Jordan Summers awoke with a stretch of her tanned limbs and slipped from bed, reaching for a robe hanging over the back of a chair. She examined herself quickly in a vanity mirror situated over a squat dresser, fussing over her tangled burgundy hair. "I need a shower," she yawned.
Jordan was not a morning person and didn't consider herself truly awake until she completed a shower and swallowed a cup of coffee.
Next to the dresser, on a wide desk, were six flat-screen computer monitors situated around a hulking keyboard. She paused at the desk out of habit, tapped on a key, and quickly scanned several windows of streaming data and video feeds; nothing unusual seemed to be happening in the city. Satisfied by what she saw, Jordan slipped the robe on and padded on bare feet out of her bedroom.
"Travis?" she was surprised to see her roommate's boyfriend squatting in front of a linin closet. He wasn't wearing anything other than a pair of boxer-briefs and a white undershirt, though a towel was draped over his shoulder. "Um, what are you doing?"
Travis slowly stood and turned. He was holding a red spandex costume draped across his hands; a Mega-Girl costume.
"Oh," Jordan saw what he was holding, her expression like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "Crap."
Travis looked down at the spandex, "I'm sorry about last week, when I blew you off."
"What?" Jordan sounded confused.
"Don't play dumb, I know you're Mega-Girl. When you came to see me last week, and we made plans to hang out, I really wanted to... I just, I think I'm in love with Penny."
"Wait," Jordan laughed. "You think
I'm
Mega-Girl?"
"Well yeah," Travis gestured with the costume. "Isn't it obvious?"
"I hate to be the one to break it to you honey, but -"
Harbinger! Harbinger, are you there?
The grainy-sounding voice was coming from a speaker inside Jordan's room.
"What was that?" Travis asked, startled by how loud it was.
Jordan spun and moved quickly towards her computer desk.
Travis followed, impressed by the half-dozen screens, "Wow, what the heck is all this?"
"I'm a computer-science major," Jordan replied, sitting in her swiveling desk chair. She turned to face the monitors and hit a few key strokes.
Harbinger. Harbinger, come in.
"Who's Harbinger?" Travis wondered in a clueless tone.
"I am," Jordan said, placing a headset over her burgundy hair. She adjusted the microphone in front of her mouth, "I'm here, MG. What's going on?"
I'm being attacked by Apollo!
"What?!?" Jordan's fingers began spinning a mouse-like trackball and the camera images on the monitors panned outwards.
Travis stood behind Jordan, watching the screens as he tried to figure out what was going on. He recognized Gateway City from above, but had no idea where the images could be coming from. The point of view on Jordan's computer screens was too high to be situated on any building.
He just attacked me! He came out of nowhere.
"Why would he do that?" Jordan asked.
I don't know, but I've never fought a three-thousand year-old god before; I need to figure out a way to stop him. I need your help.
Travis watched as one of the camera views zoomed in an incredible amount, showing a downtown street from a viewpoint directly above. The figures of people were small, but he recognized one of them as the world-famous Apollo! "Are these satellite images?" Travis asked, amazed that Jordan would have access to anything so high-tech.
She ignored his question. "I'll get into it right away," Jordan told Mega-Girl. "But it might take me some time. Can you hang in there?"
I'll certainly try.
Her fingers were suddenly dancing across the keyboard as Jordan pulled up a dozen different search windows at once. Almost immediately, newspaper articles and internet reports of Apollo's past activities, along with images of the god, filled all six monitor screens. Videos of him in action populated even more windows as Jordan continued to yank as much data as she could from the internet.
"What the hell is going on?" Travis asked, overwhelmed by the speed at which Jordan worked. "Was that Mega-Girl you were talking to?"
"Yes," she answered curtly, her attention glued to the monitors.
"But I thought you were -?"
"I don't really have time to explain it to you right now, Travis. I need to figure out how someone can defeat an ancient Roman god."
"But if you're not..." It suddenly dawned on Travis, "Wait, you mean Penny is...?"
Jordan sounded irritated. "You need to either shut-up or help me figure out a way to keep your girlfriend alive."
"Are you telling me my girlfriend is fighting Apollo right now? Holy shit!"
"Damn it, Travis, Penny is in a lot of danger right now! You need to stop asking questions and help me. Apollo is like the most powerful guy on the planet. At the very least - he's the strongest."
