Virtual Reality Heroes (working title)

A blue blur shot across the rooftop of a city skyscraper, covering over 20 yards a second. Black tar radiated the sun’s heat as the yellow soles of running shoes smacked the fiery surface. Wind whipped across the flat expanse, pulling at the runner, trying in vain to push her towards the rooftop’s edge, but she kept running, faster and faster, running for her life.
         Whoosh! Ricochet reached the edge of the rooftop and sailed out into blue sky, and suddenly there were 50 stories of nothing between her shoes and the buzzing streets below. Rushing wind tugged at her yet again, pulling and pushing, veering her slightly, slowly off course. She wasn’t going to make it! She tried gauging her chances of landing on the next building but the flashing light from the myriad of windows blinded her, and tears drawn out from the wind blurred her vision.
         After long seconds in mid-flight she hit the next rooftop and rolled to her feet, forcing herself to keep running. They were going to catch her if she stopped running. She tore off down a pathway between giant buzzing boxes, ducts and vents that kept the people inside the city cool. She came to a corner and turned sharply, and her feet lost their footing on the loose gravel.
         “Ah!” she blurted in pain and surprise as she slid on her side, slamming into the side of a shuddering green box. “That’s nice,” she muttered, catching sight of a tear in her costume’s left sleeve. “Mom’s gonna throw a fit-!”
         THUD. THUD. THUD. Three bullet holes appeared just above her, slamming into the sheet metal and ripping through the fan inside. “You just don’t give up, do you?!” she screamed at her unseen assailant, pushing herself to her feet as three more bullets tore up the ground around her. She tore off across the rest of the open rooftop, gaining speed as she approached the edge. The next jump was a big one- could she make it? She could make it. Could she? Yes. Could she? Yeah. Could she?
         Oh, yeah.
         Ricochet launched herself into the abyss, propelling her limber body out across the city’s highest peaks, soaring in an arc towards the Acme building. She just cleared a pile of unused metal pipes and banked left, letting the force of her impact carry her behind the cover of a second pile of pipes. Metal rang as a bullet bounced around inside a pipe and then there was only the wind, a helicopter, and the very distant sounds of the city far below. “Time to go, hero,” she muttered, resisting the temptation to let her legs rest a while longer. “Time…to…GO!”
         In a tremendous spurt of speed she darted out from behind her shelter, running at a ninety degree angle from which she had come. The ground around her exploded and she zoomed towards the next opening. “Orion!” she shouted into her wrist communicator. “Bruiser! Phenome! Cobalt!” She was nearly there…!
         Suddenly, where before there had only been an empty chasm, a propeller appeared, dicing the air as it hauled its load skyward. Ricochet dug her heels into the ground and grimaced as her back drug along the rooftop, and she quickly came to a stop with her feet braced against the lip of the rift. The helicopter rose until its cockpit was level with her, and she rose, standing eye-to-eye with her bizarre assailant.
         “Get out of my way, Composite!” she threatened, raising a steady finger in his direction. “Don’t make me go through you!”
         Composite grinned, his teeth flashing in the sunlight. His visor turned from a clear color to a magenta red, and Ricochet saw figures moving around beneath the glass. Two arms came up, and at the ends of them organic metal was already forming into guns. More metal wrapped itself around a thick torso, molding over a broad chest and muscular thighs, transforming the man-machine into a suit of walking armor. The lower legs ballooned into giant anchors and the helicopter dipped slightly before adjusting to the weight. Composite’s grin grew wider as the rings at the ends of his arms began spinning.
         “Still think you can move me?”
         Ricochet became a blur of motion, evading the bullets as she made a beeline for a small trench 6 yards to her right. She leaped just as the line of bullets nipped at her heels and she landed on her stomach in the gravelly ditch, covering her face as bullets whizzed by overhead. “Bruiser!” she yelled into her wristcom. “Bruiser, if you can hear me, I need assistance! I’m on top of Building 4, coordinates 24 xy, 230 yz! Repeat: 24 xy, 230 yz!” The bullets above her stopped flying, but the sound of the helicopter was steady and unmoving. “Orion! Cobalt! If someone can hear me, I am in need of assistance-!”
         “Nobody can hear you, Ricochet!” Composite’s deep voice bellowed over the sound of the rotors. “They’ve all been dealt with! You’re the last hero standing!”
         “Aw, shucks.” Ricochet slapped a palm against the ground and thought for a moment. Could she escape? A bullet pierced the air next to her ear as she peeked over the rim of the ditch and she fell back to the ground. “Ok,” she said to herself. “Ok, you’re the last one. What do you do? I have to get to the checkpoint! No sense going down fighting if I still have a chance!”
