This particular extract will either be my prologue or my third/fourth chapter. I had a lot of shenanigans placing it when I was compiling my portfolio. I like it as an introduction, but everyone else thinks it should be included after introducing my other main character. But anyway, it kind of stands alright on its own, provided you're hunky dory with the concept of teenage superheroes. Hope you enjoy it.
The alarm rang out into the night over the rooftops of London. People in the nearby houses woke up groggily at the sound of its high pitched whine, but when it stopped a few seconds later it didn’t take them long to return to sleep. However, this presented an entirely new set of problems for the robbers that had activated it.
“I thought you’d shut down the alarms” the group leader hissed at his subordinate.
“Only the ones I know about. That alarm wasn’t on the schematic” his subordinate hissed back, now beginning to sweat underneath his balaclava.
“Whatever, just get this thing open” the leader replied, shining his torch at the large metal door. His subordinate nodded and placed a circular device over an electronic keypad at the doors side. He pressed some buttons and small blue screen lit up as thousands of possible combinations of digital numbers flashed past.
His leader kept on staring at the safe door with greedy intent. Once he had possession of its contents he could retire, and with enough money to last the rest of his life. Years of small time bank jobs and hiding from the police had finally paid off. After this final job he could put his life of crime behind him and buy himself a large villa somewhere hot and out of the way. Maybe he could bag a pretty young lady or two.
They had planned this operation meticulously, watching the research centre for weeks to learn the routines of its employees. Having picked the night where they would encounter the least resistance, it had simply been a case of cutting off the building’s main power supply before restraining the security guards and few late working researchers. Only then could they begin breaking into the safe, in which lay the object they were being paid a large amount of money to retrieve.
The device gave a loud chirp as it completed its task, which was followed by a loud clunk as the safe unlocked. Moving forward slowly, as if doing so would wake up a monster lurking behind the metal door, the leader grasped the circular handle and began turning it like the wheel of a ship. It was stiff and obviously not opened very often. There was another clunking sound, and pulling the handle back the door slowly swung open. The two robbers picked up their torches and slowly moved inside.
The interior was filled with shelves and drawers, on which were numerous files and paperwork. The two crooks ignored these and continued to search the rest of the interior. Eventually the light from their torches fell onto a silver coloured metal briefcase lying on a shelf. When they saw it they both gave relieved smiles, before the leader picked it up by the handle.
Picking up his radio from his belt he said into it “We have the case. How are our hosts?”
In a different part of the building his second accomplice answered “Oh they’re just fine. They don’t seem to mind too much that we’ve outstayed our welcome.” She smiled at the six people lying at her feet with their hands and feet bound with tape, and more strips covering their mouths.
She cackled happily as she looked around the darkened laboratory, filled with turned off computers and tables she had overturned just for the heck of it. She fiddled with a strand of long blonde hair protruding from under her balaclava, before she began to reload the rifle she was holding. The hostages began to murmur fretfully and squirm against their bonds as they watched her. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist. If I was going to shoot you I’d have done it ages ago” she taunted.
Suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass, at which she raised her gun and looked about the room. The light from the torch attached to the end of her rifle found nothing, the only movement coming from her restrained prisoners. “If whoever made that noise doesn’t show up my trigger finger might get itchy” she shouted into the darkness. She got no reply. Slowly she began to inch forward, her eyes straining to see any sign of movement. “Don’t think I won’t do it! I ain’t exactly little Miss sunshine” she bellowed.
“Who are you talking to?’ a voice spoke from behind her. She whirled around in alarm and came face to face with her two colleagues, the leader holding the briefcase in his hand.
“I think we’ve got a snoop somewhere nearby” she told them.
“You mean that shattering glass wasn’t you?” the male accomplice asked.
“Why would I go about breaking windows you idiot?” she hissed at him.
“Ssssssshhh” their leader hushed. It was then that they heard a door opening and the patter of footsteps down a nearby corridor. They instinctively drew closer to each other. This hadn’t been part of the plan. They had made sure to cover all areas of the building and had found nobody but those already taken hostage. This meant that whoever was making those noises had only just arrived.
“I don’t suppose it could be...you know...those rumours about those vigilantes?” the male accomplice stammered, now sounding very nervous.
“Oh don’t be so daft. They don’t exist; it’s a bunch of fairytale rubbish” the female accomplice muttered to him under her breath.
“Shut up” the leader barked loudly as the footsteps returned, closer than before. Suddenly the lights in the room were turned right up, momentarily dazzling everyone. Only when their eyes became accustomed to the light did they see the teenage boy standing in the doorway.
He was tall and muscular with straggly, unkempt blonde hair. But what amazed everyone was that he wore a suit of armour, with boots on his feet and brown gauntlets over his hands. He was holding a shining, silver, round shaped shield and a sword that sparkled in the light. Staring at the crooks with a look of defiance he said “you villains fight with no honour!”
