2.13 – Blue Max

In order to allow her captive to lead the way, Aurora had to grant the sentry a limited degree of freedom to move and, unfortunately, speak. It was as they were approaching what would seem to have been the correct door when a seven-and-a-half-foot tall power suit stomped through the entryway. The back had retractable stabilization wings, jets, and a pack for housing munitions. The left arm featured a spiked tip while the other had some sort of firearm attachment. Aurora would have been able to identify more about it if she hadn't gone cross-eyed while reading the tech specs.

“Boss, look out!” her most recent hostage cried out, his voice shaking with urgency.

Aurora sighed, nodding. They may be crooks, but they were still fiercely loyal to their boss, for the most part. That was a somewhat positive quality, if not an annoying one.

Lifting her hand casually, she released a bolt dead center to her captive’s back, knocking him out cold. He crumpled to the ground with a groan.

This was inevitable, she supposed. She didn’t have any doubts about her abilities even though she was new at this superheroing stuff. She was marginally concerned about protecting the assets of the company the suit was stolen from, but that was far from her biggest worry. As Detective Kirby had said, the first priority was to take this man down.

The brief window Aurora had used to assess the armor, knock out her guide, and go over her win conditions was used by the pilot to open fire on her instantly with a blast of his own. The energy from the blast sizzled through the air, narrowly missing her.

Aurora sidestepped the blast, her wings helping her to move faster than even an above-average human being could unassisted. She retaliated with a powered-up blast of her own and struck true on the chest of the armor. The impact reverberated through the room.

Her opponent planted a foot to halt the backward skid he was sent into, stopping just inches before crashing into the far wall. The force of her attack had been stronger than she expected, but the armor held firm.

“Ah, it’s you, that Angel. And here I’d been hoping that you’d be the one to find me. Too bad we’re in this cramped refinery building… I’d have preferred to meet you while we were pulling this next job so I could slay you in the killer skies,” Blue Max said, laughing, crossing his arms and managing to look somewhat imposing due to the armor. His voice echoed through the helmet, filled with confidence. As the man moved, Aurora noted, the machine mimicked his motions with uncanny precision.

“Is that so?” Aurora retorted, a smirk playing on her lips. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to settle for being taken down here and now.” Her wings flared behind her, catching the light and casting an imposing silhouette.

Blue Max's laughter echoed again, louder this time. “Brave words, little angel. Let’s see if you can back them up.” He raised his firearm arm, aiming it directly at her.

Aurora readied herself, her muscles coiled like a spring. The stakes were clear: she had to neutralize Blue Max and protect against unacceptable collateral damage. There was no room for error. 

Aurora spoke after the pilot’s declaration, “It’s my turn, yes?” Did she have a brand new super villain of her own already?

Her idle thought gave enough time for three pinpoints of light to train on her, and following them, three small missiles rocketed out towards her. “Three stones for one bird, hahaha!” He laughed, his voice echoing through the room.

Aurora launched herself away in retreat while throwing up barriers. Without aiming much, she hip-fired a light blast behind her towards the incoming missiles. She got lucky when she managed to connect, causing the one struck to crumple and explode with the force of a powerful grenade. Aurora led the other two around the large warehouse cavern, practically clipping around the storage tanks while continuing to blast away.

Continuing evasive maneuvers, she was pleased to see a second missile was struck by her blasts, but the third was still rapidly closing the distance. Unfurling one wing, she used it to cut a sharp turn around one of the larger tanks, making the turn as sharp as possible.

The missile struck the tank and detonated as she hoped. She was shielded by her power and the thick shredded tank’s material. The flames billowed around her harmlessly, the heat barely registering through her shield.

“Ha ha ha… I hope you still have some fight left in you, girlie,” Blue Max yelled. The room was filled with smoke from all the explosions and flames that now spread. Her vision was obstructed, but wouldn’t his be too?

Aurora shot back, “Plenty left! Why don’t you come here and find out?” She gauged where he was roughly from where his voice came from and placed the body of the charred tank between them. As she used her wings to navigate better, the smoke stirred and swirled, creating an eerie dance of shadows.

“If you don’t want to come out and play with me, maybe I should start executing people like this now otherwise useless minion of mine, hm?” Blue threatened, laughing. His heavy exo suit’s footsteps started walking away from Aurora, the sound reverberating through the space.

Aurora crept closer and sneaked a peek, moving as silently as possible. There was a vague outline in the smoke, and sure enough, he was moving towards his minion. The sight of the massive suit moving with such purpose sent a shiver down her spine.

Aurora shook her head. Despite the situation, she couldn’t help fangirling. This guy was hardcore playing up the archvillain schtick. Maybe he really did intend to be her nemesis. That was a little flattering.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the next move. With a burst of speed, she launched herself towards Blue Max, aiming to catch him off guard. Her wings flared behind her, cutting through the smoke like blades.

Blue Max turned just in time to see her coming, raising his spiked arm to block her attack. Aurora’s fist collided with the metal, sending a shockwave through the room. The force of the impact pushed them both back, but neither was willing to give an inch.

