RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block Hero Revolution [A new beginning] #0

There's no one here to talk to, except for maybe a few rats I hear running around in the dark. There are no windows so I can't see outside.

All I ever see is darkness, except for when they open the door I can see a little light. The only reason they open the door is to come in and break my legs. My speed heals me faster than a normal person, so every six hours or so these bastards have to come in and make sure I can't run away.

Right now it might not be so safe to go back to Chicago anyway. The police probably think I murdered Rebecca and I'm on the run. THese bastards are going to pay for that, I'll make sure of it.

I don't know where here is. But if I ever manage to find a way out of here, I'm going to kick someone's ass.

quote:

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"AUXILIARIES, which are the other useless arm, are employed when a prince is called in with his forces to aid and defend, as was done by Pope Julius in the most recent times; for he, having, in the enterprise against Ferrara, had poor proof of his mercenaries, turned to auxiliaries, and stipulated with Ferdinand, King of Spain, for his assistance with men and arms. These arms may be useful and good in themselves, but for him who calls them in they are always disadvantageous; for losing, one is undone, and winning, one is their captive."
- Machiavelli "The Prince" (XIII)

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CHICAGO

A Black 2003 Lincoln Town Car speeds through the streets of Chicago. The streetlights seem to be obeying the cars command and changing just before it passes. Charles Walker, is the uneasy scientist sitting in the back seat, while next to him is Agent Turner, who has been silent the whole trip.

"A 2003 model?" Walker began.

"Let's just say that we get the best of everything well before it's time." Turner said with a hint of a smile, "You will much approve of your new 'home.'"

"Yeah, about that."

"In do time Dr.Walker, in do time."

The rest of the ride was silent, broken only by a simple "wow" which was whispered from Walker's lips as they pulled up to their destination. Wow, was probably the best way to describe it. Almost out of nowhere, a huge silver complex appeared, it spanned a radius of about three blocks and seemed almost too futuristic like.

"Welcome 'home' Doctor."

The Lincoln pulled into an under ground garage and slowed to a stop. The two men exited and entered a long hallway before taking an elevator down to the basement. The outside of the complex was prehistoric compared to the inside which was breath taking. The main basement spanned over three football fields, the white walls gave the place an almost glowing atmosphere.

"The above levels are rented out to businesses, banks, private owners and such. It is these businesses that will fund you and your new position. Everything below ground level is under YOUR control from here on out as long as you meet your quota."

"Hold on. What position, it seems that you have been circling around just what I shall be doing."

"The operation at hand. We pay/fund your research, and in return, you hunt and capture people with the metagene. Using the facilities, you shall train and make them part of your team, using them to capture others and so on."

"Why me, why not some military guy to head this?"

"Dr.Walker, it takes a certain someone to be able to take on these meta-humans, if you understand what I mean. I have full faith in your ability to get the job done. If you need me, keep in touch, but asides that, you are fully on your own."

"On my own? You mean..."

"From here on out, you have NO relationship to the MCCA, if asked about you, we will deny comment. Only the higher ups in the government even know you exist. Good day"

"Yeah, you too."

With that, Agent Turner left Dr.Walker alone to begin his operation.

Spinning around in my chair, I take in the underground center that is my new lab. The technology is more advanced than anything at TriVex's disposal.

"Geez, I wish I knew how to work this stuff..." I mutter under my breath, stopping my spinning and pull up to a nearby workstation. As I focus my attention on a scanning device and it's accompanying monitor, I see a movement out of the corner of my eye.

"What the...?!" I yell, scooting back in my chair, realizing only too late that my chair doesn't have wheels. I tumble backward onto the floor, knocking my head against the hard tiled floor.

As I close my eyes and wince in pain, I hear a bizarre voice rining out above me.

//Dr. Walker? Is that you?//

"Wha...?" I mutter out, blinking my eyes as a blinding light greets me. "What's with the lights? Geez, what the hell...?"

//Ah, forgive me, Dr. Walker...//

The light subsides as I slowly begin to make out a shape. After a few seconds, the figure before me became quite clear. A small metallic sphere, with two small blue eyes protruding from it's surface. It hung in the air - flying, hovering... I'm not sure what.

"Wha...?" I murmur out. "What the hell are you?"

//Ah, forgive me, Dr. Walker!// the sphere seemed to say. //My name is I.G.O.R. and I am your laboratory assistant.//

"Heh," I mumble, rising to my feet, rubbing my head. "I.G.O.R. ... lab assistant. Funny..."

//Excuse me, sir, but I fail to see the humor in that.//

"Y'know..." I begin. "Frankenstein...?" The sphere continued to hover inches from my face, not making any movement to show that it comprehended. "Never mind," I said, lifting my chair from the ground and taking a seat.

//Once again, I am I.G.O.R. - the Interactive Genetic Organization Regulator. My primary objective is to aid and assist you in whatever you may need in your assignment.//

"You know about my assignment?" I ask, placing my fingers on my forehead.

//Of course, Dr. Walker. Your primary objective is to capture and assemble a metahuman team to greater enhance your own research and your ability to capture even more metahumans.//

"Wow..." I say, blowing out a low whistle. "Is there anything you don't know?"

