Vulnerable part 7 (finale)

The guards in the entrance to the tower area were taken out before they knew the Badges were there. Frakes and Klausman came out from around the pillars and took point as Jones moved to the reinforced locked door. Using her bracelet, she took an electronic scrambler from Hammer-Space and placed it on the mechanical lock. As the device searched for the proper combination, more men rounded the corner with guns drawn. “Incoming,” Frakes announced as she and Klausman drew fire. The door opened just in time and Jones laid down suppressive fire as her teammates entered. After removing the scrambler, they quickly worked together to close the bullet-proof door and locked it from inside.

“Hopefully, Bacchus is too paranoid to let his men know the combination,” Klausman said as he leaned on the door.

“Either way, they’ll be here soon,” Frakes explained, “We need someone to defend this doorway.”

“I’ll do it,” Jones offered.

“Are you sure? How’s your shoulder?”

“It hurts but my eyes still work so my aim hasn’t been affected,” she confidently trained her gun at the door, “Besides, I’m tired of running.”

Soon, Klausman and Frakes ventured into a lab where frightened engineers pressed their backs against a wall and raised their hands defensively. “Please don’t hurt us,” one pleaded. Klausman thumbed toward the stairs, “Get out.” They quickly retired to the lower level of the tower as he and Frakes took a look at the series of armors gathered in the lab. “We came to the right place,” Frakes said with a rare smile, “The plan worked.”

“I’ll check the top of the tower,” Klausman volunteered, “Let’s see what alien tech Bacchus has up there. Hopefully, Jones was right and it’s the machine that’s been knocking out our powers.”

“Take it slow,” Frakes warned, “We don’t know what to expect.”

“Of course,” Klausman carefully made his way up the steps.

In Billy Bacchus’ suite, he paced angrily around his quarters while holding on to a radio. He had just received word of the situation at the tower and his bravado had given way to pure rage as he spoke to his men, “If they’ve locked themselves in the lab, you have my permission get what you can from the armory and blow those doors open! I’ll buy new ones! You have to make sure they don’t touch any more suits!”

The large, mysterious figure remained on the couch as he listened to Bacchus’ rant and once there was a break, he spoke, “What about the guys at the docks? They’re still out there. Seems like they split your forces in half. Got ya all twisted up.”

Bacchus tossed the radio to the side without caring where it landed, “I suppose now it’s your turn to earn a paycheck.”

The figure stood up, revealing his massive size, “You won’t regret it.”

At the docks, Bronson and Alam holed themselves up on the second floor of the boathouse. They had commandeered two automatic rifles from Bacchus’ dead clients and were laying suppressive fire against a group of security guards who were hiding among the boats and returning fire. They were not able to communicate with their teammates but they hoped they’d be able to knock out the Negation Field before they ran out of bullets. After a few more seconds of return-fire, there came a lull in the fight. Bronson peered out of the broken window and noticed some of the men were communicating via radio and slunk away as if in preparation.

“They just got a call… They’re waiting for something,” Bronson whispered.

“That can’t be good,” Alam responded.

A second later, a large object dropped from the sky, landing amidst the rocks on the other side of the pier. Whatever it was, it was heavy and rattled the boathouse. Due to the angle of the windows and placement of the boat sails, it was difficult to make out what had fallen but they could see movement. Something was approaching from behind the boats and Bacchus’ men were giving it clear passage. After a few moments, the figure came into view and the Badges realized things had gotten far worse.

Rampart was a cybernetic mercenary who used his great strength to battle the IMD agents on many occasions. He was a dangerous opponent when they had powers, so going up against him in their current state was suicidal. Moreover, they had recently received a report from their old teammate, Dafne Mansoor – during her latest mission with the Commission, Rampart had been infected by a U’ntari techno-virus. He was now far stronger and tougher, easily capable of fighting the U’ntari warrior known as Shujai. Rampart stood several feet tall and his skin was now metallic and reflected the sun’s rays, which verified Mansoor’s report.

He looked up at Bronson and Alam with a mocking smile and waved enthusiastically before picking up the pace to their location. The Badges cut their losses and quickly made a break for the stairs. A second later, Rampart launched himself into the air with superstrong legs and casually smashed through the wall, sending glass and wood splinters in every direction. Once he noticed that his targets had made it down the steps and were racing out the door, he gleefully poked his head out the sizable hole he had just made. He witnessed them running away from the dock to a different part of the mansion and called down to them, “Hey, fellas! Okay, be honest! On a scale of one to ten… how screwed do you feel right now?”

