Super Thieves

Andrew

Heather ran into the room just as we had landed with Glow Woman. Black Ice stood on the other side of the circular room in traditional super villain fashion. Creepy smile, creepy costume, and a sickening laugh that made me want to vomit as soon as I heard it.

"I didn't kill you the first time? Pity," he laughed.

"You hit like a bitch," I snapped, "what's your dick even made out of? A purple Popsicle?"

"Nobody likes the purple flavor," Heather added on just as angrily.

"Maybe I'll run it across your face while you bleed out," Black Ice said with a strange smile.

"You'd be into that, wouldn't you?" I laughed. Heather, Carter, and I all had our guns on him and Glow Woman looked ready to kill.

"Surrender and we'll kill you quickly," Glow Woman spat. Her body started to radiate with a vibrant green energy and I could see neon flames starting to build up in her hands.

"I'm done playing."

Black Ice was the first to attack. The three of us opened fire while Glow Woman and him went toe to toe. I'd never seen anything like it before. Superheroes have always been a spectacle to watch, you'd have to be insane to deny that you haven't been mesmerized by a fight. But the anger, and the rage, and the desperation in Glow Woman's eyes...I'd never seen anything like it before. Heather started priming gadgets and throwing them while Carter and I just kept emptying clips into Black Ice. He used his powers to block most of what we were throwing at him, except for a few bullets here and there that had managed to break their way through.

"I'm done!" he growled. He grabbed Glow Woman by the throat and threw her to the floor below. The three of us kept at it, doing our best to dodge the icicles he was shooting at us while wearing him down. It was like a boss fight when you've got one life and a sliver of health left, we stuck to what little cover was available to us in the command center and tried our best to flank him. It seemed like he was hurt at least, but nowhere near dead or tired. If anything, he seemed to be getting stronger.

I knew there was no hope for us in a straight fight, so I got in close, dug my knife into Black Ice's side, and ran down the hallway with Heather and Carter. None of the superheroes could come to help, Glow Woman is down, and the three of us are running out of ammo.

"We can't beat him," Carter yelled as we ran.

"Sure we can, just gotta get creative," Heather shouted back. Running is not going to do anything for us, we need to hide. We slipped into a storage room and locked the door. As if a locked door is going to do anything to stop him.

"Glow Woman? Birdman? Anyone?" I whispered into the radio. There was nothing but static.

"Radio's are jammed, that's why I couldn't reach you sooner," Heather mumbled, climbing up a shelf and popping open the vent grate above us. The three of us climbed into the safety of the vents and locked the grate back into place to formulate a plan.

"How the hell do we beat him?" I said quietly as we started to crawl. A simple assault on the base has now became a very difficult game of cat and mouse. Black Ice most likely joined his foot soldiers in the fight. But hopefully he was stupid enough to chase after us.

"Fire melts ice. Anybody got a flame thrower?" Carter laughed.

"We may not have a flame thrower, but we do have a nuclear reactor that produces heat as a by product of creating energy," Heather said with a small smile, "the reactor room might be hot enough to affect his powers. It has to power an entire base after all."

"So how do we lure him there?" I asked as we kept crawling.

"He wants the last two pieces of the battery? Make him come get them."

The three of us stopped and smiled at each other. It's a crazy plan. But so was breaking into his base.

I kicked out a grate and dropped to the ground below with Heather and Carter close behind. Heather and Carter split off to the reactor room and left me with the last two pieces of the battery. All I have to do is make it there and we have a shot at taking him down. I stood in the command center with the pieces held high in the air.

"Hey! Blue balls!" I shouted down below. Black Ice whipped his head around so fast I thought his neck was going to snap. His eyes fixed on what I was holding and he smiled with his disgusting smile. He slowly started walking closer and I made a run for it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Glow Woman yelled over the radio.

"Reactor room. We might need backup. I hope you can melt doors," I said as I ran. I could hear the sounds of Black Ice skating behind me as I ran.

"You crazy bastard! I'll be right there!"

I almost slipped a couple of times, and dodging Black Ice's icicles wasn't a walk in the park, but I made it to the reactor room mostly alive. Black Ice slid in and stopped to gloat, like all villains must do before they try to kill you.

"You think you're safe here?" he chuckled, "a little heat won't stop me."

That's when the doors behind him shut with a clink and Carter opened fire. Heather joined in and I aimed for his chest. Black Ice flew into a rage, throwing ice everywhere and destroying equipment as we fired at him. One of us emptied a clip, another one opened fire, then another one dropped a clip. It was a beautiful system of blood and guts and bullets. Black Ice finally collapsed onto the ground and glared at the three of us with a fury that froze my soul.

"I guess you're going to want to take me in now?" he chuckled, blood dripping from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. The sounds of his lungs struggling to suck in air as the three of us kept our guns on him.

"I'm willing to go to prison if it means putting you down," I said simply. I pressed the barrel of my gun to his forehead and emptied two bullets into his skull. I've killed hundreds of people. From civilians, to politicians, to superheroes. And yet, even if he was a murdering psychopath, I still feel bad for pulling the trigger. You think it'd be easy to kill someone like him. Even Glow Woman was prepared to and she lives by a "no killing" rule.

"What now?" Carter asked as he stared at Black Ice's bloodied, lifeless, body.

"Hide this, we'll pretend it fell into the reactor," I whispered as I handed Carter one of the battery pieces. Heather opened the reactor core and retrieved the other pieces while I hoisted Black Ice's corpse over my shoulder. No matter how gross it would be to show everyone, they're going to want to see it.

We left the now shut down reactor room and re-entered the command center. Most of the foot soldiers were either in handcuffs or dead and the rest were retreating further into the base. Glow Woman stood in the command center with Birdman and Gravity Girl, the other heroes had spread our over the base to round up any last resistance.

They stopped talking when they saw I was carrying his body.

"There's no way in hell," Gravity Girl gasped, her jaw dropped to the floor.

"You. Actually. Did it," Glow Woman whispered. I laid Black Ice's body on the ground and just looked at them with no expression.

"We lost one of the battery pieces in the fight, here are the five we saved," I said simply. Heather handed the bag with the five pieces over to Birdman. None of them said anything, Glow Woman gave Gravity Girl and Birdman a small nod. The two left, leaving us in private with Glow Woman.

"What happened in there?" she asked quietly.

"Let's just say that we used up a lot of ammo," I said with a pained smile. Glow Woman just stared at us in disbelief.

"You did what so many others have failed to do," she said happily with a slight bit of shock in her voice, "I know you aren't very trusting of us. But Birdman would like to speak with you three back at NSL headquarters."

Carter, Heather, and I exchanged looks. We've really got nothing to lose, and we still have to give them their chip back.

"We'll meet you guys there."