Melbourne,
Australia // Earth #746387 // March 2008
Lisa Wilson curled
up in her large bed and hugged one of her pillows.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out all
of the sounds that she could hear from her bedroom -
the traffic outside, the television, and the sound of
the shower as her boyfriend prepared for work in the
ensuite which shared a wall with her bedhead.
Of all the noise,
the television was the hardest to ignore - Australian
Angels was on, and Lisa loved its
heart-warming premise - but it was her boyfriend's
movement that held her attention. Shane Curtis was a
fireman; by all accounts, an exceptionally good fireman
- and in the years that Lisa had known him there had
never been a summer in which he wasn't called away to
fight some sort of massive flame-related threat.
Usually, it was a
bushfire on the border; but this year, they seemed
relatively under control - still, that didn't stop
her worrying every morning, as he got ready for work,
that he may not come home that night. So she tried to
block out the sounds he made, so she didn't have to
think about what he was doing or what he might be going
to do.
Lisa's brother,
Nico, was also a fireman, but she found she
never worried as much about him. She guessed at one
stage that it was because of their familial
relationship - their many years spent bickering as
children. She had chosen to make Shane a
part of her life, and she wanted to keep him close.
Things were different with Nico. He was her brother,
but he wasn't hers - and he had always been
there, until five years earlier when he had moved to
Pacific City -
The same Pacific
City that filled the television screen, the subject
of an urgent news broadcast interrupting Australian
Angels.
"We interrupt
this episode of Australian Angels for a
breaking news bulletin from Pacific City!" Lisa
opened her eyes just enough to see the made-up,
blonde-hair-framed face of the female newsreader.
Lisa had always wondered how newsreaders managed to
look so prepared even when delivering 'breaking
news'. The newsreader spoke calmly, and Lisa was not
focused on what she was saying as a naked, dripping
wet Shane came out of the ensuite and sat on the bed
beside her as he started to dry himself off.
"It's ten
o'clock, hon," Shane said as he rubbed the back
of his head with his towel. Lisa smiled up at him -
she was completely ignoring the news as she stared at
her boyfriend's body. He had long black hair that
fell over his eyes at the front and down to his
shoulders at the back and sides. The skin on his
forearms and shins was very dark, but the rest of his
athletic body was quite pale. His chest and arms were
marked with scars, and Lisa knew every one of them
intimately.
"Come on,"
Shane urged her to get up. "You don't want to
miss school again."
Lisa leaned forward
and pulled Shane down, so that he lay directly across
her stomach. He pushed himself up and adjusted his
body so that he lay flat on his stomach beside her,
and she ran her fingers softly across his back.
"Can't you just
stay home with me and... you know..."
She grinned.
"You know I
can't," Shane replied. He stood and walked
across the room to a tall wardrobe. He reached inside
and pulled out a black t-shirt, which he quickly
slipped over his head. "You have to go
to school today," he told Lisa as he continued
dressing. "You can't just - "
"Okay, okay,
okay," Lisa said. "Fine. You win. Go to
work. Put out fires. Ignore me. I don't
care... but maybe I'll just light this place up so
you come running home."
"Maybe you
will." Shane smiled. He returned to the bed and
kissed Lisa on the forehead. "Good luck, honey.
I love you."
"I love you
too."
Shane left the
bedroom and Lisa listened as he made his way through
the front door. Suddenly, with no other sound to
occupy her senses, Lisa's attention returned to the
television. " - ity has been destroyed. We
repeat: Pacific City has been completely
destroyed."
Lisa looked up at
the television screen and saw aerial shots of a
massive hole in the ground - a hole that, according
to the newsreader, had once been Pacific City.
"N...
Nico...?" Lisa stammered.
Shane
pulled into the parking lot of the fire station he
called home for eight hours a day and took a moment
to sit calmly inside his car. Outside, several of his
fellow firefighters walked past and one of them
pounded loudly on the back of the car. Shane smiled
into the rear-vision mirror as his colleague gave him
a thumbs-up and kept walking. Firefighting was easier
for them - all they had to do was point a hose at
anything red and spray.
