New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age (5 page)

Jeremy, his family
and everyone else still inside the amusement park watched as Jason
heroically battled the destructive robots.

4

Down
By the Docks

Disposing of the
robots wasn’t a problem at all for Jason. He had dealt with
things far more dangerous than the threat those robots could offer. A
simple uppercut and smash was all that was required for them to go
down. The same couldn’t be said about the amusement park. They
had received extensive damage and would be closed until extensive
repairs could be made.

Garrett Blake, head
of the R&D department of Shaw Enterprises and fellow member of
the League of Protectors sat at his desk watching the video of the
attack. The video was on MyTube and had already received over one
million hits. Having lots of hits on MyTube was apparently a big
thing. Sort of like reaching a certain number of followers on popular
social media sites.

It was validation
of sorts. The hits, the followers, the likes, they’re all
important things in the digital online world.

“Are you
seeing this?” Garrett asked.

Jason took his eyes
off the file he was reading, lifted his head and gave Garrett the
eyebrow.

“I don't need
to see it Garrett, I was there.”

Garrett closed the
video and exited out of the internet. He clicked on an icon located
in the third row on his screen saver and opened it. The Icon simply
read Second Place. The file contained everything Jason and Garrett
had compiled on Joseph Stockton and Stockton Incorporated. The two
had been keeping tabs on the businessman for awhile.

“So am I
right to assume that Joseph Stockton is behind today’s
charade?” Garrett asked.

Jason finished
looking over the last paragraph of the file in his hand, closed it,
and placed it inside his briefcase.

“You aren’t
right to assume anything Garrett. Post Humans are popping up everyday
now. Some are even banding together and forming teams of their own.
Some with the intent on doing good and others with the intent on
doing harm. There's just no telling who's behind today's attack.”

Garrett disagreed
completely. He ran his fingers through his short, slightly messy
brown hair and stared at Jason in admiration. Garrett was modestly
handsome, but in that dorky sort of way. Looking at Jason sometimes
made him jealous. There was no bitterness in his thoughts, just a
poignant observation.

“Joseph
Stockton is the only one with the resources and technology to build
killer robots. This has his name written all over it!” Garrett
said.

Jason agreed that
it was likely that Joseph Stockton was behind the attack. But, he
didn't want to rule out any other possibilities. There were just too
many other factions out there in the world. There were too many
unknowns for Jason to focus all of his attention on Joseph Stockton.

Stockton
Incorporated was considered the biggest competition to Shaw
Enterprises. Joseph Stockton was the head of the company and every
bit as intelligent as Jason Shaw. The ruthless billionaire had the
money, means and desire to carry out any project he felt like. Jason
and Garrett feared that Joseph's greed would eventually lead to
further problems in the world. They kept a close eye on him, but he
covered his tracks well.

Garrett had his
tablet out and was staring at the screen. He swiped at it every few
seconds leading Jason to believe he was reading a message.

“What is it?”
Jason asked curiously.

“G.U.A.R.D’s
preliminary reports on the bots are inconclusive,” Garrett
replied nonchalantly.

“How do you
possibly know what G.U.A.R.D's files say?

“Never mind,”
Jason said as he realized he already had the answer to his own
question.

Garrett's
extraordinary ability allowed him to communicate with electronics. He
used this ability often to gain access to secure networks.

Garrett rolled his
eyes. While G.U.A.R.D was certainly high tech and employed really
smart people, there was no one that possessed the sort of skill that
he and Jason possessed.

“You know
that stuff should’ve been sent to our labs. G.U.A.R.D has no
business trying to decipher the mechanics on those machines,”
Garrett said bitterly.

“I know with
what we do, it’s sometimes hard to forget the fact that we are
civilians. G.U.A.R.D has the highest clearance next to the President;
they have that clearance for a reason,” Jason replied.

“I have no
doubt of the things G.U.A.R.D accomplishes on a regular basis, that's
not my problem. My problem is that technology like we saw today,
should be looked at by the experts. We are the experts!”
Garrett said.

