Hero Unit: Fallout

By JC Bybee

Life is never easy for the most powerful Exceptional. Ace’s unit is still hunting the deranged serial killer, Cult. The psychotic Anti always seems to stay one step ahead of them. As her unit tries to focus on finding their suspect, a rash of Anti attacks plague the city, stretching the EED to its limits. To deal with these new threats, Ace is forced to use more and more of the powers she wants to keep secret. The harder she works, the more suspicious the EED Advisory Council becomes. How will the mighty Fifth deal with the fallout of her own actions?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JC Bybee
• Release date: Aug 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005706760

JC Bybee

I was born in a small town, raised in an even smaller town. After serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I went to Brigham Young University. There I met my beautiful wife, who moved us to Iowa. I now live in western Idaho where between being a stay-at-home dad and a writer I'm kept pretty busy. In when I'm not writing I enjoy gaming, table-top and video games.

Book preview

Ace looked at the mass of people and shuddered. It was as if the entire population of New Davenport had crowded into one place, all for the same reason: Black Friday.

Tell me again why we’re doing this? she asked. Large crowds of people were high on her list of things to avoid.

Tabitha, Ace’s towering Fortress Class daughter, laughed at her mother’s trepidation. Because you wanted to start some holiday traditions. You said, ‘since we don’t need to sleep, let’s see what this Black Friday nonsense is all about!’ If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought you were drunk.

In the two and a half months since Ace had adopted Tabitha, the young woman had gained an immense amount of confidence. She still had her moments of self-doubt, but she tried not to let it define her life.

Besides, this’ll be fun, Angela added. Ace’s identical twin sister, and since they were Exceptionals they truly were identical, had been all for trying out Black Friday shopping.

A ce eyed her sister. You and I have very different ideas about what is, and is not, fun.

Angela laughed, and they waded into the fray. Northpark Memorial Shopping center was less a mall, and more of an experience. Located nowhere near the site of the original Northpark Mall, it was the largest mall/shopping center in the United States of North America. It was the size of some small towns.

Luckily, even with how preoccupied many of the other shoppers were, most moved out of their way when they spotted Ace and Angela. It wasn’t the near nine-feet-tall Tabitha that got people to move. In New Davenport, Fortress Class were almost considered common, but there was only one set of too-similar-to-be-normal, blond haired, blue eyed twins, of average height in the city. Everyone knew what the Fifths looked like, even if they’d never laid eyes on them in public.

It was a long-ingrained habit of Ace’s to avoid going out in public. At least it had been, until her sister had come to live with her. With increasing frequency, she found herself out and about on her days off.

Still, it was a rare enough occurrence to see them that already the whispers and stares were starting. Normally people’s reactions would have annoyed her. At the moment, she was determined to enjoy some well-deserved time off with her family.

The last few weeks had been difficult for the EED. Despite having eliminated the original creator of Power, it was still cropping up. Thankfully, it was now illegal to make and use, but the flipside of that was the hero units were now bogged down with responses to Power users. Add to that increased Anti activity, and their resources were starting to get stretched thin.

Ace felt like she had spent more time in the courtroom in the past few months than she had in the last three years. One of the bailiffs had joked that she should look into moving into the courthouse. First, it was the original case that had put them on the path of Power; a local mixed martial artist had been using it to attack Fortress Class. He even confessed to the assaults, but his lawyer was trying to argue the confessions were coerced because he had been under the influence of the drug at the time of questioning.

Then she had to testify at her own shooting trial. That had been a less messy case, thank goodness. Lastly there was the Power case itself. Ace had been forced to kill the person making it; she’d been cleared by Internal Affairs, but even that was being thrown into question in light of the fact that she was a Fifth, and the one responsible for Power was a Second.

-Don’t worry, it will all work out in the end, Angela said. As always, she knew everything that was going on inside Ace’s head. It was at times convenient, at times extremely annoying.

-Like when you’re daydreaming about a certain collage track coach.

-Quiet. The last thing Ace wanted to think about right then was James Smith. He only knew her as Alison, Ace’s rarely-used alter-ego. It didn’t help that Tabitha had been accepted into New Davenport University and was set to start in January.

That was a whole other set of worries for her. She worried what kind of attention Tabitha was going to get once people realized who she was. Oddly, word of the adoption hadn’t spread as rapidly as Ace had feared. There were still plenty of people who had no idea that Tabitha was her daughter now. And that suited Ace just fine, but once Tabitha started going to school, word was going to spread. Sudden fame, or infamy, was not easy for anyone to deal with.

-She’ll be fine. You’ve been a good influence on her.

Ace was inclined to say it was more the efforts of Torment, Ace’s former unit commander, and her partner Maniac.

-They certainly have helped, but she looks up to you, not Torment or Maniac. You are her hero.

Hero. The one title that still made Ace uncomfortable. She accepted her role as an EED hero, but that was the same as being a police officer. What Angela meant was something else. It was the title given to people to risked everything for the good of others. Ace doubted, very much, she would ever feel worthy to be called that kind of Hero.

-Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, it’s the truth. She loves you, just like you love her.

Hey, no private conversations, you know the rules. Tabitha kept her voice low enough that probably only Ace heard.

Sorry, Ace said, adequately chastised. She never wanted her daughter to feel left out. That was how her birth parents had treated her. They were anti-Exceptional zealots who had belonged to the Children of God. They were now in jail, and her siblings were living with less fanatical relatives.

Sorry, Tabitha. Your mother was just being paranoid, again, Angela said.

Well there’s the game shop you were talking about, but look at the size of that line, Tabitha pointed to Johnny’s New and Used Games, Ace’s favorite place to pick up video games. It was a locally owned joint that catered to all gaming tastes from console to PC. They even had an augmented reality booth that people could rent. VR and AR had never really appealed to Ace; her real life was crazy enough.

Let’s head to the back, Ace said, already resigned to a long wait.

You two wait here. I’ve got to see if I can find that stand mixer Emily wants so bad, Angela said.

Ace had almost forgotten that Emily had asked them to pick up some things for her. After all the work she’d put into Thanksgiving dinner the day before, they’d been more than happy to oblige. Okay, keep us posted on your progress.

Angela smiled and broke away from them. It made Ace happy to see her sister so confident. Not even five months ago, Angela wouldn’t have dared leave Ace’s side. As a Used, Angela had no control on her powers unless she was near Ace, who suppressed the Used Quirk. Time and proximity strengthened the effect, but Angela had always been reluctant to leave Ace’s side. Things were different now, largely because of her sister’s desire to give Tabitha as much of a normal life as they could.

After over an hour of waiting, Ace and Tabitha were the next in line to get into the store. Angela had already been successful in her first purchase and was heading to her next. She had come back long enough to dump everything on Ace, like some kind of pack mule, and moved on.

While they were waiting their turn, Ace struck up a conversation with the employee managing the line. All the people that worked at Johnny’s knew her, most even seemed to like her. I’m telling you, VR and AR can’t mimic what it’s like to fly. There will always be a part of your mind that is telling you you’re on the ground.

The girl, Kimberly, managing the line, disagreed. Oh, they’ll do it, but whether you are able to admit that they’ve done it is another story. The smile on her face took away the potential accusation in her voice.

"If, if they manage it, I will be the first to admit it," Ace replied with a smile of her own.

Just then two customers who were leaving the store started arguing, loudly, causing a great deal of disruption in the already crowded area in front of Johnny’s. There was much swearing involved, with accusations being leveled from both men.

With a sigh, Ace moved to intervene. Off-duty or not, it was her responsibility to try and keep things calm until security arrived. Hey, what seems to be the trouble? She interposed herself between the two men, causing them the both step back.

Mind your own business! One of them yelled.

Back off lady, snapped the other.

That’s Hero, Ace said, pulling out her badge.

-And that’s why you always carry that with you.

-You should probably get here ASAP. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to diffuse this very well. Ace wasn’t the best at diffusing tense situations.

At the sight of her badge the men visibly calmed. Now, what seems to be the problem?

It was nothing, the first mumbled. He was average height, probably in his mid-twenties. The other nodded. Yeah, nothing. He was shorter, and stocky, with wild black hair. They both looked like they’d been awake for far too long.

Fine, if it was nothing then both of you need to move along and stop bothering the rest of us. If I see you coming after each other again, I’ll arrest you both. They both nodded, fear plain on their faces. Alright. You both have a nice day.

Satisfied that the situation was dealt with, Ace turned to rejoin Tabitha. Her daughter’s eyes suddenly widened. Mom, he’s got Power!

Time seemed to slow around Ace as she turned to prevent a tragedy. A Power user let loose in a crowded mall would be devastating. Her enhanced speed and senses allowed her to nab the Power injector from the stocky one’s hand, but not before he’d already used at least some of the dose.

Not waiting to see if he’d got any in his system, Ace used her suppression power, blocking him from using his artificially induced powers. Time resumed its normal pace. You are under arrest for the possession and use of Power.

Why isn’t it working?! he yelled.

I’m the Fifth, Ace replied and continued to read him his rights while keeping a grip on him.

-I’ve got cuffs and I’ve let Northpark Precinct know to send a unit down to deal with him, Angela said.

-Thanks.

Finished reciting his rights, she asked, Do you understand these rights?

The young man opened his mouth to speak, but instead blood poured out. A look of horror crossed his face, as blood continued to pour from his mouth, and eyes, nose, ears.

-Angela! Ace shouted to her sister. Angela had Life Class powers.

It wasn’t but a moment before her sister was by her side, the laws of nature shifting rapidly as she used her powers, trying to keep the young man from bleeding to death.

