Aurum Shield

The results.

Chapter Twenty six​

“It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault."
"You must never feel badly about making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.”
- Norton Juster

Sometimes you get a stupid idea in your head about somebody because you spent years reacting to them. They change and you don’t even notice. When Sara told her mom about being gay and her relationship with Slight, Gail gave her a hug. She was happy her daughter was happy. That didn’t keep her from being pissed at me for once again making her the last to know. I complimented her on her flower garden, she didn’t think that was funny.
“I’ve got a job.”
“Another restaurant?”
“No, we’re forming a union for heroes. It’s replacing The Five. Karen and I are going to be the representatives.”
“Why?”
“Lot of reasons. The main one is I went to the bathroom and they voted me in when I was gone.”

Damn, I didn’t mean to tell her that. I’d been fighting the idea of having an official role in the Union of Heroes and they’d forced it on me. The general consensus was it had been my idea that had taken down The Five, it was my responsibility to help rebuild. Karen, bless her heart, volunteered.

“I’ll be getting a good paycheck. You won’t have to worry about the childcare being late.” I took her hand. Now for the bad news. “There will be people very upset about this and they might come after you again. I’ve asked Bebe to work an extended contract.”
“Without talking to me? So once again your cause is more important than your family?”
I was about to snap at her. Tell her about El Viento and how his family was murdered, how The Teacher and The Gunsmith had died. Then I realized it wasn’t going to help her understand at all.
“I have to make sure you are protected. I made the choice to work in those restaurants and I never told you how much it meant to me that you stuck with me through every failure. This isn’t something I have a choice about. I wish I did but I don’t.”
“”My Dad says you’re an asshole for not making sure we were covered to start with but he wants you to know he respects what you’re doing.” Since her dad hadn’t said more than a dozen words to me in all the years we’d been married that was impressive.
“Tell him thanks.”
“I’m proud of you. I’ve always known you were a good man who would find the right place to be. Just didn’t expect it to be this.”
We hugged for a long time. Looking over to where Karen, Sara and Slight were talking Gail asked, “What’s going on with you and Lady Ferrum? Do you have plans?”
Why do people keep asking me that?

“You want me to what?’ We had actually managed to surprise the Iron Duke.
“We’d like you to serve as the face of the International Union of Heroes.”
“Why would I want to do such a thing?”
“Because you have presence and authority. You are internationally recognized and since you’ve been retired, won’t be seen as having an ax to grind.”
“You just want someone to lend legitimacy to your madness.”
“I need you, Father. This is important to me.”
There was silence in the great hall.
“You know they will probably try to kill us.”
“Before they had judenrats to help them. Like the Jews who helped the Nazis. Now we stand together.” I said,
“So, do you have to call it a union? You know there are conservatives who are going to be nervous by the idea.”
“They can take it how they want. We wanted a name that showed we had common cause and stood together.” Plus, there was way too much of Man Mountain’s punch.
“Besides we don’t think it’s all the governments and organizations. We will have allies. It’ll just take time to figure out who they are.”

The announcement about the existence of the International Union of Heroes was made without saying anything about The Major or PsyAnnie. Of course the questions were asked. The Iron Duke smiled and said he had no idea where they were, which in his case was true. We got a flood of requests for memberships from all over the world. It was Lady Ferrum and The Aurum Shield who interviewed every hero. We even met a couple of villains who decided to change sides now that The Five were gone.

Brynhilde, Karen and Pinkie Lee came back from a ladies day out in London with shopping bags from four high end stores and a floor safe with the rebar and concrete still attached. From what I could tell by their somewhat inebriated account they had stopped for lunch and after a number of libations decided that it was a damned shame that Karen’s pictures were going to be published. This had been the topic of much media buzz ever since we announced the existence of the IUH. The pictures had somehow gotten into the hands of one of Britons more despicable newspaper owners and his media empire was trumpeting the appearance of the pictures in the next days post and online. So they decided to do something about it. The three of them showed up in the offices, politely asking to speak to the publisher. When they were told that he wasn’t currently taking visitors, they entered offices anyway. Pinkie Lee took a glance in his head to discover the location of Karen’s pictures and Brynhilde ripped the wall safe from its moorings. They thanked him for his cooperation and left. Karen had already made a call to her hacker friend and he had flushed any public computers that had anything with Karen.

