Friday 4:45PM
The Hero Team Two were about to clock off for the week when they got the call. They had a quiet week and was looking forward to kicking it back this weekend. Johnathan Harrington aka Hammer Fist, Sophie Dobson aka Hyper Girl and Ben Wallace aka Mr Wonderful just about to grab their coats to go out for Friday drinks. They were rostered off for the weekend which was a rare thing at Hero Inc. They rushed to the briefing room as they each got into their uniforms. Mr Wonder checked his gizmos and followed his two team members into the room. On the giant screen in the briefing room was the Crazy Robot that the Team Two and Six defeated six months ago. It was a hundred metre tall robot that resembled a retro toy from the sixties. Sophie was annoyed more than anything. She gave off a sigh as she unsheathed her katana and checked it. She wasn’t in the mood for this right now. Hyper Girl had a date tonight with a fan who won the online promo and she was actually looking forward to it. It would have been a refreshing change to socialise a civilian instead of fighting monsters and super villains. She really wasn’t feeling it.
Wallace was actually looking for forward to the last minute Friday afternoon assignment. He figured that this one would be a two-hour job and he could do with the over time pay cheque. He could wrap it up and go to the 8pm session of The Night Detective 2 at the local cinema. He was looking forward to seeing it for the last two years. As for Johnathan Harrington, he hasn’t been home on time to see his new wife for the better part of this year. Harrington’s wife Jane was a good woman. They had been childhood sweethearts since they were ten years old. The two went through thick and thin and stuck it through. Harrington was thankful that he was a member of the Super Hero Inc. This job paid very well. As a Level One Hero, Harrington was earning a salary that rivalled an A-lister celebrity. Only a year and a half ago, Harrington was a struggling insurance salesman who couldn’t pay his rent on time. But one night after a drunken bar fight where he was out numbered ten to one, he was approached by a woman in a dark suit who offered to test his Super-Ability. Thinking that he had nothing to lose and having been offered a hundred thousand dollars up front just for the conversation that night, he decided to get the test.
It was a rather painful test involving invasive procedures and countless blood tests. After three solid months of tests, Harrington was classified by the company as a Level One Hero and was given the highest assignments. This job sure beat the life that he had before that bar fight. Harrington almost lost his life four times but he didn’t tell Jane that. He was glad that he could finally provide for Jane. But now wasn’t the time to reflect on his life.
The three got into an elevator and the door closed behind them. Within five seconds, the lift reached the top floor. The three got out to the hangar of the Super Hero Inc. A helicopter was already fired up with the pilot signalling them to hurry. Harrington clenched his shaking hands. Sophie was still annoyed that this giant jack ass decided to make a ruckus on a Friday instead of the morning like a good little monster. The hangar door opened as the helicopter’s gained some air. They could see the downtown on fire some ten kilometres to the south. The helicopter exited the hangar and flew directly south. Hammer Fist put on his company issued gloves on his trembling hands.
“Hey, Harrington, you ok?” Mr Wonderful asked.
Harrington didn’t answer.
“Don’t worry Hammer Fist, we got this. Quick jobs and quarter of a mill each! We got this brother”
Harrington wasn’t worried about himself. He couldn’t bear the thought of Jane raising their daughter alone. For the last year and a half, he’s thought about quitting the job countless times. But he didn’t know what else he could do for work. He had a big mortgage and a child on her way, so just resigning wasn’t an option right now. Harrington just prayed that they could wrap up this last-minute assignment quickly and go home to his family. They were the only reason why he was in this over hyped kill squad. Harrington lost the count of people that he’s killed, even though every kill was sanctioned by the company and the government and most of all the public. Harrington, better known as Hammer Fist became a cult figure. A couple of months after he joined the Hero Inc, Dr Chaos wreaked a massive havoc on the city. It wasn’t clear if he was actually a doctor of some kind but he was able to build a machine that opened doorway to another dimension. That was hell of a day, or rather, hell of a month. The portal kept on getting bigger by the hour and as it did, all sorts of weird critters came out attacking the city. It was perfect timing that Hammer Fist joined the company as his skill was exactly what the city needed at the time.
