer than any other member of the Femme Fighters. She knew that at 22, Songbird was feeling inadequate in her position on the team. Even Slink had graduated from sidekick under Shadow Maiden to a full-fledged hero by 19. But the fact was, though Songbird's power was a formidable disruptive force, she'd never excelled at hand-to-hand combat, which, like it or not, was a crucial component to fighting crime in Beacon City. Liberty only hoped that this new villain "Cyberdominus" couldn't pose much of a physical threat. These brainiac science types usually weren't dangerous on their own, but their inventions and the devious traps they could concoct, on the other hand...well, that could be another story altogether.
She'd read the scant files the Fighters had on this new villain. Apparently he'd robbed some banks using flimsy mechanical soldiers that only posed a threat because of their numbers and their armaments—certainly enough to give a security guard pause, but no match for a bulletproof powerhouse like Liberty, who could easily tear these robot soldiers apart with her bare hands.
Liberty marched fearlessly through the open darkness of the large warehouse building, eyes scanning across crates and cargo containers, looking for something to punch. And soon enough, she found it. A glint of silver flashed in the darkness between two stacks of shipping containers, and Liberty crouched into a defensive stance, fists in the air. A thin, metallic clinking sound echoed through the emptiness of the room, followed by the sudden appearance of a robot in the corridor between two stacks of containers.
The mechanical minion paused and tilted its head to the side, taking in the threat before it. It was a flimsy-looking construct, held aloft by thin legs. Long, spindly arms dangled at its side. Its lengthy fingers twitched as if with anticipation, but it carried no weapon Liberty could see. Suddenly three more robots poured forth from the tunnel of darkness. They curled their thin plated fingers into fists and crouched slightly as if they were about to charge.
"Alright, then." Liberty's lips curled into a devilish grin as she surged forth.
Her first punch caught the lead bot square in the face, creating a fist-sized dent in its face plate. One of its glowing blue eyes faded to darkness, and it flailed madly, arms whirling to find a target. One arm clanged into another robot behind it, while Liberty caught the limb that wheeled past her. Spinning the robot around, she released her grip to send it flying into its companions, who scattered like bowling pins.
"This won't even be challenging enough to be fun!" she scoffed as a dozen more robots poured through the open pathway between crates. She stood watching as she allowed them to circle around her. When she was good and surrounded, she gave a curt nod of satisfaction and jumped toward the nearest robot, bringing her elbow down on the top of its neck, creating another fist-sized dent and twirling to punch the next robot.
She soon found herself in an all-out melee with over a dozen robots. They clawed and swung at her, and many of their swings found their target, but Liberty didn't even seem to feel the punches. She easily tossed robots aside as if they were made of aluminum foil, scattering them, ripping off limbs and beating others back swinging their thin amputated appendages. Liberty laughed with exhilaration as wave after wave of robot rushed at her and she easily pummeled them into pieces. Finally, after seemingly endless flurries of punches, Liberty stood triumphant in a pile of scrap, metal bodies bent, broken and scattered in pieces around her.
"Is that all you got?" Liberty called out into the expanse of warehouse around her. "I barely broke a sweat."
She bent down and picked up a wedge-shaped robot head, easily plucking it from the collapsed body attached to it. Colored wires trailed from the bottom of its neck. She turned it around in her hands, examining it thoughtfully.
So flimsy and cheap. Maybe good to scare civilians, but no match for a superhero. Shouldn't have been any match for Songbird either. Perhaps she's already apprehended Cyberdominus.
