#15 - "Tanghal Tower Besieged"

The Heroes for Hire, Shockwave and Blizzard, along with their new partner Spectrum were near the end of their mission at the Tanghal Tower. They had been retained by the building owners to safeguard the area while it was demolished. An odd task to be sure, but the pay was certainly right. Unfortunately, it turned out that the job was becoming far from easy money.

Shockwave had just been interrupted in her search for an answer to why this building was apparently so interesting to so many different parties. The search had led her to the building's cornerstone. "There's your answer," she said simply.

"End of the line, heroes! Hand over the goods or the Thugmaster's Elite will have to hurt you!" Closing in were four villains that Spectrum was remotely familiar with: Hammerhead, Black Hole, the Dash and Titania. All were images that Shadow Queen had conjured in the strange Arena of Genocide.

"Talk about deja vu," Spectrum thought to himself. "Hopefully, Shadow Queen's versions of these creeps were close enough to the real thing to give me an edge. I know about them, but they don't know about me." (Editor's Note: As seen way back in Spectrum #2)

It was probably fortunate that only four members of the Elite were here unless more were waiting in the wings. The heroes were already out-numbered.

Titania was easily in Shockwave's strength class. The Dash wasn't too much of a concern, as his main power was super speed. Hammerhead was a more serious threat. His plasma cannon was deadly at close ranges. Black Hole was an even larger threat due to the unpredictability of his teleportation powers. As if that wasn't bad enough, Black Hole's energy beams could suddenly appear from anywhere!

"We don't know what you're talking about," Shockwave said, feigning ignorance of the situation. In truth, they really didn't know just what was located in the cornerstone of the old building that demanded so much attention.

The Dash, as expected, was the first to move out. He downed an energy tablet which gave him enough stamina to operate his body at the super speeds he was capable of attaining. Without it, he would become exhausted in mere moments. He rushed forward around a pile of debris and used the large crane as cover for his advance.

"Unless I'm mistaken, you're the most serious threat, Blackie." Having someone attempt to drop a garbage truck on top of you is not something that you tend to forget about! Even if it was in a dream. Spectrum fired a blast at Black Hole, but he was too far away still. The beam sailed harmlessly over his head.

"Izzat so?", Blizzard said, sliding forward on his ice slide. He thrust his hands forward, extending his fingers. "Let me see if I can help that out." After a moment of concentration, the ground around Black Hole and Hammerhead became covered in ice. Shockwave watched as icy tendrils began to creep up the villains' legs, threatening to encase their lower bodies.

"This supposed to mean something to me, squirt?", Hammerhead responded derisively. The large armor-suited villain ripped away from the icy grip and lumbered towards the heroes.

Meanwhile, Black Hole escaped Blizzard's attack much more easily. He simply disappeared from view. Spectrum lost track of the elusive villain. "That could be a problem," he thought to himself. Titania approached as well. Her powers basically required her to fight hand to hand. These energy exchanges had no interest for her.

"Shocky? Can you locate Blackie with your armor?", Spectrum asked as he took to flight to meet the oncoming villains. "He's big trouble."

"I should be able to locate him on radar," the armored heroine responded. "Just give me a second. Ah, yes..." She was suddenly cut off as a hurtling green and orange streak slammed into her. Dash laughed gleefully as he sent Shockwave tumbling into the fence surrounding the construction site. His force field had managed to absorb most of the damage from the collision. He veered off, still running at full speed.

"If I can't shoot Black Hole, then I'll have to settle for you." Spectrum closed the distance on the land-bound Titania and suddenly his body erupted in a flash of light. Titania took the energy discharge full in the face. It didn't harm her much, but completely disoriented her and temporarily blinded her as well!

"That was a cheesy thing to do!" Titania complained, as she flailed about.

Shockwave recovered quickly and attempted a counterattack. She placed the palms of her gauntlets on the ground and suddenly the ground began to rumble and shake. Dash was thrown to the ground roughly by the powerful shock waves.

Meanwhile, the unnoticed Black Hole took aim at one of the heroes from hiding. He caused a rift to open behind Spectrum and a black beam of energy shot out. It slammed into the unsuspecting hero and sent him flying through the air!