At the top of the tower, Klausman approached the strange, glowing device. It was tall, cylindrical in shape, and nearly touched the ceiling. The surface was black with multiple coils running through it, creating a beautiful mess. Klausman took it all in and with the engineers gone, there was no one to answer his questions. If it wasn’t the machine creating the Negation Field, he knew it was still vital to Bacchus if he kept it locked in a tower. “It certainly looks important,” he thought to himself and searched for a way to shut it off or destroy it. One floor below, Jill Frakes used her bracelet to take a timed explosive out of Hammer-Space. She placed the explosive near the power suits and set it for five minutes.

On the other side of the large vault door, one of Bacchus’ men arrived with a rocket launcher and squatted down while his allies gathered behind him. The projectile flew down the length of the hall, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. The vault door was soon blasted off its hinges by a thunderous explosion, which drew the attention of the three Badges. As Jones was waiting on the steps a few feet above the door, she cocked her gun and waited for enemies to begin pouring into the room. Above, Klausman finally settled on using Hammer-Space on the alien tech. He placed a hand on the main coil and activated his bracelet, sending some of its mass along the surface of the bracelet. The trick worked and a section of the coil disappeared, leaving frayed wires as if it had been cut. And while it wasn’t a large part of the coil, it was still enough to cut off power. The strange glow emanating from the machine faded and the low humming stopped as the machine powered down.

Below, the group of gunmen slowly approached the entrance to the tower with rifles drawn. Smoke was still billowing out of the damaged doorway and they were unsure if their targets were alive or dead. Certainly, even without their powers, they proved to be a massive threat so they remained cautious. Suddenly, a blur shot out of the black smoke and several of them disappeared.

The men fell in a heap a few feet away and Klausman came to a stop at the end of the hallway with a proud smile. Jones teleported overhead and many more men found themselves falling from the ceiling or getting thrown into the walls without warning. Finally, Frakes phased up through the floor and took out the final gunmen with a series of pressure point attacks. The three Badges cleared the hall in a minute just before the timed explosive went off. The lab went up in a fireball, destroying the armors inside as well as the tools used to create them. The explosion shook the mansion and a part of the tower went up.

Outside, Bronson and Alam saw the explosion burst out the side of the tower. “Let’s hope that’s good news,” Bronson said as they watched flames escape through a large hole. Alam looked at his hand and when he summoned his powers, telekinetic energy swirled around his fingers. He smiled, “Yeah, I think it is.” It was then that Rampart burst out of the wall behind them and stomped forward, “I gotta tell ya. You guys run faster than I expected.”

In Bacchus’ quarters, the arms dealer was frantically digging around in his dresser drawers for a particular box. “Σκατά! Σκατά! Σκατά!,” he repeated over and over again as he threw expensive clothing around his room. The explosion in the tower signaled to him that, regardless if his enemies were dead or not, his current business was gone. The worst case scenario was that the IMD agents would be kicking down his door any minute. And while he was relying on Rampart to kill the Badges for him, he wasn’t taking any chances. When he finally found what he was looking for, he carefully laid the box on his bed, ripped it open, then removed a gun and made sure it was loaded. After that, he threw open the curtains of his window, revealing the suit of armor the Badges had bid on earlier that day. He had his men place it in his room for a “strategic retreat”.

He began taking the armor apart in preparation for take-off, which involved removing his clothes and putting on a body stocking. Next came the midsection plates which locked neatly together. He had just gotten the armored leggings in place when one of his men entered the room. “Sir, the agents have taken the tower…,” the guard informed him, then stopped when he noticed Bacchus’ state of dress. The two men stared at each other for a few moments, not knowing what to say until the guard finally asked, “Are you running away?” Bacchus’ answer came in the form of a bullet to the man’s forehead, then he quickly continued putting on the rest of the armor, hoping no one else would come through the door. Once he was fully suited, he opened the large window leading out to a balcony and used his armor’s thrusters to fly into the air. He didn’t like leaving his private island behind but he was smart enough to know when to run. There would be other mansions and business ventures on the horizon.

Nearby, Alam enveloped Bronson in telekinetic energy and launched him at Rampart. In the past, such an attack could potentially render him unconscious but this time, Bronson’s invulnerable body bounced off the behemoth and rolled onto the rocky ground. “Not today,” Rampart chuckled and raised a fist. Alam raised a telekinetic shield just in time but the impact of the punch still threw him into the air. Bronson sprang to his feet for another attack but Rampart casually backhanded him into the side of the mansion, which created a web-patterned crack. The fight was not going as planned but the calvary soon arrived.

