5th Column Comics: The Response #6

Avatar image for tommythehitman
TommytheHitman

7183

Forum Posts

104

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Sliced Bread: Part 6

The all powerful Wind Duster! The mighty Freight Train! The enigmatic Dark Arrow! Formed together due to events that are better left unspoken and lead by the brain power of CBTF Director, Morris Pfeifer and Head of Public Relations, January Morgan they are the Response! The World's 'Greatest' Superheroes!

Indigo City, Golden Roads District,...

Now (or TODAY depending on how you want to phrase it).

"Say it." Pfeifer said, his voice slightly echoing through the com device strapped to Abhainn Blackwood's ear. "Like we rehearsed."

Abhainn gripped his steel axe with his giant hands before raising it above his head. "FLEE YOU PATHETIC MAGGOTS!" He bellowed to the people running in terror all around him. "FLEE BEFORE MY POWER!" He smashed his axe into the side of a damaged car before sitting down and lighting a cigar. "So they'll be here soon?" He blew the smoke out of his mouth and sighed.

"Just give them a few minutes." Pfeifer sounded like he was annoyed. "They're... occupied."

_________________

"There's no way I'm doing it." Wind Duster said, his hand clutching the hand rail dangling from the roof above him. "Not a chance in hell." His cape flapped behind him from the open ramp leading directly into the smoggy sky surrounding the Vertical Take Off and Landing Jet that the 4 people were stood inside.

"Just a second." Pfeifer deactivated his ear communicator before turning towards his somewhat irritated employer. "What's wrong, now?!" He asked, his voice seeming bored.

"I'm not flying!" Wind Duster snapped. "Teleporting is FINE. But there's no way in hell I-"

"You fly around all the time." Maystrike pointed out, he was stood calmly in the corner, arms folded around his chest with the hood of his suit down over his head.

"Not with other people." Wind Duster stumbled forward slightly as the VTOL shook. He grabbed another hand rail and adjusted himself. "My ears pop when I fly with other people." He glared at Pfeifer before pointing to his ears. "And with my SUPERHEARING it hurts like hell!"

"You'll be alright." Freight Train said, patting his friend on the back. His giant frame somewhat cramped in the compartment area. "Why can't we just teleport?" He asked.

"Flying's more dramatic." Pfeifer said, his face clearly agitated.

"So you're willing to injure me for dramatic flair?"

Pfeifer smiled before stepping forward, he placed his hand on Wind Duster's shoulder. "I know how this looks, Mark." He muttered. "And I think you should know... that this is something I've wanted to do for awhile."

Mark looked confused. "What?"

Wind Duster gasped as Pfeifer pushed him out of the VTOL and into the sky. He felt his stomach rush upwards as he tumbled through the air. Back in the VTOL, Maystrike and Freight Train stared at the CBTF Director in surprise.

"Get after him." Pfeifer ordered.

_________________________

Axe-Man brought his weapon crashing down upon the yellow taxi cab he'd stopped. Shards of yellow metal flew all around him until nothing but scrap was left before him. By this point the Driver had escaped... he was just trying to make it look good.

"Axe-Man!"

Blackwood turned around to see three figures hovering in the air above him, seemingly by their own power. Two of them were new... he had no idea who they were... however the one in the middle was very familiar.

"Wind Duster..." He growled, his grip tightened upon his axe."Time to die." It was a terrible line... whoever had wrote the script should have been fired. The three figures dropped to the ground. Wind Duster stumbled forward slightly upon landing.

"Ah, crap!" He yelled in pain, his heel slightly twisted from the fall. "That hurt!" He rubbed his leg before slowly standing up and pulling an attempt at a pose.

"Nobody will die, today, monster!" Freight Train continued in an overly heroic voice. His skin rippled as his height seemed to almost double, he rose into the air until he was towering above his companions.

"Nobody... except you!" The Axe-Man charged forward, weapon raised above his head. He lunged towards Maystrike who was busy attempting to ready his bow. He swung his axe downwards, aimed a few inches away from his "target's" body.

"Move!" Wind Duster yelled, zipping to the side and knocking his ally out of the way of the villain's blade. They rolled to the ground together.

"Get the hell off me!" Maystrike yelled, knocking Wind Duster away from him before readying his bow. He pulled an arrow from his quiver... it had something that looked similar to a grenade where the tip should have been. Too bad Pfeifer had neglected to inform him about the quiver's contents. "Okay..." Axe-Man charged towards Freight Train, his axe bouncing off the hero's skull. Maystrike took a deep breath and drew the arrow back... before letting it fly.

BOOM!

Turned out the arrow WAS a grenade! Orange flames shot through the air and landed upon the Axe-Man's back causing him to scream in pain. Freight Train landed a swift uppercut upon the villain's jaw sending him flying backwards into a nearby parked car.

"Wow..." Wind Duster muttered before chuckling slightly. "We're really kicking his ass." Maystrike nodded.

"This is the worst villain possible." He sighed.

"THAT HURT YOU F#CKING BA$TARDS!" The Axe-Man screamed, using the car to help him stand up. It crushed beneath his weight. "I'LL F#CKING KILL YOU!"

Wind Duster cracked his knuckles before thrusting his hands forward slamming a tunnel of wind directly into the villain's chest. Axe-Man smashed through the parked car and was sent into the side of a nearby building.

