The Mine Shaft part 1

The soldier disappeared in a cloud of sand and dust once the IED went off and as it settled, the smell of burning flesh was ripe in the air; the Afghani heat didn’t help to remove the putrid smell, either. The platoon came down from a nearby hill to the sandy patch below to bear witness to the charred remains of the soldier, making sure not to trigger any more traps.

“Now that’s what I call gett’n FUBAR’d!,” an Army Ranger private chuckled as he drew closer to the body, “Gnarliest one I seen yet.” “Hey newbie, step away,” the captain snapped which made the private back up with a quick, “Yes, sir.” The captain knelt down next to the burnt and bloody figure on the ground and waited. Two milky eyes were still visible, gazing up at the sky but focusing on nothing.

Then the body blinked.

The soldier jolted on the ground and something was coughed up. “Get that goddamn blanket over here!,” the captain ordered. One of the soldiers removed a blanket from his pack and two of his comrades helped him cover the man. The convulsions grew worse as the men struggled to hold him down and as he began to scream out in pain, a gloved hand was quickly placed over his mouth to avoid detection from insurgents. A single hand broke free and rose to the sky, displaying a mangled limb with a missing finger. Soon, a once-missing finger bone began to protrude from the wound and the torn flesh along his arm began to seal itself shut in a zipper-like fashion. As the man continued to writhe and moan in agony, the missing finger fully regenerated as if it had never been removed and the other wounds along his body began to stitch themselves up just as quickly. Despite the bizarre healing process, he continued to groan painfully.

“Why’s he scream’n like that?,” the private asked one of his peers, “He was made for this shit.”

Another soldier casually turned to him, “They say the healing process don’t account for nerve endings so he’s pretty much feeling this shit until everything grows back. He’s probably the only dude on the planet who can tell you what it feels like to get blown to Hell.”

Soon, the man began to relax as his face returned to normal and his nose grew back. The Captain smiled and patted him on the knee once the man sat up from the ground to catch his breath. “Looks like intel was correct for once,” the Captain told him, “Insurgents got IEDs all over this field so we’ll need to do a sweep before we go any further. You up for taking another walk, Canary?”

The man looked at him with dead eyes, “Yes, sir.”

Years later, he sat across from Dr. Catherine Ansari in her office. Steven Amati was still fit despite having been released from the Army Rangers for some time and while he still had all his body-parts intact, if one looked closer, they would see some scar tissue running along his face and body.

“I took part in the New York battle during the Resurgence,” he spoke to Dr. Ansari softly and carefully, “Like I told you before, I retired from the Army and tried my best to stay away from any action but,… when the aliens came, I had to join in. I helped defend Madison Square Garden with uh, Dragonfly and some others.”

“The Garden was being used as a temporary base as I understand,” Ansari responded, “That’s why it was destroyed, correct?”

“Yeah, they bombed it out real good and most of us managed to clear it before that happened. I was trying to get the non-metahuman military personnel out of there and got caught in the explosion when it went up,” he leaned his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes, “I was under the rubble for about a day before they dug me out. That’s what really triggered me.”

“You’ve said before that the healing process made you feel as though you were trapped.”

“If the damage was bad enough, yeah. The nerves are the first to go online, so if, say, I lost my legs to a land-mine, I’d be stuck until they regenerated but I’d feel every second of it.”

“You were given these abilities by the military as a method of detecting potential explosives or other hazardous environments behind enemy lines which is why they gave you the codename Canary. You’ve said that you never felt like you had a choice in the military but you chose to fight during the Resurgence.”

“Didn’t feel like I had much choice then, either. You see alien ships hovering over your neighborhood and you know you got the power to do something about it, it’s hard to just sit on your ass and assume everything works out.”

“How’s your sleep these days?”

“What sleep?,” he laughed a bit.

“The mine shaft is long gone. They don’t need to send the Canary down there anymore.”

“That’s not the case up here,” he pointed to his temple.

“Keep reminding yourself that you are not in the military, that you no longer have a mission. You’re just Steven Amati. You’re a civilian.”

“Yeah…, I’ll try to remember that.”

In the waiting room outside Dr. Ansari’s office, Ryan sat in a chair, pouring over data on his tablet while Labrat sat next to him, coloring. “Ducks aren’t blue but I really want to see a blue duck someday,” Labrat said aloud as he took care to color in the lines. Ryan gave him a brief smile, then returned to his data. Just then, Michael Hawkwood entered the waiting area and the two men made awkward eye-contact.

