Coin - Blast Off!
Chapter 1 - The Lab
"Damn the man, he hasn't got a clue what he's doing!"
Stefan McCleod threw down the frequency isolator in disgust and wondered, not for the first time, how Jackson had got the position of Head of Applied Energies at Paragon City University. After all, it was clear the man knew very little about the subject, hell, he still couldn't understand a simple principle such as Energy Absorption in Biogenetic Materials! Well, ok, he understood enough about it, how else would he have been able to bluff his way into the job?
Clearly Jackson had got the job through his friendship with the head of PCU. Those two had been friends for years so it was no real surprise when Jackson was appointed to the role. The worst thing was how he would ride on the glories of someone else...namely McCleod. Everyone in the department knew who the real brains around here were. After all, it was Stefan who had solved the equation governing how the body absorbed matter and converted it to energy. Jackson barely understood the concept!
The problem with McCleod, and he was loath to admit it, was that he had no outward confidence in himself. Sure, he could look at energy equations and solve them in his head without even blinking most of the time, but put him in a social situation and he clammed up. Always had, always will. That's why he lived alone, he knew that, wasn't a real people person at all. It suited him most of the time, however, it meant he could spend more time on the things he loved to do, namely his work.
Still, it would be nice to actually go out once in a while. Especially with her. Sitting back and rubbing his hands across his face, Stefan's mind wandered to the red-haired beauty that often flitted across his mind. Penny was someone he had wanted to talk to for a long time now but he knew he would never have the courage.
"Penny for them?" came a gentle voice from behind him. Stefan winced at the obvious gag, given that the blonde who said it was his best friend.
"Oh very droll. You write that yourself, or did someone write it for you?" quipped Stefan, looking over at the woman who now sat on the edge of his desk, her short legs swinging several inches from the floor.
Jenny Morgan was someone that Stefan had know for as long as he'd been at the University, about 6 years now, and was about the only person in the world he felt he could talk to about anything non-science related. She had joined the lab team about 6 months after he had and specialised in using energy and how it affected the growth rates in biological specimens. Also, she had a shard wit and an infectious smile that made everyone around her like her. Saying that though, he knew there was something deep inside her that made him really protective of her and he could never figure what it was about her that made him feel like that. Probably her size.
"Well, it's not hard to guess what's going though your mind. Usually it's either applied energy conversion rates or a certain leggy red-head that you want to wake up next to." smiled Jenny, with a little giggle in her voice.
"I do think about other things you know, honest. There's ermmmm....uhhh....there's nightclubs!" replied Stefan, thinking fast in a desperate attempt to look less like a loser. He knew he was on a losing battle.
"Nightclubs!?! You?!?" laughed Jenny, throwing her head back and letting her short blonde hair fall away from her face, for a change. "Stefan, you wouldn't know what to do in a nightclub if someone drew you a flowchart!"
"Hey, that's not fair, I've been to lots of clubs! In fact, I was thinking of going to one tonight!" he answered, starting to sweat. He was on very slippery ground now and he was well aware of that fact. "How about it? You and me! Tonight!"
Jenny looked at Stefan with a growing look of disbelief.
"Seriously? You want to go to a night out? With me? You've NEVER shown any interest in going out with me, and God knows I've asked enough times!"
Stefan knew she was right. Well, he'd said it now. It was too late to back out.
"Ermm, yeah, sure, lets go out. Tonight..........Ummm.....where do we go, exactly?"
Jenny looked at Stefan with her mouth in a perfect O shape and began to laugh out loud.
"Oh man, this should be fun. Stefan, my darling and my friend.....this is going to be a night to remember, you just wait and see!"
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 2 - The Nightclub
"Ok, what the hell am I doing here!" thought Stefan as he tried to throw himself around the dance floor. He was no dancer, that much was certain. He'd tried his best but the looks he was getting off other people near to him told him that he should stick to his day job. Bumping into that big beefy bloke with blonde hair had almost led to him having his head ripped off. Luckily, he seemed to have a good sense of humour and "Boomer", as he called himself, had banged him on the shoulder and told him not to worry about it, probably as Stefan had bought him a drink to apologise for treading on his foot. Naturally Jenny was in hysterics about it back at the bar when they next got a drink.