//Uncertain, Dr. Walker. I currently have access to all files at the disposal of both the MCCA and TriVex. I suppose you could say that everything I know is known by them as well.//

“Fair enough,” I say, sitting back in my seat. “Now… how do we get started?”

//I am glad you asked, Dr. Walker.// I.G.O.R. said, floating into a sort of hook-up or adapter in a nearby bulkhead. Instantly, all the computer monitors in the room lit up, an image of a faceless head on the screen.

“Whoa…” I say, standing back as everything seems now to hum with life. “What’s with the face, I.G.O.R.?”

//This is my digital self// the image on the screen said. //It is the image I take to more easily assist you in finding files, research, and metahumans.//

“Whoa, whoa… hold on there, pal,” I interject, rising from my seat and leaning on my desk, looking at I.G.O.R.’s image on a nearby monitor. “Find… metahumans?”

//Correct.// came I.G.O.R.’s reply.

“We have the technology to actually TRACK and FIND metahumans?” I say, utterly in disbelief.

//Yes. But do not worry, Dr. Walker, the official word by the MCCA is that metahumans are a threat to our civilization and must be kept a close eye on at all times. It is highly --//

“That being the case,” I start up my argument, putting my hands behind my back, beginning to pace the room, “why would the MCCA, known metahuman oppressors and haters, take on a metahuman to lead their retrieval operation? Could it be that the all-knowing MCCA didn’t know whom they were hiring?”

//No.//

I freeze, not knowing what to say next. After a moment of awkward silence, I speak: “What do you mean?”

//The MCCA knew very well whom they were hiring. Your form was scanned and approved positive for early stages of the metagene on July 18, 1998.//

“NINETY-EIGHT?!” I scream, slamming my fist on my desk. “Y-you knew?”

//It was my business to know…//

“Who else has this kind of technology?” I ask, trying desperately to regain my composure.

//Only ourselves, the Joint Chiefs, NASA, and the United States president.// I.G.O.R. replies, the voice on the screen sounding much more tinny and lifeless than it had before.

“Alright, I.G.O.R., here’s the deal,” I command, falling back into my chair. “Run a scan of all metahumans in the Chicago metropolitan area, specifically those with a rap sheet. I want known cat burglars, mercenaries, bounty hunters, and fugitives. The more notorious, the better…”

//Search complete, Dr. Walker,// the computer screen said, the face vanishing to reveal a long list of names and current location.

“Alright…” I say, a large smile spreading across my face. “Now what?"

He looks around as he says to himself: "The place where they gather... the place where they gather..."

Then he sees a little house near the docks.

"AHA!" he says, pointing at it.

He walks to the little house saying "From how they described it, you'd think the place would be bigger... But they were never good describing 3D things..."

Inside the house, an old man sitting on a chair tries to rest, when the door opens itself. The figure of a man with a coat and a big top hat and light in his eyes appears behind the door.

"My name is Mister Mxy" the man says "And I'm here to help you overcome the invasion"

"Uh..." the old man says "Ya got da wrong adress, sonny..."

"But... this is the location they gave me..."

"Sorry, but am da only one here, and I dunno nothin 'bout any invasions..."

"Damn it! They think they are so good and they can't even give me a location in a simple 3D plane...! Wait, wait... you say you don't know about any invasions?"

"Nopee"

"Now that I think about it... All the human beings I have encountered don't seem too worried about the invasion, either... Hmmm... Excuse me for a moment, ok?"

Mister Mxy closes his eyes, and when he opens them, the light coming from the is gone. He yells:

"GET OUT OF MY--"

He looks around, disoriented.

"What the fuck...? Oh, no! Not again!"

A voice in his head asks him "Say, Mick, do you happen to know anything about any invasions to this dimension?"

The old man, watches, intrigued...

"INVASIONS??? What the fuck are you talking about!!! GET OUT OF MY BODY, WILL YOU????" Mick answers.

"So, no invasions?" the voice asks again.

"NOOOOO!!! NOW GET--"

Mister Mxy closes his eyes again, shakes his head, and reopens them.

"You were right... There is no invasion. How is that possible?"

"Well, not that I know much bout this stuff, but..." the old man says "Maybe you landed in the wrong year, sonny. You come from da future, dontcha? Maybe this invasion hasn't happened yet..."

"'Future'? What do you mean, 'hasn't happened yet'?"

"Maybe your bosses sent ya to da wrong year, pal"

"Wrong year...? Wait, wait... Oh, of course!" he says "Linear time lines! You humans have events ordered chronologically! When the invasion starts, only the moments 'AFTER' it will be affected!"

"See? I told ya!"

"Do you know a place where I can take a transportation to a precise moment of the... 'future'?"

"You mean like a time machine? Nope, haven't done those yet. Weve got cellphones, tough..."

"Damn it... several units of time could pass before the invasion starts... and only then I could act..."

"Well, ask yer bosses to send ya to the right time then!"

"I can't! I can't come back home until I have completed my mission!"

"Oh, bummer, sonny"

"What will I do in the meantime...?"

"Well, you could travel... they say Paris is lovely in this time of da year..."

"I must stay here... I have been told that those that I will help will be here...."

"Well then, stay! This is a wonderfull city, ya know! And you'll always be welcomed here, if ya need a place to stay!"

"Well... thank you for your help, kind sir... You have my eternal gratitude... I guess I will just hang around until I'm needed. Good bye!"