"Let's see if we can't even up the odds here a bit more, shall we?" Blizzard took aim at the seven-foot tall Hammerhead and fired off a salvo of sharp icicle-like projectiles. They pelted the gun metal-colored armor like a terrible sideways hailstorm. Hammerhead was halted in place by the force of the attack.

Once the icicles had stopped, Hammerhead retaliated. "You may be tough, punk, but nothing can stand up to my plasma cannon!" He aimed at Blizzard and fired. A horrible screeching sound filled the air, followed by an explosion, as a wide orange conduit of energy shot out of the villain's cannon and raced towards the blue and white clad hero.

"Okay, so I won't just stand here." Blizzard easily avoided the counterattack, using a pillar of ice to move him out of harm's way. The plasma conduit continued on and slammed into the crane with incredible results! The huge machine was reduced to little more than shrapnel as the plasma tore through it as though it was made of cardboard.

"Oh hell," Blizzard said as he saw the innumerable metal fragments about to rain down on the battlefield. He barely was able to erect an umbrella-like shield in time to protect him from the dangerous fall-out.

Nearby, Spectrum and Shockwave saw the shrapnel falling towards them as well. It covered most of this part of the yard. Spectrum's force field was able to deflect any fragments that traveled far enough to contact him. Similarly, Shockwave was well protected in her armored skin. The metal on metal plunking sounded like a jar-full of BB's being dropped into a metal tub. Likewise, the shrapnel was of little concern to Titania or the speedy Dash.

Hammerhead stood unmoving in the midst of the metal shower as well. He was impressed by the force of his attack. As the villain basked in his brief moment of glory, he never saw the crane's wrecking ball heading straight for him. The large ball slammed into the armored villain and sent him flying. Hammerhead's armor was damaged by the incredible force of the impact and the man inside would be unconscious for quite some time.

"That's one way to pick up the spare," Blizzard said with a laugh. He had altered the course of the heavy bludgeoning device with a handy ice-tube. That made the sides even, but certainly threw the momentum and the odds in the heroes' favor. "Alright, who's next?"

Shockwave picked up the streaking signal of the Dash once again closing in on her location. She was not about to let Dash get away with another hit-and-run attack. As he approached, she braced herself for the impact. Dash crashed into her once again, with much less spectacular results this time. He bounced off and landed on his behind, slightly frazzled, but basically unharmed. Shockwave was also bounced by the collision and staggered backwards, barely able to keep her balance.

"NobodydoesthattotheDash!", the orange and green garbed villain shouted. He leapt to his feet and rushed at Shockwave again. This time instead of slamming directly into her, he collided with her as he went by, but the attack was completely ineffective. Disgusted with the situation, the Dash sped off.

"I can't get my hands on him," Shockwave thought, "but at least he got tired of that nonsense." She turned her attention to locating Black Hole again. He had teleported once more, this time much closer to her. She turned to see him fire an energy beam from his hands. The beam suddenly disappeared into a black hole floating in mid-air.

She picked it up a split second later, as it appeared and slammed into her partner. "Blizzard!", she yelled. The Hero for Hire was blasted through the air and landed nearly 30 feet away. He lay on the ground, stunned by the force of the sudden, unexpected attack.

"One for you and one for us!", Black Hole waved his fist in the air in triumph.

"I'll make you pay for your dishonorable attacks, villain!" Shockwave launched herself towards the dark costumed Black Hole. She threw a wild punch, but it failed to connect.

"Whoa! You look pretty nasty sister, so pardon me if I don't stand around and..." He disappeared in mid-sentence, his teleportation powers transporting him to another, safer location on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Titania was just recovering from the dazzling effects of Spectrum's attack. Her sight was beginning to return. Spectrum blasted the recovering villainess again with a burst of light.

"You're becoming a real pest!", she shouted in frustration.

"Just wait 'til you get to know me!", Spectrum responded. He zipped around the much slower moving villainess and blasted her yet again. "Why don't you just do us both a favor and fall down now?"

"If you won't come down here to fight me, then I'll have to try something else." Titania moved over towards the bulldozer that was parked nearby.

"Let me ask you something," Spectrum began. "How come they call you Titania? You're not tall and you're certainly not very tough."

Titania screamed in frustration and anger and lifted the bulldozer over her head. "I'll squash you!!"