A couple of seconds passed in silence, before the crooks burst into laughter at the sight of him. “Oh so we have no honour?” the female accomplice spluttered. “Get a reality check kid. This isn’t the Battle of Hastings.”
The boy ignored them. “I do not wish you to force my hand. Leave now before you give me no other option!”
“Oh come off it” the male accomplice snickered. “What are you going to do, joust us?”
The boy simply gave a wry smile. He pointed his sword towards them and muttered under his breath “Luna empiriasta enka.” The looks on the crooks faces changed from mirth to astonishment as the sword began to glow a bright blue colour, bathing the room in its fierce light. They could only watch as the boy pulled back his sword behind his head and swung it vertically downwards, at which a ray of blue light shot out of the blade in their direction. It passed straight through the tables standing in its way, cutting them clean in half. The three crooks panicked and dived to the floor as it hit the wall behind them, cutting its way through that as well.
Suddenly feeling more scared then she had ever felt before the female accomplice grabbed her rifle, got to her feet and aimed at the boy. “Don’t even think of trying that again!” she bellowed.
Now it was the boy who was laughing. “Take your best shot young crone” he taunted as he raised his shield, which was also glowing in the same blue light. Not wanting to give him another chance she fired. But the bullets did not reach their target. They simply rebounded off a blue aura surrounding the boy’s shield. The female accomplice could only watch in horror as the bullets fell harmlessly to the floor.
“How did you do that?’ the leader uttered in disbelief.
“If you find my abilities impressive, wait until you see those of my comrades” the boy replied mysteriously. After he spoke some of the hostages began screaming into the tape covering their mouths. The leader turned to see them staring at the windows, and when he looked he also nearly cried out in shock.
Through the glass was a teenage girl dressed entirely in purple. From her matching skirt and top completed with knee high boots over some stockings. The top part of her face was covered by a mask that looked like it had been made out of ivy, and similar strands of plants were entwined about her body and in her purple coloured hair. This was nothing, however, to the pair of gigantic, brightly coloured butterfly wings on her back, which she was flapping effortlessly to maintain her position, floating in mid-air three floors above the ground.
The girl gave a happy wink at the stunned spectators, as from her hands purple coloured bolts of electricity fizzed towards the window. When they made contact a hole appeared in the centre of the glass, growing in size until it was big enough for the girl to fly through. Once she had passed into the room the hole shrank until it had sealed itself shut, with the glass pane completely undamaged. The girl landed elegantly before saying “don’t suppose you’ve seen many teenagers do that before?”
This was too much for the crooks, and they began scurrying towards a fire escape in the corner. The girl waited until they had almost reached it, before sending more bolts of purple electricity towards a fire hose hanging on the wall. None of the crooks saw the hose slowly begin to unravel itself, as if it had a life of its own. The female accomplice only became aware of it when it wrapped itself around her body from her shoulders all the way down to her ankles, causing her to topple to the floor. The other two paused as they watched this happen, before barging through the fire door in order to save themselves.
“Come back you cowards!” the female accomplice shrieked after them as she wriggled against her bonds, but finding herself unable to escape.
A pair of purple boots walked into her line of sight. “How do you like being the one all tied up then?” the girl smiled at her.
“Don’t get clever with me missy” the woman spat. “There’s no way the two of you will catch my colleagues now!”
“Who says there are only two of us?” she remarked casually.
The two remaining crooks were now running down a metal staircase clinging to the side of the building, normally reserved for emergencies. This led them into an empty courtyard surrounded by high brick walls, which was filled with delivery trucks during the day, but was now empty. The only light came from their torches and the orange glow of some streetlights over the far wall.
“Oh dear God what do we do!” the male accomplice fretted. “It’s them, it really is them. We are so screwed!”
“Just shut up will you!” the leader barked as he paused to catch his breath. “We just need to find a way over the wall to the car and we’ll be fine!”
The male accomplice obediently fell silent, and began frantically looking about him, trying to find a way of escaping. His eyes travelled all the way up to the building’s roof, and when he saw the outline of another person standing on it he gave a panicked yelp. This coincided with the outline firing an orb of green light at him.
The leader had seen them as well, and pulled the male accomplice out of the way just as the green orb hurtled past, colliding with the tarmac and disappearing in a puff of smoke. “What are you trying to do, kill us?” the leader bellowed, trying to sound as defiant as possible.
“Actually that was an electro-magnetic pulsar, designed to send an electrical message through the nervous system to the subjects brain with the intent of causing unconsciousness!” the figure replied, moments before leaping off the roof. The figure landed on its feet with a loud thump, before drawing itself up to its full height completely unhurt.