"For once, Maystrike..." Wind Duster muttered. "...you and I agree."

"Enough!" Freight Train yelled, his voice going into his heroic tone again. "We can't defeat Axe-Man alone!" Wind Duster and Maystrike glanced at each other before shrugging. "We must..." Freight Train braced his fist tightly as Axe-Man's battered body emerged from the flood of dust flowing from the wrecked concrete. "...RESPOND to the threat!"

"I'm not getting paid enough..." Axe-Man groaned using his axe as a crutch. Wind Duster soared into the sky, his golden cape flowing behind him. Freight Train dashed towards the villain, raising his fist while Maystrike crouched down upon a wrecked car and aimed his bow with an arrow looking similar to a lightning bolt.

Together they all unleashed their attacks at once. Wind Duster whipped what seemed like a miniature hurricane towards his target below, Maystrike shot his arrow forward causing it to crackle with electricity and Freight Train's fist smashed into the Axe-Man's chest causing the air to crack from the sheer force. Both the arrow and the hurricane struck at the same time.

KRACK!

Axe-Man's broken body lay in a small crater, his body covered in bruises and scars from the battle. Freight Train, Wind Duster and the Dark Arrow all looked at the villain's somehow still conscious body with them all prepared in case he made a move.

"We look f#cking awesome..." Wind Duster whispered.

"Who ARE you?!" The three heroes turned to see a man holding a Camera pointed directly at them. Wind Duster and Freight Train both quickly pulled heroic poses while Maystrike simply looked away out of embarrassment.

"Who are we?" Wind Duster repeated. He stepped forward, almost tripping over the debris before placing his fists at his side. "We're the Response!" Freight Train raised his head stepping to his friend's side. "We're the World's Greatest Superh-"

Before Wind Duster could finish his loud, exaggerated, dramatic description of himself and his colleagues he was interrupted by the loud, wet, popping sound of Abhainn Blackwood's skull exploding directly behind him, spraying blood all over the surrounding area. Maystrike put his smoking pistol back inside his holster before looking at his shocked teammates and waiting for them to continue.

After their silence continued he sighed and looked straight at the camera.

"We're the Response." He said dryly, right off the script. "The World's Greatest Su-"

_________________

Back at the base, Morris Pfeifer and January Morgan stared at the TV Screen before them in silent horror.

"Oh my god..." Ms Morgan muttered as Pfeifer cupped his head in his hands.

Avatar image for impurestcheese
ImpurestCheese

12542

Forum Posts

2824

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 14

#3  Edited By ImpurestCheese

@tommythehitman: Hmm so we're back to where we started. Looks like Maystrike is in trouble for that stunt, whilst Freight Train needs to get some acting classes, he's such a ham

Avatar image for waezi2
waezi2

27808

Forum Posts

14527

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

No Caption Provided

Avatar image for cbishop
cbishop

21160

Forum Posts

393968

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 92

User Lists: 1268

Avatar image for johnjo719
johnjo719

404

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Lmao Maystrike is a troublemaker. Freight train is more impressive than I thought. But quick question, what exactly is Axe Man's power set?

Avatar image for tommythehitman
TommytheHitman

7183

Forum Posts

104

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@johnjo719: He's Scottish, which means he has infinite powers.

Avatar image for johnjo719
johnjo719

404

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I had a joke but it might be racist and might not make sense

Avatar image for knightofthechronicle
knightofthechronicle

1396

Forum Posts

4152

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 3

@tommythehitman: I swear the funniest damn part is when Maystrike shoots the guy. Everybody's reaction is just priceless

Avatar image for claymore1998
Claymore1998

16580

Forum Posts

3080

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 7

User Lists: 0

Awesome stuff.

Keep up the good work.

^_^

Avatar image for alexander_wolffe
Alexander_Wolffe

349

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@tommythehitman: Aha! Finally it comes full circle. I know I've said it before, but I really enjoy the whole scene with the defeat, execution, and reactions to the execution of Axe Man. The setup was really nice too, and I think the whole going back in time to the events leading up to this really helped establish the characters. And again, love Pfiefer.

Solid, funny issue. Good work.

Avatar image for tommythehitman
TommytheHitman

7183

Forum Posts

104

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@alexander_wolffe: It's probably better if you go back and read issue 0 from the cameraman's pov. Question. You said a few issues back that transitioning from the past to the present would be jarring. Was it? Also. Special thanks to all the other comments. @knightofthechronicle we're going to see.more of their reactions next issue... and the rest of Indigo since the whole thing was being broadcasted live.

Avatar image for alexander_wolffe
Alexander_Wolffe

349

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@tommythehitman: At first it was, and I got thrown through a loop with when exactly it was all happening, but I think looking back, especially now that it's all come full circle, it was pretty clear what was going on and it might've been more on my end where the confusion came from rather than the issues themselves.

Avatar image for batkevin74
batkevin74

16814

Forum Posts

1712

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 13

@tommythehitman: I was almost hoping he'd but a bullet through the camera killing the feed along with the quip but still, lovely that Maystrike is being proactive :)

Avatar image for tommythehitman
TommytheHitman

7183

Forum Posts

104

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5