"Gee, that looks awful heavy. Here let me help you with that." Spectrum fired a blast of energy at his opponent. It slammed into her and sent the woman flying out from under her intended missile. The bulldozer slammed to the ground with a terrific boom.

Across the construction yard, Blizzard sat up and shook his head, trying to clear it. He blinked a few times and then saw Black Hole suddenly materialize before him.

"...let you connect." Before the hero could react, Black Hole fired another of his ebony blasts and knocked Blizzard unconscious.

"Ha! He never knew what hit him!", the villain gloated. "Now it's three on two. The odds are definitely in our favor now."

"You got that right, Blackie." The Dash had come to a stop near the fence. His energy tablet having worn off, his body was now operating at normal speed. "Just give me a split second to re-energize myself and we'll wallop these misfits."

As the Dash pulled another tablet from his belt holder, he noticed a large figure approaching him. He turned and saw a huge, purple, misshapen monster. "Hey, I know you! You're the Ripper." Now the odds were really in the villains' favor, the Dash thought. "Hey guys, look..." He never got to finish his words. Ripper's tremendous punch sent the Dash rocketing across the yard. He slammed into the outer fence and collapsed like a rag doll.

"Very good, my purple powerhouse," a woman's voice could softly be heard to say.

Back across the yard, Spectrum closed in on Titania who was regaining her feet again. "I am getting tired of this, you little gnat!", she growled.

"Tough luck, toots. Here's more where that came from." Spectrum fired off a series of bursts. The light exploded around her like miniature fireworks, but they all actually missed connecting with the villainess.

Just then, Shockwave moved in. Completely engrossed in her tormentor, Titania didn't notice the armored heroine until she was upon her. Shockwave boosted the power level to her armor from her batteries and slammed Titania with all her might. She crashed to the ground a short distance away and didn't stir.

"Thanks for the help, Shocky. That evens things up a little more."

"Don't mention it. But we appear to have more company." To prove her point, Shockwave pointed over to the Ripper who could be seen on the other side of the yard. Floating near him was a greenish villain, which Spectrum didn't recognize.

"Oh great," the light-wielding mutant grumbled.

In the center of the action, the Black Hole stopped and considered his actions. His powers could allow him to defeat everyone here, but he was now alone. The rest of the Elite had been knocked out. Maybe he could count on the new villains fighting the heroes for awhile. That was a good idea, he thought, and as Black Hole concentrated to teleport out of the area, his temple suddenly experienced a terrible pain. Black Hole crumpled into a fetal position, holding his head.

"What's the deal?," Blizzard said woozily. He had just regained his senses and saw Black Hole standing over him and suddenly drop in pain. Blizzard had seen the flash of light, but couldn't tell where the attack had come from. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth however.

Forming an ice slide, Blizzard moved across the yard a ways and closed in on the floating green villain. The form was somewhat hazy, almost out of focus and seemed to ripple back and forth as it haphazardly approached. "He looks like he's drunk or somethin'," Blizzard said to himself.

Moving surprisingly fast, Plague closed in and surrounded the cold-wielding hero. Blizzard choked on the acrid smoke that billowed around Plague. "Talk is cheap," Plague said in voice just above a whisper. "But it looks like you can't even talk now..."

Not far away a small two-toned blue figure blasted the crouched Black Hole again. This time he flattened onto the ground unconscious. "That takes care of the most dangerous one here," a tiny voice stated.

Spectrum and Shockwave could see the Black Hole collapse to the ground. "Hey, what gives with Blackie?", Spectrum said, pointing towards the fallen villain.

"Good question," Shockwave answered. "It appears he has been the victim of his own tactics."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy," Spectrum mused.

"I will attempt to enhance my sensors to determine if there is another person present." While the armored heroine reconfigured her internal computers, a rude interruption appeared in the heroes' midst. A huge I-beam suddenly embedded itself in the ground between them!

"Hey!", Spectrum shouted. "You coulda hurt somebody with that!" He flew into the air and headed towards the Ripper, who was the gift's sender. Ripper just roared back his challenge.

Meanwhile, Blizzard was starting to fight back again. "I'm getting tired of being on the receiving end of all this." He fired a blast that drove the billowy Plague out of the area. "Take that you pungent punk!"