It was clad head to foot in a suit of metal armour that covered every part of its body. The think metal plates covering its torso were coloured a deep black, as was the helmet which completely encased its head, save for a red tinted visor and a small slit for its mouth. Mounted on its shoulders was what resembled a pair of cannons, with their barrels glowing a gentle green whilst trained directly on the position of the two crooks.
The leader, now beginning to feel truly scared, pulled out his pistol from his belt and said “don’t come any closer, or I swear I’ll...”
“Fire your gun and watch the bullets bounce off my titanium infused armour?” the figure replied, its voice unmistakably that of a girl and sounding like it was speaking through a microphone. “Sorry, but that’s not going to work on me, or my teammate for that matter.”
“What teammate?” the leader asked.
Immediately there came a loud crashing sound from behind them. They whirled around and saw that a massive hole had been punched in the wall, throwing bricks and dust into the courtyard. Through the debris stepped another teenage boy, who had evidently just smashed his way through. He was tall and bulky, and only wore a pair of jeans revealing the top half of his body. His skin seemed to glint in the low light, and as he stepped closer the two crooks realised that this was because his skin, from his bare feet all the way up to his face, was made out of jagged white diamonds fused together. His feet made loud clunking sounds against the tarmac as he moved forward, and he gave a brilliant smile which literally sparkled at them.
“I’ve got a question for you guys” the figure said in a deep voice. “On a scale of one to ten, just how cool am I? Be honest now.”
The crooks didn’t reply, because seconds later they took off in different directions. Giving a laugh the boy yelled “bit old for tag aren’t you guys?” before setting after the male accomplice. The girl in the armour raised her arm as a small cannon emerged from the armour around her forearm. She quickly fired, and the male accomplice stumbled as he felt some wires wrap tightly around his legs, causing him to fall to the floor. He was then picked up by his neck and hoisted up off the floor by the diamond boy. He thrashed and kicked but the boys grip was unbreakable, holding him up as if he were some sort of ragdoll.
“Please” he spluttered in terror, “don’t hurt me. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“Tough” the diamond boy grinned at him. “You should have thought about the possibility of being stopped by a band of super powered teenagers before you broke the law.”
“His boss escaped through your hole in the wall” said the armoured girl.
The diamond boy didn’t look too upset. “Well it’s not like he’s going to get far is it?” he replied.
The leader had run through the ruined wall and was now tearing down a deserted alleyway. It emerged onto a small residential road and he saw the getaway car parked on the pavement. He began to feel a warm, encouraging relief fill through him. He was still grasping the briefcase tightly, and with the other two now out of the picture he could now claim all the money for himself. He stopped and looked about him, and when he was sure the coast was clear he ran towards the car faster than he had ever run before.
He was only metres away when a ball of fire suddenly fell from the sky onto the car, causing it to explode violently. The force of the blast pushed the leader onto his back and made his ears ring. Time seemed to pause for a moment as he lay on the pavement in a complete daze.
He wasn’t aware of someone standing over him until they said “I hope your insurance was up to date on that.” The leader looked up and saw the blurry outline of another teenage boy, wearing a jet black hoodie and a pair of dark trousers and boots. His clothes were padded in a way similar to bullet proof vests, and his hood was up over his head. Only the bottom half of his face was visible, the rest of it covered by a black mask that completely covered his face from the mouth upwards, with slots only for his eyes.
The leader realised he had dropped his gun during the blast, and turning his head he saw it resting just out of his grasp. The boy saw him looking and said “you won’t be needing that.” He then held out his hand, from which an orb of fire appeared hovering in his outstretched palm. The boy casually flicked this fireball to where the gun was resting. There was a fierce crackling sound as it hit the pavement, followed by an acrid burning smell. When the fire orb had disappeared the leader gawped at his gun, which was now half melted and was welded to the ground.
The leader looked back up and watched as the boy in the hoodie was joined by the purple haired girl, the blonde haired knight, the girl in the armour and the diamond boy, forming a tight circle around him. He could only stare back at them, knowing full well that he had been beaten.
“Are his friends sorted out?” the boy in the hoodie asked his comrades.
“All restrained and accounted for” the blonde knight replied, sounding thoroughly pleased with himself.
“We should do the same with this guy sharpish. I’ve intercepted police transmissions saying they’re on their way here” the armoured girl announced urgently.
“Wait” the leader croaked. “How did...you do that. Who...are you?”
“Well I’m Nymph” replied the purple haired winged girl.
“Sir Matthew at your service” boasted the blonde knight.
“I’m Cybergirl” said the armoured girl.
“You can just call me Diamond” the diamond boy grinned.
“And I’m Fireflash” the hoodie boy concluded, “and we’re the Renegades!”
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