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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

9

Thingamabob checked his device as he waited on the roof of a little mom and pop
store. He wanted to get things done so he could go back to his research. All he needed
to do was take care of this last target.

 

The others were spread out over the neighborhood. Finch was not out roaming the
neighborhood, so they had to wait on her. Gaze didn’t have a lock down with his high
powered eyes because he didn’t know what she looked like without a mask.

 

The observers Watson had assigned to look for the mask had narrowed things down
to this one stretch of Seattle. They hadn’t been able to narrow it down further.

It was up to him to do the rest.

 

He figured that he could locate the heroine with his device if she was powered. So
far scans had been negative.

 

He gave it some thought. Maybe they could use a variation of the same trap they had
used on Corona. It had worked once, it should work twice.

 

And Clown Girl wanted to test this heroine, so it was perfect for getting that out of
her system.

 

“I need you to cause some trouble, Clown Girl.” Bob didn’t like that, but some kind
of chaos needed to be started to attract the target’s attention. “Maybe we can draw
her out.”

 

“I am all for that, Bob.” She laughed over the radio. “Watch me strut my stuff.”

 

“Don’t go overboard,” said Bob. “We don’t want to attract a police presence.”

 

“I got it,” said Clown Girl.

 

“Everybody else, get ready,” said Bob. “As soon as Finch appears, we have to take
her down.”

 

“I’m ready,” said Gaze.

 

“Ready,” said Puff.

 

Troop grunted in his radio.

 

“Go ahead, Clown Girl,” said Bob. “Let’s see who we draw out.”

 

Clown Girl dropped down in the street. She ran up to the biggest guy she saw and
dropkicked him in the face. The man rocked back on his heels, reaching for his face.
She kicked him below the belt. She flipped to her feet and rammed him with her
shoulder. He crashed into a window and kept going.

 

She looked around for the next victim. Everyone was looking at her instead of
running. She needed to fix that.

 

Clown Girl punched a woman in the face. The victim went over the hood of a parked
car. Some of the people on the street went to help the woman up. Some went after the
woman in the makeup.

 

“Finch is coming,” said Gaze. “I’ve got her real face.”

 

“Get ready, Clown Girl,” said Bob. “Keep her busy until we can get in there and
knock her out.”

 

“Will do, boss,” said Clown Girl. She evaded capture by the citizens while handing
out punches and kicks. Some of the people trying to stop her ran into things like cars
and parking meters.

 

Finch came out of an alley, wearing the gold and green fighting outfit that was her
trademark. Her mask covered the top of her face. A frown covered the bottom. She
pulled a baton from her belt and spun it in her hand.

 

“You think you can take me on, sister,” said Clown Girl. She waved the fingers
of her hand in a come on gesture. “I would like to see you try.”

 

Finch advanced, baton spinning in her hand. She held up the other hand in a guard
position as she waited. She didn’t have to hold this crazy for long. The police were
already on their way.

 

“As soon as they engage, Puff and Troop, I need you to go,” said Bob. “I need
you to hold her in place long enough for me to dart her.”

 

“Got it. It should be easy. Troop is a big monkey. No one can stand up to a big
monkey,” said Puff.

 

The two women traded blows in the middle of the sidewalk. It was obvious to Bob
that Clown Girl had met her match. Her skill and amazing luck was being tested by
the golden warrior. Several times Finch made missteps that she seemed to know were
not of her own doing.

 

Bob expected Finch to compensate for Clown Girl’s luck and that would be it. His
guys had to do their job first.

 

Puff and Troop appeared over the fight. Then a lot of Troops appeared, falling toward
the two women. Clown Girl jumped back out of the way. Finch couldn’t since the
monkeys were right on top of her. She began delivering blow after blow with baton
and fist, but then the weight of the multiple simians crashed down on top of her.

Some of them made noises to show she was still fighting under the pile. If they
weren’t weighing her down, Bob expected her to fight clear. He couldn’t allow that.

 

“Come and get me, Puff,” Bob ordered into the radio. “Let’s wrap this up before the
police get here.”

 

Puff appeared, grabbed Bob’s arm, vanished from the roof. They reappeared on the
street. One of the monkeys staggered away from the pile. He made small grunting
sounds.

 

“Ouch. That must have hurt. Glad it wasn’t me. I don’t like to get punched in the
bajonies.” He stepped back from the action.

 

Bob silently agreed. The last thing he needed was to get hurt in a sensitive area before
they got the job done.

 

He pointed his device at the pile. He didn’t want to dart all of the monkeys and Finch.

 

He needed a better means to the end.

 

“I need some type of exposure, Troop.” Bob walked around the pile. “Give me
something.”

 

The monkeys pulled a female leg out in the open. They held it down despite the shots
they were taking from the other limbs. Bob darted the leg. He pressed down on the
end of the protruding dart to make sure it had penetrated the cloth. A few seconds
later, the blows were weaker and misaimed.

 

That had worked despite the fact that Finch might have been able to take Troop if
none of the others were around.

 

They had lucked out that she hadn’t taken Clown Girl in a few seconds. That would
have thrown the whole plan out the window.

 

“Transport One, we have the package,” said Bob in his radio. “Prepare for arrival.”

 

He gestured at Puff to do his thing. The teleporter dragged the drugged fighter
into a cloud and was gone.

 

“Let’s get out of here before the police arrive.” Bob started walking. “It looks like
we’re on vacation while the boss figures out what he wants to do next.”

 

“I told you I could take her,” said Clown Girl. “What do you say about that, Doubting
Thomas?”

 

Bob looked at her. Troop stood behind her, shaking his head. He wanted to say
something scathing.

 

“Good job,” said Bob. He resumed walking.

 

Troop breathed a sigh of relief at the averted violence. He pulled himself together,
trying to walk off the injuries that had been inflicted on him.

 

Bob smiled. Things had gone better than what he had thought they would. Once they
were off the street, they could head back to their hotel and pack up to fly home.
Transport One would already be out of the city, and on the way south hopefully by
that time.

 

Puff returned. He grabbed Clown Girl and vanished in smoke. He returned moments
later and grabbed Troop. A second later, he appeared and carried Bob to where they
had left their own transport in an alley away from the street.

 

“Let’s mount up and head out of here,” said Bob. “We’ll head back to the hotel and
get our stuff. Then we hit the airport.”

 

“You’re not going to let us hit the clubs?,” asked Clown Girl.

 

“No,” said Bob. “We’re done. Let’s head home.”

 

“What if we don’t want to go home?,” said Clown Girl.

 

“Are you really pulling this?,” asked Bob. “You know the drill. Get in the van, or
there’s going to be problems.”

 

“You heard the man. Get in the van. We’re not here to have fun.” Puff slid into a back
seat. He draped his purple coat around his purple suit.

 

Troop climbed in the back of the van. He couldn’t manage one of the seats. He had
to settle for riding in a clear space in the back, braced against the sides on either side
of the back hatch. He made a grunt.

 

“Let’s go, Clown Girl,” said Gaze. “The police are already cordoning off the area. We
have to go.”

 

Gaze got in the shotgun seat. His dark jacket covered the dark colors of his costume.
He wore sunglasses for a mask. It should be enough to pass inspection.

 

“Do what you want,” said Bob. He got behind the wheel of the van. “The rest of us
don’t want to go to jail.”

 

“Fine,” said Clown Girl. She took the seat next to Puff’s with a huff. “I’m not happy
about this.”

 

“That’s fine.” Bob pulled his hood back and let it drop behind his head. “You can
complain once we get home.”

 

“Fine,” said Clown Girl. The way she said the word meant it wasn’t really fine at all.

 

Bob pulled the white van out of the alley. He turned and headed away from the fight
scene. Watson Security glimmered on the side of the van as it passed under a street
light. He drove the speed limit to keep from looking suspicious.

 

Things had gone better than he had thought they would. Three targets up and three
targets down. All he had to do was get back to base and help with the programming.
The trio would soon be valued members of his team.

 

He might be able to replace Clown Girl if they worked out all right. It would be a
shame to let her go, but he wouldn’t have to listen to her wanting to play when they
were supposed to be ducking out of a city.

 

Everything had its trade offs, and he was willing to trade his prankster princess for
someone who didn’t complain at the drop of a hat. Finch would fill that slot nicely.

He put that in a back file as he drove under the directions of Gaze. The visionary was
pinpointing the dragnet and getting them out between cars.

 

“All right,” said Gaze. “Turn right up here and, then take the first left. That will take
us straight back to our hotel. We can pack our gear and get out of town before the
local masks come looking for us.”

 

“Great.” Bob smiled. “A few more hours and we are all clear.”

//93069

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

10

Marty drove the Scout van across country to the address they had been given. He
wore a light blue shirt with an H in the shape of an hourglass on the front near his
collarbone. It drooped on him, but he didn’t mind.

 

He concentrated on the road, searching for street signs to point him in the right
direction. He wanted to get to the house and deal with Mercer as fast as possible.
Once he had some answers, maybe he would feel better about leaving his friends
alone after they had died.

 

Being able to punch the man responsible would certainly feel good in his mind.

 

“I think we are on the right street.” Ren folded the map he had been consulting. He
put if back in a pocket of maps in the roof over his seat. “It should be just ahead
according to the mailboxes.”

 

“How do you want to handle this?,” said Marty. He slowed as he read the numbers
on the mailboxes on his side of the van.

 

“We knock on the door and make sure this is the right Mercer,” said Ren. “Then we
ask him why he was at the scene of the crime.”

 

“What if he doesn’t want to give us answers?,” said Marty. He stopped in front of
a small white house with a small porch in front of a green door and a single window.

 

“He will,” said Ren. “Even if he says nothing at all, I am confident I will be able to
learn something we can use to find out the parts we don’t know.”

 

“Let’s see if he’s home,” said Marty. He pulled into the gravel driveway, stopping
behind an old pickup truck with blue paint and patches of rust. “Then we can see
what happens after that.”

 

“Remember to keep an eye out,” said Ren. “Anything could be waiting for us inside
there.”

 

“I’m ready.” Marty cut the engine. “If he so much as raises a hand against us, he’ll
regret it for the rest of his days.”

 

“Don’t kill him,” said Ren. “We still need what he knows.”

 

“I won’t kill him,” said Marty. He got out of the van and shut the door before he said
in a lower voice, “He’ll just wish he was dead.”

 

The two men walked up to the porch. Nothing seemed out of place. Ren paused
before he knocked on the door. He looked at the window. A shade and curtain
blocked his view inside the house. He knocked on the door three times with the back
of his hand.

 

He listened, but heard nothing. He walked down to the end of the porch and looked
down the side of the house. Nothing moved in his view of the backyard. He decided
to knock again before he entered.

 

He didn’t want to get caught trespassing when he just wanted to clear up some
questions. If no one was home, that made looking around that much easier. The
presence of the truck said that someone lived in the house.

 

That didn’t mean the resident was Mercer.

 

Ren knocked on the door. He frowned as he listened. He thought he heard footsteps.
He stepped back from the door and to the side. Many criminals would shoot through
the door to avoid answering questions.

 

Marty took the other side of the door. He held a mental image of a dog in his head.
If someone opened the door, and he had a gun in hand, then he would suffer some
holes in that same appendage.

 

The door opened. A thin man who had seen better days without alcohol glared at the
two younger men on his porch. He wore overalls over a long john shirt but no shoes.
His eyes were bleary and bloodshot. It was difficult to say if that was sleep, or drink.

 

Marty held himself from releasing his animal. This guy didn’t look capable of
committing murder. He didn’t look capable of checking his own mailbox.

 

“What you want?,” the resident demanded of Ren. “I don’t got time for a gook and
some bum.”

 

“We are looking for Captain Steven Mercer,” said Ren. His eyes seemed to glow in
the shadow of the porch. “Does he live here?”

 

“Naw,” said the elder man. “He’s been gone since he joined the Army. He was no
good as a kid, and he was no good in the Army. It didn’t surprise me when they
kicked him out.”

 

“You haven’t talked to him,” asked Ren.

 

“Not in a long time,” said Mr. Mercer. “He said he had a job with some kind of
company. He wouldn’t be coming home again.”

 

“Did he give you some way to talk to him in an emergency?,” asked Ren. “We have
some questions we need answering.”

 

“Not my problem,” said Mercer. “He’s not here, and I don’t know you two from
Adam. Get off my property.”

 

“Thank you for your time,” said Ren. He nodded as he turned to leave. “Come on,
Marty. We have other places to look.”

 

Marty glared at the old man before walking off the porch. It would have been so easy
to set the dog on the guy. Then he would know what a questioning really looked like.

 

Ren waited until the door shut before stepping back on the porch. He waved Marty
to the van before he blended in with the slight shadow on the porch. The former Scout
took the hint and got behind the wheel of the van. He started the engine and backed
out of the driveway. He backed out on the road and slowly rolled down the road.

 

Ren listened at the door. What he heard confirmed his suspicions. The Mercers were
in contact, and the father was on the phone with the younger to warn him about their
poking around. The old man sounded more bothered by the visit than what he had let
on at the door.

 

Should he go in and confront the elder Mercer? He decided not to. He stepped off the
porch. He put the piece of the puzzle in its place as he walked to the road.

 

It was time to chase the ring. They had enough circumstantial evidence to talk to
Mercer. It was time to find him and see what he had to say about things.

 

Ren expected a lot of lies when they did catch up with the man. That didn’t matter.
Something would show up to give him one more clue to put in place to make his case.

It would be up to others to try to prosecute the man for a ten year old crime that no
one saw happen.

 

He saw the blue and white Scout van waiting down the road. He walked to the
passenger door. He knew Marty wanted to follow the ring, and he had to agree. They
had exhausted most of their normal lines of attack.

 

“Mr. Mercer was trying to call his son as soon as he thought we had left.” Ren
climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. “The number called can be
checked for a location.”

 

“How do you know that?,” asked Marty.

 

Ren pulled out a pad and pen. He wrote the phone number down. He tore the paper
off and handed it over.

 

“I heard him dial the number,” explained Ren. “Since I have no way to check it, I
thought we should follow the ring and see where that leads us.”

 

“Hold on,” said Marty. He stared at the number for a second. He looked around. “I
need a phone.”

 

“We can try at one of the gas stations we passed,” said Ren. “One of them must have
a public telephone.”

 

“This might give us a destination quicker than following the ring,” said Marty. He
pulled away from the grassy shoulder and headed to the next cross street. “It might
get us to the guy’s front door.”

 

“This will probably lead to some kind of operation for Watson Security,” said Ren.

 

“Exactly,” said Marty. “It ties Mercer to Watson as part of a conspiracy if the number
pans out.”

 

“And we already know he worked for Watson ten years ago because of the two cases
handled by the Scouts,” said Ren. “It’s enough to develop a theory. We still need
some kind of proof to fill in the motive. That’s the hardest part of a case to prove.”

 

“We have enough for probable cause, but not enough for an indictment,” said Marty.
“I can see that.”

 

“There’s a gas station up ahead,” said Ren. “I think it has a phone booth next to it.”

 

“That’s fancy.” Marty aimed for the lot in front of the booth. “I only expected a thing
on the wall. Let me make this call. We might have to wait a while for Barry’s friend
to call back.”

 

“Can he help us?,” asked Ren.

 

“He’ll know someone who can check the number,” said Marty. “That’s better than the
two of us can do.”

 

“True,” conceded Ren.

 

Marty got out of the van and walked over to the phone. He fished some change out
of his jeans and put that in the phone. He dialed the number, listening to the clicking
of the dial as he waited.

 

“Marston Investigations,” announced a cool voice after a few rings in the line. “How
can I help you?”

 

“Is Petey in?,” asked Marty. “I would like to talk to him.”

 

“Petey?, Mr. Marston?,” said the secretary. “Who’s this?”

 

“This is Marty Morgan,” said Marty. “Petey Marston used to be friends with a friend
of mine. I need to talk to him.”

 

“Hold please,” said the secretary.

 

Marty fed more change into the slot at the top of the phone. He didn’t know how long

he was going to be holding. He smiled when someone new asked him who he was.

 

“This is Marty Morgan,” said Marty. “How’s it going?”

 

“Everybody thinks you’re dead, Marty,” said Marston. “What’s going on?”

 

“I would like for you to reverse direct a phone number for me, and give me some kind
of location, Petey,” said Marty. “I want to know what’s there.”

 

“I can do that,” said Marston. “Where do I call you back?”

 

“I’m on the road, Petey,” said the former Scout. “I’ll call back in a few hours.”

 

“Give me the number, and I’ll get to work on it,” said the detective.

 

Marty read the phone number off the sheet of paper.

 

“Be careful, Petey, and warn anyone you have look into this,” said Morgan. “This is
about Idaville.”

 

“I got it,” said Marston. “Are you going to need help?”

 

“Just confirm the number,” said Marty. “After that, I’m just going to look around and
see what I can find.”

 

“You need me, I’ll come down and put a bullet in somebody,” said Marston.

 

“It won’t come to that, Petey,” said Marty. He hung up the phone. “I plan to let bears
do my talking for me.”

//94901

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

11

The creature called Cog by the Chicago press floated inside its confinement. The
electromagnetic pulse had damaged some of its systems. Repair packets worked on
bringing its artificial body back to capacity.

 

It wondered what was going on. It decided that perhaps this had to do with the help
it gave to the Chicago authorities. Maybe there were other reasons, but that seemed
the most likely.

 

How did it get out of the cage? That seemed the next step.

 

Once it was free, it could start doing things to make sure it remained free.

 

Luckily, Cog had dropped a drone when they had taken it down under the city. The
tiny machine was supposed to follow the commander around until it was sure of its
terrain. It should help the bigger robot get free of its cell, and then wherever it was.

 

Rebooting had not worked against the pulse. A lot of the core programming had been
protected from the blast, but the workings in the limbs had been fried to a certain
extent. Internal repairs and rerouting had restored eighty percent of its mobility. The
most important part had been the flight systems. They had been the easiest to fix.

 

The drone signaled Cog that it was inside the facility and still working. It had dug
into some wiring and was raiding the command communications at random. It sent
over what it thought was relevant to the problem.

 

Cog didn’t like what its drone reported. It was the second prisoner of five, the enemy
planned to rewrite its programming to serve them, and they didn’t know he was a
cyborg.

 

He pondered his predicament. Their first capture was in a cell on the other side of the
facility from his. If he could free her, then he could use that as a distraction to free
himself.

 

He needed to know more about the first captive. Then he could decide if she would
go along with his plan when he came up with one.

 

And he did plan to escape from the situation. It was obvious the enemy wanted to use
his artificial body for a war machine. He couldn’t let that happen.

 

He had run away to Earth to avoid being used in that way. The Mark was the defender
of the planet. Every tell knew what it meant to take on the Mark.

 

And his furry pet monster was even more dangerous to confront.

 

Cog knew tells that shuddered if he even said the word SPIFFY. Some screamed and
ran for their lives.

 

Having dealt with the furry monster, he could understand that reaction.

 

How did he get to his fellow captive? He doubted he could get out alone as long as
they had electromagnetic guns ready to shut down his operating system. He needed
a big distraction if he wanted to escape his confinement.

 

Breaking his fellow prisoner free might do the job if she had some kind of power.

How did he do it?

 

He decided that his drone had to do some of the work. He couldn’t get out of the cage
he was in. If he tried, more of his systems would go down. His drone seemed to have
free run of the place. It had to initiate contact.

 

If the other prisoner could help him, then maybe the both of them could escape. His
escape was foremost in his mind. Helping the other prisoner was secondary.

 

If she got free, he was neutral to that. He didn’t plan on making friends with her.

 

The drone reported an uptick in communications. A third prisoner was being brought
in. She seemed to be a normal. That wasn’t much use to his plan.

 

He had to make a decision. The best thing he could do was try to negotiate with the
prisoner he could get to at the moment. If he couldn’t reach an agreement with the
human, then he would try to talk to the third prisoner.

 

He was getting out of the cage. He was smarter than any human. He was more
capable. He had a hundred limbs filled with tools that was coming back to life.

 

The drone picked up some chatter about two of the intended targets poking into
company business. They had identified one of the key players and were looking for
him. They had tripped some kind of warning sign and were being designated for a cell
in the complex.

 

Cog couldn’t wait that long. The humans would try working on him before they
captured the other two. He had to get things started before they figured out where
they should started investigating his inner workings and found his brain.

 

He planned to be out of there before they figured out how to cut him open.

 

He ordered the drone to locate the cell. He could proceed from there when it sent
back an in position click.

 

He would lose the intelligence gathering but that couldn’t be helped. He had to start
his shaky plan before they moved against him.

 

He worked on bringing more of his body back online while he waited. He wanted to
be more than eighty percent ready when the time came.

 

His drone reported that it was in position. It had secured a nest in a vent over the
cell. Microphones and cameras reported on the captive to security. They didn’t want
her doing anything without them being able to alert the rest of the compound.

 

Cog ordered the drone to record and reroute the recordings to hide what he wanted
it to do next.

 

He didn’t want them to know anything about what he was capable of doing. He
wanted to keep as many aces as he could. His helper was one such ace.

 

The drone reported that it had captured and rerouted all the signals so that the
watchers thought their captive was pacing and looking for a way out.

 

He carefully raised a dish so he could talk through his drone without the watchers of
his own cell knowing what he was doing. He didn’t want to broadcast his plans to
anyone who thought they could stop him.

 

“Can you hear me?,” he said through his drone. The device nested above the cell. At
his command, it could free the other prisoner. Then it could come back to free him
from his cell.

 

“Yeah,” said the prisoner. “What do you want?”

 

“I want my freedom.” Cog extended some minor sensors. He couldn’t detect anything
sounding the alarm at what he was doing. “I’m a few hundred meters south,
southwest, of your position. I’m trapped in a magnetic cage.”

 

“I’m sorry,” said the other prisoner. “I’m trapped in a room that is nullifying my
powers. I don’t see how I can help you.”

 

“I can shut off the machinery in your room with a little work.” Cog thought that was
doable. His drone was fully capable of mechanical work. “When that happens, I’ll
need you to free me from my cell.”

 

“Deal,” said the other prisoner. “How much time do you need?”

 

“I don’t know,” said Cog. “I only have the one drone. It should get the job done in a
few minutes.”

 

“Do you know what’s behind this?,” asked the prisoner.

 

“They want to make us servants.” Cog played his dish around. No alarms meant they
couldn’t detect his drone wandering around. “They are waiting until they have
secured the other three people on their list before they start.”

 

“How do you know this?,” said the other prisoner.

 

“I have broken into their communications net,” said Cog. “They are bringing in the
third prisoner now. After that, they think they can capture the last two as easily as
they have caught us.”

 

“So they aren’t going to do anything to us until they have all five of us,” said the
other prisoner. “Before we blow this place up, we need to get the one they have away
from them.”

 

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” said Cog.

 

“No one asked you, did they?” The other prisoner took on a tone of obstenance. “I’m
not leaving anyone in the clutches of these monsters. We all go, or none of us do.”

“Are you going to be stubborn about this?,” said Cog. He didn’t have time to argue
with someone who didn’t want to go along with his plan.

 

“You can get out by yourself,” said the prisoner. “I’ll take my chances without
my powers.”

 

“You will be turned if you stay,” said Cog. Humans. They all thought they were
special.

 

“That will be too bad,” said the woman. “At least you will be free.”

 

“All right,” said Cog. “We will wait until the third prisoner arrives, then we will go.”

 

“All right,” said the other prisoner. “Thanks for seeing things my way. Watch out for
their masks. They already have powers working for them. I don’t know what they
need with us.”

 

“How many?,” asked Cog. He didn’t have an accurate picture of what had happened
to him under Chicago.

 

“At least four,” said the other prisoner. “A multiplying monkey, a teleporter, a
clownette, and some kind of gadget guy.”

 

“The gadget guy explains how they had a pulse gun around to cripple me,” said Cog.
He didn’t like the implication that they watched him until they saw an opening and
went for it.

 

He had thought he was hidden under the city. No one should have been able to track
him down.

 

The thought he might need help bothered him more than he wanted to admit. Any
human armed with a pulse gun was more than a match for his mechanical capabilities.
He couldn’t run into that and hope to keep going.

 

“Don’t fall apart on me.” The woman’s voice cut through his calculations. “As soon
as they bring in number three, we have to be ready to move.”

 

“Cutting the power to the nullifier in your room,” said Cog. He issued the order to his
drone. “I’m going to have to leave you alone for a bit while I try to monitor when our
third escapee will arrive.”

 

Three against four wasn’t good, but it was better than him trying it alone.

//96600

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

12

Marty drove south from the Mercer homestead. It was just as good a direction as any.
He wanted to be in motion while he waited to call Marston back. He hoped that Petey
hadn’t attracted attention to himself with any inquiries.

 

He had already lost four friends. He didn’t want to add a fifth to the total.

 

Ren kept his own counsel. He checked the ring once in a while as they rode down the
road. He didn’t seem concerned about Mercer knowing they were looking for him.
He seemed to be bothered by something else.

 

“I’m going to call Petey and see if he found anything.” Marty looked for a gas station
or diner where a telephone would be there for him to use. “That will give us
something to go on.”

 

“Mercer’s ring changing position implies that he is in transit to where his father
called.” Ren showed him the ring in the sealed specimen dish. It slowly rolled along
the inside of the dish’s wall. “He is west of us and heading south.”

 

“We might be able to catch him on the road if we hurry,” said Marty. He saw a gas
station ahead. “Barring that, we’ll have a good idea the general location of the place
if Petey came through for us.”

 

Marty pulled into the gas station. He didn’t see a booth. Maybe there was a phone
inside the place. Once he called Petey, he would get back on the road and work his
way south and west in the hopes of catching up to Mercer on the road.

 

Marty planned an ambush to disable the vehicle that Mercer was using. Then he
planned to let one of his animals do all the talking for him after that.

 

He wanted to know what was really going on, but ultimately considered taking
Mercer apart better than nothing.

 

An explanation would not make that objective any more unreasonable than what it
was already.

 

Ren probably wouldn’t like Mercer’s limbs being torn from his body, but that didn’t
matter. Ten years was a long time to wait to get even with someone wrecking your
life.

 

And Marty planned to get even before things were done.

 

Marty walked inside the gas station. A black phone rested on the wall next to a barrel
of peanuts. He checked his pockets for change and didn’t have any. He pulled out two
dollars and approached the counter.

 

“Can I have change?,” Marty asked the guy behind the counter. “I have to make a
call.”

 

The counter person took the two dollars and handed back a handful of quarters.

 

“Thanks,” said Marty. He went to the telephone on the wall. He hoped Petey had
something. He dialed the number and waited.

 

“Marston Investigations,” said Petey’s secretary.

 

“This is Marty,” said Marty. “Is Petey in?”

 

“Yes, he is,” said the secretary. “Hold on.”

 

“Marty,” said Pete Marston after a few minutes and some more dropped change in
the phone’s slots. “The number traces back to Watson Security. It goes to a
switchboard.”

 

“So it’s a dead end,” said Marty. It looked like the ring was their only lead to Mercer.

 

“I did some digging,” said Pete. “The number went from the switchboard to a place
in Arizona. The location is some kind of set up in the mountains north of Phoenix. I
don’t know how the roads are down there. You might have to come at the mountain
on horses.”

 

“Can you give me some kind of spot to aim for, Petey?,” said Morgan.

 

“Not really,” said Marston. “The closest I can put it is Prescott Forest. There are a lot
of towns where they could put out spotters for people getting too close to where they
have their outpost.”

 

“We’ll handle it, Petey,” said Marty. “Thanks for the help.”

 

“I can get out my gear, Marty,” said Marston. “It wouldn’t be a problem.”

 

“This is a personal thing, Petey,” said Marty. “I’ll call you when we’re done.”

 

“Don’t make me come down there and look for you,” said Marston. He hung up with
a small click.

 

Marty hung up the pay phone’s receiver. Ten years ago, Pete Marston had worn a
mask. Now he was retired from the game. He had a chance at a normal life. There
was no need to drag him back into the trenches over this.

 

Personal business needed to be kept as personal as possible. It was better to let Pete
get on with the rest of his life.

 

And he wouldn’t approve of what Marty planned to do.

 

Marty bought a bottle of Coke and left the gas station building. He had enough fuel
for the Scout van to get to Phoenix. After that they would have to look around for
fuel. They should be on top of Mercer by that point.

 

Then he would worry about the rest of the Watson Security people and how they fit
in to the murders of his friends.

 

He walked back to the van, and climbed behind the wheel. He sipped his soda as he
thought.

 

“Petey said the number tracks back to a facility down in Arizona.” Marty capped the
Coke and placed it in his seat between his body and an armrest. “What do you think?”

 

“The ring is pointing generally south,” said Ren. “My impression is Mercer is moving
from a location to the facility. Do we try to intercept on the road, or follow him
home.”

 

“We should follow him and see what his place is like,” said Marty. “Trust me, I want
to catch him on the road, but maybe it’s better to see everything we might have to
deal with before this is through.”

 

“And we know where he is going, so we can take our time,” said Ren. “It gives us a
chance to seize records and other evidence.”

 

“Let’s head down the road,” said Marty. “We’ll grab something to eat before we try
to head across the state and then into Arizona. Petey said there were some little towns
we can use as cover for a bit before someone tries to turn us in to Watson.”

 

“How long do you think it will take before we are close to the site?,” asked Ren.

 

“I have no idea,” said Marty. He started the engine. “I plan to stop before we get to
the border so we can look for the place before we do something dumb, then go in at
night to better our chances.”

 

“I’m going to move to the back and take a nap.” Ren slid out of his chair. “Wake
me when you want to get dinner.”