Not that the job part of things was easy. We were at a park to meet a hero who lived in Orlando. He was either able to turn into part alligator or wore alligator gear. From the articles Gatorman had stopped four assaults, busted up a meth lab and stopped an protected species hunting operation. Gatorman seemed like just the kind of guy we needed. When The Five had approached him, the scaley hero had told them to fuck off and disappeared into the swamps. So when he applied to be a member of the union we were quick to go see him.

I heard the whistling sound just before I saw the smoke bomb hit the ground. It was quickly followed by a dozen more. Whatever was coming out of them wasn’t just smoke. It knocked Karen out and while the shield was filtering out the gas it was quickly displacing the oxygen. I hit the emergency button in my coat. Just before I blacked out, I saw Cy wrapping around me.

Coming to with my face in white shag carpet, I gasped for breath while Karen coughed up phlegm.
“Go get em, we’ll be there in a minute.”
“Thisshouldbefun.” This should be fun. Celeritas and Brynhilde transported to Orlando.
Karen and I got there less than five minutes later and still missed the fun. The twenty men who had been outfitted with exoskeletons, machine guns, and armoured vehicles were running away, naked.
“You’re letting them get away?”
“Celeritas enjoys playing catch and release.” Brynhilde was using her ax to chop up one of the minitanks. “I find no markings to tell me the maker of the vehicle. The mens clothing were not a source of useful information either.”
“Looks like it was a good thing we got out when we did.” In one of the trucks were coffins with containment shields where we probably would have spent the rest of our lives.
Celeritas had gathered up the naked mercenaries and herded them back. This involved much buffeting and slapping until they they turned around. Karen was nice enough to let them have their pants back.
“We could turn them over to the police for assault but I don’t think they would stay in jail for long.” I said.

“Anybody speak English?” I asked the group.
\Silence.
“Here’s the deal. We can’t have you going back to your employers but we’re willing to release you to another employer who will treat you well, if you talk.”
Not a peep.
“I’m serious. You know about Dr Ruin. From what I’ve heard he’s a great boss. He gives major medical, a retirement plan and wouldn’t have sent you guys out on a mission like this, that you had no chance of accomplishing.”
They were a very stoic bunch. So much for the carrot.
“If you don’t talk The Silent One is going to take you to another planet where the air smells like burnt cinnamon. The only things you’ll have to eat is tree bark and giant grubs. Everything else will make you throw up. You will never see earth again.”
“You can’t do that. You’re heroes.” There were a number of protests from the men but that was gist of their complaint.
“You tried to kill me. I’m not going to kill you. I’m being more than fair. Choose your course. Who do you work for?”
“We’re special operations unit for Cal 9.” This seemed to be their commanding officer.
Cal 9 was a private contracting military group like Blackwater. They had a reputation for being very hi-tech. Clark Prince,the owner had a number of contracts for designing military hardware. It looked like we had found the first of our enemies.

We almost didn’t keep the bargain when we found out they had killed GatorMan to set up the trap but I’d lied about what a great boss they were going to get so maybe it would work out. Dr Ruin was happy to have new minions. He even gave us some information on the possible whereabouts of the reclusive owner of Cal 9. Clark Prince had purchased a decommissioned nuclear missile silo in North Dakota along with eighty acres of farmland over it.

We sent in Brynhilde and Celeritas first, followed by Man Mountain, then Karen and myself. The five of us waded into the armored guards with alacrity. Pirtuk and El Viento joined in the fray right after that. The attempt by Cal 9’s air group to help out was frozen in mid air and driven into the ground. Captain Science with Datter Av Brann cut open the heavy blast doors. We were joined by the remaining members of the Wolfgangs as we plunged into the silo. Was it overkill? Maybe. The idea was to make it clear that if you went after a hero you got all of them. I’m sure the others were watching this on satellite if nothing else. It was time to make clear what would happen if anybody tried to go after the IUH again.