         “Come on out, little girl!” Composite taunted. “Is the fastest girl in the world too afraid to face my lead? I thought you were going to go through me?” A deep booming laugh and then, “I didn’t think so. You’ll never reach that checkpoint alive.”
         Ricochet gritted her teeth. I’ll show you, she thought. She took a deep breath and crawled, super-fast, towards a place where she could exit behind a pile of the unused pipes. The gravel bit at her hands and knees but she kept going as fast as she could, and in no time at all she had gained the cover of the thick tubes. “One…” she counted, “two…three!” She motored her legs as fast as she could, pushing towards the heavyset figure of Composite, who was caught off-guard by the blue blur racing towards him. He raised his guns- too slowly! Ricochet pushed off from the ground and rocketed straight towards the cockpit of the helicopter, forcing her body to vibrate at an accelerated level.
         Her body, vibrating so fast that it was nearly invisible, passed clean through the first window, and then through the pilot, who was immediately knocked unconscious. She just cleared the other window before her body gave out on her, her muscles so sore that she could hardly move. She fell towards the earth, the cars growing larger and larger. Within seconds she would be smeared all over the large street below, smashed between tire treads and into cracks in the cement. Move! she screamed to herself, but she just couldn’t bring her body to comply. Game over, she thought glumly as she caught a glimpse of the falling helicopter above her. I die, civilians die, and the bad guys win.
         Something slammed into her from the side, latched onto her, and the two slammed into the side of a semi truck. Her savior took the brunt of the force, placing himself between Ricochet and the metal, which crumpled like cardboard and almost completely encased them. Seconds later there was a grinding noise as the helicopter slammed into the street, tearing apart cars and lamp posts, and then a small explosion shook the metal cocoon. The screams of civilians could be heard as they ran from the flames.
         A deep voice uttered an oath in Ricochet’s ear. “How many times, Ricochet? You nearly got us both killed.” The sound of rending metal made Ricochet’s ears ring, and soon she was being pulled out of the remains of the big truck and onto the street, where energy cells were spread across the asphalt and flames were licking at the remains of the chopper.
         “Thanks, Bruiser,” Ricochet said gratefully to her friend as he helped her to stand. “I thought you had already been eliminated?”
         Bruiser shook his head, his blonde ponytail glittering in the sunlight. “Nah, not Bruiser. Cobalt ‘n’ Phenome, though- they weren’t so lucky.” He bent down and picked up a metal limb, which was a half-formed arm, like a gun with four fingers. It was cold and unmoving. “Looks like he won’t be comin’ back, eh? Now all’s we gots ta worry about is our dear Terminal Velocity.”
         Ricochet shook her head and tried to breathe slower. “Two against one, I’d call that fair,” she said, “but right now we need to clear out of here, and fast. If all of these energy cells catch fire, this whole intersection is going up in flames!”
         “Way ahead of ya, sis.” Bruiser lunged towards a nearby doorway and pounded the bricks to dust, widening it so he could get his massive form through. Ricochet followed at a brisk pace as Bruiser forced his way through the building, pushing people out of his way. “Get clear, friends!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. “There’s a battle goin’ down, and whateva you do, don’t you dare go outside!” Another wall opened itself for Bruiser as they made their way into the street on the other side.
         An explosion sounded one street over. “Looks like it blew,” Ricochet said wearily. “We need to get to that checkpoint before I faint. I’m running low on juice here.”
         Bruiser nodded and pointed to the west. “Four blocks straight dataway, in the small radio store on the south side of da street.”
         “Ditto.” Ricochet sped down the street, around and over cars and people, who never saw anything more defined than a blue blur. “Almost there,” she muttered as the next block came into view. “Almost…”
         A red blur sideswiped her and sent her reeling. A newspaper stand smashed to splinters as Ricochet barreled into it, sending papers and comics scattering in the breeze. She was on her hands and knees in an instant, struggling to catch her breath, and the red blur circled back before her. Suddenly it stopped, and in its place was a girl, with a big “TV” emblazoned on her chest.
         “Oh, almost,” she said, hands on hips, a big grin stretching from ear to ear. “If you had just kept your eyes open.” She shook her head sadly and made a tut-tut noise. “Looks like I have no choice but to teach you your lesson.”
         “Hey!” Ricochet and Terminal Velocity both snapped their heads around just in time to see Bruiser hurl a taxi through the air, straight at TV. TV shimmered, preparing to vibrate beyond solid matter, but Ricochet stuck out her hand and grabbed the other’s ankle, using her own power and forcing her to vibrate slower. The taxi slammed into TV and tore her away from Ricochet’s grip, slamming through a large plate of glass behind them and burying the front end of the car in the display window.