"Buh-bye!" says the old man, as Mxy closes the door behind him "...freakin' lunatic!!!"

"Well..." says Mxy "I guess I will just give good ol' Mick his body back, and stay alert in case soemthing happens"

Once again, he closes his eyes and when the are reopened Mick is back in charge of the body.

"--BODY NOW!"

He notices he is outside the house.

"Oh, mother fucker...!"

Then he realizes he can't feel Mxy inside his head anymore.

"Oh, thank Gob..."

And then he is knocked down by a man in a black suit, and taken to a van.

"Why me...?" he'd say if he was councious.

“Chief Bibowski, we have located Karl Starr” says Agent Digigrrll to her boss, the Security Chief of Malvan-X Corporation. “The only problem is that we have found is so absurd that I don’t think we can trust this report”.

“Where the report come from?” asks the tall man.

“Chicago Police Department, chief.”

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t trust their files. What have you found?”

“Karl Starr was a meta accused of blowing up the heads of the bystanders. He has committed suicide after some killing… and then he has risen up and walked away, right in front of the police!”

**************************************************************

Just outside Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Ten minutes ago.

Right in the middle of the highway, the man once known as Karl Starr walks straight toward east.

A voice in his head, hours ago, awoke him from death, ordering him revenge over a deadly being from another dimension, Mr. KLT, a being that possessed Karl Starr, using him to commit horrible crimes. The voice ordered Karl to find a man once widely known an Italian runner named Edulcore Cicciotto.

Now Karl Starr wants to reach Italy, to find Cicciotto, “The Eurostar”, to advert him that KLT now has found a new host, his old competitor Eduardo Frederico.

His walk is made difficult by the many cars that goes in his opposite direction. Many avoid him at the last moment. But the ones that don’t manage that, are not a problem.

Because Karl Starr simply destroy them.

***************************************************************

MandeloviAir flight Mandelovia-Chicago, somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean. Now.

Half a day ago, I, Edulcore Cicciotto, awoke from my sleep half buried in the sand. In front of me, was a young man that I never saw before. Now, that man is maybe the only one I can call “friend”.

He told me that saw me from air, while he was flying above the desert.

Flying?, I asked, thinking I was standing in front of a meta of Alpha class, like me.

The truth was even more amazing. He claimed of coming from the future, and being able to transform parts of his body into animal parts. He show me his transformation, and, you know?, I trusted his claiming of being from the future.

He said he had nowhere to go, so I told him to come with me. He accepted, and we both took flight!

It was wondrous, flying like eagles over the perfectly circular desert of Mandelovia.

I told him what happened to me, and how the Police of Mandelovia has tried to frame me for a murder I didn’t committed. He replied that he actually saw a man, near the Toyota when Lorena died.

“You saw him shooting at his head, right?” I said, and he replied: “No, he didn’t fire anything. He pointed his index finger, and the head blown up!”

Another meta! I am into something bigger than I tough. Now everything I heard, seems actually possible. Human clonation, genetic alteration, alien invasion…

“Do you want to come with me in America?” I asked to Danny. “OK, I have nowhere to go” he said, smiling.

I, too, don’t know where to go. That old man at Malvan, he seemed a good person, after all. But if the Mandelovia Police is seeking me, I don’t know if I can trust him. I have to go away. My live in Bologna… well, that’s behind me, now. The world soon will think I’m dead, and maybe that’s for the better. Poor Ottavia, we were coming along so well…

I know a thing. There is a kid, out there, which have my same genetic characteristic. He is my son, so to speak, and he is in the hand of the men that tried to capture me. So, before I will disappear from the men who wants me, being them Mandelovian or American, I will rescue him. I swear.

So, I was saying, we took flight. He on vulture’s wings, me soaring in “ghost” form, meaning I had altered my density to be lighter than air. Soon it become clear that we would never arrive in America all by ourselves, so we landed unnoticed at the Mandelovian International Airport. The first flight for the USA was directed to Chicago. No direct flight from Mandelovia to Thunder City.

In my ghost from, I stealth the flight document from a fat man in the toilette. I can pass trough wall when I am low density. I also found a man enough looking like Danny, and took his passport. I gave it and the plane ticket to Danny, and then I “entered” him. Still with a low density, I mean, I was able to stay in the same space he was occupying. It is difficult to explain, but I have to admit, easy to do.

And now we are sitting in the same seat, looking outside the window to the sea of clouds under us.

But there is a man, sitting two rows behind us, looking insistently at me, or, I should say, at Danny.

And, oh God, I know him. It was the man that always arrived second behind me when I was a runner. The man which hates me most in the world. Eduardo Frederico.

"Oh, thank Gob..." he thinks.

Then his vision starts clearing and he realizes he is in a small room with no windows. He is alive.

"FUCK!" he thinks.

Then he realizes his bones hurt. At least he's safe here... for now. After a few minutes of sweet solitude, a door opens.
The light blinds him, but he can see two large men coming into the room.

"It's time" one of them says. Mick notices he has a baseball bat in his hands. He's ready to be smashed, when he realizes they are not walking towards him. There's someone else in the room, another prisioner.

They start hitting him in the legs.

"Oh my Gob..." Mick thinks "They are smashing them..."

But the prisioner does not scream. He doesn't make any noises. Mick can't see his face, but he feels that the look in his eyes is full of hate...