Clark Prince met us in an armored suit that put the others to shame. It resisted heat, wind, and cold. He’d equipped it with machine guns that made most of the team dive for cover, magnetic repellers that knocked Karen across the silo and an energy weapon that burned a hole in Man Mountain. He punched Brynhilde so hard I watched her fly over the horizon. Some kind of sticky netting brought down Celeritas but we were able to drag him to cover just before Prince set the area on fire. The flames kept Pirtuk at bay so Prince had free reign to shoot energy bolts at the rest of us.

When I dived in the way of the next blast, hoping to take him out the same way I’d done with the Stoglan, it bounced back with no effect.
“I’d have to be pretty stupid to be taken out with my own weapon.” he laughed.
“I only really have one.” I took a running jump, launching myself to where Prince was hovering in the middle of the silo. Grabbing ahold of the suit, I started slamming my head against his face plate.
“You are pathetic.” He started rising up through the silo. He shot me with four different types of weapons. The shield absorbed or deflected them and I held on.
“Maybe, but this isn't.” I’d been holding him with both arms and yanking on the helmet but it was just a distraction. He didn’t see me unstrapping the quad-barrel and press it against his neck. The depleted uranium flechettes hit the joint close up and the suit made a screeching noise. I dropped the gun, grabbed his helmet with both hands and yanked.

I fell about forty feet holding the helmet all the way down.
“Get him, get him now!” I yelled.
They did. By the time he hit the ground, Clark Prince had been burned, frozen and his neck had been broken. His men surrendered and we told them to go home. We really didn’t want to add to Dr Ruins army.

I’m sure that was just the first skirmish in a very long war. We stood together. We’d made some compromises and were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. The important part was we’re going to make things better. Maybe not today but in time. We are heroes.

 

The end, for now.

Final​

​

“A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.”
- Dave Meurer

​

They told me it would take nine months to get a table at Perceptions. I called Kenneth, it took him five minutes. Karen took me to the same tailor her father used and they made me a suit that fit. This one wasn’t going to wind up in the bottom of my closet. I had told her to wear something formal without telling her where we going. I was stunned by how beautiful she looked. The long black dress had a slit up the side so that one minute it looked formal, the next sexy. Her curly hair was piled up in a hairstyle that looked like it must have taken hours to put together, studded with gems that matched her necklace.

​

Karen had never eaten at Perceptions or at it’s sister restaurant in England, so it was a joy to watch her face as the soup was served. Even more fun was seeing her discover during the main course that the pear was actually meat and the steak was actually fruit. It was when she opened the sugar dove and found the wedding ring that most surprised me. Tears ran down her face as she looked at the ring. I could see her skin turning to metal.

​

I started to go down on one knee, to make it a proper proposal. My ex always complained about how I’d proposed between double shifts, in the kitchen almost as an afterthought. I didn’t want that to happen this time.
“Stop.” She grabbed me and pulled me to her. The kiss was hard. “You want me?”
“More each day. Do you want me?”
“Yes, yes, forever yes.”

​

Whatever happens, now anything is possible.

--- merged: Apr 26, 2014 at 3:12 PM ---
And these are my notes on the characters.

Rap Sheet​

Heroes​

Aurum Shield - Daniel Ellison
A middle aged white guy with not much going for him except for a really great kid and the ability to work back to back double shifts.
Daniel has been divorced for five years from the high school sweetheart he was married to for twenty years.and nothing going at this time.
He’s 5’11”, 245 lbs and couldn’t more than a couple of blocks without getting winded.
Touched by the original Golden Shield he now possesses the symbiant that protected him.
He wears aviator helmet, goggles, a leather jacket and jeans as his costume.
He carries a gun made for him by The Gunsmith that resembles a sawed of shotgun with four barrels.

