New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age (22 page)

“This is
beautiful Lori, absolutely beautiful! That couldn’t have played
out better if I scripted it!” Joseph said. His eyes were glued
to the television, following the news.

“I don’t
understand Mr. Stockton. What’s got you so excited?”

Joseph ushered Lori
over towards the television. He instructed her to watch and listen to
what was going on. After listening to the reporter, Lori was still
confused.

“I still
don’t get it Mr. Stockton. From everything I heard and saw,
Jason Shaw defeated those agents and has been cleared of any wrong
doing.”

Joseph shook his
head in frustration. Lori was missing the big picture. He looked at
her and forgave her for her ignorance. How could he expect her to
understand what happened? She was nothing more than a secretary and
to him that meant she was next to nothing.

“That will be
all,” he said dismissing the confused secretary. She was
killing his buzz and he would not allow that. This was his time, his
moment. He had planted a seed of doubt over the League and they had
no idea that it was him behind the attack.

Joseph felt
accomplished. In his mind today was the start of Jason Shaw and Shaw
Enterprises' downfall. By the time he got done with them, he'd be
sure that the Shaw name was worthless.

Joseph picked up
his cell and scrolled through his contacts list. He found the name he
was looking for and smiled. It took four rings before the person on
the other end picked up.

“Prepare
phase two,” Joseph said.

He hung up the
phone and walked back towards the window looking down once again at
all the people below him.

20

Giant
Menace

The sight of
Hoffman Blvd looked like something straight from an action movie.
Cars were flipped over, fire was blazing out of control and people
were running for their lives. The scariest part about what was
witnessed was that this was done by just one man; one incredibly
powerful man. The thunderous thump-thump sound of several military
issued helicopters filled the night sky. Mobile units were already in
play but Commander Sullivan didn’t want to take any chances.

“What’s
the statistics so far agent?” Commander Sullivan asked. The
commander was already suited up and looked prepared to drop down from
the helicopter and join the battle himself.

“Sources on
the ground confirm ten dead and several more injured. In addition,
sources speculate property damages are going to be astronomical.”

“I'm not
concerned at all about the property damage agent. Property damages
won't mean a thing if we don't take this guy out. Do we have any
ideas as to what this guy wants?”

“Yeah, you’re
looking at it, complete destruction.” The agent said.

“Well let’s
rain on his parade,” Commander Sullivan said.

Agent Hardine
motioned towards his men to get into position. The man causing all
the damage looked to be close to seven feet tall. His hair was dark
brown and he was sporting a full beard that he appeared to be letting
grow. He was extremely large, he looked to weigh easily over three
hundred pounds but he was quite fit. He looked jacked up on steroids
as his massive arms did not look proportionally accurate with the
rest of his body.

“What's the
story on this guy?” Commander Sullivan asked looking in Mr.
Connors' direction.

Mr. Connors flipped
through his files searching for a positive match on the imposing
criminal wreaking havoc down below.

“His name is
Joe Dorgan. Mr. Dorgan has unimaginable strength and is highly
resistant to any form of attack. It appears in sheer strength his
level surpasses Jason's.”

Commander Sullivan
shook his head in disgust. He had seen what Jason could do. He had
seen Jason catch a plane with his bare hands. He had seen Jason lift
a truck over his head with the simplest of ease. He had seen Jason do
the unimaginable. So to suggest there was someone that could do all
that and more was not something the commander looked forward to
witnessing.

There seemed to be
no reason for Joe's madness. Actually madness wasn't a good word to
use as Joe looked the opposite of mad. He seemed to be thoroughly
enjoying himself and all the trouble he was causing.

Joe Dorgan walked
down the street calmly. He lifted cars with ease and hurled them in
any which direction he pleased. Agent Hardine and his unit opened
fire on the massive man as he approached their vicinity. The bullets
bounced off Joe with no effect at all. He laughed profusely, looking
quite amused by the “little men” trying to stop him.

“You shoot
those little guns at me? You little men really think your weapons are
going to stop me? Don't you get it? No one can stop me, nothing can
stop me! I am indestructible you fools!”

