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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheDayKnight" data-source="post: 680893" data-attributes="member: 127">The Unbelievable OddsquadIssue #2Cast of CharactersThe Fourth EstateLeatheretteMr. MolassesVegasAdam OddThe Nullbots     “Your help is needed immediately,” says Adam Odd. “There is a disturbance in the fields of America.”          With a wave of his hand Adam turns one of the walls into a television.     “This is Dane Rogers reporting for WSOR. We are outside of Normal, Illinois, in the fields of Mr. Edward Johnson. A gang of ebony robots is constructing a structure of some sort! These automatons will not allow anyone to approach. Already two reporters and five police officers have lost their lives trying to approach these mechanical menaces.”     The scene on the television is one of destruction. A farmhouse and several barns are now heaps of smoldering char. Seven bodies lie motionless on the ground. Fires burn unchecked in the field. Four robots, standing over ten feet tall, stack large cylindrical pieces of metal.  Four other spindly black robots skitter about the structure like evil spiders. They seem to be welding the pylons together and performing technical work. In a ring surrounding the construction are eight robotic guards.     “Is there a computer in this place?” asks Vegas.     Adam Odd conjurers up a computer at a table near the fat man. Vegas quickly searches for information on the Internet. He finds nothing of use. Edward Johnson is a sixty-two year old farmer with no criminal background. Mr. Johnson’s farm has no geological, scientific, or mystical significance. Leatherette excuses herself from the sitting room. Away from the other members of the Oddsquad, she calls the office of Rosa Petals and cancels her appointments for the day. As a minor politician, her schedule is very fluid. The Fourth Estate, likewise, calls his law office and clears the day.     They reach Edward Johnson’s field outside of Normal, Illinois. The robots have nearly completed their task. An archway soars fifty feet into the air. Every so often, mysterious energy will crackle between the pylons of the archway. Static fills the portal. The Oddsquad cuts its way through the crowd of reporters and cameramen like a battleship on the ocean. Questions follow their footsteps.     “Who are you?”     “Are you with The Federals? Will Challenger and The Steward be showing up?”     “What is your name?”     Leatherette turns toward the crowd; “We are the Oddsquad. Never forget it!”     Vegas begins to rummage through the pockets of his trenchcoat. He frantically puts together a disentigrator ray from what appears to be iron piping, gum wrappers, a spatula, duct tape and wires. He hefts the device over his shoulder and begins to advance on the robots, “No glory for the meek!” When The Oddsquad reach one hundred feet from the archway, all of the robots swivel toward the heroes.     “NULLBOTS ATTACK!” they say in unison.     The hulking contructabots fly into the air, advancing on the heroes. The techbots turn toward The Oddsquad. Their hands swivel and turn into menacing hoses. An oily gunk spurts from their limbs, covering the ground between the two forces. Molasses stretches over the greasy slick. He forms his fists into large tar mallets. An attackbot is crushed under the offensive. Vegas aims his disintegration ray at another attackbot. A bolt of blue-white energy cackles from the weapon. The robot that once stood against Vegas is now nothing more than a smoking pile of ash.     The portal buzzes with static like a great insect. A scene appears between the pylons of the archway. It shows a legion of aliens, partly humanoid, partly bug. They wait patiently on the other side of the portal. They appear to be soldiers bearing menacing-looking rifles. The scene then fades abruptly with another burst of static.     The Fourth Estate charges forward. When he steps onto the oily area, The Fourth Estate slips and tumbles to the ground. Leatherette calmly advances, swinging her magic rope around her like a lion’s tail. The oily slick poses no danger to the agile dominatrix. The attackbots surge forward, opening fire upon the Oddsquad. Several others swarm around Mr. Molasses, but their punches cannot seem to damage his tarry body. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of the alien army in the archway, Mr. Molasses stretches to the portal. The Man of Tar finds a few opening into the inside of the eastern pylon. He flattens his sticky body until he is thin enough to enter the opening. Like slurped spaghetti, Molasses disappears into the arch.     The gigantic constructabots fire bolt of negative energy at their enemies. The Fourth Estate reels under the attack. Vegas, luckily, doubles over from a sneeze. The deadly blast sizzles the air above his head. The techbots scramble back to the portal, searching for the Tar Man. Vegas swings his disintegrator about and reduces another robot to nothingness. The Fourth Estate manages to stand upon the slippery ground.     “It just doesn’t bring me that same tingly feeling,” purrs Leatherette as she entangles one of the constructabots in her ropes.     The attackbots press forth once again. Leatherette nimbly dodges the negative energy hurled at her. One of the Nullbots charges The Fourth Estate. Its punches seem only to give Hemmy Washington more vitality. Mr. Molasses begins tearing apart the inside of the arch. As he does so, the portal hums. A blinding light sears forth like a wave of lightning. A lurching, reeling feeling overwhelms each member of the Oddsquad. When the heroes can see again, day has strangely turned into night.      Vegas brings his death-dealing weapon to bear on a massive constructabot. The Nullbot survives the onslaught, but it is severely damaged. The Fourth Estate smashes an attackbot with a haymaker that would have leveled a building. Pieces of the black robot bounce from the now-exploding archway. Another bolt of negative energy hammers The Fourth Estate. A piston-like punch smashes across him as well. But the Fourth Estate simply absorbs the damage from the melee attack. With a grin, Hemmy Washington suddenly shows why he is called The Fourth Estate. Another set of arms burst forth from his suit!     Leatherette continues to hinder the Nullbots by binding them in her magic ropes. Mr. Molasses emerges from the exploding archway and finds himself surrounded by a gang of techbots. Vegas continues to reduce one robot after another to piles of subatomic dust. The Fourth Estate tears a chunk of earth from the ground and hurls it at one of the constructabots.     A strobing light from the techbots blind Mr. Molasses. But it is not enough to contain the anger of the tarry hero. His huge fists batter the techbots around as if they were toys. The Fourth Estates cuts and bruises disappear as he heals himself with the energy he has absorbed. But as he does so his extra set of arms disappear. Soon the Oddsquad has destroyed the last of the Nullbots.     They look around and notice, for the first time, the landscape. The field they battled in extends two hundred feet from the ruins of the archway. Then, sharply, it becomes a craggy landscape of an alien planet. In the far distance is a city. It is made of a few stalk-like towers and many squat, glass-topped buildings. Another archway can be seen in the city. Vegas looks to the sky. There is neither sun nor moon. There are no constellations he recognizes.     “It seems my luck may have finally run out,” he mutters.      Covering most of the sky is a swirling hole. A hungry dark void. And it watches them…</blockquote>

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