Here is another City of Heroes story. It takes place some time after Great Raid which is available here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4721465/


Going Fishing
by Christian O'Kane

The good part about fishing is you never know what you'll catch.

The bad part about fishing is you never know what you'll catch.

On recruiting posters and in the ads on TV, radio and the internet the life of a sailor was always depicted as glamorous and exciting. "Join the Navy and see the World," was a century old recruiting line. But most of the life of a sailor was weeks of mind numbing boredom and routine interspersed with twenty minutes of sheer terror. At the moment the crew of the U.S.S. Sagittarius were on the third week of the mind numbing boredom portion of the cruise. The gunboat was on what the U.S. government called a "Freedom of navigation Patrol of the Rogue Isles." The sailors called it a fishing trip with their ship as the bait. What it amounted to was sailing around the Caribbean island chain looking for pirates. With the chaotic nature of the government there piracy had always been a problem in one form or another. More so since Arachnos had taken over. They usually suppressed the pirates but all too often they WERE the people attacking ships. This was the reason the Sagittarius was here, slowly sailing near the islands. For the first few days of the patrol the gunboat had been attacked almost hourly but Arachnos had learned the hard way that the little warship was not unprotected. Since then they had studiously left the little ship alone. She packed powerful engines and a large assortment of weaponry with the crew squeezed into what little free space remained. It made for powerful little ship.

The bridge of the ship was deliberately dark, so the pilot could preserve her night vision. The only light in the room was the dim, green glow of the instruments. The only sounds were the soft shuffle of feet and the occasional quiet command.

Standing at the center of the bridge was a seaman. In one hand was the small wheel for steering the ship. In the other hand was the throttles for the powerful turbine engines that propelled the ship forward.

Standing behind and to one side was a tall man dressed in the uniform of a Coast Guard officer. His uniform was clean but had the feel and lightly worn look of much use. The scar on his right hand and arm spoke of combat in the not too distant past. Carefully placed into his right ear was a small radio that allowed him to talk to anyone on the boat.

There was a soft beeping noise and a light flashed on the console in front of him. Next to the light was a telephone. The Coast Guard officer picked up the phone and spoke softly for a moment. "Who? They did what? Where?"He turned to helm. "Helmsman come to 135 and full speed ahead." Then he spoke to the phone as he felt the ship heel into the turn. "We're headed there now!" He hung up the phone.

A navy officer ran onto the bridge. The rank on his sleeves marked him as a commander in the U.S. Navy but as senior officer on the ship he had only one rank; Captain. "Where are you taking my ship?" The captain asked. The captain was not happy to have a Coast Guard officer on his ship. No captain liked sharing command of their vessel with another but there was no choice.

The relationship between the navy and the Coast guard had never truly been harmonious. Many in the navy argued that the Coast guard was unnecessary and that the navy could do all the tasks the Coasties did. But they had been proven wrong time after time, sometimes disastrously so. That of course simply made some even more upset. Most naval personal accepted the fact that the Coasties were doing a tough job, just not as cool a one as theirs. The simple fact was that these patrols had to be a joint operation. The navy had the firepower to defend if things went wrong and the Coast Guard had the legal authority and law enforcement experience to not totally screw up an arrest. Sometimes the legal aftermath of a fight could be worst then the battle itself. After the navy had wound up being sued by the very drug runners they had been trying to stop, all objections to having a Coast Guard officer on navy ships involved in drug and pirate interdiction had stopped.

"A merchant ship was attacked twelve kilometers northeast of here by a super," the guardsman explained.

"Sound general quarters!" The captain ordered.

The loud klaxon alarm sounded throughout the small ship sending sailors scurrying for their assigned battle positions.

"What do we have on the attack?" The captain asked.

"Little," The coast guard officer responded. "The information from the ship is pretty confused but it doesn't sound like the usual pirate attack."

"Why is that?" The navy man asked as his sailors raced to their battle stations.

