United Heroes Annual #1 - "A Time for Change"
Scene 3: "Death by Toy Soldiers?"
Harpy steamed, giving the rest of her fellow superheroes a specific look of despair. "Would it be at all possible for us to have a semi-normal day once in a while?" she demanded and stalked out of the sitting room where the rest of them were waiting.
"I suppose she's talking about the funeral," Pathfinder said after an uncomfortable silence. "Can't say that I blame her, either."
"We're re-scheduling, right?" the Scoundrel asked. "Everything will be fine once we get it over with. As far as I'm concerned..."
"I hope we don't get in your way, oh Scoundrel," Iron Dragon replied. "Please, don't do anything on our account."
Torpedo shot Iron Dragon a scornful look. "There is no need for your sarcasm, Dragon. I believe the Scoundrel would like to put this unfortunate incident behind us. I am behind that notion completely."
Iron Dragon stood. "Harpy's not the only one who's pissed about this situation," he said and marched off in the same direction as their leader.
MorningStar, who had been flipping through Cosmo (backwards, looking only at the pictures), finally poked her head up. "What's going on anyway? What's with all the drama?"
"I would say a minor dispute," Pathfinder replied, "But this may go deeper than a mere misunderstanding."
"Where did 'Lectro go? Has anyone seen him?" MorningStar asked.
"Harpy knows," Torpedo replied. "I think she mentioned something about a public appearance, you know, to garner goodwill."
"We could use some right about now," Pathfinder said. "It's a good thing Acrobat Ace and Puncture Proof* aren't here to see this."
* The team met them in United Heroes Limited Series #8 - ed
"Yeah, luckily for us, they left for Pandemonium," Torpedo added. "I fear they would be terribly disappointed in our behavior. Hopefully, they will find what they're looking for in Pandemonium."
MorningStar went back to her magazine, disinterested in the rest of the conversation, though her thoughts drifted to the island battle the United Heroes had just endured*. She almost died there, and was somewhat reluctant to go through such an ordeal again any time soon.
*United Heroes Limited Series #11-12 - ed
"Does anyone else wonder why I attacked you guys?" the Scoundrel asked. "You said there was some kind of device attached to my back, right?"
"Electrostatic said he was going to have it analyzed for clues," Torpedo replied. "I'm not sure there's anything we can do at this time unless a clue drops out of the sky..."
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A line of children aged 8-18 were lined up at the mall, a line stretching from the entrance all the way up some stairs, and to the door of Toy-o-Rama, one of a chain of toy and electronics stores in the Bay Area and around the country. The boys and girls held large photos, magazines, and notepads in one hand and a pen in another. Anticipation was high.
Inside the toy store, now focused entirely on the crowd situation, employees scurried to make room for the hundreds of kids who would be gathered to catch a glimpse of their idol, Electrostatic, from United Heroes!
He stood in a back office, going over some index cards upon which he had written a prepared statement.
Sally, the manager, approached him. "Um, Electrostatic?" she asked. "You're not going to... read off those cards, are ya?"
The hero looked up in chagrin. "Uh, I'm not much of a public speaker. I thought --"
Sally drew closer and grabbed the cards. "You can do better than that. Let me see these..."
Electrostatic checked the clock. Only one minute remained until all hell broke loose.
"This is too stuffy!" Sally announced and tossed the index cards in the trash. "Speak from your heart... and sign lots of autographs." She smiled at the nervous hero. "You'll be fine."
Great, he thought. A pep talk from some toy store manager. What's it coming to?
The store doors opened, and children flooded the place, looking for their hero.
"Showtime, hero," Sally said, shoving Electrostatic out the office door and into the store area.
A table was set aside, and Electrostatic quickly moved to it as a barrier against the onrush of children.
"OK, OK," he said. "Let's settle down. Kids, c'mon, work with me."
They cheered and delighted at the sight of the superhero. Though he had been hesitant about this assignment, Electrostatic's heart swelled with emotion, seeing the adoration in the kids' eyes.
The hero spoke for a few moments, which were captured on tape for the six o'clock news. Then, he sat down to sign a few hundred autographs. Luckily, with his speed, it didn't take very long at all. He used the extra time to talk to each kid individually about their hopes and dreams. Electrostatic grew that day.
As he left Toy-o-Rama under cover of security guards, kids still lined up outside the store, Electrostatic saw a pair of man-sized wooden soldiers standing next to the escalator. That's nice, he thought. I didn't see those decoarations before. Did they do that just for my appearance?
But then, the wooden soldiers moved towards him. And there were more behind those, numbering 10, maybe 15 in all.
"What's going on?" Electrostatic asked a security guard.
"I got no idea, mister!" the guard replied, pulling his baton.
The hero looked down, realizing that the guards were armed only with sticks. "You're not packing, are you?"
