CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Going Delta, Part 2

Alert! Use of [Healing Hand (Δ)] on more than one person at a time is not recommended as it will increase the strain on the hero’s life-force.

Sam appreciated Triple-A looking out for him, but he believed it would be alright. After all, Officer Schmidt was already squirming underneath Sam while the strain in Crow-Man’s breathing also eased up.

In his mind’s eye, Sam watched his own HP drop to just under half its total before he let either of his patients go. This was a pretty amazing result considering how much healing he’d already done for Officer Schmidt at this point. The fact that very little time had passed during this double healing session was also a good thing for them.

“You’re pretty useful, Sam,” Crow-Man remarked.

Sam nodded wordlessly. He didn’t want to speak for fear of sounding too delighted at being told he was useful when it hadn’t been a year since he’d been called useless by the family members of the heroes he couldn’t save.

“So… what’s the plan?” Sam asked.

“We’re going to rush him,” Crow-Man stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “That doesn’t sound like a good plan…”

Crow-Man turned his head to look at Sam, and that’s when he noticed the glowing pattern superimposed over each one of Crow-Man’s violet eyes. It was a rune, Sam knew, although he wasn’t as familiar in the Norse teachings as he was with the Olympian ones. The rune was like an ‘F’ but with both of its horizontal lines pointed at a downward angle. Off the top of his head, Sam knew its meaning was related to Crow-Man’s second delta-level power, True Vision.

“We can avoid his attacks if we split his focus between the two of us…” Crow-Man passed Sam a black earpiece. “Listen for my instructions and move when I tell you to move.”

“How long can you keep it up?” Sam asked.

He remembered reading somewhere that Crow-Man couldn’t keep True Vision activated for too long. Otherwise, this power of insight and prediction would have been rated higher than just delta-level.

“A minute and a half at most,” he said. Then he added, “The two of us will act to divert his attention from the other, giving one of us a clear shot at the Trickster…”

As he said this, Crow-Man put on what was basically a high-tech version of iron knuckles on both his hands. Crackling energy surged out of their front side.

“A good jolt straight into the cranium should prevent him from conjuring another disappearing act on us,” Crow-Man explained.

Sam put on his earpiece while quickly explaining to Officer Schmidt that he was to limp out of this gallery as soon as he and Crow-Man caught the villain’s attention. He was to call for backup once he was safely outside.

“And an ambulance too… for your friends…” Sam added.

“Wh-who are you?” was all Officer Schmidt could ask before Crow-Man darted forward and Sam had to follow after him. Behind him, he heard the police officer call out, “Th-thank you!”

About ten yards separated the duo from the Trickster, but they’d never reach him in time to stop him from conjuring up another lifelike illusion. A particularly nasty one, as it turned out.

The Trickster cut his palm with a knife he'd pulled out from inside his coat. It was just too bad that it was a different knife from the poisoned one.

After a drop of his blood fell on the blackened floor, a massive shadow rose up from behind the Trickster. It loomed over him like the top-half of an elder giant was rising out of the blackened floor, its form flickering in and out like a bad TV reception.

The sight of it caused Sam to falter in his steps. “How is this guy so powerful now?”

Self-delusion’s potent stuff, kid. The master chuckled. But there seems to be more to it than that… and if I had to guess then I’d say something’s boosting this villain’s power up…

Sam chased after Crow-Man, his brow furrowing more and more with each step toward the enemy. “You mean… like a god?”

It was a rare thing, but godly patronage wasn’t exclusive to heroes. Sometimes a god like Ares would be in the mood to start a war, and so he’d support some warmongering megalomaniac like Adolf Hitler to get it done. Then there were the dark gods, the ones who didn’t pretend to have a good side. They usually threw their lot in with villains too.

“Conjuring up Big-A’s shadow…how blasphemous!” The Trickster twirled his hands in the air like the conductor of a symphony orchestra. “This’ll be fun… Don’t you agree, boys?”

The first thought that flashed in Sam’s mind was to wonder who ‘Big-A’ was. This thought was quickly overshadowed by the next one which was Sam’s brain yelling for him to dodge. Crow-Man had the same idea as well.

“Dodge to your right,” said the low-rumbling voice in Sam’s ear.

They were words his master mirrored too, making it seem like there was an echo inside Sam’s head.

