Polar City. What a damned shame. He had been working at the Relish Clinic when the Polar City League had imploded on itself. One too many good heroes pushed to their limits and a few too many given more than they deserved. Though it hadn't been all bad. Forrest Red, Rain, Inspector Gizmo, and that guy who did magic in binary ... what was his name? Never mind. They had come out of it okay. But so many hadn't. And without all the heroes they needed, the city had been defenseless when the guild wars erupted and the aliens landed. Now the place was in ruins. Pity he hadn't been licenced there at the time. He had been there to be a doctor. Nothing more. Though he did often wonder where some of the League's more colorful former members had ended up.
One more photo flash made Matt turn his head just in time to see a taxi come screeching around the corner and up the ramp to where people were patiently waiting for loved ones to pick them up and take them home. Luckily, it looked to be going in a nearly straight line. However, there was someone on top of he vehicle holding on for dear life and wearing what looked, for all the world, like a ringmaster's coat. People at the curb either screamed or stepped back or both. Matt removed his jacket, getting ready for something. Naturally, someone found time to get a picture of his arm. Vultures!
He could hear a voice over the screeching of the tires and almost smiled. "Hey! Budgies shouldn't drive! Quit lookin' in the rearview! Pay attention to the road, you seed-eating f---er!" Now having a vague idea of who that was, he stepped back, sipped his coffee and watched the car speed toward him. "F--- this!" she said. She stood up and the covers for her chest mounted guns ... he knew she had a crude name for them ... opened abruptly and she fired several rounds of some obscenely large ammo through the roof of the car and on down through the pavement.
The car lurched into the air, throwing her off and managing to slam into her as it spiraled to the left and caught itself on the guardrail. There was a moment of silence broken only by a hubcap rolling a wobbly line into the nearest lane and flattening itself out after a few rotations.
The woman pulled herself over the railing, swearing like a construction worker, and Matt caught a glimpse of her face for the first time. The symbiotic silver of her mask twisted with her lips as she swore, and heavy prosthetic legs and feet, made by the same man who had crafted Matt's arm, stomped across the ruined asphalt. She opened the smashed passenger door with one hard yank and bodily removed a man with wings dressed in a budgie mask. "Are you f---in' in-SANE?" She shook the budgie man in the air, and it was very hard not to laugh. Who dressed up as a budgie anyway?
The mystery man in feathers said nothing, simply pecked her face and half flew half hopped away as she stood there in shock! "Oh my f---in' god! Did you just peck me?! Get back here! No wait! Don't! Just keep ... flailing." Having finally taken in the scope of the situation, she shook her head and actually laughed a little. "F---in' Budgie Man. F---in' driving to the damn seed store! Goddammitall!" She tried to slam the open door of the car, but it bounced back anti-climacticly and swung open on damaged hinges. She turned and looked at all the people gathered in shocked silence. "What? Haven't you ever seen a second-class cyborg blow up a car being driven by a man in a budgie costume?!" More silence. "F---in' backwater yokels!"
The silence would have continued had someone not started laughing. To Matt's surprise, it was him. He had been amused by the whole thing, but now the laughter wouldn't stop. He had wanted to meet her for years, and now this? Who would have thought she would be here, of all places, chasing down a bad driver dressed as a budgie? He felt her eyes on him. He had heard that happened and wasn't disappointed. He was laughing and couldn't stop. It was all so absurd!
"You!" She started toward him. "Thanks for the help you f---in' prick! Oh yes, I know who you are! You think this is funny? Well it is, but it isn't! Quit laughing!
Matt couldn't help himself. He was powered by negative energy and what she was radiating made him tingle beneath the skin very pleasantly. This was the reaction he had always hoped for. She freely radiated that which made him strongest. As he laughed, he hoped the extra energy would be enough to protect him. She wasn't happy, and he couldn't make himself stop doing what made her so angry.
"I warned you, motherf---er!" The hatches over her guns opened and she fired.
Fast as thought, Matt whipped up a huge shadow-black energy barrier that absorbed the blast of the exploding shells. No. Not shells. Small missiles! She wasn't kidding, here. If he hadn't been there, she could have blown up the whole terminal. He stopped laughing and took down his shield. "Hey! Are you crazy? People are going to think you're a terrorist."
"Me? Nah!" She waved a casual hand at him. "That's my ex-husband, I think. And crazy? Yes! It happens. Pleased to meet you, Eclipse. I'm NoFace. I had wondered when you'd come looking for me."