Plague was stunned by the power of the sudden counterattack. He sank towards the ground, but Blizzard was not about to give him a chance to recover. Blizzard closed in and encased the odoriferous villain in a half-sphere of ice.

A moment later, the greenish villain floated effortlessly through the barrier. "No one can contain the deadly affliction that is Plague."

Not far away, Spectrum closed in on the area and blasted Ripper at close range with his light beams. "Here's light in your eye, ugly!" Shockwave followed in behind Spectrum, propelled by her rocket skates.

The Ripper was not impressed. He raised his fists toward the mutant and bellowed out a loud roar. Ripper looked around for something at hand to throw, but before he could locate a suitable missile, Spectrum was blasted from the sky by the same unseen attack that had struck down Black Hole. He hurtled through the air and slammed into the ice sphere that Blizzard had attempted to hold Plague within. The ice shattered on impact, as Spectrum crashed into it and the ground below. He didn't stir.

The Ripper was more than willing to switch targets. The closest was Blizzard, unfortunately for the hero, and Ripper launched himself at the surprised Hero for Hire with his powerful leg muscles. Blizzard threw up an ice wall in a desperate attempt to halt the massive villain.

Ripper crashed into the wall, smashing it to smithereens, but it was enough of a diversion to keep the powerhouse from connecting with his fists. The force of the collision toppled Blizzard onto his back. He looked up to see Ripper raise his fists once more.

"Oh crap..." Blizzard said softly.

Shockwave saw her partner in trouble once more. As she closed in to try and help, she suddenly felt a huge object slam into her. She turned to see Titania had recovered and had slammed the bulldozer into her back. The force had caused her to teeter for a moment, but only propelled her further along on her skates.

Ignoring the clumsy attack from Titania, Shockwave closed in on Ripper and slammed into him with her whole body. Upon impact, an audible grunt was forced from her lips, but she did manage to knock the surprised Ripper to the ground.

"Thanks, Shocky, but I think you're just delaying the inevitable." Blizzard looked around. Ripper, Plague, and their unseen partner were on one side. To the left, four more villains were approaching, three by air: Charger, Lazer, and Blue Jay, along with Armadillo.

"So, what do we do know?", she asked, hesitantly.

"We can either run or fight," Blizzard answered. "I vote: fight."

Shockwave swallowed. She wasn't sure she was ready for this kind of battle. Villains were pouring out of the woodwork now. She took a deep breath and then rushed forward slamming Ripper with all her armor-enhanced strength. The blow landed and sent Ripper flying backwards.

"Way ta go, Shocky!" Blizzard regained his feet and thrust his fist into the air, but soon high-tailed it out of the area as an array of energy beams tried to connect. "Yeow! Give us a second to savor this, willya?" Blizzard slid out of the area on an ice slide, dodging lazer fire as he went. Flipping around, he slid backwards and returned an ice ram at Lazer, causing the villain to break off his attack for a moment.

Ripper regained his feet and an odd looking grin formed on his face. He hadn't been hit that hard in a long time. "This'll be good, girl," his deep raspy voice rumbled. He quickly bounced to his feet. Ripper liked nothing better than a knockdown drag-out full-scale fist fight.

The large purple monstrosity launched himself forward and slammed Shockwave with a powerful metal fist. Shockwave rocketed back out of view of the rest of the combatants.

Charger preferred to strike from long range. In the Ultimates, his forte was as support fire. That kept him from getting attacked directly too. He found that this impromptu alliance with the other three villains in an attempt to gain points in the Super Villain Contest gave him exactly the same situation. Charger grinned as he fired his powerful electrical attacks. The first one cut down the misfit known as Plague.

"Ha! Just like shooting fish in a barrel." He looked around the battlefield and noticed that Spectrum was just stirring. He didn't recognize the hero from their earlier encounter, since Spectrum was dressed in an all-black costume then. (Editor's Note: Back in Spectrum #7) However, he looked like a great target, nonetheless. "You're in for a shocking experience, hero!"

But before the villain could fire his blast, a sharp pain erupted in his side. Whatever it was had passed his force field. Charger grabbed his side and looked around.

"I see that got your attention." Charger saw that the speaker was casually propped against a wall and juggling some marbles in one hand. It was a man in a gray bodysuit with matching blue boots, belt, gloves and large v-neck collar.