When the two men are finished, one of them says:

"What about the other one?"

"What's he gonna do? Turn us into cows? Hahahaha... ha... Hey, that would suck..."

"Yeah. Lets give him something too..."

They start hitting him in several parts of the body, but not too hard, because they don't want to kill him.

"This one is for Mike, poor guy can barely talk after you turned him into a cow the other day!"

"Yeah, this will teach you not to do that to people... son of a bitch"

They go away, leaving Mick blooding in the floor. The other prisioner, though he's notably more harmed than Mick, asks:

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah... I think so..." Mick says.

"Why are you here?"

"I don't know, turning people into cows, I guess... You?"

"Long story..."

"I'm Mick" he says, as he slowly moves his blood covered hand towards the other prisioner.

"I'm Tobias" he answers, shaking Mick's hand.

The man, named Karl Starr and living in Chicago, which is tough to be somehow related to Ciccioto, having asked his help by phone today in the morning, has been the subject of a strange fight on a highway just outside that city. The man, an alleged metahuman, has fought with another superpowered being, causing the destruction of many vehicles and a tract of the road. Starr, that was killed in the clash (while his opponent has disappeared), then resurrected just like the previous time in Chicago. It is known that a sort of ectoplasmic being has left his body just before the apparent death. Now Karl Starr is in custody of the Chicago Police Department.
As of now, a team of the Mandelovian Security and Intelligence Agency is ready to kidnap him. Captain Nemo has asked our help, in the term of a jet ready to leave O’Hare airport.
I suggest to help, it could prove useful in the future.

Security Chief
Arnold Bibowski.

CNN News, 10-15-2001, 11,30 P.M.

Sources indicates that a team of what has been described as “ninjas” has kidnapped the “zombie of the highway”, as he has been known now for a day and a half, from the Chicago Police. The Department, asked about, has taken refuge behind a no-comment.

MCCA report 10-15-2001, 11,35 P.M.

It results that subjects Tobias Christopher and Mick Harrison have broken free from sector 1984 of the “Zoo”. All the guards have been transformed, like the last time, into cows, with the exception of the two assigned to their cell, which have been turned into oxes. After the transformation has worn off, it has been discovered that the castration typical of the ox will be permanent in the two guards. Current whereabouts of the two is undetermined.

CNN Late Breaking News 10-16-2001, 1,30 A.M.

An accident labeled by Chicago Police Department as “metahuman outbreak” is occurring right now at the O’Hare International Airport, in Chicago. It is unclear what is really happening, being a huge whirlwind of changing colors right above the arriving facilities, and fire everywhere, the only thing that we have been able to record.
Also, it’s interesting to note the presence of a few cows. Come back later for more news.

Malvan-X Security Branch. Daily report, 10-16-2001. For Miss X eyes only.

The apparent failure of the Mandelovian Security and Intelligence Agency in retrieving subject Karl Starr has turned into a partial success. In the metahuman fight that ensured at the same time of the failed attempt to leave American soil with one of our airplanes, it has been clearly seen Edulcore Cicciotto. I am at this moment ready to land near Chicago with my team.

Security Chief
Arnold Bibowski.

*********************************************

As I watch the sun rising and shining over the waves of the Lake Michigan, here over the “coast of Chicago”, like Mr. Mxy has called it, I still feel the rush of adrenaline streaming trough my body.

What a day. How I felt! Fear. And then that sense of power.

I am scaring myself.

I turn my head from the window of this wooden cabin to the table, this old table where we have gathered around. What a collection of freaks. Yet we are for each other the only one to trust, in a world that seems to have gone totally mad.

It was last night. In the Chicago Airport. Danny was passing trough the frontier police, just before leaving. I was still inside him, hiding into his body, when a distant explosion put the airport into alarm. It was a car on a secondary sector of the airport, the one with the runways for the private planes. Many police cars suddenly began to run toward the explosion, and ambulances and firemen trucks. But as the cars were nearing the site of the explosion, they, too, exploded.

And then, we saw a strange man running toward us. He was screaming my name, and Frederico’s.
We, me and Danny, were in the middle of a crowd of curious and policemen. I was fearing that man could reveal my presence, so I left Danny, and order him to follow me. We both fled over the roof of the passengers building, I don’t know the correct English word.

The man began to crawl like a spider over the facade of the building. It was then that I noticed that he was burned all over his body, and riddled with bullet shot. Dried blood over all of his worn out dress, an eyeball dangling down of his face, a huge hole on his right cheek from which half jaws sprouted out. It was easy to understand that the man should have been dead. Yet he was approaching us.

At the same time, a voice behind me shouted my name. It was Eduardo Frederico, laughing with a malevolent grim.

Then, the unexpected happened. The zombie, because it was nothing else than an undead, jumped over the terrace, and said “Eurostar, help me. I must kill Frederico”. I watched him speechless, but speechless was also Frederico, when he apparently recognized the zombie. “Karl. Karl Starr! I don’t know how you are still alive, but you deserve punishment!” Eduardo said.

And the head of the zombie exploded.

But that didn’t stop him. With only half head, pieces of burned brain all around on the floor, the zombie jumped at the throat of my old competitor, trying to suffocate him.