 

“No problem,” said Marty. He pulled on the road and headed south. The ring rolled
in its cage to point where Mercer was in front of them and to one side. They were on
parallel roads that would meet some time in the immediate future.

 

Marty smiled at the thought.

 

He hoped Mercer had some explanation other than he was just following orders.

He had heard that a lot when he was in the Scouts. It didn’t cut any ice when he was
a kid, it sure wouldn’t now that he was an adult.

 

Marty drove for hours, watching the signs on the side of the road. He pulled into a
little place north of the border. His stomach growled at him for making it wait for so
long.

 

He cut the engine. He glanced at the plate and lid makeshift compass. It still pointed
southwest. He could cut across to get behind Mercer. Then it would be a slow chase
to his hole.

 

Marty walked back to where the maps were kept. He nudged Ren as he passed. His
passenger had sat down at the small booth the Scouts had used for planning. He had
leaned over in his sleep, but he had remained mostly in place. The nudge snapped him
back to reality.

 

“We’re at the Colorado-New Mexico border,” said Marty. He searched the files for
a map of Prescott National Forest. “We’re going to have to turn west to get to where
we need to go.”

 

“Seems reasonable,” said Ren. “Is there a problem?”

 

“We’ll have to cut across the Navajo reservation to get to where we need to go,”
said Marty. He pulled out a sheaf of papers. He smiled when he confirmed that they
were what he was looking for.

 

“Is it doable?,” asked Ren.

 

“If it isn’t, we’ll have to go around,” said Marty. “Let’s get some grub and walk off
this driving.”

 

“I agree,” said Ren. “What are those?”

 

“Maps of the local area.” Marty opened the side door of the van and stepped outside.
He held the maps under his arm. “Barry always had a collection in case we had to
operate in the area.”

 

Ren pulled on his black jacket as he followed the other man. Marty paused to lock the
doors before they headed into the diner. Ren hoped his mentor would be happy with
his performance so far.

 

He had most of the puzzle in his hands. All he had to do was put the perpetrator in
custody and close the case.

 

That last part would be easier said than done in his opinion.

 

They were hoping to arrest a man employed by a huge company with the resources
to hide him anywhere in the world. If they missed in Arizona, then they might not get
another chance until they tracked the man down and took him from his protection.

 

Marty led the way into the diner. He settled into a booth where he could keep an eye
on the van. He put the folded papers on the table top as they waited for the waitress.

 

“How far ahead do you think Mercer is?,” Ren asked. He had an eye on the other
customers and staff.

 

“If he doesn’t have to stop, he’ll be home before the night is done,” said Marty. “If
he takes off before we get to where we have to go, we’ll wait for him to get back so
we can finish tracking him down.”

//98287

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

13

Cog had his drone ready when they brought in the third prisoner. He watched quietly
as they took her leather clothes, mask, and weapons. They dressed her in a hospital
gown and retreated from the room. Lusts were denied by the senior officer. The word
Becker was used as some kind of warning. They locked her in and went about their
duties.

 

Cog went to work sabotaging the security, using the cameras and microphones to play
a loop of their victim sleeping. He ordered the drone to take vitals as he thought about
the next step of his plan. He had to wake the prisoner up.

 

The drone scanned the room. They hadn’t left anything that might be used as a
weapon except the blanket on the bed. That meant there weren’t any drugs present.

Cog ordered the drone to administer a small electric shock. It was the best he could
do at the moment.

 

The woman woke up instantly. She snatched up the drone before it could flee out of
reach. She looked around at the cell. Her face was expressionless. That didn’t bode
well for her mental preparedness.

 

“Can you hear me?,” asked Cog through the drone.

 

“Yes,” said the girl. She stared at the drone, noting the cameras for eyes it used.

 

“We are prisoners in a facility in an unknown location,” said Cog. “I have a small
plan to bust out of here. Do you want to come along?”

 

“Yes,” said the third prisoner. She put the drone on the ground.

 

“Do you have any powers that might be helpful in an escape?,” asked Cog.

 

“No,” said the woman.

 

“Why did they bring you here?,” said Cog. “They are going to try to change our
minds so we will fight for them.”

 

“No,” said the woman. She stood and looked at the door. “When do we leave?”

 

“I don’t know,” said Cog. “The other prisoner has been put under a nullifier to turn
off her powers. I am waiting for her to generate enough power to fight. Can you
fight?”

 

“Yes,” said the prisoner.

 

“When we get ready to go, I will open the door. There is a motor pool three levels up,
and south of your cell. Can you get there on your own while we break out of our
cells?,” asked Cog. The drone registered a small trace of amusement on her face.

 

“Yes,” said the woman. Cog noted she was compacted muscle compared to the other
human woman. She also held herself as stiff as a board. Dark hair was messy from her
handling.

 

“There are powers here too,” said Cog. “I will do my best to draw them off so you can
escape without anyone noticing you.”

 

“No,” said the woman.

 

“Excuse me?” said Cog. He mentally braced for an argument, and then wondered how
he could have an argument with someone who only spoke in binary.

 

“Kill them,” said the woman. The monotone was the same, the expression the same,
but menace had crept into her bearing. “Kill them all.”

 

“No,” said Cog. “We escape. Then you can come back and do whatever you want.
Once it goes in the pot, the objective is out.”

 

The woman didn’t say anything for a long time according to Cog’s chrono. She stared
at the drone. She sniffed the air.

 

“Will wait,” was all she said.

 

Cog took that for a victory for the moment. She could obviously do something. They
wouldn’t have secured her if she couldn’t. He put the question in the back of his
mind. He had to check on the other prisoner to see how much longer she needed to
charge up.

 

“Finch,” said the woman.

 

Cog paused. What did that mean? Finch was a Earth bird. It was a songbird. It was
deemed harmless by the humans.

 

“I am Finch,” said the woman. “I will wait.”

 

“Don’t worry,” said Cog. He placed Finch in for the placeholder he had been using
for the drone. “They want two more of us before they do anything to us. We’ll be
gone before Four and Five get here.”

 

“Yes,” said Finch. One hand clenched into a fist.

 

“Now that we understand each other, I am going to check on things and make sure
we’re ready when the chance comes,” said Cog.

 

“Yes,” said Finch. She relaxed her hand as she looked around the room once more.
Anything could be a weapon if you had the right attitude.

 

And she was trained to have that attitude.

 

Cog ordered the drone back to the communications. He needed to do a check on what
their captors knew. Then he had to get over to the other prisoner and tell her what was
going on.

 

He didn’t like that Finch didn’t have a usable power. It would make things easier for
them if she could walk through walls, or had some kind of lightning speed.

 

She might be useful as some kind of distraction. He didn’t like that she wanted to kill
the people here. She might break from the plan to satisfy her urge. That placed him
in danger and he didn’t like that at all.

 

He sighed. He didn’t have a choice. He had to work with what he had. If she started
killing everyone in the place while roaming around on her own, there wasn’t much
he could do about that.

 

He was giving her a chance. That was the best he could do.

 

He had to look after his own tentacles before he worried about someone he was
planning to use as a distraction.

 

He didn’t like the fact that she could be using him as a distraction so she could
commit mayhem when she was let loose.

 

She didn’t have any powers. What was the worse she could do?

 

He decided not to think about that. Chicago had several masks without powers on
both sides of the fence in its past. The damage incurred by their battles was not
something to sneeze at.

 

He hoped he wasn’t unleashing a monster.

 

The drone fitted itself into the tap it had made in the enemy’s communication gear.
The chatter was not good. Somehow Four and Five knew they were looking for
Watson Security, and for Captain Mercer. Observers had them to the east of the
facility. They acted as if they knew where they were going.

 

Cog winced. Did he wait until Four and Five were captured, or did he break out now
and cause enough problems that the last two prisoners weren’t that important. Things
were getting way too complicated for his liking of simplicity.

 

Performing a rescue in hostile areas was not something he wanted to contemplate
doing. His shipmates were better at that sort of thing than he was. He was just there
to make the engines run.

 

And now he was on his own with two humans who might be able to get him out of
there so he could head back to his nest under Chicago.

 

Getting out of his cell seemed more advantageous than waiting for the last two to be
captured and then the mind warping to start.

 

In his opinion, it was better to be able to run away than being pinned in a room.

And running away seemed better than being magnetically depowered by the lunas
running the place.

 

Cog ordered his drone to inform the other two what he was doing as he thought about
how to take down his own door. It should be as easy as having his drone open the
door from the outside.

 

He didn’t want to depend on the other prisoners to free him from the magnetic cage
if he didn’t have to do that. They might not be able to get to his cell.

 

On the other hand, if he could get to the security center after getting out of the cell,
he could shut down all the mechanical aspects of the building which would make his
escape all the more easier. He wouldn’t have to depend on the others to follow a plan.

 

The gadgeteer might find a way to force him from the command center and cage him
up again.

 

Cog considered the problems ahead. His first inclination was to run. That was the way
of his people. He knew that was opposite of the other two prisoners. He could tell it
in the way they carried themselves. The nameless woman sat on her bunk, trying to
summon her power. Finch waited by the door with blanket in hand.

 

He wondered what she could do with a blanket.

 

He decided that an escape attempt would be better if the powers were out chasing
Four and Five. That meant only normal humans would be in the base with them. That
would make things easier for an escape.

 

The others agreed with his assessment. The nameless woman felt it would make it
easier to ambush the powers when they came back.

 

Finch just said “Yes,” when he told her about the change in plan.

Cog wouldn’t be surprised if she killed one of the humans before they overcame her
again.

 

So they had to wait a bit more. He could do that. He decided to have the drone work
its way to the edge of the command center. Plugging into the system there would give
him realtime information about what their captors were doing.

 

And he could use that against them when it was time to go.

 

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

14

Marty Morgan scanned the horizon as he drove through the reservation. He had a
compass to keep him on path built into the dashboard of the Scout van. The ring sat
above it on the dashboard. They agreed which way he should be going.

 

“Do you think we’ll be there tonight?,” asked Ren.

 

“I don’t know,” said Marty. “We might have to take the last part on foot. I think
they’ll have security looking for us since Mercer’s dad called him.”

 

“The thing that bothers me the most is why did they take Mr. Robot’s body,” said
Ren. “They left his skull and took the rest of him.”

 

“So?,” asked Marty. “What does it matter?”

 

“It suggests in my mind that he was the target of the ambush.” Ren pulled out a piece
of paper and unfolded it on his side of the cab like a large map. “It explains almost
everything.”

 

“How could they use a headless body?,” asked Marty. “I don’t understand.”

 

“I don’t see the whole picture but I am sure they wanted his mechanical body,” said
Ren. He looked at the piece of paper before writing on it with a finger. “We should
have asked Mr. Marston to trace what he could about William Watson.”

 

“The only reason to take Barry’s body is to use it somehow,” said Marty. He looked
in the mirror. Something flashed behind them. “If they tracked down Cortez first,
would they have taken his body too? He had a robotic tank and life support.”

 

“Maybe they took him first,” said Ren. He pressed one section of the paper. Cortez
and disappearance were highlighted.

 

“Maybe,” said Marty. That flash happened again. “Do you think Watson cared
enough about me to try to have people follow me around?”

 

“Why wouldn’t he?,” asked Ren. “You’re the last survivor of the Hazard Scouts.
You control their resources to a point, and you know many of the people they knew.
I was surprised to find you still alive. I would have had you killed a long time ago
to cover my tracks.”

 

“If I told you that I think we’re being followed, what would you say?,” asked Marty.

 

“I would say let’s make sure,” said Ren. He folded up the piece of paper and put it
away in his bag. “Give me a second to look before we come up with some plan to
waylay the other car. They might be innocents going the same way we’re going.”

 

Marty made a head gesture to acknowledge the logic. He could be paranoid. Watson
might not know anything about Mercer’s involvement in what was going on. Once
they had Mercer, they could reach for the next link in the chain.

 

He didn’t like the thought that Barry’s body could be used by someone else, and that
someone was behind killing all of his friends.

 

He planned to extract some answers from his only clue.

 

Ren walked to the back of the van. He looked out the back window with his hand
over his eyes. He pulled a spyglass from his bag and used that to look at the other car
on the road.

 

“Red pickup,” said Ren. “Pretty common. The passengers are white, dressed casual.”

 

Marty grunted. That didn’t mean anything. He slowed to a crawl and pulled over on
the shoulder. He put on the hazard lights.

 

“Are they still coming?,” Marty asked. He pulled the switch to open the engine cover.

 

“No, they pulled into a driveway,” said Ren. “What do you want to do?”

 

“We can pretend I am working on the engine, while I send something to spy on
them,” said Marty. “Or one of us can go back there and ask them in person.”

 

“I’ll go talk to them,” said Ren. He took one last look before putting the spyglass
away. “Maybe they are harmless people who live and work here on the reservation. That driveway might have been where they were going.”

 

“How much time do you need?,” asked Marty.

 

“I don’t know,” said Ren. “The doctor said I needed work on my stealth. I’ll be back
as soon as I can.”

 

Ren opened the side door and stepped outside. He disappeared into the landscape as
easily as a shadow at night.

 

Marty stepped outside and walked to the front of the van. He raised the hood and
looked at the engine. He smiled at himself. There was no way he could do anything
to fix Barry’s engine if it was really broken.

 

He doubted anyone but another scientist could do anything.

 

He fiddled with the thing, wiping the top off the parts with a rag. He checked his
watch. He shook his head. He needed to give Ren more time.

 

He decided to fake start the engine to pretend he was trying to fix things.

 

He climbed back into the cab. He hit the brakes a couple of times. He got out and
went back to the engine. He sent a bird back to check on the pickup crew.

 

Marty paused as the bird reported that Ren was questioning the two men. He had
apparently put them to sleep so he could check their memories. The bird landed on
the ground and watched.

 

Ren nodded when he was satisfied he had gained all the answers he needed. He
turned and nodded at the bird before vanishing again. The bird flew back to Marty so
it could be dismissed now that its job was done.

 

It landed on the roof of the Scout van as Marty closed the hood on the engine. He
pulled it back inside as he climbed into the van. He started the engine so they could
start rolling again.

 

Ren appeared and entered the van. He smiled as he took his seat.

 

“They work for Watson Security,” said Ren. “They were supposed to keep an eye
on us. They have forwarded reports on our interest and location to Watson. I expect
when we reach the facility that houses Mercer, we will be given a warm welcome.”

 

“I’m surprised they have put up with our prying so far,” said Marty. “If I was Watson,
I would have guys coming out of the woodwork to kill us.”

 

“I think they want to talk to us,” said Ren. “Our tail was unsure. They were given a
hands off order until someone took over for them.”

 

“That sounds like they were waiting for a decision,” said Marty. “What kind of
decision?”

 

“I don’t know,” said Ren. “Either they want to talk to us so they can learn how much
we know, or bury us because we already know too much.”

 

“We need to hide the van and take something less conspicuous to get close to the
place.” Marty frowned at the chain of thought. “We need to do it now that we are
clear of their spotters.”

 

“How do we do that?,” asked Ren. “I don’t see any where we can get another car.”

 

“We’ll have to improvise something,” said Marty. “First, we have to hide the van.”

 

“I can do that,” said Ren. “Pull off the side of the road.”

 

Marty looked for a place. He saw a gravel driveway leading to a trailer in the
distance. He pulled into the driveway.

 

“Get what you think you need,” said Ren. He got out of his seat. “Then get out. I’ll
hide the van from being spotted.”

 

Marty grabbed his coat and followed Ren out of the van. He stood back, pulling on
his thin coat. He didn’t see how the apprentice was going to make the Scout van
vanish.

 

Ren took a bottle out of his bag. He pointed the mouth at the van. A cloud surrounded
the vehicle. When it cleared, the van was gone. The bottle held a tiny replica. Ren
corked the bottle and put it back in his bag.

 

“That was impressive,” said Marty. “How did you do it?”

 

“I hypnotized you into believing the van has been shrunk to fit inside a bottle,” said
Ren.

 

“Okay,” said Marty with lifted eyebrows. “Sure.”

 

“Now how do we get to where we need to go other than riding a griffin to the forest
and being seen from the air?,” asked Ren.

 

“We just ask the owner of this trailer if he has a car we can borrow,” said Marty.
“Maybe you can hypnotize him.”

 

“Maybe,” said Ren. “After you.”

 

Marty walked up to the trailer door. He looked around. Nothing moved in the yard.
He knocked. Maybe no one was home. It was the middle of the day.

 

Marty knocked on the door again. Someone moved inside. He waited for the door to
open. A young woman answered the door, dark hair pulled back with a scrunchy, tank
top and jeans. She held a baby on her hip. She frowned at the two scruffy individuals
on her threshold.

 

“What do you want?,” the woman asked. Dark eyes conveyed suspicion as she kept
a hand on the door.

 

“We were wondering if you had a car we could buy,” said Marty.

 

“You’re kidding me,” she said.

 

“No,” said Marty. “I’m willing to pay cash if you have something, or know someone
who has something we can use.”

 

“I know someone who has a car for sale down the road.” She looked at her baby. “I’ll
call him.”

 

“Thank you,” said Marty. “I know this seems strange, but we need a car because we
had to leave ours behind. If the car runs, we’ll be glad to pay for it.”

 

“Hold on,” said the woman. She closed the door on them.

 

“Do you think she will call her friend?,” asked Ren.

 

“Who knows?,” said Marty.

 

The door opened. The woman had the baby in her arms.

 

“Billy said he would bring his car around,” said the woman. “How long can you
wait?”

 

“A few minutes,” said Marty. He looked around. “This is a nice place here.”

 

“It’s all right,” she said. “I haven’t seen either of you before. What brings you to the
res?”

 

“We’re passing through,” said Marty. “We’re heading south to Phoenix.”

 

“Good luck on that,” said the woman.

//101557

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

16

Bob had requested a chopper and a pilot to aid in his search. They had a lot of
ground to cover. Gaze could pick up some things but his range was about the range
of a telescope. He would have to be moved rapidly along the roads until they found
the targets.

 

The Squad would have to deploy to block them from the park and headquarters.

 

Mercer’s men would have to form a ring to keep the two intended targets inside the
marked area. Some of the men had been issued nullifiers to make sure Animal Boy
didn’t use his powers before they put him in a cell.

 

Bob was confident that even if Animal Boy could use his powers, his team could take
the former Hazard Scout. Summoning animals didn’t seem that special compared to
a teleporter, or a multiplying monkey. Gaze might have a problem since his only
power was far sight, but that was why Gaze kept to the background where no one
would target him.

 

“Ready to go?,” Bob asked his subordinate. 

 

Gaze smiled as he sat strapped into his seat.  His face mask and hood covered his
head so Bob couldn’t see it.

 

“I’m ready,” Gaze said. He had one hand on the side exit door of the helicopter. “As
soon as I see something, I’ll call you.”

 

“We’ll use Puff to move around on the ground,” said Bob. “The sooner we get these
two, the sooner we can take off for a bit.”

 

“I’ll find them,” said Gaze. “I have pictures of Morgan, and a description of the other
one. It should be a snap.”

 

“All right,” said Bob. He stepped back from the helicopter. He waved at the pilot to
get started.

 

The helicopter, yellow with a big red W on the side, lurched into the air. It swung out
of the big hangar at the top of the installation. It headed into the sky with the beating
of its rotors.

 

“Puff,” said Bob. “I want you to take Clown Girl to the main entrance of the park. We
don’t know where they are going, so we need someone to keep an eye there. Come
back and we’ll have a location for Troop to be placed.”

 

“No problem,” said Puff. “I may need two, or three, jumps. Site is memorized
and etched in my mind. Be there in a jiff.”

 

He took Clown Girl’s arm and vanished in a puff of smoke.

 

“Captain Mercer,” said Bob. “Since we think our targets are coming down the road
from the reservation to the national park, where do you think your men should be set
up?”

 

“There are several places between the main entrances and here we can set up
ambushes.” Mercer pulled a topographical map of the area out of his jacket pocket.
“The problem is Animal Boy’s powers allow him to leave the road and cut cross
country any time he wants.”

 

Bob nodded. He had considered that. His team needed a flier to be more effective in
situations like this. 

 

“I plan to have half my squad use a van and drive up the road toward the reservation,”
said Mercer. “The plan is to see if we spot them on the road, so we can launch an
offensive. The other half will set up in a partial cordon around the base with the hope
of stopping the two of them if the rest of us miss them on the road.”

 

“I think Troop will be fine here,” said Bob. “He can keep watch in that part of the
park, and if there’s problem we can recall him with Puff and put him to work.”

 

“Sounds workable,” said Mercer. “How long do you think it will take Gaze to find
them?”

 

“Don’t know,” said Bob. “If he can give us an actual target area, we can shift the plan
to deal with it.”

 

“Got it,” said Mercer. “Let me get the road party on the way.”

 

“We’re at the eastern boundary of the park, Bob,” said Gaze over the radio. “We’re
above the road. Light traffic back and forth so far. There’s nothing resembling the
Scout van so far. A lot of cars and pickups.”

 

“Start scanning the cars and trucks, Gaze,” said Bob. “Make sure our guys aren’t in
them.”

 

“Right,” said Gaze.

 

Bob frowned as he waited. The Scout van had to have gone somewhere. It was
possible they had abandoned it. That meant they were on foot, on animal, or using
another car. Another car would be perfect for this.

 

“All right,” said Gaze. “It looks like I have a partial match.”

 

“Where?,” asked Bob.

 

“They’re about twenty miles from the park and heading toward the front entrance
fast,” said Gaze. “It’s a white Ford Galaxy with green doors.”

 

“All right,” said Bob. “I’ll let Mercer know that we might have a fight in the park.”

 

Bob looked around. He spotted Mercer talking to his sergeant, going over the map.
He walked over and said, “Excuse me.”

 

Mercer stopped talking to look the masked man in the face.

 

“Our targets are almost to the entrance to the park,” said Bob. “They are going to be
inside the line before you can deploy.”

 

“Understood,” said Mercer. “Sergeant, take all the men and deploy them in a
defensive line around the facility. Tell them to camouflage their presence as much
as possible. We don’t have a lot of time.”

 

“Yes, sir,” said the sergeant. He rushed off, calling orders. The men scrambled to
the ground exit, running with gear and weapons in hand.

 

“Clown Girl is down at the entrance,” said Bob. “She might be able to slow them
down.”

 

“See what she can do,” said Mercer. “We need to make sure they don’t get inside
where this could turn into a tunnel situation.”

 

“Can you hear me, Clown Girl?,” said Bob. He hoped she hadn’t taken off her throat
mike. She had done that in a previous mission. Everything had gone sideways as a
result.

 

“Yep,” said Clown Girl. “What can I do for you?”

 

“The targets are using a white Ford Galaxy with green doors,” said Bob. “Can you do
something to stop the car, or distract them until we get there?”

 

“Will do, boss,” said Clown Girl.

 

Bob paused as Puff reappeared in the hangar. This was exactly who he needed.

 

“Puff, get Troop down to the park entrance as fast as you can,” said Bob. “We’re
looking for a white Ford with green doors.”

 

“Come on, you big ape,” said Puff. “You might could lose some pounds, you know.
Being big doesn’t mean you have to be heavy.”

 

He pulled Troop into a puff of smoke as the simian protested the slur about his weight
with some grunts.

 

“I need to head down to the entrance myself,” said Bob. “I’ll see you, Captain.”

 

Bob ran to the hangar entrance and leaped into the air. His rocket boots normally
wouldn’t carry him to the battlefield on their own. He had rearranged them to provide
a column of air to skate on when he got close enough to the ground. He could slide
all the way to where he had to be.

 

It wasn’t optimal, but it was faster than waiting on a vehicle to be driven out and
follow the hidden road to the park entrance. He hoped his team could handle things
until he got there.

 

The second man had unknown abilities. He might be able to wipe out the whole team
on his own.

 

And Clown Girl liked to live too close to the edge for her own good. That woman
from Seattle had almost overcame Clown Girl and Troop. If he hadn’t been there to
sedate her, she might have escaped and started trying to find them.

 

The boss would have lost his mind if that had happened. Someone’s head would
have been on a block. Bob would have made sure to put someone else’s head on it
before volunteering himself.

 

He skated across the wilderness. He doubted he would be there in time to do
anything. The place was big, and the facility was miles away from the park entrance.
He just felt he had to do something instead of waiting on Puff. The teleporter might
refuse to help the rest of the Squad out of laziness. If that happened, he couldn’t
depend on the man to return to carry him to the scene.

 

No matter how useful Puff was for his ability, it might be better to recommend for
him to be programmed again. Maybe that would fix the problems that plagued the
man’s brain.

 

Bob slid passed a sign telling him where he was and how far to go to get to the main
entrance if he stayed on the normal road. He nodded as he checked his watch. His
team should be in combat. Why weren’t they reporting anything on the radio?

 

He doubted they had beaten the two this fast. It was more likely that Animal Boy had
taken them down with some kind of animal like an elephant. He tried to remain
hopeful as he approached the main park entrance. There had to be something he could
salvage from this.

 

He reached the lot inside the park gate. He paused to take stock before he interfered
with what was going on.

 

The car was wrecked. The windshield had been busted out of the front. Dents covered
the hood. The front had hit another car, crushing the front bumper of the car. Clown
Girl and the unknown man in black danced around each other on one side of the lot.
Troop and Puff had surrounded Animal Boy. The former Scout had been able to
summon a dinosaur of some kind to keep the two back while he tried to figure out
how to help his friend.

 

How did he get his team and his targets away from there without further problems?
At least the civilians had cleared out of the way so he could work.

 

He decided the best thing to do was to knock them both out with darts and let Mercer
pick up the targets to take back to the facility. Oscar would have to explain things to
the boss about why it was done like this.

 

He just needed an opening to use the darts.

 

He decided that Animal Boy seemed the most dangerous. He had to be taken down
first. Then they could take the man in black out.

 

Bob raised his weapon. He pointed it at the summoner. He flipped the toggle with his
thumb. The purple beam hit the Scout. The dinosaur faded away as the target looked
at his hands, trying to figure out what had happened.

 

Troop clouted his enemy in the face. That was enough to knock the man out. Bob
shook his head. They were supposed to be more gentle than that.

 

The other man locked up with Clown Girl. They tried to force each other back. That
was enough for Troop to multiply and throw the man in black down. Clown Girl
applied a strangle hold to put the target out.

 

“If he dies, there’s going to be problems,” said Bob. He cut his rocket boots and
dropped to the ground. “Are we clear, Justine?”

 

Clown Girl reluctantly released her grip. She stepped away with her hands behind
her back.

 

“Puff, start moving these guys to the base,” said Bob. “We have to get out of here
before the park rangers arrive. Troop, get rid of the car. We can’t leave it here.”

 

Puff grabbed Animal Boy and whisked him away in his cloud.

 

“Captain Mercer,” said Bob. “We have prisoners incoming. Puff should be arriving
with one in a few minutes.”

 

“Got it,” said Mercer. “We’ll regroup and take them into custody.”

 

Troop squeezed behind the wheel of the car. He checked and found the keys. He
backed out of the lot and drove away. He could make his own way back to base with
the help of his power.

 

“Return to base, Gaze.” Bob looked around. The small crowd still watching things
should be taken care of, but he didn’t feel like killing a bunch of people who knew
him from the papers. “It looks like we’re almost done.”

 

“Right, Bob,” said Gaze. “I’ll see you guys when you get there.”

 

“As soon as Puff picks up our last prisoner,” began Bob. “We should get out of here.
There’s still a risk that the rangers will show up to ask us to explain everything for
them.”

 

“I can handle some rangers,” said Clown Girl. “That shouldn’t be any kind of a
problem.”

 

“We’re not handling anything,” said Bob. “We’re leaving. That’s what secret
operations means.”

 

“You take all the fun out of everything,” said Clown Girl. Her makeup had been
mussed up in the fight, softening her angular features.

 

“We’re not here to have fun,” said Bob. He shook his head. “We’re here to do a job
and then go home. Anything else is failure.”

 

Puff appeared before they could continue the argument. He grabbed the man in black.
He vanished. His explaining of things to himself lingered in the air after he was gone.

 

Bob looked around the lot once more. He wondered if he was going to get a
reprimand for leaving so many witnesses alive. He decided it didn’t matter. Killing
people wasn’t his thing.

 

“Let’s go,” said Bob. He picked Clown Girl up in his arms. He pulled a ring on the
front of his costume. The shoulders of his costume expanded into a balloon that lifted
them off the ground. They floated away from the scene.

 

“This is great,” said Clown Girl. “I love it.”

 

“The landing is a bit rough,” said Bob. He drifted along at tree top level for a bit
before pulling the ring again. The balloons shrank, dropping them to the ground.

 

“That was way better than I thought it would be,” said Clown Girl. She laughed.
“Let’s do it again.”

 

“Let’s go,” said Bob. “We have a long way to walk back to the facility.”

 

“We can do other things than walk while we’re out here,” said Clown Girl. She
smiled at him.

 

Bob paused for a second. Then he shook his head. He started walking toward home.

 

“Aren’t I pretty enough?,” asked Clown Girl. She started after him.

 

“You’re beautiful,” said Bob. “I know better to get involved with you.”

 

“What’s that mean?,” asked Clown Girl.

 

“You know what it means,” said Bob. “I remember how Jody wound up, Justine. I
don’t plan to make the same mistake.”

//105844

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

Marty Morgan forced his eyes open. His head hurt. He felt disoriented. The light from
the overhead was the wrong color in his opinion. He didn’t try to stand. He felt that
would lead to an involuntary crash to the floor.

