H.E.R.O. Shorts - Silverlash: H.E.R.O., #8

By Kevin Rau

A day in the life of a superheroine. We follow Silverlash as she encounters petty criminals attempting to rob an ATM and others at a weapons shop. She meets with Metrocity's demonic knight hero, Razorwing at the scene of Metrocity's recent major averted disaster, and gets together with several other heroes (Impact, Psycom) as well as some of the non-hero supers over lunch.
This is a short story set in the H.E.R.O. superhero universe. The story stands alone, but "officially" fits in between H.E.R.O. Shorts - Gatecrasher, and H.E.R.O. - Gene Front in the most extensive superhero book series of the decade.
The short story includes four images of the heroes created solely for this book. The story is approximately 11,500 words long.
The H.E.R.O. Shorts line of short stories "plug in" to the H.E.R.O. universe of novels. Officially, H.E.R.O. Shorts - Silverlash occurs after H.E.R.O. - Gatecrasher, but the story stands on its own, and can serve as a low-cost introduction to the world of H.E.R.O.

Check out the entire H.E.R.O. series!
H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis (1)
H.E.R.O. - New Markets (2)
H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (3)
H.E.R.O. - Dark Research (4)
H.E.R.O. - Horde (5)
H.E.R.O. - Paragon (6)
H.E.R.O. - Illustrated Guide
H.E.R.O. Shorts – Gatecrasher (7)
H.E.R.O. Shorts – Silverlash (8)
H.E.R.O. - Gene Front (9)
H.E.R.O. - Incursion (10)
H.E.R.O. - Dolldrum (11)
H.E.R.O. - Malice (12)
H.E.R.O. – Dark Breach (13)
H.E.R.O. – Nightmonger (14)
H.E.R.O. – Battlefronts (15)
H.E.R.O. – Riftguard (16)
H.E.R.O. – Augments (17)
H.E.R.O. – Summoned (18)
H.E.R.O. – Bio-Organism (19) - coming soon!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin Rau
• Release date: Feb 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301566990

Kevin Rau

Born in 1970, I've been interested in fantasy and science fiction since perhaps the age of 10. I believe my love of medieval knights came about when my father built a wooden shield and sword for me to use in elementary school for some event. Through my school years I read hundreds (or thousands? - it's hard to recall at this point) of fantasy and science fiction novels. Comic books and super heroes came a bit later, although I recall seeing the Christopher Reeve Superman movies at a very young age (and loving them). Since my later teens I believe I've watched nearly every major fantasy, science fiction, and super-hero movie that has come out. I still love reading fantasy and science fiction, although I wish there were more novels based on superheroes. This is something that drove me to create my own supers universe and heroes in written form. I love supers, but I've always wanted more character depth than a comic book can provide. (Not to mention the immense length of time it takes for a comic series to do a story is just plain too long to me.) Writing is a hobby for me, I'm a full-time computer programmer and systems administrator for a small company. Fortunately the skills I've learned allow me to work with 3D programs to render the characters (and covers) for my books. My hope is to put out a novel or two a year, time allowing. At this point I'd like to grow the H.E.R.O. Universe with more novels, as well as start a fantasy series at some point.

Book preview

H.E.R.O. Shorts –

Silverlash

Kevin Gerald Rau

SMASHWORDS EDITION

H.E.R.O. Shorts – Silverlash

Copyright © 2012 Kevin Gerald Rau

Editors

Kimi Johnson

Dan Henry

All characters are original and fictional. Any likeness to real people is purely incidental. Cover created by Kevin Rau.

Written by Kevin Rau - the H.E.R.O. series:

H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis (1)

H.E.R.O. - New Markets (2)

H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (3)

H.E.R.O. - Dark Research (4)

H.E.R.O. - Horde (5)

H.E.R.O. - Paragon (6)

H.E.R.O. - Illustrated Guide

H.E.R.O. Shorts – Gatecrasher (7)

H.E.R.O. Shorts – Silverlash (8)

H.E.R.O. - Gene Front (9)

H.E.R.O. - Incursion (10)

H.E.R.O. - Dolldrum (11)

H.E.R.O. - Malice (12)

H.E.R.O. – Dark Breach (13)

H.E.R.O. – Nightmonger (14)

H.E.R.O. – Battlefronts (15)

H.E.R.O. – Riftguard (16)

H.E.R.O. – Augments (17)

H.E.R.O. – Summoned (18)

H.E.R.O. – Bio-Organism (19)

Other Novels by Kevin Rau:

Necromancer’s Ascent (World of Dur)

Wondering what the characters look like in detail? http://www.kevinrau.com has images of many of the heroes, as does the Facebook page listed below.

Please like H.E.R.O. Superhero Novels on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/herobooks

Chapter 1 – A Friend, Gone

Silverlash’s Viewpoint

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I was sad, I'd just said goodbye to a friend for who knows how long. The friend was Gatecrasher, a superhero in Metrocity. He was one of the heroes with the longest tenure in the city, to my knowledge. He was even around when Mr. Metro still flew around over the city, saving people before the Homeland Extraordinary Response Organization, or H.E.R.O., came to be.

Of course, one of the very few other heroes with such a tenure climbed into the large SUV next to me. His name was Captain Lon McCain, although few heroes with fewer than my ten years in H.E.R.O. knew his first name. On the other hand, they might know, but they wouldn't call him by his first name.

Captain McCain was a well-respected figure by the agents of H.E.R.O. For a group of superheroes who were almost all very individualistic, he was a point of authority for us all.

I looked up at Lon. As with all male supers we called bricks, he was massive. Three-foot wide at the shoulders, around 6'3" tall, his skin was nearly impenetrable, and his muscle underneath felt like iron that somehow moved.

He was dressed in a business suit, as usual. I wore shorts and a tank top; I figured that I would change into my costume once I got home.

He looked over at me and said, Well. I'm not giving up on him. I'll continue calling. Maybe I can get a training program funded through H.E.R.O. Gatecrasher would be good at that. The time he spent as a sergeant in the Army Rangers would be put to good use.

He started the vehicle and pulled out of Gatecrasher's long driveway to drive us back into Metrocity. He took one of the outer highways that skirted the edge of the mammoth city as he headed toward the H.E.R.O. headquarters in the far northeast.

I nodded. How often do you see him in the city?

Every day or two. We often meet for lunch or dinner on days he's patrolling the east side of the city.

Oh. I didn't realize you saw him so often. No wonder you wanted me to try and help convince him not to go out west.

"Exactly. I find it hard to argue with his logic. I