Season 2 - E P I S O D E 3:
Monitor Duty / West Side Showdown
October 29th, 2018 - 1:35 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower
Vadim caught the tennis ball once more and with his free hand grasped the armrest of his chair as the boy answered his question by suddenly darting out of the room on a bolt of lightning. The vacuum created by his departure caused his chair to roll back a foot before Vadim’s feet dropped upon the floor.
“Что такое?” (sh-toe’ tah’ko’ye/what the?) he muttered under his breath as he sat up in his chair gazing wide-eyed behind him. He could only assume that was the direction the kid had darted away in. So…super speed. His eyes narrowed then. What a show off. Leaning forward in his chair, Vadim rolled it back over to the console so that he could return to using it as a foot rest. Reclining back once more, he tossed the ball up at the ceiling. A man then passed by the Monitor Room, calling into it.
Hey kid, let me know if you need anything. It looks like your deputy took off for the night or something. Has Wildcat checked in since hitting Star City? Vadim caught the ball one final time and rolled back a little in his chair to allow his feet to rest on the floor. He frowned up at the console. Had he checked in? He hadn’t heard anything. They had given him a quick crash course on the console, and Vadim was no genius. If he had to push a few buttons to even receive a message, then he was lost on what to do. The maintenance man who had checked up on him came to the rescue. He quickly raced over to the monitor station and Vadim blankly watched the man push this, that, and this, and then suddenly some screens started popping up. He glanced at the screens. Whatever was going on, it didn’t look good.
I think you better go suit up. Wildcat and Fire are both unresponsive and news footage hasn’t reported anything about the incident being over. I’m gonna see if I can find any other recruits to send out there… Suit up. A long and excited smile stretched across Vadim’s face. He had been aching to hear that phrase since he joined the group. Rising from his chair with vigor, he pumped a fist and exclaimed,
“Ура!” (oo-rah/exactly what it sounds like usually a cheer and commonly heard in the Russian military).
October 29th, 2018 - 11:40 am | Downtown - Smoak Technologies Building
Burning like a red comet through the air, Vadim, now Red Star soared through the air toward the sixth floor that appeared to be encapsulated in jagged fragments of ice. Red flames engulfed his body as the icicle wall swiftly approached. His hands had been palms downward, having just burnt the cement sidewalk below with a blast of his crimson energy. It had been that blast that had propelled him into the air. Raising his hands before him, Vadim bore his teeth as he released another blast of energy from his palms and immediately learned a lesson about rocket propulsion. The force from the beam had sent him in the opposite direction from where he had wanted to go. Stabbing through the ice spike like a hot knife, the beams sent Vadim flying backwards as it passed upwards into the ceiling, cutting through a few floors as it rose vertically before finally vanishing. Red Star struck the cement and went rolling, the flames extinguishing from his body. He planted a hand on the ground to stop the momentum and rose upon his hands and knees, gazing up at the R&D facility that…well, there was an opening now to the sixth floor, but he hadn’t meant the knife-like cut that had burned a vertical line through the other floors.
“Shit!” he cursed. It had been his first time ever using his energy for something serious. He knew how much energy he needed to output to melt a car in a junkyard, but an iceberg? Hopefully, nobody had seen his blunder (or gotten hurt by it). He didn’t have time to waste being embarrassed about it. He rose to his feet with a frown and the hints of blush still reddening his cheeks.
“Let’s try this again.” Red Star pushed off the ground into a sprint. His black combat boots struck the pavement, his quads and calves flexing and trembling from the strength that cracked the cement beneath them. His arms swung, powering his stride, until he believed he reached where he wanted to be to get through that hole he had created. Taking one more step, he crouched. His hands posted upon the ground to either side of him and with a burst of energy, while simultaneously springing upward with the strength of his legs, Red Star launched into the air. Like a red beam, he swiftly approached the floor, and then he noticed…he didn’t come anywhere close to the hole he had made.