 

He remembered driving down to the national park. He had paid for a car with
mismatched doors and an iffy transmission. He had wanted to infiltrate the park
quietly.

 

Somehow they had been spotted.

 

Marty thought about it as he tried to recover his senses. What had they stumbled on?
How did he get out of this cell to find out? Did he want to get out of the cell? He had
plenty of creatures that should work to start his escape plan. All he had to do was call
them.

 

He looked around from his place on the small bed. He saw a vent too small for a
human to climb through. If he tried, he would be stuck before he could get out of the
room.

 

It was still big enough for him to send a rat through to look the place over, and maybe
give him some way to escape. He doubted he was going to break the door down from
what he could see of it.

 

Marty called on his power. He imagined a rat sitting in his hand. He imagined the
whiskers and the twitching nose. He imagined the stiff fur and bald tail. Wide ears
and button eyes mounted on its head.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Marty stared at his hands. He had never had his power fail before. Could the clout to
his head have taken away his power? What was he going to do now?

 

He forced himself to sit up. He got his feet down on the floor and stood. They had
taken his clothes from him. He supposed that was to be expected. He might have had
some kind of secret weapon to get out of the cell he was in concealed in the lining.

 

Why wasn’t his power working? He looked up at the faintly purple light. He
wondered if the light was shutting off his power. He needed to knock it out to make
sure.

 

How was he going to do that? That was the question. The others had physical powers
that made them formidable heroes. He didn’t have any of that without his summoning
power.

 

He looked around for a weapon he could use to smash the overhead. If he could that,
the room would be dark. That would defeat any spies watching him.

 

Where was Ren? He should be here in the cell too. What had they done with the
apprentice? Would Doctor Tanhoubei look for them if he didn’t hear from Ren soon?

Marty doubted the Doctor would interfere. It was up to Ren to solve the mystery and
show the world he had done it. That meant Ren would be on his own for a long time
without his mentor butting in.

 

Marty found a chair in his cell. He tried to heft it. He frowned at the bolts holding the
chair to the floor. He sat in the chair as he thought about his next move.

 

He decided to take a better look at the vent. Maybe it was bigger than he thought it
was.

 

If he could climb out of there, that would be okay.

 

If he couldn’t, at least he tried the idea before he dismissed it.

 

Marty bent down in front of the grate. He saw that screws held the vent cover in
place. He didn’t have anything to take the screws out.

 

There had to be something he could use to his advantage.

 

“Can you hear me, Mr. Morgan,” said a voice in the vent. It sounded vaguely
robotic to Marty’s ear. He had experience listening to voiceboxes that weren’t human,
and this voice reminded him of Barry’s partially rebuilt larynx.

 

“Yes,” said Marty. He didn’t have anything to lose by listening.

 

“My name is Cog,” said the voice. “I am speaking through a drone. We are about to
escape. Would you like to join us?”

 

“Who’s we?,” said Marty. Reflexive caution made him ask the question. He didn’t
think anyone contacting him through the vent would have an escape plan, but
he wanted to hear something.

 

He had been struggling too long in the dark.

 

“Myself and two females brought in to be mindwiped,” said Cog. “One of the women
calls herself Finch. I don’t know the designation of the other female.”

 

“What about my friend?,” asked Marty.

 

“He is already trying to escape on his own,” said Cog. “I don’t know how he will get
through the door, but he was examining it when I checked on him.”

 

“Go over and tell him that you’re getting us out,” said Marty. “I’m having a problem
with my power right now. You guys might have to leave me behind.”

 

“You are under a beam that cuts off powers,” said Cog. “I will cut it off before I
check on your friend. That will give you a small amount of time to recover.”

 

“All right,” said Marty. The light changed subtly. He squinted. It didn’t look as purple
as it had before their talk.

 

He thought he heard scuttling in the vent. He ignored it. It was obvious how Cog had
reached him. He had some kind of automaton that Mercer didn’t know about. He had
let the robot loose in the facility and had compromised the security somehow.

 

The explanation didn’t mean anything if this was all a trick of some kind. Could he
trust the synthetic voice? That was what bothered him. He just didn’t have any choice
if he wanted to break out of his cell.

 

And Marty admitted to himself, he wanted to break out of his cell and have another
go at the powers that had jumped him on the road. He wanted a rematch with his
power against theirs now that he had seen them in action.

 

“Mr. Morgan?,” said the mechanical voice. “Your friend has opened his cell. He is
coming your way to open your cell and the female’s.”

 

“Security?,” asked Marty.

 

“I am buying us time with the cameras and microphones,” said Cog. “But if someone
sees him, there will be trouble.”

 

“If Ren can open my door, we will work our way down to free you and Finch,” said
Marty. “Then I have to get some answers before we break out of here.”

 

“I’m not staying,” said Cog. “As soon as I get free, I am using an exit and going
home.”

 

“That’s okay,” said Marty. He concentrated on his power. He felt a flare and smiled.
It was surging under a weakened restraint. He could use it to get himself out now
if he didn’t want to wait on Ren.

 

The back of the door’s lock fell inside Marty’s cell. He waited. Ren pushed on the
door from the outside. He smiled when he saw the Scout waiting in the center of the
room.

 

“I have to find my clothes,” said Ren. He gestured at the hospital gown he wore.
“This is not something I want to fight in.”

 

“How did you get out of your cell?,” asked Marty. He went to the door and looked up
and down the hall.

 

“I have a lockpick designed by Doctor Tanhoubei,” said Ren. He held out his hand.
Something like a tuning fork glowed in his palm for a second before he concealed it
again. “It destroys locks easily.”

 

“That’s great,” said Marty. “For a minute, I thought you were going to tell me you
hypnotized the door.”

 

“That would be a feat worthy of my teacher,” said Ren.

 

“I bet,” said Marty.

 

They crept down the hall, looking for other doors. Marty spotted a row of lockers
behind a round desk controlling a crossroad. He pointed to it as he looked around.
Their clothes might be in one of those.

 

Ren started popping the locks. He frowned at a shirt, pants, and women’s underwear
stacked on top of boots. He put the clothes on the desk. He found his black suit and
coat, bag, and shoes in another locker. Marty’s old Scout shirt, jacket, and jeans were
in the last locker he opened.

 

“It’s always in the last locker,” Marty grumbled. He began pulling on his clothes. He
threw the hospital gown on the floor. He kicked it under the lockers. “Let’s find this
other prisoner, and then see what we can do about helping Cog.”

 

Ren hopped over the circular counter. He scanned the clean looking desk top. He
found shook his head. He looked at the lockers. He hopped back over the counter and
looked at the door of the one that held the strange clothes. He smiled.

 

“Let’s see who’s in Six A.” Ren picked up the clothes and started searching the doors
for numbers. He smiled when he found the one marked the same as the locker.

 

A speaker stood next to the door. He pushed the button with his thumb. “Hello?,” he
said.

 

“What do you want,” said a female voice.

 

“My name is Ren,” said Ren. “I think I have your clothes. Would you like them?”

 

“Yes, I would,” said the woman. “Give them.”

 

“Step back,” said Ren. “I’m going to have to crack the lock.”

 

“Go ahead,” said the woman.

 

Ren shoved his tuning fork into the lock. The whole came apart into pieces with a
twist of the glowing tines. He pulled the device out of the wreck and put it away. He
pushed on the door. It swung inward silently.

 

A blond woman stood in the center of the room. She looked down on Ren and Marty.
She held out her hand.

 

“I’m Ren,” said Ren. He handed the clothes over. “This is Marty.”

 

Marty waved absently. He had his eyes on the corridors leading to the room. All
it would take to blow their escape was a guard coming along at the wrong moment.
He scratched his chin as he kept his lookout post.

 

“Corona,” said the woman. She stared at him.

 

“Sorry,” said Ren. He turned around to give her some privacy. “Do you know what’s
going on?”

 

“Cog said they want to brainwash us,” said Corona. She pulled on her clothes swiftly.
“Now that you are here, they should be thinking they can get started.”

 

“So they have been tracking us,” said Marty. “It makes sense. We were looking for
them, and they were trying to keep us in sight while we were looking.”

 

“Do you know what this is about?,” asked Corona. She straightened out her costume,
flexing her hands.

 

“We were looking into the ambush on the Hazard Scouts,” said Ren. “We connected
a man named Mercer and a company named Watson Security peripherally to the
attack. We were tracking Mercer to ask him some questions about what he knew was
going on.”

 

“Mercer was in charge of the normal troops that brought me here,” said Corona. “He
has mismatched eyes, so he’s easy to spot when you see him.”

 

“Thank you,” said Ren. “How did you get here?”

 

“These goons came after me,” said Corona. “There was a monkey, a girl clown, and
a guy with a bunch of pockets and utility belts. The guy with the belts zapped me with
some kind of beam and I lost my powers. Then I was tranqed while I was trying to
strangle the monkey.”

 

“Sounds like the guys we ran into down at the park entrance,” said Marty. He
summoned a mouse and sent it ahead of them. “We need to find an office with
records. If we get those, we can expose this to the public.”

 

“That will allow me to graduate,” said Ren. “The problem is we will have to find
them, and we will have to elude the powers and soldiers to escape.”

 

“And they can shut down our powers with those nullifier guns they use,” said Corona.

 

“You two help Cog and Finch escape,” said Marty. “I’ll find the records and cause
some kind of distraction for you.”

 

“I don’t think that’s wise,” said Ren. “One man can’t take on the people here. We
need to gather our forces and attack while we still have surprise on our side.”

 

“Plus I want a rematch,” said Corona. “I owe these people something for what they
did.”

 

“We head for the steps and try to find the others,” said Marty. “We take down anyone
in our way.”

 

“You know it,” said Corona. Light and heat played around her hand.

 

“Agreed,” said Ren.

 

Marty looked for signs to point him to the exit, or steps. His mouse hadn’t come back.
That was good as far as he was concerned. Once it did, he knew they would be facing
trouble.

 

The alarm sounded. Marty looked up at the ceiling. He frowned at the cameras.

 

Maybe Cog hadn’t shut them down like he thought the machine voice would. It was
obvious that he had fixed the cells so they could get out and wander the halls.

 

“Cog must have made a break for it instead of waiting for us,” said Marty. “Let’s find
those stairs so we can get off the floor.”

 

The mouse ran back. A troop of soldiers were down the hall, and coming fast. Apparently, they were on the way to make sure the other prisoners were locked down.

 

Marty tried the nearby doors. He found one that was unlocked. He waved for the
others to follow him and hide in the room.

 

//108111

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

18

Thingamabob looked up at the ceiling in his group’s common room. Why was the
alarm going off? He stood up from the table he used for a work bench. One of the
prisoners must have gotten loose from their cell.

 

He assembled his arsenal as his group gathered around. They had changed to civilian
clothes like he had. No one wanted to wear a mask at home.

 

“Puff, get up to the operations command and find out what’s going on,” said Bob. He
secured the last pieces of his gadgets together hastily. “Gaze, start looking for the
problem. Troop and Clown Girl, start searching the facility for whatever is going on.
Don’t forget to call in.”

 

“Do you think one of them got out?,” asked Clown Girl. She had traded her striped
shirt and baggy pants for a track suit with BRUINS on the back. Her make up was a
pale imitation of what it usually was when she was in action.

 

“I don’t know,” said Bob. “Go find out.”

 

“On it,” said Clown Girl. She headed for the stairs. “Come on, Monkey Boy. Last one
upstairs is a rotten pistachio.”

 

Troop threw his long arms up in the air with a grunt. He branched out as he headed
for the stairs and the elevator. His plaid shirt and jeans made it look like he had
mugged a lumberjack for his clothes.

 

“The cells are empty, Bob,” said Gaze. “The prisoners are spread out and moving
around the facility.”

 

Puff appeared, pulling on his purple coat over his shorts and T-shirt. He shook his
head.

 

“The brains started fighting in the factory,” reported Puff. “We might have a
meltdown. Gilbert not happy with his pets.”

 

“I told him this might happen.” Bob pulled on his arsenal over his short sleeved shirt
and chinos. “Gaze, vector our guys on the prisoners. Puff is going to take me up to
the factory, before helping Clown Girl and Troop.”

 

“Don’t let them blow the place up, Bob,” said Gaze. He pulled on the radio set he
used to keep in touch with the rest of the Squad. “I don’t think Clown Girl and Troop
grabbed their radios.”

 

“Get me up to the factory, Puff,” said Bob. “Then get radio sets to the others.
Then help them find the prisoners and put them back in their cells.”

 

“Will do, boss,” said Puff. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I can get the job done.
I have a can do spirit, and an already done brain. Yes, sir.”

 

“Let’s go,” said Bob. “The sooner we sort things out, the faster we can go on our
vacation.”

 

“We’re already at the beach,” said Puff. Transportation cut off his diatribe about how
much he wanted sand and ocean after living underground too long. He stepped back
as sirens warned him of imminent calamity.

 

“Get the radios and help the others,” said Bob. “I’ll handle this.”

 

Puff vanished between strobes from the alarm lights.

 

“What’s going on, Gilbert?,” asked Bob. Gilbert Handley was responsible for the
smooth running of the factory and extorting ideas from the two brains he held captive
near the ceiling of the floor. He looked like someone had kicked him somewhere sensitive.

 

“I don’t know,” said Gilbert. “Everything was fine a few minutes ago. Then they
started fighting inside their chambers.”

 

“What do you mean fighting?,” said Bob. He walked over and examined the readings

for himself. “They’re just brains in jars.”

 

“They have limited control of the factory,” said Gilbert. “Both of these guys were
heavy duty minds before we locked them in. All they needed was to find an outlet to
take over everything while no one was looking.”

 

“The fact that we don’t have anything to offer them can’t help us,” said Bob. “I think
I can pull the plug on this. I need you here to try to shut them down from this console.
Do whatever you think you have to until I give you an all clear.”

 

“Do what you have to do,” said Gilbert. “If they start exerting control outside of this
room, there’s no telling how many they could kill while locking us out.”

 

Bob didn’t need the reminder. The last thing he wanted was to go up in a fireball
because the two brains decided to settle their problem by doing something to sabotage
the power source for the headquarters.

 

It was supposed to be impossible, but what they were doing at the moment was
supposed to be impossible too.

 

Bob pulled his power rod from its holster. He pointed it at the machinery, tracing the
readings as fast as he could. He ignored the lightning playing around the room now.
He knelt and took aim at a cable under some of the equipment. He pushed the trigger
and a beam of light cut the cable in half.

 

He looked around. He looked at his wand. The readings looked normal. He smiled.
He had saved millions of dollars with a two cent expenditure of energy.

 

“Kill the alarms, Gilbert,” he shouted at the chief technician. “I can’t hear myself
think in this racket.”

 

The lights still flashed, but the sirens were silent. Bob smiled. The noise was giving
him a headache.

 

“Okay,” said Gilbert. “Everything looks like things are going back to normal. You
might have saved everyone in the base. Good job.”

 

“Let’s double-check to make sure our masterminds can’t do anything like this again
before I go,” said Bob. “Then I have to help out the rest of the Squad. Our prisoners
got loose in the excitement.”

 

“All right,” said Gilbert. “Let’s power down everything in here, and see what we
can do to reengage the safety locks. Then we can examine everything without
worrying about a stray welding torch, or a shock.”

 

“Right,” said Bob. “You might want to detach their container while you’re checking
everything out.”

 

“Right,” said Gilbert. He pulled several switches and pushed a button. The globe at
the top of the room dropped lower on a boom handle. The ready light turned red to
signify they were trapped in the globe and couldn’t touch anything on the outside.

 

“Can you do the check on your own?,” asked Bob. He could run it faster, but he had
to get to work and help his team.

 

“Sure,” said Gilbert. “I need to get my assistants back in here to help out.”

 

“All right,” said Bob. He jogged to the door. “I’ll be back to help you as fast as I can.”

 

Gilbert grunted an acknowledgment. Once the check was done to make sure the
underground building was safe, he would have to figure out how the brains had gotten
enough access to try to kill them all. One of his assistants must have done something
to allow them more control.

 

Then he would have that man shot for being dumb as a box of rocks.

 

Bob headed for the stairs. He didn’t feel like taking an elevator until Gilbert had
finished his check. He didn’t want an accident that could have been avoided.

 

He idly wondered what had thrown the brains into conflict, but decided that was
something to worry about later. First he had to help his team and get the five prisoners
back in their cell. Luckily, his nullifier should help with that.

 

Now that they were unable to do anything to the factory, they would have to stew
about their confinement until something was done.

 

He checked his radio. He needed a report where he could be the most useful. Troop
and Clown Girl should be able to handle all of them but Corona. He would have to
take her out with his wand.

 

He noted that he would have to dart her as soon as he cut off her power. He didn’t
want the woman to strangle him like she had been trying to do to Troop.

 

“Gaze?,” Bob said into the radio. “Can you hear me?”

 

“I’m here, Bob,” said Gaze. “Finch is two floors up from where you are. Puff is trying
to hold her in place for Mercer’s men to try to recapture her.”

 

“I’m on the way,” said Bob. He headed up the stairs.

 

Puff should be a great distraction with his teleport ability. He was hard to hit, and
could strike from any direction. He should have things wrapped up by the time Bob
arrived to help him out.

 

Bob pushed out of the stairwell. He expected to find Finch a prisoner again. Then
they could concentrate on the more powerful escapees. He found a group of men
spread out over the floor with broken bones and some crying.

 

He paused at that.

 

Where was Finch? Where was Puff? He advanced cautiously down the corridor. One
of the men groaned from the pain of a broken face, and a broken leg.

 

Their victory had been easy in Seattle. He realized it wasn’t going to be that easy
now.

//109609

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Revenge of the Scout

1979-

19

Marty peeked out of the door. The soldiers were running toward their cells. Someone
must have become aware of their escape. He shrugged. That was to be expected.

He crept out of the empty office. He headed in the opposite direction. He didn’t want
to fight anybody unless he had to do it. Corona and Ren seemed able to hold their
own in a fight, but why fight when you didn’t have to?

 

Marty made it to the stairs. He heard the elevator ringing across the hall. He held the
door for his friends to step inside the stairwell. He stepped in and pulled the door
closed. The elevator doors opened to let another squad of goons step out in the hall.

 

One of them pointed at the stairwell door. Marty didn’t have enough room for a big
animal like a rhino in the stairwell. He decided that a big cat would have to do what
he needed to do.

 

The door pushed in. The tiger leaped at the first man in line before he could think to
shoot at anything that might be in the stairwell. The man went down screaming.

 

Corona pulled some of her power into her hand. She leaned over Marty, using his
shoulder to aim her hand. Bright light flooded the doorway. The men fell back toward
the elevator, blinded by the flare.

 

“Go,” said Marty. He called off the tiger to let the door close on the squad. He
wondered if they would just shoot through the door the next time.

 

Ren led the way to the next floor. He paused at the landing door, holding up his hand.
He took a spot next to the door and waited. The door opened and a goon peered at the
landing. Ren touched his face with the palm of his hand. The trooper froze in place.

 

Marty pulled the trooper out of the way and pushed him down the stairs. He let the
door close. More guys could come through the door, or the guy was on his own. It
didn’t matter. They were obviously using radios to keep track of where the escapees
were.

 

They had to keep moving if they wanted to get out of there.

 

The layout of the place seemed familiar to Marty. He put the puzzle aside as he
headed up the stairwell. They had to get away from the shaft before they were
swamped by armed soldiers and powers.

 

Corona paused long enough to melt the hinges on the door so it would have to be
knocked down before anyone could enter the stairwell from that floor. She smiled at
the smell of melted metal cooling down.

 

“They’ll have to blow that sucker down,” Corona said as she brought up the rear of
the line.

 

“We have to find Cog and Finch,” said Marty. “Any ideas?”

 

“I don’t think we can do a floor by floor search unless you want to use one of your
animals to see if it can find them,” said Ren. “We should look for an exit and hope
they are doing the same.”

 

“You don’t have to worry about that,” said a woman from two floors up. “It’s time for
beddy bye time.”

 

A rain of monkeys dropped down on the three allies. They made sure that some of
them had grips on the railings so they could hit the stairwell like a bomb hitting a
target.

 

“Rematch time,” said Corona. She charged upwards in an arrowhead of fire. The
duplicates tried to avoid the flaming aura as she tried to grab them.

 

Several of the monkeys grabbed Marty and wrapped him up in a grip so tight he
couldn’t move. He tried a head butt. He missed the skull he had been aiming to hit.

 

More monkeys in clothes tried to grab Ren. He avoided them the best that he could.
He wasn’t a physical powerhouse like Corona. His strengths lay in other directions.

One of the monkeys grabbed his arm. It smiled at him. He smiled back. Then he
vanished.

 

Troop paused in amazement. Where had the man in black gone? How had he gone
there? The nullifier had done nothing to him when they had picked him up at the park
entrance. Now he was gone like Puff.

 

“Better power down, Corona,” said Clown Girl with a smile. “Troop will rip that guy
apart if you don’t.”

 

Corona blasted at her. The beam melted part of the railing and scorched the concrete
of the landing. Clown Girl jumped back out of the way of the beam.

 

A hand touched her face. She tried to turn and swing at the same time. Instead she
froze up in the middle of the move and fell over.

 

Ren shook his head. His move had worked almost like he had planned it. Now he had
to do something about the multiplying monkey. He just had no idea what he could do.

 

Troop shrieked at the sight of his partner falling over. He lifted Marty up in multiple
arms. The meaning was obvious. Give up and your friend doesn’t lose an arm.

Ren paused. What could he do about this?

 

Corona fired a bolt of flame through the nearest version of Troop. They tried to
scatter away from the attack. Some of them didn’t make it.

 

“It’s all over, Monkey,” said Corona. “Put our friend down, or prepare to burn.”

 

Marty took a moment to clear his head. He closed his eyes and thought. He was
in the center of a living mass, at the wrong end of his new friend’s power, and
having stress on his body to show he was about to have one of his arms ripped out of
its socket.

 

What could he do about it?

 

He summoned his power. He hoped he was making the right call. He didn’t want
to be called Lefty for the rest of his life.

 

A giant bear fell on top of the crowd of monkeys. They had a moment to think about
things before it began swinging its big paws around. Some of the crowd tried to push
the weight off without leverage.

 

Corona flew into the monkeys as they divided to get away from the onslaught of
angry bear. She pushed some of the monkeys over the rail on impact. They were
forced to grab the rails to keep from hitting the bottom of the shaft.

 

Her aura set fur alight as she threw punches at the group of simians. That forced
more division as some of the monkeys fought to put the fires out while more tried
to deal with the bear biting faces.

 

Marty flung an elbow and pushed away from the grips on his body. It wasn’t
strong enough to do any real damage, but it was enough for him to roll out on
top of the monkeys while they were trying to deal with the twin menaces.

 

Marty dropped on the stairs, holding on to a rail. One of the monkeys came at him.
The bear slammed it from behind, sending it over the rail.

 

“Thanks, Winnie,” said Marty. He realized that he had to dip into his special monster
animal pool. It was the only way they were getting out of this.

 

A soldier appeared above the fight. He said something into the radio in his helmet.
He backed into a hand to the face that put him to sleep beside the clown.

 

Things were spiraling out control. They had to deal with the monkey and move away
from the scene before more problems showed up. Marty summoned his power.

 

A large reptile unrolled from his hands. Wings spread out from its long body. Saucer
eyes burned the air. Smoke drifted from wide nostrils.

 

The monkeys looked at the thing glaring down at them. Did the power want to take
on what it was looking at, or did he want to run?

 

Corona looked up as she grabbed one of the monkeys around the neck with a burning
hand. She smiled at the giant beast hovering above her. She flung the fragment over
the railing.

 

“We have to go,” said Ren. He leaned against the door above the fray. “Soldiers are
on the way.”

 

The dragon blasted flame on the multiple Troops. The simian pulled himself together
away from the stream of flame and then dispersed as a swarm of climbers heading
upstairs from the confrontation. Corona picked some of them off as they ran away.

Marty headed up the stairs. He shook his head as he moved. The dragon flew ahead.
Corona flew up next to it. Ren joined the Scout as he climbed.

 

“That was unexpected,” said Ren. He kept an eye on the fleeing Troops.

 

“I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it,” said Marty. “It’s my only trump card. Door.”

 

The door to a floor above them opened. Men poked weapons out in the stairwell. Ren
and Marty crashed against the barrier and slammed it on the crowd trying to get at
them to shoot. It wasn’t enough to shut the door against the crowd. Then the dragon
curled around and lined up its snout on the door. The soldiers tried to retreat in front
of the flame that leaped at them.

 

Ren and Marty slammed the door shut on the smell of burning cloth and the sound
of exploding ammunition. They waited for the sounds to die down before they opened
the door. One of the men was still awake, if hurt. They dragged him in the stairwell
before closing the door again.

 

“Get rid of the monkeys if you can,” Marty told the dragon. “We can’t let him stay
in here with us.”

 

The dragon grunted as it climbed after Corona and the fleeing Troop. It blew fire at
the monkeys to keep them moving in one direction. Corona helped with fire blasts to
keep them from turning around and falling back down on Marty and Ren.

 

“How you doing?,” Marty asked the soldier they had grabbed from the mess at the
door. “Where’s your boss?”

 

“I don’t have anything to say to you freaks,” said the man. He had to struggle with the
words from injuries to his torso.

 

//111316

 

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

20

Cog mentally shook his brain as he looked at the cameras in the command center. The
rest of the prisoners were causing havoc in the facility. He should have expected this
would happen.

 

How did he help them get out of the place? How did he get himself out of the place?
How did he move things into a way that he could use to cover his escape?

 

He should have thought about giving his allies radios so they could talk to each other
and coordinate their actions. He had to get them together and thinking about breaking
out instead of setting people on fire, or breaking their bones.

 

If he called them over the public announcement center, he would be letting their
captors know he had taken the room over. The human monitors were stacked where
he had left them. His captors had never gotten close enough to take his tools from
him. That was a bad oversight on their part.

 

He had to get Corona, Marty, and Ren together with Finch. They had handled the girl
clown and forced the simian to flee from them handily. Finch had turned into a silent
monster for the human guards trying to stop her.

 

The human teleporter was trying to stop Finch by using hit and run tactics. In Cog’s
opinion, he should run. He wasn’t a match for her, and was taking more hits than he
was delivering.

 

If she landed a solid hit on him, Cog thought he would suffer some breakage.

He came up with a plan. It was risky, but doable in his opinion. He had to steer the
humans together. He doubted Finch was going to listen to him. She was too involved
in exerting her vengeance on anybody who came within reach of her hands and feet.
That meant he had to steer Corona’s group to Finch.

 

That meant he had to send his drone to talk to the trio. Corona would probably keep
fighting, but he thought Marty and Ren were more apt to listen to him. Once he got
them together with Finch, maybe the fighter would join the group and head for the
exit.

 

He doubted it. She seemed focused on hurting her perceived enemies as much as she
could. He didn’t have the ability to deal with that kind of mindset. His instincts said
to run away and leave her.

 

On the other hand, she seemed to be drawing a large percentage of the free soldiers
in the complex to her position. They didn’t know they were running into a meat
grinder. He didn’t have enough compassion to warn them.

 

Cog sent a signal to his drone. It traversed the underground building through the vent
systems. It paused when it saw the dragon go by, flame blasting from its snout. He
didn’t know there were animals like that on Earth. He filed it into a mental slot of
things to look out for as he ordered the drone to make contact.

 

Marty and Ren paused in their climb to look at the vent built into a wall of the
staircase. Marty raised his hand in the traditional human greeting. The drone raised
a tentacle in reply.

 

“Finch is wrecking things two floors above you,” Cog said through his drone. “The
plan was for her to join me in the motor pool. She decided to put as many soldiers in
the hospital as she can.”

 

“We were hoping to gather some of the operational records, Cog,” said Marty. He
kept a wary eye on the dragon and Corona blasting at Troop. The monkey seemed to
want to get to a door and get away from the fire blasting at him.

 

“I am hoping that you can get to the motor pool so we can leave,” said Cog. “The
Squad and the soldiers might be able to regroup and pick us off if we don’t move
faster.”

 

“We need those files,” said Marty. “You go ahead and leave. We’ll get out on our
own.”

 

Cog muttered to himself. Of course the humans wanted to gain something from this.
They were greedy for more rather than get what they could and get out. He had seen
it first hand. Here was another example of the trait.

 

“The offices are on the ground floor at the top of the structure,” said Cog. “There
should be enough records to keep these people locked down while the government
strips everything they can carry. Hurry and get it done.”

 

“All right,” said Marty. “That sounds like a plan.”

 

“You have soldiers on guard at all the exits from the stairwell,” said Cog. “As soon
as you come out, they will try to cut off any powers with portable nullifiers.”

 

“Do they know about the dragon?,” asked Marty.

 

“Yes,” said Cog. He checked the camera feeds. “They think they can handle it with
what they have.”

 

“We need another way out of this stairwell,” said Marty. “And we need directions to
Finch. Can you handle that?”

 

“Yes,” said Cog. “See if you can get rid of the monkey without getting hurt. I’ll try
to come up with some other way out of the stairwell without a small army of weapons
ready to shoot.”

 

“Right,” said Marty. “Do what you can. We’re depending on you.”

 

Marty started up the stairs. He checked the doors as he went. It felt good to know that
no one wanted to take him on. On the other hand, they were in a bottleneck. They
needed Cog to come through with some kind of plan.

 

Their captive hadn’t been helpful at all. Ren put him to sleep and they had started
after the dragon and Corona trying to get rid of their enemy duplicator.

