A Cold Day in Midtown, Part 1 - S1:E10

Summer, 2020     Midtown, Freedom City       During a warm day in Freedom City, the heroes are taken by surprise as a freak blizzard hits the area, blanketing the community in snow, ice, and freezing temperatures.   The weather was rarely so perfect, with clear blue skies and a gentle ocean breeze relieving the heat of the sun.   The whole city was out enjoying its good fortune, crowding sidewalk cafés and parks. So it was absurd when the first snowflake drifted down from the sky, but as a few flakes gave way to a bitterly cold torrent, the silent awe soon turned to panic.   Soon the wind howled and cascades of hail and freezing rain joined the snow, coating streets, buildings, and huddled, short-sleeved crowds of hypothermic Freedonians.   Somewhere nearby, the squeal of tires and crunch of metal signaled the first of what was undoubtedly hundreds of accidents to come.   Kid Shadow, in the guise of Jonathan Rolland, was on a bus headed home with his mother, Rina Rolland. It was a beautiful Saturday spent together visiting Castle Comics and then stopping by a cafe on 64th Avenue for lunch.   Ron Cobbler, AKA Blue Comet, was also enjoying the summer day at Liberty Park. it was the first weekend of the start of summer break from his teaching position at Claremont Academy, an elite school for meta-normals, where he worked as a PE teacher.   Uplink, a cyborg from the future, was rummaging through a trash can for something to eat. He had arrived days before via a time portal from the future. His mission was to save Earth-Prime 624's future from its past.       When the cold front struck, the road became slick with ice.   The bus Jonathan and his mother were on, was careening out of control down 64th avenue. People inside the bus were screaming in panic, while the bus driver was doing all he could to control the bus as he tried to stop it.   Ron Cobbler saw the bus sliding down the avenue. It struck other vehicles and pushed them out of the way like toys, but it did little to slow the bus down.   Looking farther down the avenue, Ron Cobbler saw that if he didn't stop the bus in time, it would slam into several cars involved in a massive pileup. People still trapped in their vehicles, would be crushed by the weight of the bus.   Not wasting a second, Ron quickly changed into his Blue Comet suit.   Uplink saw everything from across the street. He immediately moved to a nearby traffic light control box. He opened it and connected himself to the wires inside the box. In a second, he was able to turn all the traffic lights green on 64th Avenue to avoid any oncoming traffic from sidestreets from possibly striking the bus. It worked!   Meanwhile, inside the bus, Jonathan saw that the bus was sliding fast toward a row of parked cars. Moments before striking the cars, the driver managed to steer the bus slightly toward the center of the avenue. But it wasn't far enough.   Jonathan quickly reacted. He formed a ramp out of shadow several feet in front of the bus on the left side. Although his creations were made from the stuff of shadows, they were solid in nature.    When the bus's front left wheel struck the shadow ramp, it caused the bus to tilt onto its right side, avoiding striking the parked cars.   When the bus landed back on all four wheels, Blue Comet met it with his signature Comet Punch, saving everyone on the bus and those trapped in the car pile up several feet from where the bus had stopped.     But there was no time to celebrate this small victory.   Down Raymond Street on Parkside, people on the streets started to scream.   Unprepared for the sudden winter weather, a construction crane atop a building that was being reconstructed was beginning to groan and lean under the weight of accumulated ice and snow. A banner on the crane read Decosta Constructions. The crane began to moan and wobble ominously, ready to fall at any moment, potentially endangering civilians on the streets below.   Blue Comet, bolted down Raymond Street. He noticed an abandoned street cart that sold hot dogs. He quickly pulled apart the heating mechanism, along with the propane tank inside the cart. With his super speed, he then ran up the side of the 30-story Parkview Tower to the crane above.   When he reached the crane, he began to quickly melt the snow and ice off the crane but it wasn't enough. Luckily, Uplink arrived in time to help. From the street below, Uplink was able to leap up to the crane. When he arrived, he used his sonic blaster to blast away at the accumulated ice and snow saving the half-million-pound crane and the citizens below.   Kid Shadow took a while longer to reach the crane but offered to help in any way.     When the crane was free of ice and snow, everyone suddenly heard a broadcast being sent to every digital device throughout the city.   Uplink was able to view the broadcast through his cybernetic sensor suit. Blue Comet and Kid Shadow viewed the broadcast from the side of a blimp overheard and digital billboards atop nearby buildings.     Static and distortion resolve into the face of a blue-skinned woman in a protective-looking white suit. She sneered through a transparent face shield.       “Hello, Freedom City,” she began. “For fifty years now, I have been trapped in this abominable containment suit. Thanks to human cruelty and the whims of chance, the air itself is deadly to me.”   She dramatically removed the helmet, exposing her sharp features. “Now, you all know how that feels. I am Madame Zero, this city’s greatest scientific mind, and my Gelid Engine has transformed Freedom City into a world where I can finally thrive at your expense, rather than the other way around. But I’m not so...cold-hearted as you. This blizzard is the barest taste of my Engine’s power, a warning allowing you all time to flee to safety. Were I a crueler woman, I would have simply frozen you all forever. But don’t impose on my generosity. The temperature will continue to drop until no man, woman, or other can survive except me. Then Freedom City will finally live up to its name.”       The screen faded to black, replaced with a temperature gauge slowly ticking downward.   "We need to find out where she's broadcasting from," Blue Comet said. He recognized Uplink from the bank heist days before. So did Kid Shadow.   "I'm on it," Uplink said.   After 30 minutes of trying, Uplink was still unable to pinpoint where the broadcast originated from but vowed to keep trying.   Meanwhile, Kid Shadow said he was going back to check on his mother and help the others on the bus.   Blue Comet, hearing the sirens throughout the city, said he was going to help where he was needed.   When asked how they would all get in touch when Uplink traced the broadcast, the cyborg said not to worry. He had already connected to Blue Comet and Kid Shadow's cell phones and could reach them at any time.   Not entirely surprised by what Uplink said, Blue Comet and Kid Shadow left, leaving Uplink staring across the city and working on trying to find where Madame Zero could be found and hopefully stopped.   Uplink wondered if this was the reason he was sent to the past. But nothing in his stored memory verified it.   Nevertheless, the cyborg soldier would see his task completed or he would die trying.