csyphrett

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

The Menorah possesses eight servants that do his bidding to keep the peace and lift people up. CES

The Shining Star wears the lightest armor to help with his ability to move anywhere there is a drawing of a star. His ability is maximized during the holidays. CES

Would he be able to learn skills while looping? Would that be something he would have to train on every loop, killing some of his time, or could he just loop the experience for the day? I guess the example I am going for is Bill Murray learning how to play piano in the movie. He looped around until he could play the song at the restaurant later. CES

Watched Coco. Thought it was pretty good. Listening to the soundtrack now. CES

The midnight line by Child. Jack Reacher sees a class ring from West Point in a pawn shop and decides to track down the owner. CES

I'm sorry to hear this. QM was a great guy. CES

Is that a really short moose, or really tall grass? CES

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

Revenge of the Scouts 1979- 28 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

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. //129530

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.

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.”

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.

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.

The first season of Lethal Weapon. I wince at the rights violations carried out by the heroes, but the villains biting the dust make up for it. CES

Snopes has the coverage for it here CES

I would love to do another draft like this, or another draft where we are picking for others to see what's what. CES

I have thought about writing another million word project on it, but I have a lot of things I have to do at the moment CES

Varny Vayne is the tragic Bat Might. Bitten by a radioactive bat, Varny has all the powers of a bat and a thirst for blood. The problem is Varny is also the size of a bat too. CES

Got done on the last day. need to load chapters on thread. CES

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

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

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

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