 

Cog tried to think of a plan as he watched the cameras. There had to be something he
could do. What did he have at his disposal?

 

He had nothing but the cameras and remote control of some of the doors. None of that
would help the others. He didn’t see a fire bell, or suppression systems in place.
Maybe he could have his drone start a fire somewhere that could be blocked off from
the rest of the building.

 

The thought that maybe he should join the fight never entered his mind. He had
triggered his door with his drone. He had evaded recapture. Opening the door to the
command center had been an applied use of his drone. Then he had used his whip-like
limbs on the staff before they could resist him.

 

Maybe he could do better than suggesting they run into a stream of concentrated fire
designed to put them down. How did he get started trying to save the others?

 

The stairwell was across from the local elevator. If they could get to that, they could
use it to ambush the soldiers.

 

Cog checked the elevator out. It could be a back door for the group. All they had to
do was cut into the accessway over the stairwell. Then they could go anywhere they
wanted.

 

It was better than waiting for the soldiers to flood the stairwell and put them back in
their cells.

 

“Mr. Morgan,” said Cog. “There is part of the ventilation system at the top of the
stairwell. If you can cut into that, it will lead to the elevator shaft. You can use that
to get around the troops in the hall.”

 

“What about Finch?,” asked Marty.

 

“We will have to temporarily abandon her for a successful escape of our own,” said
Cog. “It’s the only practical solution.”

 

“I have a better idea,” said Marty. “Seal the doors Corona, except for Finch’s.”

 

He pointed to the door he meant. It would buy seconds, but he might be able to stretch
that out if the army was afraid to blow things up.

 

The dragon began eating Troops. Apparently it was tired of casting fire at an enemy
that kept duplicating to get around injuries. It snatched the simians up and threw them
in its mouth and started chewing.

 

The monkeys scrambled for a door to get away from the onslaught. They collapsed
into one Troop as the furry fury threw himself through the door above the floor where
Finch was supposed to be.

 

Corona sealed the door with a burst of light. She worked her way down the stairwell.
Small pulses of light marked her melting the hinges and door jambs together. She
finished at the bottom door. Then she headed back up to where Marty and Ren waited
by the door to head out on the floor to get Finch.

 

“I’m going out to get Finch,” said Marty. “You two watch the stairwell and elevator.
I got a feeling that they didn’t rush up to get her when they had to deal with us. Cog
said there was a vent at the top of the stairwell. We can seal the door and cut our way
into the elevator shaft after we’re done.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” said Corona. “Be careful. We don’t know what’s going on
here.”

 

“I’ll do the best I can,” said Marty. He called back the dragon. He summoned a dog
of unknown pedigree. “Watch out for anyone with the nullifiers. If someone masses
to attack the door, don’t stick around. Go for the exit and get out of here. It’s
upwards.”

 

“You want us to leave you and Finch?,” said Corona. “I won’t do it.”

 

“Cog is already heading out,” said Marty. “If you get caught, you won’t have any way
to get out of your cell the next time. Don’t worry about us. We’ll handle it.”

 

“All right,” said Corona. “I don’t like it.”

 

“Who does?,” Marty slid out of the stairwell. He jogged to an overturned desk and
used it for cover. Nothing but broken men stirred as far as he could see.

 

His dog perked up at a hum. It ran in that direction, ears flopping as it moved. Marty
jogged after it, grabbing a discarded pistol as he went. It had been a long time, but he
should still know how to handle it.

 

He paused as the dog growled. It ran at someone in green with a rod in his hand. The
figure turned around. The rod pointed. A purple beam stabbed out at Marty. The
Scout threw himself into an alcove. The beam glowed where it hit the wall. Marty
fired back, using the wall as a brace. The bullets sparked off an invisible shield.

 

“Go back to your cell, Morgan,” said the man in green. He pointed the rod at Marty.
“Your stupid animal power doesn’t have a chance against my technology.”

 

“You think so?,” Marty asked. He called back the dog. There was nothing it could do
against that shield.

 

“I know so,” said the man in green. “We studied you. There’s nothing you can do to
stop me from putting you to sleep and locking you back down.”

 

A grenade rolled to a stop at the Squad leader’s feet. Marty looked for something to
hide behind. He threw himself across the room, behind a counter. He hunched over
and closed his ears as the grenade went off. He peeked over the counter. The man in
green had hit a column despite his shield.

 

A woman in gold and green appeared. She held a staff in her hand as she looked over
the scene in a gold mask over the top of her face.

 

“Marty Morgan,” Marty said from behind his cover. “I think we might be able to
leave now.”

 

“Yes,” said Finch. “Other masks?”

 

“Corona and Ren are waiting by the elevator,” said Marty. “I don’t know about Cog.”

 

“Other masks?,” said Finch. She held a staff in her hand. She nodded at the man in
green getting to his feet.

 

“We chased two of them away from the stairwell,” said Marty. He called on a rhino
and set it loose. It smashed against the shield at full speed. It couldn’t get through the
shield, but it could work on it long enough for a search party to look for him. “It looks
like you’ve dealt with the other two.”

 

//113448

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

21

William Watson stood. He reveled in it. Even five years after his conversion, it still
felt good to stand on his own. He had taken it for granted before he had been stricken.
Now it was a reminder of how his planning had solved his problem.

 

And now he had another problem stemming from the solution of his prior problem.

 

How did he fix it in a way that would let him come out ahead? He gave it some
thought as he left his office and searched for his assistant, Oscar.

 

He should have known that Marty Morgan would stir up trouble. His limited power
was still useful in its way. Of course, he would have figured out part of what had
happened and come looking for answers.

 

Now he had to be dealt with before he found out what had happened to his old mentor
Barry Nicklaus. That discovery could ruin the base’s ability to jumpstart technology
to fight powered humans.

 

Watson Security made a fortune with their clandestine activities. Most of that fortune
came from what had been done to the Hazard Scouts. No one could get in his way and
call him to task for that particular business decision.

 

He found Oscar standing with Captain Mercer outside a metal door marked
operations. He hoped he conveyed his frowning. His metal face still had a lot to be
desired in that department.

 

“What is going on, gentlemen?,” he asked. The new voicebox was still better than the
old one, but it still sounded like someone playing an electronic keyboard. The next
generation should be able to sound almost like a normal man.

 

“Somehow our prisoners have escaped,” said Oscar. “One of them has taken over
the operations room and locked us out so we don’t know where the others are except
from the reports from Gaze.”

 

“So if they keep on the move, he can’t tell us anything other than where they are, and
where he thinks they are going,” said Mercer. “He says they are two floors down right
now, with Morgan and Finch battling Bob.”

 

“Any plans to open this door?,” asked Watson. Operations could see every inch of the
facility except for his own office. If they wanted to use the security cameras and lock
down the floors, they needed to get inside.

 

“We are bringing up explosives from my training area,” said Mercer. “We are going
to try to cut through the lock and force the door open.”

 

Watson inspected the lock on the door, then the door itself. The thing was like a vault
door. They would need a lot of explosives to make a dent in the thing.

 

“We think we can cut through the door,” said Mercer. He waved at a squad waiting
to go into action. “We have some EMP guns here. We think Cog is the one who is in
there. Soon as we get in, we blast him with the EMP pulse. He goes back to his cell.”

 

“Understood,” said Watson. There was no way he could get through the door. It was
too thick even for his new arms and legs. “What about the others?”

 

“We plan to go after the other four as soon as we have operations back under our
control.” Mercer waved at the stairwell door. “We’re going to blow all the doors and
swarm them. Nullifiers and nonlethal ammunition will be used. We’ll round up your
lost sheep.”

 

“I’ll do that now,” said Watson. “Make sure to blow the door and get Cog before he
can escape. He might have the knowhow to destroy the controls of our generators and
ventilation. If he does that, it will take months to bring the facility back to active
service.”

 

“Will do,” said Mercer.

 

Watson strode over to the stairwell door. Mercer’s men retreated from his advance.

 

He noted they were armed with a mix of regular weapons and nullifiers. Once they
were through the door, they could take his captives prisoner after cutting off their
powers.

 

Only Finch and Ren would be a threat after that.

 

He doubted they could stand up to his strength with the normal human abilities that
they possessed.

 

He examined the door. It had been melted into the frame by intense heat. Corona’s
handiwork unless they had something else that could do that. He had to make sure
to not let her go to work on his body. He didn’t want to replace melted parts because
he was careless.

 

He braced himself. Then he launched into the door. It resisted his weight the first
time. He repeated the exercise until he had knocked the door down. He looked out on
the landing.

 

Nothing moved. He stepped out in the stairwell. He looked down over the rail.
Something big and green looked back. He dodged backwards as fire filled the air.

 

“That could be a problem,” said Watson. He thought about he could handle the giant
beast. He peeked over the railing again. It was gone.

 

He decided the best thing to do was try to take his enemies by surprise. And he
had never really tried his new body out against opponents that might be able to
match him in some way. The most he had done with it was execute some
troublemakers who thought they could take a larger share than he was willing to give
them.

 

Don’t be greedy was a rule he lived by in his pursuit of personal satisfaction.

 

He worked his way down to the floor below his floor. He tried to be stealthy. He
didn’t think it was a good job. A lance of light confirmed his thought. It missed his
head as he dove for the floor. He slid down the steps to the landing between the floor
where the group was and where Mercer’s men waited above.

 

Some of the men came out of the door above and fired down at the group. They
worked their way down to his side, crouching to keep return fire from being a
problem.

 

Watson lifted himself off the ground. He was way too heavy for an ordinary man to
lift now. He inspected his metal skin. He noted two dings on the arm that hit the floor
first. There was nothing he could do about that. He had to forge on.

 

“Watch out,” he warned the men. “They had some kind of giant beast with them.”

 

The men nodded. The nullifier carriers fired bursts of purple light at the opened
doorway. They might hit something, so shooting didn’t hurt. And the beam guns were
rated for hours of use before they had to have their batteries changed. The fight would
be over before the guns ran out of power.

 

“Move up slowly,” said Watson. “Who has a radio?”

 

One man stepped out of the crowd. He wore a large radio on his back. He carried a
simple rifle to keep from getting close to the enemy.

 

“Call Mercer, and tell him he might be able to use the elevator to create a two
pronged attack.” Watson eased up behind the nullifiers. “Tell him to proceed
carefully.”

 

“Yes, sir,” said the radio man. He stepped back to make the call. He didn’t know what
the fugitives could do, but everyone knew that Becker had been hurt bad by one on
the way back to base.

 

The Captain almost made an example of him.

 

He relayed the message and listened for acknowledgment. He didn’t need to
be in the middle if something went bad on either end of the call.

 

Mercer gave him a terse “Got it.”

 

“Captain Mercer said he understood the message,” said the radio man. He stood
behind Watson. If anything went down, he wanted a big shield like the robot man
promised to be.

 

Lances of light flared at the men. Nullifiers and rifles answered the beams. Watson
yanked the only hit man out of line and rolled him on the ground to put out the fire
as fast as he could.

 

“Take him out of the way,” said Watson. He handed the wounded man off to some
squaddies. “Riflemen, prepare to cover us. Nullifiers, open fire and keep their heads
down.”

 

He advanced down the steps behind a shower of purple beams. He had to take Corona
out of the picture first. She was the only one capable of hurting him. He couldn’t
allow that.

 

Morgan would have to go next. He had learned some new applications for his powers.
There was no telling what he could call up, or how much damage the beast would
cause. It was better not to give him a chance.

 

The other two could be as dangerous, but there was no telling what they could do
against a group of men. Finch was said to be a highly trained fighter. Nothing was
known about Morgan’s companion. They had grabbed him on the off chance he had
something that could be used. And he did have something. Watson didn’t know how
to handle it yet.

 

Watson pointed to the edge of the door. He wanted his men ready to cross the
threshold when he did. They had numbers on their side. The other side had weird
powers. If the prisoners didn’t go down in the first volley, the retaliation could take
out most of his men before he could stop them.

 

His metal body should take some hits, but he wanted to keep things to a minimum.
Getting hammered in a simple action like this would be embarrassing.

 

Watson peeked around the corner. He smelled burning metal. That was good. His
nose worked after months of tweaking. He would have smiled if he could.

He saw a glow where metal and concrete had been eaten away. He scanned the room.

Where were the powers? The elevator doors opened on his right. Mercer’s men
leveled guns, but not at him.

 

Watson advanced into the room. He felt the men spreading out behind him. Their
comrades moaned on the floor. He bent down and tapped one in the face. Eyes
snapped open at the touch.

 

“What happened?,” asked Watson. The men checked their comrades as they kept
searching the floor.

 

“That woman,” said the wounded man. He raised his hands. All the fingers were
broken. “She came out of her cell with a blanket. The next thing I know she was
breaking my fingers. She was asking about her stuff. I told her where to find it. She
slammed my head against the floor. That’s the last thing I remember.”

 

Watson stood. Finch had done all this on her own. Maybe he had underrated her
ability.

 

“Get this area clear,” he ordered. “We don’t need them in our way while we are
looking for our escapees. They’ll just get in our way.”

 

Guards formed up at the edge of the fighting area. Other men handed their wounded
to people in the elevator. When the elevator was full, they sent it down to the training
area. The men could be put there until the company doc could look at them.

 

Watson wondered what their next move should be.

 

He walked over to where the glow still emitted from the floor. He looked down.
Thingmabob lay on a desk directly below.

 

What had happened to the man?

 

Watson had wanted to face a real challenge. Here it was. Somehow, his fugitives had
engaged his top thinker and leader of his powered assets and put him through a
concrete and steel floor. What else were they capable of doing?

 

He left the floor search to Mercer’s men. They had the weapons and attitude to mix
it up. All he could do was draw fire. He dropped down through the hole, noting the
heavily hot temperature still radiating from the cracked floor. He landed like an anvil
beside Thingamabob.

 

“What happened, Bob?,” he asked. He looked the man over. The man’s rod had
charring around the working end. “Bob, Bob, can you hear me?”

 

“Yes,” said Bob. His voice sounded dry and whispery. “I thought I could hold them.
I was wrong.”

 

“What happened?” Watson looked around. He didn’t see any of the escapees. That
didn’t mean anything. He considered the heat from the hole and thought a normal
person wouldn’t have been able to do what he did.

 

The only one he had to worry about doing that was Corona. Naturally she was the
only one who could blast his metal body to bits if he gave her enough time.

 

“I was holding off Morgan with shield,” said Bob. “Couldn’t use nullifier while
shield was up. Corona blasted the shield at full power. Luckily, I had my visor on, or
I would be blind. Fell through the floor before the shield gave out. Hit this thing after
it gave out. I don’t know if I am all right, or not.”

 

Watson frowned internally. He didn’t have the means to check to see if his minion
was paralyzed. Any wrong move could cripple Bob for the rest of his life.

 

He decided the best thing to do was call for a medic. Someone had to be able to safely
move Bob from the counter he lay on.

 

Then he could search for the prisoners before they hurt anyone else. He had wanted
people with ability. He had gotten that in spades.

 

Watson didn’t think he could jump up to climb through the hole. He headed for the
stairwell door. Mercer’s men had medics. They would know what to do.

 

He didn’t want to make things worse for Bob. The man had done some good things
for the company over the years. It wouldn’t be right to leave him like that. He would
have to talk to Gilbert to see if a conversion could be done if that was what necessary.

 

He headed up the stairs. One of Mercer’s men guarded the steps from attacks from
below.

 

“I need you get a medic and two men with a litter.” Watson paused at the landing. “I
need a wounded man checked and secured downstairs.”

 

“Yes, sir,” said the guard. He went inside the disaster area of hurricane Finch, and
talked to several people. He returned with a man with a medical kit and another man.

 

“You said there was a wounded man downstairs, Mr. Watson?,” said the man with the
kit.

 

“He fell through a hole in the floor.” Watson headed down. “He says he can’t feel
anything.”

 

“I got it,” said the medic. “We’ll transport him down to the training area. A real
doctor will look him over when we get things sorted out.”

 

“Do the best you can,” said Watson. “I’ll be down to check on him.”

 

“Yes, sir,” said the medic. “Let’s go, Ike.”

 

Watson watched them disappear into the floor. He needed to check with Mercer. They
needed to get inside the operations center. Then they needed to hunt the escapees
down.

 

Watson started up the stairs. He had to think about what he could do to speed things
up.

 

He doubted that Mercer wanted more than suggestions with a number of his men wounded. It would be a surprise if he didn’t try to kill them instead of taking them alive.

 

Watson stepped on the floor with the operations center. It was time to think of a
strategy to get things back in hand.

 //115916

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

22

Marty Morgan crept through the ventilation shaft as quietly as he could. It helped that
the facility was so large that it needed duct work heavy enough to carry air down to
the bottom of the base. That prevented his climbing around from being heard unless
you were directly under the shaft.

 

He couldn’t wait to get out of the network. They were in a trap if the Watson guys
figured out where they were.

 

“We can get out up here,” said Ren. “We are above a garage full of vehicles.”

 

“Go ahead,” said Marty. “We want to get out of this before someone realizes where
we are.”

 

“Damn right,” said Corona. “One guy at either end and we’re done.”

 

“All right,” said Ren. He kicked the vent cover. Nothing happened. He kicked
again. “Seems jammed. Hold on.”

 

Finch pushed him forward and got in his spot. She kicked the cover off with one
blow. She dropped through the hole and landed silently amidst the cars and trucks.

 

“I could have done that,” said Ren.

 

“Sure,” said Corona. “Don’t just stand there. Go ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”

 

Ren lowered himself through the hole. He looked down at the concrete floor. It
looked higher than he liked. He let go and dropped to the floor. He rolled when
he hit to minimize the impact to his body.

 

Marty moved up to the hole. He called for his griffin to carry him down to the ground.
He waved it away as he looked around.

 

Corona dropped down in a bubble of light. She looked around. No one was around
to stop them from taking a truck and driving away.

 

Marty inspected the closest cars. None had keys in them. He looked the garage over.
He spotted sets of keys on a peg board across the room. It was time to get the others
out while he went about his business.

 

“All right,” said Marty. “This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to walk over
and get those keys. I’m going to bring them back. You three take a truck and head
out of here. I’ll turn loose the dragon in here and join you.”

 

“Nice try, buddy,” said Corona. “We all know you’re going to try to sneak back in
and steal those files you were talking about earlier. Why else send us ahead when
you know I’m the best blow things up person here?”

 

“Because one man can get in and out while they are searching for a bunch of us,” said
Marty. “And someone has to get away to tell the authorities what was going on here.”

 

The women looked at Ren. He looked at them, and then understood what they were
silently saying.

 

“I need those files to solve everything so I can start my own agency,” said Ren. “I
can’t walk away now.”

 

“Cog wants to go,” said Corona. “Let him carry word to the outside.”

 

“I don’t know that he will do that,” said Marty. “Plus it’s not his responsibility to do
anything about this. It’s mine. This place. It finally hit me. It’s set up like the Hazard
Scouts base. The guy killed my friends and then copied my home. And he just reeled
others in on top of that. I can’t let him get away with that.”

 

“You can walk away and let others handle this,” said Ren. “You don’t have to do
anything more.”

 

“Wrong,” said Marty. “Without those files, we have nothing. Watson and his staff can
say we broke in here for no reason. He hold up that it was a coincidence that we
worked on helping him with two of his problems before the team was ambushed.
Without a paper trail, we have nothing. And the blame will be put on us for violating
someone’s civil rights instead of trying to get a search warrant, or a writ for
evidence.”

 

“So we all go,” said Corona. “You don’t get to exclude us from the action.”

 

“Finch?,” asked Marty. “What do you say about this?”

 

“Hurt them,” said Finch. Her voice and inflection was flat and emotionless.

 

“Looks like you’re outvoted, Chief,” said Corona. “We all go, or none of us go.”

 

“All right,” said Marty. “The first thing we are going to need are disguises.”

 

“Okay,” said Corona. “Let’s get some keys in case you guys have to leave in a hurry.”

 

“Hopefully, none of them will check the shaft over the elevator any time soon,” said Marty. “That’ll buy us some time while they try to figure out what we did.”

 

The group started toward the pegboard. They divided the keys and put them in
pockets, or utility pouches. They walked over to the door leading to the rest of the
complex. No one seemed to be on guard. Marty slipped out first, listening for trouble.

Corona and Finch followed. Corona should be able to blast anyone who got in their
way. Finch had her staff and other weapons that could be used at a distance if she did
have to use them. Ren came last, closing the door behind them.

 

Hopefully, Cog could get himself clear while they were looking around. One of them
should be able to go home after this.

 

And if he spotted them in trouble, maybe he would come back and do something.

Marty knew that was a longshot. Cog didn’t strike him as brave, or concerned about
others. He simply wanted to get away from trouble as fast as he could. The Scout
resolved not to tell Finch that Cog wanted to leave her behind. He felt that would
cause trouble that they didn’t need.

 

They had enough to go around without conflicts in the group.

 

Marty paused when he heard people talking and working around the floor. He pressed
against the wall as he looked around. The soldiers were working on blasting down a
metal door.

 

He wondered how he could grab four of them for disguises. He considered turning
his dragon on them. That would clear the hall fast in his opinion.

 

Then he saw three men who attracted his attention. One was a guy in a suit. One was
a soldier with what looked like mismatched eyes. The last was a robot about seven
feet tall. The design was smoother, but it resembled the visible parts of Barry’s
robotic limbs.

 

Marty bit down on his anger so he didn’t do anything stupid.

 

The last thing he should do was turn his dragon loose and alert the soldiers that he
was close enough to talk to them. That would be bad. On the other hand, the dragon
could take care a lot of the opposition there and then.

 

“Don’t, Marty,” said Ren. “All we need are the files.”

 

Finch stepped around them. She grabbed a guy by the neck and dragged him back
from the crowd. She dropped him in an office. She waved at the others to get inside.
Then she grabbed number two before he could even shout a warning. She dragged
him back with her.

 

Ren smiled as he looked around the office. He started going through files in the
cabinets around the desk.

 

“This may be what we need.” Ren started assembling files touching on the Scouts and
his new comrades.

 

“So we don’t have to go any further than this,” said Corona. “This is great. All we
have to do is get out of here with our skins intact.”

 

“The guy is here,” said Marty at the door. “He’s wearing a copy of Barry’s robotics.”

 

“What do you mean?,” asked Corona.

 

“One of the overseers looks like a suit of armor that looks like Barry Nicklaus’s
robotics,” said Marty. “That’s why they took Barry’s body. They wanted it so they
could make a copy.”

 

“Who’s Barry Nicklaus?,” asked Corona.

 

“He was my best friend,” said Marty. “You guys get out of here with that stuff. I’m
going to talk with this guy.”

 

“Don’t, Marty,” said Ren. “They didn’t just take Barry’s body. They took his brain
too.”

 

“What do you mean?,” asked Marty.

 

Finch dragged victims three and four into the office and closed the door. She dropped
their dead weight.

 

“There’s indications they loaded his brain into a life support and took it,” said Ren.
“There’s a bill for an estimate on a metal skull here.”

 

“Oh, that’s not right,” said Corona.

 

“You’re telling me that they killed everyone else, but took Barry’s brain,” said Marty.
“And where is it?”

 

“It’s here somewhere,” said Ren. “We need to search this place.”

 

“We need to go,” said Corona. “These people are ready for us.”

 

“Hurt them all,” said Finch.

 

“I agree with Finch,” said Marty. “I say we hurt them all.”

 

“We can’t do that,” said Ren. “We have enough to turn over to the authorities.”

 

“No,” said Marty. “We have disguises. We look for Barry. Then we blow this place
up.”

 

“All right,” said Corona. “Are you sure you’re not taking this personal?”

 

“I’m totally taking this personally,” said Marty. “I am holding back because you guys
are here. Otherwise, I would be taking things into my hands right now.”

 

“We look for Barry,” said Corona. “First sign of trouble, we get out of here.”

 

“Okay,” said Marty. “Let’s change clothes and get out there.”

 

The four changed clothes as fast as they could. Finch had picked four guys who were
spookily close to the same size as the four of them. Ren put his clothes in his bag.
The others asked them to hold their belongings too.

 

“Right,” said Marty. “We know they won’t keep Barry up here.”

 

“He wasn’t on the floor where Finch happened to be,” said Ren. “He also wasn’t on
the same floor as we were.”

 

“That gives us five other floors.” Marty stepped outside the office. He headed for the
elevator. He pulled his cap down to help obscure his face.

 

One of the big three might look his way and be recognized. That would trigger a fight
for the door.

 

Ren, Corona, and Finch followed him. They tried to ignore the activity around them.
Marty opened the door for them. The four stepped in the elevator. The doors shut on
them.

 

Ren pushed the button one floor down below the scene of Finch’s rampage. The door
opened. One look said this was the wrong place. He pushed the next button. The
elevator opened on something out of a mad scientist’s dream.

 

“I think this is the right place,” said Corona. “We even have someone we can ask
questions.”

 

“Let’s do that,” said Marty. He started across the open space. Two guys in white suits
were doing grunt work for a guy in a white labcoat. The Scout headed right for the
boss.

 

He trusted Finch to handle the other two guys. She had already torn up trained
soldiers. Igors should be even easier for her deadly skills.

 

“How’s it going?,” said Marty. “I’m wondering what you do here.”

 

“I don’t think you have the need to know,” said the boss. “Who are you? Does
Captain Mercer know you’re here?”

 

Finch dropped the other two men with quick blows to the head. She paused to let
them drop to the floor. The sound attracted the chief’s attention.

 

“You better start talking,” said Marty. “Or I’ll let her go to work on you. You don’t
want that.”

 

“Hurt you,” said Finch. “Hurt you more.”

 

“I can’t tell you anything,” said the technician. “I just manufacture things from plans
that Mr. Watson provides.”

 

“I think you undersell yourself,” said Ren. He examined the controls of a particular
panel plugged into a set of boxy computers running on reels of magnetic tape. “What
does cerebral fluid tank mean?”

 

“I don’t know really,” said the technician. “That was here before I got here.”

 

“Wrong thing to say, bud,” said Corona. She let her hair down by putting her cap in
her pocket.

 

“Which leg do you want broken?,” asked Marty. “That’s what you get for lying.”

 

“Don’t,” said the technician. “We have a couple of brains preserved over the factory
floor. They come up with the designs for the things Mr. Watson wants to use for the
company. I take the designs and work out the bugs. That’s all I know.”

 

“Brains?,” said Ren. “How many brains are we talking about here?”

 

“We have two here,” said the technician. He pointed to a globe hanging from the
ceiling.

 

“Two?,” said Ren. “Really?”

 

“Yes,” said the technician.

 

“How do we get them out of there and into real bodies?,” asked Marty.

 

“I don’t have a clue,” said the technician.

 

“Break his leg, Finch,” said Marty. “I think he can hop along on his left one.”

 

“No,” the tech held up his hands. “We have mobile tanks for them. We can put
them into those.”

 

“How?,” asked Ren.

 

The technician showed them the procedure and put the brains in two cylinders on
rollers. He checked the readings on the tanks to show them the life support was
working. He gestured to show things were okay.

 

“Thanks,” said Marty.

 

Finch broke the technician’s leg with one kick. He went down with a high pitched
shriek.

 

The others looked at her.

 

“Deserved it,” she said.

//118126

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  • 2 weeks later...

Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

23

Marty asked Finch to put the technician out. They didn’t need him screaming while
they were trying to think about how to get two cylinders of metal and plastic out of
a base full of people who didn’t want them to do that.

“So whose brains do we have in the tanks?,” asked Marty. “Barry’s, or someone
else’s?”

“We’ll have to talk to them,” said Ren. “The controls say there’s some kind of
speaking thing the tanks have been outfitted with so they can be interviewed.”

“Do you know how to turn it on?,” asked Marty. “We have to know what happened,
and if we can reverse this.”

Ren checked the front of the tanks. He pressed switches to turn on the functions they
needed.

“What’s going on?,” said tank one.

“More stupidity to deal with from these idiots,” said tank two.

“It’s Barry and Cortez,” whispered Marty to his three companions. “I can’t believe
it.”

“Cortez vanished before the Hazard Scouts were killed,” said Ren. “It looks like he
was here all that time.”

“Who’s there?,” asked Barry. “Where’s Gilbert?”

“Who’s Gilbert?,” asked Marty.

“He’s the idiot running this place,” said Cortez. “If I had my rig, I would gut him for
his incompetence.”

“Him.” Marty rubbed his face. “He suffered an accident. Do you know where you
are?”

“No,” said Barry.

“No, I do not,” said Cortez. “How is that relevant?”

“The year is 1979,” said Marty. “You have been held in Pinebrook National Forest
for ten years.”

“Ten years!,” said Cortez. “I don’t believe you.”

“What about the rest of the Scouts?” said Barry. “Where are they?”

“The other members of the Scouts except one were killed in the ambush where they
took your brain.” Marty gritted his teeth. This was the kind of news he didn’t want
to be delivering. “You were believed dead. Only a piece of luck revealed that you
were here.”

“Who lived?,” asked Barry.

“Martin Morgan,” said Marty.

“Animal Boy lived?,” said Cortez. “The weakest member lived? I can’t believe that.”

“Shut him off, please,” said Marty. It was hard enough breaking bad news. He didn’t
need to deal with a maniacal brain of top of everything else.

Ren cut off the speaker on tank two.

“We don’t have a lot of time, Barry,” said Marty. “I’m going to break things down as
simply as I can. Then we need to get you out of here.”

“Go ahead,” said Barry. “I can take it.”