Travis sobered, "O-okay, um, what can I do?"
"We need to figure out if Apollo has any weaknesses."
"How are we going to do that?"
Jordan pointed at her screens, "Look for anything that stands out as something Mega-Girl could use against him. Look for common denominators - things he always does, or never does. Even the smallest detail could be a clue."
Travis began studying the videos that were playing on screen, footage of the god battling various super villains. The only thing he thought any of them had in common was how savagely Apollo fought. Travis swallowed nervously, suddenly very worried for Penny.
=======
Apollo stood in his gleaming armor with the greenery of Byrne Park spread out around him and drew an arrow from the quiver on his back, "You have fought well, mortal. But thy days have reached their end."
Mega-Girl winced as she clutched at the arrow shaft protruding from her left shoulder. With a pain-filled scream she pulled it out, the arrowhead tearing her flesh. She didn't want another one of those arrows coming anywhere near her, realizing Apollo had found some way to bypass her normally-reliable invulnerability.
"Wait," she said, trying to buy some time for Harbinger. "Why are you trying to kill me? It doesn't make any sense."
Apollo notched his arrow, "I must prove my love to the mortal Lauren Smith, so that we may be together forever."
"How is killing me going to prove your love for some chick?"
Apollo aimed his bow, but Mega-Girl's question momentarily confused him. He loosened the bowstring.
"I don't even know this person," Mega-Girl continued, covering her wound with a palm. "Why does she want me dead?"
"It matters little," Apollo decided, raising his bow once more and drawing its string to take aim.
"Shit," Mega-Girl cursed, taking off into the air with the speed of a bullet.
Apollo fired but missed, his arrow arcing harmlessly through the air. Replacing the bow upon his back, Apollo flew after her, his speed equal to hers.
Flying straight upwards, Mega-Girl aimed for the clouds, but Apollo proved the faster. He reached and took hold of her ankle, flexing his mighty arm and hurling Mega-Girl back towards the earth. She landed with the force of a crashing meteor, a detonation of grass and dirt erupting around her petite frame. Her wounded shoulder exploded with the pain of a thousand stabbing daggers and she barely had time to cry out from the agony before Apollo was on top of her, pounding her face and body with punch after devastating punch.
Instinctively, Mega-Girl curled a leg between them and kicked with all her strength. Her foot caught Apollo in the stomach and sent him spinning through the air. He crashed into a park bench a hundred feet away, shattering it into splinters.
Crawling out of a crater of dirt and soil, Mega-Girl had trouble rising to her feet. The left sleeve of her costume was growing soaked with blood and her shoulder was throbbing in pain. Unfortunately for her Apollo wasn't done. He flew into her with the speed and power of a runaway locomotive, driving Mega-Girl through the air and slamming her back-first into a thick tree with a sharp crack. Once again the god's savage fists began raining blows, pinning her between the tree and his onslaught.
But Mega-Girl wasn't ready to give up. She shot her forehead towards the vicious god's face, head-butting him in the nose. In the moment that bought her, she lifted a hard knee into his groin causing Apollo to stumble backwards in sudden pain. And then, with every ounce of strength she could muster, Mega-Girl swung a massive haymaker punch with her one good arm.
The blow launched Apollo high into the air. He flew for hundreds of yards, disappearing from view to land behind a line of trees.
=======
"This guy is brutal!" Travis exclaimed, watching a video of Apollo defeating The Leviathan.
"There must be something," Jordan remained optimistic. "There must be some way he can be defeated."
"It's hopeless," Travis feared. "I mean, the only thing in common I see is that he beats the crap out of everyone he fights and that all these fights take place during the day. Not very helpful."
"Oh shit," Jordan began cycling through each of the videos and photos, glancing at each one quickly. "That's it!"
"What?" Travis was confused.
"Apollo is the god of light," Jordan remarked excitedly.
"So?" Travis shrugged
"Don't you study your mythology? Apollo is the sun god. And Look! Every single time he's been captured on video battling a super villain, it was during the day."
"So?" Travis still didn't get it.
"So why doesn't he ever fight at night?" Jordan asked.
Travis' eyes widened as he finally caught up with Jordan's train of thought, "Because the night makes him weak!"
Jordan beamed a smile, "That's got to be it. You're a genius, Travis!"