They had decided earlier that afternoon to go out to a nightclub and Jenny was promising to show him a good time. They had started out in a small bar near where she lived at the south end of Liberty Town in Founders Falls. Whilst he'd actually enjoyed that, mainly due to it being a fairly quiet bar where he could actually hear himself think and could have a nice time chatting with his friend, Stefan had gulped when Jenny said about moving on to a night club she knew, where she also was friends with the bouncers.
Two ex-heroes, they had given up the life of constant battling to look after doors. When Stefan had seen them both, two giant mountains of meat in a tight suit each, he could see why they were known as two of the best bouncers in the city! Anyway, here he was, in a nightclub, trying to dance without looking like a fool and nearly getting both arms pulled out of their sockets by a guy who made even the bouncers look small.
"Oh Stefan, you should have seen the look on your face!" chuckled Jenny, sipping on her cocktail, her legs dangling from the very tall chair she had struggled to climb up to sit on.
"Yeah, well, I thought he was going to flatten me, did you see the size of his arms? Hell, he damn near broke my shoulder when he slapped it like that" grumbled Stefan, rubbing his aching shoulder blade. "Anyway, what do we do now? Do we just sit here?" He was desperately wanting to leave, but didn't want to look like a complete idiot in front of his best friend.
"No, come on. You've tried it once so lets go. I can tell you're hating every minute of it" grinned Jenny, looking at Stefan with not a small amount of sympathy. "You've done well and I'm impressed. Lets head off home. We've both got early starts in the lab tomorrow anyway. Don't want to upset our glorious leader now, do we?" she laughed.
"Good lord, no, god forbid we might ever upset the immensely talented Mr Jackson!" he replied with a huge amount of fake dismay in his voice. They both headed towards the cloakroom to get Jenny's coat, laughing as the walked. On the way, Stefan slowed down slightly as he spotted a gorgeous young blonde sat on a stool on her own. "Man, she's beautiful!" he thought to himself.
Amazingly, she was even more petite than Jenny, but even better looking if somewhat shy looking. She sat alone, slowly stirring her drink with a straw. "Maybe I should go and ask her if she wants to dance? Oh who am I kidding. After the Boomer incident, I'd only end up breaking her feet!" he decided. With a sigh, he turned and headed off after Jenny. "Like I could ever get a girl like that to even look at me!"
At the cloakroom, Jenny was just retrieving her jacket. Stefan had managed to have the foresight not to bother, given how warm the night was. Indeed, he'd surprised himself with his dress sense skills. Just a plain black pair of jeans and a nice black velvet style jumper with a kind of flame effect in it in a very dark blue, so dark you could hardly see it, in fact. Jenny had been very impressed and had teased him about on the way to the nightclub. Not that he minded, it was nice to be teased for getting something like this right, for a change. Usually he had the dress sense of a pauper student, but Jenny had bought him the jumper so he thought it fitting to wear it tonight.
Looking across the nightclub, they could see it was pretty packed out. The HotSpot was in one of the trendy areas of Founders Falls, not far from Stefans apartment at the top end of The Gaspee, and it was a very popular club. They had done well to get in, but having a lot of cash had helped and Jenny knowing the bouncers was also a contributing factor.
"Hmm" muttered Jenny "We might have some trouble getting to the main entrance, you know? Want to head out the back way? It's not as clean, but it's a lot easier.
"Sure, if it gets us out of here" he said with a grin. Jenny grabbed his arm and started to pull him towards to back of the club. In one corner was a small fire exit that was wide open and led to a dingy back alley. "Oooh, classy!" he laughed. "You sure know how to show a guy a good time, Jenny"
She replied by cheekily sticking her tongue out at him and headed out into the night. They quickly headed in the direction of the main street, not hearing the distinctive high-pitched hum of an energy blaster being charged up behind them.
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 3 - The Gun
"Uuurrrnnnhhh.....wha' hit me?" said Stefan, his speech slurred as he struggled back to consciousness. His head was throbbing like nothing he had ever felt before and he was trying to remember where he was....hell, he was trying to remember who he was!
