TWENTY-NINE

Invulnergirl was holding the bleeding body of Johnny Bubblegum in her arms when Hank came running in. She wasn’t sure how much blood a person could loose before he died. She’d never seen anyone this badly injured, let alone held one close. In a way she felt responsible for this. Shouldn’t she have protected the hero? Speed Metal’s blades wouldn’t have been able to hurt her.

“Ka - - Invulnergirl… Are you all right?” Hank asked. “That blood on your hands? Is that… yours?”

“No, I can’t get hurt, remember? I just wish I could have prevented Johnny from getting hurt!” Tears slid down Invulnergirl’s masked face.

“What happened?”

“Those stupid supervillains happened. And I failed to protect Johnny. I’m afraid he’s dying.”

“The paramedics are here,” Hank said. “He’ll be okay.”

Right after those words the paramedics walked in. The more or less shoved Invulnergirl aside. She realized there wasn’t much she could do and should leave them to their work.

Ortiz walked in. “Damn. Johnny. Imagine these guys able to take down one of this city’s strongest heroes. You seem to be okay though, young lady.”

“I guess,” she said. “At least I managed to take down the creep who did this. I hope he’ll be locked up for forever.”

“I called in the Feds, make sure he gets locked up in a special facility,” Ortiz said. “These have been some hellish hours. But I think we seem to be getting things under control.”

“The Red Raider and his men escaped. That doesn’t sound like things are getting under control. He pretty much decimated the whole police force. How are we going to stop him now?”

“You seem to have done pretty well,” Ortiz said.

“I got lucky. What can I do? I don’t have superspeed or strength like Johnny. How am I going to effectively fight those guys?”

“Listen, Red Raider’s thug just hospitalized one of The Heroic Alliance’s own. I’m sure they’ll be after his ass in no time,” Hank told Invulnergirl.

“Yeah, sure… Maybe… But it seems those guys are more often in other dimensions and in space than on Earth these days,” Invulnergirl pined.

“I would…” Hank started to say, but his words got drowned out by the loud noise of a helicopter.

When the noise died down Ortiz said, “That’ll be the Feds I think.”

She was right. A dozen men with black combat gear ran in, carrying huge guns. They wore masks and red goggles. Large yellow lettering across their chests said F.S.H.R. Invulnergirl had heard about these men. The Federal Superhuman Response Team. They showed up when supercriminals and aliens had to be escorted to jail or courtrooms and in cases where there weren’t any superheroes to take on the powered baddies. They were all selected from elite armed forces and police departments. Very good at their jobs, but often not good enough to prevent their hearts from getting ripped out by demons, hulks and robots. They probably had a hard time getting medical insurance.

One of the F.S.H.R. men said, “I’m Lieutenant Zane. We’re taking over here. My men will secure the perimeter. There’s another helicopter coming over to take care of the prisoners and take them to a secure facility.” He squinted at Invulnergirl. “I don’t know you from our database… Are you new?”

“She is, she’s the great Indestructible Invulnergirl,” Hank beamed. “She saved us all.”

Invulnergirl felt a bit embarrassed.

“Cute name,” Zane said. “Well, thanks for the help then, citizen. Us professionals are taking over now.”

Ortiz said, “We could use some more of your guys help. I don’t know how extensively you were briefed, but we’ve got a bunch of escaped prisoners who will be sure to wreak havoc over town.”

“I am aware of that. First we take care of things here. Then we will see about that. We also already contacted The Heroic Alliance. They will be assisting as soon as they can,” Zane said.

Invulnergirl felt somewhat relieved. She was tired as hell too. The only thing she wanted now was the safe comfort of her bed. Then she saw the paramedics carrying off Johnny Bubblegum. She ran to them.

“I want to go with him. Make sure he’s okay,” she told the paramedics.

“There’s nothing you can do,” one of the paramedics said. “And you’re not his next of kin, are you?”

“As a fellow superhero, maybe I am,” Invulnergirl said.

“Okay, come along,” the paramedic said.

Invulnergirl followed them, looking over her shoulder at Hank. She wanted to tell him she would call him. But of course, she couldn’t risk revealing her secret identity. So she just waved and walked along with the paramedics.