A Rumble of Frost chapter 11 (Patreon)

February 15th 2001, Waterfront, 11:00 PM EDT

"This  is boring." I said, barely bothering to keep my voice down. I was back  in my hockey mask and coat, sitting up on top of a warehouse with  Felicia and Peter, who was wearing some kind of blue and red outfit that  made him look like a colorblind trapeze artist with a gimp fetish.  Felicia had giggled at him for a solid five minutes after he introduced  himself as 'Spider-Man'.

My color challenged friend  sighed. "Yes. It is. But it needs to be. The shipment hasn't arrived  yet. Unfortunately it looks like Kingpin is going to have someone meet  it when it shows up, so you'll get your entertainment. Someone will need  to distract whoever he sent while Cat and I split up to comb the place  for the...what did you call it Cat? The Zodiac Key?"

She  gave a sharp nod, eyes never leaving the docks we were posted up near.  "Yes. My sources couldn't get me more than the name." Peter's web search  hadn't turned anything useful up, so we'd turned to Felicia's magic  contacts. Apparently lots of magic stuff wasn't mentioned online, go  figure. "I still have no idea what it does."

"It's mystery  is only exceeded by it's power." I said solemnly. Both of them turned  to look at me in confusion and I rolled my eyes. "Seriously guys? Watch a  movie. It's from Dude Where's my Car?" I pointed at Peter. "I'd expect  that from him, Cat, but you actually have a social." I paused. "Or I  guess you don't otherwise why would you be here. Objection withdrawn."

Peter  groaned. "Please don't start talking in courtroom jargon. You've said  two words and that's already gotten old." I snickered slightly, trying  to at least pretend to keep quiet so none of the people on the docks  waiting for the ship could hear us. Not that I was too worried, but I  didn't want to scare off whoever was coming to collect it. I was itching  for a decent fight.

"Shut up!" Hissed Felicia. "This  isn't a fucking field trip. You need to start taking this seriously.  These people are dangerous, they'll fucking kill us if they can." She  sounded pissed, but more than that, I could hear a tremble of fear in  her voice.

I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder,  she jumped, but settled down right after. "Hey." I said softly. "Cool it  ok? I'm not going to let them hurt you, and even he doesn't look like  much, Spider-Man is kind of a badass. Between the two of us there's no  way they have anyone on a level that could threaten us. Besides, I'll be  handling whoever comes. Just focus on doing your thing. Leave the  violence to me." I shot her a wink. "It IS what I'm here for."

She  gave me a small smile, but before she could respond, our attention was  stolen by the arrival of a long limo. Peter cursed. He'd been hoping the  shipment would arrive before the pickup, so they could snag it without a  fight. Sadly for him, that wasn't to be. Still, it was almost here, I  could see a light off the coast heading toward the docks, and I was  pretty sure that was the boat we were waiting for.

I  nodded to the light. "Looks like its on the way in. You two circle  around. Don't get noticed. Just get in position to snag the key when it  arrives. As soon as the boat gets within easy sight line I'll jump down  and distract them. If we wait until it actually arrives they'll look for  someone waiting to take advantage, but if we preempt it I should be  able to sell the idea I'm just waiting to rob them." The two of them  looked hesitant, so I just chuckled and shooed them away. "I told you  I'm fine. I've got this. Go." I fixed Peter with a hard stare. "Keep an  eye on her just in case. You're almost as tough as I am. Wreckoners need  to stick together."

Felicia rolled her eyes at the name,  but Peter nodded seriously. He'd though it was awesome when I told him  about it, as expected of my second in command. The two of them slipped  over to the edge of the warehouse and vanished over the side, where I  lost sight of them completely. Not bad. I hadn't even seen where they  went. Nice to know my team had skills. With those two gone I just turned  back to stare down at the limo and wait for my moment.

It  didn't take too long. The boat had become visible in the dark probably  twenty or thirty miles out. It must have been moving pretty fast,  because the buzz of the motor split the air about ten minutes later,  signaling that the thing was close enough for my purposes. The motor  noise would also cover my teammates in case they made any noise while I  was showing off. Not that I expected them to be loud enough to manage.