"Ooooh look lads, the pretty boy's awake already!" came a scratchy voice from somewhere above him. "Must be a bit tougher than he looks. Good, means we can have a bit more fun before we go then."
A chorus of ugly sounding voices joined in the laughter of the first as Stefan managed to open his eyes. Right in front of him were several men, all in rough looking clothes and carrying several weapons. Each of them was wearing a distinctive mask, like they were trying to look like the Grim Reaper himself, on their faces that he recognised from a recent Tonya Taylor report. They were that street gang, the Skulls.
He remembered watching it with half an eye one night when he'd been trying to work on a particularly nasty equation about energy conversion in shielding technology. All he could recall were they were a lower class of villain but were trying to become more and that made them more dangerous, especially as they had recently acquired a lot of high tech weapons. Looking at this group, he could see that some of them were carrying those very same weapons.
Stefan tried to climb to his feet and get his bearings, but he was still foggy from the ache at the back of his head. He tried to piece together what had happened. He remembered coming out of the nightclub and chatting with Jenny. Jenny!! He looked around him and to his relief and dismay, he saw she was there still, furiously trying to wriggle out the grasp of two of the thugs that held her firmly, both with a leering look on their faces. He knew they had been talking and laughing about his boss, Jackson, and that was about the last thing he remembered. All he knew was suddenly the world had exploded around him, if not literally, at least metaphorically.
"Let her go, dammit!!" he screamed, finally managing to stand upright, although not for long. Before he knew it, he was back on the deck as the biggest of them hit him hard in the stomach with the butt of the huge gun he held in his hands.
"Siddown, pal. We don't any more heroes, know what I mean?" he said, laughing as Stefan started to cough up blood. "See, me and my associates here, we just need a couple of things. One of them is your money," he said, reaching down and yanking Stefan's wallet from out of his pocket, scattering what loose change he had in the puddle on the floor next to Stefan "and the other, is a nice time with your lady here." He gestured towards Jenny with his gun and sneered. "Sure, she's only small, but I'm sure there's enough to go round!" This was the cue for his gang to bellow with laughter once again, a sound that made Stefan's stomach churn in disgust.
"God damn it, I said let her go! I'll make it worth your while, I promise, just leave her alone!" he cried out, struggling to get back up again.
"Heh, I think you already have, dude!" said the gang leader as he rifled through Stefan's wallet and pulling out a massive wad of notes. He chucked the now empty wallet back at Stefan and hoisted his gun again. "See, the only problem now is that, well, I have this thing against witnesses.....and that would be you!" he said, aiming the huge blaster gun which Stefan now recognised, a variant on the Rikti technology blasters left over from the war. He'd even worked on a few of them to try and understand the science behind them. He was close to breaking the coding on them, guess now he was never going to finish that.
"Anyway, thanks for the fun pal, it's been a blast!" giggled the thug, levelling the blaster at Stefan as he lay in pain on the floor. His cronies laughed along with him as Jenny managed to break the hold on her mouth.
"Stefan! NO!!!"
With a sudden white and blue flash, the blaster was fired and all Stefan felt was a pain like nothing he had ever felt, almost like every molecule in his body was suddenly charged to capacity like a battery being overloaded, before he faded into simple, blissful blackness.
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 4 - The Power!