"Um, no."
The toy soldiers surrounded Electrostatic and the four guards assigned to him. Kids were also in the area. Electrostatic saw that the soldiers carried wooden rifles with bayonets.
"What the heck is this?" he demanded. "Some kind of joke?"
A balding man wearing a heavy, leather apron came up behind the soldiers. "No, my friend," he said. "No joke!"
The soldiers charged forward, right at Electrostatic!
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"Surrender, hero," the balding guy said, "Or fell the wrath of Gepetto the Puppet Master!"
As he dodged wooden soldiers, Electrostatic couldn't help but laugh. "What? Is Pinocchio right around the corner or something?"
The electric hero blasted a wooden soldier, and it exploded in tiny shards. But there were more where that came from. The real danger, as Electrostatic knew deep down, was their creator, this crazed puppet guy.
He squatted between two bayonets that wooshed over his head, and Electrostatic pulled out his communicator. "UH, this is 'Lectro, over."
The hero cartwheeled around the wooden soldiers to avoid more of their attacks. Apparently, their rifles did not fire, as they seemed keen on trying to stab the agile hero with their bayonets.
Torpedo, who was manning the boards, replied. "UH here, Electrostatic. Over."
Using a railing, Electrostatic flipped over a pair of wooden soldiers and landed behind them. "You won't believe this," he replied. "I'm being attacked by toy soldiers."
Harpy took over the comm. "What? Say again!"
"Toy soldiers, you know," the hero said, dodging more blows. "I'm at the mall!"
"Right," Harpy responded. "How many? Can you handle them?"
Electrostatic smiled, as if he would admit any sign of weakness to Harpy. "Of course, but... um, there are a lot of kids around here. They might get hurt. There's a bad guy too. Some Gepetto."
The hero rolled between three soldiers and blasted them with his lightning bolts.
"We'll be there in a flash. Over and out."
That was a relief. While Electrostatic was easily able to evade the soldiers' attacks, he was concerned for the safety of the innocent kids who had come to see him.
The best tactic might be to draw the soldiers away from the toy store. Electrostatic realized that the toy men were only attacking him, and were ignoring the guards and everyone else. He decided to test this theory and jumped onto the ground floor. Looking up, Electrostatic saw the toy soldiers confused at first, but then made their way down the stairs.
C'mon, guys, he thought.
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As the battle moved outside, Gepetto followed along, hoping to watch his toy soldiers defeat another superhero. Unfortunately, when the rest of the United Heroes arrived, they made short work of Gepetto's creations.
"You've ruined everything!" Gepetto screamed out and tossed a net at Electrostatic, pinning him to the ground. The villain fled on a jet-powered skateboard through the mall, moving faster than any of the heroes could follow - by ground.
But MorningStar had other plans. She took off through the air, and easily tracked the villainous puppeteer to his biplane, where he was preparing to take flight.
Are you kidding me? MorningStar thought. A toy plane too?
The biplane took off, but its acceleration was nothing special; MorningStar was easily able to keep up for the time being.
Gepetto noticed the fiery heroine tracking him, so he tried some evasive maneuvers. MorningStar kept up, regardless.
Turning the plane around, Gepetto aimed it straight at the flying heroine, and let loose his machineguns. Bullets flew, grazing MorningStar, but she nonetheless survived. In turn, she fired a blast of flame at the biplane's tail, causing it to burst and explode.
"Nooooooo..." Gepetto screamed as the plane started to descend violently.
What if he doesn't have a parachute? MorningStar wondered. She closed in on the wrecked plane as it fell, trying to get an angle to perhaps grab the villain before the crash.
Just then, Gepetto popped out of the cockpit, with a tiny parachute attached to his back. "Ha ha," he said defiantly. "You'll never catch me!"
"Yeah, sure," MorningStar replied. "I can set that parachute on fire pretty easily..."
Gepetto's face soured.
"It's still a long way to the ground," MorningStar pointed out.
"Fine," Gepetto declared. "You've got me!"
Gepetto and MorningStar settled to the ground, where META teams were awaiting the villain, ready to stock him away with more of his kind in a super-prison.
As the rest of the United Heroes caught up to the action, the doors were closing on the META van, when it exploded! The heroes and META agents ducked for cover, looking toward the van, which was now a hunk of scorched metal.
"What the hell?" Electrostatic demanded.
"Tsk, tsk," a voice said from behind them. "Such language..."
The heroes turned to see a giant robot facing them. Within the transparent cockpit window, they could see Gepetto.
"My duplicate fooled you pretty good," he said, chuckling. "Fooled everyone!"
The heroes stood up from their cover positions, ready for a fight.
The robot's arms shifted a bit, and chain guns popped out of the sides.
"Now, Gepetto gets his revenge!"
Watch for Scene 4, Coming Soon!