“What’s happening, Ed?” asked Danny to me, but I was horrorified by the power display of my old adversary. I, and half the world, was suspecting that he was also a meta, but with speed power, not with the ability to explodes heads from within.

And if all what was happening was not enough amazing, from nowhere a… an angel, or so it seemed, appeared hovering over us, and pointed his finger to the zombie. “You! I killed you!” he shouted. But then a perplexed expression appeared on his faced. “No! The evil has left you! You are not alive!” and then his white, glowing eyes watched Frederico. “There is evil in you!”

A huge whirlwind of everchanging colors, a cosmic kaleidoscope opened behind the “angel”. Meanwhile, the fire of the wreaked cars and trucks had spread to planes and nearby buildings.

And then another two persons arrived without being noticed, a strange guy with a coat and a top hat and a young man with a cat in his arms.

The guy with the top hat pronounced some random consonants toward Frederico, which turned toward him. His grim changed into an evil laugh, as the two began a strange “dance”, I could only describe it in this way, one around the other. The angel, at the same time, charged at the zombie.

I, Danny and the young man with the cat were observing the scene, truly perplexed at what was happening, when many men dressed in black arrived over the terrace, descending from ropes down two elicopters.

“Ahw, this time you will not take me, bastards” shouted the man with the cat, which in a blur disappeared.

“Take them all alive” was shouting one of the men in black, probably their leader.

They charged at me and Danny. He took flight, I went “ghost”. But they had strange guns, shooting electrical rays, which somehow wounded my intangible form. I fell to the ground, and I was shure they were about to take me, when I felt two strong arms taking me. It was Danny, bringing me up in air.

“I feel better, friend. Put me down, we have to help the one with the cat” I said, smiling to Danny. The man was in the hand of two agents, whic were breaking one of his legs. A third was screaming, being the cat scratching with the pawns his eyes.

I turned heavy and punched the two K. O. Danny grew two bulls horns on his head and a rhino horn on his nose and charged other agents. The cat was finishing his jobs.

I turned to the rest of the fight, just in the moment in which the angel made the zombie disappear. At the same time, the top hat guy, which now was surrounded by a glowing aura,stopped his dance, and Frederico fell to the ground. The he turned to the upcoming agents, and began to turning them into cows.

But new agents were arriving.

“We have to leave. Now!” I shouted.

“Maybe I know a place to hide”, told me the top hat guy. The angel took us into a ball of energy, and we simply disappeared from the place. The top hat guy presented himself as Mr. Mxy, and told the angel (“call me Naecken” he said”, while the other man is called Tobias Christopher and is a speedster) about a wooden cabin near the docks on the Lake Michigan. “The place where they gathers” he said, but who “they” would be, he had no answer.
“There is an old man that seems to know things. He supposed I was from the future” Mr. Mxy said.

The cabin was empty, we found no traces of the old man. But it was large enough for the five of us (to say nothing of the cat) to rest for the night.

And now we are here, sitting around this old, wooden round table, wondering what to do next.

Mr. Mxy speaks for first: “Frederico is possessed by Ktl, my evil self. I have temporarily put him off, but soon he will be deadly as before. I need your help to defeat him.”

Naecken watches each of us, and than says: “There is greater evil, greater than Ktl, out there. I need your help to find it.”

Silence.

I speak: “There is a corporation, in Thunder City, they have my kid. I need help to free him”.

Then Tobias shouts: “There are agents of the government that capture meta and torture them. They have killed my girl before capturing me. I need your help to avenge her.”

Finally, it’s the turn of Danny. “I’m from the future, I have nowhere to go, so in a way I, too, need your help.”

Silence.

“Well, it looks we have to make plans. Ah, since we have a fancy headquarter and a round table to meet around, it looks we need a fancy name for our team” I said, jokingly

Tobias laughs, while the others looks at me very perplexed.

*********************************************

CNN Late Breaking News 10-16-2001, 10,00 A.M.

The outcome of the “metahuman outbreack” in Chigaco is still unclear. The only thing known is that the subject of the incursion of superpowered beings was ex-Olympic runner and silver medallist Eduardo Frederico, the Cuban escaped athlete that for the USA team won four times the silver medals behind Euro star Edulcore Cicciotto.

Got in touch with him telephonically, Frederico has said to have been attacked for no reason by a bounch of metahuman freaks.

On a side note, in the morning a prostitute in Chicago has been found with his head exploded.

[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

As the others start planning, Danny says to Tobias...

Danny: What's your name?

Tobias: Uh... Tobias Christopher... but didn't I alredy tell you?

Danny: Yeah, but Hal wasn't paying attention.

Tobias: Hal?

Danny: A guy inside my head.

Tobias: Oh... you too?

Danny: What? You have another person in your head too?

Tobias: No, not me... that guy over there, Mister Mxy. When we first met, his name was Mick. You see, we were trapped in a dark room together. The guards entered every six hours to torture us, so I suggested we attacked them next time they came, but he was really tired, mentally, so he decided to sleep. One second after he got asleep, he reopened his eyes and...

Danny: Wait, if it was a dark room how did you know he reopened his eyes?

Tobias: I knew it because his eyes were shinning... and what kind of question is that anyway?

Danny: Hal was curious...