“Fuck!” he cursed and crossed his arms before his face, tucking his legs closer to his body as he flew into the ice spikes. The spikes shattered like prop glass against his body. The wall of ice instantly fragmented in a ring before it caved in, exploding into thousands of ice crystals. Red Star took out a counter and a microwave as he went rolling through what might have been a break room once (before he wrecked it). The ice hadn’t made it easier to stop. It had been only the wall of one of the laboratories that stopped him. Upside down on his back with his knees over his face, Red Star began patting his chest and stomach for blood.
“I am…alive,” he said to himself in relief before he rolled over onto his side. The ice had cut his uniform in some places. It hadn’t been some hi-tech costume. He had put the flame-retarded green shirt with green military pants together himself. The red star was stitched to the front of his chest by a mere sewing machine. His clothes were still putting up a fight. Finally standing, Red Star surveyed his surroundings. Steam was already rising off his body and he could see his breath curling before his face on white plumes. The place felt like the inside of a freezer. He gazed back into the break room where the second hole he had made into the six floor was. He hadn’t noticed before—he had been too busy rolling by—but hiding under the break room table was a large plump man. Red Star’s blonde brows rose in surprise as he stepped back into the break room, ice and glass cracking under his boots. He dropped to his knees and crawled under the table to get a closer look at the man. He was frozen. Was he alive?
Red Star poked the man’s iced cheek with his finger. The ice felt pretty solid. Vadim then rested his hand against the man’s face and gently pushed his energy outwards. The ice turned into water that flushed down the man’s face. With a startled gasp, the man awoke. He blinked his eyes and gave one look at Vadim and screamed. He was pale and his lips were blue and quivering.
“Who-who are you? Help! Someone help!” he cried.
“I am hero,” Red Star answered.
The scientist heard his accent and gasped, “You’re…are you Russian? This must be a Russian attack! HELP!”
Red Star raised a hand to his face and sighed in exasperation.
“Quiet! (Сука...) The enemy is still here. I unfreeze you.” Red Star rested his hand on the man’s arm and the man stared at the blonde in fearful awe. He gazed into his green eyes that turned red. His irises became a white swirling galaxy of light as he focused on spreading his energy throughout the man’s body. Soon, the scientist was warm and soaked from head to toe from the melted ice. The glow in Vadim’s eyes faded as he told him,
“There. You are free to escape.” The man crossed his arms before his chest. His limbs still felt numb and tingly. The surrounding cold air was making him cold. “Th-thank you! Whoever you are. There’s more of us hiding around here.”
“I am Red Star. I am good guy. What happened?” “I-I don’t exactly know. I was in the break room when I heard people shouting to run and that there is an attack. I immediately locked the door and hid under this table. Then everything went black and now you’re here.”
Red Star frowned a little as he silently mused over the reported information. Crawling backwards out from under the table, he rose to his feet and gazed down at the man.
“Get out. I will save the others.” Red Star turned and left the break room. He walked down the hall, the ice covering the carpet and floors turning into liquid at his passing. When he reached a series of cubicles, he saw people frozen in suspended animation. Some had their hands up as though trying to hide behind them and others were beneath their desks looking distressed. There was a clear attack, and it was apparent the enemy had ice powers. If he tried to freeze people one by one, it would take all day. They could succumb to hypothermia if they weren’t already dead from lack of oxygen.
Before he attempted to save them, Red Star glanced down at the floor where the laser-like cut was. His green eyes rose to the ceiling that still dripped with charred rubble before gazing out the hole in the wall. What a disaster…if only he could fly. Red Star brought his hands together before his chest and closed his eyes. He breathed in deeply through his nostrils and then exhaled through his lips. Unleashing all of his energy was easy. Controlling how much he released was a headache. It was like performing slow reps. All of his power just wanted to explode out of him at once because it was easier and didn’t hurt. Unfortunately, he had to hold it all back. Like a furnace, Red Star began releasing waves of heat from his body to melt the ice and heat up one half of the floor. The victims began to thaw. Some immediately jerked awake, while others slumped to the floor still unresponsive.