Shane
was not so lucky.
He was
a superhero. Selected from dozens of men who shared
his profession, he was tested, trained and finally
given access to a unique suit of high-tech armour
that was capable of flight and resistant to fire and
heat. It could also be sealed with its own air supply
for underwater travel.
It
meant that Shane - or, in his Science Hero identity,
'Heatwave' - was tougher than most; but because of
that, he was put in situations with greater pressure,
greater responsibility, and greater danger than
those he worked beside.
He
pulled himself from his car and made his way slowly
into the fire station. As he entered, he passed the
main dispatch office and saw everyone -
every single on-duty employee - gathered around a
television in the corner of the office. He could not
see what was going on, or even hear it over the
murmurs and gasps coming from his colleagues: but
something was up. Something serious.
"Shane!"
A young
woman saw him enter. She would have been no more than
twenty years old. She was a head-or-so shorter than
Shane, with long brown hair pulled back into a tight
ponytail. She wrapped her hands around his chest and
squeezed him tight, and he could feel the dampness of
her tears seeping even through his shirt.
"Jen...
what's wrong?" he asked.
"It's
Pacific City!" she sobbed. "It's been wiped
out! Just... gone!"
"What...?"
Shane
pushed his way forward so he could get a clear view
of the television. What Jen told him was true - all
that was left of Pacific City was a smoking crater,
and the news seemed to recycle the same shot again
and again.
What's
going on? Can't they see more? What happened?
"Shane..."
Shane
felt Jen's hand resting on his back and he turned
around. She was staring into his face, almost like
she was looking for something. An emotion, a
response, a hint of understand -
"Lisa's
brother," Shane said. Jen nodded.
A phone
rang, the the station chief brushed past Shane as he
moved to answer it. Shane did not even notice; his
mind filled with distressing thoughts. He did not
know or care about Lisa's brother. He had never met
him, and knew very little about him. But he did care
about Lisa, and how she was feeling. If the brother
was dead...
"Shane,"
the chief's voice boomed in his ear. "They need
you - "
"In
Pacific City?"
"No,"
the chief said. "Here, in Melbourne. They've got
a 'Heatwave special'." The chief looked at the
ground, then back up at Shane. "Pacific City...
that's bad news. They'll need you there eventually,
I'm sure. But now... can you focus on this,
Shane?"
Shane
nodded.
"Good.
Go."
Shane
ran from the office and down a long hall to the
station's changing room. Despite his status and extra
responsibilities as a hero, Shane received no special
treatment - even his bulky Heatwave armour had to fit
within a regular locker. He opened his locker door
and found the red-and-yellow armour waiting for him,
and slipped off his t-shirt so he could change.
"Nice,"
he heard Jen say from the doorway. He pulled off his
boots and pants pants and pulled on the thin, yellow
metal mesh leggings that formed the underlayer of the
armour. He placed one foot into each of the chunky
red boots then reached for the mesh shirt.
"Wait,"
Jen said. She walked into the room and hugged Shane a
second time. She looked up into his face, smiled, and
pressed her lips against his. He did not pull away;
he let her touch him for several long moments, until
she took a step back.
"Jen...
I don't think now is the best time for this," he
said. Jen and Lisa had been friends for a long time;
in fact, Shane had met Lisa through Jen, at
a work function. But over time, he had realised he
had feelings for Jen as well. They could not match
what he felt for Lisa... but what his girlfriend
didn't know...
"Yeah,
I guess not," Jen said. She watched Shane as he
continued putting on the Heatwave armour - the mesh
undershirt, the heavy metal chestplate and gloves.
"Have you told her that you're Heatwave
yet?"
Shane
lifted the armoured helmet from his locker but paused
before putting it on. He shook his head. "No.
She worries enough as it is - and now, if her
brother's dead..."
Jen
nodded and Shane put on his helmet.
"Good
luck," she said. Shane bowed slightly and rushed
out of the room.