         “GO!” bellowed Bruiser, who was hefting another car above his head. “The checkpoint!” Ricochet climbed to her feet and ran across the street, dodging into the building just as another taxi rear-ended the one already buried in the department store.
         “Where is it?” screamed Ricochet at the clerk. The young man paled and pointed towards the videogame aisle. Ricochet tore down the aisles towards the back as the front door blew open. A red streak chased her blue one towards a long, glowing rod centered in the middle of a shelf. “A little closer,” groaned Ricochet, stretching out her hand. “Closer! Closer! Closer!” Her blue glove wrapped around the yellow rod, and the red blur, along with everything else, vanished in an instant.

         Tanya pulled her armor off piece by piece, and gingerly slid the IVs out of her arms. “Computer,” she said to the large green room, “place system on standby.” Something within the walls whirred, and a large glass panel set at the far end of the room switched from its display of her stats and vitals to a slideshow of her superhero alter ego, Ricochet, with her teammates, in action.
         “Standby initiated,” came the reply. Tanya grabbed up her clothing from a pile near the door and began pulling on her real-life hero suit, a perfect replica of the one within the simulation- skintight, breathable, and an alluring shade of sky blue, with a circular logo on the chest displaying a metallic blue bullet. As she let the belt’s bullet-shaped buckle adjust to her waist the voice, a young male’s voice, congratulated her. “I commend you on your victory, mistress. Shall I update you on Sable City’s status?”
         Tanya pulled on her jeans and waited for them to adjust themselves. “Yes, please.”
         The entire wall to Tanya’s left sprang to life, and a panorama of Sable City revealed itself. She studied the picture, and was struck, as always, by the beautiful urban scenery. A large city sprawled out below a clear blue sky, its streets crawling with millions of citizens of every race and creed. It seemed as though there might be a window for every man and woman, a window that gleamed in the sunlight and bounced its rays towards the winding river beyond the skyscrapers. The river was a giant blue snake that wound through the city, its sparkling blue waters dividing the working districts from the residential districts. Far beyond, at the edge of the city, the river poured into a large inland sea, and even farther still Apex Island rose from the sea’s early morning mists.
         “Program runtime: 10 days, 14 hours, 9 minutes, 52 seconds. Approximately 52.25 percentile city explored during runtime. Modifications made to program: 0 modifications made to program.”
         There came a virtual sigh. Tanya hated it when he did that. “What is it, Value?” she asked him.
         Value’s voice took on a tone of consternation. “I must be forgiven, mistress, but I do believe that a little more…tact might be advantageous to the well-being of both the team and the city?” Tanya gave the room a sour look. “Very well, I will subsist. As do I always. Now, continuing on- damage to city property is being repaired by the program as we speak. Damage to city property was minimal in comparison with the previous two missions, resulting in a reasonable damage : reparation ratio. Notable damage to city property includes the explosion of an energy manufacturing plant in the Dovewing District…”
         Tanya looked up from pulling on her shoes. “Cobalt 60, at it again,” she grinned.
         “…as well as a nearby tourist barge on the Azul River, the destruction of a statue of Henry the 8th in the Towns West Mall, a row of uprooted light poles and moderate damage to a nearby home belonging to a bachelor by the name of Michael Morrison in the Greek District, various multiple sites of artillery discharge…”
         Tanya grinned again. “That would be Composite.”
         “…and the destruction of the intersection of Fifth and Oakland, via an explosive fuel tanker. These damages are the most prominent. Others include various holes in building walls, small fires, and etcetera. I will dictate to you the list, if you like.”
         Tanya shook her head. “No thank you. Team status?”
         “Team Leader/Speedster Ricochet: goal acquirer, tagged Leader/Strongman Composite, 7 saves.”
         “Team Strongman Bruiser: no tags, 17 saves”
         “Team Agent Phenome: tagged Agent Panthera, tagged by Specialist Cosma, no saves.”
         “Team Seeker Cobalt 60: tagged Specialist Cosma, tagged by Specialist Cosma, no saves.
         “Team Specialist Orion: tagged Strongman Bea, tagged by Agent Panthera, 11 saves.”
         Tanya frowned as she surveyed her equipment, double-checking the IVs and helmet display. “Casualties?”
         Something in the walls whirred again. “4 casualties, though none are terminal. 35 total saves by members of your team. 30 total saves by members of Composite’s team.”
         Tanya’s frown reversed itself, and she found herself smiling. “That’s the best we’ve done yet,” she said to Value. “We’re getting better.”
         “Indeed you are, mistress. Do not forget, however, that there is more to being a Guardian than besting your comrades-in-arms and reaching the goal first.”
