Just doing my job

The shock lasted only a moment, but it was long enough for the son-of-a-bitch to land a punch on my jaw. The distortion field absorbed the bulk of the force, but he still hit me hard enough to send me flying backwards hard enough to crash straight through the bridge and land in the Thames with a huge splash.

Suddenly finding yourself submerged in water is never pleasant, especially when the water in question comes from a river like the Thames.

I suppressed the urge to try and draw in a deep breath, knowing full well that although the polluted water wouldn’t do me any harm, it wouldn’t be nice. Kicking out with my legs as hard as I could, I made for the surface, reaching it just as my lungs felt like they were going to burst.

He was hovering in the air above me, laughing like a maniac as an army containment team started to make their way across the bridge, weapons pointed at Sidney. She was standing her ground, daring them to try and approach her.

One of the many non-flyers at SIU, Sidney Pierce was still considered one of their more capable agents due to her truly amazing speed, strength and reliance to damage. I have personally seen her punch through a bank vault door; something I would have had trouble doing before my transformation.

One of the masked soldiers tried to grab Sidney from behind, only to be thrown clear across the bridge, knocking over three of his comrades.

This was the distraction I needed: why the goon who’d attacked me was busy laughing at the confused and outclassed soldiers on the bridge, I charged at him as fast as I could, hitting him with everything I had. The distortion field flared on impact, stopping my fist from actually connecting with his jaw, but not stopping the force behind the blow.

He flew backwards at high speed, crashing into Hobbs’ helicopter, smashing the engine badly and it started to drop from the sky, trailing smoke. It was only the pilot’s skill that kept it from crashing into the river, rather than landing rather hard on the bridge.

Hobbs ran from the helicopter like a man possessed, not noticing Sid’s out stretched arm until it was too late: he hit it full force, landing on his back with a thud, out cold.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.” Sid chuckled, looking down at the poppas-ass who’d been selected to run SIU due to his political connections rather than any real merit. Half the people under him hated the ground he walked on, while the other half spent their spare time plotting ways to kill him.

I swept down over the bridge; grabbing Sid’s hand like we had practiced a hundred times: being one of the few flyers at SIU meant you were expected to help those who couldn’t. Her weight shifted as I went into a tight turn, heading east along the river towards the North Sea.

“You have a plan?” Sid asked as she climbed up along my arm and grabbed hold of my shoulders for support.

“Like I said before: I’m just playing this by ear.” I explained as we passed over the Thames Barrier, “The main point at the moment is to lose anyone who’s following us so we can meet up with the others.”

“And where are they?”

“It’s a surprise…” I was stopped mid sentence by a hail of tracer fire that ripped past us and slammed into the river below. “HOLD TIGHT!” I yelled to be heard above the sound of gunfire, before flipping over onto my back to get a better view of who and what was shooting at us.

A pair of Harrier jets were following us at wave-top height, the guns on the lead plane firing straight at me. The distortion field stopped the bullets, but I didn’t feel like trying my luck to see how long it would last.

I flipped back over, knowing that speed was the one defence I know I could rely on. I pushed myself forward, trying to outpace the two jets before they came up with something that could hurt me. As much as the government is reliant on superhumans to deal with other superhumans, they always have something in reserve in case they need to take down one of their own.

The distortion field changed as I sped up, forming an aerodynamic shield ahead of me that kept the wind out of my face and made it possible to breath at such high speed. The outer suburbs shot past in a blur as the jets continued to fire, bullets tracing back and forth across the water.

The surface of the river rippled as we passed through the sound barrier, and I winced momentarily at the thought of what damage the shockwave would do at such a low altitude. Thankfully the two jets were unable to match our speed, and soon fell behind as we passed out over the North Sea.

The seawater shot up in a huge wake behind us as I turned north, trying to get away before they had a chance to track us. I was under no illusion that by now I probably had my very own spy-satellite, tracking me from high above. The Conspiracy had near unlimited recourses to call on in finding me.

“MISSILE!” Sid called out a warning, pointing at a dot approaching from one side. How she could tell it was a missile from that far away I don’t know: her eyesight has always been impressive.

We shot vertically up, turning 90-degrees almost instantly, trading distance for height. Sid held on tightly, her face pressed against my neck so I could hear her over the sound of rushing air.

As fast as I am, I can’t outrun a missile, and the one chasing us hit the distortion field and exploded. The shockwave hit the distortion field and tossed us about like a rag-doll.

Sid screamed in terror as she lost her grip and fell helplessly towards the sea far below.

I stopped as fast as I could, my body protesting as the inertia pulled at me, trying to keep me heading upwards. Turning round, I headed downwards, catching the distant shape of another pair of fighters approaching out of the clear blue sky. There was a momentary flash as one of them fired a missile, the warhead tracking in on Sid.

I pushed myself harder, racing the missile to the still falling figure, only seconds from impact with the water. I considered for a moment the possibility of intercepting the missile and taking it out, but the fighters fired again, this time a wide angled shot that rocked out to the side before tracking back in.

Sid gabbed my outstretched hands as I passed her, pulling up just in time to avoid hitting the water. At the speed I was going, it would have been like hitting a mountain.

The first missile struck the sea and exploded, sending up flame and water behind us. The second shot passed through the spray and followed us doggedly as I tried to lose it amid the waves.

The distortion field flared brightly as the missile struck, the shockwave almost tearing Sid out of my grip as I pulled her closer. The lead fighter came down behind us, firing canon shells at us at near point-blank range. Something in the back of my mind recognised it as a Tornado interceptor, much faster than the Harriers that had chased us down the Thames.

“I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s me they’re after.” Sid called out as she pulled herself up onto my back.

“It’s nice to feel wanted, isn’t it?” I laughed, not knowing what else to say.

“We need to do something before they call for reinforcements.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t panic!” I grabbed Sid by her wrists and tossed her as high into the air as I could. She shot up like a rocket, tumbling over and over. This distracted the pilots following us, forcing them to choose between targets.

I used the few seconds of grace this gave me to shot back up, grabbing Sid just as she started to fall and passed over the speeding jets. True, we were now heading the wrong way, but it would take the pilots a little while to turn their speeding jets around and follow.

The appearance of another two jets, following just behind the leaders, was a shock to the system. I swore under my breath, knowing that it was my own fault for not keeping an eye on what was going on. Both of the approaching jets fired missiles at us, the warheads seeking in on us from different directions.

There was a blur of movement, followed by a series of explosions as a laser swatted the missiles from the sky like they were flies.

A strange looking craft appeared out of nowhere, coming to a stop between the approaching jets and us, forcing them to veer off to avoid colliding. The aircraft hung there is mid air, silent, imposing. A door slowly opened in the side, and a familiar face appeared.

“Need a lift?” Simon Neo asked.

To Be Continued...