In that moment, Steve was certain he was going to die. No enhanced strength, speed, or stamina could save him from what seemed like an inescapable fate. Here he was, caught in the heat of battle, and another unnamed cosmic creature with no other purpose than to destroy everything in it’s path, charging right at him. The creature bared a set of sharp, deadly, long fangs at the soldier and for a second his life flashed before him… That’s when out of nowhere, she showed up.
The fucking things only seemed like they were everywhere. Too heavily armoured for agility, but a fair turn of speed … Summer threw a looping barrel roll and came out of it both hands blasting fire. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of red white and blue — mostly blue — desperately trying to hold off another of the stupid creatures. A braking turn, and half a second later she blasted the thing off its ugly feet by simply ploughing into it, then set it on fire for good measure. “Come on, Captain, we need you!”
Steve took a deep breath, stunned that he was still alive. He glanced over at the woman who pretty much just saved his life, and did an amazing job at it too. The beast was lying dead several feet away, still in smoke. An unpleasant odour accompanied its burning flesh.
“Thanks.” he got out, before rushing back into combat, bashing another hideous thing over the skull with his shield. The impact caused it to fall limp to the ground. “How many more are out there?” he asked.
A swift empathic scan of the area picked up just six others, half of whom were already engaged by other heroes. “Three unopposed.” A reflection flickered in the bright surface of his shield, and Summer almost casually lobbed a fireball over her shoulder, striking the thing in the face like a homing missile. “You don’t need to get checked out, you’re good to go.”
He shook his head. “I don’t plan on going anywhere until the job is done, ma’am.” One of the two remaining beasts surfaced from the shadows of the street, and charged in Steve’s direction from behind Summer. “Duck!” he instructed, flinging the shield like a massive, metal frisbee and cleanly sweeping the thing’s ugly head off. Steve grimaced. He would have to clean that up later. “The last one’s all yours.” he added, with a weary smile.
“You’re too kind, Captain,” Summer riposted, launching herself upward in a flurry of flamelets to kick the last one in the back of the head as it tried to simultaneously climb and aim from the side of a building. There was a satisfying ‘clunk’ as the skull bounced off the concrete, momentarily stunning it, and then fire erupted from all sorts of unpleasant places.
Hanging out in mid-air, Summer threw out another empathic scan, and nodded with satisfaction. “That’s all of them,” she called down, pulling off her mask and rubbing at her face. “The police are getting better at this, too; nobody trapped under fallen debris.”