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Chapter 6: Crey Corp“ “I
don’t need to hear petty details, “Ma’am
I really think you should hear this.” She
sighed and stared out the window overlooking the city,” Yes, what is it then?” “Security
chief “Get
on with it.” “They
forced a very large piece of ginger up his-” he coughed again. “-Up his anus
ma’am.” She
raised an eyebrow and said,” What kind of heroes are these again, if hero
is even the right word for this?” “Then
they put a very large pink bow on his back and glued it with super glue.” “Again I ask what kind of people are they?” “Couldn’t
say ma’am. He’s got a couple of their names though if that helps.” “Names
are good. Where is “Still
at the proctologist ma’am.” “I
see,” said the Countess as she sat down and put her hands together. “And did
anything else happen?” “Well
then one of them grabbed the cola and drank it.” “He
what?!” “Yes
ma’am. Two of them actually…” She turned and stared directly at “Yes
ma’am. What exactly will the sample do to them?” “Probably
kill them. But we need to find them first before that happens. If people found
they were killed by our product, the media will have a frenzy.” “Yes
ma’am.” “Threaten
who you have to. Get our lawyers, and even our Protectors. I don’t care what it
takes, just bring them to me.” “Consider
it done ma’am,” He said as he bowed and exited. The
Countess turned back to look out the window. Heroes, she thought. I loathe them. No
one can get any work done with those dunderheads always about… Still, once we
find those two we can use them as test results. They should be very easy to
handle now that they’ve got the nanites in their system. And if we play our
cards right, this little incident could provide us with very useful data… ---------------------------------------------- “Cherry,”
said Ami as she stood over Biggs lying on a bed. “It’s been two days now. They
seem to be getting worse every day. I’ve run several diagnostics and can’t find
a problem. My knowledge is somewhat limited in Orcish anatomy, and I can’t
figure out how he’s going to react to certain medicines we could give him.” “Funny
you should say that. If you ever go to their homeworld you’ll find Orcish
anatomy lying all over the floor. Orcs have little use for medicine and
doctors. When Orcs were injured or ill, they usually cut their heads off to
ease the pain,” said Cherry. “Dear
me! That sounds dreadful!” “Ah
but it worked, and that’s all they needed.” “*cough*
G’mornin,” said Biggs miserably. “*cough* I hate this…*cough* I had the mos’
*cough* wonderful dream lass!” “Oh,
what did you dream of mister Biggs?” asked Ami. “Ah
dreamed *cough* tha’ all of ya died an*cough cough* went ter hell, an I *cough*
was sittin back, an drinkin a pint with the good lord *cough*,” said Biggs as
he stared off somewhere between the wall and Ami. “Oh.
I suppose you had such wonderful fun didn’t you?” said Ami. “Aye
*cough*. Now where’s me pamphlets *cough cough*?” “I’m
afraid you’re just going to have to wait on your preaching till later Mister
Biggs. Just please stay put until we can figure out what’s doing this to your
system” “Feck
*cough* that! I need ter *cough cough cough* spread the good *cough* word!” “Oh,
he’s heavily medicated right now. He may seem a bit delirious… But he is very
determined,” said Ami. “Indeed
he’s our little zealot,” said Cherry as Biggs began to swear at no one. “He’s
not usually like that, he usually curses at someone…” “Curse
ya *cough cough cough* ya filthy fecker! I’ll preach *cough* ifn I damn well
want *cough cough* to ya hear!” said Biggs to the clock. “I’m
going to sedate him again,” said Ami. “Keep
them here still. I’m going to do some investigation on this Crey Company. If
they’re messing around with soda recipes, then they’ve got some really bad
methods. Soda shouldn’t do this to someone.” “How
do you know it was the soda? I mean it’s contents have already been flushed out
of their systems.” Cherry
looks at her for a moment, and remembers she doesn’t socialize that often with
them. “Ami,”
she said. “Lu Bu drinks a whole keg of beer by himself, pisses it out and
drinks another. He also eats piles of slaughterhouse waste by the barrels. He
gets shot with lasers, bullets and explosions all the time, and it only makes
him mad… Anything that can do this to his augmented systems must be serious…
And I’m going to find out.” “I
suppose you’re right. Disease can take down even the mightiest warrior.” “Yes
it does. Lu Bu can’t go like this… He told me once if he was going to die, it
would be in a fight with him against a fifty thousand well armed soldiers.” “He
really wants that? To die in a glorious battle?” “No!
He wants to kill them all and just die of exhaustion.” “Oh…
Orcs are strange people.” “Well
the thing is I don’t intend on him dieing here. I’d like to see his request
fulfilled someday.” “You
want to see him go like that?” Cherry
thinks for a moment how she could explain this, and says,“ Him and I have an
understanding… His ways may seem a bit strange but I’ve come to accept them.
And he lets me ride on his back in a basket.” “That’s
an understanding?” “Yup.
But that kind of request is a part of Orcish culture. If your name isn’t feared
then you die a horrible death. Do something like that and you’ll be a legend.” Ami
raises an eyebrow and says,“ I think I get it now. You want him to do such a
thing because it’s part of his culture. And it’s a sign of respect I guess.” “Yea
something like that. So I don’t wanna see the big fella die here in bed, so I’m
going to do a little investigating on Crey. I’ll be going with Lord Daniel and
Gina so that means you’re the responsible one here.” Ami
looks down shyly and says,“ Oh, where is Tylar?” “He’s
doing his usual thing at D.A.T.A.” “And
Danyel?” “He’s
cooped up in his alchemy lab, and you know how he gets when he’s mixing
things.” “And
the rest?” “Kayain
and Di are doing their own thing, meaning they’re going to be a nuisance around
the place. Kat and Solo are playing a card game, so they should be out of
trouble for a good while. And I can’t seem to find DeVall.” “Ok
then. I’m going to be busy taking care of things here.” “I
know. Since you’re the only responsible one on hand all I need you to do is
call me to scold Kayain and Di when they make something explode.” “Will
do Miss Cherry.” Cherry
walked out and right into Kayain. “Ow!
Lummox! What are you doing over here?” “I
need to borrow some elastic from Ami.” “And
what do you need elastic for?” “We’re
gonna make a sling shot!” Cherry
folds her arms and says,“ Well don’t throw anything breakable! Or don’t throw
anything at anything breakable!” “Not
to worry, we’re going to throw these plushy dolls at that target on the wall.” “And
if I hear about this building collapsing in a freak accident can I assume your
project was a success or a failure?” Kayain
had to think about that one for a while and decided it was a kind of jeer or a
compliment. He decided it was usual Cherry gibe and said,” If that happens you
can assume I showed off pictures of you in a one piece to the folks downstairs.
They tore down the building hoping to burry it.” “I
see you’re throwing ‘My Friend Kayain, buddy’ dolls. Hopefully like the real
one their hard heads won’t break the wall.” “Ha
ha… Oh that wasn’t a compliment… Hey!” Cherry
shakes her head and walks to the door. “Ready
Gina?” she says to the door. Cherry
smiles and says,” Since when have you called him Danny? Is he your new boyfriend?” “That’s
all right. I read your mind anyway.” ---------------------------------------------- “This
is so cool!” said Kayain as he loaded the doll back in the big slingshot. “I
know! I’m glad you thought of it!” said Diana. Kayain
shot the little doll and it flew into a box by the wall. “He
shoots, he scores!” said Kayain. Suddenly there is a ring at the doorbell.
“Whoa, anyone order room service?” “I
did. I ordered something we can use for this.” “Better
see what they want then.” Kayain
opens the door and sees a man in a suit standing between two of what he thought
were two dummies in yellow and blue spandex. One was clearly female and one
male. But the first thought that comes to mind is if those things are alive,
how are they breathing in those bullet helmets? “Umm…
Hello. You guys, uh, Mormons?” said Kayain. They
look at each other, and the man in a suit says,” Not exactly sir. We-“ “Wait,
wait, wait! I think I know what you’re here for,” interrupted Kayain. “Hey DI!
Did you order any crash dummies?” “Maybe…
Those guys at the front desk said they’d give us something to throw at when I
ordered room service,” said Diana as she skipped to the door. “Oh! Looks like
they did!” “They
aren’t-“ “Come
in, come in!” said Diana as she pushed them all inside. “Oh these guys are very
lifelike! Now let’s have these things wait right there…” “Madam!
If you don’t mind I-“ “Heeeey!”
Said Kayain as he put an arm around the man. “Just relax man! Go with the flow
and you’ll see something very funny in just a minute.” “What
is that thing?” said the man as Diana wheeled around their large sling
shot. “You’ll
see.” “Ready,”
said Diana as she loaded the sling shot with two cream pies. “Got my camera on…
and FIRE!” Diana
released the bands and sent the pies flying at the two spandex clad people. One
hit the male on the chest and the other hit the female square in the face. Diana
skipped and said,” Woohoo! My shots were perfect, just like the book said!” “Damn
right!” said Kayain giving her a high five. When
it comes to learning from books, Diana was technically a genius. However her
common sense was chased out of the gene pool because her knowledge side peed in
it. The
two spandex people stood there as the male one extended a pair of claws from
his hands. The man in a suit shook his head and mouthed the words,’ Not yet,’
and the male retracted his claws. “Oh
ho ho! That’s rich,” said Kayain as he looked at the camera with Diana. “Now do
it again in slow mo!” “Ahem!”
said the man in the suit. “Oh
my bad!” said Kayain. He reaches in his pocket and hands him a fifty dollar
bill and says,” Keep the change Mack.” “If
you please sir, I am a lawyer, not a delivery boy.” “A
lawyer eh? I guess you’re expecting more than a fifty right?” “What
is a lawyer doing giving us room service?” said Diana thoughtfully. “Wait, this
isn’t about those extra soaps I too- ah, borrowed from the front is it? I mean
they said it was free…” “I
am not room service, or any kind of bellhop for that matter. I represent Crey
Corporation. These are my associates, from the Paragon Protector division.” “You
mean they’re real people?!” said Diana. The
to Protectors wiped the pie off and strode to the lawyer’s side. “EEEK!
Oh my God, I am so sorry!” said Diana. “Never
mind that madam. I need to speak with two heroes who are registered here. They
go by the names, Biggs, and Lu Bu.” “Now
wait just a minute there mister!” said Diana as she approached one of them.
“How do those guys breathe in those helmets? I mean come on now! They look like
they’re wearing a big hollowed out bullet on their heads!” Kayain
examined the female one and said,“ And that lady there looks like she’s wearing
some kind of bullet bra, if you know what I mean. Hur hur…” “Please
sir, I need to speak with Lu Bu and Biggs-“ “And
what’s with the super tight tights mister?” asked Diana. “Last night I read all
of He
sighed and shook his head as he said,“ Is there anyone else I can speak with?” “Hua?
Oh yea, I suppose. AMI! Some folks here to see you!” Ami
pokes her head out and says,” Do try and keep it down. Sick patients need their
rest.” “Yea
we have some folks who want to talk with you. One guy’s a lawyer, and the other
two are… well this guy here has his balls showing.” “What?
Oh. Oh-my!” said Ami, not really intending to look at the spandex man. She
blushes and looks at the lawyer as she says, “And what is this about sir?” “This,”
he says as he pulls out a paper. “These are the charges my client has filed
against your friends who assaulted and humiliated him.” “Come
again?” “Your
friends savagely attacked my client, tied him up and used super glue all over
him, and they also stuffed a very large piece of ginger up his anus.” Kayain
and Diana fell down on top of each other laughing hard when he said that last
part. “I
can assure you that sodomy is no laughing matter.” “Yea,
ha ha, except when you sodomize a clown! Then you’re supposed to laugh!
Hur hur!” said Kayain. “Kayain!
If Cherry heard you say that, she’d have a fit!” said Ami. “Mister,
Kayain is it?” said the Lawyer nastily. “I find you to be very crude and
vulgar. And if it were up to me, I’d have you arrested as well.” “Arrested
as well?” said Ami. “Wait! You mean Biggs and Lu Bu are under arrest?” “Yes,
ma’am. That’s what these two are for,” he said, indicating the Paragon
Protectors. “Whoa,
whoa,” said Kayain. “Hold on a minute… these guys don’t look like normal
police, so why should they go with you guys?” “These
Protectors are called that for a reason. They are super powered enough to take
care of any kind of resistance that other super powered people may offer. I can
assure you they have the right to arrest as well as use deadly force if
necessary.” Kayain
grinned and wiggled his fingers in a patronizing way and said,” Ooh scary, big
bullet heads in colored tights with their balls showing. Look pal, I trained my
boys well, and sure they may be quirky and reek of cabbage, but they don’t just
grab innocent people off the streets and start shoving roots up their bungholes
for no reason. I can guarantee you your client must have done something
to them.” “That’s
a matter for the courts to decide. The fact is the deed was done, and we’ve got
a warrant for their arrest.” “Out
of the question,” said Ami. “They’re extremely sick and still need immediate
medical attention! Even your law should state that you can’t take them as they
are.” “Ami’s
right!” said Diana. “I should know. I read the entire law book last night cause
I was bored.” “The
entire thing?” said the Lawyer. “Well
not the entire thing… I didn’t read the ads in the back. But still! You can’t
take them they’re too sick!” “That’s
not my problem ma’am. We have our orders, and we’re going to see them through.” Kayain
knew where this was heading, and he didn’t like it one bit. He said,” What the
hell is your name mister?” “I
am Adrian Carey, Crey’s most trusted attorney,” he said. He added while looking
at Ami,” And if I were you madam, I would release them to us at once. Crey is a
very powerful and-“ “And
if I was you pal,” said Kayain prodding him with a finger. “I would
probably back the hell off from our good doctor here before you get hurt.” “Is
that a threat mister Kayain?” “You’re
ga-damn right it is! If you ever talk to this sweet lady like that again I’ll
rip your balls off, and mail them to your momma.” “How
dare you!” “Yea,
yea trying to get all indignant on me. You corporate types are all the same!
You bully the common folks, and when some wise guy has had enough bullying and
starts fighting back, you ruin him completely with all your silly loopholes in
the law. You guys bribe, threaten, and corrupt shamelessly and you’ve got the
gall to come up to me and say that I’m the one threatening you?!
Your client probably deserved everything he got and more! And if I was there, I
would have shoved a pineapple up his ass instead! I-“ Kayain
stopped abruptly. As quick as a flash the male Protector shoved his claws
inside Kayain’s gut. He held it there, and pulled it out slowly. Kayain looked
down in astonishment and gripped his stomach. He sees the blood and crumples to
the ground in a heap. Diana
and Ami screamed when they saw him fall. The lawyer looked nonchalant as he
straightened his tie and said,” That was clearly a case of self-defense. Thank
you sir. Now if you would ladies, bring me those two or things are going to get
very ugly here.” “No
please don’t hurt me mister!” said Diana. “I’ll do anything you want! Honest!” “That’s
what I like to hear. Both of you, bring me these two offenders.” “But
they’re very heavy!” said Ami. “And
that is not my problem now is it? Bring them to me or suffer the same fate as
your friend here.” “Oh
yes sir!” said Diana as she watched Kayain silently get up behind them.” Please
just take them and go in peace!” “There’s
a good girl. At least you know your place.” Kayain
shook his head as he stood behind the male Protector. He motioned to the female
one, and Diana gave a small nod. “Just
one last thing mister high and mighty lawyer,” said Diana. “What’s
that?” Diana
stuck out her tongue and threw the finger at him. “What-“ Kayain
calmly wrapped his arms around the neck of the male Protector and pulled him to
the floor holding him in a deadly headlock. Diana leaped forward at the female
one who took a swing at her. Diana easily dodged the oncoming attacks, and
unleashed a flurry of hits with focused anti-magic channeled through her hands. Diana
quickly defeated the Protector and notices the lawyer trying to run away. She
easily chased him down and tackled him. “Going
somewhere?” “No!
You can’t do this to me! You’ll be very sorry!” “I doubt that. You think Crey’s going to be here to stop what I’m going to do to you right now?” Diana
lifts him up on her shoulders and carries him off. Back in the living room,
there are two Protectors lying unconscious on the floor. Kayain is already
drawing faces on the masks as Diana carries the lawyer to the kitchen. “Welcome
to my favorite room,” she says as she slams him on the table. “Now we can do
this the easy way or the hard way.” “I
won’t… ACK!” he said as Diana starts duct taping his hands. He
tries to fight back, but Diana is in much better shape, stronger than he is,
and knows how to use leverage. She gets all the tape on him and is able to tie
him up in a very awkward position “This,”
she says holding up a piece of ginger. “Is for threatening me and my friend
Ami.” He
squirms as he sees the ginger. “And
this is for your attempted murder on my little brother you, you… big…
ARGH! Just looking at you makes me want to puke!” She
holds up a pineapple and he screams like a 4-year-old girl. “T-t-that
won’t fit!” he pleads. “You’d
be surprised.” “How
would I get that out?!” he says panicking. “That’s
not my problem now is it?” “Don’t
do this! I’m begging you!” He
screams again as Kayain barges in. He doesn’t say a word as he marches up to
the man and tears him off the fridge. Diana knows when Kayain has that look in
his eye, it’s best not to disagree with him for any reason. She
follows him as he drags him to a balcony, turns him around, grabs him by his
tie, and hangs him off the edge. “OOOWWW!
Don’t drop me! OOW!” “Now,
what are you really up to jackass?” “The
countess, OOW, told me to get those two by any means necessary, OOW! They’ve
got something that belongs to her and she wants it back! That’s all I, OOW,
know I swear!” “Not
good enough! And you’d better talk faster before I loose my grip.” “OOW!
Oh God! Ok, Ok! They were doing some experiments and that soda they drank had
the contents, OOW!” “What
was in the soda?” “I
don’t know! All I, OOW, know is it’s in their system and we need it back for a
project!” “How
do they plan on removing it?” “They
can control it! OOW, and they can also remove it just as easily!” “Good,
then you will go tell them to stop it. Or else I will visit you again
personally.” “OOW,
The countess will not be swayed so easily!” “I
can tell the world about what you’ve told me.” “It’s not that easy! They’ve got the power. They, OOW, own the police and the whole justice system! It’s literally impossible to convict her in any court!” Kayain
knew those types of people, they really got his blood boiling. No matter how
many times you try, they will never go to jail. These people had fields where
they harvested lawyers, each a mindless, relentless machine that can twist the
law in their favor. It literally was impossible to get any justice on these
people. He
also knew that the Vigilante way was the only true way there would be justice
for these criminals. He
frowned at the man and said,” You know something mister lawyer? You’re
absolutely right. Legally there is no way we can harm this, countess.” Kayain
pulled him back over and threw him to the floor. The man slowly tried to get
up, and Kayain pushed him back down and said,” I didn’t say you could get up! I
know your type and I know you put good men behind bars. You do this in the name
of your company, and get loads of money for it! Tell me, how do you sleep at
night knowing that you’ve sentenced some little daughter’s daddy behind bars
because he didn’t give in to your pompous threats?! Hua?! Tell me!” “I-I…” “Hey!
I’m talking to you!” said Kayain as he slapped the man. “Don’t look at the
floor! Look at me! Tell me! Do you believe what you do is right? Hua? HEY! I
said look at me not at the floor! There’s no answers down there! Look at me in the eyes and TELL ME!” “Kayain,”
said Diana carefully. “Please, let’s discuss what we need to do next.” Kayain
sneered and spit at the man as he stormed out with Diana. He sharply turns
around and says,” Don’t you dare get up! Stay put!” And with that he slams the
balcony door shut. “Kayain,”
said Diana very quietly. “Are you thinking about little Sarah?” “Di,”
He said with his lip trembling. “When I looked in that man’s eyes earlier I saw
his face again. Same look, same job, same everything…” “Kayain…
please don’t.” Diana
sighed. She remembered their visit to Q’Hagia recently. There they suffered a
terrible defeat to a corporation called Nexus. Nexus
was a company very much like Crey. They dealt in things from pharmaceutical
drugs, food products, vehicle production, machine production, communications,
and many other things. They
were extremely powerful and were supposedly untouchable. A
man named Arikh Marrion had contacted them and explained that he wanted out of
the company because of all the corruption. He had seen and turned a blind eye
to many of the horrible experiments that went on in Nexus, and he had enough.