Lady Ferrem - Karen Roth
Part of a long family of heroes, Lady Ferrum is in her late 20’s and has only recently started working on her own away from the watchful eye of her father. She is English.
She is 5’7” 170 lbs in flesh form, when she turns to iron form she weighs almost 400 lbs.
In metal form she is bullet proof and safe from most damage, she is also stronger so she doesn’t need weapons except her bare hands. She wears full face mask and clothes that look like formal dress clothes.

The Archers - Betanya and Alphonse
Rich and powerful couple who are Daniel’s mentors. The are both 6’2” Since they are identical clones except for the gender differences everything else is the same.
They are adept at any number of weapons but stick with bow and arrows. They are trained paramedics, firefighters, vets, arson investigators, crime scene investigators and who knows what else.
They wear camouflage gear with a stylized bow and arrow and hoods. Home base is Philadelphia.

Kenneth - Kenneth
The Archers chauffeur is responsible for their existence and for them being able to get to the scenes of the crimes. He also cleans and restocks their car. He wears a chauffeur's uniform.

The Major - Unknown
The Major is the founder of The Five. He has been a top tier hero since the turn of the century. 6’3” Very fit, grey hair, blue eyes, No mask. He flies, is super strong, and is pretty much indestructible.
He wears brightly colored uniform in blue, red and green with a great coat and knee high boots.
The Five operate out of a base somewhere beneath the mantle of the earth.

The Silent One - Cy
Grey cloak, skin and clothing. The skin is waxy, hard and smooth. He can’t speak and can only communicate through people who have telepathy. He can transport people seemingly unlimited distances. If he had met them once he can find them. The person inside is basically a twelve year old boy. Member of The Five.

Celeritas - unknown
Blue costume with silver lightning bolts. Speaks so quickly that all his words run together. Has little patience with the most people. Member of The Five. Can run break the sound barrier when runs but needs huge amounts of protein. Out of costume he is a very average looking brown eyed, brown haired man of medium height.

PsyAnnie - unknown
Middle aged white,woman, wears designer suits, haircuts, manicures. Her eyes glow which is the only sign she is the most powerful known telepath in the world. Member of The Five.

Brunhild - none
Seven foot tall white woman with long silver hair and bright blue eyes. Her hair is usually braided to fit under her steel helm. Carries a large ax. Super strong, fast, seems indestructible, can fly, does not suffer fools easily, The chainmail and leather armor was trimmed with fur.


El Viento - The Wind - Unknown
Hispanic male just few years older than Dan. He was a police captain in Columbia before he got his powers. After having family, friends and partners killed, El Viento become a legend and was even involved in toppling the corrupt government. Wears a simple uniform based on his policeman's uniform and a basic mask.

Man Mountain - none
Lives in Portland and the forests of the Oregon. Wears pants and huge, lumpy knitted cap over his dreadlocked hair which had bits of leaves and flowers twined into it. Plants grew from spots in Man Mountain’s dark brown skin, a vine from one foot that went up his leg and a pot plant on his shoulder.
He is over nine feet tall and weighs over 700 pounds. He appears to be able to ignore pain and fix any damage to his body by covering it with dirt. He enjoys food, booze and pot in large quantities. He is probably a golem.

Datter Av Brann - (Daughter Of Fire) - unknown
National hero of Norway. White, in her 20s, blonde hair, grey eyes that turn red when she uses her powers, can generate flame in balls and spouts. Her costume has the flag of Norway on it and she is one of the few heroes to wear a cape.

Amam - unknown
Older man, Arabic, quiet, wears a business suit and tie, can summon an invisible tiger and hawk. The animals can talk to him and fight on tank levels.

Pirtuk - unknown
Canadian Inuit male, black hair, brown eyes, shy and quiet. He can create his namesake blizzards and can make them generate snow, ice, hail, sleet, and freezing rain. Is an activist for Native rights and climate change.

The Gunsmith - unknown
Male, thinning dishwater blonde hair, watery blue eyes. He smokes hand rolled cigarettes, wears the same one piece Kevlar coverall and is armed at all times. The Gunsmith can build a gun to personal specification that will do maximum damage in almost no time at all. His hatred of government and belief in conspiracy theories made what could have been a very lucrative career in military hardware impossible.

