issue#1, part IV
Since the boards have been down, it's time to get them reved up again with a post
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Father Thomas O’Reily “tsked” as he watched the six o’clock news. He winced as he saw footage of Stalwart and Slipsteam duking it out in front of Fanueil Hall. He became angry when glass rained down upon the Market and some of the good people of Boston.
“Irresponsible fools! I need ta give these two a piece of my mind,” he spoke out loud. It was a habit that drove some of his parishioners crazy sometime. “Hmmm…who would know about this kinda thing?”
Father O’Reily rubbed his goatee and then snapped his fingers as the memory came to him. He walked briskly down to Harvard Square and took the train downtown and then over to Chinatown.
**
“Brian Paarka, where have ya been?” called Grandma Shannon as Brian stepped in from outside. “A’ve been worried sick, young man,” she continued as he made his way to the kitchen.
Surfing and hyper-speed travel made him very hungry and he could smell Grandma Shannon’s famous Chicken-and-dumplings. He was a little late, but it had been well worth watching the sun set on the beach. Soon he was relaxed and full as he and his grandmother ate dinner together. It had been their routine since he had moved from California. Brian couldn’t help but love Grandma’s stories of Boston: ghouls in the tunnels beneath the T, the great molasses flood, and werewolves in Chinatown. Brian had to suppress a chuckle for that one. After Grandma Shannon went to bed, Brian checked his messages and saw that it was time to don on his Slipstream persona and meet his new friends at Dr. Lu’s Herbs and Flowers.
When he arrived, a clergyman began blasting him before Jae Son, Anaka or Dr. Lu could warn the superhero.
“How dare ya come into me city and wreck havoc!”
Slipstream raised his hand to speak, but the priest interrupted.
“I don’ wanna hear it. If ye’re gonna cause destruction and mayhem, you might as well leave me town.”
After the first two sentences, Slipstream tuned him out and looked to Jae Son and the rest. They just shrugged their shoulders and waited for the tirade to end. Jae Son looked at his watch and after two minutes, about the time Father O. started all over again, the detective interrupted.
“Slipstream meet Father Thomas O’Reilly.”
As the two glared at each other Jae Son continued, “Father, I appreciate your concern for our fair city, but there are graver matters at stake. The FBI is trying to cover up something important and we have to get to the bottom of it. I fear that if we do not, worse things may happen to Boston than broken glass and superhero posturing.”
A map of the Boston area was laid on the table and after a brief discussion, a decision was made to investigate several advanced technology plants in the Burlington area, north of Boston. Clearly the armored vehicle had been heading in that direction. Three corporations stood out: Cyberdyne Systems, Sony Incorporated, and Unitron Inc. In the morning, they would start with Unitron, the southernmost facility, and work their way to the others if no leads presented themselves.
“If there are no other questions?” probed the detective. He paused, “Very good, then. Good night, gentlemen. We will see you tomorrow morning,”
Jae Son, Anaka, and Dr. Lu saw Slipstream and Father O’Reilly out the door.
**
The next morning, a man in dark gray robes wearing a dark gray mask joined Slipstream, Jae Son Lee and Anaka. The man answered the questioning looks.
“I am Grey Mage, Protector of Boston. Father O’Reilly told me there was a need and now I am here to see that you do not cause wanton destruction to my fair city, “ he pointed at Slipstream.
“Dude, you got the wrong guy. You need to go an’ talk to that Stalwart. He’s the bad guy an’ he started it anyway.”
Jae Son, arms crossed, tapped his foot impatiently, as the costumed “heroes” squared off.
“Gentlemen—and I say that with reservation--we are wasting time. Who knows what clues we will loose as time ticks away. Anaka, let us go.”
The martial artist nodded and both climbed into their rented black Lincoln Town Car. Gray Mage took to the skies and disappeared from view, while Slipstream ran in spurts alongside the vehicle. In a reasonable time they were soon at the gate to Unitron, Inc.
With a bit of courteous talk by Jae Son and the presence of Slipstream, the guard opened the gate to allow the visitors inside for a tour of the high-tech facility.
Just as Slipstream was about to shake the guard’s hand, they heard an explosion. Smoke exited from the back of a warehouse. Slipstream pointed and without waiting for the others, he sped over to investigate. Grey Mage soon followed in the air, turning visible to give him the protection of his arcane force field.