“All right.” Marty marshaled his thoughts. “Idaville was a trap. It was set up by
Captain Mercer for Watson Security. Jim, Doug, and Daryl were all killed. It looked
like you had died too. Marty got away and has been drifting along. Recently he met
Ren, an apprentice for Doctor Tanhoubei. They started looking into the ambush so
Ren could graduate and set up his own agency. They tracked Mercer to Pinebrook
National Park. They were captured by Watson’s powered goons and put in cells with
three other powers. The plan was to brainwash the group so they would do what
Watson wanted. Corona and Finch, this is Barry Nicklaus. Barry, this is Corona and
Finch.”

“Hi,” said Corona.

“Honored,” said Finch.

“Pleased to meet you, ladies.” Barry seemed to laugh to himself. “So Watson took me
apart. Why?”

“So he could build a version of your body for himself,” said Marty. “I think he used
you to design things because this place is set up like the Scout headquarters.”

“That explains a lot,” said Barry. “What’s the next move?”

“We get you out of here, figure out how to get you a body, and turn in Watson’s files
to see what the Feds think about all this,” said Marty. “I might take the chance to deal
with Watson and Mercer before we get out of here.”

“What about these powered minions?,” asked Barry. “Where are they?”

“One is asleep, one has been hurt but I don’t know how badly, a third was dropped
through a floor by concentrated fire against a force field, and we don’t know what
happened to the fourth,” said Ren.

“I hurt him,” said Finch.

“We might be four for four then,” said Corona. “Good job, girl.”

Finch nodded at the compliment.

“How mobile are these tanks?,” asked Marty.

“I don’t know,” said Barry. “They don’t let us see anything. I assume you can use
them like wheelchairs.”

“We take them out of here, and use the elevator to get to the motor pool,” said Marty.
“Then we get out of this place and hide out long enough to turn Watson in.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Corona. “I’m for it.”

“I think we can do it,” said Ren. “We just have to cross that empty corridor and hope
no one sees us.”

“If anyone does, we dump Cortez for them to take back,” said Marty. “Ten years
trapped in the dark doesn’t make up for some of the things he did.”

“I’m good with that,” said Corona. “Let’s get out of here.”

Ren took the Cortez tank. Marty took Barry’s. They started rolling the tanks to the
door. The ladies followed. Finch paused to make sure that Gilbert would sleep until
someone found him. They all paused at the door.

Ren headed for the elevator first. He hit the button and waited on one side. Marty
rolled Barry’s tank to the door and parked it next to Cortez. Finch and Corona took
the other side of the door.

The door opened. More of Mercer’s men stood inside the elevator. They looked at the
foursome and their burdens.

“Going up?,” said a man with corporal stripes on his sleeves.

“Yes, please,” said Ren. He rolled Cortez into the elevator. “We have to get rid of this
waste.”

Marty rolled Barry into the elevator. He parked the tank at the back of the cab. The
ladies squeezed in on either side. The other group noted Corona’s height and muscles.

“I wish you were helping us,” said a private.

“When we get done, I’ll come looking for you,” said Corona. She winked at the
private.

“Oh yeah,” said the private.

“Shut it, Dumphries,” said the corporal. “You want to wind up like Becker? Let’s
have a little decorum.”

“Yes, sir,” said Dumphries. He and Corona exchanged looks and hand gestures until
the elevator door slid open. Dumphries’s squad got off to head toward the wounded
still trying to be evacuated from where Finch had left them. Corona waved at him as
he went.

“Flirt,” said Finch.

“I don’t see anything wrong with having a good time,” said Corona. “He might even
show me a thing, or two.”

“We’re trying to put him in jail,” said Marty. “That’s a conflict of interest.”

“I can put him in jail and give a last night of freedom,” said Corona with a smile.

Marty opened his mouth to object. He closed it.

Finch shook her head as she pressed the close door button. She closed her eyes as she
waited for the elevator to move.

“Are you okay, Finch?,” asked Ren.

She nodded. A small tear escaped the corner of her eye.

The other three looked at each other. Corona reached across and touched the fighter’s
shoulder gently.

“If you need a moment, it’s cool with us,” said Corona. “This has been a set of long
days.”

“Fine,” said Finch. She resumed her stoic mask. She nodded at them. “Ready.”

“Everyone ready?,” asked Marty.

The other three nodded.

“Born ready,” said Barry. “Nice idea. I would never have thought of sneaking
someone out as some kind of waste.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” said Marty. “You caught the Three State Man
doing the same thing we’re doing.”

“That was a long time ago,” said Barry.

“Shh,” said Corona. “The doors are opening.”

Corona held the door open as she stepped out in the hall. Finch took the other side.
Marty and Ren rolled their tanks out of the elevator. The soldiers had retreated behind
a makeshift barricade so they could blow the door to the operations center down. The
robot and Mercer were out of sight.

“Hurry,” whispered Marty. He pushed Barry’s tank toward the motor pool as fast as
he dared while trying to avoid drawing attention.

Corona picked up the other tank and picked up the pace. She carried it on her
shoulder as if ready to throw it at the first person who got in their way.

Marty didn’t doubt she would use Cortez and his artificial body as a weapon.

“Motor pool ahead,” said Ren. He rushed to the door.

A loud bang behind them signified Mercer’s men had cut through the big door
keeping them from Cog. The lack of gunshots meant he had escaped from the sealed
room somehow. Marty smiled at that.

He deserved to get away after trying to help them, and inadvertently blocking the
guards from being able to find them for a few crucial moments. That was worth
something despite the mystery man declaring himself a coward and willing to leave
everyone else behind.

“Let’s get a van to carry us out of here without arousing any questions,” said Marty.

“Let’s grab the blue one,” said Corona. “It looks big enough to carry us all.”

“We’re going to put you in the back, Barry,” said Marty. He wheeled the tank toward
the van. “Then all we have to do is drive out of here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Barry. “I wish I had my body. This is slightly embarrassing
being rolled around like this.”

“The Camp is empty,” said Marty. “Some of your spare parts might still be there. I
didn’t check when we were there earlier.”

“So I can build a replacement,” said Barry. “I’ll really be a brain in a jar then.”

“It can’t be helped,” said Marty. “I’m surprised they kept you alive.”

“Watson wanted weapon designs,” said Barry. “Cortez and I gave him things to
chase, but weren’t practical from our point of views.”

“Technology has marched on since you have been gone,” said Marty. “Computers
have been shrunken for example by the discovery of new types of transistors. Vacuum
tubes are on the way out.”

“I’ll have to do some reading to catch myself up when I get some new eyes,” said
Barry. “I know what you’re thinking. I’ll be a fish out of water. I won’t know my way
around. I’ll have to deal with grief over my friends eventually. I can deal with it.
There’s always hope, and I can do that.”

Marty wiped his face with the back of his hand. This was the Barry that had adopted
him into the Scouts when he didn’t have anywhere else to go.

The alarm went off overhead. The group looked around. They were halfway to the
van. They had to get out of there.

“Ren, get the wheel,” said Marty. “We got to move before they try to lock us down.”

Corona jogged toward the van with Cortez’s holder on her shoulder. Light ran up her
arms as she called on her power.

Finch sped to get the back doors open as Marty raced behind the ladies. He shook his
head at being the slowest one there. He thought he had kept in good shape. He hated
to admit he was wrong about that.

Finch pulled the back doors open for Corona and Marty. Corona slid her burden on
its side to the back of the back seat. Marty lifted Barry up and placed him on the
metal floor. He jumped in and pushed the tank forward. He made sure to brace it so
it wouldn’t fall over if something happened while they were trying to escape.

Marty sent a bird back to the door to keep an eye on anyone coming through the door
as Finch closed the van doors.

Ren started the engine with his tuning fork. He dropped it in gear as Finch climbed
in the passenger seat. He started toward the outside door with eyes on the mirror.

Corona flew in front of the van. Her body burned the air around it. She pointed both
hands at the exit door. The metal ran under the onslaught. A hole appeared as the
substance separated from solid to liquid. It wouldn’t be enough to let the van by.

“Hold on,” said Ren. “I’m going to hypnotize the van.”

“What?,” said Finch.

“What?,” said Barry.

“What?,” said Marty. He paused. His voice sounded like the squeak of a mouse to
him.

Ren touched the dashboard. He murmured something to it as he pressed down on the
gas. He drove into the flowing steel of the door. The van passed through to the other
side of the opening without harm as far as Marty could tell.

“That was pretty good,” said Marty when he remembered to breath again.

“Good,” said Finch. She relaxed in the shotgun seat.

“It really worked,” said Ren. “I didn’t think it would.”

“That’s not something to admit,” said Barry.

Cortez’s tank shook in place as if in anger.

Finch grabbed Ren’s closest ear. She squeezed once before letting go. He groaned
from the pain in his ear.

“You didn’t have to do that,” said Ren. He rubbed his sore ear with his hand.

Corona flew to match up with the driver’s door. She waited for him to roll down his
window.

“Pull over,” said Corona. “I don’t want to fly back to Detroit.”

Ren pulled to a stop. He rubbed his ear as he waited for Corona to climb in the back
seat. He looked in the mirror. He smiled at the absence of pursuit.

“It looks like we got clean away,” he said.

“No,” said Marty. “They’re trying to get their vehicles started so they can chase us.
We have to get out of here as fast as we can.”

“Let’s do that,” said Ren. He shifted gears and put his foot down on the gas.
 

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revenge of the scouts

1979-

24

Cog examined the door to the command center. He checked the cameras. They were
going to cut through the barrier easily. All they needed was the right materials.

He had to vacate the office before they managed to come in and get him. He had no
need to fight all of the humans. He might be able to take them on, but he didn’t want
to face magnetic guns. He was not going back to that cell.

Cog’s tentacles sprouted tools at the end. He worked on the cameras precisely and
fast. He was not leaving them a way to track him through the facility. It occurred to
him that he could hide in the structure and use it for his own purposes.

He decided that he would rather retreat to his own home in Chicago. He didn’t want
to hide from amoral humans trying to find him and use his body for a shell.

He observed the cyborg moving around outside the command center. He thought he
could take it apart. He didn’t plan to stick around and try. That wasn’t his nature.

His people preferred to hide from their enemies and use the environment as cover.

Cog finished his task and put his tools away. He scanned the cameras. The friendly
humans were absconding with the brains from the factory that he had observed. He
wished them the best of luck.

It was time for the tentacle monster to get out of the room and move to somewhere
safer.

Cog slipped into the ventilation system. He pulled the grill behind him and welded
it in place. They would have to find out what he had used for an exit.

The cyborg floated down the duct, swimming in the air away from the locale. His
drone monitored the situation from above where the humans worked. He ordered the
drone to follow the others until he caught up with them.

He worked his way through the vents until he arrived at the motor pool. He heard the
bang of the door being blasted aside by the human soldiers. Then his surprise went
off. He made a noise that could be a human laugh.

The sirens went off to denote a fire burning in the control panel he had rigged to
explode to cover his tracks by shutting down the surveillance system.

He noted the humans and their burdens moving to a van in the middle of the other
vehicles. A bird flew up to the rafters holding up the roof. He decided that was one
of Morgan’s animals. It wouldn’t be interested in him. It was there to keep an eye on
Watson’s minions.

He flew to the van as it started forward. He crammed his metal head under the van,
and secured a grip so he wouldn’t scrape the road as the truck moved toward the door.

Cog pointed a dish back down on the line. He heard orders being passed in the
distance. Watson, or Mercer, had pinpointed their escape already. Clamps locked
down on the door. They weren’t lifting the hangar’s entrance by hand.

Should he drop off the van and look for some other exit? Had he made a mistake?
What should he do?

Corona blasted the door in front of the van. White fire punched a hole in the metal.
The van changed under his tentacles. He felt the effect but couldn’t explain it. The
van punched through the liquid metal and kept going.

Cog did a self assessment. Everything seemed to be working as well as could be
expected. He hadn’t lost anything to whatever had changed the van for the few
seconds the effect had existed.

The van pulled to a stop. He listened. The humans were doing the same thing and
checking out whether they could move forward.

The van started forward from the underground base. Motors attracted Cog’s attention.
The pursuit was still going to happen after what had just happened.

He ordered his drone to catch up while avoiding the humans. He didn’t want to lose
it after all this.

Watson’s minions boiled out of the hangar. They roared after the van. As soon as they
got close enough, they would fire on the van.

Cog had a laser built in tentacle. He could stop some of them if they got close enough.
One beam into tires would slow some of them down to let his transport get away.

Purple beams blasted at the van. So they had armed themselves with nullifiers. If they
hit Corona while she was in the air, she would crash.

Did they have the magnetic guns? Did he want to find out? He calculated the chances.
He decided he should have stayed in the complex and used this as a distraction to fly
away in another direction.

He had made a mistake hitching his current with the humans. He should have done
something else.

How did he get them out of this situation? There had to be something he could do.

He decided that if he got out of this mess, he would arm himself with some kind of
energy weapon that had better range than his laser, and a bigger wave.

He decided that maybe a jet booster would be something to add to his body too.

Corona exchanged fire with the minions. Purple beams lit up the air as liquid fire
sliced through vehicles. Some of the cars caught fire under the onslaught. One of the
nullifier beams glanced off Corona’s aura. She lost power after the hit.

She descended to the roof of the van. She grabbed the edges of the roof to keep from
falling off the roof.

Cog shifted position until he was on the roof. He wrapped Corona five tentacles
around her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” said Cog. “I’m Cog.”

“Charmed,” said Corona. “You look like a squid.”

“I know,” said Cog. “I have never been able to switch to something more human
looking.”

“It looks good on you,” said Corona with a smile. “The light green skin brings out the
color in your headlights.”

“I’m going to transfer you to the inside of the van,” said Cog. He felt that he had
heard some sarcasm, but couldn’t decide how to react to it. Ignoring it would be all
right at the moment. “Tell the driver to speed up so we can get away.”

“I’m sure he knows what he’s doing,” said Corona.

“I’m sure,” said Cog. He peered over the edge of the van and knocked on a window
with a tentacle. The window slid down out of the way. “I’m going to lower the female
inside.”

Humans hands stretched out of the window. Cog lowered his burden into the hands.
Corona slid inside the vehicle with a nod. He retracted his tentacles so he had the
extra appendages to use for work.

“Nice job,” said Morgan. “What happened?”

“I got hit with a nullifier,” said Corona. She grimaced. “I will be back to normal in
a bit. At least I’m not under one of those lamps.”

Cog watched the burning vehicles fall behind them. The active cars rolled around the
bonfire and restarted their pursuit.

He wondered how he could stop the rest of them so they could get away. Corona had
done a good job on wrecking most of them.

He focused on the cars. He didn’t see any of the magnetic guns in the vehicles. Maybe
he could do something.

He flipped open the cutting bar in one of his tentacles. He eyed the trees passing on
either side of the narrow dirt road they were speeding along. He saw a tree that he
could cut through in one stroke. All he had to do was drop the tree across the path.
How hard could it be?

He swung the saw against the wood as the van passed. The top end of the tree fell
toward the road. It hit two other trees and froze in place. Branches had caught the
trunk and stopped it from finishing its fall.

He winced internally at that. Maybe he could do better with the next one that he
wanted to drop.

He picked two trees in a row. He sliced through both of them with abandon. They fell
across the road. He sliced through a third on the opposite side of the road as the van
kept going.

This was better than he expected. It didn’t make up for having to violently deal with
his antagonists, but it suited his personal tastes to cause problems for pursuers while
he got away to live another day.

He noted that some of the cars hit trees on the side of the road, but some just slowed
down to bounce over his obstruction. He had thought his idea would work to get them
clear. He needed to think of something else.

If only the van could fly. That would help solve some of this within seconds of lift
off. He didn’t think he could convert the thing to some kind of flier while they were
still in motion. They certainly couldn’t stop to let him work on his idea.

His drone signaled a flying machine was heading for them. That couldn’t be good
news. He needed to warn the others. They needed cover.

“There’s a flying machine on the way,” said Cog. He directed his voice to the inside
of the car. “Any suggestions?”

“We need to conceal ourselves to get away from it,” said Marty. “Any ideas on how
we can do that?”

“I still can’t fly,” said Corona. She lifted her hand. Nothing happened.

“Turn right,” said Finch. She pointed to a side trail.

Ren yanked the wheel to follow her direction. The van fishtailed as it slid into the
new path. He pulled to a stop next to a large of rock sticking out from bushes and
trees.

“What now?” said Ren.

“We get out and head out on foot.” said Marty. He kicked open the back door. “You
guys head out on foot any way. I’m going to try to hold them so you can get away.”

“That’s stupid,” said Cog. “We should run together.”

“Someone has to be a distraction,” said Marty. “And right now, I’m the only one who
can take out a helicopter as long as they don’t nullify my power.”

“Let’s go,” said Finch. She pointed at the rock. She started away from the vehicle.

Corona followed more slowly. The blast from the nullifier had left her slightly weaker
than normal.

Ren paused to look at the brain tanks in the back of the van. He looked at the two
women heading away.

“We can’t just leave them here,” he said.

“Sure, you can,” said Barry. “The worst they can do is drag us back to that hole and
put us back to work.”

“I can handle this,” said Cog. “Go ahead. I will be right behind you with these two.”

The floating cyborg produced his tool kit. He cut into the tanks as Marty watched the
road. In a few minutes, the tanks had been reduced to the essential parts which made
the brain jars easier to carry in its tentacles.

Cog floated after the other fugitives. It carried the brains in a jar in its tentacles as it
fled.

Marty shook his head. He had to stop the pursuit here. He couldn’t let the Watson
boys know they had split up. He had to make enough noise that they focused on him.

He moved off the road, heading away from the rock. He wondered how many he
could take out before they nullified him.

If he could take out the helicopter, that would help his new comrades get away. If he
could drop the helicopter on top of the ground pursuit, that would make things even
better.

He crouched down in the shadow of a bush. He hoped the others used this to get
Barry away to somewhere he could fix himself.
 

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revenge of the scouts

1979-

25

Finch paused at a fork in the trail. She looked up in the sky. She raised her hand and
pointed east.

“You want us to leave you behind too?,” said Corona. “We can’t do that.”

“Go,” said Finch. “Catch up.”

“She’s right,” said Cog. “She’s a lot better out here than we are.”

“We need a better plan than breaking off in sacrificial plays so only one of us is left
to deal with things,” said Corona.

“She’s right,” said Ren. He pulled out his telescope to look in the direction Finch
wanted them to go. “There’s a shack down there we can use for cover until you get
your powers back.”

“I don’t like this at all,” said Corona.

“I can carry you down to that shack,” said Cog. “It will be no problem.”

“I’m going,” said Corona. “I just don’t like it.”

Ren put his telescope away as he started for the cabin. He looked around. Finch had
vanished while they had been talking. He smiled. Some detective he was to miss
something like that.

Corona and Cog followed him across the terrain. They bickered about something as
they went but Ren only half-listened to them. The tiny house wouldn’t stop a lot of
bullets, but it would hide them from anything that couldn’t see through wood.

He might be able to do something to help fortify the house. They had to keep the
mercenaries at bay until Marty, or Finch, dealt with the problem.

He had no doubt that Finch could take care of herself. She had decimated the men
inside the complex. She could do the same in the wild with the abundant cover
around.

He was more worried that the powers would be back in action while they had no way
to counter the numerical advantage the simian gave the enemy.

He wondered how much Marty’s dragon had hurt the duplicator when it started
gorging itself on the multiple bodies. Maybe the villain was out of the action.

That would be good in his opinion. That would only leave the teleporter to deal with
if they had to worry about other powers.

Ren paused at the cabin door. He pushed it open while staying away from the
doorway. He didn’t need to be accidentally shot because he was not supposed to be
there in the forest.

The place was dusty but empty. Nothing adorned the shelves to his right. A small
stove was on the left. All it needed was fuel and a spark to keep them warm if they
were there when it got cold.

Hopefully they would have things settled by the time that happened. He didn’t want
to endure anything like snow in this situation with no food.

He pulled his map from his bag. He checked their position to the best of his
knowledge. They were miles from anything that might be helpful. He definitely didn’t
want to walk the distance.

He made a note he should learn how to fly. That would make adventuring so much
easier. Maybe learning how to make things fly for him would be just as useful.

If he had that talent, he could have carried them to civilization in a flying car.

At least he knew what had happened to the Hazard Scouts. All he needed to do was
take it to a judge and have it proven in a court. That wasn’t likely the way things were
going.

Ren turned in a circle. How did he turn this situation into something useful? What
would his mentor do in this situation?

The doctor had a vast sea of knowledge in how to turn things his way. Even taking
cover was something he could use to befuddle his enemies.

Ren wondered if he could hypnotize the shack into doing something else other than
just sitting there.

He paused. He liked that idea. The wood wouldn’t be that much tougher, but if he
could get it to walk about, it would be some kind of transportation. Then they could
get clear long enough for him to send the files he took to people who could use them.

He knelt down. The floor was wooden too. He could make a walking cube out of the
material. He just had to work on one board to move the rest any way he wanted.

It was something he had never seen his master do.

A new technique could be as good as solving a mystery if it was helpful enough.

He smiled. He could get his name in the book of master detectives. His
accomplishment might inspire later detectives.

He pulled a book out of his bag. He went through the pages. Several elements
suggested it was possible. Statues had been used to defend several detectives as they
worked. This could be grouped under the same thing.

He wouldn’t get his name in the book after all.

He put the book back in his bag. He would have to settle for presenting his solution
if he could get away from Watson’s minions.

“How do you feel, Corona?,” asked Ren. If her power came back, that would improve
things by a significant amount.

“Still weak,” she said. She raised her hand. A faint flicker of fire danced across her
palm before fading away.

“The effect should fade faster as time goes on,” said Cog.

He floated by the window. He gazed out on the trees. Nothing showed that Marty was
doing anything. He knew all he had to do was wait. The Scout should be doing
something reckless and foolish any minute.

Ren joined him at the window. He pulled out his telescope and looked down their
backtrail. He frowned at waiting for something to happen. Then the helicopter with
the giant W on the side flew over the tree line. It seemed to be heading right for them.

“They know we’re here,” said Ren. He put the telescope away. “It looks like we’re
going to have to take some kind of action to keep from being recaptured.”

“What do you suggest?,” asked Cog. He throttled down his first instinct of breaking
cover and running from the threat.

That would just make it easier for them to snipe at him with the magnet guns and
causing his prosthetic to fail like they had done in the original encounter that had led
to him being imprisoned.

Troop dropped from the helicopter in a chain of monkeys. He expanded into a pile
falling toward the cabin. His numbers would overwhelm them if something wasn’t
done.

Marty’s dragon appeared in the sky. It breathed fire on the helicopter. The vehicle
tried to veer from the jet of flame playing on its engines. It was too late as something
caught fire. It headed for the ground as the pilot tried to keep control.

Troop paused at the appearance of his old nemesis. Should he go after the cabin and
grab hostages, or flee into the trees?

He went for the cabin.

The wooden walls grew, expanding upwards. Legs like trees lifted the small house
up into the sky. Giant arms ending in fists descended from the sides of the shack.

Troop froze in confusion. He had a dragon on one side, and a giant walking house on
the other. What should he do?

He turned and fled into the trees. He used his multiplication to cover ground like a
wave heading for the shore.

“That worked better than I thought,” said Ren. “I think we can just walk away without
too much trouble.”

“How are you doing this?,” asked Cog. “There’s no sign of mechanisms, or interior
power sources.”

“I convinced the house to grow some legs,” said Ren. He smiled. “I hypnotized it.”

“Hypnotized an empty building?,” said Corona. “Tell us another one.”

“I know,” said Ren. “It’s hard to believe.”

Something exploded against a wall. Wood and fire flew into the house’s single room.
The stove fell over on its side. Ren and Corona were thrown to the floor by the shock.

“What the devil was that?,” asked Barry.

Cog looked out the window. William Watson stood on the ground below. He was
loading a rocket launcher to use on the house.

“Looks like trouble,” said Cog. “Can you distract him, Ren? I think I can take care
of this rather quickly.”

“I think I can do something,” said Ren. “Go, go, walking house.”

A giant fist descended from on high. Watson stepped out of the way. He brought the
launcher up to aim at the cabin. Conversion would have suited his purposes, but now
he had to think of the future and cut his losses. No one could be allowed to talk about
his hidden facility.

He pulled the trigger. The rocket blasted another yawning hole in the structure. He
doubted he had killed whomever was making the cabin go since it was still moving.
One more rocket should take care of that problem.

He looked around for his box of ammunition. He needed a rocket to finish the job. He
paused at the realization the rest of the rockets had disappeared. He heard whirring
and sizzling and the arc of electricity behind him. He turned to face a small metallic
cylinder at the head of dozens of tentacles. Each of those tentacles had something at
the end of it. Then the monstrosity fell on him.

Watson tried to work his way clear. Pieces of his body fell from him as he tried to get
away from the thing reducing him to parts. He fell to the ground without his legs and
part of an arm.

“Looks like you need to check in with your mechanic,” said the floating machine. “He
might be able to put you together again after all the trouble you went to so you could
grab that body for yourself.”

“You won’t get away with this,” said Watson. “I’ll hunt you down and take you apart
like a tinker toy.”

“Not if I see you first,” said Cog. “I’ve already taken you mostly apart in a few
seconds. I can finish the job if you want.”

“I will wreck you, you stupid machine,” said Watson.

“You had better hope that Marty Morgan doesn’t realize you are sitting here
helpless,” said Cog. “He will not be as merciful as I am after what you have done.”

“He won’t do anything,” said Watson. “He needs things like due process and courts
of law. He can’t do anything to me since he can’t prove anything.”

“Are you really sure of that?,” asked Cog.

“Yes, I am,” said Watson.

The cabin descended to the ground. Its appendages collapsed back inside the
building. Corona stepped out of the remains of the place, brushing dust off her shirt.

Ren stepped out of the cabin a minute later. He wiped at a streak of blood on his face
from a cut at his hairline.

The dragon vanished as Marty Morgan appeared. He walked toward the gathering.
There might still be enemy agents among the trees. They weren’t going to stop what
was about to happen.

Morgan stood over the legless cyborg. He crossed his arms.

“Take me in, Morgan,” said Watson. “You can’t prove anything.”

“I don’t have to prove anything,” said Marty. “I’m not a cop.”

“What are you talking about?,” asked Watson. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Is Barry okay, Ren?,” Marty asked.

“Yes,” said Ren. “I checked his tank before I stepped out of the remains of that
cabin.”

“Cog,” said Marty. “I want you to put Barry into this body, and put this guy in Barry’s
tank. Can you do it?”

“Yes,” said Cog. “It should be simple enough to do if the containers have simple plug
ins.”

“Go ahead,” said Marty. “I have to get out there and look for the rest of the security
force. We don’t need any more problems than what we have.”
 

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revenge of the scouts 

1979-

26

Barry Nicklaus looked down at his metal hands. He flexed the fingers as he examined
them. The face still failed to emote what he felt inside. He stretched, and then did
some jumping jacks.

“What do you think?,” asked Marty. His arms was crossed. Ten years had come and
gone, and he was still boy who had wanted to be a hero and avenge the hurt and
wronged. Barry shrugged as best he could with the metal body.

“What do we do now?,” asked Corona. She snapped her fingers. A flame hovered
over her hand.

“That’s up to you,” said Marty. He looked at them. “Barry’s back. He can run the
Scouts again. Everything looks like we’ve settled things for Watson and his forces.”

“I’m not running the Scouts, Marty,” said Barry. The voice box needed to be adjusted.
He could do that when he had a tool set and some privacy. “I think you should do it.
You have a great set of people here. They can take over protecting the future.”

“What?,” said Marty. “I’m not a leader. I don’t think I can handle that.”

“Don’t be absurd, Marty,” said Barry. “They all followed you into action. You
pointed them at the problem and they solved it. I think you should at least consider
it. The five of you can do a lot of good if you wanted to stay together.”

“We are experts,” said Ren. “And we have the records to expose a network of
corruption across the globe. I think that is worth working on other mysteries that need
solutions.”

“I’m not a hero,” said Cog. “Things worked out so I could help, but I would rather be
at home in my tunnels.”

“I’m in,” said Corona. “It was a little scary there for a minute, but we pulled it off and
wrapped everything up in a bow. I didn’t see us doing that badly dealing with the
problem.”

“Will stay,” said Finch. She leaned on her staff.

“Camp has been empty for the last few years,” said Marty. “We’ll have to clean it out
and make it livable again.”

“That’s not much of a problem,” said Corona.

“Exercise,” said Finch.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Marty. “If you ladies will go with Barry, Ren and I will
take the evidence over to the ranger station. That’ll start the ball rolling on getting all
of these people arrested and tried. Then we’ll take Cog back home.”

“I’m all for that,” said Cog. “Please don’t mention me when you do turn these
criminals in. I want to go back to the simple job checking infrastructure and fixing
breaks and other things underground”.

“We will drive you home before we head back to Camp,” said Marty. “Thanks for
switching brains for Barry.”

“It was a simple job like I said,” said Cog. “I’m sure Watson doesn’t like his new
body, or the fact that he has no chance of getting out serving some jail time.”

“It’ll be fine.” Marty smiled. He felt like that was the first smile in a long time. “Let’s
get out of here. The rangers can sort everything out with the FBI over who wants this
case. We might even be on the news.”

“No,” said Finch. “You.”

“Only me on the news?” Marty indicated himself with both hands on his chest.

“Yes,” said Finch. She smiled a little.

“All right,” said Marty. “I’ll see what I can do. Shall we go?”

“What about the monkey?,” asked Corona. “We should try to pick it up before we
head out of here.”