Klausman passed by, grabbing Rampart’s ankle in the process, then dragged him along a rocky surface. Despite the brutal attack, Rampart was unharmed and picked himself off the ground, “I was wondering where the others were. Glad you could make it.” Just then, Jones teleported overhead while carrying Frakes. Frakes used her phasing powers to turn her hand immaterial, then tried to phase into Rampart’s back. It was then that she found his molecular structure was so dense that she had trouble pushing her way inside. Rampart smiled and took a swing but Frakes ducked under the attack and rolled back onto her feet. “How many ways do I have to tell you people?,” Rampart roared, “I’m way more powerful now than I’ve ever- ”. Jones touched the back of his arm and he was instantly teleported. When he reemerged, he found himself falling from the sky, several yards out to sea. Once he sank beneath the waves, Jones returned to her team.

“I could’ve sent him to another country,” she explained, “But then he’d be a potential threat to a lot of other people.”

“It’ll distract him long enough to form a plan,” Frakes responded, “We can think on the fly. And sure, Rampart is apparently far more dangerous than he’s ever been, which means we’re outmatched even with our powers coming back, but if we learned anything the past couple of days, it’s that we don’t need our powers to find a way. We can be the underdogs.”

Minutes later, Rampart pulled himself up the cliff leading to the small island. It was slippery work due to the crashing waves but he was able to use his strength to punch holes in the rocks deep enough to provide proper footing. Once he arrived at the top, he saw no signs of his targets. “I didn’t see any boats leaving the island,” he called out as he strolled along the mansion’s outer walls, “That means you’re still out here somewhere!” He received no reply, so he continued his search, “You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

As he neared an open area, a gust of wind whipped by and Klausman stood behind him. “That’s better,” Rampart said with a smirk. Next, Jones teleported on the other side. Frakes phased through the mansion wall and glided to his left. Finally, Alam descended from the air while telekinetically holding Bronson; they landed on either side, completely surrounding Rampart. “Who’s first?,” Rampart balled up his fist and readied a punch. At once, the Badges activated their Hammer-Space bracelets. They weren’t sure what would happen if they tried to shunt large amounts of mass, nor did they know what would happen if they used the bracelets in tandem. It was worth a try nonetheless.

All five agents touched him at once, pulling his molecules into pocket dimensions from five different points. His abnormally dense molecular structure held up and there didn’t appear to be any surface damage but his cries of pain showed there was an effect. He lunged forward chaotically and the Badges were forced to release him. They leapt out of the way as he charged in a fit of pain and rage. A second later, he crashed through a rocky outcropping and once again plunged into the sea below. This time, however, he did not reemerge.

They weren’t sure of Rampart’s condition but they knew the island was secure. The weapons were destroyed, most of Bacchus’ men and clients were dead or surrendered, and the operation was brought down. Billy Bacchus himself had escaped but it was only a matter of time before he resurfaced. For now, the mission was over.

Two weeks later…

The Badges sat in the Debriefing Room, waiting for Director Pierce. They had all had their individual meetings with Dr. Ansari and her reports were sent to the Director. They were confidential, obviously, but he wanted to have a meeting with them nonetheless.

“I trust everyone had a good morning,” Pierce came through the door in a professional manner.

“So what’s the verdict?,” Bronson asked snidely, “Do we all get lobotomized now?”

“There’s no reason to be alarmed,” Pierce explained, “But it’s always good to ensure how difficult missions effect you.”

“In all fairness, Director,” Jones responded delicately, “It wasn’t too far removed from many of our other adventures. Sure, losing our powers put us at a disadvantage but I’m not sure any of us suffered any stress. At least no more than usual.”

“The therapy session was more stressful than being shot at, honestly,” Bronson added.

“It was our first major case since the Resurgence,” Pierce explained, “With all the revelations concerning Rex Robinson, I didn’t want to take the chance of any of you…”

“Flipping our shit?,” Bronson interrupted.

“A rather blunt way of putting it,” Pierce said calmly, “An average man might lose his job or go through a divorce and not get help for the emotional strain that follows. One day, he has a few too many and gets behind the wheel of a car. That’s dangerous enough, but if he were a metahuman, the results could be a bit worse than wrapping a car around a tree. Robinson had a tremendous amount of power both physically and politically. The man went years with unchecked mental illness and that caused an interplanetary war. I’m ensuring the IMD doesn’t follow along the same path.”

“But Director,” Jones protested, “Surely you know that if any one of us had problems, we’d get proper help. I’m sorry but I feel there’s a lack of trust here.”

Pierce stood up with a pained smile, “And we all once trusted Rex,” he took his leave, “I understand how this might make you feel but I take no chances these days.”

NEXT: The Agent Crown Dilemma