CHAPTER ONE
The Heiress
Jesus Christ, just what we need. More fucking supers.
I kick off my heels and toss my jacket on the huge four-poster bed, but don't take my eyes off the news footage they must have been recycling since it happened. The players may change, but the game remains the same. "Our top story tonight," Anchorman Murray Marshall says. "Has Galilee Falls hero population increased by three? Earlier this afternoon, the super-criminal Gigantor and his gang of Giants, in a reported attempt to show their civic pride, donned Galilee Angels jerseys and attacked the Jericho Warriors bus as it pulled into Pendergast Stadium. Sports reporter Frank Casabian was on the scene and recorded the attack. Parental guidance is suggested."
On the screen, the nine-foot, thousand pound behemoth tips over the bus with little effort as the frightened cameraman and Frank Casabian shriek bleeped obscenities. Gigantor and his crew don't care about them, they're too busy demolishing the bus with barbwire clubs, attempting to reach the players inside. As glass smashes and a dozen frightened men holler and cry, two security guards come racing up, guns raised but shaking. Gigantor barrels at them like a bull on steroids taking a few hits to his costume but it must be bullet resistant as he doesn't slow a whit. He reaches the now petrified guards, swatting them like flies into the wall. They're knocked out, or that's what I choose to believe. I've seen enough death for a lifetime. The trembling camera stays trained on the mêlée as the man holding it prays.
Thirty seconds in, all windows are nothing but shards and henchmen leap into the bus as Gigantor struts back. "Bring me Tobias!" he bellows. A few seconds later, a bleeding and shaken man is pushed out of the broken bus window, collapsing to the ground in a small heap. Gary Tobias, National MVP two years running, cowers on the pavement amid shards of glass, slicing his ten million dollar a year hands. Gigantor laughs at the sight. Yeah, Tobias won't be playing tonight.
"Please don't kill me," he cries, no longer the cocky jerk his interviews make him out to be.
"I won't kill all of you," Gigantor says as he reaches the man. Looming over the sobbing football player, he slowly presses his foot down on the quarterback's kneecap as Tobias howls in pain. That howl socks me right in the gut. I know it too well.
"What the hell is that?" one of the henchmen shouts. The camera swings to where he's pointing. Here comes the money shot.
In perfect formation, the Royal Triumvirate swoop down from the heavens, capes flapping in the breeze to kick ass. Their leader, King Tempest, in his navy blue and white costume jets into Gigantor, knocking him off his feet. The ground quakes when they land. The cameraman doesn't know where to shoot. He pans from King Tempest pounding the hell out of the dazed giant to Lord Nightingale and Lady Liberty dispatching henchmen with punches and elegant roundhouse kicks. A few of the braver Jericho Warriors join in, grabbing discarded clubs to bludgeon their attackers. Good for them.
The carnage ends less than a minute later. The bad guys lie bleeding on the ground, Gigantor included. Tempest hog-ties the unconscious giant as sirens and flashing lights pull up. I count fifteen squad cars, a SWAT van, and two ambulances. It wouldn't be enough.
A young patrolman is the first to approach King Tempest, who smiles at the boy. "I gave him an extremely powerful sedative," the hero says. He removes three vials from his belt. "One every five hours." He pats the officer's shoulder. "Guess the game's canceled tonight, huh? Too bad. I was really looking forward to it. It was going to be a hell of a battle." The awed officer nods. "Well then," Tempest says as he turns around, "team?"
The other two heroes nod, and all at once, the three take off into the air without another word. The footage ends there. Anchorman Murray Marshall once again sits behind his anchor desk, staring at the camera. "Sources report that Bridger Davis, A.K.A. Gigantor was transported to Xavier Maximum Security Prison shortly after for holding and has not yet regained consciousness. The other men involved in the attack have also been arrested and several players of the Jericho Warriors, including quarterback Gary Tobias, were taken to Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow Hospital with minor injuries. Tonight's game has been canceled and all tickets will be refunded. Commissioner--"
I shut off the television. Great. Those Tokyo businessmen we gave box seats to are going to be pissed. I'll bet Lane is shitting himself. I'm shocked I haven't received a frantic phone call. As if I would have a clue what to do if he did. From my perspective we don't need to purchase another telecommunications company. We have three. Or maybe it's four. Even after almost a year I don't know all of Pendergast Industries holdings. We're always in flux. Yesterday I was worth one billion, today they tell me it's three. And that's just my personal holdings. The company's worth four times that. It all gives me a headache. If Justin wasn't dead I'd kill him for doing this to me.