“You’ve got spirit, I’ll give you that,” Blue Max growled, his voice dripping with disdain. “But spirit alone won’t save you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Aurora retorted, her eyes blazing with determination. She launched another series of rapid-fire blasts, each one aimed at a different part of the exo suit. The room filled with the sound of energy colliding with metal, a symphony of battle.

Blue Max countered with his own barrage, the spiked arm swinging in wide arcs while the projectile arm unleashed a torrent of bullets. Aurora danced around the attacks, her movements fluid and precise. She could feel the strain of the fight, but she refused to back down.

Refocusing on solving the problem at hand, she looked for any tools that would come in handy. Her eyes fell upon a container marked with a flammable symbol, but there were other smaller tanks around. These tanks were the right size to be attached to the suit. Since this was where the thing’s fuel was produced and the gang had just completed the jailbreak, they’d have just switched out its fuel tanks. If they weren’t filled to the brim with flammable fuel, at least one would have something in it.

Interesting…

Aurora tilted her head and on foot ran silently to the tanks and gathered a number of them by touching them and covered them with her field to negate their weight. She knew if he heard her moving, it would take him time to turn around in that powerful but ponderous thing, but she still knew she had to be quick. Sweeping past with the tanks in tow, she hoped the lottery had drawn her some particularly useful ones.

Her flight path took her right up into the face of her opponent. As he awkwardly turned, hearing the flapping of her wings, she released the tanks right into him, slamming them against the armor and at that moment, she generated a massive halo around.

THAT’S IT! I’ll call them halos! What other name would be more appropriate for these lovely tight snuggly circles of light?

The tanks were now bound to the suit, restricting the thing’s already limited mobility. The armor's servos whined under the strain as Blue Max attempted to free himself.

“What’s this?!” he cried, one arm still free. Not only was the armor confined by her halo, it had gone around the cockpit or stirrups, whatever they called it.

However, when a blade extended from the free arm, Aurora knew the fight was far from over. He hacked at the halo, doing minimal but obvious damage to it. She was shocked that apparently her halos had a physical substance that was susceptible to physical attack. Sparks flew as the blade clashed with the glowing ring.

“Damn you! I’ll get you!” As best he could, Blue launched directly at her.

Aurora evaded, flying around the room again, baiting him. His jets opened wide as he accelerated to keep up. Aurora dodged and avoided the strikes of his blade, now the only way he could attack her. He’d become so enraged that he wasn’t using the armor as anything but supplementary legs. His movements became more erratic, driven by sheer anger.

Meanwhile, she lured him closer and closer to where she wanted him. She needed to set the perfect trap.

“I have you now!” he shouted excitedly as he thrusted his blade. Aurora stopped flying and dropped, pulling into a ball while concentrating on maintaining her protective field.

With foam flying from his mouth, he thrusted, sure that he’d gotten her. His eyes opened when he felt the tip pierce something. His lips spread into a wide grin, but then he noticed what he’d struck was the biggest flammable tank. He hadn’t looked where he was going.

“You BITCH!” He cried out as he yanked the armor’s spiked arm out.

Just puncturing the tank wasn’t a problem, but his real miscalculation was the sparks that flew when the metal of his knife rubbed against the casing. There was a titanic explosion! The force of the blast hurled Aurora clear across the room like a cannonball. The shockwave rippled through the refinery, causing more damage in its wake.

With closed eyes, Aurora bounced off the far wall and rolled across the floor like a pinball. She cleared her eyes with quick blinks and shook her head a few times and stood to see that the remaining thugs of the crew had gathered up around her and were pointing their guns at her. Looking around them, she noted that the refinery was totally ablaze. Flames licked the walls, casting eerie shadows.

She dusted herself off as she stood and squeed internally. Wow, what a thrill! The adrenaline coursing through her veins made her feel more alive than ever. She glanced at the thugs, a confident smirk on her lips as she prepared for the next round of action.

“Come now, guys…” Aurora rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You know what happened the last time you tried this on me, right? Just give up. More importantly, your boss might be lightly toasted at the moment, and I’m probably the only one capable of saving him at this point. So be good boys for once, put down the guns and form a pretty circle so I can do my job.”

They didn’t seem to be particularly convinced by her words, but then the squawk of a squad car’s siren caused them to look around and they realized the police were closing in. They all started to drop their weapons, and soon Detective Kirby showed up in the nearby doorway with a gun leveled and held a megaphone in his other hand.

He lifted the megaphone to his lips and yelled over the hustle and bustle, “Thanks for the signal, Aurora. Did you catch their leader?”

Through the sagging ceiling, a large object shot out and as it rose, suddenly there was a small detonation and two trails of smoke followed it as it arced towards Aurora.

“I’m not finished with you, bitch!” Blue Max’s voice echoed through the inferno, but the strange thing was it was distorted as though he was speaking through an intercom. The armor seemed to have saved his life by covering the open cockpit in time.