“Hey, Ryan,” Michael scanned the room to make sure no one else was there who might not know his secret identity. Also, while he revealed his face and real name while capturing Rex Robinson, he wasn’t even entirely sure Ryan would even remember him.

“Looks like we’re therapy bros,” Ryan told him, showing that he recognized him, “No surprises. Dr. Ansari’s good and she’s practically the only person who specializes in… guys like us.”

“Guess so,” Michael sat down across from him.

“It’s not like I’m gonna blab or anything,” Ryan assured him.

“Oh, I know.”

“Hi, I’m Labrat,” Labrat greeted him with little clue as to his real identity.

“It’s nice to meet you, Labrat,” Michael became a little more at ease and smiled at the humanoid rat.

“So uh,… how long?,” Ryan asked.

“How long, what?”

“Y’know,” Ryan motioned around the waiting room, “I’ve been coming here for a while now.”

“Oh, believe it or not, I started coming here before I even became… y’know,” indicating his career as the Cavalier, “The whole family situation is kinda complicated,” he ran his hand through his hair, “It’s kinda weird; I come here without wearing the suit and no one recognizes me. This is a first.”

“I don’t have the luxury of not being recognized, but it’s not usually a problem here,” Ryan grew silent for a moment, then added, “How quickly can you get the armor on anyway?”

“Faster than you might think. Funny enough, a while back, there was a situation outside Dr. Ansari’s office. About a block from here, two metahumans had a big brawl. I had just finished a session and was already home but then I had to put on the suit and come all the way back. Since then, I’ve been leaving it in the Dragon for easy access.”

“I’m guessing the Dragon is…?”

“Parked on the roof?”

“Yeah.”

“Yep. The suit’s in the passenger seat.”

“You gotta get upgrades,” Ryan told him, “That thing is almost as old as we are and should’ve been properly modified by now.”

“Are you offering?,” Michael joked.

“No, but if you’re a good boy, Santa might…”

Just then, Steven entered the waiting room with Dr. Ansari behind him. Michael and Ryan trailed off as Steven froze, his eyes darting back and forth between Ryan and Labrat. Ryan and Michael instantly felt the hostility, but Labrat was blissfully focused on his coloring book. Steven stared at him, then back at Ryan as he addressed Dr. Anari. “The hell are they doing here?” his tone was quiet, yet tense.

“I have many clients,” Dr. Ansari explained calmly.

Steven turned to her with wild eyes, “Have you been spying on me?”

“I’ve had this business for many years,” she remained calm but made a glance in the direction of Ryan and Michael as if warning them, “Clients come to me for help. I’ve never had any reason to-”

“How am I supposed to trust you?,” he shouted angrily.

Ryan cautiously turned in Michael’s direction but noticed he was already gone. Figuring he was suiting-up, he decided to handle the situation in the meantime and rose to his feet, making sure Labrat was behind him.

“Hi, Ryan Bennings,” he approached Steven slowly as he carefully removed the sedative pen from his pocket and palmed it, “I think a lot… or maybe all of this aggression is aimed toward me so let’s talk about it outside, okay?”

“Get away from me!,” Steven backed up and took a fighting stance, “You and that thing,” he indicated Labrat, which finally got his attention.

“Okay,” Ryan straightened up, “We can get away as far as you like. Could Dr. Ansari come with us, though?”

In an instant, Steven grabbed Dr. Ansari and wrapped an arm around her throat as he held her tight, “No, she comes with me!”

“Steven, no one is going to hurt you,” she croaked under the tightness of his grip.

“You say that now, then tomorrow, you got me walking across a mine field. Gotta make sure no one gets hurt, right? I heal! I can take it!,” his voice began to rise, “Right?”

Ryan addressed him again, “Your issue’s with me. You wanna go somewhere and hash it out? Maybe punch me in the face a little? I’m down. We don’t need her for that.”

“She’s with you! I know what’s going on here!”

“So Plan B it is,” Ryan raised his pen and pressed the button on the side, releasing a sedative pellet that popped on impact. The sudden blow forced him to let go and Dr. Anasri immediately rushed behind Ryan. Steven swayed back with a drowsy look on his face that soon disappeared as he recovered from the effects of the gas. “He mentioned healing. Right,” Ryan said to himself as he produced his laser pistol. Steven lunged at them, but a thin beam of light tore a hole through his chest and dropped him to the carpet, which allowed them to race out the door and head toward the stairs.