He was a family man now, with a beautiful little daughter. The last thing he
ever wanted was for his daughter to find out of the things that happened at
work. When
he tired to leave, Nexus didn’t take kindly to it. He held many of their
secrets, and the last thing they wanted was a liability. A friend from work
gave him a warning that they were coming after him, so he asked them to help. The
Vigilantes tried to hide the rest of the family by sending them away to
Matronia. But they were unaware that they were already too late. From the
moment Arikh put in his resignation, he was being tracked. Eventually they
found the rest of his family, the mother and the 5-year-old daughter. When
their agents paid them a visit, they killed her mother and made it look like
Arikh had done it. They kidnapped the daughter and made it look like he did
that as well. While
Sarah was kidnapped they performed horrible experiments to her. They told the
Vigilantes that they would let her go if he turns himself in and never says a
word against them. Cherry begged him not to do it, and they would not keep
their word. She pleaded with him to let them take care of the situation.
Despite Cherry’s advice to the man, he was desperate enough to give himself up
to end his daughter’s suffering. It
was an impossible case to win. The judge, and the jury were all hand selected
by Nexus. Kayain was in the courtroom with Cherry, Danyel, and Diana. Kayain
still remembers the lawyer that did all that too him. He remembers the
arrogance, the smug satisfaction in his face as he continued his assault with
no remorse or mercy. He
wanted so badly to tear that man to pieces. The
verdict was a death sentence for the nature of the case. The wife was savagely
murdered, and the daughter was raped and tortured. They had brought in Sarah,
who had supposedly been ‘found’, to testify. But Sarah was tormented to
insanity, and all she would do is scream. The father died early in his misery
for his wife and daughter. Nexus was left unharmed, and much richer due to the
publicity. When
there was nothing more they could do, they decided it was time to leave. Kayain
hated defeat, but the damage was done, and there was no fixing it. Before
they left Kayain went to see little Sarah in the hospital. During his visit, he
brought her a chocolate bunny filled with cream, which he knew was her
favorite. Sarah didn’t speak anymore, just had horrible fits, or would react
with extreme violence. When Kayain entered the room she was having a fit. She
noticed him and suddenly went quiet, surprising the nurses. He asked the nurses
if he could have some time with her, and they reluctantly agreed. They gave
Sarah, her last doses of medicine for the day and left the room. Kayain
sat in silence with her for a very long time. He remembered her as a very
outgoing and friendly child. She was a natural Daddy’s girl, and became very
attached to Kayain quickly. While they were under their protection, Kayain
would play with little Sarah and keep her entertained. While
Cherry and the others would be discussing plans, he would be either singing to
her, tossing her in the air, chasing her, tickling her, have tea parties, or
teach her board games. And every time he’d come by, she’d latch on to him and
want to sit on his shoulders. Those two seemed inseparable, and Cherry thought
it was the cutest thing. As
he sat beside her, he looked into her eyes. The Sarah he knew was gone. The
insanity had taken hold of her, and he saw it there looking back at him. He
wanted so badly to lash out at Nexus, and wouldn’t know where to begin. He felt
completely helpless. Suddenly,
Sarah stood up from her chair, and ran to Kayain. She jumped on him and wrapped
her arms around him and said,” I love you Kayain…” Kayain
didn’t know what to do, so he embraced her back. He held her tightly in his
arms for what seemed like an eternity. Then her arms went slack, and she grew
cold. Kayain drew back and looked at her. Little
Sarah was dead; she died peacefully in his arms. Kayain
embraced her again and wept. It
wasn’t till the next day upon autopsy they found that little Sarah had been
poisoned through the IV that one of the nurses used. Upon further
investigations, someone impersonated a nurse and had gotten in with the poison. Some
people called it negligence, but the Vigilantes knew better. It was Nexus,
finishing up the job. And
at that moment, Kayain could see the trouble starting all over again. This
time, they were the victims. “Di…”
he said. “What happened with Little Sarah wasn’t the first time. And it isn’t
going to be the last either. That man out there has probably ruined many people
like Little Sarah, and plenty more. He deserves pain, Di. Pain and
humiliation.” “You’re
not going to torture him are you?” “Not
my style Di, and you know that. No but Humiliation is. “Oh
good. You had me worried for a sec.” “Di?” “Yea?” “Were
you really going to shove that pineapple up his ass?’ “No.
I just wanted him to squeal. I’ve never done that kind of stuff before.” “Don’t.
It’ll ruin you.” She
smiled slightly and said,“ So what are we going to do with these guys?” “Listen…
No matter what we do, we’ve got Crey’s attention. They’re going to be just like
Nexus, and try everything they can legally to get us. But not before they use
their thugs again at us. So first off, we tighten security around here.” “Check.” “Cherry
will know what to do, she’s paranoid enough for that. Next, we need to send
them a message… something to let them know what will happen if they try and
stop a Vigilante,” he said as he thought for a moment. “And I think I know
what. Di?” “Yes
Kayain?” “I’m
gonna need lots of permanent marker, all colors… Oh some construction paper,
scissors, lots of velvet, super glue, feathers, a couple of razor blades, a
large box, and a sandwich.” “A
sandwich?” “I’m
hungry.” “Oh.
Well I have most of that in my bag.” “Really?
Dare I ask why?” “You
never know…” Kayain
walked back to the living area and pulled over the two Paragon Protectors to
the balcony. The man was still cowering on the floor, and he put his foot on
his chest, leaned over and said,” Alright scumbag, it’s time for a little fun.” “W-what
are you going to do?!” “I’m
going to mail you in a box to Crey Corp.” “You
can’t be serious!” “Oh
yes, Indeed I am!” “Why
are you doing this?!” “Let’s
just say, this is the only language you guys understand. And it’s either leave
here in a body bag, or a shipping box. Your choice.” He
wasn’t used to people in charge. When he was in cases like these he was in
complete control most of the time. And at the moment he was not in control of
anything. Especially not his bladder. “All
right, all right, the box!” he said weakly. “Good.
You’re going back to Crey Corp first class pal!” “T-this
isn’t going to hurt is it?” “I
hope so,” said Kayain as he punched the man, knocking him out. ---------------------------------------------- Damn, thought Cherry. It’s not
supposed to be like this. “So,”
said Cherry taking a stab at conversation. “Ah, what kind of music do you
listen to LD?” “It
doesn’t matter really. You can go ahead and turn on the radio seeing how we’re
going to be here a while.” “Anything
you prefer?” “No.” “Ok.” “Except
that,” he said as Cherry turned to a country station. “Well
I don’t know what stations you have here so let’s see…” “And
that. Don’t play that.” He said as he heard a rap station. “Ok…” “No
pop music either. I can’t stand it.” “What
about-“ “Not
that either.” “And-“ “Nope.” “You
know for someone who has no preference in music you certainly are picky.” “Yea
I know… What’s that? A dance station? Oh man I hate-“ “I
dig those beats,” said “Oh
yea!” said Lord Daniel. “Definitely! One of my favorite stations! Keep it
there.” Cherry
refrained from laughing. She knew he wasn’t into dance music, and knew that “You
know we all do some remixes ourselves,” she said. “Really?
You guys do remixes?” “Yea,
we do all kinds of music,” said Cherry. “Yea, we all have DJ names we made up too,”
said Daniel
gave a sharp laugh when he heard Kayain’s name. “That Kayain is something else
isn’t he?” he said. “You
have no idea,” said Cherry. “So,
you guys really do play all kinds of music eh?” “Sure
do. Consider traveling light years at a time. Traveling takes a couple weeks,
or even months sometimes. So we have lots of free time while traveling.
Why do you ask though?” “Well
I’m having a charity concert in a few weeks, and was wondering if you guys
would come and play… You know if you want to.” “I’m
all for that,” said Cherry. “What kind of music are we talking about?” “All
things considered, we’re going to stick with rock. Nothing heavy please, since
we’re going to have families there.” “We
can do that. How about it Gina?” “Sounds
great! Oh Danny, you’re so thoughtful, inviting us to play at your concert.” “Ah-ha,
well I’d need to hear some of your music first, then you can play in the
charity concert.” “And
did you hear that Cherry? It’s a concert for charity! Geeze Danny, you’re kind…
and handsome to boot,” said ---------------------------------------------- “What
the hell was going on here?” said Danyel putting his hands on his hips. “Look
at that! There’s pie all over the floor. Cherry’s going to have a fit! And
what’s in that box?” “You
mean you didn’t hear anything?” asked Kayain. “Notta
thing man. You mind telling me what’s going on here?” “Ah
I will in a minute. I’d rather have everyone here though.” “And
what’s in that box?” “Ah,
a good question, but the better question is can you teleport it somewhere
specific?” “That
takes a great deal of concentration. And right now I want some answers!” “All
right, I’ll give you the gist of it. You remember Nexus?” Danyel
frowned and said,“ I still have nightmares about it.” “Same
here. How about Crey Corp? Ever hear of them?” “Somewhat…
No, no, let me guess; Crey is an evil company like Nexus, and they sent some
goons to rough us up right?” “Dead
on balls accurate.” “Damnit,”
he said as he folded his arms in a Cherry-like way. “Sometimes I hate being
right. So what does Crey want with us?” “They
want Biggs and Lu Bu. That soda they drank had some experimental technology in
it. And I think it’s some pretty heavy tech for them to want it this badly. “They
send the usual lawyer with some thugs?” “Right
again.” Danyel
thought for a moment about this. When an overpowered company does that, it
means they’re probably not doing something legal. He knew that this was going
to develop into something big. He asked,“ What has Ami said?” “She
said the reason she couldn’t find what was wrong with them was because she was
looking for something biological, and this was something else. This kind of
stuff is beyond her, and there’s nothing she can do about something like that.” Danyel
nodded and looked away rubbing his chin. “Is
there anything you could cook up?” asked Kayain. “Some kind of potion
that would poof this away?” “It’s
not that simple, Kayain. I’d have to get a few samples of the tech, and run
tests on what works and what will react badly.” “So
it’ll take some time?” “A
long time. As you know, Magic and Tech don’t work very well together without
some kind of catalyst. Finding out the exact component with that specific tech
will be excruciatingly difficult.” “I
didn’t understand a word of that Dan. All I know is that they will more than
likely die if we don’t do something. And Cherry won’t let her teammates get
tossed to some company and be chopped to bits for some tech.” “Let’s
call the others here… Oh, there you are Solo.” “That’s
Ango,” said Ango. “Oh
so you’re Ango today?” asked Danyel. “What
do you mean? I have always been Ango…” Solo’s
alter ego Ango was unaware of his other half. Sometimes you just had to look
closely at them to tell them apart. For example Ango, who was a ninja, would be
sneaking around, while Solo would lumber around. “All
right Ango, where were you when this took place?” “Meditating.” Another
difference was when Ango said he was meditating, he really was. When Solo said
it he was looking at some interesting pictures with a box of Kleenex at his
side. “Ok,
and where was Kat- Oh my…” Kat
walks in with his body covered in a sheet of ice. “Guys,
I finally worked out my fire shield spell! Can you guys see the fire on me?” “Uhh...
Kat, you might want to look again,” said Danyel. “What?
I can’t find my eye. It flew away this morning. Right now I’m looking at a
bird’s nest. But that’s ok It usually comes back when it feels like it.” “Right…
About your fire shield, well… It’s not a fire shield. Can you feel it?” “What
do you mean it’s not a fire shield? I read the Braille book of spells
correctly!” “You’re
covered in ice, man.” “Ice?
Well that can’t be right… Unless I… Oh, you know I think I zigged when I should
have zagged.” “Yea
man, go try again. And by the way, something big is going down, so when Cherry
gets back, we’re having a group meeting.” “Will
do good buddy!” “That
solves that, now where is DeVall?” “He
went back to the ship,” said Ango. “What?!
Why?” “Have
you forgotten? It’s Dungeons and Dragons night with the crew.” “Well
I-“ “Hey
where is Cherry again?” asked Kayain. Danyel
rubs his temple irritably as he says,“ Weren’t you paying attention during this
morning’s meeting?” “Ah
sorry, I was staring at her breasts most of the time.” Danyel
narrows his eyes at him and says,” Do you always choose important times to
stare at my sister’s chest? Well it just so happens last night I was staring
at-“ “AH!
Shut up! I already know what you’re going to say!” Danyel
grins smugly and says,” Anyway, it just so happens that Cherry is on her way to
see this Crey Company.” “Oh
no,” says Kayain as he gets on his communicator. “Cherry! Come in!” After
a few seconds he hears,” Yes Kayain?” “Cherry!
Don’t go to Crey! They’re evil bastards! They sent some goons here to kill us!” “Come
again?” said Cherry. “Hur
hur, you said- ACK! NO! I mean you guys are in danger! If they find out who you
are they’ll try and kill you!” “Slow
down Kayain. What the hell is going on?” “Better
let me talk,” said Danyel. “Hey sis, do not go to Crey’s headquarters. It’s
very dangerous.” “We’re
already at the doorstep, what’s up?” “Listen
sis, these guys are no good! It’s Nexus all over again!” There
was a bit of silence on the other end for a few seconds. Then Cherry said,” You
serious?” “Dead
on balls serious!” said Kayain. “Yea
sis, very serous,” said Danyel. “All
right, we won’t go in. Lemme contact Tylar and we’ll come back.” “Hey
Dan,” said Kayain. “Is it possible you can teleport this box to Cherry?” “Well,
yea it is. For the last time, what’s in this box?” “The
goons.” “Oh,”
a lifetime of Kayain knowledge finally dawned on him as he realized what the
inside would probably look like. “OH! I see. Gotcha. Hey Cherry, I want to
teleport something to you.” “What
is it?” she asked. “A
box. A very special box that Kayain put the goons inside.” “Oh.”
She said followed by another,” OH! I see. Gotcha. So you want to teleport them
to me? I can open an astral channel temporarily, if you can send them through.” “Sounds
good. These guys are all gift wrapped in a box, so it shouldn’t be too hard.” Danyel
concentrated for a few moments, and suddenly his eyes began to glow blue. He
lifted his arms slowly and the box rose in the air. The box levitated
momentarily, then disappeared. Danyel soon went out of the trance and fell
over. Diana
picked him up, and he said,” I’m ok. Cherry? You got it?” “Yes…
Wish I could see the expression on their faces when they open this, but I think
we should leave.” ---------------------------------------------- “Umm…
Countess?” said The
countess looked up from her paperwork and said,” Yes? What is it?” “I
think you’d better come and see this. It’s outside.” She
sighed and sat up. “This
had better be good,” she said. “It’s…
Well it’s from some group who calls themselves the Vigilantes. I believe
they’re the same group who drank the Cola.” “Oh?
I thought the situation was ‘handled’ already.” “I
thought it would be as well. But apparently Carey failed miserably, and he’s
outside with a message.” “Why
doesn’t he just come up here and give it to me?” “Because
it would be very painful for him.” The
countess looked out her window to see people gathered around a little spot in
the breezeway. “Is
that what you’re talking about?” “Yes,
ma’am.” “Can’t
you just tell me what’s going on down there?” “I
don’t want to say ma’am…” Finally
she gives up and heads to the elevators with Down
on the ground floor, she sees the employees in an uproar. Once they notice her,
they begin to settle down. “All
right! What’s going on here?! Everyone back to work!” said the Countess as
people scattered away from her. She
approaches the lady at the front reception and asks,” What the hell is going on
outside?” “Oh
something awful ma’am! Someone’s gone and done something terrible to Adrian and
two Protectors ma’am!” “Where
are they?” “Right
out there ma’am. It’s disgusting what those thugs did!” The
countess steps outside and sees people around the breezeway. They part to make
way for her, and sees what they’re all talking about. Adrian
Carey and the two protector’s heads are all shaved completely of all hair. But
the biggest thing on them was the huge velvet bows. She figured they too were
glued on. “Get
them help,” said the Countess. “And send them to me once they can speak. I want
names. “Yes,
ma’am.” “If
it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get. But we have the upper hand.
We control when those two people will die. We could use that as an advantage.” ---------------------------------------------- “They
even had the hired thugs as well eh?” said Tylar. “Yea
man,” said Kayain. “Hundreds of em! Fortunately I took them all on. Di and Ami
were there too. They helped… a little. But I knew if they killed me, then they
were probably going to try and hurt them. But I took care of them cause I’m so
freaking nice.” Tylar
sneered and said,” Kayain I find your stories lacking in credibility, but the
fact that you were all in danger will not have me rebuttal to your story. “Re-what?” “Never
mind. Anyway they were trying to harm to Ami!” He said with his fists clenched.
“Oh and you two Di… So we won’t let them get away with that now will we?” “Easy
Romeo,” said Diana. “We’ll need a plan of action at this point! Cherry, what do
you have?” Cherry
sat at the end of the table while they were discussing the issue. She put her
hands to her chin and said,” This is indeed another Nexus type case we’ll be
dealing with. Let’s look at the factors shall we?” Cherry
stood up and paced a bit as she said,” First and foremost Lu Bu and Biggs
happened to ingest their equipment. What it does, we don’t know. However we do
know it will kill them should Crey decide to. Therefore tampering with it is
out of the question. It’s my guess that they need them alive for research
purposes. That doesn’t mean though, that they will not be willing to
kill them should they deem it necessary. Therefore we’re at their mercy at that
point.” She
stopped and leaned over the table, purposefully putting her chest in very close
proximity of Kayain’s eyes. “Other
factors,” she said. “Are legal factors. Crey will no doubt try and get the real
authorities after us. Only thing is we don’t have any kinds of records here.” “What
about Freedom Corp.?” asked Danyel. “We registered online, which I can tell by
the look on your face you’re not happy about.” “No,”
she said as she continued her pace. “I know they have a very secretive policy
on all heroes. Don’t ask, don’t tell… Kayain, that is so not funny” “Oh
come on,” he said. “Have you seen their Longbow outfits?” Cherry
chuckled at the memory of it and says,” Ok you’re right, it is a bit funny. And
about your registration I hope that you did not register this place, and
only your first names.” “My
name was already taken,” said Diana with a frown. “I had to use my title as
well.” Cherry
stops pacing and looks at her,” You didn’t use your full name did you?” “No,”
she said. “But I used my title Diana VII.” Diana’s
family had a small tradition of naming a daughter Diana. They would always name
at least one daughter from a generation, and then either her or her siblings
would name one of their children Diana. “I
suppose that’s ok, as long as you don’t use your last name. I mean there’s
probably plenty variations of the name Diana in this town right?” “About
five hundred and eighty two to be exact,” she said as everyone looked at her.
”I read the phonebook last night.” No
one had any doubts about that. Diana was like a sponge when it came to
gathering information from books. “In
that case,” said Tylar. “Perhaps you can tell us where to find a woman named
Janet Kellum?” “Let’s
see,” she said as she looked upward. “Janet Kellum… there was two of those, one
was in 2301 Southeast street, Brickstown, and another was 45890 Watercurrent,
at the hotel Vance Apartment number 409 of Founders Falls.” “Not
bad,” said Cherry. “We’ll try them both. Tylar, who is this Janet Kellum?” “Well,”
he said and cleared his throat. “While I was over at D.A.T.A. they mentioned
this Bureau called the Federal Bureau of Superpowered Affairs. FBSA for short.
They were talking about how they deal in special cases like… oh say the
government has a dossier on some mobsters from another country, right? Normally
that kind of thing is for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Well let’s just
say the mobsters can shoot lightning from their fingertips. Then the
jurisdiction switches to the FBSA’s hands.” “Ok,
so it’s the feds for supers,” said Cherry. “And Janet Kellum is an agent I
suppose?” “Indubitably.” “I
like it when he talks all funny-like,” said Kayain. “Kayain,
hush,” snapped Cherry. “When
I mentioned Crey,” said Tylar “All the folks who worked there said they were very
shifty and shouldn’t be trusted. When they hacked- Err…” “It’s
ok Tylar. You don’t have to cover for them just because they hack sites like
you do.” “Ah-ha…
Well ok, they hack the bureau’s database every now and then just to prove they
can. They showed me how to do it if you want.” “That
would be good,” said Cherry as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Find what you
can and run it through our data sponge.” Diana
perks her head up startled. She blinks and tries to pretend she was awake and
says,” Hua? Wha? Someone call me?” “We
need you to remember loads of things on a website,” said Cherry. “Probably a
couple thousand terabytes of information.” “Mmmkay,
I’ll have it done sometime tomorrow,” said Diana as she laid her head back
down. “Janet
Kellum has been assigned on a case against Crey,” said Tylar. “She’s personally
trying to bring down the countess.” “Now
that takes guts,” said Kayain. “With Nexus the federal agent who tried
to investigate was never heard from again.” “And
life went on like usual anyway,” said Cherry sadly. “All right, if this Kellum
woman wants a bit of help taking the Countess down, I say we help out. We’ll
get in contact with her and tell her about our situation. This will definitely
perk her interest.” Cherry sat back down in her chair and said,” All right, the game plan is we get in contact with Janet Kellum, as well as keeping extra security up here. Now I seriously doubt they will attack the entire building to get to us. That’s a bit extreme. But I would avoid windows, and keep the curtains drawn at all times. Snipers can come from many directions. Also be weary of the room service.” Cherry
gave Kayain a scowl and said,” This was the reason I wanted for us to
bring our own food.” “Right,
I’m always wrong!” said Kayain rolling his eyes. Cherry,
not in the mood to argue said,” Thanks, but we already knew that.” “Hey!