Joe reached over to
his right side and grabbed a car with one hand. He threw the car
forward in the direction of the agents.

“Look out!”
one of the agents shouted.

The agents
scattered about to avoid the incoming car. With all the scattering
agents, Agent Roy tripped over a fellow agent and injured his leg. He
found himself stuck and unable to get out of the way.

“Roy!”one
of the agents shouted realizing that Agent Roy was seconds away from
being flattened by the car.

Luckily, Noah
Winters wasn't too far out when all the commotion started.
Disregarding the speed limit, Noah drove as fast as he could to the
location where Joe Dorgan was. He arrived just in the nick of time.
Noah concentrated heavily and changed the direction of the incoming
car that Joe had launched at the agents. This allowed two of the
other agents to rush over to Agent Roy and help him to his feet and
away from the battle. Noah navigated the car safely away from all the
agents, much to the chagrin of Joe Dorgan.

“You
shouldn't have done that!” Joe shouted. Joe looked around him
and grabbed whatever cars he saw in sight. He launched several of
them in Noah's direction. Noah switched between dodging the cars and
using telekinesis to shift the cars out of harm’s way.

Commander
Sullivan’s men continued firing upon Joe, hoping at the very
least to slow him down but their efforts were in vain. “This is
getting ridiculous, we need more reinforcements!” Commander
Sullivan exclaimed. He looked towards Mr. Connors and Mr. Connors
nodded in understanding.

Mr. Connors took a
deep breath and then took out a device that was resting in the right
pocket of his finely pressed dress pants. He activated the on screen
of the device and proceeded to press a series of buttons.

“League of
Protectors your presence is requested immediately. My signal is
transmitting, get to this location immediately!”

“It looks
like a war zone down there!” the Commander said. “Mike
get us down to base camp,” he said to the pilot.

“Yes sir.”

The helicopter
churned as the pilot changed directions and landed safely at the
designated location. Shayne and Jackson were the first two members of
the team to arrive on the scene. After quickly bringing Jackson on
the scene, Shayne sped off and returned just as quickly with Bianca
Ramirez. Shortly after Bianca and Shayne returned, Jessica Prescott
flew in.

“This is
crazy!” Jessica said in shock, witnessing Joe's destruction for
the first time.

“Welcome back
sis,” Jackson said. “Since you've been gone for so long,
figured we'd get you warmed up with some man of mass destruction
action down here!”

Jessica couldn't
believe the destruction this one man was causing. She thought the
destruction of the hurricane overseas was bad. Joe was quickly making
the entire block his personal hurricane disaster site.

Shayne, Jackson,
Jessica, and Bianca made their way to the base camp to be apprised of
the situation. Jason had yet to arrive but the group knew if he was
absent, there was a good reason for it.

“So what's
the plan?” Shayne asked looking in the commander's direction.

“The plan is
to go out there and stop that giant menace from destroying anymore
crap!” Jackson replied. Shayne didn't even bother replying to
Jackson's latest comments.

Commander Sullivan
shrugged his shoulders. In a nutshell, Jackson was pretty much spot
on. The Commander didn't know how to stop Joe Dorgan, but stopping
him was a must.

The team watched on
a screen as the G.U.A.R.D ground troops did their best to contain the
massive man. “Let's get a move on people!” Jessica
Prescott demanded noticing Noah was left out there without any of
their help.

“Ms.
Prescott, your command until Mr. Shaw arrives,” Mr. Connors
said. The group looked at Mr. Connors a bit surprised. As far as they
knew, there was no second in command after Jason, but everyone just
sort of assumed that if Jason wasn't around it would be Noah or
Shayne giving out the orders.

“Let’s
move out!” Jessica ordered sounding cool and calm just like a
leader needed to sound.

Shayne charged
forward towards Hoffman Blvd to join the fight. Jessica flew above
him while the rest of the team followed behind them on foot.

“Agent
Hardine, get your men out of there. We're going to let the League
take a crack at him!” Commander Sullivan said.

“Copy that
Sir.”

