Invulnerable
Natalie knew they were going to ask her about the nuke again. It was the same every time. No one ever asked about her other feats of strength. They never asked about the time she singlehandedly wrested a cargo ship out of a major canal where it had gotten stuck, then carried it over two miles and set it safely back in the water to continue on its way without a scratch. They never asked about the time last year with the building she’d kept from falling over. No, it was always the nuke.
And they always got it wrong, too. Everyone talked about it like the thing had gone off and she’d walked away from it all slo-mo dramatic-like, the rising mushroom cloud at her back, just like the movies. Truth was, it hadn’t been anything like that. Some bad guys had tried to take over a nuclear power plant for some reason and in the process the reactor had gone critical. She’d walked in and stopped it. End of story.
“Now, I’m curious,” the reporter said, and Natalie braced herself for the inevitable. “How do you cut your hair?”
She was actually startled. “What?” Natalie said.
“Well, you’re…you. The powerhouse of the Phenomenal Four. You survived-
“A nuclear explosion, yes, I know,” Natalie said, recovering herself. “Okay, I see. Thing is, this isn’t scientific. This is… mystical, miraculous, extra-natural, I don’t know. It just happened. Which means I can get haircuts, I can do all the stuff normal people do; it just also means I can’t get hurt and I’ve got what they call super-strength, okay?”
The reporter sensed the interview was going south. She was about to say something to redirect the conversation when there was a sudden thunderous boom outside the TV studio. “Excuse me,” Natalie said, standing up.
Of course, it was a giant robot. (Natalie really hated giant robots. Couldn’t the bad guys just build medium robots for once? Just once?) The other three members of the Phenomenal Four were doing their best, but it wasn’t enough. The robot’s sensors could pick up Trina, invisible or no, and it had no mind for Audrey to hack into. That left Lucy, and she’d hit it with every lightning blast she had.
It was still coming. As it crunched its way through a Wal-Mart and across the parking lot, Natalie ran up beside Lucy, who had just let off another bolt. “Shields,” Lucy said. “It’s got freakin’ shields.” Sure enough, the lightning blast hit a curtain of energy and spattered away harmlessly before it could even get close to the rampaging machine.
“See?” Lucy say. “And I’m gonna run out of juice if I hit it too much more.”
“Well, that’s my cue,” Natalie said. She was used to this. She was, after all, gifted with super-strength and invulnerability: as the reporter had said, she was the powerhouse of the team. In an unspoken way, she was also the Last Resort. Audrey, Trina, and Lucy knew that whatever else happened, even if they failed, Natalie was there to throw the final punch, take the last stand, hold the line. She was a wonderful morale booster that way.
She stepped out and waved to the robot. “Hey! Hey, big guy! Over here!”
The robot swiveled, noticed her, and began stomping towards her.
Natalie didn’t even flinch. So it had shields. Big deal. She could take those out with her first blow and finish the job with the second hit. The one-two combo. A classic.
Then the robot’s boots began to belch smoke.
Natalie had no time to think. She sprinted forward, knocking out the shields as she ran, then she lunged and seized hold of its massive left leg just in time as the entire robot hurled itself skyward. More jets slid out on its sides and powered up, and suddenly it was rising even faster and the next thing Natalie knew she was holding on to the giant robot as it rose higher and higher above Edison City.
She could let go, yes. She’d survive the fall, sure. But she had no idea what kind of power core the robot had: electric, nuclear, something new maybe? No idea. If it fell over the city, she’d be the only survivor.
“Well,” Natalie said. “Shoot.”
To Be Continued.
This story inspired by the below prompt from
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