“Great,” Sam whispered as he slid to the right, ‘Now I’ve got two voices in my head…”

Their advice had been very sound though because the area where Sam and Crow-Man were only moments ago had been obliterated by the giant fist of the massive shadow looming behind the Trickster.

No, it wasn’t just a shadow anymore, Sam realized. He couldn’t see any obvious features in the giant, but its form had definitely solidified. Its size enveloped the rear of the gallery, a being whose shade of black was even darker than black.

“Holy Zeus,” Sam whispered.

The giant shadow’s face turned in Sam’s direction almost like it had heard him call out to the Lord of the Skies. No, it definitely did. The Trickster confirmed as much.

“O~~oh, I wouldn’t invoke old thunderbolt’s name in front of Big-A’s shadow,” the Trickster suggested. “They’re not exactly best buds.”

The shadow’s arm moved impossibly fast to sweep the ground where Sam stood. Almost too fast for him to dodge, but he managed it out of reflex. He vaulted over the wall of shadow careening toward him and landed gingerly on the other side of it.

As a flip-side to nearly getting crushed by a giant shadow’s arm, he found himself within striking distance of the Trickster. And as the other giant hand was busy trying to swat Crow-Man away, Sam realized the opportunity they’d hoped for was his to take.

He pulled out Cranium Smasher, tightened his grip, and then yelled, “Herculean!” into the air. As battle cries went, that wasn’t so bad considering what he was trying to stop the Trickster from destroying.

[Herculean (ζ)] is now active. Based on probability and threat assessment calculations, your current Strength is temporarily tripled. [STRENGTH: 135] WARNING! Your body isn’t strong enough yet to wield this power. You will accumulate damage while it is active. ALERT! [Regeneration (ζ)] is working to counteract the damage. Refrain from taking action while this is in progress.

Sam’s strength boost had never gone past a hundred stat points before, so it was more difficult to control the excess power suddenly surging inside him. Thankfully, he was familiar enough with the feeling of Herculean that he broke nothing when he bounded toward the Trickster, reaching the range for a melee attack within three quick hops.

“Weren’t you just a Mr. Healer?” the Trickster looked quite confounded by Sam’s sudden strength boost. “You’re not playing fair!”

“Says the guy who can make his illusions real!” Sam fired back at the Trickster.

He swung his hammer down lightly on the Trickster’s head because he didn’t want to make the same mistake as his old mentor—and he really should have seen it coming. Perhaps it was the slower swing that allowed the villain time to pull off another disappearing act, but just as Cranium Smasher closed in on his bald head, the Trickster vanished yet again in a shower of shimmering sparks.

With nothing to hit, Sam’s momentum caused him to stumble forward and fall on one knee. It was an embarrassing result, and the master said as much.

We’re going to have to work on lesson thirty-three, kid, the master sighed.

If there was going to be a next time, Sam thought.

He wasn’t sure about seeing tomorrow now that he was standing feet away from the giant shadow’s torso. A biting chill rose up Sam’s back, and this sudden fear caused Herculean to deactivate on its own.

“Are you ever going to learn not to fall for that?” the Trickster asked.

Sam’s head swiveled toward his voice, and he found the villain’s grinning face peeking out at him from behind the bronze statue.

“What are you—”

Sam’s eyes widened. Not because of the Trickster, but because he could see Crow-Man behind him readying to strike him from the back. It would have been check and mate, Sam realized, if it wasn’t for the shadow that blotted out the moon filtering in from the hole in the roof.

“Time for the curtain call…” The Trickster glanced over his shoulder. “Too little, too late, my old friend.”

His body disappeared in a shower of sparks.

“That’s starting to get annoying,” Sam sighed.

Crow-Man skidded to a stop. How could he not when his eyes could see what Sam couldn’t.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.

“Run!” were the last words to come out of Crow-Man’s lips right before he hurriedly backed away.

Sam did the same, although he couldn’t help but look up while he ran, and immediately afterward wish he hadn’t. The giant shadow’s arms were raised high, its fingers intertwined as if in prayer. Sam guessed that this illusion was about to go nuclear.

“Styx…” Sam breathed.

Then the shadow hurled those fists down on the Bow of Heracles, and the impact of its attack caused the world around Sam to explode.