“We will.”
Jason said.

There was no point
in Garrett voicing his disapproval on the matter; there was nothing
he or Jason could do about it. So as frustrated as Garrett was, he
had no choice but to sit back and wait.

“I’m
getting hungry, how about we go grab something to eat and discuss the
shielding on the new fighter jets being constructed,” Garrett
suggested.

Jason didn’t
get a chance to reply to Garrett’s suggestion as Maggie,
Jason's personal aide walked through the door.

“Hello Mr.
Shaw, hello Mr. Blake,” Maggie said sweetly.

“Please, call
me Garrett,” he said in his best “I’m seductive”
voice.

Jason rolled his
eyes and chuckled. He wondered if Garrett realized just how
ridiculous he sounded when he tried to be smooth.

“Good
afternoon Ms. Lawler. What can I do for you?” Jason asked
politely.

Maggie smiled. She
had been with Shaw Enterprises for two years and genuinely enjoyed
her job. She especially enjoyed working with Jason. Besides the easy
on the eyes part, Jason was genuinely a good guy. He was down to
earth, easy to work for and respectful of others. There was never a
time that Jason made anyone feel unwelcome or inferior. Regardless of
his power, money and influence, Jason treated everyone the same. That
was just one of the many things Maggie found so attractive in Jason.

“Sir, there
is a crisis down by the docks.”

Jason looked at her
curiously. “What kind of crisis?”

“The kind of
crisis that requires you to do your superhero thing.”

“Understood.
Thank you Ms. Lawler.” Jason gave Ms. Lawler a polite nod and
then headed for the door.

“You want me
to come with you?” Garrett asked.

Jason could barely
believe his ears. Garrett Blake was loaded with talent, but being on
the field battling others wasn’t one of them. He was more than
satisfied staying behind the scenes helping out any other way.

“Did I hear
that correct? Are you volunteering to tag along?” Jason asked
smirking.

Garrett immediately
rethought volunteering as soon as he said it. “Umm yeah, never
mind, I'd probably just get in the way.” Garrett said doing his
best to get himself out of field work. Jason chuckled.

“I don't
think you give yourself enough credit Garrett. I'll handle this but
contact headquarters and let them know what's going on,” Jason
instructed.

“You want me
to send backup?”

“No, I’ll
be fine,” Jason replied.

Garrett disagreed.
Every member of the League had targets on their backs, and there were
those just itching at the chance to scratch.

“I really
think I should call in for backup,” Garrett insisted.

Jason remained
resolved in his decision. He sped out of the office and outside the
building. He propelled himself off the ground and headed for the
docks with a hastened pace.

“Stephanie,
this is Jason, do you copy?” Jason said over his earpiece.

“I hear you
Jason, what’s the situation?” Stephanie Morgan replied.

Stephanie Morgan
was another member of the League. Like Garrett, Stephanie didn't work
in the field, but she was still a vital member of the team. She spent
the majority of her time working closely with Mr. Connors.

Jason was about a
minute out from the confrontation and the scene did not look
promising. On one side there was a squad of cops trying to subdue the
criminals. On the other side were ten men dressed in masks with fully
automatic weapons in hand.

“Do you read
any Post Human activity in my location?” Jason asked.

Stephanie used her
Post Human abilities to scan the area surrounding Jason. Her
abilities allowed her to locate any Post Human anywhere in the world
that was using their abilities. In addition, she could identify their
abilities and determine how powerful that Post Human was.

“No Post
Human abilities on sight. Do you want support anyway?”
Stephanie asked.

Jason approached
the sight of the battle and descended down in front of the policemen.

“Nothing I
can’t handle,” Jason touched his earpiece effectively
ending the call.

“It's Jason
Shaw,” one of the officers said. None of them would say it, but
they were quite happy to see him.

“I got here
as fast as I could. You gentlemen fall back and I’ll take it
from here.”

The officers looked
at one another and nodded. The ten masked men opened fire on Jason.
He stood there unfazed by the onslaught of bullets while the police
officers ran for cover.