Tobias: OK, so he started yelling "I leave the body for a couple of hours and you get us locked up!", like he was another person. I re-introduced myself to him, and he inmediatly agreed to follow my plan. In fact, when the guards came in, he turned into livestock, as he did with several guards in the building... "Not my only trick" he said "But it's the one they expect from me!". I wanted to stay there and... take care of some unfinished bussines... but he insisted in going to the airport, now I see why...

Edulcore: Hey you two over there!

Danny and Tobias: Huh?

Edulcore: We're trying to figure out serious stuff over here, so please pay attention, will you?

Danny: Of course.

Tobias: Sorry.

Edulcore: Good. Now... how about "Many Bosses Lie"?

Mister Mxy: Nah... "Mature Boys League"?

(OK, take that last two lines out of continuity if you want... )

"As good as new." Tobias said. "Once I got away from those guards."

"Did you love her?" Mxy asked.

"What?" Tobias replied.

"Your girl. The one they killed. Did you love her?"

"Yeah." Tobias replied. "I was going to ask her to marry me the night they killed her."

"We'll get 'em." Mxy said.

"I know." Tobias said. "I'm going to make sure everyone associated with those bastards gets what they deserve."

"This 'love' is a funny thing" Mxy thinks "I wonder how that Shirley is... You sick bastard... What? Oh, Mick, glad to see you are awake! You like her, don't you? I what? What? Shirley that girl from the store... you like her... Oh, no, my friend... You looooove her... No, I, you just... Oh, I get it now, I get it now... What? What? YOU like her... Oh, please... You do, don't you? Hehe! Come on! You are jealous! COME ON! You silly, jelous monkey... That is ridiculous! I can see your thoughts, Mickey... Well, I can see yours! Oh, no you can't... I do too! Oh, no you..."

"MXY!" Naecken shouts "Would you stop talking to yourself for a second? You are distracting the rest of us"

"OK... Sorry... They can't hear you... Well you should say sorry then... Oh, shut up would you?"

"GOOD IDEA!" says Edulcore.

[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

[ 10-19-2001: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

quote:

---

"...but I implore you to stay, to save your future. And ours...
I suggest we begin with Tobias´s mission..."

---

As Naecken finished, an endless stream of bullets ripped through the thin walls of the old wooden house, sending the rebels to the ground.

"Look out, everyone down!"

Helecopters ripped across the sky, a far wall was set a blaze as another was taken to the ground with brute force. Edulcore grabbed Tobias' arm, causing him to be intangitable just before a bullet would have taken his head off.

The MCCA is here, the heroes are sorrounded, no where to go... ONLY FIGHTING LEFT...

"Tobias, no!" Educore shouted, but it was too late. Tobias was already outside and in the line of fire.

"You bastards took her away!" Tobias shouted. He saw the snipers up in the field and started spinning fast enough to create a whirlwind to deflect the bullets, finally letting the full force of a tornado hit them, knocking them back.

"Come on!" Tobias shouted to the others. "It's time to kick some ass!"

Outside, I fid myself staring at a row of low flying helicopters. Each with several mean-looking guns mounted on the front.

"Oh, shit!" I yell, diving to take cover behind a nearby tree trunk.

"Shitshitshit..." I mutter to myself.

Calm down, Danny. Stop. Breathe. Think, Hal says

"About what?! There's men and guns and choppers out there... they're bloody antique helicopters, too! They're, like, a hundred years old! And they're STILL pretty fucking scary!" I reply.

CRAP. Oh, CRAP.

I don't fight. I have no idea how to fight.

Apparently I have superpowers. And I still don't know how to fight.

I told you to think, Danny.

"About what?!"

You're in the woods. Surrounded by trees. Really tall trees. And those choppers are flying pretty low.

I peered around the tree trunk.

The choppers were circling the house. Maybe they hadn't seen me run out and dive behind the tree...?

Okay. They're concentrating on the house. Believing they have all of us surrounded.

I hope the other guys got out... can't do this on my own...

I stand, and look up. Right. Tall trees.

"I can't climb this tree. The branches are too far apart."

Animals can climb trees.

"Okay. Give me claws. Possum claws or something. Anything to climb a tree with."

I wince as pain strikes my hands. I look down and notice my fingers... changing. Hardening. Condensing.

Within seconds, I was looking at thick, tough, sharp claws.

I grabbed the tree trunk with my right hand. My claws sank into the bark, gaining a good grip.

"Now this is handy..." I say.

I throw my left arm up, and sink my claws in just above my right hand. I pull myself up, and throw my right arm up again.

"This is tough on the forearms..." I say.

Yeah, well, being shot by government agents in helicopters is tough on the internal organs.

"Point taken."

About ten metres up, I find myself breathing heavily.

Just keep going. Climb, you bastard, climb...

I'm not sure exactly how long it takes me. I think it was about five or ten minutes. My arms are pretty damn tired by the end of it.

But eventually, I find myself standing on a thick branch, at the same level the choppers are flying at. I'm looking across at one of them.

They continue to hover in a circle around the house.

There's... how many? Six. Six of them.

Six helicopters. Six big, black, machine gun carrying helicopters.

What the hell are you so scared of? They're antiques. Back home, these sorts of things are in museums, and history text books.

I sit down, resting against the tree trunk.

No time for rest.

I stand again.

"Damn you, Hal."