She uttered a single curse and said, He overdosed. Everything inside is wrong. I’m doing what I can, but…

Ace knew there was little Angela could do. Even as a Fifth, there were limits to what could and could not be fixed. ODing on Power was not fixable. There’s an ambulance on its way, but I don’t know how long it’s going to take. This was from the same young man who’d been arguing with their victim not five minutes earlier. He was holding his device, an expensive one by the look, his face was pale, and he was shaking. Quite the change from the loudmouth he’d been just moments before.

Hopefully it’s soon. Hero Angela is doing everything she can. Ace didn’t want to worry anyone, more than the sight of someone bleeding to death already had. The bleeding had stopped, but Ace could tell from the look on her sister’s face that the man was gone.

He’s dead, isn’t he, the taller young man asked. He’d gone from pale to a greenish pallor that had Ace looking for the nearest garbage can.

Yes. Angela’s reply was flat, devoid of emotion. She hated watching people die, even people who deserved it.

But Power’s supposed to be safe- Ace cut him off. Power is not safe! No drug is safe! Anyone peddling that bull is either a liar or an idiot. Power will kill you. Either you’ll overdose like him, or your powers will suddenly vanish, or you’ll end up facing the EED. Does any of that sound safe to you?!

Everyone in the crowd backed away from her. She was covered in blood and seething with fury. Someone needlessly throwing their life away was one of the greatest tragedies. It was one heroes witnessed all too often.

Tabitha approached, but not too close. The area around Ace and Angela was now a crime scene. I’ll head home and let Emily know that you’ll be late. She was trying to put on a brave face, but she’d never witnessed something so horrific. She was going to need to talk about it with someone, soon.

Thanks sweetie. We’ll be along when we can, Ace said, moderating her tone. Her daughter always had a calming influence on her. With a nod Tabitha gathered up their purchases and made her way out through the crowd.

By now mall security was showing up and doing their best to funnel traffic around the horror. One checked in with Ace. She let him know what had happened and that the local EED branch had been contacted. You need anything more from us? he asked.

Ace shook her head. You’re doing a fine job. Sorry I couldn’t do more.

He shrugged. She couldn’t tell if his indifference was toward the situation, or her apology, but it grated nonetheless.

-He’s just trying to be nonchalant. Don’t let it bug you, Angela said. Ace glanced back at her sister, who was very much covered in blood, even more than Ace. She still had the young man’s head cradled in her lap. Though her face was calm, Ace knew that inside she was distraught.

-Psych evals for us both, she said, trying to distract her sister, even for a moment. Angela just shook her head, a tear rolling down her cheek.

-Why? Why do people do this to themselves? That was a question that Ace often asked herself, but there was never a good answer.

Chapter 2

We’re home, Ace called as she and Angela came in through the garage door. It had taken a little over an hour for the mess at the mall to be taken care of. Their emotions were wrung out. Now all Ace wanted was a shower and food.

You two go get cleaned up, Tabitha and I will have breakfast for you when you’re done, Emily said from the living room. Tabitha was sitting with her, a vacant look on her face.

-She’s going to need a visit from Torment, Angela said. Torment was a Mental Class who had been helping Tabitha overcome her early childhood abuse. It was an ongoing process, even with the help of an upper-tier Fourth.

-I think we all need one, Ace replied. It was part of Angela’s job to oversee the mental health of Ace and the rest of their unit, but this time they were going to need a third party for a little extra help.

I’ll call Torment and see if she’s available, Emily added. Their roommate didn’t need to hear their conversation to know what they were thinking. Torment had been adamant with them about needing her. She insisted that they call her, no matter what time it was, if Tabitha had something she had to work through. Ace doubted she would mind having a few more patients this time.

Thanks, Em, Ace said and headed to her room. She threw the clothes she’d been given into the trash. Her other clothes were being logged as evidence. As she walked into the bathroom, she caught her reflection in the mirror. It drew her attention. Hands on hips, she examined herself as she stood there in her underwear.

In the past two months she’d bulked up some, thanks to her increased dedication to training. She wanted to set a good example for Tabitha. Despite her powers, Ace had always taken the time to train, but now she was really starting to push herself, and the effort was showing. It’s not like she had been in bad shape, Exceptionals couldn’t ever be out of shape because of their powers. She looked strong now, like an athlete. Her wardrobe had been updated as a result.

-You look like mom.

Ace agreed with her sister, in part. Their mom would forever look like she was eighteen, something their dad liked to joke about. She was a Speed Class and she’d never given up her own training. The difference was that their mom looked like a runner, Ace looked like a weightlifter.

With a shake of her head, she finished undressing and got in the shower. She needed to wash away not just the remnants of the blood, but the memories as well.

Half an hour later Ace emerged from her room feeling, if not better, at least clean. From the kitchen she could hear Tabitha, Emily, and Torment talking and laughing. That was good. Laughter from her daughter was always a good sign. If she was laughing, then the memories had been dealt with.

-You okay? she asked her sister.

-No, came Angela’s terse reply.

-What do you