I-“ “Danyel
and I will place up barriers around the area to let us know who comes in and
out. Nothing harmful since we have maids and such up here. Just something to
let us know when they come up.” “Gotcha,”
said Danyel. “I’ll put up a web on the door that only allows it to open for
us.” “Sounds
good,” said Cherry. “ Now does anyone have any good ideas at this point?” Kayain
raised a hand enthusiastically and said,” OH! Me! I have a great idea that no
one has thought of before.” “Oh,
hold on a sec,” said Danyel as he pulled out something from his pocket. “These
are always good. I put his ideas on my website under my Humor section.” Cherry
put her hand on her face and said,” What Kayain…” “Get
this. Tylar you should be paying attention cause this is a good idea and you
should patent it. We could have a television made completely out of chocolate.
It’s inexpensive cause it’s chocolate, and it lets you watch TV at the same
time. It’ll be called, the ‘TV Dinner’.” She
peered at his grinning face through her fingers and said,” Kayain… In the deep
dark realms of your mind, may I ask why- No, I won’t ask why, but where in the
world did this non sequitur, and completely moronic answer come from?” Kayain
grinned wider and said,” Your momma.” I
will get you back for this Kayain,
thought Cherry. “Does
anyone else have anything relevant to say?” “What
about poison in the water?” asked “Again,
a little too extreme. This place has top executives and head honchos for many
other organizations that they own, or some people here could be important
executives that they need. Killing absolutely everyone in the building would
definitely get our attention, and the attention of a very large force of FBSA
agents.” “What
kinds of attacks should we expect from them?” asked Kat. “Well
they already threatened with some goons, next comes the less overt approach.
Assassination, kidnapping, and such. Just stay vigilant like you always do, and
you’ll be ok.” “What
about these legal threats?” asked Cherry
paced slowly again and said,“ They’re probably working in the intricate threads
of the law as we speak. The minute we make a move on them, they’ll pounce with
their lawyers and the local police.” “If
Crey’s goons were able to find us,” said Danyel. “Then would it be safe to
assume that they could give the authorities information on our whereabouts?” “Yes,
you could assume that. But consider that this whole apartment suite is being
checked out with Lord Daniel’s account. Think about it. Crey had to have done
lots of illegal searches on this to get information on Lord Daniel to find out
any kind of association with us. Crey would have to give an explanation on how
and why they know this. As a matter of fact, I’m curious on how they did find where we were.” “What
about an anonymous tip?” asked “They
don’t typically go by a completely ‘anonymous’ tip. And even then, they’d need
a warrant to come inside to investigate. And I pride you guys for your ability
to hide things… well at least our illegal things.” Kayain,
who felt a whole minute go by without his valuable input, said,” Cherry?” “And
about these shields,” said Tylar. “They won’t interfere with our work now will
they?” “No,”
she said as she leaned purposefully toward Kayain again. “At least not much.
You might feel their presence, but that’s it.” “Cherry?” “It
won’t burn my skin will it?” asked Tylar. “Not
the ones we’re going to use. Like I said earlier, I don’t want bystanders
hurt.” “Cherry?” “I
see,” said Tylar thoughtfully. “Just a little nuance?” “Cherry?” “Yes,
a very little nuisance. And we’ll deal with it like we Vigilantes deal with all
minor annoyances and nuisances-” “Cherry?” “We
ignore it until it simply goes away.” “Cherry?” Cherry
turned around and waited until Kayain stopped. She turned back and smiled as
she said,” Any more questions?” ---------------------------------------------- Janet
Kellum was ready for a good long sleep. After a long day at the office, and
pulling a muscle at the gym, she was worn out and ready for the weekend. She
got into bed after a warm shower, turned off the lights, turned on the white
noise maker, and closed her eyes. A
few minutes of silence went by before the phone blasted right next to her ear. Shit, she thought. I knew I forgot
something. Gotta turn that damn ringer off at night. She
sleepily reached over and picked it up and said,” This better be good.” The
female voice on the other line said,” Umm… Hi!” “Can
I help you?” She
heard several other voices on the line and finally heard,” Oh, right! Umm… You
don’t know who I am, but I know where you live-“ “I
know what you did last summer!” she heard another voice say and laugh. “Kayain!
Shut up!” Janet
hung up. She
turned off the ringer and lay back down. Moments later she found that when the
phone rings, there is a light that flashes on her phone. The light lit up the
entire room, and really bothered anyone trying to rest. She
picked up the phone and said,” Leave me alone!” “Please
Janet! I’m sorry about that. My brother was being an idiot. Don’t hang up, this
is very important.” “What
do you want, and how do you know my name?” “You’re
Janet Kellum of the FBSA right?” “That’s
me, and how did you find me?” “Process
of elimination. The other Janet Kellum was a dockside worker with a beard and a
peg leg.” “Very
impressive reasoning,” she said sarcastically. “But what do you want?” “My
name is Diana, and we hear you’re on a special assignment against Crey Corp.” Janet
yawned a bit and said,“ I will be after I wrap up a missing persons
case.” “Well,
me and my team were recently attacked by Crey, and we want to fight back!” “That’s
lovely dear, but do you realize what time it is?” The
voice seemed to consider this for a moment and said,“ Time for justice?” “Time
for you to get a clock, it’s “Listen
Janet, that’s not all. My friends got sick drinking this cola they were
making.” “Crey
Cola? They were advertising it, but it hasn’t come out yet.” “That’s
cause it’s infested with Nando-Technology” Another
voice from the back said,” Nano-Technology!” “Right,
that’s what I said, Nano-Technology. The soda is full of Nando-whatsits, and
they are under Crey’s control!” Janet
rubbed her forehead and said,” Ok so you have my information and Crey has
attacked you. If you let me get some sleep for now can we meet somewhere
tomorrow?” “Goodie!
Yes, yes! Let’s meet tomorrow then. Where would you like to meet?” “Let’s
meet by the sculpture in north Founder’s falls. Let’s make this around “Sounds
good… We’ll wave you down, we know what you look like.” “You
know a lot about me, how?” The
voice said, very cheerfully,” We hacked F.B.S.A.’s database and read all about
you!” “Mmm
mhm…” said Janet tiredly. “For
one we know you are 26, Brown hair, 5’5, Sleeps with a teddy bear-“ “Whoa,
whoa! Wait a minute, how did they find that out?” “A
teddy bear named Smokey. You sometimes pick your nose when you think people
aren’t looking, but they are. You have a feminine itch that’s very
embarrassing. It’s that time of the month for you, and-“ “Ok!
Stop there, I need to speak with my supervisor and get that info gone or
classified…” “Oh
supposedly it is classified, your firewall is weak though.” “It’s
a ten thousand codex firewall! The top of the line!” “Only
ten thousand?” Janet hears the voice say to the others,” Heh, she says it’s
only ten thousand.” After
hearing the chuckles on the other line she says,“ Ok that’s enough. I’m going
to sleep now, I will meet you people tomorrow.” “Sounds
good!” said the voice as she hung up. Maybe, she thought. Maybe I should
actually read my own database sometimes. I’m going to have a talk with some
people. I mean really! If some hackers can easily break into our system and get
that kind of information, who knows what else they could do? I just hope
meeting these people isn’t a mistake… ---------------------------------------------- “Janet?
You awake?” said Maxwell Christopher. “Hey, get you some more coffee already,
you look dead.” “Mmm?
Oh sorry Max. I didn’t get enough sleep last night.” “You’ve
been working way to hard lately. You sure you’re up to the Crey investigation?” “Yes,
I am.” Maxwell
knew she wanted the Nemesis case that he was assigned to, but she took the Crey
case anyway. “It’s
just that I got this weird call last night,” she said while rubbing her head.
“Some people want to meet up with me. They said they were attacked by Crey, and
have some Nano-Tech problems. Sounds like the old Project Revenant case
revived. But at the moment I’m seeing weird connections now between Crey and
this missing persons case. Here let me show you something.” Janet
pulls out a book from her desk and hands it to Max. “That,”
she says. “Is the diary of Julianne Thompson. The missing lady in this case.
Has a lot of idealistic work in there, very lofty at most. Well strange thing
was, when we were sent to recover it, Crey was there. None of them would say
why though. I talked to some heroes she worked with and tried to recruit for
her causes, and they say the same thing about her. She had done hard time, so
she was unable to gain any hero’s trust.” Maxwell
skims through the book and nods,” She sounds like an activist. Like your
typical,’ let’s go out and make the world a better place’ kind of person.” “Ah,”
said Janet. “You may be right about that. She spent time in the slammer though.
Apparently she got involved with a crooked politician, and ended up in jail
along with him. Sad story really… After a time in jail she started getting more
and more aspirations, but could never do it because of her reputational stigma.
The last anyone saw of her was at a party in “Maybe
she went into hiding? Maybe she was embarrassed at the party?” said Maxwell
thoughtfully. “No,
because they did in fact find her, but she was mutilated beyond
recognition. She was found thanks to the efforts of the local heroes, and they
eventually did identify her.” “I
see. But you said this case wasn’t wrapped up. You found the woman, but
what’s the problem?” “Forensics had a hard time identifying the body, because there was no dental records or anything on her. But they eventually found the body to be hers. Now I know you might think that this is a case-closed already, but I have my doubts.” “Such
as?” “Well
first off was the presence of Crey. Next was when Julianne’s mother was at the
burial, she swears up and down that the woman displayed was not her daughter.
Now don’t look at me like that, I have a bad feeling about this. Something just
doesn’t seem right, and that’s what I’d like to find out. And because of Crey’s
presence I can investigate them at the same time.” “Two
birds with one stone, not bad.” “What
makes it very suspicious is that Crey was at the exact location at the same
time our recovery team was. They need to be questioned before this case can be
officially closed.” “Just
don’t work yourself into the ground ok? What’s your next step on this?” “I
managed to swipe this,” she says as she pulls out a lock of hair from her
drawer. “I asked the mortician to give me a small lock of hair before the
burial as evidence. I’m thinking if anything I can get the help of a mystic
hero. Maybe Cadao Kestrel-“ “You’re
thinking of using him?” said Maxwell disapprovingly. “ Instead of good
hard evidence you’re turning to a witch doctor?” “Not,
a witch doctor,” said Janet indignantly. “He’s a voodoo master.” Maxwell
rolled his eyes, and said,” Yea, real big difference.” “Look,
I know this isn’t by the book, but I’ve already told you I have a bad feeling
about this, and I don’t know who else to turn to.” “Well
I just hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t want you getting all worked up
like the Adams Case.” Janet
tucked the lock of hair safely in a briefcase and stood up. “I
won’t,” she said. “And I’ve got to go now to meet up with some folks.” She
suddenly stopped in the doorway and looked back realizing something. “Oh
Max,” she said. “ We need to clear some files in our database profile…” “Why’s
that?” “Because
I know about that, ah, rash on your thighs now.” Maxwell’s
jaw dropped and he turned away embarrassed. “Yea,”
she said as she continued to walk out. “We’ve got a joker around here
somewhere, so be careful.” ---------------------------------------------- “Yo!
Over here!” said Kayain as he waved down a vendor. Cherry,
Danyel, Kayain, and Kayain
finished his order and walked over to the rest. “Let’s
see,” he said as he tossed something to Danyel. “Burger for you, Chicken
Nuggets for you Gina, five hot dogs for me, and what did you say you wanted
babe?” “Ice
Cream, Kayain, I told you that several times,” said Cherry slightly annoyed. “Oh…
I knew that, I was just testing if you knew… you know, had to
make sure.” “Just
go already.” Cherry
sits on a bench and says,” Hope she shows up soon. This area is kind of bad.
Those creepy mages are hanging out in the alleyways, and so are those military
nuts.” “Yea
who are those people anyway?” said “Don’t
look like the normal military here. As far as I know this isn’t a police state,
so the fact that they carry so many heavy weapons in public means they’re some
kind of nutcase militia group.” “This
could be the reason I sensed so much residue magic in the area,” said Danyel.
“From what I hear, those mages are called the Circle of Thorns. They specialize
in the dark arts, and in the worst way too.” “You
mean like pacts with demons, sacrifices, and that sort of nonsense?” asked
Cherry. “Yes
that kind of nonsense. Sis, this is some serious stuff. Making those
kinds of pacts can-“ “I
know, I know, summon Hell’s wrath, and unspeakable horrors upon the world of
the living.” “I
really wish you wouldn’t take it so lightly,” he said, folding his arms. “I
don’t. It’s just all the same to me. They want to spread chaos and destruction
everywhere, whether they summon, oh I don’t know, Damien the destroyer or Lloyd
the slightly perturbed.” “But
magic’s not that simple! You-“ “It
is to me,” she interrupted. “And I have no intention on learning about magic
because, I can’t use it. That’s your responsibility.” “That’s
funny, cause people already call you a witch,” said Kayain as he approached them. “Ha,
ha. Where’s my ice cream?” “Right
here babe! One for me, and one for-“ Before
he was able to finish his sentence, Danyel magically tripped Kayain, causing
him to splatter the ice cream all over Cherry’s chest. Danyel
looked away innocently as Kayain gets up quickly and says,” Ah sorry! Don’t
move, I’ve got a napkin!” Cherry
tries wiping it off as Kayain clumsily grabs her breasts and smears the ice
cream instead. “KAYAIN!”
she says smacking his arm away. “SORRY!” “Come
at a bad time?” says someone from behind. “Ah,
Miss Kellum,” says Danyel pleasantly. “Good to meet you! We are the
Vigilantes.” Janet
Kellum looks at the scene of “Nice,
ah, to meet you guys as well.” “Give
me that!” said Cherry as she took the napkin from Kayain. “I’m terribly sorry
about that Miss Kellum. We had a little accident, and Kayain can usually turn
an accident into a disaster.” “I
was trying to help!” he said. “We’re
the Vigilantes,” she said ignoring him. “We got in contact with you the other
night. We’ve attracted the attention of Crey Corp and we heard you were
investigating the case.” “Something
like that,” she said taking a seat on a bench. “I’ve been assigned to
investigate Crey Corp specifically. But I’m trying to finish up a case at the
moment.” “Well
whatever you have would be useful. We know nothing about them except for their
methods of execution. Oh, and here, take this.” Cherry
hands a small holograph device to Janet, and she stares in surprise. “This
technology, where did you get it?” “We’re
offworlders. This is a mere child’s toy in my civilization.” “Neat!” “May
I have your attention to this though,” says Cherry as she points to the
hologram. “This was the only thing we were able to safely extract from my
comrades body. It’s a component for a machine that’s remotely operated from
Crey Corp. This was the only one we dared remove lest the remote host receive
warning of tampering kill my teammates.” Janet
studied the diagram for a while and said,” This is all very interesting. But
I’m afraid this isn’t solid evidence.” “What
do you mean?!” said Kayain, a little upset. “This is damn good evidence! Crey’s
killing my team and this can prove it!” “You
misunderstand me,” said Janet calmly. “I mean this won’t hold over in courts.
You’ve definitely got my attention with this. And this is well worth
investigating. You’ll need something more solid, like finding the actual link
between Crey and these devices. Besides that, there’s little I can do about
your teammates condition. But I will help you guys in any way I can.” “What
can you provide us?” asked Cherry. “All
my information is on file back in the office. If you want we can go get it, but
I need to finish up something that’s been bothering me about my current case.” “What
seems to be the problem?” “I
had a missing persons case, and we found a body that was identified as the lady
we were looking for. But something seems wrong about it. Something doesn’t add
up, especially since we found a hint of Crey involved.” “In
that case, something is wrong. What are you going to do?” Janet
pulls out a lock of hair and says,” This is part of the hair from the lady that
was found. Forensics identified the body as the missing person Julianne
Thompson. But her mother swears that the body she saw wasn’t her daughter. So
I’m taking this lock of hair to Cadao Kestrel, a voodoo master.” Danyel
waves his hand dismissively and says,” Hand it here, I will get the information
for you.” “Are
you a wizard?” “It’s
the pointy hat isn’t it? It’s a dead giveaway. Name’s Danyel. High Archmage of
the Universal Arcane Society at your service.” “Well
the title certainly sounds important. What can you do?” “Just
let me see that, and I will go to the astral plane and find the owner.” Janet
shrugs and hands Danyel the lock of hair. “Thank
you… Now let’s see, where did I put that… Ah! Here we go.” Danyel
pulls out a strange band inscribed with runes. He takes off his hat and puts
the band on. He sits cross-legged on the floor with his hat in his lap. “What’s
that on his head?” asks Janet. “That,”
says Cherry, amused. “Helps him connect to the astral realm at an incredible
speed and do as he wishes with ease. It was given to him by an old witch, for
saving her life. So he calls it his ‘High Speed Broad-Band Connection’.” “Oh…”
says Janet as she thinks for a moment about it. “OH! Ha, ha! I get it.” “Hur
hur, Broad band…” snickers Kayain. After
a couple of minutes Danyel comes out of the trance and stands up. “Well,”
he said. “That was interesting. I talked to the receptionist and she was able
to let me talk to a lady named Clarissa Can Dorn. She says the last thing she
remembers was she was at a party and went to the ladies room to refresh her
makeup. Suddenly a lady came up behind her, took her to the floor and strangled
her to death. She remembers clearly though that the woman was in fact named
Julianne Thompson. She remembers her because she had made a speech earlier that
was laughed at by the people attending. Personally she didn’t think much of
her, but a murderess… well I guess anything’s possible eh?” Janet
stared disbelieving for a moment. Things were starting to make sense now, and
this was the key. “Danyel,”
she said. “Are you absolutely sure it was Julianne Thompson who did this?” “One
hundred percent sure. I’m not a high Archmage because I pull rabbits out of my
pointy hat you know.” “But…
Clarissa Can Dorn was Countess Crey’s maiden name.” “Whoa!”
said Kayain who obviously had been thinking a bit too hard. “Now that is
weird! I mean think about it, how can she be dead and controlling Crey
at the same time? Unless… she’s a ghost and is haunting the place! Oooh,
scary.” “Kayain,”
said Cherry. “Please stop thinking. You’re giving me a headache.” “What
this really means,” said Janet. “Is that Julianne killed the real Clarissa Can
Dorn and impersonated her… How devious. At the time, Clarissa was engaged to
the Count Crey, so she took her place at the altar and married him. But in
order to trick everyone, she must have used cosmetic surgery.” “That
was my next guess, honest,” said Kayain. “This
is serious business everyone. If we can find good solid evidence that will hold
up in courts, we can take her down for murder. I want you guys to come back to
the office with me, we should discuss more about this. Please, come with me.” They
all followed Janet back to her car, and on the way Kayain said to Cherry,” You
believe me right? About that being my next guess?” “Oh,
Kayain. Of course I believe you,” said Cherry like a psychiatrist does when
they’re slapping on the straight jacket. ---------------------------------------------- Diana
walked the halls of the Mystic Warrior’s underground base. She found that many
supergroup bases were held underground, and because of that, the Mystic
Warriors like many others, had put up a special recall unit that brings members
to the base in it’s hidden location. Many
of the areas were still expanding, and off limits. But overall she enjoyed the
magical presence because it made her feel warm and tingly. She
wandered aimlessly for a while until she came into a small room with a heroine
sitting cross-legged on the floor. A
sensible person would knock before entering, so Diana barged in right behind
her and said,” HI!” The
poor heroine was taken completely off guard and jumped up. She turned around
quickly and said,” Oh my! You scared the life out of me! I didn’t hear you come
in… Wait, how did you get past my magic barriers?” “I,
uh, I absorbed them actually. Sorry.” “You
what?! But how- OH! I know you know, I heard all about you. You’re the
new girl Diana, with the anti-magic abilities.” “That’s
me!” said Diana cheerfully. “Indeed.
My name is Mystica. Is there anything I can help you with?” “Yes,
where is the leader, Mystic Wizard?” “At
the moment he is in the training room. I wouldn’t bother him if I were you.