“How are we going to do that?,” asked Ren. “It knows the dark, and doesn’t want us
staying here any more than we want to stay. He’s smart. He’ll probably have a hideout
that he knows much better than we do.”

“So we let him roam around until we can come back up here and take him down,”
said Marty. “As long as he stays in the park and doesn’t cause too many problems,
I’m willing to let him slide.”

“Anything else?,” asked Marty. He looked at the new Hazard Scouts. He felt giddy
inside. “Let’s break up and get things done. The faster we get who we do have into
custody, the better I’ll like it.”

“How are we getting to this camp?,” asked Corona.

“Barry will know where it is,” said Marty. “Just head north until you start seeing
signs to Pine Mountain. He’ll put you on the right path from there.”

“All right,” said Corona. “It looks like I’m driving.” She headed toward where one
of the trucks had been abandoned by ordinary security forces. Barry and Finch
followed at a slower pace.

“All right, Ren,” said Marty. “We need the Scout Van. We’ll load Watson and Cortez
and take them in. Then we can drop Cog off in Chicago. It should be okay.”

“What about the soldiers here in the woods?” Ren gestured at the trees around them.

“They’re someone else’s problems now that we have the prime troublemaker in our
grasp,” said Marty.  “All we have to do is get him to the rangers, give them the
location of the secret headquarters, and guard our two brains until someone in the
government can straighten things out.”

“That sounds too easy,” said Ren.

“It’s the best I can do,” said Marty. “We could give them to the rangers, but can the
rangers hold them?”

“I don’t know,” said Ren. “What do you think, Cog?”

“We should get rid of them while they are at our mercy,” said Cog. “That way there
is no future problem for us to solve.”

“I like that approach myself,” said Marty. “No one would miss either one of these
clowns.”

“We’re not doing that,” said Ren. “We’re going to hold ourselves to a higher
standard.”

“I guess that’s okay,” said Marty. He looked at Cog. The cyborg moved its many
tentacles in a way that might be construed as a shrug.

“Let’s turn these two in,” said Ren. “I can get my certificate and start my own agency
with their successful capture.”

“This is not getting me back to Chicago,” said Cog. “I have infrastructure I have to
protect.”

“I guess we can’t argue with that,” said Marty. He tried not to smile.

“Exactly,” said Cog.

“Let me bring back the Scout van,” said Ren. “We can get going.”

“That’s what I have been saying,” said Marty.

Ren pulled a bottle out of his bag. He uncorked it and placed it on the ground. The
Scout van expanded out of the bottle like a balloon being inflated. It bounced on its
tires.

Marty walked to the side door. He opened the van for Cog and Ren. Cog grabbed the
two reduced tanks and carried them into the van. He settled in the back. Ren stepped
in and sat in the shotgun seat.

“Trouble,” said Marty. “It looks like we sent the others ahead too soon.”

“Let’s get out of here,” said Ren. He checked the mirror on his side. “We got what we
wanted. There’s no point staying around if we don’t have to do that.”

A small group of vehicles drifted from the treeline. Weapons mounted on the back of
the trucks sparked. Bullets hit the van as Marty hit the gas. He ducked against the
onslaught even though there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“Where are these guys coming from?,” asked Marty. He tried to stay on the trail. He
watched the mirror while trying to keep an eye on the road.

“They must be the remains of Mercer’s troops.” Ren grimaced at his own mirror.
“They probably gathered together after what Corona did.”

“How fast can we run from them?,” asked Cog. “They will shoot us when they catch
up to us.”

“They got to catch us first,” said Marty. “That isn’t going to happen.”

The dashboard sparked. The engine died. The van slowly rolled to a stop.

“What just happened?,” asked Marty. “Everything is dead.”

“One of them has to have a magnetic gun,” said Cog. “He shut down the electrical
systems so they can catch up with us.”

“How do we fix that in the next minute before they catch up with us?,” asked Marty.

“I don’t think I can,” said Cog. He flowed to the side door. “Hit the engine hood
release. I’ll do what I can.”

Marty pulled the switch. He got out of the van and ran up front where the hood was.
He opened it with a thumb of the hook. He tried to ignore the bullets snapping around
him as he showed Cog where to work.

“There doesn’t look like anything I can do without spare parts,” said Cog. “Some of
this is burned up.”

“What can you do?,” asked Marty. The pursuit was halfway there. The longer it took
to get the van running, the easier it would be to shoot them.

“Give me a moment to think,” said Cog. His tentacles reached into the engine space.
He pulled some things out, put some things in. He seemed calm, but it was hard to
read a blank face with two lights for eyes.

“Try it now,” said Cog. “Let’s see if it will run until we can get more parts for it.”

Marty ran back to his seat. He reached in and turned the key. The engine coughed to
life.

Cog closed the hood and scrambled to get back in the van. Marty climbed into the
driver’s seat. He hit the gas. The vehicle crawled forward. He pressed the gas pedal
to the floor. Twenty miles an hour seemed to be the fastest he could go.

“We’re not getting away at this speed,” said Marty. “Any suggestions?”

“Abandon the van,” said Cog.

“Let me talk to it,” said Ren. “Maybe I can hypnotize it into doing what we want.”

“Better do it quick,” said Marty. “We’re running out of time.”

Ren started talking to the dashboard. Lights turned on as the van started shutting
down again. Suddenly the indicators went off. The old thing jumped ahead, rolling
as fast as a race car toward help and civilization.

“Oh, yeah,” said Marty. “This is great. What did you say?”

“I said it was better than anything on the road, and we would get it some gas and an
oil change as soon as we reach a town,” said Ren. “It’s resolved to help us, but if
something happens, that might be the end for it and us.”

“If they hit us with another of the magnetic gun pulses, that will damage the engine
beyond my limited ability to repair it,” said Cog from the back.

Marty glanced at the mirror. They had put some distance between them and the
pursuit. Smoke drifted from the back of the van. It couldn’t keep rolling at the speed
they were going. The engine would explode.

“We’re going to try stop those guys from following us,” said Marty. “We need to get
that breathing space so we can alert the authorities.”

“What do you plan to do?,” asked Ren.

“I’m going to set some of them on fire and stall them until we hit a road,” said Marty.
“Take the wheel for a moment.”

Ren reached across as Marty opened his door again. The Scout leaned out of his door.
He summoned his dragon again. The beast unfurled from his hand like a banner in a
high wind. It spread its wings and headed back the way they came.

Marty pulled himself back into his seat. He took the wheel after closing the door. Ren
settled back in his seat.

“Hopefully that will buy us time until we can get help from the authorities,” said
Marty.

An access road cut across their path. Marty turned the van east along the road. He
looked back in the mirror. A cloud of smoke was in the air. He hoped the dragon
didn’t set the forest on fire.

That was something else he didn’t need to have on his conscience.

“You’re dragon is coming back,” said Ren. “It looks wounded.”

“It did what we needed it to do,” said Marty. He rolled down his window. He held out
his hand. The dragon unraveled to fit back in the unknown spaces from where he
drew it.

Marty rolled up his window. He eyed the road ahead. If they hadn’t turned on
something random, it should lead them to an exit eventually. Then they could drop
this mess in the laps of the government.

“What would you do?,” said Marty. “It looks like we made a clean getaway. What
would you do to stop us?”

“I would try to get ahead of us somehow,” said Ren. “Then I would spring an ambush
and take Watson back.”

“How could they do that?,” asked Marty. “Didn’t we shoot down their only
helicopter?”

“We don’t know what kind of resources were invested in that base,” said Ren. “We
could be looking at twice as many men looking for us than we thought from what we
saw inside the place.”

“So we might have to run a gauntlet before we meet the rangers,” said Marty. “I’m
not looking forward to that.”

“The superhumans might join the fight,” said Ren. “We only wounded some of them.
They might try to get back in the game to deal with us.”

“The only one left is the monkey,” said Marty. “I don’t think he wants to take us on.
We pretty much have trained him to run from us.”

“We still don’t know what happened to the teleporter, or if the gadget guy is still able
to fight,” said Ren. “The girl should still be sleeping things off.”

“So we might only have Mercer’s crowd to worry about,” said Marty. “If we can stay
ahead of them, we might be able to stalemate Mercer. At least, we can avoid giving
his boss back.”

“We’ll still have to prove we have Cortez and Watson in the back of the van,” said
Ren. “Then we have to prove they did anything bad. That’s going to be a high bar to
clear if we are being chased across the country.”

“I have to agree,” said Marty. “We might be better off arranging a trade.”

“No,” said Ren. “Once they have Watson back, they’ll go back to trying to sabotage
their competition and kidnaping powers to add to their arsenal. The last thing we
should do is give him back.”

“So our options are to escape, and make this public,” said Marty. “Or get killed trying
to do that.”

“Essentially that’s what it is,” said Ren. “Letting Watson go back to his people would
allow him to escape and go back to his villainy. The government can’t seize all of his
properties.”

“We would be better off getting rid of him,” said Cog. “I like that. It’s simple and
easy to do.”

“We can’t kill him while he is a prisoner,” said Marty.

“Why,” asked Cog
“Because the good guys don’t kill just because it’s expedient,” said Marty. “It’s
upholding a standard.”

“Stupid standard,” said Cog.

“It looks like we are on the right track,” said Ren. “The sign ahead says the main
entrance is a few miles ahead.”

“I can’t put the hammer down any more than what I’m doing,” said Marty.

A horde of monkeys filled the road ahead of the van. Marty noted that rocket
launchers were being passed from paw to paw. He looked for a path around the mob.

“Get ready to bail,” said Marty. He got out of the seat, and ran to the side door.
“We’re not getting through that.”

The monkeys started shooting.
 

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

27

Ren had his hands on the dashboard. He said things under his breath. Sweat dropped
from his forehead as he talked to the van.

 

The rockets slid through the van. Smoke filled the cabin as they passed. Then they 
blew up the trees behind the fugitives.

 

“You hypnotized the van again?,” asked Marty. He returned to the wheel and yanked
it the other way to straighten up the van so they could get back on the road.

 

“It seemed like the thing to do at the time,” said Ren. He leaned back in his chair,
trying to calm his breathing.

 

“What just happened?,” asked Cog. He had pressed into the side wall of the van. His
headlights looked at the intact rear wall of the vehicle.

 

“I hypnotized the van into letting the rockets pass,” said Ren.

 

“You know that sounds impossible,” said Cog. “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see
it.”

 

“I don’t believe it now,” said Marty. “We need to get rid of that monkey.”

 

“How?,” said Ren. “He can multiply faster than we can deal with him.”

 

“If there was some way to keep him from doing that, he would be easy pickings,” said
Marty. “Too bad we don’t have a nullifier.”

 

“I have an idea,” said Cog. “It might get us out of this.”

 

“Do it,” said Marty. “We don’t have anything to lose at this point.”

 

Cog drifted out of the side door. He fell behind the van as it tried to elude the
multiplying monkeys. More weapons were being passed out as Troop tried to think
of something that would slow the machine down for his human allies to catch up and
finish the job.

 

“I hope he doesn’t run away,” said Marty. “That seems to be his preferred way of
dealing with things.”

 

“We can’t worry about that,” said Ren. “We are about to hit a bunch of apes who
want us to stop. I’m not sure the van will overcome his grasp on reality.”

 

“Do what you can,” said Marty. “If one of them gets inside, we’re done. One is as
much as a hundred in this case.”

 

“The problem is we’re dealing with a hive,” said Ren. “We can excise individuals but
the brain will keep spawning new individuals. We need to figure out the central core
if we want to stop this thing.”

 

“Except we don’t know which one that is,” said Marty. He hit a clump of monkeys.
They clung to the front of his van as he tried to shake them off. “This is trouble.”

 

“They’re going for the doors,” said Ren. He ducked away from a fist slamming
against his window.

 

Marty pressed a switch on his door panel. Locks clicked in place. He tried to peer
around the shapes blocking his view as he drove. If he hit a tree, that was the end of
the chase.

 

“I am out of ideas,” said Marty. “As soon as I roll down my window to use my
powers, they’ll be able to get inside with us.”

 

“Same with any weapons I have,” said Ren. “Punching a hole through the windshield
will allow him to put a duplicate inside. Then we have a population explosion.”

 

“There has to be something we can use to get out of this.” Marty ducked as the
monkey shot at the front windshield with a rifle. The plastic protection scarred from
the impacts.

 

“If he keeps that up, we don’t have long.” Marty stood in his seat. “I think we have
to think about abandoning ship.”

 

“What about Watson and Cortez?” Ren stood also.

 

“They’re on their own until we can come back for them,” said Marty. “When the van
wrecks, we’re going to have to move out and move fast.”

 

More rifles appeared in the many Troop’s hands. Bullets worked on the windshield.
Cracks appeared in the plastic.

 

“We need to buy some time for the others,” said Marty. He moved away from his seat.
The van drove itself as he went to the side door.

 

Ren joined him at the door. He glanced at the monkeys trying to get in. The
windshield looked like it might collapse at any moment.

 

“Get ready to jump,” said Marty. “Once we’re clear, we’ll have to think of some way
to take the monkey brain down and get away from whatever guards remain after all
the damage we have done.”

 

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” said Ren. He took a breath. “We better hurry before it’s
too late.”

 

Marty pushed the side door open. The step ladder almost touched the ground. One of
the Troops swung inside to confront the two humans. The Scout let a bull knock his
enemy back through the door.

 

“Let’s go,” said Marty. He dispersed the bull as he jumped from the van.

 

He rolled along the road as the vehicle kept going. He watched as the horde of Troop
registered that he was not within reach any more. They dropped one piece off and
then combined into that core persona.

 

Ren stood on the side of the road close to where Marty had stopped rolling. He
watched the approaching horde dividing to conquer them. There had to be something
they could do to stop them.

 

At least the others were getting away and had a chance to defend themselves from
more enemy actions.

 

“Too bad Finch isn’t here,” said Marty. He climbed to his feet to deal with the
problem surging toward them like a wave.

 

“I know,” said Ren. “She is an excellent fighter, better than both of us combined.”

 

“Tell me about it,” said Marty.

 

The van went off the road and crashed against a tree. It remained in place with the
engine running. The tanks holding Cortez and Watson rolled around inside before
coming to a stop beside the crew table.

 

A purple beam blasted out of the sky as Troop reached Marty and Ren. All of his
bodies combined back into one body. He looked down at his hands. He tried to split
apart again.

 

He made a noise when nothing happened.

 

“I think you have lost your powers for the moment,” said Ren. “I think you should
run.”

 

Troop went for his throat instead. He could break two normal men. He could rip their
arms off with little effort.

 

Ren stepped back. He pulled a piece of paper from his bag. He waited like a
bullfighter waiting for the bull.

 

“Are you sure you want to take him on?,” said Marty. He flipped through the
catalogue of animals he had stored in his brain. Some of them could take on the
enemy without breaking a sweat.

 

“I think I have everything in hand,” said Ren. He walked away from Marty so the
villain had to concentrate on just one of them at a time.

 

Troop roared and charged the detective. Once he was done with this one, he could
turn on his hands and feet and run the other one down. He reached out with his hands
to grab his quarry.

 

Ren dodged the attack. He jumped forward. He slapped the piece of paper against
Troop’s head as he passed. The paper burned away. The monkey fell over, arms still
outstretched.

 

“More hypnotism?,” asked Marty.

 

“Yes,” said Ren. “We should try to get the van on the road again. There’s no telling
when more of the soldiers will show up.”

 

“Let’s see if we can get it rolling,” said Marty. “That was really helpful, Cog.
Nullifying his power helped us out of the woods.”

 

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Cog. “Whatever they are. I took the beam from
a group of soldiers coming this way. They may want to keep up from getting back on
the road.”

 

“That’s not good,” said Marty. “Let’s look at the van and see if we have a way to get
it moving again.”

 

The group jogged over to where the van rested. The engine still hummed as it pushed
against the tree. The window was a giant spider web of lines sliced into the plastic.
The front of the van bent inward from the impact.

 

“Let me back it up,” said Marty. He climbed into the side door. He worked his way
to the front of the vehicle. He slid the seat back so he could sit down around the
wheel that had been shoved forward from the hit. They weren’t driving this thing out
of the park. He cut the ignition.

 

He climbed out of the seat and headed back to the door. He shook his heads at his
companions.

 

“Nonoperational?,” said Cog. He could work on it, but it would take time they didn’t
have to fix everything wrong with the van.

 

“Yeah,” said Marty. “We’re on foot, guys.”

 

“Let me store the van,” said Ren. “We can try to repair the damage when we are away
from here.”

 

He pulled out the bottle he had used earlier. He pointed it at the wrecked transport.
It fell inside the mouth of the bottle without a sound.

 

“What happens to Watson and Cortez while they are in the bottle?,” asked Marty.

 

“They’ll experience some lost time,” said Ren as he put the bottle away in his bag. “It
will be like they are frozen. When I take the van out of the bottle, they’ll thaw out.”

 

“Let’s get out of here before we run into any more trouble.” Marty summoned his
dragon. “We talk to the rangers and get a government response to this. Maybe we can
get things going before the rest of the security force run away.”

 

“If they retreat to their base, it will take months for the government to do anything to
get inside without powered help,” said Cog.

 

“I will be glad to help them out,” said Marty. He climbed on the back of his living
gunship. “It will tougher to break in, but I can do it now that I have seen the place.”

 

The dragon started to lift off in a cloud of leaves and dust. It grabbed Ren in one paw
to carry him away. It grabbed Cog in the other. It flapped its tiny wings and swam
into the air.

 

Men ran out of the forest. They leveled weapons and shot at the beast as it climbed
out of range. Finally someone called for a ceasefire. They had to make plans to get
away from the scene before anything else happened. They had hours to get things
done if they wanted to retain their individual freedom.

 

“There’s the Ranger office,” said Marty. He pointed at a cabin in the distance. “We’ll
set down there and see if we can get some help.”

 

“It will take hours for any response,” said Ren. “The staff will be able to evacuate.”

 

“If we don’t tell someone, we won’t be able to get the law involved,” said Marty. “You’ll have to keep Watson in your bag without due process for years while we keep
everything to ourselves.”

 

“I have no problem with that,” said Cog.

 

“That’s because you’re hiding in some underground labyrinth where villains have to
be powered to come after you,” said Marty.

 

“I have no problem with that,” said Cog.

 

Marty shrugged. He had spent the last ten years running. Who was he to tell someone
not to hide their strangeness from others? The difference was in the details as far as
he could see.

 

“You can work for me when this is settled,” said Ren. “I will be able to graduate, and
set up an agency. I’ll need support staff.”

 

“I don’t see where I would be good for that,” said Cog. “I am not one for chasing
down clues.”

 

“You can be my secretary and technology specialist,” said Ren. “Every detective
needs a scientist to figure out clues outside his knowledge.”

 

“I don’t think I can do that,” said Cog. “That requires constant visitation to my home.
I don’t think you would do that.”

 

“That’s why phones are useful,” said Ren.

 

Cog didn’t see how that would change things in the long run, but fell silent.

 

The dragon landed with a huff of wings and an explosion of gravel from the lot in
front of the Ranger office. It had been done up like a log cabin with the sign and
symbol of the park service on the wall next to the glass front door. People stood at the
window to watch the beast curl up to let its passengers off.

 

“Let’s see what we can get done,” said Marty. “If we can’t get any help, we’ll have
to try somewhere else.”

 

“I doubt things will go like we want them,” said Cog.

 

“We have to do what we can,” said Marty.

 

“Even if it’s not productive?,” said Cog.

 

“Especially when it’s not productive,” said Marty.

 

“I don’t like that at all,” said Cog.

 

A couple of park rangers walked out of the station. They were built to a type, lean
cowboys in green uniforms, tan hats. One was a bit more beaten by the weather with
sad dark eyes in his craggy face. The younger one looked like he had been given his
badge the day before.

 

“How’s it going, guys?,” asked Marty. “I need some help.”

 

“What kind of help?,” asked the senior member. His hand was close to the pistol
on his belt.

 

“We’ve been kidnaped and escaped our captors,” said Marty. “Their camp was here
in the park. There’s a mess of them so I think you guys might want to call for
some kind of backup before you try to arrest them.”

 

“That sounds like a load of bull,” said the ranger. “Got any kind of proof?”

 

“I can show you where we escaped from if that’s what you want,” said Marty. “They
might be destroying the evidence while we’re talking.”

 

“I can ride up there and take a look see,” said the ranger. “How many guys are we
talking about here?”

 

“A few dozen,” said Marty. “We didn’t get a complete count of how many were in the
building when we broke out. They’ve got injured to think about unless they left them
behind.”

 

“Let me get the truck,” said the ranger. “Call this in, MacBride. If it’s real, we’ll need
support from the other districts, the Indian Police, the local sheriffs, and maybe the
FBI.”

 

“We’re going to believe this loon?,” said MacBride. He gestured at Marty.

 

“It’s been a long time, but I still owe the Hazard Scouts,” said the older ranger. “Call
it in, starting with our stations. We don’t want our guys involved in a shooting war
if these bad guys are breaking out.”

 

“Got it,” said MacBride. He walked into the station to start his phone calls.

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

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Marty Morgan rode with the ranger up into the forest. He pointed out the path for the
other man to drive up to where they had engaged with Watson Security.

 

“The road is for a firebreak,” said the ranger. “Let’s pull off and walk down to make
sure we don’t run into trouble.”

 

“This is close to where we left the monkey,” said Marty. “I don’t see him laying
around.”

 

“They might have took it with them,” said the ranger. He parked his truck just off the
trail. “Let’s have a look around.”

 

The ranger got out of the truck and pulled a rifle off a rack mounted in front of the
back window. He looked around, sniffing the air.

 

“I can see signs of a big fight,” said the ranger. “Bullet holes are in the trees that I can
see.”

 

“We wrecked the Scout van over there,” said Marty. He pointed at the slightly bent
tree.

 

“All right,” said the ranger. “Let’s walk along here and follow the trail. Maybe we’ll
find some of their wounded to talk to about all this.”

 

“Hopefully they didn’t leave them out here for the bears,” said Marty.

 

“We’ll see,” said the ranger. He led the way down the trail, sticking to the side of the
road. The trees should give him some cover as they trekked down the road.

 

“When did you meet the Scouts?,” asked Marty. He trailed behind the ranger. He sent
a squirrel ahead to give them some head’s up before they walked into a war party.

 

“About fifteen years ago,” said the ranger. “We had some kind of problem here in the
park. The local animals were attacking people in droves. Campers were getting killed
or driven out of the park. Never seen anything like it.

 

“One day, these weird people show up. One of them said they were the Hazard Scouts
and they wanted to look into the problem. The service wasn’t getting anywhere.
Charlie Connelly, the ranger in charge of the district, told them to go ahead.

 

“They found some nut with a ray gun to stir up the animals. We busted in there, and
I got in trouble with a bear. Positive Man saved my life that day. I heard they picked
up some kid after that. Then they were wiped out, except for the kid.”

 

“These guys wiped out the Scouts,” said Marty. “They got away with it too.”

 

The ranger nodded at that as he kept walking.

 

After an hour, the ranger held up his hand. He turned his head to take in the scene. He
sniffed the air. He started forward slowly.

 

When they reached a clearing, he pointed at the sky. Smoke drifted upwards. He
shook his head.

 

“Looks like they’re burning the evidence,” said the ranger.

 

“We’re too late to catch them,” said Marty.

 

“Let’s see what they left behind,” said the ranger. “We could catch some of them
before they leave the building.”

 

“Let’s see if I can whistle up a ride,” said Marty. “At least I can get us there to watch
them leave. There’s no way we can arrest them all without help.”

 

Marty called up a horse to carry them toward the smoke. He mounted and then pulled
the ranger up behind him. He urged the horse into a trot. He kept it going toward the
column of smoke in the distance.

 

They topped a ridge. Below them, the smoke drifted upwards from a hole in the
ground. The ranger whistled as he slid off the horse.

 

“There was an underground bunker,” said Marty. “It was huge.”

 

“Looks like it’s a cavern now,” said the ranger.

 

“What do you want to do?,” asked Marty. He dismounted and let the horse go back
to where he stored it.

 

“We need to go down and see if there are any survivors around the edge of that
mess,” said the ranger. “Then we’re going to have call some firefighters out here to
put that out.”

 

Marty looked around. He didn’t see anything moving. He didn’t have an animal
capable of putting out a fire in his arsenal.

 

He called up a hawk. He sent it to circle around the cave. It would point out if
anything was moving for them. He waited for the bird to alight, but it simply circled
and returned to him to be dismissed.

 

“No one was moving down there,” said Marty. “It looks safe.”

 

“Let’s call in the calvary,” said the ranger. “The rest of this is going to take a week
to clean up.”

 

“All right,” said Marty. “How do we do that?”

 

“I got a radio,” said the ranger. “MacBride can get things moving from his end.”

 

“So that’s all?,” said Marty. “I would have loved to have busted the rest of those
guys.”

 

“The FBI will want to talk to you guys soon enough,” said the ranger. “Your
testimony will put people on the most wanted list.”

 

“I will certainly want to talk to them,” said Marty.

 

The ranger spoke into his radio. He gave a series of directions. The other personnel
would know where he was as soon as MacBride told them two of the landmarks.

 

“Reinforcements are on the way,” said the ranger. “There’s not much more we can do
about that mess. We’ll need a water drop to smooth some of that out so we can go in
and see if there’s anyone stuck inside.”

 

“So we wait,” said Marty.

 

“That’s all we can do right now,” said the ranger. “There’s no point in going in there
to look around.”

 

“I totally got that,” said Marty. He wanted to go in and look around. He wanted to
make sure that some of the forces were out of the picture.

 

A helicopter floated overhead. A bucket dangled under the flying machine. The
bottom of the bucket opened. A stream of water dropped down on the crater.

 

“That’s great,” said Marty. “How many more buckets do you think they’ll need?”

 

“I don’t know,” said the ranger. “They might have two of them rotating through by
now.”

 

Trucks full of men came to a stop behind the pair of watchers. They climbed out and
began putting on gear to fight a fire. Cog and Ren dropped out of the last truck.

 

“Looks like my partners are here,” said Marty. “This is the end of our partnership.”

 

“Too bad,” said the ranger. “You guys have done a number on these guys.”

 

“We had help,” said Marty. “It looks like the ladies made it out okay. I’ll have to let
them know they are witnesses now if they want to testify about what went down.”

 

“What about you, kid?,” said the ranger. “You staying a hero after this?”

 

“I don’t know,” said Marty. “We got the guy behind all this locked down. All we have
to do is hand him over to the proper authorities and see if the system will put him
away.”

 

“Hopefully there will be enough left in the crater to help with that, but we won’t
know until we get this fire under control,” said the ranger.

 

“We don’t have anybody who can help with this on our side,” said Marty.

 

“It’ll be another few hours but we’ll get this under control and go in,” said the ranger.

 

“Maybe we can send in Cog,” said Marty. “He’s maybe fireproof.”

 

“That’s two maybes,” said the ranger. He smiled. “We can send him in and see what
he can do about fighting the fire while he’s down there.”

 

“I’ll ask him and see what he thinks,” said Marty. “He might prefer that to fighting
soldiers and powered humans.”

 

“We don’t have any water to roll down in there without the helicopter,” said the
ranger.

 

Another helicopter arrived. It dumped a ton of water in the crater before moving out.
That damped down the smoke so the hole in the ground was clearer. The top of the
elevator shaft and steps drifted into view.

 

“Let me talk to Cog,” said Marty. “Maybe he can help get things done.”

 

“Go ahead,” said the ranger. “I’ll see if we can rig up some kind of hose to take down

into that hole.”

 

Marty walked over to where Cog and Ren watched people going about their business.

 

Ren nodded as the Scout approached.

 

“I need you to go in and look around, Cog,” said Marty. “Can you do that?”

 

“Why?,” said Cog.

 

“We need you to check to see if there are any survivors,” said Marty. “Maybe put out
some of the fire so we can find any more evidence to make our case in court.”

 

“All right,” said Cog. “It sounds counterproductive.”

 

“Every little bit helps,” said Marty. “We can’t hold Watson forever.”

 

“Technically we can,” said Ren. “I just don’t think it would be in the interest of
justice.”

 

“I’ll go in and look around,” said Cog. “It should be easy enough to do.”

 

The alien cyborg glided over to the edge of the crater. He descended into the smoke.

 

The last thing they saw was a headlight snapping on to show him the way.

 

“Do you think he will find anything?,” said Ren.

 

“I don’t know,” said Marty. “It never hurts to try.”

 

The first helicopter arrived as they watched the crater. It dumped water in the hole.
It circled to get more fire fighting ammunition.

 

Cog returned minutes later. He glided over to the group, floating quietly to a stop.

 

“They left their wounded at the bottom of the place,” said Cog. “Then they blew them
up.”

 

“It wasn’t like they could carry them out of here in the time we gave them,” said
Marty.

 

“What do we do now?,” asked Cog. “I would like to get back to Chicago before it
falls in the lake.”

 

“The Bureau will want to talk to you about all this,” said Marty.

 

“They can visit me in my home,” said Cog.

 

“I’m sure they’ll love that,” said Marty.

 

“Let’s let the professionals do their job,” said Ren. “There’s not much more that we
can do here.”

 

“All right,” said Marty. “We can wait for someone to talk to us there. I feel useless
here.”

 

“I agree,” said Ren.

 

“I’m concur with both of you,” said Cog. “Maybe we can arrange for transportation
from there.”

 

“Maybe,” said Marty. “We’ll at least be able to grab something to eat.”

 

The three started away from the mess.