After  another minute for it to get a bit closer, I stood up and cracked my  neck. The limo was parked right out in front of the warehouse, and with  my strength, jumping out far enough to land on it was child's play. So,  to get the most bang for my buck, that's what I did. I bent my knees and  leaped out over the edge of the building. But instead of plummeting  right down, I condensed a pair of hypocenters around my feet.

As  I crashed down on the hood of the limo, the space under my feet  shattered, and the car was torn apart. I focused all the power into a  small area, and my control was good enough that most of it just crushed  the engine rather than bleeding over and splattering the driver and  passengers. There was a low boom as the metal was driven into the ground  with incredible force, creating a crater in the concrete of the  dockside.

I COULD have done something insane like tried to  condense a hypocenter around my whole body, but my control wasn't  anywhere near good enough for that. Letting loose that much power,  assuming I could even pull that much, would probably knock Manhattan  into the fucking ocean or something.

Still, I felt I'd  made my point. As I stepped from the destroyed wreckage of the front of  the car casually the back of the limo opened and a series of forms  spilled out. Five men, rather than the four I'd been expecting. Or  rather, four men and something...else. Something blue and glowing in the  shape of a person, crackling with electricity and looking REALLY pissed  off.

Huh. Hadn't been expecting a mutant. Or at least, I  assumed. He was made of living lightning, so he was either a mutant or  some kind of magic...thing. Whatever he was, I felt my pulse race as I  saw him. He'd floated out of the car, buoyed on a crackling field of  warping electromagnetic energy. I assumed he'd been floating inside the  limo like that, because I couldn't image the fucking thing would have  been running otherwise.

The lightning man didn't appear to  be in charge though, as he hung back, floating in the air menacingly as  a man in a dapper suit with a wide brimmed hat stepped out of the car.  The mobster (because he couldn't have been trying harder to be a mobster  if he'd been carrying a Tommy Gun and sneering 'nyah, see') surveyed  the wreckage through a frown stuffed with a lit cigar. His calm eyes  flicked up to me, and one eyebrow rise imperiously. "And who." He asked,  his stereotypical New York drawl condescending. "Are you?"

I  couldn't help it. I clapped. "Nice. That was a hard ten in terms of  style. Ignoring the damage, sending out the electric dude, the lit  cigar, all of it. You clearly put a lot of work into your aesthetic, and  even if I feel like you're being kind of a try-hard, I can respect the  hustle." I gestured down at myself. "I, on the other hand, prefer to let  my work speak for me. Sure, the hockey mask is kind of bland, but come  on, can you really tell me I didn't make an...impression."

I  gestured at the massive fucking dent I'd left in the cracked ground.  Rather than sneer and dismiss me, the man raked the spot with his eyes  and then gave a grudging nod of approval. "It's flashy, I'll give you  that. Bit gauche for me, to be honest. I'm one for the classics as you  may have guessed. But you kids these days have your own way of doing  things. My question remains, however. Who are you?"

I  smacked the forehead of my mask like I'd forgotten something obvious.  "Oh. Duh. Sorry. I assumed the whole glowing white energy and hockey  mask thing would have been iconic enough for you to have heard of me  after what I did to Hector. Guess I overestimated the Kingpin's  organization. You can call me Cataclysm. I was informed after my little  heist that Kingpin would be looking for me, so I figured I'd make my way  down to say hello in person, save him some trouble."

The  mobsters eye twitched. "Ah. Him. Heard about that. Didn't see any energy  from inside the limo. Still, the size and hockey mask do lend a ring of  truth to the claim. Probably should have assumed, but honestly, there  are so many of you lunatics running around these days who knows  anymore."

I gave a sympathetic nod. "It is getting a bit  out of hand. I can't blame you really. Anyway, I'm here to say my hellos  introduce myself, steal whatever the fuck you guys came to pick up, you  know, the usual."