He’s really serious when he trains you know.” “It’s
very important you know. I really do need to talk to him.” “Well
the training room is down the hall and to the right. Just be careful when you
enter. Please try and make yourself known before you enter.” “Gotcha,
and sorry again.” “Don’t
worry about it, just don’t make a habit of it.” Diana
trotted down the hall and to the right where Mystica pointed out. When she
approached the door, she heard the sound of thunder inside. A
sensible person would take that as a kind of warning not to enter when you hear
thunder inside a room, so Diana barged in without knocking. Mystic
Wizard was standing in the center of the training area with 3 small dark clouds
in front of him. Diana watched as a random cloud threw a bolt of lightning at
him, and he deflected it with something on his wrist. Shot
after shot he deflected just as easily as the next until the thunderclouds
evaporated. He took a deep breath and several plywood boards hovered toward him
from all angles. When they were close enough, he began to break them with his
hands and feet, one right after another. A
sensible person would not disturb someone who is in the middle of training with
lightning bolts and lightning fists, so Diana trotted behind him and was
immediately sideswiped by Mystic Wizard. Mystic
Wizard stopped and looked behind him where he had swung, unsure if he had accidentally
hurt someone. What he saw astonished him; Diana standing there grinning with
her hand up blocking his shot with only her forearm. Still
holding back Mystic Wizard’s hand, she waves with her fingers and says,” Hi!
Sorry to bother you, but I needed to talk. It’s pretty important.” Locked
in that position he continues to look at her puzzled. “Ah…”
she said. “I believe I did say I’m sorry. And it is very important.” “No,
no.” he said. “It is I who should be sorry. You caught me off guard… Quite
impressive I must admit.” “This
is really awkward,” said Diana as Mystic Wizard still did not move. Mystic
Wizard looked at her with a very serious and calculating look as he said,” My
dear, do you study in martial arts?” “Amazing
accuracy! What gave it away?” Judging
from her tone, she was dead serious about the question. He withdrew his arm and
said,” I sense great power in you. Greater than you realize.” “Really?”
she said as she sniffed her armpits. “You might be right, but I don’t smell the
power. It’s probably the deodorant though.” “Ah-ha,
and a sense of humor to match.” “Hua?” “Never
mind. Please, come with me.” Mystic
Wizard strolled out of the training room and down the hall. “Let
me tell you a little about the Mystic Warriors my lady,” he said as they walked
side by side. “Long ago I was the leader of a tribe named the Tsao. We led a
long and prosperous life, until disaster struck. My people were killed long
ago, and I was the only survivor. Forgotten and forsaken, I traveled the world
in search of a sanctuary. I heard that in They
both came to a room that resembled a living area, and he offered Diana a seat.
He prepared some tea and offered some to Diana who gratefully accepted. They
slowly sipped on the tea as he continued,” I offer a sanctuary to those gifted
in the arcane, and offer resources to those who wish to learn more about it. So
you will find many of my students, and many gifted individuals who come here
seeking knowledge.” “That’s
great! Cause that’s what I wanted to talk to you about!” “How
can I be of service my lady?” “Well
you see, my husband is a wizard as well, and he wanted to study the books you
have, even though he’s not a member of the Mystic Warriors.” Mystic
Wizard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. And suddenly an idea came to mind. “Your
husband you say? Members of family are always welcome in my home… however…
Please come with me.” Mystic
Wizard led her back down the hall to the training room entryway. He pointed to
a sign on the wall that Diana had neglected to read. “Did
you see this before you came in?” he asked pleasantly. “Err…
no,” she said sheepishly. “And
do you see this part?” “Yes…” “Novices
are forbidden to enter the advanced training room. Should a novice enter the
training room without permission, they will be subject to a duel by any
advanced student, or even the dojo sensei, in order to prove their worth. If
the novice should win, they will remain an advanced student. You see, I intend
on enforcing this rule by challenging you to a duel. You must fight me or leave
the Mystic Warriors.” “Oh…
ah-ha, you know I don’t normally ignore signs when I come into a room… Just a
brain fart you know? Heh, no need for all this-“ “Are
you refusing?” “NO!
No, no, no… But, uh, after I do this will you let my husband in to read your
books?” “Should
you win, your husband is very welcome in my home at anytime. Now, prepare
yourself.” “Yikes!”
she said as he came at her and struck as fast as a cobra. Just
as he suspected, Diana was extremely adept in Martial Arts. She dodged his
strikes with ease and a pleasant smile on her face. When he struck low, she
would either back flip or jump completely over him. When he struck high, she
would limbo duck under his shots, or back shuffle. She
fought defensively until she saw him finally starting to tire. That was when
she started her assault. She began with a series of quick hits in the
midsection, and then attempted to grapple. He
decided grappling was not a good idea with her, and dodged it. He
stepped back for a second, but she would not let up, and closed in right away.
He held up his hand and said,” STOP! That is all.” Diana
in mid-swing froze in place, and playfully toppled over. “My
lady,” he said. “Your technique, your style, and your moves are unlike anything
I’ve encountered before. You have impressed me and are welcome in any training
room you wish.” “Thanks!
Maybe I should have mentioned before that I’m not from this world. My sensei is
my father-in-law, and he knew a Matronian style called Manas dul Argo.” “I
see now. An Offworlder?” “Yea,
I think I should explain the situation now.” ---------------------------------------------- At
the F.B.S.A. Headquarters, Cherry, Danyel, Kayain, and “There,”
said Janet. “I was able to hack into a Crey lab Mainframe… I’m not seeing much
here, but I’ll keep looking.” After
a while “Of
course.” “ “It’s
necessary for the work I do,” she said. Everyone
sat patiently except for Kayain, who was bored out of his mind. “I’m
getting some coffee, does anyone want some?” asked Janet. Everyone
said they wanted some, and Kayain said,” I’ll go with you. My ass is falling
asleep just sitting here.” As
they walked the halls, Janet finally got a very good look at Kayain and said,”
Your outfit looks very familiar.” “Did
you ever read the Vigilante’s comic series?” “I
sure did.” “I
wrote em. Based on a true story…. Well some parts.” “Really?
Wow. I hate to admit it, but I’m a big comic fan, and a superhero fan. It’s the
main reason I joined F.B.S.A… well my old reason was to meet some cute
superpowered guy, that was back when I was younger though. ” Kayain
stopped walking for a moment and said,” Oh yea? You know a hero named
Proto-Man?” “Should
I?” Kayain
continued to walk and said,“ Wouldn’t be a good idea. Anyway, you were saying?” “I
joined for the wrong reasons, but I ended up liking my job more than I would
have expected.” “But
overall you really did get to meet, and find out all kinds of things with super
powered people right?” “Oh
yes, all the time,” she said as they entered the break room. “Good,
good…” he said scratching his head a bit. Janet
put a pot on the brew, slightly annoyed that the last person who drank hadn’t
done that already. She looked at Kayain and said,” You look like you want to
say something.” “Yea,
I kinda do. You see, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately,” he said. And
if memory serves our readers correctly, that isn’t a good thing. “You
see,” he continued. “There was something I want to ask about super heroes but
didn’t know anyone who would give me an honest answer. The question I have has
great scientific value, and for some reason when I say stuff like that, my
genius brother laughs. For the records, he’s also a flaming homosexual.” “Ok,”
she said with her arms folded. “I don’t know how much help I can be, but I will
certainly share my knowledge of super heroes with you.” “You
might want to write this down, in case you figure it out and win some kind of
prize for it.” “I’ll
remember it, thanks.” Kayain
cleared his throat and said,” Well it’s like this… You ever notice how all the
really super powered babes have really big moo-moos?” Janet
laughed out loud and said,” Moo-moos?” “Yea,
really big cans. What’s so funny? I’m serious here!” “It’s
just… I never thought of that… This is amusing, continue your observation.” “Well
think about it… have you ever seen an overweight heroine? Didn’t think so.
Obviously their powers have something to do with why they all look like
supermodels with big ol’ hooters… I think its got something to do with metabolism…
but the real question is why don’t their boobies shrink to the size of a
lesbian tennis player? I mean come on, when was the last time you ever heard
that when a woman works out and burns fat, her headlights get better equipped?” “I
heh, heh, I can’t think about that right now…” “At
first I thought ‘Maybe all their power is stored inside their knockers’, but
wouldn’t that also mean that if they use their powers their hooters would
deflate like a blown up condom?” Janet
begins to pour the coffee into cups as she says,” This is the kind of stuff you
think about on your spare time?” “Hell
yea! I mean unless you wanna think that this is all like the comics where
women’s bodies wouldn’t match reality. And that this world is all in the
imagination of a bunch of drooling, middle aged men who’ve obviously never seen
a real woman before.” She
puts the creamer and sugar in as she says,” Humm, everything looks real, and
smells real. Must be real.” “Yea,
I know! This isn’t the comics, so the mystery deepens.” She
looks at the thoughtful expression on his face and says,” You’re really serious
aren’t you?” “Oh,
Yes Indeed I am!” “Is
this some kind of problem?” “Hell
no! You see, and this is the scientific part, if the majority of highly powered
women have this, then perhaps it has something to do with genetics, and how the
body reacts to super powers.” “Where
are you going with this?” “If
we could find out why it happens… just imagine the possibilities! We could
create the worlds first true breast enhancer pill! All that shit on the
Internet doesn’t work, but this will.” “Uh,
hua… and you think this will work somehow?” she said skeptically. “Why
shouldn’t it? If we did find it, then imagine how successful we’d be!” he said
as he suddenly thought of something else. “We could call it, get this now, we
could call it,’ The cure for the common breast’.” Janet
finally stopped holding back and laughed. When she stopped she said,” Kayain… I
don’t know if things work like that.” “You
know something, you’re absolutely right,” he said. “Janet, I think I’m gonna
need real researchers, maybe a charity. Would you like to contribute money to
the ‘Cure for the common Breast’ fund? You’d be helping out the less fortunate
women who have to suffer through their life with embarrassingly small breasts,
like Cherry.” Back
in Janet’s office, Cherry suddenly looked up and sneered. “What’s
wrong sis?” asked “Kayain
senses…tingling… I don’t know why, but I feel like giving him a beating he so
richly deserves.” Janet
and Kayain strolled back down to the office and she said,” So you’re really
going to research this?” “Yup.” “I
mean no joke, actually investigate if super powers cause women to become more…
well endowed?” “You
betcha.” “Will
I get a tax write off if I donate?” “We’re
nonprofit… well I suppose if you don’t count all of us who get to see a richer
world with bigger jugs every day as profit.” “You’re
really dedicated… How about ten dollars to start you?” “Fan-freaking-tastic.
That’s ten dollars we’ll never get anywhere else. Man, first day and I’m
already moving up!” As
they walked into the room again, Janet said,” Good, I expect to be the first to
get a working sample then?” “Oh
you bet!” he said as Cherry looked at Kayain discontentedly. He whispered,” She
will most definitely be next on that list.” “Guys,”
she said. “Take a look at this e-mail I found.” The
email read: To:
Security Chief Whitney From:
Security Chief Alvarez ‘I
do not take Howard Quigley’s threats lightly, and neither does the great lady
we both serve. If he is bent on causing trouble, Quigley has the knowledge to
disrupt the CreyComp launch. To forestall this possibility, please send a team
to take him to our new re-education facility. Once he is loyal to Crey, we will
have no more to fear.’ “CreyComp,” said Janet thoughtfully. “I heard that they were releasing their own OS. I’ve never heard of Howard Quigley, but by the sound of it, he’s about to be in some serious trouble.” “This
e-mail was recent,” said “Can
you find where he is?” asked Cherry. “If
they know, then I can find out… Let’s see. He’s currently working at Gaffnet
Consulting.” “I
know where that is,” said Janet. “I’ll take you guys there.” “He’s
a consultant?” asked Kayain. “Isn’t that like saving the bad guy?” “How
would that be like saving a bad guy?” asked Danyel. “People
pay him wads of cash no matter what kind of advice he gives. Good or bad, he
still makes out like a bandit.” Danyel
thinks about it for a moment and says,“ This is true. But hey, don’t you have
your own consulting business? I believe I saw yours, and Biggs’, services being
offered on your website. You offered career advice didn’t you?” “Ah…
Whoa hey, we gotta go now.” ---------------------------------------------- “This
is a grave situation my lady,” said Mystic Wizard. “I will gladly offer my
library to your husband if he thinks he can come up with a solution.” “I’m
glad we have an understanding,” said Diana cheerfully. “Indeed.
I fought in the Rikti war and lost many good friends. I don’t intend on doing
that again, let alone sit by while it happens again. For all of our sakes, I
hope we can find the solution for this puzzle. And if you need any help please
don’t hesitate to ask.” “Thank
you,” she said as Mystika entered the room. “Oh hi again!” “Hello,”
said Mystika. “Diana I’m afraid I have some bad news.” “That’s
no good…” “Indeed.
I just received word that there is a gang of highly dangerous super powered
villains on the loose.” “Supervillains?
Oh no! That’s bad! But we have Superheroes to take them on right?” “I’m
afraid that doesn’t cover it all. You see these Villains were described as
well. Two were identified with the names Kayain and Diana.” “What?!” “Kayain
was described as around, 6’4, muscular built, blonde, spiky hair, tan skin, and
gray eyes. Diana, well of course, tall, around 6’1, dark brown bobbed hair,
medium build, Caucasian, and blue eyes.” “That’s
crazy!” “Yes,
they said they form a group called the Vigilantes. Anyone associated with this
group is to contact authorities immediately or get help from the local heroes.” Diana
shook her head and slumped into a chair as she said,” This is sooo weird. I
mean what a coincidence that these villains have the same names and looks as my
group does. Talk about your crazy cosmic coincidences eh?” Mystika
looked at Mystic Wizard, who simply shrugged. “Diana,”
she said as simply as possible. “What I’m trying to say is someone put it in
that you are the villain! You and your entire team.” “Ooooh…
But what about those other guys pretending to be us? I’m sure they framed us.” Mystika
threw her hands in the air and said,” There is no one else! It’s just you!” “Peace,
Mystika,” said Mystic Wizard. “Diana, can you think of any reason this might
have happened?” “No!
I mean we helped out big time with the Winter Lords, and we helped kick behind
in the Rikti Crash zone… Picking off gangsters in the streets… Beaten the tar
out of a bunch of Crey thugs-“ “Crey?”
asked Mystika. “Yea
Crey. Master Wizard here knows about it.” “Indeed,”
he said. “I think it’s no coincidence that Crey fails at bullying by force, and
I believe they are trying to bully legally now. When it comes to Crey, they do
not forgive, and they do not forget. I have dealt with them before, and know they
are horrible people.” “I
know,” said Diana remembering how they tried killing her brother just for
defending Ami. “So they got us on Paragon’s most wanted as Supervillains eh? I
think I need to let my team know about this.” “Let’s
hope they aren’t on the streets right now,” said Mystic Wizard. ---------------------------------------------- “It
is not ridiculous!” said Kayain. “The Cure for the Common Breast is a
legitimate business I just made up, and we’re going to find that cure no matter
what!” “Kayain,”
said Cherry as she shook her head. “You don’t know the first thing about
research, let alone something as loony as that.” “I
could learn! Come on, you’re always bringing me down, why not a little
encouragement for this?” “Because
it’s silly! There is no big boob super heroine gene!” “Ah
but it really doesn’t make sense any other way now does it? I mean why is it superheroines
are always hotties with huge boobs?” “I
don’t know! They’re not related most of the time so why would it be genetic?” “I
intend on finding out!” Janet
whispered to “It
gives them satisfaction,” she said with a slight smile. “That’s
weird.” “You’d
have to know their history, it’s esoteric,” she said as she suddenly frowned. “Danger.
I can feel it.” The
door to the elevator opened and they found that F.S.B.A. agents surrounded
them, each with their weapons drawn. “Freeze!
Don’t move!” said one of them. “Put your hands on your head, and step slowly
out of the elevator!” Quick
as lightning, Kayain grabbed Janet around the neck and said,” Hold your fire!
I’ve got a hostage! I’ll snap her neck if any of you fire!” Taken
completely by surprise, she says quietly,” What are you doing?” He
whispers,” Play along. I won’t harm you, I give my word.” Janet
nods as Cherry says,” You’d better do what he says, this man’s a regenerator,
and if you shoot him he won’t die.” They
seemed to consider this as the same man says,” Easy now, we don’t want her to
get hurt, but you are clearly surrounded, with no chance of escape.” “Clearly,”
said Danyel. “ You people don’t know what it means to mess with an Archmage.” Danyel’s
eyes begin to glow as a thick lair of smoke begins to rise from the floor. The
officers began to cough and scatter as the smoke clouded the room. Cherry took
the opportunity to press the elevator button to go back up. Kayain
let go of Janet and said,” What the hell was that about?!” “I
don’t know!” said Janet. “What did you do?” “And
so it begins,” said Cherry as she leaned against the wall with her arms
crossed. “It’s Crey. They got our message, and this is how they respond. I
wouldn’t doubt if we’re on the most wanted list at the moment.” “That
couldn’t have happened already,” said Janet. “I just got an updated list this
morning of the most wanted, and you guys weren’t on it.” “It
was probably just barely getting through,” said Cherry. “Someone here must have
reported us.” “Damn
them!” said Kayain as he punched the wall. “Those lying, filthy weasels! And
where’s “She
went into the smoke,” said Danyel. “She’ll be our eyes of the activities down below.” Janet
pushes a button to stop the elevator on the top floor, and they all rush to the
rooftop. A
message from the communicator came out,” Hey everyone! It’s me, Diana! Hey, I
just got word that somehow we’ve become wanted criminals!” Cherry
said,” Yes Di, we found that out just a while ago ourselves.” “Oh
you did?” she said sounding a little disappointed. “This stinks don’t it?” “You
have no idea.” “Well
anyway, stay safe, cause we’re wanted now. Oh and another thing, be on the
lookout for some imposters that look like us. I’m out.” The
team heard the sound of some lady in the background saying,’ Aye-yi-yie!’ “Did
everyone hear that?” Cherry broadcasted to the entire team. “Yes,
I was aware of that as well.” Said Tylar. “That’s
awful!” said Ami. “Roger
that,” said “At
least it’s nice to be popular,” said Kat. “That
sucks! I must meditate on this,” said Solo. “We
all copy that up here,” said Valentine. “And when you get time, we need to talk
about something important sis…” “How
important?” asked Cherry. “About
300 Matronian battleships worth of importance.” “What?!”
said Cherry as she looked pale suddenly. “Battleships? Here? We’ve got a
situation down here! This is not what we need… Vi, can you handle that
for a while?” “Yea
sure,” said Valentine. “Maybe I’ll ask them over for a cup of tea…” “Vi…” “I’ll
handle it sis, don’t worry. I’ll talk to you after a while.” Cherry
sighs and says,” It’s just one thing after another. Someone should really be
writing my life down.” Kayain
grins broadly as Cherry says,” Except you.” They
look down and see more people entering the building. “Danyel,”
said Cherry. “We need to buy more time, disable the elevator. Kayain, help me
jam the door.” Danyel
approached the elevator and the doors opened for him, exposing the wiring. He
rubbed his chin a moment and decided to freeze all the gears on top. The
machine groaned as all the components froze up completely. Cherry
and Kayain went to the service staircase to jam it. Kayain knocked off the
handles, and Cherry psionically locked it and placed a barrier on it. “Good,
we have a bit of time now,” said Cherry. “Vi, come in. What’s going on up
there?” “We
counted approximately 800 Matronian Battleships headed this way,” said
Valentine. “I’m going to try and establish contact with whoever’s in charge.
They are probably in pursuit of the rikti like we were.” “A
fleet that big will cause worldwide panic here. Tell them of our situation, and
what needs to be done. If at all possible, tell them to stay out of it because
we’ll handle it. No charge.” “Roger
that sis… You guys will be ok out there by yourselves?” “We’ve
handled worse. Please handle this situation.” “All
right, but if anything happens while I’m away-“ “We’ll
be out of communication range. Don’t worry so much about us,” said Cherry as
they heard blasting noises on her psi barrier. “Please don’t make me worry any
more than I am now. Cherry out.” “Everyone
have your jump suits on?” said Cherry as she looked toward the rest of them.
They nod as she looks toward Janet and says,” Sorry you had to get involved.