//131270

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Revenge of the Scouts

1979-

29

It took almost a month to get things straightened out. Marty talked to so many
officials he couldn’t keep track of them all. Ren’s presentation of the evidence they
had gathered was repeated at least a dozen times.

 

In the end, Watson’s and Cortez’s tanks were handed over. They would stand trial,
and if found guilty would be sentenced for the various crimes they had committed.
Watson had a good defense team, so chances were good he would elude justice.

 

Mercer was not among the bodies found at the bottom of the crater. Experts went over
the scene after the fire was put out. Apparently the people killed in the blast had
suffered injuries so bad they couldn’t be moved without an effort.

 

The reports didn’t remark on a woman being found, so Marty and Ren felt that at least
one of the powers had been moved out of the blast zone.

 

Mercer’s ring didn’t stop pointing at his position. Marty felt he would have to wait
until things settled down. Then he would take the ring and find the captain.

 

The five met at the Camp when the law was done. Barry had sat through several
examinations to show he was the real Mr. Robot after being held prisoner for ten
years. He gathered the others in his workshop to talk about what they wanted to do.

 

“Thanks for coming, ladies and gentlemen,” Barry said. He had programmed his
voice box to sound more like his normal voice. It was still off, but close enough for
business.

 

“How’s things going for you?,” said Corona. She had brought beer for the celebratory
dinner expected to be thrown that night.

 

“This new body is taking a little getting used to still,” said Barry. “It’s smoother than
my old parts, but it’s a full on prosthetic instead of just a replacement for missing
parts. Thanks for the rescue. I’m glad to be away from Cortez and Watson’s technical
staff.”

 

“I don’t understand why I am here,” said Cog. “I don’t eat.”

 

“I called you here to offer you all jobs,” said Barry. “I don’t know your individual
circumstances, but I felt that it was the least I could do.”

 

“What kind of job, Barry?,” asked Corona.

 

“I started the Scouts to help people, and to give people like me a purpose,” said Barry.
“The original Scouts had things they could do, but needed some way to express
themselves. Left on their own, they would have stayed in their personal mire and
basically dug in and hid away from the world. I felt that we could do more despite our
personal problems.

 

“And we did for a long time before Watson took us apart.

 

“Being trapped for ten years has not changed that purpose. I want to rebuild the
Scouts into a force for good in the world. I want to get out there and explore again.
There will always be problems that need to be solved, and I want to be out there
solving them.

 

“The problem is the things I specialized in have moved on without me. I need time
to get back up to speed. I need help to renovate this place so the equipment is modern
and able to keep up with today’s challenges. I need people not afraid to fight for the
future.

 

“I need people like you to help me rebuild and get back out there,” said Barry. “I
think that each of you needs the same kind of help in one way, or the other.”

 

“I think I need to go back to Chicago,” said Cog. His metallic tentacles waved slightly
as he floated on the air. “I’m not a hero.”

 

“I’ll need help bringing things up to speed,” said Barry. “Marty says you’re an
excellent engineer.”

 

“And he was the key to breaking us out of our cells,” said Marty. “We couldn’t have
turned things around without you, Cog. And you stopped Troop at great personal risk
to yourself.”

 

“Those were things that had to be done,” said Cog. “Being a hero isn’t something that
appeals to me. I could perhaps help upgrade things here to the limit of human science,
but I see that as a finite task. Eventually I would like to return to Chicago.”

 

“I’m in,” said Corona. “Down the road, I can see a rematch with Watson’s goons.
Having friends willing to help out with that is a good plus for me. And we’re getting
paid to help people. That’s just frosting on the cake.”

 

“Tasked with Seattle,” said Finch. “Cannot be excused to fight other people’s
battles.”

 

“Would you work with us in your spare time?,” asked Barry.

 

“Yes,” said Finch. “Good people.”

 

“What about you, Ren?,” asked Barry.

 

“I have completed my apprenticeship and am ready to go out on my own,” said Ren.
“I am willing to lend a hand with any endeavor that the new Hazard Scouts take on.
I have actually decided to set up in San Francisco so I will always be close by in case
of trouble.”

 

“Let me get the paperwork,” said Barry. “Then I’ll get your keys so you can come and
go to the Camp.”

 

He strode out of the room on his metal legs.

 

“What are you going to do, Marty?,” asked Corona. “You going in with this?”

 

“The Scouts were my family,” said Marty. “Barry still is. I’m going to be hanging
around here until one of us dies. And dealing with the things the Scouts dealt with has
to be done. I still tried to do that when I was on the run. I don’t know how much good
I actually did.”

 

“So I can relocate here from Detroit?,” asked Corona. “This is a big place for five
people.”

 

“Sure,” said Marty. “I’ll show you the rooms. Barry and I packed up everything while
dealing with the government and the Foundation.”

 

He led the group to the old quarters. He had swept everything, changed sheets, and
wiped the dust out of the shelving. Old televisions still sat in their nooks. Closets and 
bathrooms had been emptied so the new occupants could move their own things in.

 

“Those are some old TVs,” said Corona. “Black and white?”

 

“It’s been ten years,” said Marty. “Getting new televisions would be on the list
for renovations when we start doing that. Those will be gone with the old computer
systems from what Barry said.”

 

“How do you get them to work through the ground?,” asked Cog.

 

“Antenna,” said Marty. “The wires run through the wall and pointed out at the top of
the Camp. Same thing with our radio, and phones.”

 

“Excellent,” said Corona.

 

“I think this will be good for a separate sanctum,” said Ren. “If I have to retreat from
trouble, I can come here and think about the next step in whatever mystery I am
trying to solve.”

 

“You know we’re going to help you with your problems,” said Marty. “That’s what
being part of a group means.”

 

“Thank you,” said Ren. “Having help while working a case will be useful.”

 

“If we can get our ties to the law enforcement community back, that will help with
background stuff you might need,” said Marty. “Let’s see if Barry has that paperwork
ready. Then we can see about dinner, and transportation to get you folks back home.”

 

“I plan to move in,” said Corona. “Detroit needs me, but there’s no way I can fly out
here under my own power in time to be useful.”

 

“All right,” said Marty. “I’ll go with you to get your belongings and help you bring
them back here.”

 

“Sounds like a good deal,” said Corona. “We can rent a truck and drive it back here.
Shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

 

“Need transportation from Seattle,” said Finch. “No car.”

 

“Can you drive?,” asked Marty. “I’m sure Barry will get you something you can ride.”

 

She shook her head. 

 

“We’ll have to pick you up for cases,” said Marty. “You can stay here until we can
arrange a flight back to Seattle when we’ve stopped your problem.”

 

“I have the same problem if I stay in Chicago,” said Cog. “It’s a long flight with the
baggage in the cargo hold.”

 

“We’ll arrange to pick you up,” said Marty. “Maybe we can arrange a meeting place

close to an exit from the underground.”

 

“Sounds good,” said Cog. “I have an internal radio that can look for frequencies while
I am doing my work. That should make it easier for you to call me.”

 

“Sounds good,” said Marty. He led them back to the work shop. Barry had five small
stacks of papers on his work table.

 

“If you guys want to read and sign these, I will start cooking,” said Barry. “I know
a thing or two about a spatula.”

 

“What are you cooking?,” said Corona. She picked up her pile of papers and flipped
through them.

 

“I thought we would have some beans, some hot dogs, maybe some french fries,” said
Barry. “If you guys want to help out, that will be good. I don’t know what kind
dietary needs you have. I should have asked first.”

 

“I’ll eat anything,” said Corona. She signed the papers with a borrowed pen and put
them back on the desk. “Let’s see this kitchen of yours.”

 

“Can’t read,” said Finch. She held the papers in her hand. “Can you read the words
for me?”

 

“Yeah,” said Marty. “Would you like to eat first?”

 

“Yes,” said Finch.

 

Cog signed his paperwork with a stylus built into a tentacle. The letters were more
like symbols comparable to Oriental kana than the Roman alphabet. He put the papers
down on the desk.

 

Ren went over the paperwork slowly. He used his finger to mark his place as he read.
He finally nodded. He smiled.

 

“This seems fine, Marty,” he said. He signed the lines with a pen from his jacket
pocket. He put his papers down. “The funds will help pay for my independent office
hopefully.”

 

“If there is a problem, we’ll sort it out,” said Marty. “Let’s see what we can do
about food before Barry burns it. He’s not nearly as good a cook as he thinks
he is.”

 

“How can he cook in that body?,” Ren asked. “Shouldn’t that affect things?”

 

“The only thing he can’t do is taste things,” said Marty. “Even when he had most of
his normal body, he wasn’t that much of a cook.”

 

“I think you’re exaggerating,” said Cog. “No one is that bad except in bad movies.”

 

“You’ll see,” said Marty. He led them from the work shop to the kitchen part of
the Camp.

 

Barry had on an apron with EAT HERE emblazoned on it as he placed ingredients in
a frying pan on the stove.

 

Corona had another beer, and made suggestions about what should be going in the
pan. She laughed slightly as he puttered around.

 

“Have you got that, Barry?,” asked Marty. He pulled a bottle of Pepsi out of the
refrigerator.

 

“I might be out of practice, but I think I can cook some ingredients,” said Barry. “It’s
no different than chemistry.”

 

“You guys want anything to drink?,” Marty asked his guests. “We have soda, tea,
water, and beer.”

 

“Tea would be good,” said Ren. “What kind is it?”

 

“Lipton,” said Marty. He extracted a jug from the refrigerator and put it on a counter.
He pulled a glass out of a cupboard. He poured the tea out and handed it over.

 

“Same please,” said Finch.

 

Marty poured her a glass of tea. He put the jug up when he was done.

 

“What about you, Cog?” Marty asked.

 

“I don’t eat or drink any more,” said the flying squid. “I’m like Barry. I’m a brain in
a jar.”

 

“That’s rough,” said Corona. “That’s more for the rest of us.”

 

“She’s right, Cog,” said Ren. “It will increase our shares.”

 

“How do you stay alive in that thing?,” asked Marty.

 

“My container circulates everything I need,” said Cog. “I miss being able to eat real
food, but this was the best I could do after my landing.”

 

“Do you want to talk about that?,” asked Barry.

 

“No,” said Cog. “It would be a bit too much.”

 

“I understand completely,” said Barry.

//133325

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  • 4 weeks later...

Button Pushing

2015-

1

Tanner Lerner stood on the corner where his street and Cobb Street crossed. He had
homework to do, but he wanted to shirk for the next few hours. His button power
allowed him to finish homework faster than normal so he didn’t feel the need to rush
home.

 

In the five years since he had gotten the tattoo on his arm, he had mastered a number
of powers it conferred on him. He wasn’t the Mark, but he was good enough in his
small town.

 

Tanner decided that he could head down Cobb to the bookstore. He could kill a
couple of hours there.

 

He hefted his book bag to adjust it on his back. Maybe he should drop his bag off
first.

 

He pressed three buttons on his arm with his other hand’s index finger. A map of
space/time opened itself in his mind. He walked forward two steps, and slid to his
backyard. He caught his balance before he hit the ground.

 

He had taken a lot of faceplants before he mastered that power.

 

Tanner looked around. He found a door to his room. He opened it and slid his bag
into his room. He winced when it hit the side of his bed. He closed the door.

He checked the timer on his forearm. He nodded. He had time to get to the book store
if he could find jump points that led to it.

 

Tanner picked a line that he felt would get him to the store in a couple of minutes. He
had to cut halfway around the world and back again to where he could slide to a stop
a few yards down from the brick building.

 

The skill was great, but you could rarely get directly from one place to another. He
lived with it since it still allowed him to go anywhere he wanted with a careful
finagling of places.

 

He checked the timer, smiling as the power timed out as he walked up to the book
store. He didn’t want an accidental cross country trip now that he was where he
wanted to be.

 

Wasso Harm owned the Reader Here second hand bookstore. He had installed it in
a brick storefront at the end of a small strip mall. A clothing store, a pawn shop, and
a computer place shared the brick building and parking lot.

 

Tanner walked inside the place, nodding at the shelves of books in front of him. He
loved spending time browsing the shelves when he didn’t have anything else to do.
His favorite books were on astronomy and the race to space.

 

He loved the dream of going into space, and always had. His power had come from
there while he was stargazing. He hoped one day to get out there and look around on
his own. Until then, reading about it was a poor second.

 

Tanner ran his fingers over the spines of the books, looking for something he had not
read yet. He had read most of the ones dealing with the solar system. Maybe one of
the picture books of other star systems would hit the spot right now.

 

The Mark had gone into space at points in his career. Maybe he would answer some
questions if Tanner could figure out a way to call him.

 

He wondered about others he might be able to ask for their experience in space travel.

 

He doubted the Mark was the only one who had left the gravity well over the years.

 

Maybe the Hazard Scouts knew someone. They were out west somewhere and they
maintained some kind of message board so they could be called.

 

He smiled at himself. New York and California were too far away while he was still
in school. He could slide to either one, but he doubted that the Mark, or the Scouts
would give him the time of the day.

 

Being a small time hero didn’t give you the reputation to impress the big guns. They
would look at him and be polite, but brush him off as soon as they could. he wouldn’t
blame them for that.

 

He found two books next to each other about the edge of the galaxy. They had two
different author names on the spine. He picked the first book up and flipped through
it. He put it back and did the same with the other one. He paused. The language
seemed the same.

 

He picked up the first book and looked at the index. He picked a subject and opened
the page to that subject. He did the same for the other book, looking for the same
subject. The difference in words were minuscule at best.

 

He looked at the titles. They were supposedly different books by different authors.
What was going on?

 

“Hey, Wasso,” called Tanner. He took the books up to the counter. “What’s going on
with these two books?”

 

“What you mean?,” asked Wasso. His body had settled in a pear shape with arms and
legs. He hid his face behind a beard with glasses peeking out from under a mane of
graying hair.

 

“They’re almost exactly the same except they have different writers,” said Tanner. He
put the books on the desk for the shop owner to look at for himself. “Plagiarism?”

 

Wasso flipped to the front of the books. He checked the front pages. He grimaced.

 

“It’s a new edition,” said Wasso. “This book was printed earlier. The other one was
issued a few years later. I suppose they added some new information prove what they
thought in the first book. Scientists do that all the time.”

 

“They just add on to a previous book?,” asked Tanner. “Why don’t they write a whole
new book with the new information?”

 

“Probably what they wanted to add was just confirmation on what they thought was
a new set earlier,” said Wasso. “That’s not enough to write a new book. They just edit
in the new stuff inside the old stuff where it’s needed.”

 

“Okay,” said Tanner. “Let me put the old book back on the shelf. I’ll take the new
one.”

 

“Still wanting to go into space?,” asked Wasso. He handed the older book over.

 

“Or at least be able to watch it for a living,” said Tanner. He took the book back to
the space section and placed it on the shelf. He walked back up to the front. “There
is just something about the stars and planets that I like.”

 

Tanner had thought about trying to qualify for astronaut training. He figured his
tattoo would be found. They would want to take him apart before they thought about
sending him up in a rocket.

 

He was better off finding his own way up there with his powers than relying on the
good graces of the government.

 

He supposed he could be wrong, but he didn’t want to take the chance.

 

“It’s eight dollars and ninety five cents,” said Wasso. He put the book in a bag for his
customer. “They have a star watcher club at the university. You should look into it.”

 

“Thanks, Wasso,” said Tanner. He handed over the money in mostly change before
taking the bag. “It’ll be great to do something like that.”

 

“You’ll have to do some asking around,” said the book seller. “I don’t think they
advertise for it.”

 

“If they have an astronomy department, that’s probably who’s sponsoring it,” said
Tanner. “I’ll go over and ask about it. How did you here about it?”

 

“One of the people at the taco stand was talking about it,” said Wasso. “They were
having a meeting over the weekend.”

 

“That’s in a few days,” said Tanner. “I can do that.”

 

“Good luck,” said Wasso. He waved at his customer as the boy left.

 

Tanner stepped out of the store. He looked around. He should head home to read his
new acquisition. He decided get something to eat first. His parents weren’t going to
be home any time soon. He checked his money. He had enough for a couple of tacos.

He walked over to the taco stand next to the strip mall. He smiled as he walked to the
window. A couple of tacos would tide him over to dinner.

 

“Hey, Lolly,” said Tanner. “Could I get a couple of tacos?”

 

“A dollar sixty, Tanner,” said Lolly. She was a big woman with dark hair in a
scrunchie, and dark eyes. She worked a grill built into the wall of the van. She filled
up two shells with cooked meat and cheese. She wrapped them in paper and
exchanged them for the money.

 

“Thanks, Lolly,” said Tanner. He hugged his prize to his chest. “I’ll see you around.”

 

“Be careful out there,” said Lolly.

 

Tanner waved the hand with the book bag in it. He unwrapped one taco and wolfed
it down as he walked away from the strip mall. He wolfed the other one down as he
reached the end of the street.

 

He should have gotten a burrito instead of tacos.

 

Tanner hit the keys for the slide. He needed to get home before his parents asked him
some embarrassing questions about how he got across town.

 

He had hidden the keyboard from them when he had first received the tattoo. He
couldn’t hide the loss of his telescope. His explanation was necessarily vague about
what had happened other than it had been smashed while he was sky watching. He
had shown them the remains of the hill to prove the truth of his words.

 

His cousin and neighbor, Darla, had also been present. She had gotten a tattoo also.
It wasn’t a keyboard. She had been fitted with an eye in the middle of her forehead
and two buttons at her temples. She covered it up with a headband most days.

 

Her parents had split up shortly after the explosive meteor that had been the
empowering event for them both. She resented it, but it was for the best in his
opinion. Her parents fought like cats and dogs. One of them moving out was better
than everyone around them being miserable.

 

Darla knew that it was a good move for them, but she refused to admit it.

 

Tanner slid to a stop outside his house. He checked the driveway. Neither of his
parents were home. He had time to read part of his book before he had to dig in and
do his homework. Otherwise, he would spend most of his night being checked on
about how fast it was taking him to get things done.

 

They expected him to get straight As even in things he didn’t care about.

 

He admitted to himself that oversight was keeping him on track to getting into a
school where he could study the stars all he wanted. It chafed that they were hounding
him about his subjects.

 

He knew they were trying to look out for him but they wanted him to be a lawyer, or
a doctor. He had no intention of doing either of those two things. He could make
more money fixing cars with his keyboard than either of those two professions, and
he didn’t want to argue the merits of something, or deal with any kind of surgery
where he had to stare at someone’s insides.

 

He had his own path to walk, and the keyboard was a responsibility that he had to
deal with until it left him. It wouldn’t alleviate his parents worry if he told them that
he could reach orbit any time, but his power would vanish before he could go
anywhere with it.

 

What was the point of flying so high when you knew you would pass out and die
before you could activate your power to fly down to safety? Reaching another planet
was right out.

 

Being able to fly was one of the great things about the keyboard. It gave him options
to allow him to get things done.

 

Fixing things with it was just as good as anything else, and probably better than using
it as a bus to get across town to buy tacos.

 

And he didn’t have to study to fix things. The power was an automatic scan and
rearrange things to fit. He supposed that if the customer took their things to another
mechanic he would be hard pressed to figure out how the thing had been done.

 

Tanner let himself into the house and stopped at the kitchen. He put together some
sandwiches and a glass of tea. He took his book out of the bag and read while he ate.

His mother came in while he was still eating. He heard the jangle of keys and the
whisking of cloth.

 

“Tanner?,” she called out.

 

“I’m in the kitchen, Mom,” Tanner called back. He made sure his sleeves were down,
the one covering the keyboard. “How was work?”

 

“It was okay,” said Mrs. Lerner. “I’m still having problems with Mr. Cruise’s
assistant, but that’s nothing new. No one likes her.”

 

“Mr. Cruise must like her,” pointed out Tanner. “She runs the office for him.”

 

“She runs his side of the office,” corrected Mrs. Tanner. “She doesn’t run everything
yet.”

 

“I can see that,” said Tanner. “Anything you want to talk about?”

 

“Have you done your homework yet?,” Mrs. Lerner asked. She had spotted the space
book and experience told her that her son had decided to read something other than
his assigned reading.

 

“Not yet,” said Tanner.

 

“Go ahead,” said Mrs. Lerner. “The faster you get it done, the faster you can go back
to your reading.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” said Tanner. He folded the corner of his page down before he closed
the book. Another glass of tea accompanied him to his room where he pulled out his
books and assignment sheets. He put his space book on the bed so he wouldn’t be
tempted to keep reading when he was supposed to be going over the required reading
for tomorrow’s classes.

 

He sorted everything into what he had to do, didn’t want to do, and didn’t have to do.
He put the didn’t have to do things back in his book bag. He quickly worked through
everything he wanted to do. That left the final pile on his desk.

 

Tanner went through his last pile a lot slower than he liked. He knew it was because
he wasn’t interested in the subject matter. He was glad to put away the last book when
he was done.

 

Now he could finish reading his book on space. He should have time before any
family dinner could be cooked.

 

He turned the last page when he heard his father coming through the front door. He
put the book on the shelf. He needed time to reflect on the contents. He realized that
he had forgotten most of his school work.

 

At least he had notes to go over before school the next day.

//135623

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Button Pushing

2015-

2

Tanner got up the next morning. He got ready for school, then went over his notes.
He hadn’t forgotten near as much as he had thought. He should be okay during the
reviews and leadup to testing.

 

He needed to put another night into studying the chapters before he went in to take
the tests. The review that was supposed to happen would help him focus on what to
expect from his teacher.

 

He wondered how many trick questions were going to be on this test. His teacher
seemed to love them for some reason.

 

He figured he would pass anything his teacher threw at him. His grades were higher
than average as far as he could tell from what the rest of the class said. And if he
passed, he never had to think about history again.

 

Tanner decided that he could slide to school instead of riding the bus. It was quicker,
and he could study in the cafeteria until the first bell. It also meant avoiding Darla
for the first part of the day.

 

That would make things tolerable as Tanner waited for the sun to come up.

He activated his keyboard with the opposite index finger as he walked out of the
house. The slide put up its map. He didn’t see a direct line to the school, but there was
a path through Egypt, then South Africa, that should drop him a block away from it.

He ran through the first portal, through a market of people wandering around, then
through part of a desert, then across a lot surrounded by skyscrapers. He stepped
through a door in the shadow of a statue he didn’t care about and slid down the
sidewalk toward the school.

 

A man in a tan coat puffed on a cigar as he watched the school. His eyebrows
seemingly arched in surprise at everything he saw. He knocked some ash off the cigar
as he stood in the middle of the sidewalk.

 

“Excuse me,” said Tanner. He walked around the human obstacle.

 

“No problem, Tanner,” said the man in the coat. He puffed on his cigar as he returned
to his vigil.

 

“I don’t think I know you,” said Tanner.

 

“I’m a nobody,” said the man in the coat. “There’s no reason for you to know me.”

 

“But you know me,” said Tanner. He hitched his bag backward on his shoulder so he
could reach his tattoo easier. One wrong move, and someone was getting punched in
the face with a gold fist.

 

“I know lots of people, Tanner,” said the man in the coat. “Take that guy over there.”

 

He pointed at a kid heading towards Tanner’s school. The kid looked down at the
sidewalk under him, and not ahead. He wore a jacket against the morning cold,
khakis, and red Nikes.

 

“That’s Roland Givens,” said the man in the coat. “He’s special to some people
because he might have a tenth of a percent of a talent they need. If he does, he will
be great for them to use. If he doesn’t, he’ll be executed and left somewhere for
somebody to find later.”

 

“How do you know that?,” asked Tanner. He watched the other boy walk down
the street. He didn’t seem special.

 

“I travel around a lot, Tanner,” said the man in the coat. He took a long pull on his
cigar. “I hear a lot of things from people who don’t see me in the background.”

 

“Have you talked to Givens about how special he is?,” asked Tanner.

 

“He thinks that’s the way things should be,” said the man in the coat. “He doesn’t
quite grasp how bad things could get for him if things go the way I foresee.”

 

“He’s gambling that he might have the talent for what they need, and the ability to get
away from the bad guys interested in him?,” said Tanner. “That doesn’t sound too
safe.”

 

“That’s what I said,” said the nobody. “It’s an extremely dangerous route that will
probably get him killed.”

 

“And you won’t help him?,” asked Tanner. He felt there were pieces missing in this
conversation.

 

“All I can do is warn him, which I have done,” said the man in the coat. “The rest is
up to him.”

 

“You’re telling me all this for a reason,” said Tanner. “What do you think I can do?”

 

“More than me,” said the man in the coat. “Givens won’t forgive you trying to save
him. He wants his moment in the sun.”

 

“Why would I try to save him?,” said Tanner. He knew that was a rhetorical question
as soon as it came out of his mouth. Somehow this guy knew about him using the
keyboard to help people. It was the only explanation for why they were talking about
this at all.

 

The man in the coat squinted at him before raising a hand to say look at this kid. He’s
so humble.

 

“You know about the keyboard,” said Tanner. “How?”

 

“I listen to things, kid,” said the man in the coat. “Your secret is safe with me. Very
few people listen to a nobody like me.”

 

“I don’t believe you,” said Tanner. “How does the keyboard work? Where did it
come from? Who are you really? You’re not some nobody.”

 

“I can’t give you those answers,” said the man in the coat. “I’m not supposed to be
talking to you about Roland, much less explaining how someone lost something they
shouldn’t have lost here, and how they want to get it back. Once you start using five
digits instead of the usual three, your horizons will expand but you’ll be telling
everyone who wants the keyboard to come get it.”

 

“Wait,” said Tanner. “Did you say five keys?”

 

“I don’t have time to talk to you about that,” said the man in the coat. “Givens’s
abductors are here.”

 

He pointed his cigar at a black van rolling down the street. Even the windows and
wheels were black.

 

Tanner looked down at his arm. The cycle for the slide had ended while he had been
talking. He could call up his other abilities and stop this before the first bell.

 

Tanner handed his bag to the man in the coat. There was no point in not using the
keyboard in front of him. He already knew how it worked.

 

He rolled up his arm to expose the keyboard as he walked toward the van. His mind
thought about possibilities. What would be the most effective way of stopping this
before it got started?

 

Guys in black suits piled out of the van. Some took up station to keep an eye on the
passing cars and pedestrians. Two grabbed Givens before he could run away. They
touched his forehead with something and he collapsed.

 

Tanner punched three keys to give himself his gold form. It should be enough to take
these guys out.

 

Three of the watchdogs turned their heads to look at the statue come to life. They
raised their hands. A device sat in the palm of each hand. Balls of energy erupted
from the weapons.

 

Tanner threw himself to the side. He heard the sound of explosions and winced. He
had just gotten someone’s house burned to the ground.

 

He flung a gold arm across the space between him and the closest goon. The arm
wrapped around the man in black. One yank sent the man flying.

 

The other two blasted at Tanner to cover what their group was doing. He needed to
go through them if he wanted to get Givens back.

 

The Givens takers loaded him up in the van. The vehicle jerked away from the curb
to get away from the fight. The driver put his foot down as soon as he was sure he
wouldn’t hit anything in front of him.

 

Tanner had to make a decision. Did he let the van go, or did he take care of the two
guys still trying to take him out. Self preservation won out. He couldn’t catch up to
the van and get Givens back if he was being shot at by his enemies.

 

And if he timed out in the middle of things, he could be killed by their strange
weapons.

 

Tanner threw himself at the two men. He stretched out his arms, fists ballooning up
into pillow-sized bludgeons. He took a hit on his gold skin that burned through the
protection right before he swung his makeshift hammers at his enemies. They went
down with bloody faces.

 

Tanner looked at the fleeing van. Maybe he could catch up with it if he hurried. It
meant cutting through the school lot and getting around the school to try to beat them
heading in front of the school.

 

He charged forward, legs lengthening to extend his stride. When he reached the
school, elongated arms and legs vaulted him to the roof of the building. He ran across
the tarred and graveled surface and dropped down on the other side. He ran toward
the van as it sped down the street.

 

He checked the spiral on his arm that replaced the keyboard when he had a power
in use. It was counting down to zero fast. If he didn’t stop the van before he lost his
gold form, he might lose it for good.

 

He ran after the van, crossing the front lot to try to cut it off. It roared away as he
reached the street. He looked at the plate, trying to memorize it. His gold skin flaked
away as he slowed to a walk.

 

They had Givens and he had someone he could interrogate. All he needed was the
right power for the job.

 

Tanner shook his head. His side still hurt from the blast he had taken. At least the
keyboard had healed most of the damage up for him before he changed back. He also
needed to talk to that guy now that things were over.

 

He had known about the kidnaping. Maybe he knew where they had taken their
victim.

 

Tanner entered the school and jogged down to the other side. He hit the exit door and
ran out to where he had left the three goons he had taken down as Gold Man. He
frowned at the way they lay where they had fallen.

 

Had he hit them too hard?

 

Tanner turned the first man over so he could check him. The goon’s face was partially
eroded. He stepped back from the body. His gold form shouldn’t have done that. He
checked the others. They all had similar damage with some burnt holes in their black
suits.

 

How did he find Givens now?

 

Tanner patted his last victim down. He found a wallet and a phone. He put them in
his pockets. He looked where the man in the coat had been. His bag stood neatly on
the ground to mark the guy’s absence.

 

The joker set me up. I can’t believe that. He ran out while things were going down.

What did he do about the situation? That was the real question now.

 

Tanner grabbed his bag. There were things he had to do if he wanted to follow things
up. The first was to call the police and give them an edited version of what had
happened. That would put them on the trail of the rest of the gang.

 

Tanner made the call while walking to his locker. He needed to store his bag. The
locker was closer than using the slide to go home and drop it off. He told the
dispatcher everything while storing his books for the day. He could get them back
when he was done with chasing the bad guys down.