“Hold that thought, Detective.” Aurora barked and flapped her wings rapidly reactively. While she took off in a flurry of wind, she thought about what else she could try. The force of the air her wings displaced staggered and sent flying the crooks that had ringed her.

The armor leaned back and its damaged arm swiped after Aurora with a now white-hot knife. Not waiting to see what that thing might do to her if it connected, she opened fire and her concussive blasts knocked the arm aside. Now she’d have his undivided attention. Protecting the people was most important, particularly Detective Kirby who could get caught in the crossfire.

Making the situation more complex, the cops surged into the room. They at least made quick work of securing the gang members, but since the armor was still operative, this wasn’t the best time to make arrests. Thankfully, Blue Max was indeed focused exclusively on the angel and that would help keep the battlefield stay less chaotic.

“This way, Maxi-pad!” Aurora yelled to reinforce the rage he was sunk in.

His flight array fired up and he charged after Aurora in an attempt to keep up, but a malfunction occurred. The jets were popping and hacking while whining loudly. The whole armor seemed somewhat off-kilter.

Aurora opened her mouth and began taunting even more. “Oh dear, Maxi! You don’t think you can outfly me in that sad state, do you?” She laughed and whizzed around him, making good use of her agility.

Despite her movements, she was tired and achy in places she didn’t think she could hurt in, but still she flew in circles, blasting, knocking him repeatedly off balance, delivering timely blows to knock him off balance over and over, treating him like she had the crane. Despite her efforts, he finally recovered his balance and went berserk again, screaming.

This time, his clever tactic to answer hers was to flail and swing uselessly until Aurora flew up right in front of him. She reached under the chestplate with one hand and blocked the incoming blade with her other. The edge of it bit into her forcefield, but couldn’t quite pierce it.

“By the by, Maxi Pad, the Junker Cat said to not steal the nuggets from his box,” Aurora said. She engaged her field and forced the half-melted eject lever down with her aura.

Blue Max roared in frustration, the sound reverberating through the warehouse. “You think you’re clever, don’t you?!” he snarled, his eyes filled with fury. The suit’s systems began to whine under the strain of Aurora’s field.

Aurora grinned, feeling a surge of confidence. “Clever enough to beat you,” she retorted, her voice steady. She pushed harder, her aura intensifying around the lever.

With a final, desperate effort, Blue Max swung his blade arm, aiming for Aurora’s head. She ducked just in time, the blade slicing through the air above her. Using the momentum, she twisted her body and delivered a powerful kick to the suit’s chest, sending Blue Max stumbling backward.

“You’re done,” Aurora said, her voice low and determined. She watched as the exo-suit’s systems began to fail, sparks flying from the joints.

Blue Max’s eyes widened in realization. “No… this can’t be happening!” he shouted, his voice and the speaker crackling with panic.

The hissing speaker attached to the armor died as Aurora fired and forced the top off and Blue Max was sent rocketing into the air. She threw her anti-gravity aura around the suit, but soon she determined that it was too heavy to hold with the system offline. Whatever of it survived the fire would have to do, therefore she opted to let it drop and grabbed hold of only the pilot instead on his way down.

Even so high off the ground, Max lifted his arms to try to finish the fight personally. With contempt for his physical limitations, Aurora slapped halos on his wrists, flitted to the side, seized his arms, and yanked them behind him, joining her halos to confine him in her own variety of cuffs.

After having secured the villain, Aurora lowered him to earth where the police were eagerly waiting. On touching down, two officers and Detective Kirby promptly charged over to make the arrest.

She dissipated the halo as she touched down and allowed the officers to seize Blue Max and cuffed him with their less shiny handcuffs. Blue Max struggled against the restraints, but Aurora's halos had sapped his strength.

“That was impressive work. Good job neutralizing his weapons and distracting him,” Kirby said with a nod. “I guess noticing the ejector let you save him, eh?” the Detective commented with a smile.

The two other cops hauled Blue Max off, who snarled and thrashed. Blue Max shot a murderous look over his shoulder at Aurora. His eyes burned with hatred, but he was powerless to resist. Detective Kirby spoke again, “Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that guy’s face on a wanted poster or two.”

Aurora nodded, her wings folding neatly behind her. “He’s all yours, Detective. Just be careful with him; he’s got quite the temper.”

“Well, anyway. I’m sure you have places to be at this point, so I won’t keep you. I’ve got the report and the rest of the clean-up covered, though I may have a few more questions later. The fire department should be here any moment, so I think we have things well in hand at this point.”

Aurora winked and saluted Kirby. “Send me his docs sometime if you would, just in case. I get the impression he REALLY wants to be the first in my rogue’s gallery.” She chuckled.

Kirby laughed, shaking his head. “You got it, Aurora. We’ll keep in touch.”

“See you around, Detective. I’m gonna go take a nap. That was a heck of a ride.” She laughed as she took flight, spinning into the air. The comparatively cool air outside felt incredibly good on her skin. The adrenaline was still coursing through her veins, but she knew she’d earned a well-deserved rest. The stars above seemed to shine a little brighter, a reminder of the hero she was becoming.