We’ll get to the bottom of this.” “Are
you going to leave me here?” she asks. “Let me help you out. If this is Crey
influence, I need to work this out as well.” Cherry
shakes her head and says,” No, we need your help from over here. Here, take
this communicator and keep in touch. I don’t to ruin your reputation for this
case. We’re only visiting this city, so we don’t mind.” “Yea,”
says Kayain. “We’ve been run out, banished, and chased by an angry mob out of millions
of cities. One more isn’t going to hurt our feelings.” “Indeed,”
says Danyel. “We have a way with people. Not a way that people like, mind you.” “All
right. I’ll help you however I can here. Just be careful. You’re wanted
criminals on the streets. So avoid contact with police as much as possible… Oh
and heroes as well. They may try and stop you-“ “HALT
VILLAIN!” said someone from behind. Everyone
turns around in time to see Lady Anubis and Gungir teleport behind them. They
take a few steps and then stop abruptly. Lady
Anubis says,” You? They told us there was a group of dangerous supervillains up
here.” “We
were on our way to Brickstown when we saw the commotion outside. The police
said there was supervillains up here with a hostage,” said Gungir, not lowering
his weapon. “Sometimes,”
said Kayain as he stretched his arms behind his head. “In the morning Cherry
gets as mean as a supervillain. And I definitely feel like a hostage. Does that
count?” Cherry
elbows him in the stomach and says,” We’re not villains, we’ve been set up by
Crey Corp. We’ve got something of theirs and they want it back. Please, we mean
no harm.” Gungir
glances over to Lady Anubis who shrugs and says,” What is it you possess that
would make Crey Corporation do this to you?” “Our
friends ingested a Crey developed nano-robot that can kill the host if they so
desire.” “It’s
true,” said Janet. “I’ve seen it.” “Who
are you?” asked Lady Anubis. Janet
shows her badge and says,” Janet Kellum. F.B.S.A. Investigator. I’ve found
evidence that they are telling the truth. These people are being set up.” “I
will be the judge of that,” said Lady Anubis as she frowned and stared at
Kayain. He
was beginning to see a pattern whenever he met serious minded women. Somehow
and some way he could make them all frown just by looking at them. Lady Anubis
stared unblinking into his eyes. And
into his soul. At
this point, Kayain knew how to react. Cherry did the exact same thing when she
wanted answers. Years of experience taught him only to stare back like an
idiot. “All
right,” said Lady Anubis finally looking away. “I believe you.” “Humm,”
said Gungir as he put his sword away. “If Lady Anubis believes you, than so do
I.” “Thank
you,” said Cherry. “We need to hurry to Gaffnet Consulting right away. Crey is
going to kidnap someone, and we need to get there before they do.” Kayain,
and Cherry activate the Jump Suits and make their escape. “A
consulting firm?” asks Lady Anubis as she looks at Danyel. “Isn’t the same as
saving the bad guys?” ---------------------------------------------- “What’s
taking those heroes so long?” asked the Captain. “Were they defeated?” “We
don’t know sir,” said an officer. “We just received word that there was no one
on the roof but Janet Kellum. She is being questioned at the moment sir.” “All
right. Get the rest of the men and search the entire building. And have someone
turn off the fire alarm. That smoke inside the buildings set off the sprinkler
system.” Now
dressed in S.W.A.T. attire, she approached the chief and said,” Captain, sir!
Important call for you! I think it’s the fugitives.” “Where?”
he said. “It’s
on our phone, Dispatch is putting us through,” she said as she led him and the
officer to the van. The
Captain gets in the back where the equipment is and gets on the phone. “This
is Captain Terrance. Hello?” The
officer reacts quickly, drawing his weapon, but She
slams it shut and rushes to the driver’s seat. She locks the door and then goes
to grab the Captain. She throws the Captain into the passengers side seat,
straps the seat belt on and melts the buckle into the apparatus with her energy. The
officer who was thrust out gets up, dazed a bit, and rushes over to the driver
side door and starts banging on the handle. “Open
up! In the name of the law!” he yells. She
starts the engine, blows him a kiss, and takes off. The
cops begin the chase as soon as she hits the streets. She swerves avoiding
traffic, not really knowing where she’s going, but trying to prevent accidents
as much as possible. The
Captain begins to wake up and “What…”
he said, still dazed. “Wha- Who… Where? What’s going on?” “Sorry
Cap’n Crunch. I had to take you with me.” “You!
Who are you?” “Just
call me Gina.” “And
why can’t I move?” “Your
seatbelt locks when I drive like this. Sorry.” “What
do you want?” “Just
a few minutes of your time is all.” The
Captain’s negotiating instinct kicked in at this point and said,” Seeing as how
I’m being kidnapped I have no choice now do I?” “You’re
after me and my team,” she said. “Why?” “Your
names were on our most wanted lists. You’re being charged with theft, assault,
sodomy, and public indecency, and now resisting arrest and assault on an
officer.” “That’s
quite an impressive force you have there to take down little ol’ me.” “You’re
super powered individuals. We know better.” “Flattering,”
she said exiting the freeway. “Next question. Who filed these charges?” “You
should know already, you assaulted them.” “Just
answer the question.” “The
charges were from the Countess Crey herself. She intends on defending her
people herself. They reported that you have something of theirs that you
refused to give back. When they asked for it, you assaulted their
representative, and his associates. Then you humiliated them in public. I think
those are good enough charges to bring you in.” “No
doubt,” said “All
right,” he says, trying to unbuckle his seatbelt, but finds it welded shut.
“I’ll keep that in mind. What are you planning on doing now?” “Personally
I plan to escape after I’m done here. I mean they’re not going to shoot the
vehicle or make it crash cause you’re here. I’ll let you go when I’m done,
promise.” “I
think you’re underestimating the problem here-” “So
are you. Next question, do you personally trust Crey?” The
Captain hesitated before he said,” No. But I don’t trust you as well. But my
orders are absolute. Perhaps we can work something out?” “Afraid
not Captain. We’re doing this our way. And we don’t intend to get involved in
court, or in any legal system in any way. We’re only visiting after all.” “You
can’t escape the law.” “I
believe we can. That’s why we’re still alive today. But I guarantee you
Captain, we will bring you evidence to prove how rotten Crey is, and what we’ve
been doing to prevent it.” “That
may be, but even if Crey has been plotting evil, you’ve still kidnapped
me, and assaulted an officer.” “Oh
don’t be so winy, I didn’t hit you that hard. And besides, how often do
you get to say you were swept off your feet by a beautiful, perky, red-head?” “My
wife’s a red-head.” “Figures.
Well we’re definitely guilty of some things, but we’re small timers compared to
what Crey is cooking up.” “You
keep mentioning a Crey plot. I want to talk about what you know about Crey.” “All
right. But first, what do you know about them?” Again
he hesitates before he says,“ A very bad experience. They’re untouchable, and I
doubt I can do anything about it either. That’s besides the point at the
moment.” “Well
Crey has a hold on us as well. They’re using nano-technology to manipulate my
teammates,” she said as she enters a different highway. “They have the ability
to kill my teammates at any time. The only reason they haven’t is because my
friends have valuable research data on them that they need alive.” “Do
you have evidence?” “Captain
I swear, even if I have to break into the police department and hand deliver
it, I will bring you evidence… Heh, that did not come out as good as I hoped.” He
nods and says,” I’m going to hold you to that. You realize though that I’m
still going to have to hunt you down?” “Ah
yes. You men, always fired up by the thrill of the hunt. Oh, and speaking of
that, one last request…” “What
is it?” “I
know it’s a long-shot but… Can I get the phone number of that handsome officer
you were with?” “He’s
married.” She
sighs and says,” Story of my life. Oh well, this is your stop…” Just
in time, she avoids twenty armed officers running up to the vehicle with their
weapons drawn. “She’s
a super. She can turn invisible,” said the Captain. “Get the thermal goggles
and find her.” ---------------------------------------------- Cherry
checked a map on her holographic PDA for Gaffnet Consulting. “Thanks
again for coming along,” said Danyel to Lady Anubis and Gungir. “We’re
heroes,” said Gungir. “We’ve always got to help those in need.” “Yea,
and besides,” said Kayain. “As a prestigious, Gold Member of the Kayain Fan
Club, you’re not allowed to attack me. It says so in the rule book.” “Oh
yea… About that, I’ve been meaning to say-” “Prestigious?
What is this, ‘fan club’ of which you speak?” asks Lady Anubis. “And how did
you get so much prestige and rank that I did not?” “It’s
not that complicated Lady Anubis. He inducted me into his inner circle of
friends, with something called a gold membership. Something about bonuses,
discounts, and other silly stuff.” “It’s
not that simple man!” says Kayain. “It’s a very top notch group that only the
most important people are in! I have a huge list of names of all these people
with high status… and a god apparently.” Lady
Anubis thought about this for a moment. She looked toward Gungir and said,” It
must be very important if an anthropomorphic weapon such as yourself is in it.
And it’s run by the Vindicator himself. Am I in this so-called Fan club?
Because if it’s only for very important people then I must already be in it.” “Well
no, you’re not in it.” “I
see. Gungir, did it not occur to you that I might want to be a part of this
inner circle? Did it also not occur to you that this is a ‘Fan Club,’ and we
should probably analyze the meaning of these words? The fan is an old symbol of
royalty and nobility in most monarch societies. And a club is a mere blunt
object used for bashing people’s head in. And if we look at the history, the
Chinese used specially made fans as weapons. Did the meaning of the word ‘fan
club’ escape the depths of your mind so you would not understand the true
meaning is in reality a high and mighty society of leaders?” “What?!”
said Gungir as he tried to gather everything Lady Anubis had said. “That’s not
what it is at all! When I met him he just asked to make me a member of his own
group of friends. It’s nothing more than that.” “You
offered him a membership, and not me?” asked Lady Anubis. “Why not?” Kayain,
seeing where this was going, smirked and said,” I had only one space at the
time, and he insisted that it be him. He really didn’t mention you at
all.” She
frowned at Gungir and said,” Oh so now I’m not important enough to be
mentioned?” “No!
I didn’t say anything like that!” “Obviously.” “I
mean it was very much on the spot, and I didn’t have much of a choice.” Kayain
whispers very loudly to Lady Anubis,” You see what I have to put up with? It’s
hard to be me.” She
shakes her head disapprovingly at Gungir and says,“ Then what you should
have done was send him to me.” She
looks toward Kayain,“ Unlike him I would have been honored to join a mighty and
prestigious group with the Vindicator.” “Yea,”
said Kayain. “What she said.” “Now,
it just looks like you have a higher status than me with your golden membership
card.” “I’m
not getting through am I?” said Gungir, giving up. “That’s
the thing about human bodies,” said Danyel casually. “It’s like a mold. If you
fill in the mold you take the likeness in every way. Doesn’t matter who you
were before it, you’re now subject to all the functions, hormones, and emotions
of one.” Gungir
hesitated a bit and whispered to him,” I probably shouldn’t say this, but Lady
Anubis is experiencing one of those times in females… something about the
maternal cycle…” “PMS?” “I
think that’s it.” “Sucks
to be you.” “I
heard that!” says Lady Anubis. “And now I demand entry to your fan club
or I unleash the fury of a thousand hells upon you all!” “Well,
look at that,” says Kayain looking at his own PDA. “We’ve got another opening,
would you like that one?” “Yes!”
says Lady Anubis as she raises her fists in the air. “When do I get my high and
mighty ranks that I deserve?” “Whoa
there slugger, hold on,” said Kayain. “You at least need three thousand points
for that.” “How
do I obtain these three thousand points?” “Well,”
he said with a huge grin. “It usually takes a couple of purchases of gear, but
for you, I can give you the gear and count it to your points. Only
because it’s you.” “Ah,
a wise decision. How many points until I receive the rank of divine leader of
all that is?” “Oh,
like ten thousand points or so.” “Excellent…” “Yea,”
said Kayain. “I’ll get you a start up package after all this, if little
miss-direction over there can ever find this place we’re looking for.” “And
since this is a Fan club, when do I receive my fan? And what kind of fan will
it be? A Chinese war fan, or the ones used for Royalty? Personally, I would
prefer the war fan.” After
hearing all of the goings on, Cherry refused to participate in the conversation
in any way. Danyel
leans against the wall next to her and says,” Kayain just recruited two, count
em’, two god beings into his little fan club today. That means two
deities buying his product, and in such is like a form of idol worship to him.
It’s funny when you put things in perspective like that.” Cherry
glances at him with a look that says,’ I don’t care.’ “Yup,”
he continues. “So what did you do today?” ---------------------------------------------- Howard
Quigley saved his document he was typing and turned off his computer. Nothing
quite like unpaid overtime,
he thought. Not to mention the small and hopeless chance for promotion. I
love my work. He
packed up his things and realized he was the only one left in the office. Well
me and the security guard at least,
he thought. Gaffnet
Consulting was only open till 6, and most of the workers had more important
things to concern themselves with rather than deadlines. Quigley could at least
say he was a hard worker. Unfortunately
Quigley still retained the illusion that this would help him get a promotion in
the corporate world. He
walked toward the elevator when suddenly the power went out. He stood and
waited for the auxiliary power to turn on. When it did, he continued toward the
elevator, but thought better of it during a power outage. Instead
he grumbled a bit and went to the stairs. Once inside he heard voices, and the
sound of people running up the stairs. He looked down, a bit surprised that so
many people had been working this late. He saw many uniformed Crey security
guards rushing up the stairs armed with guns. Panicking
he ran back upstairs and into his office where he called security. “Hello?”
someone answered. “Is
this security?” “Yes
it is, how can I help you?” “Thank
God… This is Howard Quigley on the 20th floor. I need help! There’s a bunch of
armed men who came in through the fire escape! You need to call the police-“ “The
20th floor you say Mister Quigley? That will make things easier.” “What?!
Who is this?” “Your
employer.” “Then
DO SOMETHING! They’re coming this way.” “Humm.
Then I recommend waiting there politely.” “They’re
going to find me!” “Well
that’s the point. But call me if anything changes, he he.” “Dear
God…” he said, hanging up. He
attempted dialing an outside line, but instead found only static on the other
line. Damn, he thought. What a day to
forget my cell phone in the car… Wait! Maybe I can signal help through the
Internet! Quigley
turned back on his old and out of date computer when he heard banging on the
emergency door. Come
on you piece of trash computer! Load faster! NO I DO NOT WANT TO ENTER SAFE
MODE, NOW LOAD UP! He looked over his shoulder to see if they had broken in, and looked back down to see another error that always pops up at the startup of his computer. Apparently someone installed a crummy anti-virus software in his computer that the makers of his OS made. When he uninstalled it for a superior program it caused many errors, lock ups, an incomplete uninstallation, and an impeding error message that he can’t seem to get rid of during startup. Curse
you Microsoft! If these men kill me I’m coming back to haunt you all! Too
late, the men had already broken in when the desktop had finally loaded up.
Canceling the ‘critical updates’ that always pops up no matter what, he clicks
to find the Internet connection has been severed. “Quigley!
Come out!” he hears one of them say. “We need to talk Quigley.” Howard
creeps out as quietly as he can, hoping they wouldn’t walk his direction. He
creeps toward the other elevators, having no other choice of escaping. He
cowers a bit as he calls for the elevator, hoping they wouldn’t hear it until
he safely gets inside. The
elevator dings signaling it’s arrival, and as it opens, a hand is thrust out
and grabs him by the throat. The person inside the elevator lifts him up by the
neck and tosses him into a cubicle. Howard
coughs and gags as he tries to get up, and receives a boot in his stomach for
trying. “Well,
well Mister Quigley,” said someone in a business suit from behind. “I have to
say, I love your new job. Unfortunately, consulting is old evil. Efficient, but
old.” “Who…
Are… You…” he said gasping for air. “Your
employers from Crey.” “I
don’t… I don’t work… for you anymore… leave me alone!” “Apparently
you didn’t read your contract very well did you? Employees are not allowed to
take Crey learned knowledge or skill with them to outside employment.” “What?
There’s… no way you could… do that…” The
man leans down and says,” Now that’s where you’re wrong Mister Quigley. I
believe you are familiar with our re-education facility, yes?” Howard
was indeed familiar. He had heard stories of people going in, and coming out
different. Never the same as they used to be, but only obsessed with Crey. “No!
You can’t do this to me!” “You’re
forgetting who you work for Mister Quigley. We own you! We own this
whole stinking city! Now are you going to come like a good underling or do we
have to make you come?” Right
then, they heard the elevator begin to come back up. The agents drew their
weapons and looked toward the elevator as it beeped signaling it was going to
open. When they looked inside, they saw their own agents, beaten, bruised, and
thrown across the floor. “What
the,” said the suit. Suddenly
they began to feel clammy, then cold. One of them looked up and saw a thick
cloud forming right above them. “Quigley!”
said the suit as he picked him up by his collar. “What the hell are you doing?” Quigley
said nothing. He stared in horror as the cloud began to take form as a thick
black cloud with lighting flashing inside it. The
suit let him go and slowly backed away from the cloud, as the rest of the
agents slowly backed away. Quigley turned his head to the side and saw a reflection
of someone out the window. When
the cloud fully formed, a steamy mist began to surround the area. The cloud
rumbled with the sound of thunder, as the suit yelled,” It’s the capes!
Everyone, get em-“ He
was cut off by a bolt of lightning that struck him in the back, sending him
flying into the mist. The thundercloud rumbled again and prepared for another
strike as the rest of the goons ran toward the mist. Quigley
huddled into the corner next to the elevator, and heard yelling and gunfire
coming from inside the mist. A Paragon Protector came flying out of the mist
and was hit in the back with a thunderbolt. Several times, he saw a few guys
flying up toward the ceiling, smashing their heads on top, then falling back
down. After
a few seconds the sounds were over, and the mist began to clear. A very tall
woman stepped into view, holding two suits, one in each hand. She tossed them
both to the side and said,” Fear not mortal, we’ve come to help.” “Who
are you?” “Someone
who has very clearly saved your life. Now get up.” Another
woman stepped out of the clearing mist. This woman was substantially shorter
than the first one. The
woman said,” Howard Quigley?” “Yes…
are you guys heroes?” “Sort
of,” she said. “My name’s Cherry, and this is my team, the Vigilantes.” “Well
I’m not,“ started Gungir. “Hush!”
said Lady Anubis. “You’re part of the club now!” “We
heard that Crey was after you, and we came to find out why.” “Well
thanks for the help,” said Quigley. “I admit that I once worked for them. As a
matter of fact, I was the lead developer of their new OS CreyComp. And let me
tell you, we put together a pretty sweet machine.” “Never
heard of CreyComp,” said Cherry. “Well
it hasn’t been released yet because I quit the developing team.” “I
see. You carry many of their secrets and they don’t like that.” “Yea.
However we had many management foul ups. I needed specific vendors in order to
get specific codes for it, and our own internal monkeys went behind my back and
complained. Then my manager forced me to use them, and my vendors were pissed
because we broke a contract. While our monkeys produced big piles of stinking,
steaming, crap. I really don’t know why, but when I looked at the code they
were making, it all seemed so very wrong, as if they were doing it on purpose.
I took the code to my favorite contractor, Justine Kelley… The results were
surprising to say the least.” “What
was in the code?” “Embedded
in the code was a subliminal message interface. They were trying to use
hypnosis to get things they wanted, like Tax breaks for big businesses, buy
their products, and above all, be loyal to Crey.” Cherry
put her hands on her hips and said,” Humm. It seems we’re both in the same boat
Mr. Quigley. Crey’s got a hold on us as well. Perhaps we can help each other
out? Do you still have a copy of the code somewhere?” “Yes,
I do,” he said. “It’s at my house though.” “Good.
No doubt we’ll expect company there, so everyone be on guard.” ---------------------------------------------- “Yes,
yes, of course I can write virus for you. What kind?” asked Tylar. “It
doesn’t matter,” said Cherry over the communicator. “We’ll show you the code,
and you make the virus that destroys it.” “What
kind of destroy? Smash and grab kind, or smoldering crater, destroy?” “Keep
in mind these people tried to harm Ami.” Tylar
frowned and said,” Smoldering crater it is!” “There’s
a good boy,” said Cherry. “We’ll be getting back soon. Have you got your own
defenses set up?” “I
do indeed. I set up a temporary password at the door, but I’ll set it to our
usual password before you get here.” “Good.