Stefan drifted. The power build up was huge and he understood that. Of course it was huge, how could it not be. It was simply a case of taking the variable energy rate and combining it with the basic equations that were floating across his mind. Effortless deduction could now easily show how it was meant to fit, how the DNA structure could meld with that of the energies all around him, the energies that he knew now to be just another facet of the simplistic fractal models he had been working on for so long. Indeed, the energies that flowed all around him (so many colours, so pretty, so gentle and yet so amazingly vibrant! How had he not seen that before??) were almost too easy to grasp and control now, so basic in their design and yet so complex in their patterns, all around him. He could take this strand, this tendril, for instance and just......twist it, ever so subtly. That was the way he needed to mix the equations to match the numbers in his head, the ones that used to lie so tantalisingly just out of reach. How could have not seen them before? It was very clear what was needed, how the origins of the energies could be a part of him and yet totally separate at the same time. Obviously, the way the universe worked was wrong now, he understood that in a way that had been a blur before, just a simple clarity that showed how things were wrong up was down left was right in was out and that was the direction he needed to go to find out what was next if there was a next after all time was also a part of the equations as well that much was obvious any fool could see that but what about the energy patterns that floated in front of his eyes (eyes? How could he have eyes? Wasn't he dead now?) just waiting to be slotted in to place didn't they count towards anything the other equations all talk about them but of course all the equations made sense now it was so simple even Jenny (Jenny? Where's Jenny? Shouldn't she be here?) could understand the simplicity of it all and how it flows from one part to the next Jenny would love it all the colours (Jenny?? Danger?! Jenny! JENNY!) in fact I should go and get her there was something she wanted didn't she need me for something I could never leave her she's my friend and I have to show my friends how simple it all is now how the all the power all the energy all connects from one end to the next and where it has to STOP!!! JENNY!! I'M ON MY WAY!!! LOOK OUT!!!!
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 5 - The First Blast!
Stefan slowly started to regain consciousness and tried to look around. "Man, why does everything feel so strange?" he thought to himself as he gradually came back to his senses.
That was it! His senses. Everything felt....alive. Like he could almost sense the energies of everything around him. He opened his eyes and almost gasped. Everything was......glowing! There was an aura around everything; he could see what everything was far clearer than he ever had before! There was a trashcan, almost inert in its existence....and there, the telegraph pole, the wood the same as the trashcan, but the wires, my god, the wires, they were buzzing so loudly and so BRIGHT!! It was almost as if he was....a part of them himself! He could feel their existence, even from here!
Slowly he started to get to his feet and as he did so, the energy glow around everything started to fade and things started to look more normal, but he knew they weren't....and neither was he. Unfortunately, before he had a chance to think things through any further, he suddenly found himself sprawled back on the floor again. Rolling along the ground, he caught a glimpse of the man who had sent him back to the pavement. It was one of the Skulls, the ones who had attacked him and Jenny. This one was just as skanky looking as the rest, but as well as the skull mask they all wore, this one also had on a cowboy hat and a black bandana across his face.
"Oh my god! JENNY!" he thought in alarm. It instantly came flooding back to him what had happened. The mugging, the violence....and what that creep had said he was going to do to Jenny! Then he remembered the blaster. "What the hell? Shouldn't I be dead about now? Well of course not, the energy conversion matrix of my mutated DNA would simply absorb that much energy, clearly."
"Ok.......what the hell was that!" he thought to himself!
All of it was so clear in his mind now. The blaster that had shot him had changed him now, somehow, mutated his DNA in a way that allowed him to absorb and channel the energies that had been blasted into his body. The only problem now was....could he do it twice, as the guy who had just knocked him to the floor was packing the same style of blaster!
Quickly, and without thinking Stefan rolled from the spot he was laid in and looked around urgently for something to throw at the goon who was now aiming his gun at Stefan with a nasty smirk on his face. Stefan nearly panicked and looked down at the ground in growing desperation. The only thing he could find now were a few coins, the very same ones that had fallen out of his pocket earlier. Before he could even think about what he was doing, Stefan picked up a coin and hurled it at the Skull in a last-ditch attempt to distract him enough for Stefan to make a run for it. What happened next, however, took him completely by surprise.
Without any conscious thought on his part, the coin, from the moment it left his fingers, started to change. In what seemed like slow-motion to Stefan, he could see the coin transform from a simple piece of metal to a fast moving bolt of blue-white energy that hit the villain directly in his chest, sending him flying backwards with a scream that was cut short as he hit the wall behind him, slumping to the floor.
Stefan stared at his hand with his jaw hanging down. How on earth had he done that? Well, it was obvious how he had done that, it was just a basic matter-energy conversion process caused by the Heisinger Energy Conservation theory. After all, all matter and energy were....
A scream rent that air behind him and Stefan whirled round quickly. There, at the far end of the alley was Jenny, being bundled into the back of a pick up truck by the rest of the Skulls and their bone-faced leader. Before he could react, the truck revved up and they drove off, round the corner and out of sight.
