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Little Ulster, Lost Haven
Thunderbolt slowed to a halt in front of one of the many tenement buildings that dotted Little Ulster. Bricks fell freely from the walls. Shattered glass lay on the cracked and overgrown sidewalks; most of the windows were broken or damaged. Piles of trash were thrown haphazardly outside the living area. It was a chore just to walk up to the front door. Harvey pushed the slab of wood forward, its lock having been broken long ago. The door suddenly fell from its hinges and hit the ground with an ear-splitting crash, causing the speedster to jump in surprise. Harvey stepped over the fallen barrier and went to work scanning the rest of the three story structure. He was looking for the Metahumana bomb, like every other hero worth a damn was. The interior was worse than the outside, if one could believe it. Tables, chairs and couches were overturned. The plaster walls were covered in holes, where Harvey caught glimpses of movement. Probably Roaches, he thought in disgust. The beds had been torn asunder and gutted for reasons Thunderbolt couldn't explain. Boxes of medical tubing littered the kitchen. Empty syringes and bent needles covered every square inch of counter space. It didn't take a genius to know what those were for. "And I thought my house was trashed." Harvey muttered, a small smile on his face. The smile hadn't reached his eyes.
The worst part? This building wasn't unique. Nine out of every ten apartments Thunderbolt had visited since his return to Lost Haven looked just like it. Little Ulster had never been this bad. Before that space station almost crushed the city, Ulster at least had some semblance of civilization to it. But now, with the appearance of metahumans, the city's most neglected district had transformed into something ugly. A gathering place for the veritable scum of the earth. Most of good people had left when Mercy worked her 'magic' on Little Ulster. Most being the keyword. Harvey and Laura had been in Little Ulster when the riots hit. Harv hadn't seen a battlefield or a warzone before; he suspected that was the closest he would get.
"No sign of bomb on this block. Any luck on your end?" Thunderbolt placed a finger against his ear and activated his communications link to his sister. She was on the other side of Little Ulster, searching for the weapon as well. "Nope. Nothing but gangbangers and addicts over here. We should head for Sherman Square soon. The rest of the team'll be in town any minute now." She replied over the garbled transmission. "Alright. Let's do one more quick sweep and then we can head that direction." Thunderbolt agreed. The speedster bolted out of the tenement and into the dirty, hole-ridden streets. He briskly circled the west side of Little Ulster, ducking into any buildings he had neglected to check the first time. Frightened hobos and angry gangs weren't too happy at the hero's intrusion, but Thunderbolt ignored them. Their were more important matters to attend to at the moment. "Help! Someone help me!" A voice cried out in terror and anguish. Thunderbolt jammed his foot into the asphalt beneath his feet and came to a sliding halt. He slowed his breathing and closed his eyes, listening for the screams. "Help me, please!" There. Harvey shot forward at breakneck speeds and headed for what he believed to be the source of the sounds.
"I'm coming! Where are you? Talk to me!" Thunderbolt stopped and yelled periodically. "Please hurry! T-there's blood everywhere." It wasn't long, perhaps a few seconds, before Harvey found him inside an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront. The boy couldn't be any older than eleven from Smith's estimations. He was on his knees in a pool of blood, his visage obscuring the bodies he was bent over. The boy's pathetic cries were hoarse and broken. Thunderbolt's heart ached for the child as he sped toward him. A nanosecond before it was too late, Harvey noticed it. He saw the terrible grin spreading over the child's crimson-soaked face. Thunderbolt let his momentum carry him away from the child; a stroke of genius, he realized, as a blue energy field formed around the boy and his probable victims.
"Clever little hero." The child chuckled, the cruel smirk still etched onto his face. "And fast, too. Wonderful. I knew you and your friend would make excellent playthings the moment you wandered into Little Ulster." He stood up, stretching. Thunderbolt's face contorted in anger and rage. "What. Did. You. Do." He asked slowly, his words laced with venom. "What's it look like? I killed them. They were such horrible parents. I practically did their children a service." The boy giggled. "Call me Psycho. Everybody does." There were no words that could describe what Harvey felt. Rage? Disgust? Sadness? What does one feel at a moment like this? "You're coming with me." Thunderbolt growled. "My mommy says not to listen to strangers. So I'll pass." The blue energy bubbled dissipated and Thunderbolt charged at the deranged little midget. The child shot up into the air, an azure aura surrounding the wicked creature.
"Ohhh! You ARE quick. Nearly got me there. Your sister wasn't nearly as fast." Harvey's face turned three shades of pale. "My sister?" He croaked. Thunderbolt switched on his comm, fear biting at his heart. "Boom? Boom, are you there?" He asked. No answer. "BOOM?!" Psycho giggled again. "She can't hear you. I took her little toys away." He said, holding up the comm bead in one hand. "Harvey- Harvey. Come in!" That was Eric, Thunderbolt and Boom's tech support. The comm line was filled with static as Eric tried to get through to the speedsters. "I'm here. Where's Boom?" Harvey asked. "I'm tracking her now. She's near your current position, but I don't have an exact location just yet. Someone's messing with my systems."
