issue#10, part III
Valor we need you…need you….need you
Valor McCoy woke with a start, the voice of Jae Sun Lee still ringing in his head. He shook himself and slapped his face forgetting were he was and when he had dozed off. A police detective offered him a cup. He took a sip of the very hot coffee and burned his tongue. There was a lot of moving and bustling. He was on a chair in a corridor at MIT. Forensics experts were picking through the rubble of what had been his lab. He remembered that the bodies had already been sent to the coroner’s office. Valor felt sick. He had hoped that it was a nightmare, but the death of his students and technicians—except for Theo Coolidge—was still true.
“You can go home now professor,” said one of the uniformed police officers.
Valor grunted and grabbed his coat eventually bursting into the cold winter night. He had to draft letters tomorrow to the families of his employees and did not relish the prospect. Right now he had to get his mind thinking about something else. The echoes of his dream reverberated in his mind. He radioed Jae Sun who gave him an affirmative that Legion Extreme had re-grouped at S.U.B., then morphed into his symbiotic night black suit of armor and headed towards Boston Harbor.
**
“Just relax, Cosmic Knight. We have an idea.”
Jae Sun smiled as Somnus and Valor flanked Cosmic Knight.
“It would be better, I think if he lay down or at least sat,” said Valor.
“So what’s this all about?” asked the power-armored hero folding his metal arms.
Valor sighed, “Well, according to Hummingbird’s profile, she uncontrollably imprints some sort of emotional control over those unwitting men that she mind controls. Somnus and I hit on the idea that perhaps we could locate her through you.”
Not knowing what to expect Cosmic Knight sat down. Somnus reached into his mind first and stimulated certain synapses to make him more controllable and docile. As his Ego was reduced, Valor entered into the recesses of his student’s mind. He expanded his mental vision to all of Boston searching through memories and the mental impressions of millions of people. Fatigue quickly set in and Jae Sun had to support Valor McCoy as he began to shudder. Somnus continued to drain Cosmic Knight’s brain to reduce the strain of the mental search on his friend and rival.
“There..something…faint…,” muttered Valor
Then he met a solid wall of resistance and was shut out. He fell limp in Jae Sun’s arms.
Seconds later, he opened his eyes.
“Marriott…Copley Square. But they know we’re coming.”
“Then we have no time to lose,” said Jae Sun.
He hit his communicator and typed in the common frequency, “Legion Extreme, assemble!”
**
In no time, they were circling the hotel. Nonchalantly, Valor McCoy approached the clerk at the front desk.
“Have you seen….,” he proceeded to give a description of whom he and Jae Sun had deduced were members of GRAB.
“Sir, we are not allowed to give out information about our guests.”
As soon as Valor had gotten the young man thinking about the strikingly beautiful women in GRAB, he probed the normal’s mind.
Oh yes…he had definitely seen Hummingbird and possibly Blue Jay…and recently.
“Can you tell me what room they might be in. I am Valor Mcoy, world renowned scientist and superhero ?” Valor persisted.
“I don’t care if you’re Pedro Martinez! We cannot give out that kind of information.”
But…with his mind, the clerk already had.
Valor smiled, “Thank you.”
He walked into the main lobby and reported, “Room 2112, gentlemen.”
The security guard and clerk were startled when a flash zipped past them and into the stairwell. Seconds later an eight-foot tall black-furred werewolf tore through the same space. Outside, Dragonfist landed on the roof and smashed through the outer door taking the stairs down to cut off any escape. Cosmic Knight flew around the building for that same purpose, while Somnus flew above the hotel just in case GRAB got through everyone else.
Slipstream arrived at the door to Room 2112 first and broke down the door without a second’s thought. A quick survey revealed the room to have been hastily vacated.
“Stay frosty, dudes. Valor’s right. They’re on to us,” he called over the com-link.
As soon as he signed off a buzzing began in his inner ear.
Wouldn’t be a great idea if you went and caught some tasty waves in SAN DIEGO?! came a sultry feminine voice.
“Yah! Great idear.”
Slipstream back down twenty-one flights of stairs in less than a second, warping the railing and scorching the stairs. The next second, he was miles away from Boston heading west.
Cosmic Knight received a powerful suggestion as well. Somnus watched as he flew towards Kenmore Square. Muscling his way past the bouncer, the armored hero was soon getting’ jiggy on the dance floor of the Avalon club.
Despite being forewarned, Dragonfist too succumbed. He decided to go back up to the roof and see if he could jump from the top and survive.
The Warwolf, hearing the reports from his Somnus and Valor about the others, stopped in his tracks.
“Perhaps, the Detective would be more suited to this type of adversary,” he thought aloud.
Ducking into a laundry room, the Warwolf allowed Jae Sun Lee to manifest. Casually, Jae Sun took the elevator to the lobby. There, sitting and chatting like old friends were Valor McCoy and the super-thief Bluejay. He did not see the pesky mentalist Hummingbird anywhere.
“Why the tricks, Bluejay?” Jae Sun asked interrupting her and Valor’s discussion of avionics.
“We felt that the two of you were more reasonable. Why are you looking for us?”
“I think we have both lost something that we would like back,” replied Jae Sun
She laughed, “Oh you mean the Star. We have given up. Cat’ left. Rob and Black Diamond are recovering. Hummingbird and I are just trying to relax a little. However…we wouldn’t mind getting another crack at Temblor. He really beat up Robert pretty bad.”
Meanwhile…
Somewhere in Nebraska, Slipstream came to a screeching halt, inadvertently creating Farmer Ted’s new irrigation ditch. He screamed in frustration at the realization of being duped and then turned around and headed back towards Boston.
Dragonfist after Somnus ego drained and then put him to sleep, collapsed two feet from the edge of the roof.
Cosmic Knight continued to get a groove on….
“Then help us find the Crowns of Krim.”
“What’s in it for us?”
Valor jumped in “Well for one--”
“Fer One—we won’t turn ya in for being the supervillians that you are!” shouted Slipstream materializing in the room.
Bluejay leaped to her feet and pointed her formidable powered armor arsenal at the men.
“Hold on, Slipstream. We are trying to negotiate.”
Valor stood and interposed himself between the two.
“Mr. McCoy is correct. Let us not resort to hostilities. A temporary alliance may be beneficial. After all, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’”
Slipstream rolled his eyes, “Don’t give me none of that Sun Tzu
. They’re baddies and need to go to jail. I’ve already given the Champions a heads up about the other one you let get away.”
He gave Jae Sun a dirty look.
“And Riptide, Slipstream?” Jae Sun replied calmly.
The speedster hesitated…
“Umm that’s different,” said Slipstream averting Jae Sun’s hard gaze and blushing slightly.
“Then it is settled. We will help each other.”
“If you can keep your
boy in check,” added Bluejay pointing to Slipstream, “then we agree.”
Jae Sun and Valor offered their hands and Bluejay shook them daintily with a smirk. Then she extended her hand to Slipstream. At first he refused to take it provoking a stern look from Jae Sun Lee.
“Oh, alright. But fer the record, Ah don’t like it…at all.”
As they shook hands, Jae Sun added, “Very well, let us retire and meet at first light at this address.”
He handed Bluejay a card.
“Slipstream, please collect the others. Tomorrow, I fear, will be a long day.”
End Issue # 10