         “This was only a training exercise,” Tanya said huffily. “The citizens of Sable City are fully aware of the risks they take in living there. Besides, it’s not like any of them can die. Nothing in the City is permanent. It’s all been repaired by now.” She ran a hand through her loose blonde hair and breathed deeply. “Contact my teammates and arrange a meeting at headquarters. The time is not important, and the honoraries need not come if they should choose not to do so. Also, be sure to let the Virtua Committee know that the exercise is completed, and that we will be ready and on call for a new mission within a day.”
         Value agreed to honor her requests, and Tanya left the room, stepping into a bright and busy Tuesday morning. The sounds of city life assaulted her ears as she left the soundproofed chamber, and her eyes struggled to adjust to the natural light filtering through the windows in the house walls. The smell of waffles wafted past her nostrils, carrying a bittersweet hint of maple and honey, and suddenly Tanya was famished. Her body hadn’t assimilated anything solid for over a week, just the nutrient-rich intravenous liquid that the program had fed her during her training. Now, with the alluring promise of home-cooked waffles only seconds away, she felt as if she could literally eat a horse.
         “Mom, I’m home!” she yelled as she took a brief glimpse out of the windows. She had seen that view a thousand times- the same buildings, the same streets, the same drab vehicles driving beneath the same smoggy sky. She had to live in such an amazing world, and yet the amazement seemed clouded when she looked out upon her home city of New York. The smog was so thick that she couldn’t even see the harbor from where she stood. Not like Sable City, she thought. When she returned to duty in a day she could go back to breathing air that wasn’t filtered, standing beneath an untainted sky and watching over the citizens of the world as they walked freely in the streets, unbothered by the sun’s burning rays. In New York you had to stay inside- in Sable City you could roam as you pleased.
         “Mom?” Tanya turned from the windows and made her way to the kitchen, where her mother was standing in front of a stove, flipping waffles on the hot surface. “Hey mom, I’m back. I’m hungry, too.”
         Tanya’s mom turned and pulled Tanya into her arms. “How was it, honey? Did the super villains quake in their boots?” A big wet kiss planted itself on Tanya’s forehead. “My little superhero, protector of the innocent, eater of waffles. How proud I am of you. I knew when you were born that you were made for something great.”
         Tanya scooped a couple of waffles onto a plate and seated herself at the table. “No baddies showed up this time, mom. Everything’s been pretty quiet. I know that I’ve said it before, but I really think that the problem children have been weeded out now.” She took a big bite of waffle and savored the texture of food in her mouth. Maple syrup oozed out from the inside of the waffle and onto the plate, pooling in a viscous puddle of sweet liquid sugar. “Mom, it’s delicious.”
         Tanya’s mom smiled. “Thank you, dear. I made them from scratch. It’s almost a dying art, you know. Everyone just buys whatever they want now, has it delivered to their refrigerator ready to be heated and eaten. Hardly anybody knows how to cook for themselves these days. By the time you’re my age they probably won’t even have flower on the market anymore- it’ll all be synthesized, prepared, and ready to munch on.”
         Tanya took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “You know, mom,” she spoke around a mouthful of waffle, “this is what the new meta-human system is all about. There’s not many of us, sure, but allowing us to exercise our abilities in protecting places like Sable City, well…let’s just say that if we can get the kinks worked out and keep the bad apples from making things difficult, by the time I’m your age, we’ll all be living in places like Sable. Life will be perfect.”
         Her mother scooped another waffle onto Tanya’s plate and looked her daughter in the eyes. “You just be careful, you hear? I don’t want my little daughter coming home in an ash box. Those super villains play rough. Just because you have special powers doesn’t mean that you’re invincible. Something could go wrong at any time, and I want you to be ready for it. The only reason I’m not stopping you from doing what you do is because legally you’re an adult. I’m powerless to stop you. But you’re young, still so young, and I still care about you.”
         Tanya looked down at her reflection in the table and back up at her mother. “I’m not young, mom- I’m 14 years old. I’ve been out of high school for over a year!”
         “Honey, you’re young. You’ve got another seventy years ahead of you, if not more. Being what you are, I really have no idea how long you may end up living. That is, if you’re careful, and go about your job the careful way. I want you to be safe. Would you do that for your mother?”
         Tanya beamed, and her mother ruffled her hair. “Good. Now, finish up there and go get some sleep. I’ll bet all that running around the big city wore you out right fast.” She picked up the last waffle off of the stove and sat down next to her daughter as the server bot went about cleaning up. “Now, tell me what you’ve been up to for the past week. How are your friends?”
         Tanya told her all about her 10 day training session, carefully avoiding the part about the exploding energy manufacturing plant.