At the height of Christmas shopping in the downtown plaza, two mutant superheroes create havoc as they unleash their powers. Bolt and Accel, tear apart the plaza as they smash cars, shops and restaurants to rumble and ruin in their desire to destroy their rival in love for Psy, a female superhero. The happy Christmas spirit is replaced with ultra violence, chaos and fear.
The General flies in to stop them with the rest of the superhero unit of Flame, Amazon and Psy.
But they are too late. Bolt’s and Accel’s actions, through an incidental event, have unleashed an unstoppable terrifying power.
Hero’s Break is intended as a free story to introduce Subject Zero.
Other stories in the ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’ Science Fiction series
#2 Halloween Party
Sarah Hargreaves is walking through the emerging dawn streets after another night’s work, when she is bundled into the back of a van by six figures dressed in black. She is taken to an underground location, where she is interviewed by a smartly dressed woman and a man from a secret organisation. They have one question:
‘What really happened at the Halloween Party three weeks ago?’
Sarah is forced to retell the terrifying truth. She is an experienced member of Dark Watch, an organisation set up to eliminate the threat from the creatures of the night. On the hunt for a vampire cell, she and her new boyfriend get an invitation to a Halloween Party – the Vampire Special. She suspects that humans will be lulled to their deaths. What happens at the party surprises even her.
#3 Wedding Anniversary
Hiding in time a superhero, Subject Zero, enjoys the delights of the wild west; the women, the drink and the fighting. After another night of fun, Zero is alerted to the presence of another time traveller who has sought him out across time and space. The traveller is his wife he hasn’t seen for fifty years. She has come to remind him it’s their Wedding Anniversary. They discuss old times together and make plans for a reconciliation in the future.
Zero is happy, until a massive time disturbance breaks the peace and Zero and his wife are forced to reveal their true powers to the inhabitants of the wild west town.
"Comic fans, superhero fans, and readers who like justified thrashings should read this."
Reviewer: Reader for Bookangel.
The story revolves around a secret military unit of five soldiers granted superpowers by experiments. Unfortunately two of them are in love with the same woman, and the result is a massive fight in a civillian area.
When I started reading I wasn't sure if I was meant to be rooting for the 'hero' team. These are more like '90's antiheroes: the first time we see them they're racking up huge property damage and a body count of uninvolved civillians over a love affair. (Does anyone else see the flaws with this sentence: "I'm a superhero...I just take what I need."). By the second part I was bored and praying for the Punisher to show up.
And then his equivalent does. Subject Zero. The so-called bad guy. The military promptly swings in to protect their superhero team. And at this point the word that springs to mind was awesome. The story kicks in, the set-up pays off completely, the fight at the coffee bar is spectacularly described, and the payoff amusing.
On first read it seems this book has one major flaw: superheroes need to be heroes. However as you read further, it becomes apparent that there is a deliberate contrast between words and actions of the good guys and bad guy in this story, which is very well done by the writer. While written from the point of view of the team, he allows the characters' actions and words to give the lie to their view of themselves as heroes as the story progresses.
I have only one request: Please please, don't stop the action to give me a description of what a character is wearing and does his hair. If he's doing one hundred miles an hour down the wrong side of the street trying to kill someone, believe me I don't care how his hair is parted.
This is a good short story with a nice wrap-up. It is part of a series, so don't expect all your questions to be answered, but I could easily see this illustrated in comic form. Comic fans, superhero fans, and readers who like justified thrashings should definitely read this. Rating:3
I have an over-developed sense of justice and I enjoy karma stories. This was both, a good story, and a great comeback against Frank Miller and the anti-hero brigade.
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