I realise that they're still just hovering. After their initial attack on the house, they just... stayed there. Waiting for us to come out.

Could they really not have noticed me?

They look like they're just waiting there. For us to come out of the house. Surrounding us. Almost daring us to come out and face them.

I suppose they're not expecting us to climb stealthily up trees...

I suddenly notice why they didn't see me come out of the house. They weren't looking at the back wall.

The pilots' attention was probably drawn by the whirlwind that was racing through the nearby embankment, picking off snipers...

"Tobias, you crazy bastard..." I whisper, grinning.

Now or never, hotshot.

"Okay. Reverse the claws, and I'll go..."

I run down the branch, and jump off the end, towards the nearest chopper. Arms outstreched, I grab onto the landing gear. The chopper leans to the side. A man with a gun leans out of the side door, and looks down at me.

The noise of the chopper's engine made it impossible to hear him, but I'm pretty sure I see him mouth the words "What the fuck?".

I pull myself beneath the chopper, to protect myself from the man and his gun.

I feel my grip on the landing gear slipping.

You know, gorillas have really strong arms.

"OKAY! GORILLA ARMS!"

Within seconds, my arms are larger. Hairier. Darker.

I have gorilla arms.

The swelling of the arms rips the sleeves of my t-shirt.

Damn. That's the second shirt I've ruined in as many days.

I swing my right arm upwards, and grab the floor of the helicopter. I swing my left arm up, and grab the man's leg. I pull him out, and send him tumbling into the forest below.

I pull myself up into the helicopter. Wrapping my gorilla arms around the front seat, I grab the pilot. He screams as I pull him out of the seat. He screams some more as I throw him out the side door.

"You're right. Gorillas do have strong arms. But you can reverse them now."

I wince again as the pain takes hold for a second. Then my arms are back to normal.

I dove over the front seat, and grab hold of what I'm pretty sure is the steering mechanism.

The helicopter swerves sharply to the left as I take control.

Into the side of another helicopter.

The noise is deafening as the two collide. The screeching of twisting and scraping metal. The screaming of the pilot in the other chopper.

The two giant machines start tumbling downwards, out of control.

"EAGLE WINGS!" I yell, diving out of the tumbling wreck.

I feel myself falling for a second. Then the wings sprout out of my back, ruining what's left of my t-shirt.

I hover in the air for a moment and watch as a flaming ball of metal plunges into Lake Michigan. I laugh as the pilot of the second chopper parachutes to the ground, having dived out at the last moment. He lands in the water, and I dive down to retrieve him.

"Don't let them fool you, they're still just a bunch of revolutionaries," another man said as he emerged from the boat's cabin, "don't forget, bleeding hearts usually lead to bleeding heads."

"Don't forget which one of us spent ten years of his life on covert missions," Bibowski replied, "I'm pulling the boat farther north. I don't want any of the metas to spot us yet."

The security chief handed his binoculars to his assistant. He entered the cabin of the nondescript boat that his team was using to survey the fight that the MCCA had picked with a houseful of metas, including Eurostar and several who were at least as powerful as he was. It was stupid moves like this that had made him decide to work outside of the country after his military tenure ended.

Once the boat had moved out of range, he resumed his surveillance. This was quite the show.

“They are not evil. They are doing what they believe is good. They are misled by their superiors, but not evil…” whispers Naecken, like if talking to himself.

“Their bad! Now I’m gonna wipe them all!” shouts Mr. Mxy, with a sarcastic smile on his face.

“No, wait!” I say, putting my hand firmly on the five dimensional being’s back. “If we kill them, their colleagues will want to avenge them, and we’ll be their target forever. It’s their leaders our true enemy, we have to harm them the less possible. Just like Danny is showing us”.

Naecken turns to me: “Very noble intentions, comrade… but how can we possibly do it?”

“We must disarm them, and leave. I will take care of two helicopters, I can’t go near the snipers, because they have that electrical gun that can harm me. You, Naecken, will take care of the other two. Danny will retrieve the pilots from the lake, while you, Mxy, and Tobias will disarm the snipers in the wood. But you must be less destructive than a tornado… Tobias can use his supervelocity to take the guns without being seen… while you… please don’t turn them into cow… maybe… can you animate the trees to scare them off?”

The man in top hat just smiles and walks off. Naecken transmits with his telepathy my suggestion to both Tobias and Danny, and then spreads his wings and flies off toward two of the helicopters.

Time to enter into action. The adrenaline pumps inside my veins. There is a broken glass still hanging from the surviving wall. The man looking at me is not the Edulcore I knew. Inside my old runner vest, with full red mask for enhanced aerodynamics, I look impressive. The old days of my glory are not so old anymore, I guess.

I turn lighter than air, and begin to rise toward the sky. I float in the direction of one of the ’copter, and then stop right in front of the pilot, just outside the glass.

The face of the pilot is hard to describe. And a scream of terror he emits when I pass trough the glass, and trough himself, to turn denser that diamond right in the place occupied by the engine.
The helicopter falls straight down, and I see Danny flying to rescue the pilot before the dive inside the gelid waters of the Michigan.

The second helicopter is turning back, maybe the it has been order to retire.

Sorry, not now.

No time to scary the pilot. I just touch the shell of the helicopter, and it turns ghost. The pilot suddenly realizes he is sitting over nothing, and falls. Well, after all I have scared him nearly to death. Danny catches him only inches above the water surface.