We’ll be arriving home shortly. I’m bringing along a few guests as well. One of
them might have to stay with us until this whole thing calms down.” “All
right, I’ll see you when you get here.” Tylar
went back to his computer and began to prepare for writing a virus code. As he
typed away, Ami came into the room with two cups of coffee and put one down
next to him. “It
seems wherever we go, trouble follows,” said Ami as she took a drink. “It’s
always been like this ever since I started with your father.” “Some
things never change,” said Tylar not looking up. “But we chose this lifestyle
because we thrive in a chaotic environment. And personally, I like the freedom
I have with Cherry that the old cronies in “Yes,
but didn’t you leave for other reasons?” “Ethics,”
he said pausing to think for a second. “They believed in tampering with things
that I believed mankind should simply not.” “Cloning,
stem cells, and the other things they do right?” “That,
and one other thing…” “Matronian
research in Nano-Augmentations right?” Tylar
sighed and said,” Yes, that was the main thing. A combination of Cloning, and
using Matronians as guinea pigs. Did I tell you they wanted me to be the
one to be the lead researcher on the experiment with Jenna Ramirez?” “You
mean Jenna Williams now.” “Yes,
Dorian Williams’ estranged wife now.” “That
poor woman. I heard the stories about her.” “I
have no doubt they’re all true.” “That
gives me chills just thinking about what they did to her. Can’t say I blame her
entirely for going with Dorian though.” “Indeed.
I can’t say I approve of her actions of today, but I can understand why she did
what she did. All we can do is pray she comes to her senses.” Tylar
turned back to his work and continued while Ami sat thoughtfully in the chair
next to him. Tylar got up and began to look for a few components for a device
he had been working on that day. Ami
looked over and said,” Hey, uh, Tylar?” “Humm?” “Well,
we’re going to be here for a good long while, and, well, I just, uh, just
wanted to know if you wanted to… you know, finish up our game of chess, when we
have a bit of free time here?” “What?”
He said, trying not to look too happy. “Oh, oh, that.” “Yea,
but we could wait still.” “No,
no, I was quite looking forward to that.” “How
about in a nice café where the rest of the team won’t bother us like they
usually do.” “Oh,
capital idea! I’m sure we’ll have some free time soon, and I promise we’ll go.
But don’t be surprised when I beat you though, heh.” Ami
smiled playfully and said,” Oh we’ll see about that, heh.” Tylar
put down a small device and said,” Well all I need now is the code they’re
bringing and I can finish up this project.” “All
right, would you care to join me for a bit of a snack?” “Oh,
yes, I’d love you-“ There
was an awkward silence that filled the room. Even the computers began to blush
at that moment. Ami,
who had gone a shade of crimson, said,” W-what?” Tylar,
at that moment looked like a human thermometer about to burst. He looked at the
floor and said,” To… I-I said I’d love to…” The
machinery and computers instinctively went into sleep mode to avoid the
awkwardness that followed that moment. Just
in the knick of time, Kayain, once again saved the day by dropping Tylar’s
pants from behind. Luckily for Tylar, his underwear wasn’t included this time. Tylar
froze in horror as Ami turned away. He quickly reached and picked his pants
back up and shook his finger at Kayain as he said,“ GAAA! You! You you’re nothing
but a stinking pile of-“ “Yea,
yea,” said Kayain still chuckling. “I saved the day again. You can thank me
later.” “Thank
you? Why-“ “You’re
welcome.” “No!
You’re an arsehole!” “It
was a bit funny,” said Danyel. “Tylar,”
said “I
don’t know what you’re talking-“ He stopped and said,” Wait! How the hell did
you get past my defenses?!” Kayain
shrugged and said,” Bah, it was Cherry actually. She knew your password.” “It
wasn’t that hard,” said Cherry. “I reasoned out all other possible passwords
and decided on one.” “Ami
Thomas,” said Kayain. Seeing the look on Tylar’s face he added,“ That’s just
what Cherry said.” Cherry
merely shrugged as she realized Ami heard that because she was in the room a little
behind Tylar. Kayain, seeing them both turn the color of an apple, put Tylar in a headlock, and said,” It’s ok though, isn’t it fellas? He already confessed his love for her.” Kayain, using his mocking voice said,” ‘Oh Ami, I’d love you!’” “All
of you heard that?!” said Tylar. “Yea,
when I said it was funny that’s the part I meant,” said Danyel. “Really
Tylar, ‘I’d love you?’ That’s a bit corny if you ask me,” said “Our wittle Tywar is gwowing up” mocked Kayain. “All
right you slime balls, that’s enough,” said Cherry with a frown. “Tylar’s got
important work to do, and we don’t need you guys frustrating him. And it is not
funny to tease him about some stupid Freudian slip. Kayain let him go, now!” “Oh
all right,” he said, letting Tylar hit the floor. Cherry
hands Tylar the coding they retrieved from Howard Quigley’s house and says,”
Everything you need is on that. Make me a copy of that data and give it to Tylar
walked with Cherry as she went towards her room and said,“ I’ll get that done
as soon as I can… What are we going to do?” “We’re
going to dismantle the production lines, and destroy CreyComp and all the
copies of it completely. “But
if we want them to find them making the CreyComp devices, why dismantle them
first?” “Because
they will be shipped at 2 in the morning. There’s no time for it, because they
will have already been shipped out. They do have backup copies of the code, but
we’ll have stopped the immediate threat.” “And
will this get us out of trouble with the police?” “Hell
no! But this is also where you come in.” “Me?
What do I need to do?” “Hack
their database, and find all the files you need so we can send out the
CreyComp’s real objectives to everyone from the media, to the police.” “Ah,
and will that get us out of trouble?” “’Fraid
not Tylar. We get blamed for destroying the computers, and then people find out
why we did it, and we’ll definitely gain some credibility. That’s worth doing
don’t you think?” “Yes,
yes, of course. Even though the law doesn’t agree with us, we do what we can
don’t we?” Cherry
halfway stepped inside her room and said,” If we don’t then no one will.” Before
she went inside Tylar said,” Hey Cherry, uh, thanks again.” She
stopped and leaned on the door as she said,” For what?” “Just,
thanks for always sticking up for me around the guys.” She
smiles and says,” You’re still on about that? Come on now.” “I
know it’s corny, but really, we all respect you because of your ability to
handle situations well. Just thanks for being the voice of reason around
dunderheads like Kayain.” “Hey,
hey, that’s enough,” she said. “Now you’re going to make me blush… Look,
I’ve got to get changed now, and we’re on a time schedule. We can chit-chat
later.” “Too
right you are! I’m on it.” Cherry
shook her head and gently closed the door. She sat on her bed and waited a
moment before she said,” ‘I’d love you,’ HA! Oh my God that’s so embarrassing!” She
grabbed her pillow and laughed into it. ---------------------------------------------- Captain Terrance sat alone at his desk finishing up the last of his paperwork for the day. The day had been long and hard with the major incident at the FBSA headquarters. Normally it wouldn’t be his problem, but since they requested backup, there was a stack of paperwork for him to do now. He
knew there was much more work to do, but his wife had a planned evening out
with him. He had already pushed back the schedule several times, and she’d be
very disappointed if he canceled again. Nothing
was going to stop him at that moment. Except for the fact that a tall,
voluptuous, red head had suddenly appeared right in front of him. He
instinctively reached for his weapon and found it was gone. He looked up to see
her holding it and smiling. “Hate
to interrupt you,” she said. “But I have something you want.” “You!”
he said finally recognizing her. “You’re the one from the car! How did you get
in here?” “The
front door. Really, Captain, it wasn’t that hard when no one can see you.” “You
know you’re in a lot of trouble.” “Spare
me the lecture old man,” she says as she pulls out the ammo clip from the gun. “Old
Man?!” “Look,
I’m here like I promised with that evidence I was talking about against Crey.
Are you going to take it or not?” said He
stares at her for a moment, trying hard not to stare at the wrong places since
she was in a tight black body suit. “All
right, I did say I’d look at whatever you had to show me.” “My
eyes are up here Captain,” she says watching him quickly look back up. “I’m
just joking with you Captain. Here, take a look at this.” He
looks at the small device she hands him and says,” Ok, what am I looking for
here?” “This
is the coding for Crey’s new CreyComp OS. Imbedded in this is a subliminal
style of mind control. Now don’t look at me like that, I mean it! We’ve already
done the tests ourselves and found this to be true.” He
sighs and says,” Look, I want Crey taken down as much as you do but-“ “You’ll
be receiving more evidence in a while. The rest of the Vigilantes are on their
way to Crey’s facility to destroy the computers as we speak.” “They’re
what?!” “A
break-in and vandalize to Crey Corp. Shall I give you the address?” He
grits his teeth and rubs his temple as he says,” You couldn’t have picked a worse
time could you? I promised my wife a dinner tonight and you guys are going to
cause even more trouble.” “Oh,
this is quite a situation then isn’t it,” she said thoughtfully. “I have an
idea then. Does your wife have a cell phone?” “Yes,
but I don’t see what you’re-“ “Give
me yours. Call her and let me talk to her.” “Wait,
I can’t let you do that.” “Well
it’s either this, or in a few minutes you’re going to get called back because
of my teammates breaking in to a high security area. So you either let me talk
to your wife, or you can talk to her yourself and say you are canceling your
appointment because of another case… and she might question why a young-looking
red head was in your office after hours, if you catch my drift.” Terrance
stared at her and narrowed his eyes. He reluctantly dialed his wife’s phone
number, and handed it to her. The
phone rang a bit, and she answered,” Hello? John? You’d better not be calling
to cancel on me.” “Hello
Misses Terrance, I’m afraid John can’t make it to the phone right now.” “What?
Who is this?” “Ha
ha! Wouldn’t you like to know!” “What
are you doing?!” said Terrance through gritted teeth. “Where
is John?!” “John’s
all tied up at the moment,” said “I
don’t know who you are, but put John on the phone this instant!” “Oh?
You don’t want to talk to me? Well then, let me just remove the gag from his
mouth and you can say hi.” “I
can’t-“ “Grrr…
Vanessa?” “Oh,
John! What’s going on?” “I’ve
been, uh, kidnapped by the Vigilantes.” “What?!
You mean those thugs on the news?!” “Thugs?!”
said “I
need help, please, call the department and tell them-“ “I
don’t know who you think you are
missy, but if you dare harm him, I’ll GUT YOU LIKE A FISH, YOU HEAR ME?!” “Look…
At this moment you have two options. You can come with me and I will show you
everything you need to know to take Crey down. And in doing so, you will save
millions of people from an evil plot… Or, you could just arrest me now, and get
a few kudos for arresting someone in the name of Crey’s justice.” The
Captain seemed to be considering this for a moment. “I
don’t know,” he said. “I mean I can’t just go
with you guys just like that.” “Remember?
I’m kidnapping you. We can tell people I did it as a desperate attempt to
reveal the truth. You can deal with me as you like afterwards, arrest me or
whatever, but I want you to help us take down an even greater force before it
gets us all… Please Captain. Come with me and I will show you. I’ll prove to
you that Crey has been working on that piece of evidence I showed you.
Together, we can stop Crey and it’s twisted Countess. We can put her away for a
very long time, if you’ll just come with me.” “And
if you’re wrong?” “Then
you can arrest me. I’ll turn myself in, girl scouts honor.” The
captain rubbed his chin and said,” Ok, we have a deal then. You show me what
you need to, and if I’m not impressed, you’re going down.” “Agreed.” “Now
there’s the matter of my wife…” “Scary
woman isn’t she?” “Why
do you think I was so worried about missing my dinner date?” ---------------------------------------------- “Commander,
we’re being hailed,” said Communications officer Zander to Valentine. “Put
them through,” said Valentine. When
the main screen turned on, Valentine was staring right in the face of someone
she hoped she’d never had to encounter again. Admiral
Odo Trevorne. A brute of a man with a face and body to match. One of the first
things you’d notice about him was his eye. Eye, as in singular, because the
other eye was covered with an eye patch; something Valentine was very surprised
over. The
man regarded her with what seemed like malice, but said simply,” Oh, it’s just
you.” “Admiral,”
said Valentine as she nodded back. “It
seems as though you arrived before we did… Although truth be told, I did not
expect you to come, seeing as we strictly forbid
you to interfere with
Matronian affairs.” “Well
that’s an odd thing to say, Admiral. I don’t see Matronian flags hanging over
this planet, do you?” “Nevertheless,
they are in Matronian space, and are hereby our responsibility. You should
already know this.” “Yes,
yes, of course I do. I wonder though, if you’re
familiar with our policy on underdeveloped planets?” “I
am. And I was hoping you’d be able to provide information on the energy
signatures coming from it.” “We
do, Admiral,” said Valentine as she folded her hands together. “We need to talk
though. The situation here is very complicated, and I don’t want an incident.” “Fair
enough. Just give us any information we need and clear out of the way.” “That’s
not going to happen Admiral.” “Fine,
then we’re going in to find out ourselves.” “Damn
it Odo! For once in your ga-damn life will you please listen to me? I know
how you work things. I’ve had to stop you once before.” “You
don’t have to remind me,” he said as
he rested his hand on his eye with the eye patch. This
was followed by a short awkward pause. The kind of pause where all of the
listeners in on the following conversation suddenly go back to pretending to work
as if they weren’t really listening. “Look,”
he said. “I can arrange a meeting with the Admirals here so we can all get your
information at once. The last thing we want is an incident, so if you have
helpful information that can prevent one, we’re all ears. Well at least I am. Just tell us what you know, and
we’ll decide from there.” “But
do I have your word that you won’t move in close to this planet until we’ve
decided what to do?” He
sighed and said,” Yes, I promise we will not move in on this planet until we
know what we’re up against. I’ll set up the meeting for this evening. Please be
here promptly at 2700. Odo out.” Valentine
slumped back in her chair and rubbed her temple. She knew this was going to complicate
things, especially because they had History. The capital H said it all. The
door to the bridge opened, and in came Lead Engineer Ken, Valentine’s husband. “Vi,
what’s going on? I heard Odo was here.” News, she thought. Travels awful fast around here once it gets
out. “Yes,”
she said. “Hon, I hate to upset you, but Odo wants to meet with me this
evening.” He
looked skeptical and said,” Why?” “It’s
a meeting hon. He wants me to tell him and a bunch of other Admiral pricks
about the situation here.” “In
that case, I’m coming with you,” said Ken. She
regarded him for a moment, and smiled. Years of experience had taught her
better than to argue, so she said,” That’s fine, but you have to bring the
information with you. Just talk with officer Sommelier” “The
self proclaimed ‘god of wine’ dude?” Valentine
chuckled and said,” Yes, him. He’s always on top of things when it comes to
keeping our records.” “That’s
not all he’s been on top of,” he said quietly. Valentine
really had to hold back laughing at that one. Officer Sommelier was quite a
stud in her opinion. The man was sculpted like Kayain, and was almost never
seen without the company of several swooning women. “Anyway,”
said Valentine. “Let’s get ourselves ready. Because I already know this isn’t
going to be pretty.” ---------------------------------------------- Security
Chief Whitney was stuck on the sublevels of a Crey complex in “All
right ladies and gentlemen,” he began. “I don’t know how these people found us,
but in the name of our lady we need to protect these computers at all costs!
The shipment will be on time, and we will kill these intruders! “Yes
sir!” they all said. “Power
up as many power suits as you can, and get the Paragon Protectors out there!” “Uh
sir?” asked one. “What?” “We’ve
already done that sir. The Protectors are down, and so are the majority of our
suits.” “Oh…
Well then get the remaining suits then and we’ll push them back!” “Sir?” “What?!” “You’re
wearing the last suit we have.” “Oh…
Well then, instead we get our weapons and gather the men from the front and
rush them all at once!” “Heh…
Uh sir?” “What…” “They’ve
already taken the front… and everywhere else… they’re on their way to us now.” “Oh…
well then instead ladies and gents, we make our last stand here! Everyone get
as many weapons as you can!” “Yes
sir!” they all said. “Sir?” “What?!” “We’re
extremely limited on weapons. They already beat everyone with the heavy arms.” “Oh…well
what do we have?” “A
few pistols sir.” “And
that’s it?” “Allen
over there has a wrench.” “Is
that supposed to be a joke?” “No
sir, a bad coincidence more like.” “Ok
then,” said Whitney through gritted teeth. “Ladies and gents, we’ll make our last
stand equipped with our limited supply, and our wits.” “Um,
sir?” “WHAT
NOW?!” “Most
of these people weren’t hired for their ability to fight. They’re engineers.” “Ok
then, what would you suggest?” “I
wouldn’t rule out panicking and begging sir.” “Consider
my menacing glare…” “Right
you are sir! Inspiring speech! Last stand, here we come!” Suddenly,
they heard the elevator behind them ding, telling them someone was already
there. “Weapons
at the ready!” said Whitney. Everyone
drew their pistols and pointed at the elevator. A
solitary man stepped out casually. A costume clad hero, wearing black and
yellow, and lots of blond spiky hair. The
man looked up at them, adjusted his gloves and said,” Oh I’m sorry, I thought
we knocked already.” “FIRE!”
said Whitney. Simultaneously
they opened fire at him. The man twitched as the bullets rained on him. He soon
after fell down in a heap. “Did
we get him?” asked the guard. “Of
course we did, idiot!” said Whitney. “Go move the body out of the way!” “What,
me?” Whitney
lifts the man off the ground by his collar and says,” No stupid, I meant that other guy next to me… OF COURSE I MENT
YOU! NOW GET YOUR ASS OVER THERE!” “Y-yes
sir…” The
guard goes over to the crumpled hero, and sees something very odd. The hero’s
uniform wasn’t torn from bullet holes. And his face had a few droplets of blood
on it, but no wound marks. It was almost as if- “GAAAA!”
said the guard as the Hero shot up, grabbing his throat in one swift motion. The
fury in that man’s eyes, and his wild appearance was enough to make any lesser
man cower before him. Luckily
for the security guard, he fainted. Not before promptly soiling himself out of
the first surprise. Security
Chief Whitney sneered as he saw the hero toss the guard to the side and smile
arrogantly at him. “You
asshole,” said the Hero. “Blood stains are so hard to wash out. And seeing how
you didn’t spill my blood on this uniform, I guess I’ll have to spill yours
instead.” “Don’t
come any closer!” said Whitney. “Or
what? You’ll waste some more ammo on me? Come on now. You’ve got a better
chance of killing me by letting me trip in a pool of your blood.” “No!
Get away! Don’t just stand there! FIRE!” Again,
shots rang out, but suddenly there was yelling nearby. Whitney turned to the
side and saw an extremely tall lady holding up two guards by the neck as they
writhed in agony. “Have
at you!” said a voice from behind. Fast
approaching him was a man wearing simple robes inscribed with runes, and a very
big and nasty sword. Whitney
fired a beam of energy at the man, tearing into his arm. This only seemed to
upset the man further. The man delivered a very strong shot to Whitney’s head,
knocking off his helmet completely. Whitney
lost his balance from the blow, and fell over. The suit was very heavy, and Whitney
struggled to get up. He was stopped by the blonde spiky haired man, who stepped
on his suit. “Oh
no you don’t,” he said with a grin. The man quickly struck him with his palm
right in the face, stunning Whitney completely. He was picked up off the ground,
and slammed into the wall. The man struck him with his fists, and to Whitney’s
surprise, broke a hole into the suit. The
Hero lifted the helpless Whitney into the air, and power-bombed him. He then
stood over him, and continued to pummel him, right as another woman’s voice
cried out,” Ok Kayain, that’s enough!” “He
started it,” said Kayain. “I
don’t care who started it, I’m finishing it.” “Humph,”
said Kayain as he sneered to the halfway conscious Whitney. “You got lucky,
punk.” He
looked to the side and saw a petit woman with short black hair and red bangs.
What he was really looking at was her eyes. They worried him the most. He had
the feeling many men had gotten lost in her eyes, almost literally. “Mister,
your operation ends now. You can cooperate with us and be sent home as a
prisoner, or refuse us and get sent back as a corpse.” “I
couldn’t help you lady,” he said truthfully. “I was only here for security, and
I don’t know nothin’.” “Ah,
but that’s where you’re wrong,” she said. “You know names. That’s good enough
for me.” “I
won’t betray the countess!” “She’s
one scary woman isn’t she? But believe me, she’s nowhere near as scary as I can
be…” “You
wouldn’t do anything to me! You guys are heroes!” “Have
you seen the news lately? Apparently we’re super villains now for doing
something very naughty with someone’s anus.” “That
won’t work on me! Besides, my lead engineer is probably miles away in our
secret escape route! I told him to- Oh. My. God…” The
lead engineer and his specialty crew came around the corner at that moment,
looking very scared. “Mister
Whitney?” called out the Lead. “Hello? Where did you go? And what did you mean
by ‘to the escape pods’? I’m the lead engineer on this project and I should
know that we don’t have- Oh… hello.” “Shit.” “Oh
Yes, Indeed!” “Love
the kind of people you have working here,” said the woman. “Sleep now.” Whitney
fell instantly unconscious. “Oh
no!” said the Lead. “You’re the intruders!” “That
we are sir,” said Kayain. “No,
no! Stay back or.. or.. or I’ll scream! I mean it!” Kayain
lifted the man on his shoulders as a very high pitched and girly scream rang
out across the hallways. ---------------------------------------------- “I
think, Captain, it would have been a very good idea if you’d have just told me from the start that your wife
was a super powered heroine.” “I
know,” said the Captain as he looked in the rear view mirror. “I forgot
completely about the small tracking device she installed on my cell phone in
case I ever did get kidnapped. She
has many enemies.” “She’s
flying above us.” “Great.