"The crew says the attackers ripped up the ship and destroyed a lot of the cargo but didn't take anything," was the answer.

There was a puzzled look on the captain's face. "That's all? Could it be a terror raid?"

"Perhaps," the guard officer responded. "But there have been reports of similar attacks in the area for over a month."

"Bogey bearing 045 degrees, twelve miles on a heading of 137 degrees," the radar operator announced clearly.

All eyes on the bridge turned in that direction but all that was visible was the blackness of a dark night at sea.

"Get me a visual," the captain ordered.

On a screen near the helm a picture appeared. The image had the green hue of an infrared device. The image bounced around for a moment before settling onto a figure. There was not enough definition to get a good idea of what the person was like but it had too many limbs to be human.

"It's a super but it's not headed towards us," the captain said calmly.

"Contact changing heading," the radar operator announcing. "Coming to 273 degrees and increasing speed."

“You spoke too soon,” the Coast guardsman responded.

The captain turned to the Guardsman. “Are you ready for this?"

“Yes I am,” the Guardsman responded. “I’m always ready.”

“Target is at 7,000 meters and closing,” the radar operator announced from the back corner of the bridge.

“Gunner, put a few round close to the target,” the captain ordered. “See if he takes the hint and backs off.”

“Wishful thinking Commander Feldston,” the CG officer commented.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The 76mm bun on the foredeck barked three times sending powerful antiaircraft shells racing at the approaching figure. A moment later three bright explosions filled the sky briefly illuminating the ocean and the figure rushing at them. Then the darkness returned.

If the explosions effected the figure it made no sign of it but kept hurtling at them.

The Guardsman sighed deeply and without a word walked through a hatch and out onto the deck.

"Air action starboard!" the captain announced. "Weapons free!"

A storm of weapons fire erupted from the small warship and lit up the night sky as it raced towards the approaching figure.

The Guard officer pointed a finger at the onrushing figure. A ball of fire sprang from that finger and raced at the flier. It struck the person and exploded with flames and a roar to rival the cannon shells fired earlier.

The figure swerved and vanished back into the darkness leaving a trail of sparks behind.

"Where is she?" the Guard officer shouted.

"Contact lost!" Came the words of the radar operator. "He's dropped below the radar threshold."

"He's close," captain Feldston shouted. "The IR is having a hard time tracking her."

"PORT QUARTER!" Came the shout of a sailor. "035 degrees!" These words were followed by the rattle of a heavy machine gun firing.

The fire wielding officer spun about and caught sight of a figure swopping down on the ship. He swung his hand in that direction and a dozen small balls of light raced out. They struck the attacker; exploding in a sparkling display of light and sound. The flier stopped and seemed to hesitate, confused. Then the person spun around and vanished into the night chased by more balls of fire.

"What happened?" Someone called out over the radio. "Is it gone?"

The weapons fire slackened and then stopped and silent darkness covered the ship.

"No," came the words of the captain. "He's still out there."

"What's it doing?" A sailor asked.

"It's feeling us out," the superhero explained. "Trying to get an idea of our defenses and firepower."

"Stay calm and stay alert!" The captain ordered.

"This isn't some mindless monster," the super hero explained. "It has brains and the common sense to not just rush straight at us."

"Is that good or bad?" Someone asked.

"Both," the Coast Guardsman replied. "It means he'll be using strategy and tactics. That makes it harder to beat. But having a brain means it understand the concept of retreating."

"STARBOARD AFT!" Came the shout over the radio. The words punctuated by the thump thump thump of a 25mm cannon firing. That was followed by frantic shouting and the sound of light machine gun firing.

The super raced along the deck toward the stern. There he found two sailors staring in stunned silence at the shredded remains of a twin barreled 25mm auto cannon mount. The metal and alloy parts had been sliced up like a chicken dinner. "Was anyone hurt?"

"N . N . No," a sailor stuttered. "It just went for the gun and left us alone."

"Where did it go?" the Coast Guardsman asked looking around.