“Please put
down your weapons and end this foolish attack.” Jason said.

The masked men
looked around at each other and began laughing. Apparently they
weren’t aware of how powerful Jason was.

“We've got a
job to do, so why don't you stay out of our way and let us do it?”
one of the masked men said.

“I'm afraid I
can't do that,” Jason replied.

“Then I'm
afraid you're going to die here today,” the masked man replied.
The man stood at close range and emptied his entire clip on Jason.

To show his might,
Jason stood still and allowed the bullets to hit him. The masked men
looked at each other with concern as the bullets bounced off of
Jason, having no affect.

“Those boxes
are property of Shaw Enterprises. I do not appreciate you all coming
down here and trying to steal them,” Jason said.

“Take him out
boys!” one of the masked men shouted.

One of the masked
man stepped forward with a rocket launcher in hand. He knelt down to
one knee and pointed the weapon at Jason. The masked man shot the
rocket launcher which caused Jason to shake his head in disgust. He
stood still as the rocket approached. He took one step forward and
caught the rocket in his left hand. He then dropped to the ground and
cradled it into a ball to prevent the rocket from endangering anyone
else. The rocket exploded with massive impact.

“That’ll
teach him,” one of the masked men shouted. They were getting
ready to turn their attentions back to the police officers when they
noticed movement on the ground.

“You’ve
got to be kidding me!” the masked man said. He and the rest of
the masked man watched as Jason stood to his feet without a scratch
on him.

“Let's get
out of here!” one of the masked man shouted. The ten men
realized there was nothing they could do to harm Jason. So instead,
they tried to escape, but Jason would have no part of that. He flew
low to the ground taking several of the masked men off their feet.
One of the masked men was able to land a punch in, but Jason shrugged
it off as nothing more than a tickle. One by one he took out the
masked men until there was no fight left in them. He disarmed their
weapons and then took a step back to allow the police to move in.

“Thanks,”one
of the officers said.

“Just doing
my job,” Jason replied humbly.

“I wish all
these Post Humans were more like you, we wouldn’t be having
these sort of problems if they were.” the officer said.

“Officer,
there are plenty of hardworking, dependable Post Humans out there.
The media just tends to focus on those that are abusing their
abilities.”

Jason looked down
at the boxes the masked men were trying to steal and realized what
they were after. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Garrett’s
number. “Inspect every ship in production immediately!”
Jason said.

He ascended to the
sky and made his way back to Shaw Enterprises. If there was any
tampering with Shaw technology he was going to find it. Perhaps it
would even give him a clue as to who’s behind the creation of
these destructive robots.

5

Medium
Level Threat

Noah Winters was
more than just a hot tempered, part time member of the League of
Protectors. He was also an established author. “The Assassin
Vigilante: Darkness Untold” was his third consecutive novel to
reach the New York Times best sellers list. Very few people knew that
Noah Winters was also the vigilante that patrolled the streets of
Chicago with ruthless aggression.

It was a pretty
good cover. Noah wrote about his own experiences as an assassin and
presented it to the public as just another classic novel. In an
interview, he stated that he drew inspiration from the acts of the
vigilante and that is how he created the themes for his novels.

It wasn’t far
fetched to believe that one of his millions of followers brought the
persona to life and began dealing out punishment to the criminals of
Chicago. As a member of the League, Noah presented himself as a
slightly volatile but controllable member. As the Black Vigilante
though, Noah was as ruthless as one could be. He tended to take on
the role of Judge, Jury and almost always Executioner.

Mr. Connors was
more than aware of Noah’s double life. He didn’t always
agree with Noah’s tactics, but he kept Noah’s secret
nonetheless. In some ways he respected what Noah was doing. Noah's
intentions were pure. He wanted to reclaim the city for the people
and not the mobsters, drug dealers and the rest of the crooked people
around town. It was Noah's methods that Mr. Connors sometimes had
difficulty stomaching. Noah was quick to kill a criminal that got in
his way. He didn't care about the law and the protection in which the
law gives to everyone, including the criminals.