That got another twitch, but to his  credit, overdone mob-guy wasn't one to let his emotions control him.  "That so?" He said cooly. "Well, that seems a bit premature. Way I see  it, you're counting your chicks before they hatch. We ain't exactly  pushovers." He snapped his fingers, and his people spread out to  encircle me. "But how rude of me. You were so kind as to introduce  yourself. Let me do the same. My name is Mr. Big. This here is Electro."  He nodded to the blue guy, then pointed to a man with a whip and a  cowboy hat, a big bald guy, and a guy in a suit in succession. "And  that's Montana, Ox, and Fancy Dan, respectively. We're the Kingpin's  Enforcers."

I didn't respond. The time for talking was  over. I was surrounded, and while that wasn't enough to really worry me,  it did require some focus. To be fair, most of that focus was centered  on Electro. I doubted the others (except maybe Ox) were much of a  threat. The muscular bald man was bigger than I was, and based on what  I'd learned from Peter, he was jacked up on some kind of Mutant Growth  Hormone.

Luckily for me, they decided to test my  qualifications first. Before Electro or Ox could close in, Fancy Dan  slipped a pair of pistols from his jacket and started firing off shots  at me. Perfect. With a grin, I turned and hurled myself at Ox in a long,  low leap that took me about fifteen feet. I felt the low caliber ammo  smack into my jacket in a few places, but it wasn't a threat.

Apparently  even Electro avoided getting shot, because he hesitated in midair  before lunging after me as Fancy Dan strafed the concrete around us,  trying to swing away to avoid shooting his muscular teammate. Ox, for  his part, was pretty fearless as he bore down on me, shifting into a  boxing stance to try to take my head off with a powerful hook. I didn't  bother to put up my fists, just planted my foot as I landed and pushed  off again, smashing my shoulder right into Ox's chest.

The  big man let out a grunt of shock and pain as my five hundred pound body  smashed into him like a fucking wrecking ball. He flew out from the  collision in a way that probably would have killed a normal person, but  based on the feeling of impact would probably just seriously injure him.  I'd at LEAST cracked the fucker's sternum.

With Ox, the  major threat, out of the way, I turned on Electro, who had finally  gotten back on track and was coming at me fast. Not 'living lightning  bolt' fast, thankfully, he was still a solid person. Despite remaining  cohesive though he propelled himself forward with electromagnetic force  fast enough that he was almost on me by the time I looked. Luckily I  don't need much windup. I braced an elbow in his path and condensed a  hypocenter.

He smashed into the energy with a shout of  pain, bouncing off before taking too much damage sadly, as he used his  flight to change directions. Still, his bright blue body had been  stained bruised purple where he'd made contact. He floated there,  enraged. Fancy Dan had stopped firing and was backing up, ready to let  Electro and I duke it out one on one since he'd confirmed he couldn't do  shit to me.

Montana had circled around to help Ox up, and  the big man looked like death warmed over, but was indeed still alive. I  was glad, Peter would have bitched if I'd killed him. I put up both  fists and condensed a pair of hypocenters, ready to start round two,  when Mr. Big yelled. "Stop!" I hadn't been moving, but Electro was about  to, and the glowing man pulled up short.

Mr. Big glared  at me. "The timing here is way too coincidental. If he really wanted to  rob us, he'd have headed for the boat instead of posting up. This isn't a  robbery. It's a distraction. He's stalling for someone else. Ignore him  and get to the boat. We need to secure the cargo!" I grimaced. He was  right, I should have at least feinted for the boat. But I'd been having  fun and got distracted.

Electro turned to bolt for the  dockside, but before he could close in, there was a massive terrifying  blast of pyroclasmic force. I officially stopped giving a flying fuck  about the Enforcers and turned to stare in horror at the blaze as the  whole fucking dockside warehouse Peter and Felicia had been searching  rained down around us in a sea of burning wreckage. I turned and ran for  the blaze.

Fuck, I was an idiot. I should have guessed  someone besides us would have made a grab for the key, that the Kingpin  would have other enemies. As I made it to the edge of the docks I saw a  pair of dark shapes sinking through the water. Peter and Felicia had  managed to avoid the explosion but it looked like the shockwave had  knocked them out. I dove in after them without thinking, swimming as  hard as I could for their sinking shapes. We had to get out of here,  hopefully once we did the two of them could tell me what the fuck had  just happened.