The Bullet Bitch - Bebe (probably not her real name)
Female, Middle aged, brown eyes, long black hair, plays guitar to relax, Not a hero but will hire out to either side. Older sister to The Gunsmith. Can hit anything she shoots at. Considered to be one of the deadliest assassins in the business. Currently working for Aurum Shield.

Slight - None
She could slid in and out of the shadows like a wraith.and use whatever was necessary to take down her opponent. She is a ninja, raised by a family of ninjas but when she came out as transexual they put her under death sentence/banishment..

Carabao - unknown
Handsome, dark hair, smoldering brown eyes, Male, the young filipino didn’t have horns but does have the strength and mass of a water buffalo.

Strafe - unknown
Black, male, flyer, 17, the suit he found (or found him) allows him to fly and shoots energy bolts.


Dançarino no céu ( Dancing in the Sky)- unknown
Female,Brazilian, black hair, beautiful to a point of distraction to both men and woman, flyer, uses a staff but her attacks are based on capoeira. Wears colorful flowing robes that make it hard to tell where she actually is.

Captain Science - Nine
White male, brown hair with a grey streak, brown eyes. A genius with the ability to to learn and adapt any branch of science. He loves to share knowledge and has contributed to many advancements but refuses to work for governments or companies. He wears a white lab coat, red converse tennis shoes, and thick glasses. He was raised in a family of scientists. His younger brother is the villain Dr Ruin.

The Teacher - Unknown
Middle aged white woman, wears glasses, red cardigan sweater and black skirt, sensible shoes, brown hair in a beehive hairdo, She can pluck medieval weapons out of the air, often using them for mundane purposes.

The Wolfgang - Five member psychobilly band from France, names unknown
Four men, one woman, they are werewolves. Very popular in France and not heroes per se but have helped the police in some cases involving Supers. They had to get help from The Five to tour the US.

Rag -
Black man in his 60’s, retired. Teamed with Bone. Super with strength able to catch bullets and flip over cars. He was badly hurt during a mission for the five the early 80’s.

Bone - Unknown
Rags partner, albino, psychic, white, wore white clothing, formal wear, 6’ 7”, Can always tell if someone is lying.

Pinkie Lee - Unknown
Female, mixed race, mom is black and Hispanic, dad is white, crow Indian and Hawaiian. Female, early 20’s who can see images people picture and have people picture images she sees.

The Iron Duke -
Karen’s father, has the same powers as his daughter. Was hurt in the same battle as Rag. Has to stay in metal form due to his injuries. Has a very handsome mustache.

Three Moons - this is her name
American Indian female,enhanced speed, strength, and healing as herself, can with the right ritual split into three woman (Crone, Mother, Child) all with their own powers.

Tiva - unknown
Swahili, teleportation for short line of sight distances, talons on feet and arms that hands that he uses as weapons,

Het Lemmet -
White, male, white hair, brown eyes, multiple scars. Dutch, uses edged edged weapons but mostly a sword, most famous for his work during WWII.

Villains​

Dr Ruin - Eight
White male, brown hair with a grey streak, brown eyes.Captain Sciences younger brother. Wears a mask that covers a number of scars on his face. His genius rivals his brothers but he uses it for evil, wishing to take over the world.


Joe and Lara Elliot - those are their names
Husband and wife hit team for the southern mafia. Joe is a werewolf, looks like a middle aged biker but is actually older. Lara looks like a teenage goth girl with anorexia and eats people. They currently work for Dr Ruin.

The Somnabulancer - unknown
White male, red hair, looks like college professor. Anyone he touches will go into a sleep state where they will follow his instructions. Man Mountain is immune to his touch.

Aliens​

The Stoglan - Hive mind that have the ability to take over the local animals and people to use them for fodder while they use the planets resources to build another light speed traveling ship. They are the locusts of the universe.

The Puddleglums - Name given to the residents of Seuss World. They average about five feet tall and look like stretched out frogs.