"Sabre!", Charger shouted.

"Glad you remember me," Sabre said, pulling his sword from the scabbard on his back. "Do you remember what happened the last time we fought?"

Charger shouted in frustration and fired an electrical blast at the offending hero, but he was suddenly nowhere to be seen. The hero had simply teleported out of harm's way.

In another part of the construction yard, Spectrum was also regaining his wits. Looking around, he recognizing another old foe. "Hey, Buckethead," he called to Armadillo, "I see you came to join our little party."

"I'll deal with you in a second, punk." Armadillo took aim at Ripper and fired an energy beam from his gauntlets. The beam slammed into Ripper and knocked him off his feet. "First we haveta get rid of the rest of these jerks."

"I don't remember him being able to do that before," Spectrum said to himself. "I feel touched that you're all fighting over us, but do you think we're just gonna stand here and wait for you to finish?"

A shriek filled the air and a beam of solid sound slammed into Spectrum. The force drove him through the air, but his force field absorbed most of the impact. Looking up, Jim could see a woman in a blue battle suit with dark blue trim. She had glider-like wings connected between her arms and her body.

Blue Jay flew in to follow up her attack. "No need to wait. I don't know who you are, but you look like a good enough target to me," Blue Jay said.

"Geez, nails on a blackboard sound better than that," Spectrum taunted.

"Just stand still and I'll put you out of your misery," Blue Jay said. Then a light blue energy field formed around the villainess and another sonic shriek shot out.

Spectrum looped over the attack. "Forgive me if I don't indulge you." More fliers attracted Spectrum's attention. He looked past Blue Jay to see three more figures flying onto the scene. They came in at a high altitude and passed overhead. "Now who the heck are these guys?"

The first of the newcomers was winged and dressed in an orange costume. The next was a young man in a yellow costume with red trim, cape, mask and boots. A trail of light extended out behind him as he flew onto the scene. The last of the trio was a woman. She was dressed in a light orange costume with red mask, gloves and cape. She wore a crown-like tiara and had long straight auburn hair.

"Looks like you were right, Empress," the winged one said to the woman. "This place is collecting villains like they're giving away free money."

"What do you expect, Goshawk?", the Empress replied as they closed in on the battle. "When you go on TV and announce that you're a sitting duck for the week, you have to expect it."

"I don't know about you guys," Starburst said, "but I'm itchin' for a chance to use my powers against some real villains." The young hero banked off from the others and headed straight for Ankylosaur, who had just burrowed onto the scene as well.

"Starburst, wait...!" Empress' warning went unheeded.

"Let him go, Empress. We aren't exactly in any position to tell him what to do and I think we'll have our own problems soon enough." Goshawk looked off in the distance, his eyesight much stronger than a normal human's, and saw more costumed villains converging on the area. Some of them were fighting amongst themselves several blocks away. He could see Blowtorch and Earthmaster were battling each other in a parking lot, while the duos Thunder and Lighting and Panda and Raccoon found themselves at odds.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, 'Hawk. I have to admit: I'm probably just as anxious as he is." Empress turned to follow the light-wielding hero, with Goshawk trailing behind her. They could see Starburst blast away at the armored villain.

"Get away from me, ya scrawny twerp," Ankylosaur grumbled. "I don't have time fer this nonsense." While Starburst blasted away, Ankylosaur turned his grenade-launching tail toward the raw hero. A projectile shot out towards Starburst.

"Whoa!" He tried to avoid it, but it started to expand and covered the struggling hero in a mass of sticky web-like material. Starburst dropped to the ground like a rock.

Nearby, Spectrum located Blizzard and hovered close by. "This has gotten somewhat out of hand."

"You said it," his cold-wielding partner agreed, "at least everyone seems to be fighting amongst themselves right now. Good thing the building was already pretty much demolished. It never woulda stood up to this rumble."

"Where's Shocky?" Spectrum looked around the construction yard. The piles of debris that had been sitting about the yard were now strewn about. The whole yard was littered with concrete and mangled steel girders. The bulldozer was also a pile of scrap, much like the crane had become earlier.

"She's out from goin' toe to toe with Ripper. I hope she's all right. Sometimes, she doesn't seem cut out fer all this." Blizzard shot an ice ram, which slammed into Armadillo and knocked him into a huge hole that had been created at some time during the battle. "Me? I love it!"