I have completed my part. What are doing Mxy, Naecken and Tobias?

But, before I turn to watch them, a sparkle very distant from the lakeside catches my attention. It’s a boat, and the sparkle was the reflection of the sun over… what? The lenses of a camera? A binoculars? Better to investigate…

"Then throw out the reels," Bibbo said coolly as he tossed a fishing rod to each of the men, "there is nothing on our persons or on this boat to connec tus to Malvan-X, and there are no reports of telepaths among the meta-human 'revolutionaries', as you called them."

"Relax men," he continued, "we're just some friends fishing. We couldn't help but noticed the helicoptors, and when we saw the scuffle, we pulled back far enough to be safe, but stayed close enough to see what will surely be the top story on the evening news."

Bibowski smiled as he cast his reel and put on a fisherman's cap. He knew he was damn good. None of the metas would know who he was until he wanted them to.

Then, the show's been watching is interrupted...

TV: We interrupt this show to bring you a special news bulletin -- a fight between metahumans and a group of millitary looking armed men is taking place right now in the coast of Lake Michigan...

She's about to turn the TV off when...

TV: Because of security reasons, our chopper can't get close to the fight, but we were able to catch this images...

The screen now shows several helicopters, armed men, and metahumans fighting them. Suddenly, some tall trees around them start moving...

TV: It looks like... those trees are developing arms... and feet... and... faces?

As several men run away from the trees, the camera turns to a man levitating behind the trees, energy coming from him to the trees... He is wearing a top hat and a coat.

Shirley: Oh my God... Oh my God...

A man sits alone, his body pressed up against a hard steel wall, sweet slowly dripping from his forehead.

A broken monitor lays only feet from his body, the low hum of a computer can still be heard.

Files and papers line the floor, thrown from their home in a wild fashion.

The man, with a million thoughts running through his mind, tries to cry but can't. He can bearly breath as he looks foward, his mind adrift.

He is able to push a few words out of his still shivering mouth, "...I don't exist..."

"Your girl was a whore." He heard one of the snipers say.

"What?" Tobias said as he ran back and grabbed the guy.

"You heard me." He said. "We all had our turn with her. She wasn't that great."

"You son of a bitch!" Tobias said as he prepared to vibrate his hand through the man's skull.

"Tobias, no!" Mxy said as he grabbed Tobias's arm. "No death. That's an order."

Tobias just stood there, trying to decide what to do. "Fine." He said. "I won't kill him."

Tobias vibrated his hand through man's back and severed his spine, paralyzing him. He held the man up to show the other snipers.

"You've got three seconds before I come after the rest of you."

The rest of the group ran away as fast as they could as Tobias let the man hit the ground.

"Tobias?" Mxy asked.

The boy just fell to his knees and started to cry.

But I did spend a few last minutes, as an invisible ghost, among the MCCA men. And what I did hope for happened. Many men were wondering why we only disarmed them, without doing them harm. And the fact that the ones which had their spine severed by Tobias were the one that raped his girlfriend, did only confirm what many of them were beginning to think: that we are only defending ourselves, and that maybe we are not the menace for humankind that the MCCA wants America to believe.

Now, we are hiding in a place where no one will be able to find us. Thanks to the joined efforts of Naecken and Mr. Mxy, the new hide is secure. Sadly, it will not last forever, we will have to move soon, but for now we are safe.

While they are resting, “recharging” their energies after the battle, I have returned on the place of the fight, on the ruins of the log cabin. I have one thing in my mind, maybe I am too romantic, but I want to take the old table were we met around for the first time. It’s the symbol of our group, it will be a reminder that we will survive only together, and that we will perform our tasks only with the help of each other. And the first one has just been accomplished. Tobias has avenged his woman.

There is a man on the site of the cabin. An old man. Mxy said something about an old man… ah, I don’t remember…

I am in ghost form, so little dense that I am invisible. I stand in front of the man, who is watching something on the ground.

Then, he raises his head AND LOOK AT ME, RIGHT IN MY EYES! “Eurostar, I was waiting for you” he says.

I remain invisible.

The old man has long white hairs, torn jeans and a dull, long, leather coat. “There is one from the MCCA watching us, Cicciotto. You can turn visible, if you like…” he says.

I remain invisible, and don’t say a word.

“Fine”, he keeps talking. “What you and your friends did yesterday was admirable. Keep operating in that way, and all will be easier. You will find many allies where before there was only enemies. But remember, if you or your friend thinks of knowing anything about MCCA and Tri-Vex, you are totally out of track. And, lastly, be aware that there are hundreds of metas caged in the Zoo.”

Then, a splash comes from the waters of the lake. I watch back, but it’s only a fish.

But when I turn to the old man, HE HAS DISAPPEARED, vanished in the space of a second, and I am all alone.

I take the table, and come back to the hiding place…

[ 11-02-2001: Message edited by: T5 ]

[ 11-02-2001: Message edited by: T5 ]

Mxy: Um, you OK...?

Eurostar, that was talking to the others near there, notices what's happening to Naecken, and runs to him.

Eurostar: What's going on here?!

Mxy: I don't know, he just--

Suddenly, the unexpected happens...

[ 11-12-2001: Message edited by: T5 ]