The Crusaders -Volume 1

Chapter 5

"Well, uh…sure." She replied. "So, what do I talk about?"

"Anything you like. I'll maintain full attention." She hesitated for a moment, but chose to embrace the opportunity. It may never come again.

"Well, our first mission was a bust, wasn't it?"

"I suppose it was on the larger scale, but the monster was certainly stopped."

"I, um, I heard you had a…experience out there." Gunk blinked for a moment, his mind registering the words as they came. "Lizzy told me last night. Sounded, uh…rough." Gunk too took a chance to express himself that didn't come about very often.

"It most certainly was. I didn't know I could be capable of an act such as that. And I didn't even mean to do it. I mean, I wanted to stop the monster…"

"But you didn't mean to beat its head into nothing with its own leg."

"Right."

"Well, at least you did something."

"What do you mean? You helped the evacuation of the guests."

"You could've done that. In fact, you did."

"You healed Andrew."

"But he was, like, taken by surprise. What are the odds that happening again? And Kon? He turned down my help when I offered it. You and Thomas are basically invincible, and Lizzy wears armour. Even ignoring that, I only just passed my hand-to-hand tests during training, I don't have any weapons…what happens if I get cornered in a fight? I heal them to death?"

"Well, this is quite the proverbial pickle. You desire to inflict greater violence, while that is precisely what I wish to avoid."

"Way to spell it out."

"Pardon?"

"It's an expression."

"I see." After a moment of dead air, Suzy smiled.

"You know, this is the first time since I joined this team that anyone has really talked to me. Even from Lizzy, the most I get are just…comments. This is the first time that someone has listened to a word I've said here."

"Perhaps you could ask Lizzy for advice on public speech. She seems to be the authority." Suzy giggled. "Was that amusing?"

"The fact that you don't realise it was is the funny part…we should do this, like, regularly. I like it." Gunk mimicked her smile.

"Me too."

One day later, Doctor Anarchy's base…

Doctor Anarchy circumvented the thick black electrical cables that hung from the walls and were lain across the floor to reach the control panel. The cables all met a single point but were plugged into different spots at the centre of the darkened room. The six-foot figure sat limply in its chair, strapped to the armrests and legs with large steel clamps, the cables sticking out of its shoulders, hands, chest, abdomen and legs. Anarchy rubbed his hands together and grinned with glee as he fiddled with buttons and switches from behind a large sheet of glass dividing him from his experiment.

"My greatest creation..." He mumbled to himself. "...the harbinger of chaos, the manifestation of madness." Only one switch remained un-pulled. "Return to us." As he pulled the switch, an ominous humming grew increasingly louder around the subject. Soon, the room burst bright with blue light. As thousands of joules of electricity were transferred through the cables, the subject slowly doubled in size, tortured screaming accompanying his growth. His scream evolved more and more into a furious roar the larger he grew. When the volts stopped running, the now 12-foot monstrosity burst from its seat, the bindings around its wrists and ankles tearing like wet paper thanks to its massive muscles. Anarchy jumped up and down with demented joy as the familiar looking Frankenstein-like monster let out its signature scream of pure fury, electric towers quickly tearing through the flesh in its back and sparking rapidly, illuminating its sewn-together skin in flashes. Anarchy slowly entered the room to approach the beast, it quietly growling as it hunched over. "Bring me your work." Anarchy whispered in its ear. The monster stood tall and enveloped itself in electric light, before dissipating into air in a bright flash.

Los Angeles…

The Crusaders rushed around the locker room to don their respective costumes. While Techsmith ran a systems check on her armour, Nocturne pulled the hood over his head, clad in the red and black uniform he previously trained in. Starbolt pulled down his sleeveless black vest, its chest emblazoned with a large, six-pointed, bright yellow star whose bottom point stretched down his torso and thinned out across his abdomen, stopping around his waistline. His pants were black, the sides lined with yellow streaks. The two articles were separated by a black belt, which his light blue cape ran past before ending at where his boots started. He placed on his white-eyed black domino mask, and turned to see Mind Master, in his traditional Yong Zhan attire of loose, black, Shaolin-esque monk robes, wrapping his hands in white bandages as he had his bare feet. His normal, featureless blindfold was swapped out for one bearing the Yong Zhan insignia its centre, that symbol being the Chinese characters for 'brave' and 'warrior' beside each other in a white circle. Red Cross, meanwhile, was adjusting her elbow-length red gloves. Her zip-up vest was pure white, with her namesake crimson symbol replicated on both her front and back, and she bore small red shoulder pads above her exposed upper arms. Her pants were white, her belt and boots maintaining the titular scarlet colour. Her identity was concealed by tinted red glasses, and as usual, her black hair was up in a neat ponytail that still gave way for a slight fringe. Gunk's natural form needed not be altered to enter battle. His team gathered before him, in full costume no less, was an inspiring sight for Starbolt on a number of levels. He decided to make the most of the moment and took centre stage at the first step of the staircase.

"Alright, team, listen up." He began, gaining everyone's attention once more. His words came with more focus and authority than they had in his last speech. Unfortunately, it was all still riddled with tropes. "We won't let this fight go down like it did last time. We've licked our wounds, and now it's time for round two with whoever's behind these attacks. We'll get off the mat, and we'll fight even harder than the first round. When the big guns can't take the heat, they call us. So let's get out there and show this son of a bitch that we play for keeps!" He saw the inspired nod from Mind Master and the excited jittering of Techsmith, and decided now was as good a time as any to pull out his wham-line.

"Let's get crusading!" Like a light switch, the magic was lost. The catchphrase Starbolt spent a whole night devising fizzled out on the first flight. Nocturne groaned loudly. Techsmith's shoulders slumped. Mind Master made an encouraging shrug. Red Cross shook her head. Gunk stroked his chin. Starbolt immediately came to regret his choice. "I'm sorry you all had to hear that."

"You should be ashamed of yourself." For the first time, everyone was in total agreement with Nocturne. "That was honestly worse than any possible failure we could potentially encounter on this mission. It's been a LONG time since I've heard anything that bad."

"Okay…"

"A 12-year old could come up with something better than that. And I know you have 12-year old tendencies, but an actual 12-year old still could have done better than that."

"The speech was solid, though." Mind Master attempted to soften the blow. "A satisfying speech, sans the attempt at a catchphrase."

"If I was drunk and on that Primaxian flower drug or whatever that thing is, I'd have come up with something better than 'let's get crusading.' That was just…."

"OKAY! It sucked, I know, now let's just go! God, you guys just…."

"I didn't even say anything." Techsmith said defensively. "Which is a real miracle. There are so many words to describe it that Nocturne hasn't even touched on." Kon sighed as Red Cross giggled and Gunk mentally took notes as he observed.

"Let's just go fight the villain, okay?" The Crusaders ascended the staircase, but just before they left the building, Starbolt let out some more inspiring words. "I hope you all get captured."