Psycho frowned, running a hand through his messy red hair. "Who are you talking to? Helloooo? HEY. PAY ATTENTION!" A trio of blue-tinted energy knives shot out from the kid's hands, firing toward Thunderbolt at incredible speeds. Harvey dodged the first two, but the third, right on their heels, managed to catch Harv's arm. "Damn." He rasped. "The hero bleeds?" The demon's smile grew even further. "Perrrrfect. I love the smell of blood in the morning. Doesn't compare to the taste of the stuff, though. Blood is just deliciou-" a lead pipe slammed into the side of Psycho's head. The energy field rippled with the impact, but the villain was undeterred. "Now that was rude. You could've hurt me. Lucky for you, my shields absorb kinetic energy. Hitting it only makes me stronger!" A lead pipe the size of a small car appeared out of thin air and swung toward the speedster. Thunderbolt ducked under the attack and ran to the other side of the warehouse to avoid the back swing.
Psycho continued to attack the hero, launching energy construct after energy construct at Harvey. But Thunderbolt was able to avoid ninety perfect of it; the other ten were only glancing hits. Psycho was getting impatient and sloppy. He launched a barrage of poorly aimed attacks, which Thunderbolt expertly avoided. "Come on, kid. Is that all you've got?" Harvey sarcastically asked his assailant. "Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" Psycho screamed. a pair of energy claws stabbed into the warehouse's roof and tore at the metal and wood. The entire building shook and started to collapse. Thunderbolt darted out of the warehouse moments before it fell right on top of the boy. Hopefully, his tantrum had been his undoing.
"I've got a lock on her. She's in warehouse 16, third building on your left." Harvey raced over to the third building on his left, to warehouse 16. He kicked open the locked doorway, sending the metal slab soaring inside. He ran throughout the entire building, looking for Laura. "Boom?" He yelled, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Boom, are you here? Say something!" A small moan, barely louder than a whisper, alerted Harvey to her location. Thunderbolt flew upstairs at top speed and bashed his way through yet another metal door. Inside, he found her. Boom was sprawled across the floor, energy daggers impaled in her wrists and ankles. "Oh God in heaven." Harvey murmured. He ripped her free from the binds, holding Laura delicately between his bleeding arms. "You've gotta get her out of there. She'll heal, but she's in no shape to fight that Psycho kid again." Eric, always the voice of reason. Thunderbolt lifted Boom and stood to his feet. The speedster turned to leave the room, but was greeted by a blue battering ram to the face.
Thunderbolt went flying through the sheet metal wall of the warehouse and into the open air. The smell of sea water mixed with the scent of blood as Harvey's body impacted hard with the concrete below. A small groan escaped his split lips. "She's my plaything now. You can't have her! She's mine mine MINE!" Psycho roared. The child floated out of the hole Thunderbolt had created with his body. It seemed the warehousing falling on top of his head hadn't stopped the little monster. Didn't even slow him down. "I told you. Kinetic energy only makes me stronger. Stupid adults. You never believe anything we kids tell you. Well, the jokes on you now; cuz I'm gonna cut out your heart." A blue chainsaw construct appeared in Psycho's hand. "How 'bout we play doctor? I'll be the doctor, and you can be the patient." The chainsaw revved up, its teeth spinning faster and faster as it inched ever closer to Thunderbolt's unmoving chest.
"Play time's over!" Boom grabbed a hold of the levitating child. "Lemme go!" Psycho demanded, slamming her back against the warehouse. But Laura wouldn't let go. She placed her hand against the boy's face and rapidly vibrated her molecules. "How many times do I have to tell you people? Kinetic energy only ma- AHHHH. AHHHHH. IT BURNS. Stop, stop! Please!" Psycho cried. Tears streamed down the confused boy's face as he stopped trying to struggle. "Friction converts kinetic energy into thermal energy. And your shields aren't able to stop heat, are they?" Boom pulled the child to the ground and held him down, continuing to burn his face. A crane wrapped around Boom's body, tossing her into the river. "Meanies! I'll be back!" Psycho cried. The boy took off into the sky, a trail of blue energy dissipating behind him.
Thunderbolt forced himself to his feet. He limped over to the bay and jumped in after his sister. Moments later, he emerged with Boom under his arm. The two of them crawled onto the concrete of the dock and lay there, forcing air into their exhausted lungs. "I hate kids." Boom finally said. "Let's get outta here. The team's probably wondering where we are."