When Harrington was agitated to his limit, he became a raging monster. His fists could punch through almost anything, it was almost as if a demon gets awaken in him that helps him to get through the threatening situation. Harrington normally has a mild and timid demeanour. Hammer Fist on the other hand had other-worldly rage that nothing on Earth could handle. Hammer Fist seemed possess undying energy and power. Physically, Hammer Fist wasn’t that much bigger than Harrington. But the kind of force that he could inflict on something or someone needed to be witnessed to be believed. When the violence was over, Harrington could only remember little snippets of the damage he’s caused.
The helicopter approached that giant robot. It was quite a sight. A massive hundred metre toy robot was just smashing through anything in its path.
The helicopter lowered to the top of a skyscraper about twenty meters from the giant toy.
“OK, everyone out! Good luck!” The helicopter pilot screamed through the headphone. The three swiftly jumped out. Mr Wonderful glided out of the helicopter as his cape opened. He had the most followers on all the social media platforms. The giant robot spotted Mr Wonderful glide though the air and began shooting laser beams from its massive eyes. The laser was hitting everything but the gliding hero. Mr Wonderful needed to neutralise the eyes asap. He glided up and landed on top of the building that was ten meters in front of the robot. Without wasting a moment, Mr Wonderful took out his signature weapon and aimed it straight at the right eye of the robot and shot it. As expected, the right eye shattered like porcelain. He reloaded the slingshot, took aim and made the shot. The robot had the reflex like nothing he’s ever seen. The robot detected the second shot and shot its laser before it could reach the other eye. Mr Wonder ducked for his life as the laser beam from the good eye turned into a rapid machine gun fire shooting frantically and manically in his direction. The laser was making a Swiss cheese of the concrete and metal all around Mr Wonderful. Ben Wallace had seconds to get out of the line of fire of this hunk of metal.
Mr Wonderful ran for it with his beautiful cape fluttering. He prayed to God that someone was filming him in motion. The robot spotted Mr Wonderful and adjusted its position to have a better aim. Wallace had no choice but the get off the rooftop of this building, it was about to be turned into a giant barbeque. He jumped and opened his cape. It was cinematic as hell.
Seeing that Mr Wonderful was out of range and line of fire was not optimal, the robot returned its attention to everything else. The right eye had a gaping hole in it with black smoke bellowing from it.
But the giant toy was no where near being neutralised. This thing was too big for Mr Wonderful to fight on his own. He was dangling by his claw on the side of a high-rise apartment building. That giant hunk of metal was gaining speed down to the harbour. They needed to destroy it before it disappeared into the sea. On the ground, Mr Wonder saw a maniac that is Hammer Fist charge at the robot.
Hammer Fist punched through one the legs of the robot. Harrington has never encountered anything that was this tough. Hammer Fist made another dash and jumped forward to take a shot. The robot swiftly turned and kicked Hammer Fist like a soccer ball making him go flying into the distance.
Hyper Girl was up. But what could a teenage girl with a couple of katanas do she thought. It turned out that she could do a lot. Sophie had the advantage of height. She thought she give another go of taking out the other eye of the robot. She unsheathed the right katana, took aim and threw it with all her strength. Somehow, it lodged in the dead centre of the eye but not quite piercing it. Now the robot was blind but it was still making its way to the harbour and was only three hundred meters from disappearing only to reappear in some random city or country wreaking havoc.
The three was running out of time fast. Hammer Fist was still unconscious. Mr Wonderful was dangling from the side of a building as his cape was damaged and he couldn’t glide down. It was up to Hyper Girl armed with one katana. The giant robot detected Sophie and lifted its left foot as if to stomp her. As the giant metallic foot descended down on Hyper Girl came that nine foot bunny rabbit in ninja outfit came out of nowhere and pushed Sophie out of harms way. Sophie always wondered who or what this cartoony, cute bunny rabbit was. The Ninja Rabbit jumped to impossible heights to the level of the left eye with the katana stuck on it. The rabbit pushed the sword straight through the eye and pierced it through the head. Sophie saw the rabbit exit robot through the back of the head. At that moment, the robot came to a sudden stop and swayed back and forth. It was at the edge of the harbour. For a moment, Sophie thought the robot might fall on it’s back, back on to streets behind it. But by some divine luck, it fell to its front side facing the water.
It was quite a sight, a giant robot floating with its face down in the New Geneva harbour.