Jackson ran towards
the left as Shayne ran towards the right. Jessica flew above them,
while Bianca hung back. Bianca’s contribution would be healing
if any member needed it and also phasing in a defensive manner.

Noah was about to
pull out his semi-automatic weapon but then he thought better of it.
He had to remember to do things differently as Noah Winters. Even
though the G.U.A.R.D agents were firing upon Joe Dorgan, guns weren't
something that Noah had previously displayed as Noah Winters.

Shayne used his
Sonic Speed to distract Joe. As Shayne ran laps around the massive
man, Joe tried unsuccessfully to catch him with his bare hands. The
giant man grew angry as his attempts to catch Shayne were
unsuccessful. While his attention was on Shayne, Jackson got close
enough to him to deliver a bolt of freezing ice. The ice connected
with Joe and covered his entire body causing Joe to become frozen.
Jackson stood there admiring his work.

“Am I the man
or what?” Jackson said smiling. He walked up towards Joe and
rested his arm around the block of ice.

“Dude, you
got your phone on you? Take a pic, I gotta put this up on Pictagram.
That Kristi chick from class is going to love this!”

Shayne shook his
head. “Kristi transferred last semester. If you attended class
once in awhile, you'd know that!” Jackson made a face, that
little revelation certainly killed his happy buzz.

“Don’t
get too cocky!” Jessica said as she flew down near her brother
and Shayne. She knew never to underestimate an enemy.

“I’m
just saying in less than a minute I took out this dude that’s
been raising all kinds of hell out here. I think I should get an
award or something!”

Jessica’s
eyes grew wide, but before she could give any warning, Joe broke free
from the solid ice that held him captive. “Jackson move!”
Jessica shouted but shouted too late.

Joe nailed Jackson
with a backhand that literally sent Jackson off his feet. He came
crashing down towards Bianca, but fortunately for him, Noah used his
telekinesis to guide the cocky teen safely to the ground.

“Make sure
the job is finished before you start celebrating,” Noah said
sternly.

“Yes dad,”
Jackson replied sarcastically.

“Do not
mistake me for Jason, Shayne or the rest of the group that put up
with your shenanigans. When we are out here in the field your mind
better stay focused on the task at hand. Leave that childish BS
elsewhere. You understand?” Noah asked.

Jackson didn't dare
say something in reply, he simply nodded his head and then turned his
attention back to Joe.

Noah charged
forward and used his superb reflexes to evade the wild punches Joe
threw at him. He got in close enough to attack him. Noah unloaded a
barrage of punches to the body and face of Dorgan. The attack seemed
to have a slight bit of success.

Commander Sullivan
looked on impressed. “That Noah guy is pretty impressive!”

Commander Sullivan
was convinced Noah had to of had some sort of advance military
training. That was the only way to explain Noah's effectiveness. Mr.
Connors could just see the ideas forming in the Commander's head.

“Yes
Commander Sullivan, he certainly is,” Mr. Connors replied,
hoping the Commander wouldn't dig too deep into Noah's file.

“You sure he
never served? His proficiency is quite impressive. I know we've been
training your members but he's as soundly trained as any of my top
men.”

“I'm
positive,” Mr. Connors replied hoping the commander would drop
the subject matter.

Noah continued his
onslaught of offensive attacks while Joe tried to regain the upper
hand. Commander Sullivan gave Mr. Connors a sideways glance and then
whispered something to one of the agents standing nearby. In the
corner of Mr. Connors' eye, he caught the Commander giving out
instructions. He was fairly certain the order had something to do
with Noah.

“Mind if I
join in?” Shayne asked. Shayne used his sonic force speed to
hit Joe with close counter attacks and avoided getting hit. “Now
Jessica!” Shayne shouted. Jessica flew down and threw an
electric net to trap the giant sized man. She wore protective gloves
to ensure her safety. Shayne pushed Noah out of the way so he
wouldn’t be affected by the electric shock. Joe screamed in
pain. Shayne, Jessica, Noah, Jackson and Bianca gathered around the
captured criminal. They all looked on to make sure the big man was
actually defeated. The electric shock sent waves through Joe’s
body, but Joe fought through the pain and started making his way back
towards his feet.