“Follow them Anaka, to make sure that they do not get into trouble.”
“And you?”
Jae Son smiled, “I would only get in the way and be a liability. I will wait here.”
However, as soon as Anaka left the car, called upon his ch’i, and sped towards the warehouse faster than a normal human, Jae Son took a deep breath, allowing the Warwolf to take control. Warwolf rolled from the car and leaped into the air, bounding to join his companions. He smelled plamsa, and growled. The guard stood dumbfounded, not answering the voice on the other end of the phone, having dropped the receiver.
Slipstream entered the smoking hole that had been blasted into the side of the building. Inside he saw five robots of varying body types carrying crates: two large, bulky metallic green ones, two thin metallic blue ones, and one medium-sized metallic red one. He sped past and punched the red robot, continuing past it and ending up behind a stack of crates. Un-phased, and not even moved from its position, the red robot shimmered and disappeared still carrying the crate it had held. The other four dropped what they were holding and moved towards the speedster. The blue robots floated into the air and blasted the lone hero with plasma waves. The pulses of energy tore through Slipstream’s defenses and his world went dark.
The rest of the superheroes arrived to see the four remaining robots closing to engage them. Mayhem ensued with energy blasts being exchanged on both sides. Gray Mage shot the ‘bots with magic lighting that issued from his outstretched fingers. Anakin, aka Dragonfist, with a mighty cry, redirected his inner power to fire his own blasts. Warwolf engaged the enemy as he knew best: fist and claw. The robots, their metallic voices echoing through the warehouse, communicated and modulated their energy blasts to the best effect, exploiting the heroes’ weaknesses. Gray Mage and Dragonfist reeled as the attacks penetrated their defenses, but remained standing. In the melee, the Warwolf was slammed into the corner of the building by a combination of energy attacks. Bouncing up, he goaded a green wardroid into charging him, sidestepping at the last second and helping the robot smash its metal head into a harder steel girder. The Warwolf howled in victory. The triumph was short-lived as a blue robot hit him with a powerful pulse of energy that seemed to ignore his natural resistance to damage and burn him terribly. Warwolf dove through the hole that the downed green wardroid had made and leaped onto the roof of the warehouse to buy some time to heal.
The robots concentrated on the remaining two foes. A combination of arcane energies from both east and west destroyed a second green wardroid, and somehow Dragonfist and Grey Mage withstood another round of blasts from the very quick blue robots. Both wondered what had happened to Slipstream.
Behind the crates, Slipstream had managed to climb to all fours and was attempting to shake the cobwebs from his head.
“Aww man! That hurt… bad robots…bad. Note to Dude: wait for the rest of your friends before fightin’ bad guys.”
He used the nearest stack of crates to prop himself up and recover from the blasts even more. Peeking from behind the pile, he saw his new friends in trouble. Slipstream sped back into the fray using his Quicksilver hand attack to rip into the two remaining robots as he ran past. Warwolf, seeing the return of the Slipstream jumped from the roof onto one of the blue robots, ramming it into the ground. Sparks flew and the blue robot did not rise. Warwolf, popped up in time to see the concentrated fire from his other three companions tear apart the last wardroid.
Battered and bruised, but not dead, the superheroes smiled at each other. Soon Unitron employees arrived to congratulate them. A short time later the police arrived with the FBI, and then finally, came the reporters. Slipstream strode forward to greet a new set of fans. Dragonfist and Grey Mage followed. Warwolf darted into the woods.
**
Jae Son Lee worked his way past the throngs of reporters and Unitron employees. Slipstream was describing the battle. Agent Smith of the FBI was claiming to have cooperated from the beginning with the heroes. Stalwart was posing for photographs with Dragon Fist and Grey Mage.
“Jason-dude, you missed the fight!”
The detective acknowledged Slipstream.
“That’s Jason. He’s like really smart and he led us here….”
The accolades to Jae Son Lee were drowned out with more questions about the battle. This suited Jae Son Lee fine as he slipped past the police lines, donned on gloves, and began searching through the pile of robot parts.
“Interesting…,” he muttered, and with forceps he removed some out of place material that had caught his well-trained eye putting it quickly in a plastic baggie.
[The End of Issue #1]