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed the tale, @redravin! I will miss the daily episodes. I encourage you to get it edited up and presented to a wider audience; a graphic novel, maybe? I could imagine Arum and his Lady having many future adventures. Or, I should possibly say, I hope you can imagine them!

Also, I appreciate the trust and affection you surely must feel for all of us on the forum. Putting a personal project like this out for our scrutiny required those feelings, plus a healthy dose of courage. Deepest thanks for that. It is great having you back among us!

 

Thank you for reading the first draft.
I appreciate your good words and encouragement.

This was chance to see if folks could see what I did in the characters and the world I created.

 

Nice... Good ending.

I like all the character profiles at the end too, they're like "DVD Extras"

 

@OtherSyde and @grumpyolddude can you do a small favor?
Could each you pick one that you would change in the book, even it's one line, something that threw you of the story out or made no sense.
Then one thing that I'd better not change or you'll be pissed off?
I wouldn't want to edit something that actually worked.

Thanks for your help.

 

I'm curious as to what ultimately became of the twin Archers..? Did I miss it? Or will there be a sequel so it's a deliberate loose end?

 

Chapter Twenty Two -- Maybe I need to make it clearer?

My effort to find Alphonse was not so positive. Cy said that he couldn’t get a read on either of The Archers so we went to Kenneth. The driver looked up from his Dean Koontz novel and nodded.
“He said you would come.”
“I’m sorry to bust in like this but we really need him.”
“He can’t help.” He beckoned us to follow him to a door, then down into a basement and a sub basement. There were two huge coffin shaped containers with all kinds of tanks and wires attached.
“She has brain damage. It put her in a coma. Together, they are twice as strong, twice as fast. By himself, he could barely function.”
“He froze himself?”
“Until they can fix what’s wrong with her.”
“Why does it feel like they died?”
“It’s close. We have lost them for a long time.”
I touched one of the coffins. “This just doesn't seem right. They should be here for this. I just do this without them.”
Kenneth looked at me appraisingly. “I think you will do just fine.”
“Thank you.” Coming from the man who helped create The Archers that meant a lot.
“Alphonse left you a gift. Something told him that you would need it.”

 

Chapter 24, as well.

@redravin, I will reread and make notes about content and continuity. Grammar, punctuation and syntax are up to you, bro.

 

Wasn't looking for editing at all.
I just was interested in one high point and one low point.

 

Ah OK, so they're sort of like, in stasis basically. I remember that part but for some reason I thought you were going to wrap up their fate more succinctly, but leaving them as an unfinished story (not currently functioning, but not dead either - nothing final) is actually good IMO, it leaves something for later.

The sex scene with Lady F was really creative, using her reading a book as a distraction. As for a "low" point, there really aren't any I can think of, although the ex-wife seemed to be a bit of a one-dimensional character who seemed to serve the depressingly singular purpose of spinning everything Aurum Shield did into something negative and yelling at him for it a lot. I get that she is sort a of a jaded side-character - it just nags me that every person has more than one side to them, although granted we really had little reason to see any of her other sides or personality traits during this story. I would have liked to hear a bit more about how everything was going with his daughter and Slight as well. In general, I just like fleshed-out side stories (specifically, ones that carry a purpose and lead to something, and aren't just filler or fluff), and I think if you wanted to expand this into a real genuine ful-size novel, you would certainly have a rich slection of side-stories to choose from and elaborate on.

It's hard to pick on this story much, because there's really very little "wrong" with it - there are just things that I might have done slightly differently, but it's not my story. Overall it's really good.

 

Interesting add on; I was getting my usual six shot dark chocolate mocha at my favorite coffee place and started talking to a young lady.
She mentioned that she was working on her own comic.
We exchanged stories and I mentioned my character Dancarinao no ceu (Dancer in the Sky).
She started sketching as we talked and handed this to me at the end of the conversation.
Like anything, as the writer I saw a someone a bit different, but you know what she did a damn good job of capturing the idea from a five minute conversation.

 

Just finished the story over the past two days. I am very impressed, thank you for sharing with us.

 

Thank you.