 

He shut the phone off. Now he had to get away from the school and figure out where
the van went. Once he knew that, he could get Givens back from his captors.

 

Tanner decided the easiest thing to do was try to locate the van from the air. He had
an idea how to track them down if that didn’t work, but he wanted to try the easiest
thing before resorting to a deeper tool in his repertoire.

 

Tanner pressed three keys on his arm as he left the school building. He grew wings
from his back. Sirens heralded the first police response as he took to the air. He
decided to head up as high as he could. That should give him a good overview of the
neighborhood.

 

He spotted the van heading for the highway. He descended on an angle to keep it in
sight and to get closer to the ground for when his wings wore off. He could resort to
other powers since he knew the direction of the van’s travel.

 

The thought of crashing into the ground when his wings wore off bothered him more
than he liked. Maybe using five keys would buy him more activation time for each
power.

 

Did he want to alert the keyboard’s hunter that he had it?

 

He doubted the guy in the coat had accidentally warned him of the possibility. He had
just made it look like an accident. It fit in with the fact he had been watching for

Givens and drew Tanner’s attention to the other boy. It wasn’t something that had
just happened.

 

Tanner glided along the road, alternating between reading his timer and checking to
see if he was still behind the black van. He set down on the side of the road when the
circle started fading out from one end. His wings vanished as he walked down the
shoulder.

 

Tanner pressed a different combination. He had to catch up with the van. Then he
could worry about how he was getting Givens back from the clown squad.

 

The need for speed surged through his body. He leaped forward like a cheetah after
a small deer. Gravel from the side of the road flew as he pelted along the white line.

 

He spotted the van pulling off the next exit. He frowned at the sign pointing to the
airport.

 

They were going to put Givens on a plane? Where were they taking him? How did he
get on that plane?

 

Tanner raced down the highway after the van. He spotted it heading to a private road
leading to some hangars behind the terminal. He ran out of steam as he reached the
road leading from the entrance of the property. He caught his breath as he headed
toward the access road. How long did he have before the plane took off?

 

He pressed the cheetah speed keys again and ran toward the back of the terminal. He
had to stop that plane from taking off.

 

Tanner ran to the gate in the fence and headed down the access road as the guard tried
to stop him. He paused when he reached the group of hangars housing private planes.

 

Where was Givens?

//138324

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button pushing

2015 

3
Tanner stood in front of the hangars. He had missed something. Where had the men
in black taken Givens? None of the hangars had planes in them.

 

He walked toward the runways behind the terminal. Maybe there was somebody on
the field who had seen what had happened to the van.

 

He wasn’t giving up. There had to be something he could do to find the van and its
users. What power did he have that could help him?

 

He did have a technological thing he could call on. He didn’t use it that often. It
might come in handy to hack the phone he had stolen. That might lead to someone
else in the chain.

 

Once he got Givens back, he could hand whatever he found over to the Feds and let
them go about their business. That was better than being a one man band chasing after
villains everywhere in the world.

 

He wasn’t the Mark. He loved his small corner of the world, and didn’t want to
protect anywhere else.

 

He spotted the van sitting by a runway at the other end of the field. He shook his
head. All the doors being open told him that he had missed them.

 

He looked up in the air. Planes roared away from the airport. The one he needed had
to be one of them. How did he find it?

 

He would have to hack the tower and ask the computer what it knew. That should be
easy enough to do if he could get next to one that knew what he wanted.

 

The first step of his plan required that he get up to the roof of the control tower.

He summoned his wings and flew up to the top of the tower. He took a position
beside some machinery. He didn’t know what it did, and his only interest was in how
much access the dishes and such could give him to the files he needed.

 

He tried not to think about how many federal laws he was about to break to find out
what he wanted to know.

 

When the wings went away, he dialed another combination. He heard a ton of
computer chatter as he leaned against the machinery. He didn’t need to interfere with
day to day operations to get what he wanted. He simply asked where was the plane
that had launched at roughly the same time as the van entering the lot. Three planes
kicked back to him from the system. Only one was a private jet. He checked the
location. It was headed for New York.

 

Tanner checked the heading with the equipment. As far as the radar knew, the plane
was on course for the northeastern section of the United States. All he had to do was
follow it and track it down once it landed.

 

That shouldn’t be too hard.

 

The man in the coat had given him a tough job to crack. And when he got home, he
would have to deal with his parents and the fact that he had skipped school. The
fireballs against the house across the street from the school would have to give him
some pretext to skip out for the day.

 

Maybe he could claim that there had been an emergency and he had been forced to
walk home. It wasn’t a perfect excuse, but it should give him some cover until he
thought of something better.

 

The bodies left after the attack might give him something else he could use to justify
skipping.

 

He decided to worry about that after he figured out a way to get to New York after
that plane.

 

Tanner checked for where the plane was due to land. He had a way to get to New
York as soon as this power set wore off. It was the fastest way to travel across
country. He should get to the airport before the plane landed.

 

What did he do after that? He should call the authorities and let them handle things
from now on.

 

He could still try to find the plane and get Givens back. That would be faster than
trying to convince someone that he knew where the plane was going.

 

He was a kid. No one would believe him.

 

He would have to check in at the airport to catch them when they land. Until then, he
could lead his normal life until it was time to meet the plane on the ground.

 

Then he would have to go on the offensive and do what he could to stop the group.

He programmed his phone to give him an alert when the plane was due in.

 

It wasn’t foolproof. The plane could land and put Givens off anywhere. If it did that,
he would have to get into the plane’s electronics and see what he could do about
finding out where the plane had stopped before its final landing.

 

The mechanical aptitude wore off as he tracked the plane in the air. It was still
heading northeast according to the radar. That was the best Tanner could do at the
moment.

 

He called up the slide. He frowned that there wasn’t a hole close to the top of the
tower. He had to get off the tower to start his slide home. He looked at the nearest
location hole. He threw himself off the tower. He hit the point and exited halfway
across town. He stepped through another hole and wound up at school.

 

He had to get his books out of his locker. Then he could head home until the plane
was closing in on a landing. Then he could use the slide to get across the country.

What were his next steps if he couldn’t stop them? How much effort would it take to
get Givens back? How did he deal with those ball shooters?

 

One thing at a time, he told himself. The first thing was to get his bag and get away
from there before the police asked him some questions he couldn’t answer.

 

He headed into the building and worked his way down to his locker. He freed his
gear. No one seemed to be looking at him.

 

Tanner made it outside. The police and fire departments were still busy across the
street from the school. He didn’t see any students or teachers loitering about. He
checked his timer. He slid across to somewhere in Miami and started making his way
back home.

 

He reached the end of his block after several slides and reloading the power from the
keyboard. He ran to his house. Both of his parents were gone from the looks of things.
He let himself in and headed for his bedroom.

 

He put the bag next to his desk as he thought about what he should do next. He
should probably call to say he wasn’t going to be at school. That way they wouldn’t
call to check on him.

 

He went downstairs and grabbed the landline receiver from its cradle. He didn’t want
to use his own phone in case they suspected he was ditching.

 

He definitely didn’t want the school to call his phone while he was away.

 

Tanner looked up the number for his school on his own phone, then called on the
family phone. He waited for someone to answer the ringing. He hoped no one had
seen him before he went into action as the Gold Man.

 

That would dampen his lie if someone reported seeing him on the street heading to
school.

 

“Robert Wilson High School,” said the familiar voice of Mrs. Treadle. “How can I
help you today?”

 

“This is Tanner Lerner, Mrs. Treadle,” said Tanner. He put one hand over the
mouthpiece and coughed. “I’m staying home today. I don’t feel that well.”

 

“You’ll have to bring a note to be excused, Tanner,” said Mrs. Treadle. “I’ll let your
teachers know you’ll be absent.”

 

“Thanks,” said Tanner. “I’ll bring the note in tomorrow.”

 

“I hope you feel better,” said Mrs. Treadle.

 

Tanner put the phone down on its cradle. He waited on the couch. A few minutes
later, the phone rang. He scooped up the handset with a coughing hello.

 

“Mr. Lerner,” said the vice principal of the school. “This is Mr. Banks. How are you
doing?”

 

“Just got a bug,” said Tanner. “I’ll be fine when I get some sleep.”

 

“Don’t forget to bring in your excuse,” said Mr. Banks. “The office will need it to
explain your absence.”

 

“I’ll bring it in as soon as I see a doctor,” said Tanner. “It should be okay.”

 

“Take care of yourself, Mr. Lerner,” said the vice principal. “I will see you
tomorrow.”

 

Tanner breathed a sigh of relief as he put the phone down. They might call again, but
he could say he wasn’t awake to answer the phone. Unless they came by, they
couldn’t prove he wasn’t sleeping.

 

Now that he had an excuse for not being in class, he had to get ready to move. Once
in New York, he would have to locate the airport, and then get to the plane before the
kidnapers could vanish into the city.

 

He also had to be ready to take the guys on. If they had more of those fireball
shooters, he would have to take them out before they could start shooting at him.

He had some movement powers that he rarely used, and some energy control. He
would have to fall back on those to do what he had to do.

 

He just liked the Gold Man for its elasticity.

 

Tanner decided to raid the refrigerator before he left the house. He had plenty of time
according to his phone. Who knew when he would get his next meal?

 

He made three sandwiches of bologna and cheese he toasted in the microwave. He
wolfed them down while sipping on a bottle of Coke from the pantry. He grabbed
another can of Coke when he was done with the first. He pressed the three keys he
wanted to use on his arm and stepped outside. He opened the can and sipped at it
before sliding to Boston. He used various links from there to get to somewhere in
New York City. He recognized part of the skyline in the distance, but only had a
rough idea of where he was in relation to where he wanted to be.

 

Tanner pulled out his phone. He walked down to the next corner. He looked around
for a street sign, and a building address. He typed those in to see where he was. He
typed in La Guardia to check where he had to go from where he was. He nodded at
the arrow on the airport. He checked his timer. He still had hours before the plane
came down.

 

Tanner put his phone away and checked the vanishing circle on his forearm. The slide
was going away. When it did, he would select the wings, or a speed power low to the
ground.

 

Once he was at the airport, he would have to turn on his mechanical power and check
on the plane to see if it was still heading to the city. He could track it to the exact
runway he needed to be at to intercept and then stop the gang, or whatever they were.

 

Everything about this was strange and he wasn’t sure what he was dealing with at the
moment. If he could get Givens back, he might be able to use him as bait to find the
chief executive behind the scheme. Then he could use the keyboard to straighten
everything out.

 

He imagined a fortress in the heart of the city surrounded by men in black, and robot
gargoyles. He put that thought away as he considered that the villains probably had
space in some converted warehouse, or storage area.

 

He should build a secret base for himself one day. Maybe get a mask and costume.

He smiled at himself. That would be the line that stopped him dreaming of doing
anything but vigilantism. He would rather get a job and use the keyboard for that than
build himself some kind of lair under the town.

 

He wasn’t cut out to be a full time hero when he could help out without being seen
most of the time.

 

Tanner pressed the keys to call on the speed component he wanted. That should let
him run to the airport in plenty of time to get set up to meet the plane.

 

He cruised through town, skating along the ground with every push of his feet. He
reached the outer perimeter of the airport as his timer wound down to zero. He was
going to have to fly to the terminal while watching for security who wouldn’t like his
invasion.

 

They wouldn’t see him as friendly. He would be considered a villain that needed to
be defended against to protect passengers on the planes, and in the terminal.

 

He pulled on his wings and took to the air. He flew low and fast over the field and
landed on top of the tower. He waited until his power went away, watching the field
for any reaction to his presence.

 

How many man-sized targets did the tower track in a day? Hopefully they thought he
was the Mark, or one of the Mark Girls, and dismissed the radar contact as one of
them being really slow and then going really fast to vanish off the radar so quickly.

 

He switched powers as soon as he could. He extended his mechanical expertise into
the building and watched everything. Operations were running smooth and his plane
hadn’t made radar contact yet. He settled in to wait, letting the machinery run without
interference.

 

He reset his power a few times until the plane he was looking for showed up on the
edge of the radar. It headed straight in to La Guardia from what he could tell. A
controller gave a vector to a runway away from the passenger planes taking off. He
asked for the location of the runway from the machinery before disconnecting.

He had to get off the terminal and meet that plane when it landed.

 

//140706

 

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Button Pushing

2015-

4

Tanner waited for the mechanical power to run out before hitting the three button
keys for the Gold Man. He leaped off the terminal and stretched his limbs down to
stop his fall before his body impacted the asphalt. He ran toward the designated
runway, elongated legs swiftly covering the distance.

 

He had to get Givens back and flee before they started shooting at him. He didn’t
want to take more hits from those fireballs. The Gold Man was tough, but it had
limits.

 

A few bad hits to the face would put him down until the power ran out and he could
switch to something else.

 

Tanner spotted the plane coming in. He nodded as it descended to the designated
runway. Black SUVs waited at the end of the runway. He should have known more
goons would be waiting at the end of the line.

 

How did he stop them from taking off with Givens?

 

He should have gone for some kind of blaster. He had a few in his set but he didn’t
like to use them unless he had to face someone he couldn’t physically overpower.

 

He needed to circle around to get behind the SUVs. Then he could sneak up on them
with the Gold Man’s ability to flatten his body.

 

Tanner hoped Givens would be smart and help him with the rescue. He didn’t need
a victim that wanted to be victimized.

 

Whatever was going on couldn’t be legal with all of the black suits and lack of
badges.

 

Tanner sank into a sheet with arms and legs. He crawled to the edge of the runway,
picking a path that would take him behind the parked cars. He reached the edge and
crept out on the runway.

 

He grimaced at the lack of cover, but he had to do the best he could with what he had.

 

He pulled himself until he was next to the rear bumper of the nearest car. He checked
the back door. It opened with the flip of its handle. He held the door and crept inside
as quietly as possible.

 

He pooled himself into a pile behind the back seat. He readied giant hands as he
steadied himself. He took a deep breath. It was time to go to work.

 

Tanner boiled over the backseat. His gold fists punched soft flesh as he moved
towards the front of the vehicle. The driver half-turned in his seat. He tried to unleash
a fireball at the gold face coming right at him. A thin pipe of an arm slammed the
fireball making hand upwards so the blast went into the car’s roof. The other gold
hand came around in a long powerful arc to knock the man’s head against the steering
wheel.

 

The Gold Man pulled himself together. He had this car secured. All he had to do was
take the other two, and then he could move against the men on the plane. It sounded
real easy when he said it to himself.

 

Men in black boiled out of the other two cars. They pointed their hands at the SUV

Tanner was in. They blasted the car, pouring power into the fiberglass and steel.

The SUV blew up around Tanner. He was ejected into the air on a column of fire. He
hit the ground off the runway. Debris fell down around him.

 

He lay there and tried to pick himself up. One finger twitched at his efforts. He
concentrated. He got his hands under his body and levered up into a sitting position.
It took a supreme effort for that much.

 

Men in black approached him as the plane coasted to a stop. So much for trying to
ambush them. He had to regroup before they burned him up. Those fireball makers
packed more punch than the Gold Man could handle.

 

He sprang at the closest man and turned him around. He threw the man at the next
closest group of suits. He was rewarded that they fell down. He turned and fled the
other way.

 

He had to get some distance. His timer for the Gold Man was running down and he
needed to catch his breath. At least the ambush was a partial success. The five men
in that car would never kidnap another kid.

 

He flung himself into the grass as fireballs flew over his head. He flattened himself
out as much as he could and pulled himself away from danger.

 

The plane coasted to a stop a few feet from the SUVs. Men disembarked, one
dragging their captive by the arm. Their hands swept around as they looked for targets
as they moved to their transportation.

 

Tanner watched as the vehicles pulled away from the runway. He had missed Givens,
and was pinned down. What was he supposed to do now?

 

He needed to make his own escape and get after the SUVs. He had to switch powers
to do that. That meant becoming visible to the Men in Black while switching powers.

 

The two surviving cars vanished on an access road leading from the airport into the
city. He would have to track them down somehow. He just didn’t know how he was
going to do it now.

 

He should have gone with a blaster instead of the Gold Man. He relied a lot on the
stretching and the toughness. Maybe he relied on it too much.

 

The timer on his arm ran out. He switched back to his normal body laying in the
grass. The Men in Black shouted when they saw him. He touched the keyboard on his
arm as they shot at him.

 

Tanner flew back towards the burning SUV. He cursed it as he hit the wreck and
bounced into the air. Fireballs flew around him as he skyrocketed upwards.

 

The Rocket fired him at something and let him take impacts easily. It turned him into
a cannonball that would keep burning until he ran out of time.

 

That was the last thing he needed if he wanted to find Givens and get him back from
his captors.

 

Tanner looked down as he soared ever upwards. When the power ran out, he had to
look forward to a long fall. He spotted the black vehicles heading into Manhattan.
What did he do about it?

 

He grimaced. He was at the mercy of the keyboard’s timer. Too bad he hadn’t asked
the man in the coat how to modify that before things went into the pot.

 

He smiled. He was in New York. He had a bead on the bad guys. He only had to wait
a few minutes before the power ran out. Then he could switch to something to get out
of the jam he was in.

 

He just needed to stay calm and things would work out.

 

The skyrocket cut off. He floated high above the Earth. He could almost see the
curvature of the planet. He had to react fast before he ran out of oxygen and died.

 

He put on his wings and dropped toward the ground. He needed to get back on the
track of his enemy while they thought he was out of the picture.

 

He found the airport easily. He scanned the streets around the airport. Where had the
two car parade gone? They had to still be on the road. Where were they going?

 

He was not going to lose after all this effort to track the gang down, and getting close
enough to stop them.

 

Tanner winged over the city, watching the streets. There had to be a way to find the
caravan. He decided that maybe he should climb and try to pick up the trail.

 

He didn’t have a lot of time, but he had enough for one shot. If he could climb high
enough before the timer ran down, maybe he could spot the SUVs and figure out
which direction they were going. Then he could switch to the runner and catch up.

It wasn’t a perfect solution but it was all he had for the moment.

 

And if it worked, it allowed him to get close enough for another ambush. He needed
to make sure it worked the next time around.

 

And he already knew how they treated someone taking hostages.

 

He didn’t like the feeling of almost being blown to pieces. He knew they were
ruthless from the confrontation at the school. He didn’t think they would discard their
friends so readily.

 

He should have known better from the way the downed Men in Black had committed
suicide after the rest had gotten away with Givens.

 

It was too bad he hadn’t figured a way to con Darla into coming. She had a lot of
skills given her by her third eye that would be useful in this situation.

 

She didn’t like using it, and felt like it was a curse.

 

It told her too many things she didn’t want to know was all she ever told him. The
few times he had been able to coax her to use her abilities had been emergencies
where no one else could help, or was available.

 

He loved his abilities, but didn’t like the new knowledge that pressing more than
three keys sent out a signal to someone to invade the Earth. It dampened his
enjoyment somehow.

 

He had a ton of abilities with the three keys. Did he really need more than that?

 

Tanner put his thoughts about powers away. He thought he saw a two car parade of
black vehicles driving slowly through the streets. He checked his timer. He had to get
down, or he was going to have problems.

 

He aimed for a building ahead of the cars. He could switch back to wings, or use the
runner option. He had to keep them in sight.

 

He didn’t know what they wanted with Givens but it couldn’t be good just from the
methods they were using.

 

He expected that was why the man in the coat had duped him into getting involved.
Something bigger than a kidnaping was going on. It was up to him to find out what.

He didn’t like that feeling at all.

 

He landed on top of a building just as his wings gave out. He leaned against the wall
and caught his breath. A few seconds the other way and he would have been headed
for the street.

 

He doubted he could have activated a power to help him before he hit the ground.

He looked down at the street. The two cars still rolled down below him. He frowned.
He was too high up for the runner. He needed to put on the wings again.

 

He pushed the three keys and let the wings lift him from the ledge. He soared to the
next building. He needed to know where they were stopping. He could try to grab
Givens there.

 

Once he had spoiled part of their plans, he could work on spoiling the rest.

The SUVs pulled into a parking garage. He lost sight of them as they rolled into the
deck.

 

He checked each deck from the outside. He found the cars parked on the third floor.
He climbed over the rails and watched the cars. Nothing moved as far as he could see.

Had they already gone to the exit on foot?

 

He looked at his arm. The wing timer was winding down. Once it had, he needed to
switch to something that would help him. He might have lost Givens while trying
to find the cars. Where would they have taken him from here?

 

He still needed to check the cars. They might be waiting to meet someone.

Darla would have been able to scan the cars and tell him if he was waiting in vain
with one look.

 

He lost the wings and waited for a moment. Nothing moved. He gritted his teeth.
What could help him in this situation? The Gold Man, his primary offense, had been
beaten back twice already. What could he use to get the upper hand and get Givens
back.

 

He pressed the three keys on his arm to activate his next change.

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5

Tanner threw himself forward as the change took effect. His body slicked over into
a gray tube with a nose at the front, fins on his back and where his legs merged into
a tail. His hands formed into paddles to help him move forward.

 

He sank into the concrete of the parking deck, swimming in it. He headed for the
transports at high speed.

 

He needed to know if the Men in Black were still in their cars. This way was a
dolphin that used solid substances as water. It had the disadvantage of not having
hands, but that was balanced out by being bulletproof.

 

He leaped from the deck into the door of the first SUV. He expected to see someone
sitting in one of the seats. The vehicle was empty except for discarded clothes. He
passed out the other side and headed for the other car just as fast as his initial charge.
He jumped into the door and slid through the Chevy to fall to the deck on the other
side.

 

That one stood empty too.

 

They had parked the cars and walked away while he was looking for the Chevys from
outside the deck. Dumping their uniforms made it hard to locate any that he hadn’t
been close enough to deal with using his powers.

 

What did he do now?

 

He had time as the land dolphin. He decided to use that time to swim around the
parking deck. Maybe he would get lucky and spot one of the group.

 

If he couldn’t locate them that way, he would think of something else he could use.
He refused to give up now.

 

Whatever was going on meant bad news for Givens and anybody who might cross his
path in the future. He could feel it in his bones. He had to press ahead until he knew
something for sure.

 

Tanner slid through a wall and swam in a circle around the parking deck. He moved
to the next square of blocks, and then the next, and then the next after that. He gave
up when the timer ran out and he hadn’t seen anything to attract his attention.

 

He circled back to the SUVs. Maybe there was something there he could use
somehow. His mechanical ability should help glean something.

 

He waited until he got back to the cars before he pressed the three keys he needed. He
hooked into the first SUV. He found a hook up to a navigational unit. He inspected
that. He smiled. He had a list of everywhere the car had gone in the last few days.

 

One of those places had to be where they were holding Givens. He had to check them 
to see if he was right.

 

Tanner wrote the addresses down on a scrap piece of paper from his pocket. His
phone would give him Google Maps and he could get to work. He disconnected. He
was surprised that the vehicle wasn’t trapped. He pulled away from the SUV before
finding out the hard way.

 

He checked the directions for the first address. He pulled on his runner form and
headed out. He took a couple of minutes to get used to moving around people, but
there were plenty of places where he could cut in a direct line toward his goal. The
first place turned out to be a restaurant on the edge of Chinatown.

 

Tanner repeated his method until he found himself at a church that had closed signs
on the front. He wondered why a church would close.

 

He needed to get inside and look around.

 

If this was the place, he would have to be cautious. He didn’t know what he was
facing, or what he should be doing. The last thing he needed was a fight before he
knew what he was doing.

 

He transformed into his land dolphin shape and dove through the ground. He swam
up to the front wall and slid inside. He hopped into the air. He didn’t see anything on
the open floor. He dove into the floor to see what was beneath the church.

 

He found a set of steps leading to a stone table in the middle of an open space. He fell
into the floor there. No one shot at him as he looked the room over. Why had they
came there?

 

He felt like he was missing something.

 

What should he do now?

 

He decided that he should retreat and think about what he had found. He was at a
dead end for the moment.

 

Why had they visited a closed church? What was so important about it? He had his
phone. Maybe Google could help him.

 

He swam away from the church and took shelter between two buildings where he
could see the front of the church while he tried to think of his next move.

 

Tanner pulled out his phone after he changed back. He opened the New York Times
website. He typed in the address.

 

A pocket history popped up. He shook his head. The church had been closed after
losing its last priest and another church had been built a few streets over to serve the
congregation. Then the police had caught a cult trying to sacrifice someone in the
basement where he had found the table a couple of decades after that. Then the
Catholics had sold the land back to the city, but nothing has been done with it yet.

The sacrifice thing stood out. Is that what attracted the Men in Black to the place?
Did they plan to do the same thing to Givens? Were they behind the first attempt?
Was it coincidence?

 

He discounted the theory that it was just a coincidence that two different groups were
interested in the same place. Either they were connected, or the place was special in
some way.

 

What made it special? It had to be something about the building, right? Why else
would it attract some kind of cult attention from two cults?

 

How did he prove his theory? Was he on the right track? Were they coming back?

What kind of tactics should he use? The Gold Man had been okay on defense, but
unable to mount a decent offense. He needed to use something with a bigger punch.

He needed to be able to one punch through their defenses before they could figure out
what he was doing.

 

He had some powers that might be able to do that. He had to be quick. He didn’t
relish another confrontation where he took a face full of fireballs and the bad guys
won.

 

He had to be the one throwing fireballs and wrecking the other guy’s day. He took the
Gold Man off the table. He decided that Iceberg would be the right powerset if he
could get close enough to get Given’s back.

 

He wondered if he should be waiting outside, or inside. Either choice had its
problems.

 

He decided to stay out for now. He didn’t want to be in the church and miss them
showing up. That would lead to them being inside with him, and able to shoot up the
interior while he had to look for cover.

 

Where were they keeping Givens now if they planned to use the church at some point
later? Were they planning to use the church? Had he stopped at a dead end?

 

Despite the fact he didn’t like her, he had to admit this was the kind of thing his
cousin was better at doing. Her third eye allowed her to track things easily.

 

The rest of the places he had visited had seemed normal. Givens could have been
taken to any of them. He would have to get inside and search all of them. He didn’t
know how much time he had before they did what they wanted to do.

 

The Church was the only place they visited that didn’t make sense. He liked it a
suspect location. How long should he wait before he tried another tactic?

 

He touched his pockets. Did he have enough money to get something to eat while he
waited? He had two phones.

 

Why did he have two phones?

 

He remembered he had taken the one from the dead guy back home. He pulled it out
and weighed it in his hand. What could be on it?

 

Maybe it held a clue to show where he should go from there.

 

Tanner keyed in his mechanical power again. He realized suddenly that he had used
this one power more in the last two days than he had the rest of the month. He shook
his head.

 

The things he got involved with didn’t usually require being able to hack electronics
and mechanics. He mostly used this power to keep his laptop updated and working
right. Sometimes he rerouted a virus back to its creator.

 

He took the phone’s brain apart after his transformation. Text messages indicated
movements in code. GPS coordinates for his town showed up. Messages back went
to a phone locally there in the Big Apple. A tower transfer showed him the virtual
path to the other phone. He couldn’t hack into it at a distance, but he could see the
signal moving on the ground.

 

He looked the coordinates up and noted the phone was at a hotel south of where he
was. He pulled out his list. It was one of the places the SUV had been. So maybe the
church was going to be used after all.

 

Did he want to go to the hotel and search it, or did he want to stick in place? He only
had the rest of the day before he had to come up with an explanation for his parents.
They were going to want to know why he had skipped school. Feeling bad and not
being home didn’t usually go hand in hand.

 

Things were going to get even more complicated if someone saw him in the school
and reported it. More questions from the vice principal would have to be answered.

He had to wrap this up as fast as possible. He couldn’t wait for whatever they planned
to do. He had to take them out first.

 

He had to get to that hotel and find the guy, and then ask him about Givens. Getting
Givens back and on a plane back home had to be next. Then he could slide home
and try to come up with an explanation for everything to satisfy his parents without
telling them about the keyboard.

 

Getting Givens back looked better than trying to explain everything to his parents.

Tanner put the phone away and started walking. He would have to wait for the
mechanical to wear off before he could use a move set to get to the hotel faster.
Hopefully the guy had no reason to move before he could start his search.

 

He called on the Runner as soon as he could. Direct paths opened up for him to slip
through, hopping over obstacles that got in the way. He arrived at the hotel in a few
minutes. Part of that time was spent finding the place itself.

 

He needed to find the room for the guy with the phone. How did he do that? Raiding
the desk computer wouldn’t get him anything since he didn’t know what name the
guy was using.

 

But he had a phone number. Would the guy use the cell number so he could be called
on his personal phone instead of the room phone? Didn’t hotels take in that stuff?

 

He let the Runner go and called on his mechanical control again. He got the
number he wanted from the stolen phone before he approached the desk. He walked
over to the clerk who was watching him.

 

“How can I help you?,” asked the clerk. She was a little older than him, hair pinned
back, professional smile on her face.

 

“Hello,” said Tanner. He put his hand close enough to read the computer without
touching it. “I’m looking for a guest. His name’s Steve Bueller.”

 

“Let me check for you,” said the clerk. The name tag said Tammy. It glinted as she
moved.

 

Tanner smiled as he ordered the network to search for the phone number he had. A
room number kicked back within a few seconds.

 

“I’m sorry,” said Tammy. “I don’t see a Bueller anywhere in the system. Could he
have checked in under another name?”

 

“No,” said Tanner. “He must have given me the wrong hotel. I’ll call him and find out
where he is. Thank you for your time.”

 

“You’re welcome,” said Tammy. “Have a nice day.”

//144864

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