Difference between revisions of "Summary:Steelheart"

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[[David Charleston]] (who is eight years old at the time) and his father visit First Union Bank. The bank is an extremely large building fashioned with revolving glass doors and a multitude of cubicles and hallways. During their visit, David's father is speaking with a mortgage man and negotiating payments. In the midst of their conversation, David notices an epic dressed in a black business suit stroll casually through the bank's entrance. Initially, no one pays the man much attention. Then, the newcomer raises a finger, and with a nonchalant tapping motion, causes a nearby woman and her clothes to vaporize instantaneously into dust. Then screams begin to sound and the epic, who eventually introduces himself as "[[Epic|Deathpoint]]", continues to massacre people at random within the bank chamber. During his slaughter, Deathpoint remarks to the victims how he decided to rob a bank that morning and came to the realization that money is worthless to him, as he can take anything he pleases. And since killing humans is "extremely inconvenient", he decided to strike fear in the people instead, so that no one would dare challenge him fromwith any future requests or favors. While Deathpoint continues to kill the people one- by- one, [[Epic|Steelheart]] bursts onto the bank's floor and asks Deathpoint, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?". Deathpoint is dumbfounded and fearful at Steelheart's arrival and begins to stammer. Deathpoint then tries to harm Steelheart by pointing a finger at him, but his attempted attack appears to be futile. Steelheart tells Deathpoint that he has claimed dominance over the people of Chicago and that Deathpoint may be a subservient epic to him. Then, enforcement and police officers arrive on the scene and begin shooting at the two epics. Deathpoint hides behind Steelheart in the midst of the fire-fight and prepares to try and kill Steelheart again, from behind. Before the officers entered, David's father managed to scramble into a nearby cubicle and obtain a pistol from one of the fallen bank guards. When all of the enforcement had been killed, Deathpoint raised a finger to Steelheart, directly behind him. David's father reacted instinctively, and shot Deathpoint cleanly through the forehead. He dropped and Steelheart turned to see where the shot had come from. InAt that moment, a huge realization came over David, his father, and Steelheart. The bullet had grazed Steelheart's cheek while passing by and ''blood'' was seeping from the small cut. Steelheart stared at his own blood in horror, and then proceeded to break David's father's ribs with an energy blast and shot him in the chest with the same pistol that had killed Deathpoint. Wild with rage, and in an effort to make sure no one would be able to speak of seeing the blood, Steelheart transfused every inanimate object in the entire building into steel. David, after seeing the transfusion, hid within the steel vault of the bank. The vault provided ample protection during the collapse, and a rescue worker was able to get him out later that day. So as to keep himself safe from Steelheart's knowledge, David fakes his own death while being removed from the remains. David leaves the scene when the rescue worker goes to search for more bodies, just in time, as Steelheart returns with [[Epic|Faultline]] to bring the building crashing down and bury it in a massive pile of dust and rubble. David then runs away from the site and vows to gain vengeance in the name of his father and to do all in his power to see Steelheart bleed again. Later that day, Steelheart performs the [[Great Transfersion]], transforming most of Chicago, and part of Lake Michigan into steel. Steelheart later builds his palace on the lake.

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David checks on the Enforcement officers, then retrieves his notebooks, and his folders on Steelheart, Nightwielder, [[Firefight]], and [[Conflux]]. Roy says that David is working for the Reckoners, but David makes up a cover story about working for an Epic named Limelight who is coming to take over Newcago from Steelheart, and that Roy should leave his job while it is safe to do so. David sets his bed on fire and leaves to escape with Cody and Megan as Enforcement helicopters arrive on the scene. Megan berates David for leaving the two officers alive but he explains that they will throw their superiors off their trail with his cover story, and Cody agrees that they aren't the real enemy.

David removes the battery from his cell phone as a precaution at the advice of Cody, who doesn't trust the [[Knighthawk Foundry]]. As they return to the safehousesafe house, Cody and David speculate about Prof's background prior to the rise of [[Calamity]]. Cody tells David about their protective jackets and the [[tensors]] that Prof developed after experimenting on Epics that allows them to disintegrate non-organic materials. They arrive at the safehouse and Prof seizes David's notebooks to assess their value.

David reports that Nightwielder is down and Firefight is out of action. Tia wants them to abort the mission but Prof, who has been growing more irrational over the course of the battle, refuses. David reaches the field and sees Prof dodging constant energy blasts from Steelheart, and returning ineffective fire. David sees a soldier get the drop on Cody and tries to stop him but is too late as Cody is badly injured with several bullet wounds. Abraham carries Cody to their escape chopper, and tells David to leave but he still wants to try shooting Steelheart. David eludes several officers who were chasing him, and tracks down Steelheart, and fires three bullets from his father's gun from close range at the Epic.

David survives the explosion, and so does Prof, somehow. Prof says that he was able tocould stop the explosionblast from hitting David, and as David watches, Prof's injuries heal. David realizes that Prof is really a Gifter Epic, and Prof confirms this, growing angry and saying that using his Epic powers makes him lose control unless he gifts them. David tells Prof that Megan is Firefight, and Prof thinks he should have realized that she was an Epic. Prof picks up Steelheart's skull, which turned into steel. David leaves and returns to where he fought Nightwielder, and finds Megan listening to a recording from a camera she keeps embedded in her skin, thatwhich stores data in various caches, so that she can reorient herself after she reincarnates. After her recent reincarnation and the changes in her mental state caused by her powers, Megan is wrestling with her own sense of identity. David advises her to avoid using her powers for a while in order to clear her head. Megan says that she needs time to herself. David leaves with the rest of the Reckoners.