What powers does she have by the way?” “Oh,
you know… super strength, invulnerability, flying, super speed.” “Laser
eyes?” “No.” “Laser
nipples?” “What?” “Never
mind.” “I
doubt your car could outrun her, why am I not torn in half at this moment?” “We’ve
got at least 9 more payments on this car. She’s probably waiting until after we
get out of the car, instead of tearing the car like a wrapper and chewing you
like gum.” “Right.
Well it’s either face her, or the dozen police cars she got to follow us.” “Have
you got any more bright ideas missy?” “Just
one, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it… Hand over your cell phone.” “Why?” “Just
do it! You said you’d cooperate with me.” “Fine,
here. Just be careful-“ “Why
did you do that?!” “Now
keep an eye on me, because I’m about to bend light around you.” “What
did you do?” “It’s
my energy frequency. You’re matching it at the moment and completely invisible
to anyone else around you.” “Oh,
so you can hide other people as well?” “I
try not to let that be known thank you very much.” “Get
ready to get out of the car and run,” she said. “Follow me please.” The
car came to a halt, and they got out as quickly as possible. The cops stopped
and yelled at the car, completely ignoring them as they walked by. They
walked next door to a nearby apartment complex called Vance Apartments, and
went to the reception area. “Ah,
good. We’re at the right place.” “Where
are we?” “At
a friend’s house… Oh we need to buzz in. Hello?” “Yea whaddaya want?” said the voice on
the intercom. “I’m
looking for a Miss Janet Kellum, in room 409.” “Just a second…” A
second voice said,” This is Kellum, talk
to me.” “Janet,
it’s “Yea, sure. Come on in. Elevator’s directly
to your left, and my place is the second door to your left.” Janet
buzzes them in and they hurry to her room. “M’
shorry. Eh wash gettinh reahy for beh,” said Janet with her mouth full of
toothpaste. “No,
no. Don’t worry about it. Finish up and we’ll show our guest what we know
already.” “Capn’
Kerrahs? Wha ah you doink ere?” “I’m
here on business madam,” said the Captain. “ “Ah,
lehmeh geh drehsd.” Janet
goes back to the bathroom as “I
hope not. She hasn’t said anything.” Janet
comes back after a few minutes wearing sweat pants and a tee shirt. She shakes
the Captain’s hand and says,” So I see she dragged you here to shove our
evidence in your face.” “Yes,
well your friend is a very interesting lady,” said the Captain. “The
whole team is,” she said heading toward the kitchen. “Now, can I offer you guys
a drink?” “Nothing
for me thanks,” he said. “Just
a soft drink if you have one,” said Janet
came back and tossed “That
is good news. Will that be enough to
convict her?” “In
my book it is. I’m just waiting for the thumbs up from HQ. I assume this is why
you brought the Captain himself?” “Yup.
Why don’t we get him up to speed on what’s going on?” “In
a minute. I want to show you something that your team just sent me…” ---------------------------------------------- “Nice
work Tylar,” said Cherry. “I don’t know how you found all this, but this is
great!” “Thank
you,” said Tylar. “I always pride myself for doing the best I can.” “Sooo…”
said Kayain. “What is he doing?” “Well
my simple minded brother, it’s like this,” he said, while cracking his
knuckles. “I hack the database for all details on the CreyComp’s specs and
details. In addition I find all the hidden data that could take them all down.
All the stuff that supposedly ‘doesn’t exist’ is all here and accounted for.
What I did was sent it out to everyone from the police, to the media. When they
get sight of where it came from, they’ll be all over this place.” “Wow,
that is pretty good bro,” said
Kayain. “And nowhere in this plan of yours does it involve you saying,’ I’d
love you’ to Ami.” “Shutup,”
said Tylar through his teeth. “The virus has been planted, so we should have
set them back for at least 3 or 4 months.” “Excellent,”
said Cherry. “Now the next thing to do is to erase the data here at this
facility.” “No
problem. I’ll do that here, and if you would be so kind as to work at that
terminal there?” “All
right… Hey Kayain, I need some help.” “Hua?”
said both Kayain and Tylar. “I
need you to go over to that computer over there and do me a favor, ok?” “Uh,
I’m really not that good with computers, babe.” “Please?
I’ll have sex with you if you do.” “Ah-ha
ha ha ha. Very funny… wait, seriously?” Cherry
smiled. “Yea
sure,” she said. “But that’s only if you like the French maid outfit I’m going
to make you wear after that. And speaking of being my personal slave, once you
loose, I promised Tylar I’d lend you out as a human table.” Kayain
sneered and said,” Just tell me what you want…” “It’s
a simple request, really. Just go over there to that computer and I want you to
try and find the minesweeper game.” “Yea,
sure. No problem babe. I can totally
do that.” Kayain
walked to the other side of the room and Tylar eyed her suspiciously. “Ok,
what was that about?” he asked. “You
said you wanted to erase everything on these computers right?” “Yea,
so?” “I
just gave Kayain free reign on a computer terminal. At this moment I consider it
the unluckiest computer in the world.” Kayain
wasn’t just incompetent with technology, there was a very mutual hate between
them. ‘Kick it till it works’ is Kayain’s motto on working technology. As far
as he was concerned, technology went so far as to plot against him. There was
definitely something premeditated about the way that when he uses something it
never works, but bring it to the mechanic, and it works just fine until he
leaves again. Humm, thought Kayain. This defiantly doesn’t look like minesweeper. What’s all this garbage?
I hope ‘formatting’ is the same as ‘looking for minesweeper’. Damn, there’s
that ‘any key’ button I need to look for… Maybe I can trick the machine like I
usually do by pressing the space bar. Ha! I knew it. I’m smarter than the
machine… What’s this now? “Hey
guys,” said Kayain. “I think I did something I shouldn’t have.” “See?”
said Cherry. “Right on cue.” “I’m
seeing this picture here of the Countess, and she keeps morphing into a
weasel.” “Oh
really?” says Cherry. “How’d you do that?” “The
‘Katrul’ button and the ‘ahlt’ and the O at the same time.” “Control
alt O,” says Tylar. “By Jove he’s right. Must have been something from Mister
Quigley.” “Hey
guys,” said Kayain. “I think I really
messed something up.” “That’s
nice Kayain,” said Cherry, waving her hand dismissively. “Keep looking, I’m
sure you’ll find it eventually.” Cherry
gets a signal on the communicator, and she answers,” This is Cherry.” “Hey
sis,” she hears “That’s
great news!” says Cherry. “And
not only that, he’s reading the section on us, and how they paid off the judges
to order our arrest. It’s got names and everything. How did you get all this?” “You
have Tylar to thank for that. He found everything.” “Awesome
job Tylar. I think I owe you a kiss don’t I?” “Oh…
no, no, no,” said Tylar. “You’re embarrassing me… Well perhaps a small one.” “And
there’d better be some tongue in it,” said Kayain in his mock Tylar voice. He
grabbed Tylar’s communicator and said,“ And while you’re at it, why don’t you
flash me your puppies?” “Heh,
heh,” said “Sweet!” “Anyway,” said Cherry as she snatched
away the communicator and handed it back to Tylar. “What has Janet said?” “She
says we will definitely have a case now,” said “I
hope this goes over well,” said Tylar. “It
will,” said Cherry. “It has to.” “Hey
guys,” said Kayain. “Yes
Kayain?” said Cherry as she turned around. Behind her was Kayain sitting on a
chair next to a pile of charred remains. “I
know I was supposed to be looking for minesweeper, but things got a little
complicated see?” “Go
on…” “Well
first I somehow erased everything on the computer…” “Dear
me, that sounds bad.” “Yea,
and uh, anyway, next I somehow managed to make the computer set itself on
fire.” “On
fire you say? I didn’t know a computer could set itself on fire.” “I
didn’t either. But it did manage to put a big picture of a middle finger on it
before it melted away.” “You
certainly have a way with computers don’t you?” “Yea
so… I’m not in trouble am I?” “No,
no, no, far from it. I can forgive you this
time, just don’t let it happen again, ok?” “Really?
Phew, I thought I was in trouble or something… so… You still wanna have sex?” “Sorry,
you didn’t actually find the minesweeper, so no.” “Aaaww!” After
a few minutes of silence, “All
right!” said Cherry. “This means we’re in the clear as far as the law goes.” “Yea,
and he says that we are allowed to
bring her in. Just a little added bonus for all our troubles.” “Sweet!”
said Kayain. “Payback’s a bitch, and I’m top dog there.” “Yea
I know, this is going to be-“ The connection was suddenly interrupted by a loud
crash noise “-Uh oh… No! WAIT! AAAHH!” ---------------------------------------------- Misses
Terrance busted through the wall and headed straight for “Ack!
You’re making a big mistake!” said “No!
YOU made the mistake when you ruined
my dinner plans! You know how hard it is to get a reservation at the “I’m
really sorry about that-“ “You
villains are all alike! You don’t care about anything but yourselves! You
selfishly steal that which is most precious to someone else and everyone has to
suffer for it!” “Again,
I’m really sorry but… Oh God we’re very high up…” She
pulled “Heights
don’t bother me…” “Maybe
if I were to drop you, you’d change your mind?” “Falling
doesn’t scare me,” she said defiantly. She looked down and said quietly,” But landing
does.” “Ha!” “Lady,
I didn’t really kidnap your husband…
it was all pretense madam! I only did it to get him to come with me to that
hotel with Janet and, oh shit-“ Misses Terrance’s face twisted in rage at that
point “Boy, that could have been worded better- WAIT! Don’t drop me! I can
explain!” “You’ve
got five seconds!” “I
brought him there so we could nail the Countess Crey at- SHIT! NO!” She
let go of “Gina!
Come in! This is Terrance!” he said over the communicator. “A
little busy at the moment! I’m about to become pavement in a few seconds!” She
plummeted faster and faster, and when she was close to hitting the road, she
closed her eyes. Suddenly, she was lifted into the air again. She looked up to
see she was being carried by Misses Terrance again. “Please…
Talk to your… husband… I’m going to be sick.” “Honey!
Please, don’t hurt her!” “So,”
she said nastily. “Just what the hell
was she talking about, John, when she said she was taking you to a hotel?” “No!
It’s not like that honey! I’m here with Janet Kellum, of the FBSA, and the
whole thing was a set-up for me to find evidence against the Countess Crey.
Please, you have to believe me. It was all planned out, and I was part of it.” “What?!
You expect me to believe that-“ “Honey!
Just do what I say!” She
sneered a bit and said,” All right. I’m on the way.” She added,” And as for
you… You’d better hope he’s got something good, or I’ll use your head as a mop
to clean up your own blood.” “Ah-ha
ha ha…” ---------------------------------------------- “Hello?
“Cherry?”
said “There
you are! What the heck happened?” “Turbulence.” “What?” “Never
mind. Look, I’m ok now, all right? It was a misunderstanding. Apparently
someone I know actually does have
x-ray vision.” “I
want x-rated vision too!” said Kayain. “And
what was that noise earlier?” asked Cherry, ignoring Kayain. “Oh,
just someone flying through the wall. No biggie. The good news is, our names
are cleared as the super villains, and we’ve got a warrant out on the
Countess’s arrest.” “In
that case, I have one more job for you this evening.” “Only
one?” “Perhaps
you and your wallflower friend could go to the facility that controls the
source of Biggs and Lu Bu’s infectious problem?” “Oh
sure… you have that data as well?” “Janet
does. She’ll give you the location, and the details on how to stop the device.” “Janet
says it’s located here in Cherry
nods at the rest of them and says,” Let’s head back home. We’re going to need
the rest of the crew to infiltrate Crey’s headquarters.” ---------------------------------------------- Early
morning, the Countess Crey sat in her limo quietly waiting for them to arrive
at her hidden cave entrance. Word had spread quickly that the Countess was
guilty of murder, fraud, and many other conspiracies. All of which were absolutely
true, but she wasn’t about to let the masses find her to be put on trial.
Especially not when her empire was so strong. Something like this could shatter
the entire foundation, and she would not stand for it. At least not in the But
the Countess was very crafty and very elusive. Any kind of massively illegal
operation should always come equipped with an intricate escape route. The
Countess spared no expense when it came to a largely planned escape tunnel out
of the city, where she could safely make her getaway to the next country. She
sat in confidence that her private jet was safely being prepped outside the
city limits. She thought, I loathe
heroes. Meddlers! That’s what they are. Everything would have gone exactly as
planned if it weren’t for those Vigilantes. I promise, I won’t rest until I get
my revenge on all of them. They deserve pain, and in the worst way possible.
I’ve already sent out the kill order for those two who stole my nano-tech. Now
I need a way to make them writhe… The
Countess exited the limo to see the abandoned building that housed her escape
tunnel, had it’s door torn off the hinges. “Humph,”
she said. “Let’s just get out of here as
soon as possible. The police could be on their way any second now-“ Right
on cue, Captain Terrance suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He said,” Too late.” Police
sirens sounded off in the distance as the Countess said,” You! Terrance, I’ll
have you fired for this! I’ll have you-“ “No,”
said Cherry who also appeared from behind. “I’ll make sure, personally that you
get put away for good.” “In
the name of everyone who you made suffer! And in the name of JUSTICE!” said
Diana. “I will punish you villain!” “To
build a better world, a place where people are free of oppression and
suffering!” said Kayain as he posed dramatically. “Oh
come on now,” said Danyel. “That was bad Kayain.” “Vigilante’s
I presume?” said the Countess. “Men! Get them!” The
two groups clashed in that little area. A paragon protector charged at Danyel,
who simply smiled and teleported behind him right as he thrust his claws at
him. Danyel lazily waved his hand and swept the Protector into the air with a
devastating tornado. Diana
leaped from enemy to enemy pummeling them with anti-magic energy wrapping her
fists. The
rest of the Vigilantes fought off the Countess’ forces, while Kayain looked
toward the Countess herself. “Hey!”
he called out. “They’re getting away!” Kayain
ran down with them as they went to the escape hatch. He followed them into a
closed off doorway, where the Countess was entering a code to open the door. “Nowhere
to run,” said Kayain stopping a few paces away. “And no place to hide.” The
Countess merely turned her head and sneered at him. “ “With
pleasure ma’am,” he said. “Oh
Yes, Indeed!” said Kayain, as he cracked his knuckles. “You
know,” said Kayain as he held Kayain
was a bit surprised to see “Do
not talk about our good lady like
that!” he said. “Oh,
touched a soft spot have I?” said Kayain getting up. “You’re gay right? I mean
how could you not want a piece of ass
like her? I bet she’s been knocked up so many times-“ He
breathed for a moment, as Kayain was motionless on the wall. He adjusted his
tie, and prepared for another hit. Kayain suddenly sprang forward, ramming his
own fist into the tree trunk chest of “Shut
up!” “Hey
lighten up man! I’m only joking. I’ll take good care of your boss all right?
I’ll make sure she gets her pleasure while she’s in jail-“ “On
the bright side,” Kayain said. “You’re a pretty big guy, so when you’re in
jail, you’ll more than likely have your fair share of chilly dogs.” He
charges Kayain, and Kayain moves in time so he doesn’t get cornered again. Cherry
comes running down the stairs and sees the fighting. She grits her teeth and
mind dominates Hopkins, who is having trouble resisting. “Yo!
Go get the Countess! I’ll handle this fool, I’ve already got backup,” says
Kayain. “Where
is she?” asks Cherry. “She’s
going to the escape pod. You can follow her, but be careful.” “You
too Kayain.” “Yea,
yea, we can make out later. Now GO!” Cherry
goes off down the corridor while Kayain
puts his arms out to the side and grins at “SHUT
UP!” As
much as Kayain loved a good one on one fight, he would never say no to a good
ol fashioned surprise gang bang on an enemy. Especially if the help came from
an incredibly sexy woman. And
as far as Kayain was concerned, another thing about the ‘ He
said,” You got him pretty good. Can I give you a Football high five?” “Yea,
one of those.” “Aww
baby, you know I’d never cheat on you. Now, how about that spanking though?” “No
thanks darlin’.” “I
wasn’t talking about you,” he said, looking at ---------------------------------------------- Cherry
continued down the corridor in pursuit of the Countess. She felt a presence
nearby and slowed down a bit. “Julianne!
I know you’re out there!” said Cherry. “Give it up, you’ve lost. Soon, the
world will find out who you really are and what you did.” A
gun shot rang out and a bullet ricocheted off a rock nearby. Cherry
put up a psi-barrier and continued walking. She rounded a corner and saw the
Countess pressing a series of buttons on a door. “Julianne,
I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Cherry. The
Countess turned and shot at her a few times until the gun was out. “Please,
this isn’t the answer,” said Cherry as the bullets all deflected. “I’m telling
you right now, if you go in there, you will seriously regret it.” “What
do you know?!” said the Countess tossing the empty gun aside. “I’ve done more
for this community than you, or any of your hero friends could ever dream to
accomplish. And in one fell swoop, you rob me of everything!” “Take
a look around you Julianne. Look what you’ve been reduced to. You’re making a
getaway like a common thief. You knew from the beginning what you were getting
yourself into when you killed Clarissa Can Dorn. You made this empire off of a
lie, and now you’re going to pay for it all.” “Clarissa
was a fool!” said Julianne sneering
at Cherry. “Just the memory of her makes me sick! Everything she could have
accomplished was wasted on that pathetic man she wanted to marry! All that
potential, and talent, and she wasted it on a man!” “What’s
wrong with that?” said Cherry looking down a bit. “Everyone’s got the right to
happiness. Hers was in the loving arms of Count Crey. And you killed her for
it. On top of that, you married the man she loved to steal his thunder. I doubt
you’ve ever loved anything in your life.” “Love?”
said Julianne as though Cherry had just made up a word. “It was business. How
could anyone believe in such a ridiculous thing as love? Love is a fool’s game, Vigilante. Nothing more than an
unnatural infatuation with the opposite sex. Hormones and chemicals, and people
want to believe it’s something more than that. I’ve read your mind, and you’ve
loved and lost.” “I
have,” said Cherry as she folded her arms. “I’ve loved before, and lost. But
I’ve never lost my belief in love. You’re just to immature, and unforgiving to
understand that.” “I’m immature?! I’m not the one leading a
team who sodomizes their enemies!” “Sodomy
is an accepted punishment in Orcish culture, and that’s probably a cultural
misunderstanding between one of my teammates and yours. Think of it as a
spanking, only a little harder.” “Is
that supposed to make me laugh?” Cherry
scratched at something on her back and said,” No but I heard from someone that
Sodomizing a clown apparently a very funny subject.” “Very
droll Vigilante.“ “Hey
I’ve got a question off topic, why her? Why Clarissa? I mean what happened to
you? Why didn’t you just start your own empire?” “You
idiot! That would have taken too long! I would not even be alive today to see
my empire if I’d have done that. And it was all Michael Kane’s fault that I got
that nasty criminal record. He used me. Used
me, as a scapegoat for his sorry hide.” “He
was murdered recently I hear. Know anything about it?” “I
ordered it! He paid for his
arrogance.” “I
see,” said Cherry as she scratched her back a little. “So you admit to murdering
Clarissa Can Dorn, and more recently Michael Kane.” “What
difference does it make? You already knew that!” “I
know, I know, but I wanted to hear you
say that.” “What
do you mean?” Cherry
reached at her back again, and pulled out a wire. She said,” Ok boys, I hope
you got all that.” “YOU!