“I assume that won’t stop him for long?,” Ryan asked.

“Correct,” the therapist assured him.

****

In his penthouse in LA, Craig Levison was deciding on the right color of tie for his meeting. He had had a rough time since the Resurgence and the deaths of the Upstarts. For the most part, he stayed out of the public eye with the exception of the Upstarts memorial service. Ryan Bennings once told him that if anything happened to the Upstarts, their blood would be on his hands. He scoffed at the notion at the time since he felt they would be safe under the tutelage of the US Army but they were drafted into service against the U’ntari with all but one murdered. He tried his best to convince himself he wasn’t to blame but deep inside, he deeply regretted ever being a part of the Upstarts Program. Beyond that, he still couldn’t figure out the right color of tie and the hangover wasn’t helping. Finally, he reached out and grasped the first tie he felt his hand brush against and put it on.

He hurried out the door even though he wasn’t late for his appointment and stopped only when he noticed his car. Someone had apparently managed to hop the gate surrounding his community and spray-painted the word “Killer” on his BMW. It was the first time anyone had made a statement but he figured it wouldn’t be the last. He decided to deal with that later and took an Uber to the appointment instead.

****

In Dr. Ansari’s waiting area, Steven got up as the hole through his body stitched itself up. He snarled angrily as the painful burning sensation subsided and, instead of chasing after his targets, decided to leap out a nearby window. He crashed through, sending shards of glass several stories before grabbing a ledge to redirect. Using the momentum from the fall, he swung into the next window and broke through with a kick; when he landed, he saw Ryan, Labrat and Dr. Ansari coming down the stairs. They stopped in the hall as he angrily rose to his feet.

“You’re not going anywhere until I get some answers!,” he roared, “Who sent you?”

“Steven, please listen to me…,” De. Ansari began.

“No, I’m done with your head games!”

Ryan and Dr. Anasri then noticed movement through the broken window behind Steven. A black hovercraft descended with an open hatch revealing Michael Hawkwood who was now donning his Cavalier armor. Ryan kept his eyes on his ally in preparation and, even though the Dragon made little noise, Steven instinctively stopped to check his surroundings as he began to realize something was wrong. When he turned toward the broken window, Cavalier leapt through, tackling him to the floor where they tumbled a few feet until Cavalier finally released him. He rolled onto a crouching stance facing Dr. Ansari and asked, “You okay?” “Yeah,” she answered.

Steven stood up and took a swing at Cavalier who dipped under the punch just in time. He retaliated by rising into a jump kick which staggered the enraged super soldier but did little else. “Keep going,” he called out to the others and Ryan led them down the next flight of stairs. The Canary grabbed Cavalier by the faceplate and shoved him into the nearby wall hard enough to put a large dent in the plaster before throwing him over the railing on the other side of the hall. As Ryan and his group descended to the next floor, a figure in a black knight’s armor smashed into the banister in front of them. Cavalier laid on his back in pain as Ryan and Labrat helped him on his feet.

“Hi, Cav, I hope you’re okay,” Labrat told him concertedly.

“Me too,” Cavalier responded.

They made their way down to the first floor and Ryan looked up at the stairwell to make sure Canary wasn’t coming down, “Where is he?”

“He’s in a state of paranoia due to PTSD,” Dr. Ansari explained as they continued out the front door, “He’s thinking like a soldier on the battlefield at this point.”

“So, whoever he is, he’s planning for the best time to strike,” Cavalier added, “… Which could be at any time and from any direction.”

Ryan turned to Dr. Ansari, “And somehow, I’m the reason for his current state?”

“There is a connection…,” she answered, “But not just with you.”

Suddenly, the Canary darted past them, knocking Cavalier to the ground while Ryan tried his best to shield the closest person to him, which was Dr. Ansari. When everyone stood up, they noticed Labrat was missing. A few yards away, Canary restrained Labrat with one arm around his throat while his other hand held a piece of broken glass to the side of his neck.

“It’s all your fault,” Canary muttered.

A horrified expression crossed Ryan’s face as he slowly approached, “Yeah… Yeah, it’s my fault. You should be holding that thing at my throat. I’m the one who did it.”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Canary turned to Labrat, “… I was talking to him.

Continued…