"Oh no......Jenny!"
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 6 - The Chase.
Stefan didn't know what to do! Clearly things about him had changed now, well, that much was certain, he'd certainly never hurled bolts of energy from his hands before!
The main thing that had changed was in his head. Everything about energy, well.....he just understood it. How it worked, what it did, everything! All he had to do was think about it, concentrate, and the equations just danced in front of his eyes, all easy to understand and explain. How he turned them into his new found power, he didn't know, but then that was a discussion for another day. Right now, there was only one thing on his mind. Rescuing Jenny!
Looking down at the Skull on the floor near his feet, he reached over and quickly pulled off his cowboy hat and bandana. Wrapping the bandana across his face and tying it at the back, he neatly covered mouth and nose, leaving just his eyes visible. Then, the cowboy hat on top of his head and he was almost unrecognisable. "Good," he thought, "the last thing I need is people who know me seeing what I'm about to try and do."
He took a deep breath and hurtled down the alley that the Skulls had dragged Jenny. Everything that had happened so far had taken just a few minutes. Unbelievably, he could still see the truck they had thrown her in to heading off down the street, her legs kicking around in the back. He got a brief moment of relief when he saw one of her short legs kick a Skull square in the face. At least she was giving as good as she got.
He set off after them on foot but soon began to realise that they were simply too fast for him. Even with the energy flowing through his legs making him run faster than normal, he still couldn't catch a moving truck. He needed something else, something to make him move faster or they would be gone before he could do anything.
Suddenly, and without knowing how, something new started to happen at his feet. A strange, pinkish, purplish glow started to form and he was nearly thrown off his feet as he doubled, tripled and then surpassed his running speed by what seemed like a factor of ten! Of course, it was just a simple energy shield designed to combat friction, his brain realised that even if his mind couldn't. What he did understand is that he was now starting to gain on the truck!
Looking ahead of him, he could see the truck gradually getting closer, but he knew that he needed to do more to slow it further or it would soon outrace him when the driver hit the accelerator. Patting down his pockets, Stefan found a handful of loose change.
"Well, it's worked once, I guess it's worth a try" he thought to himself. Peering ahead, Stefan concentrated hard and focused on the rear left wheel of the car. He placed a single coin on his left hand and took a careful aim. He saw the coin start to glow and just before it reached critical mass, a new instinct took over and he flicked the coin with his other hand. At immense speed the coin flew from his hand, changing once more into a powerful energy bolt, even more powerful than before, and struck the tire. The wheel exploded in a blue flash and the truck started to weave all over the road. Luckily the driver managed to control the pick up enough to come to a screeching halt in the middle of the street.
Stefan quickly closed the gap and the glow faded from his feet, leaving him stood in front of the truck. It was then that all the doors opened and out climbed the Skulls, all armed to the teeth and with a furious look on their faces.
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 7 - The Battle.
Stefan threw himself to the floor just in time as the Skulls let loose with a barrage of energy blasts in his direction. Luckily, the awesome amount of power being thrown in his direction not only missed him completely, thanks to his new and improved reflexes - another side effect of his new powers - but also managed to ionise the air around him to such an extent that the Skulls couldn't see him roll along the floor to their left.
Jumping to his feet, Stefan reached into his pockets and grabbed another handful of coins. Taking careful aim once more, he quickly threw each coin with precision accuracy, not at the Skulls themselves but at the weapons in their hands. Each coin did just what the others had done; transforming themselves into powerful energy bolts, and flew through the air, knocking the guns out of the hands of the masked villains. They each screamed and looked at each other, then at Stefan, who was now stood with a determined look on his face.
"You want more?" he asked, trying to get some menace in his voice. To him, it sounded like he was squeaking the words out, but it had the desired effect on the Skulls who, as one man, raced away from where they stood in a last, desperate attempt to escape.