The
skyscraper near the centre of the city burned
fiercely as Heatwave approached from the sky. The
fire was in the tall building's top floors, beyond
the reach of the fire engine's cranes especially with
the poor navigation afforded them by the city's
narrow streets. He did not pause to check with the
men on the ground - Heatwave was only ever called in
for reason: to search areas for trapped people, clear
them out, and fight the fire from the inside.
Hang
on, Shane thought as he blew through a broken
window and landed in an office, surrounded by flames.
The chief... he called it a 'Heatwave special'.
That means -
"Ow!"
Shane
felt the impact on the back of his head even through
his protective metal helmet. He whirled to face his
attacker and saw something unexpected - it was a boy,
barely a teenager, if he was one at all, covered by
some sort of hard brown shell. It seemed to melt
around his hands and shoulders, revealing bare, pale
skin, but it quickly reformed.
No
wonder that hurt! Shane realised. He's
covered in... copper?
"I
don't want to hit a kid," Shane said. "Tell
me what's going on, surrender, and let me save anyone
who's trapped up here so we can all go home.
Okay?"
The boy
shook his head. "There's no-one up here."
"Except
me."
There
was another voice, a woman's voice, coming from the
corner of the room. Shane turned his head slightly,
so he could keep an eye on the boy while scanning the
other side of the room for the bodiless voice. He did
not need to look very hard - a woman, with long brown
hair, tied into a ponytail, and wearing a tight,
black, leather bodysuit. She almost looked like Jen,
only older and more determined.
"My
name is Lena Kozlov," she said. "You are
Shane Curtis, although in this form you are also
known as Heatwave. Is this correct?"
"Ye
- "
"Of
course it is," Lena interrupted. "You are
going to work for me, Mr. Curtis. I can offer my
proposal simply, or we can make a fight of it. You
have already felt one of Copper Boy's weakest blows.
Do you really want to fight him?"
Shane
looked at the boy and shook his head.
"Good,"
Lena said. "Rest assured this fire has harmed
no-one. We cleared the workers out first. All of this
was merely a ploy to lure you here."
"Me?"
Shane asked. "But I'm nobody."
Lena
rolled her eyes. "Don't speak. I can have the
conversation for both of us. 'But I'm nobody.' Not
yet, but you will be. 'How do you know?' Trust me,
Mr. Curtis. I know. 'But all this, surely -
' No, Mr. Curtis. Now you must listen to me. You may
not believe it now, but the fate not just of this
universe, but the very multiverse itself
rests partly on your shoulders.
"You
have a choice to make: come with me now, save us all,
and be rewarded for your efforts. Remain here, fight
me, fight Copper Boy and cause the deaths of
thousands - and still save the multiverse. It will
happen, either way."
"Somehow,
I think you're right," Shane said. "I won't
fight you. Not yet, anyway. Not until I hear about
this reward."
"Pacific
City has been destroye - "
"Don't
tell me you organised that, too?" Shane
interrupted.
"Of
course not," Lena replied, "but I could
have easily prevented it. Now tell me... your
girlfriend's brother... he was in Pacific
City, wasn't he?"
Shane
nodded.
"Help
me, help the multiverse - and you will have the
chance to save Nico Wilson."
Shane
swallowed loudly. "But... that's impossible.
Pacific City is already a hole in the gr - "
"Nothing
is impossible, Shane Curtis," Lena said.
"Not for me. Join me, and Lisa Wilson
may yet see her brother again."
I
could save Pacific City! Shane thought. This
hero thing... it was never really me. But saving all
those people - !
"I
could save Pacific City..." Shane muttered.
"I
offer you the chance to save Nico Wilson," Lena
said. "Anything else you do is up to you. Will
you join me?" Shane nodded. "Good. Come,
take my hand."
Lena
placed her hands in front of her and Shane took one
in his own. On her other side, Copper Boy stepped
forward and wrapped both hands around her wrist. Lena
closed her eyes, and a blue mist spread from her
fingertips to cover all three bodies. In a moment,
they were gone, and the flames left with them.
NEXT:
MV1's Guardians of the Galaxy #87 - it's
Copper Boy, Heatwave and Cat-Lass against the Ruul!