By now, the battle had worn on for some time. A few of the combatants who were knocked out early in the fight had since regained their wits and subsequently been knocked out again. A few of the villains had simply slipped off on their own. Armadillo had tunneled away to avoid the trouble. He had been happy to defeat Blue Jay and Charger both, with some unlikely help from Sabre.

Of those that remained, Shrinker noticed that all the villains were in danger of being defeated. "Oh great, this is not going like I had hoped." The diminutive villain saw the American Eagle glide onto the scene. That meant the rest of the Freedom Squad were most likely on their way as well. "Best to make the most of what I can and be off."

Seeing that a hero, unknown to her, was just extracting himself from a sticky tangle of goo, Shrinker flew in. "Hi there, hero!" Starburst looked around, unable to locate the minuscule villainess. She blasted him square in the face and he dropped unconscious.

"Hey, that looks pretty weird," Ankylosaur said. He watched as the limp form of Starburst levitated into the air, almost as though supported by the nape of his costume. Kicking in the sensors on his armor, Ankylosaur detected Shrinker carting the hero away. Clearly she had scored a capture. He thought about trying to steal the victory away from her when a volley of sharp projectiles pelted the back of his armor.

Turning, the armored villain saw that the flechette-like projectiles had come from Goshawk. The super fired them from his wingtips like throwing knives. "You gotta have a better gimmick than that, Chickadee," Ankylosaur taunted. Paul Bressler was not a courageous man and he decided that a small victory and a few points were much better than getting captured.

Ankylosaur fired a flash grenade at the surprised Goshawk and then bombarded him with three more grenades. When the smoke had cleared, he saw that Goshawk was unconscious. Ankylosaur moved in.

"Oh no you don't!", the Empress shouted, flying in on the villain. Her right arm was engulfed in flame. She thrust it toward Ankylosaur and a fiery explosion surrounded him. As the flames died, he saw Spectrum closing in as well.

"Okay, I get the hint! I'm outta here!" Ankylosaur fired off another flash grenade and then scampered away as quickly as his armor would carry him, which was considerable.

Few villains were left on their feet at the moment. Ripper smashed the giant Jo-Tan, one of American Eagle's teammates, and moved over to collect his fallen ally, Plague. The Ripper hated to leave a fight like this, but Shrinker was signaling him from afar. For some odd reason, he also grabbed the fallen Lazer and with a mighty leap, was soon out of sight as well.

Blue Jay was the last villain left standing, or in this case flying. She considered her options for a moment and then landed close to American Eagle. "Sir, I know of your reputation as an honorable man. I will surrender peacefully to you, if you will agree to listen to me."

The patriotic American Eagle was a bit puzzled, and yet intrigued by the proposal. The two stepped away from the main group. "Say your piece," American Eagle responded.

"Somebody want to tell me what that was all about?" Blizzard complained. He had enjoyed the battle, but it had degenerated into little more than a free-for-all by the end. In spite of the amount of villains who showed up, only Blue Jay, the still unconscious Hammerhead, and Titania were actually apprehended.

"That's a real good question," Sabre said adding his voice to the conversation. "You guys musta been nuts to go on TV and tell everyone you were going to be here all week."

"Haven't you been paying attention to all these attacks on heroes?", Jo-Tan added. The Freedom Squader was currently 8' tall and towered over all.

"Hey!", the Empress interrupted, looking around in a panic. "Anyone seen Starburst? Don't tell me that he's missing too!"

Shockwave stirred, shifting the rubble she was buried under away. "There's got to be an easier way to make a living." Seeing that the fighting was over, the heroine made her way back to the cornerstone. Some of the heroes on hand noticed and followed.

She wasn't overly surprised to find that the block had been opened. It was empty, the bottom of the block filled with dust. Except for a rectangular area which showed no dust.

"Oh, great! It's gone!"

"What's gone?" Goshawk could see that something had once been inside the block, but he had no clue as to what.

"I don't know..." Shockwave activated the sensors in her armor and swept the area. Locating something, Shockwave turned towards the roof of a nearby building. "It's him again."

Goshawk looked in the direction Shockwave was pointing. He could make out a dark figure against the lights of the city. It was there one moment, and then faded away the next...