I’ll kill you next!” Julianne
ran at Cherry, and Cherry thrust her back with a psi blast. Julianne landed on
her back, but immediately rolled backwards into standing position. Cherry
then began to try and mind dominate Julianne, but was caught off guard by a
mind domination from Julianne. Cherry’s
eyes went wide and she grabbed her head in pain. “I’m
going to liquefy everything in your head and make you drink it!” says Julianne
as she approaches Cherry. Julianne
grabs Cherry’s head, and lets out a yell of surprise. Inside
her head, she hears Cherry’s voice say,”
You know the difference between you and me is I’ve had my psionic powers for
over two hundred years. You’ve had them ever since your revenant project. I’m
much better at this than you are…” “Get…out…of…my…
HEAD!” says Julianne. Julianne
finds she can’t control her hands and can’t let go of Cherry’s head. Inside
their minds, Cherry’s subconscious sees Julianne’s and proceeds to beat the tar
out of her. After
a few good ego whips, Julianne takes hold of her conscious for a few seconds in
order to let go of Cherry’s head. They both pull out of the trance and breath
heavily as if they were underwater for a long time. The
Countess slowly gets up, and sees Cherry cough a bit and try and get up. She
kicks Cherry in the face, and steps on her neck. “You
won’t stop me!” she says. She
walks over to the doorway, and puts in the last of her code. Cherry slowly gets
up again, coughing, and says,” No! Wait, don’t do that!” “Shut
up and die!” says the Countess as she walks over and stomps on Cherry again. “You’re
making a big mistake! I’m warning you. Don’t go-“ says Cherry just before she
gets another kick in the face. The
door opens, and Julianne finally gets off Cherry, and runs to the door. “Well
guys,” says Cherry in the mic. “I hope you got that, especially when I tried to
warn her…” ---------------------------------------------- The
Countess ran as fast as she could manage. Cherry’s psionic assault nullified
her own psionic abilities for quite possibly the entire week unless she got her
treatment soon. Julianne
seals the only entryway off, and overrides the door code, so it is on permanent
lockdown. Nothing short of super strength was going to get through that door. She
cursed under her breath at the thought of Cherry. She now wished she would have
killed while she was lying helpless on the floor. She
stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She took a deep breath and started to
feel better. She had gotten away from the Vigilantes, and was on her way to
another country to repair the damages they had done. Soon after, she’d have her
revenge on them. Everything was going to be ok. Except
for the fact that she heard a low growl from somewhere inside the chamber. She
looked around, and didn’t see anything. But she did hear that low and
animal-like growl from somewhere around her. “Who’s
there? Show yourself!” Again,
she heard the growl, only this time it sounded closer. The
Countess didn’t make a fortune and become the mastermind of a hugely successful
criminal operation by being stupid. She was unarmed, and without her power at
that moment, and the best thing was not to try and intimidate the thing back. She
ran into the escape pod, and sealed the door. The pod was fairly big; two rooms,
the bridge and a small sleeping area. As
she tried to start the engine, she noticed the fuel level was on empty. She got
out, and noticed a fuel barrel nearby. She dragged it to the ship but found to
her horror that the fuel pumps had been cut, and several circuits had been
seriously damaged. “Shit!”
she said examining the wreckage. “Who could have-“ On
cue, the growl sounded again, this time very close. She
slowly backed away and went back inside the pod and sealed the door. Inside she
looked around for an emergency weapon. The only thing she found was an old 9mm
semi-auto. She
sat and waited, debating whether she should try and take on whatever was making
those noises, or try and get the hatch door open and go on foot. She
heard the growl again, this time very loud, and very close. It sounded almost
as if it were- Inside with me… She
turned around and saw the door to the other room open slowly. She panicked and
fired a couple rounds at the door until she was out. The
door continued to open, and a silhouette of a very small person was standing in
the doorway under the bullet riddled spots in the door. It stepped out into the
light and the Countess found that it really was
a little person. He was holding a tape recorder, and when he pressed play it
made the growling noise she heard. “Hello
lassie,” it said. “Who
are you?” she said. “Name’s
Biggs, yer little experiment! An’ don’ ya forget it ya filthy fecker!” “It
can’t be! I ordered them to terminate you!” “Ah,
know ya did. But ah got better.” “Impossible!” “No,
yer titties are impossible. There’s no way those are real.” “Why
you-“ “Ah,
behind ya lass…” The
Countess turned around just in time to see a very large axe in mid-swing coming
right at the windshield. The
axe cleaved right into the metal framework like a knife through butter. A very
large green hand grabbed the damaged pane and tore it completely out. A
gigantic green person flung himself inside and landed next to the Countess. He
grabbed her and said,” This her?” “Ya,”
said Biggs. “Lu Bu, Countess… Countess, meet Lu Bu. The other person ya tried to do away with.” “Sure
is an ugly little thing isn’t she?”
said Lu Bu. “I say we boil her alive. I can make her into some nice stew called
‘YAAARGORG!!!’” “No!
Don’t eat me you monster!” said the Countess. “No,
no. The Cap’n said specifically to ya, that yer not ter eat anyone today.” The
Countess struggled in vain as Lu Bu held on without much strength. “An,
while ah’m at it yer not ter, uh, yer not ter… ack, hold on… Ah here it is, yer
not ter use her head as a bowlin’
ball an’ yer also not ter- ack, Cap’n’s handwritin’ is too ga-damn loopy- Yer
not ter, Defecate in the headless torso
if ya rip the head off’.” “Oh,
fine… You’ve sooo ruined my ‘rip your head off and shit down your neck’
routine.” “Cap’n’s
orders. Not mine.” “What
about her legs? She don’t need those…” “No!
Cap’n said she’s ter have all her limbs where they’s supposed ter be. Cap’n’s a
good an’ proper lady. She won’t stand fer mutilation and torture...” “Well
what can we do then?” Biggs
thought about it for a moment, and said,” Oh, I know How abou’ a game?” “Let
me go you brute!” said the Countess. Lu
Bu bops her on the head and says,” Hush! Don’t upset mister Biggs. He can get
angry pretty fast.” The
Countess was seeing stars from Lu Bu’s little tap on the head. When her vision
clears up, she sees Biggs holding a backpack, and grinning maliciously. “Well,
yer in luck! Ah brough’ me backpack. It’s full of goodies fer today’s event!” The
Countess stared in horror as Biggs pulled out the first item. “An
look at tha’! It seems ah’ve got some ginger!
Oh but it looks like she packed ah bit too much, don’t ya think so Lu Bu?” “It
looks like that whole backpack is full of nothin’ but Ginger.” “Right
ya are Lu Bu! Right ya are,” said Biggs as the Countess squirmed. “Now Lu Bu,
can ya think of any kin’ of game we
could play with all tha’ Ginger?” Lu
Bu actually did have to think of something. Logic was never a good thing to mix
with an Orc. “Cooking?” Biggs
slaps his forehead. “No.
How can we cook if we don’ have a fryin’ pan, eh?” “Oh… Oh wait, I’ve got a different game!” “Tell
me.” “Back
on Aaarg, we play this game where we shove as many weird objects as possible up
someone’s butt hole! We call it,’ Aouuuuga! (™)’.” “Isn’t
that also an Orcish board game?” said Biggs. “Yea,
but for some reason it wasn’t that popular.” The
countess panicked and said,“ You can’t do that! I’m-“ “About
ter be in a world of pain,” interrupted Biggs. “Allrigh’ Lu Bu, how do we play
this game?” “That’s
easy. First, we get a one of our captured enemies.” “Done.” “Then,
we make bets on how many things we can shove in there in under the time limit
of one minute.” “Sounds
allrigh’. What does the winner get?” “Winner
gets to pummel the enemy.” Biggs
rubs his hands together and says,” Ah like the sound o’ this. What say we have
ah little’ wager eh?” “I
thought you said Captain wouldn’t tolerate torture?” “Humm,”
said Biggs as he rubbed his chin. “Ya’ve got a point there lad. But ya said ya
do this all the time on yer planet?” “Yea?” “So,
it’s a fun game righ’?” “Well,
not for the other guy…” “But
it’s fun still?” “I’m
the current record holder of 7 things in a human…” “And
remember Cap’n did say ‘Have fun.” Right?” “Yea…” “Then,
ah challenge you ter a match, an yer honor demands ya accept.” “Oh,
you’re on pal.” Once again, way too easy, thought Biggs. “Allrigh’!
Since ah’m a beginner ah’ll bet ah can do.. eh.. 5.” “I
bet 8.” “Yer
on!” “NOOOOO,”
said the panicked Countess. “You can’t do this! You’ll pay dearly for this!
I’ll kill you all!” “Don’t
think of it as something awful madam,” said Lu Bu. “Think of it as experiencing
my people’s great culture firsthand.” “Yea,”
said Biggs. “Now open up fer the Choo Choo…” ---------------------------------------------- “Come
in,” said Captain Terrance. “Oh, you’re finally here.” Cherry
walked in and shook hands with the Captain. “Still
pulling your tricks “Saw
the door bump you after Cherry came in.” “Yes.
Close the door Gina. Thank you,” He pulled a recorder out of his desk and
said,” This conversation will be recorded for the records. First off, I wanted
to find out how the case is going.” “According
to your laws, most of the evidence on CreyComp was obtained illegally, and
they’re trying to get it thrown out. I doubt it will though.” “Obvious
tactics. However the other evidence was obtained through Janet Kellum’s
investigation. The murder, fraud, and conspiracy charges will all more than
likely go over well.” “I
hope so. Gives us enough time to accomplish our goals before the Countess is
loosed once again. I believe that next time the Countess will unleash a furious
attack on us. We’ll be long gone off your planet before then.” “I
heard you guys were offworlders from another source… But tell me, what are your
homeworld’s laws pertaining to sodomy?” Cherry’s
serious expression didn’t faultier. She said,” The same as here. It’s illegal
and frowned upon. And in my opinion I won’t stand for it.” “Anything
else?” “Well…
I did hear a good one about a clown.” “Excuse
me?” “Never
mind.” “And
what about if I said some of your teammates were doing it?” “I’d
say that was completely untrue.” He
raised an eyebrow at her and said,” Really? I got this report saying that the
Countess was sodomized by two of your teammates. Biggs and Lu Bu to be more
specific.” “Is
that what they say?” said Cherry who still looked as serious as a statue. “I
don’t see how they could have done it while they were bedridden from Crey’s
nano-tech assault. Even at this very minute they are in our sick area being
tended to by our Doctor. And she says they haven’t left the spot at all.” “Indeed,”
said the Captain. “According to her testimony though, she said the big green Orc
started shoving vegetables up her anus to see how many he could fit… then he
suddenly stopped, and they fled the scene.” “That’s
a very odd statement,” said Cherry. “First off, Crey’s nano-tech was causing a
constant source of pain for them, so they were sedated most of the time to keep
them from going insane from pain. That much you already know. How is it, that
they somehow got up and ran over to a secret base that I never told them about,
bypass all security codes they didn’t have, and manage to get in and break her
escape pod, just to shove vegetables up her anus. Unless
you’re accusing us of having some kind of advanced medical technology? You know
some sci-fi stuff, like oh, I don’t know, how about a stimulant that acts as an
adrenaline that keeps people alive and pain free. Now I’m not saying we do have that, but if we did I’m sure it could easily keep Lu Bu
and Biggs up and running long enough to do what they’re being accused of… But
since we don’t, and that kind of
stuff is all make-believe, it’s completely absurd.” “You’re
right,” said the Captain smoothly. “It is very absurd. Oh and incidentally
ma’am, that was a lucky guess about how you knew her escape pod was broken. You
weren’t inside there at all were you?” “No
sir,” said the expressionless Cherry. “I figured it was broken since she didn’t
escape. And if I may dare another guess… I’ll go out on a limb here but, she
might have gotten a very big axe lodged in, oh say… the fuel pumps?” “Amazing
deduction,” he said, completely lacking in enthusiasm. “I can see why they all
look up to you now. Sharp as a tack.” “I
try, sir.” “Another
question. I seem to recall hearing that you showed up in court in a full body
cast, due to the Countess’s aggression. You told your sad story of how that
insane woman put you in a body cast, and you only wanted to help her. Your
audio recording proved it.” “Yes
sir.” He
looked her up and down to see no bandages, and her pretty face unscratched. “So
what I want to know is why you’re walking around right now?” “I
eat very healthy. Strong to the finish, cause I eat my spinach.” “Good
enough for me. I mean it’s not like you have some kind of regenerating
technology hidden in your house or anything right?” “Perish
the thought! Imagine the kind of facility we’d have to have in order to run a
regenerating facility! We’d have to have an entire floor full of things. We
only have a limited space in our little penthouse suite!” “True,
true… Ok, that’s all the questions I have for you,” he said as he turned off
the recorder. “Now off the record,
thanks again for your help against Crey…” Cherry
smiled and said,” I’m sure Claire is a lot happier now.” Terrance
paused a moment and said,” How do you know about Claire?” “I’m
a telepath. I know it’s none of my business, but sometimes I can’t help hearing
surface thoughts. I can also read memories, and your memory of Claire is
standing out like a sore thumb right now.” “Claire,
my daughter…” said Terrance as he pulls out a picture. “She was only sixteen years
old when she was abducted by Crey. They used her in their sick ‘Project
Revenant’. They killed her to hide the evidence.” Cherry
takes his hand and holds it for a moment. She says,” And now you’ve put the
person responsible for it behind bars. And it was because you listened to us when no one would. You decided not to cover your
eyes to the truth like everyone else. While others were bought and intimidated,
you stood your ground and took her down. Claire would be proud.” “Yea…”
he said. “Thank you. You guys have brought a bit of light back in my life.” “Just
glad we could help.” “Much
appreciated… Oh by the way, “Yes
I did, thanks,” said “I
have to admit, she was very apologetic once she found out everything.” “She
was indeed. She apologized about a hundred times.” “And
she brought me along when she was buying gifts for you. I have to say, I
thought the parachute she bought you was a little odd, but she said it would
amuse you.” “Tell
her, I was very much amused.” “I
will.” “Ah,
Captain,” said Cherry. “Hate to cut things short, but we have an appointment
today.” “Yes,
yes, of course. I’ll see you out.” The
Captain walked the two all the way out to the steps. They said their goodbyes
and Cherry and “Ah,
got both of ya a dog,” said Biggs. “Thank
you,” said Cherry. “Now Biggs, I suspect the ginger was your idea?” “Righ’
ya are!” “Mmm,
mhm… And why did you disobey my order not to do that?” “Sorry
abou’ tha’ Cap’n. Cultural difference I suppose… She called me a leprechaun!
I’m no’ gonna sit aroun’ and take tha’ now am I?” Leprechaun
was a racial slur that most of the other races used for Halflings. “Still,
you know I had to save your sorry butt back there. And if they do find out about that… Well I can’t say
I’m going to pull your butt out again.” “Righ’,
righ’. I agree, I was outta line there. An’ I deserve it ifn’ I’m caught.” “Just
glad we have an understanding… Oh and another question... Out of curiosity, I
heard as you were doing your dirty deed, you suddenly stopped and ran away…” Lu
Bu and Biggs exchanged glances. Biggs said,” Should I? Or…” “I’ll
tell her,” said Lu Bu. “Well it’s like this… you see, we were playing
‘Aouuuuga! (™)’ and then we saw she wasn’t… err… well she wasn’t unhappy about
it.” “What
do you- Oh NO!” “Yea…
She actually kind of… liked it.” “It
were the smile on ‘er face tha’ gave it away,” said Biggs. Cherry
rubbed her temples as “Great,”
said Cherry. “Now I have to burn that mental image out of my mind. Thanks a
lot.” ---------------------------------------------- Kayain
waited patiently in the lobby of Super Hero Inc. for his appointment with the
leader, Ms. World. The bored looking secretary with the short blue colored hair
was idly painting her nails and completely ignoring the pile of paperwork in
her in box, and a ringing phone. Ms.
World finally stepped out of her office and said,” Judith! I’ve been calling
you for the past thirty minutes! What are you doing?” “I’m
very busy at the moment! Can’t you see all this paperwork!?” “Judith…
You’ve been a lousy secretary for the past five years. Tell me why I keep you
around?” “You’re
helpless without me.” “Am
not! Now answer my phone for me… Oh, you can come in now Mister Kayain.” “Hot
damn!” he said. Ms.
World sat down and offered Kayain a chair in front of her desk. “Welcome
to Super Hero Incorporated. I’m Ms. World, the founder of our multinational. I
heard you were from a charity organization that seeks to help out women around
the board,” said Ms. World. “Oh
Yes, Indeed! I represent the ‘Cure for the Common Breast’ foundation,” said
Kayain, grinning like an idiot. “Wait…
say that again…” “I’m
from the ‘Cure for the Common Breast’ foundation.” “I
thought you were from ‘Breast Cancer foundation’…” “Err,
no. But I believe our cause is just
as important, if not more important.” “What
is it you guys do?” “Well,
the ‘Cure for the Common Breast’ foundation is currently researching the cause
of the strange phenomenon in super powered females such as yourself, which
causes big boobies, or to be put in scientific terms, ‘Boobius Maximus’. Our goal is to identify what Boobius Maximus is,
and how we can duplicate it. If we are successful, the future of every single
women out there will be a hundred times brighter! We will have made the world’s
first ever true breast growing formula! So no longer will smaller women have to
worry about never having enough boobage, nor will athletic, non-super powered
women. The future will be a better place once we’re successful, and you and
your company can help out with a charitable donation! You’d be doing the world
a great favor if you’d just be so kind as to help out. Think of all those poor,
sad, ironing board women out there who need help… our kind of help. So what do
you say? Will you donate to a charitable fund?” Ms.
World sat, glued to her char, unable to believe what she was hearing. She just
stared at him with a mixture of discontent and curiosity, hoping he would say,’
April fools!’ When
that didn’t come, she still didn’t say anything. She stood up, and walked out
the door, leaving Kayain sitting there looking confused. “Judith.
How the hell could you let this guy in?” “Well,”
she said while typing on her daily blog. “He said he wanted to talk to you, and
I said no. So he offered to flirt with me on the phone. I suppose it was my
malcontent bred with disloyalty that made me say yes. Or possibly it was simply
boredom. Maybe a combination of both.” Ms.
World narrowed her eyes at her and said,” Judith… You’re fired.” Judith
blinked and said,” Well I suppose it was bound to happen sometime. I would have
thought you would fire me for the fact that I steal all of your paper clips
from your desk every day. Or perhaps for the times I used your e-mail address
to send threatening letters to our board members. Or even the couple times I
had your car turned into a cube.” “Damnit
Judith! Clean out your desk and get going!” “Whoa,
whoa there! Hang on one second. You can’t officially fire me without
authorization form WG733.” “I
can and will!” “Ah,
but then you’d loose credibility for breaking your own rules. As if the rules
don’t apply to you. What would the board think I wonder? They’d think all those
threatening letters are true, that’s what!” Ms.
World became very angry and sneered at Judith. “Fine!
Where is the WG733?” “We’re
out.” “Then
order some! And go away!” said Ms. World as she went back in with Kayain. Judith
rolled her eyes and said,” Yea, good luck on that…” Another
man came up to her and said,” Excuse me Madam. I’m with Benson’s Towing. I got
a call about a vehicle out of commission that needs to be junked.” Judith
hands over a pair of keys that were not hers and says,” Here you go. It’s
parked at the top of the garage. Red Ferrari, you can’t miss it. Please cube it
as fast as possible. The company is paying for it.” Ms.
World walked back in with Kayain and said,” Look. I run a respectable business
here. I have the title of Ms. World, not
because I have massive cleavage. Most women are happy how they are. And you’ll
forgive me for saying that I think your claim is totally bogus.” “Yea
but-“ “I
will not be making a donation for something as ridiculous as that.” “But-“ “And
that’s final,” she said as she sat down. Behind her sat a view to the garage,
and also a tow truck coming for a Red Ferrari. “We simply will not waste company money for something
like that.” Both
cars drove off. “Well…
How about any kind of help? I mean you could provide boobage data for us! We’re
always looking for volunteers!” “What?!
Hey pal, who do you think you are?” “They’re
a good example…” “All
right! That’s enough, out, out, OUT!” She
picks Kayain up by the collar and drags him to the doorway. “How
about at least a picture for the records?” he says. “OUT!” She
slams the door in his face. “Thanks
for your time I guess,” he says at the door. “We’ll keep in touch ok? Hello?” Ms.
World sighed as she leaned on the door. She looked down at her chest and smiled
a bit.. She
laughed out loud when she thought about it. She knew that guy was actually very
serious minded about the whole thing, and despite his language he kept a
straight face. Although there was a bit of truth to it, she didn’t think it was
anything worth researching. She
went back to her chair and leaned back a bit. She was looking forward to going
home today in her brand new car. She looked outside to see her baby, and looked
a bit confused. Odd, she thought. I know I parked somewhere in the garage… |