"No idea. It raced off after slicing up the gun," the sailor announced, looking calmer.

The officer let out a curse and then turned raced towards the bow. "Watch it! It'll hit the bow next!" He shouted. Up ahead he heard the large 76mm gun fire several times.

On the bow a figure landed on the foredeck and rushed at the thing that had hurt it the most; the turret with its 76mm gun. She leapt at the turret and her beak and claws ripped through the steel alloy barrel with the ease of a knife cutting tissue paper.

On the port and starboard sides were small two person gun mounts. Each held 2 25mm auto cannons like the mount on the stern. Both gunners frantically swung their weapons around trying to bring them to bear on their attacker. The starboard gunner was faster and let loose a short burst. The figure twisted and dodged with an inhuman speed and the projectiles slipped past her harmlessly.

The creatures turned towards the gun and hissed loudly at the weapon as her sharp beak snapped like a steel trap closing. A spotlight snapped on bathing the foredeck and its occupant in a bright light. For the first time they got a good look at their assailant.

The figure was about the size of a brown bear and seemed to be all teeth, claws, fur and muscles. It had an avian looking head with a massive and wickedly sharp beak. The body had two arms and two legs and had the general shape and stance of a human. It's slim, trim figure and the two well formed breasts on its chest told that it was female. The body was very strong and muscles rippled beneath the brown and black fur. The clawed paws looked like those of a bear but the legs looked more like a wolf's. It had the long tail of a lion but feathers poked out from her fur in many places. From her back spread a massive set of wings with a wingspan of over twenty feet.

To the Guard officer she reminded him of a gryphon the mythological creature. At least it was supposed to be a myth.

She crouched down and gathered herself to leap onto the gun and its crew.

“In the name of United States Coast Guard cease and desist!” The Guardsman ordered in the sharp tones of command.

The figure halted for a moment and peered at him with red rimmed eyes aflame with anger. “What did you say?” She squawked.

“You are on the U.S.S. Sagittarius,” he responded “And on sovereign United States territory. In the name of the U.S. Judicial system I place you under arrest.”

“Who are you?” the gryphon questioned harshly as she slowly pointed one of her clawed hands at the man.

"My name is Commander Alexei Karamatsov of the United States Coast Guard," the superhero replied.

She closely examined the man for a long moment, looking him over from head to toe. Her sharp eyes took in every detail and missed nothing. Her body relaxed as the tension left it. “You’re American. Just like me,” she whispered.

“What’s your name?” Commander Feldston was standing a short distance away with an assault rifle in his hands pointed at the female's chest.

“Irene Sandusky,” the gryphon responded slow as if unsure of her words or how to speak them. “I think.”

“Well, Irene you’re welcome aboard our boat if you’ll promise to stop trying to destroy it” the Guardsman said.

“I’m confused,” she said. The pain and confusion plain to hear in her voice as she looked around. “Where am I? What am I?”

What you are is safe,” the naval officer responded. “As to where; you’re in the Rogue Isles.”

“Do you remember what happened to you?” The Guardsman asked.

She shrugged. “Not everything. I remember waking up in some vile lab somewhere.”

“Probably an Arachnos lab,” the super hero commented in a disgusted tone. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't," she responded. "I was released by a woman using a bow. I think she was a hero as she pretty well trashed the lab before releasing me."

"Could have been a villain," the captain commented.

"She released me from the tube I was in and let me go,." the gryphoness explained.

"Didn't even try to stop you?" Karamatsov asked.

"No," the female answered with a shake of the head. "She let me go peacefully. She even pointed out the direction to the exit."

The Coast Guard officer laughed. "That certainly sounds like a hero. I wonder who?"

“We can talk about that later. Let’s get below decks. We're all too exposed here," Feldston said. The navy officer took a step backward and leaned into an open hatchway for a moment. Then he popped back out. “I’ve ordered a course towards the destroyer Carlisle and away from the Isles."

They all felt the ship vibrate as the powerful engines roared to life sending the Sagittarius racing through the water.