"Oh no you don't!" cried Stefan, determined not to let them escape. Grabbing more coins in one hand, he threw his arm around in a wide arc, scattering coins as he went. This time the coins didn't move as fast, but the sheer amount of bolts he released served to knock each of the thugs backwards off their feet, tumbling to ground, unconscious. Stefan let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his new enemies laid prone on the ground and turned to look for Jenny.
Before he knew what was happening, he felt the world tumble from under his feet as his head was snapped backwards by a powerful blow to his jaw. Stumbling backwards he managed to keep himself upright, barely, and looked to see what had hit him. There in front of him stood the leader of the Skulls gang, the tall muscular one who had originally shot him.
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
Chapter 8 - The Rescue.
"Who the 'ell do you think you are, eh? Come on man, we got numbers here!!" he yelled at Stefan. He didn't seem to recognise his adversary as the man he had left for dead in the alley, which Stefan was glad about. Unfortunately he still had Jenny tucked under one arm, although not for long as he threw her to the roadside in anger. "You want a piece of me, do you, Hero?!? Well, do ya?!!" he screamed, reaching towards Stefan.
Stefan concentrated once more and everything around him seemed to slow, just a little. He didn't know if it was time slowing down (which was impossible, of course, even Statesman didn't have that kind of power, at least not that Stefan knew of, it wasn't as if he'd ever met the guy after all) or if he was just speeding up, but he made the most of his advantage. Holding the last of the coins in his hand, he pulled his right arm back and let fly with all of his strength, concentrating all the energy in him into the coins in an attempt to add some power to his punch. It seemed to work as his hand started to glow a bright red and he hit the Skull boss hard on the chin, spinning him around twice before knocking him to floor, stunned and dazed by the blow, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
Stefan staggered backwards, almost completely drained by what he had just done. He still didn't know how he was doing these things, but for now at least, his friend was safe.
"Are you ok, Miss? He said, reaching down towards Jenny and helping her to his feet. Jenny looked up at him and took his hand, gratefully. She stared at him with her mouth slightly open and a strange look in her eye.
"Erm, yes....yes, I'm fine, thank you!" She started to tremble slightly in Stefan's arms. "Oh god, yes,. Thank you, that was.....that was....amazing!!"
"Easy there Miss, you've had a nasty scare, take your time, it's going to be ok now. Time to relax, these guys aren't going anywhere, ok?"
"I know, thank you, thank you so much, but....oh my God, Stefan, he's back there, back in the alley! They shot him!!" she cried, the panic rising in her voice.
"Woah, easy there miss, your friend is just fine, he's already been seen to, I promise." He replied, easing her fears.
"Oh thank God! But....but.....who are you?!" she asked, staring right into his eyes, the only part of his face still visible.
Stefan looked up at the sounds of sirens. Obviously someone had called the Paragon Police Department, so it looked like he was going to have some explaining to do. Luckily, he knew heroes had life a little easier in Paragon City than they did in most of other places. Hell, Paragon City was often known as a city of heroes.
"I'm just someone who wanted to help, that's all." he replied, smiling under the bandana. "Just call me.......Coin" he said with a grin.
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
I can't believe nobody bothered to acknowledge this. I love the original take on it. Really good
Thelonious Monk
LOL, Thread Necromancy!
Someone asked me about this story, never saw your post before, thanks Riff 
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
heh welcome buddy.
Thelonious Monk
Awesome story Coin, really enjoyed it very original ....thanks for bumping it up so i could find it 
Missed this the first time around too but glad I caught it now. Cool story Coin.
One thing that struck me as odd was how would she not recognize him? Even with most of his face covered he would still be wearing the black jeans she noticed and the jacket she herself bought for him. If for some reason she has a serious case of LoisLane-itis and didn't make the connection that it's her friend now with powers wouldn't she then be upset/horrified that a hero rushed up to save her wearing the clothes off of her friend who was left for dead back in an alleyway?
Definitely agree. Thanks for sharing such a great story.
Well a friend told me to post it in here. It's been on the Femmes forums for a while and also the ICONites forums, and they seemed to like it, so I'm gonna bite the bullet and risk some ridicule here, up against the real pros
It's in several chapters, so I'll do it a post per chapter.
Hope it's ok!!
We built this city on Rock and Roll!