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My Father's Son #1<BR>An Eightfold series <BR> <BR>'It's A Start'<BR>written by and copyright 2010 Saxon Brenton<BR> <BR>Cover shows a costumed hero leaning forwards towards the reader, making <BR>an effort to push against something. He is wearing a navy blue costume <BR>and gloves, with a grey sweatshirt and hoodie. His face is completely <BR>obscured by a fencing mask.<BR> <BR> <BR> He was trapped.<BR> Which was rather ironic and extremely annoying. After all, <BR>Slowpoke could walk through walls.<BR> And the situation? He was at a theatre and had been imprisoned <BR>within some type of cube of force. Worse, it was a force cube created <BR>by an evil mime!<BR> All right, yes, when you put it that way it sounded stupid. <BR>Slowpoke didn't dwell on the silliness, however. Mainly because he was <BR>dealing with a fellow metahuman, and metahumans rarely let themselves <BR>be limited by the possible, let alone the sensible.<BR> Instead the four-colour hero pushed experimentally against the <BR>boundaries of the force cube. There was no give. Or at least, not yet. <BR>His experience over the past two days against the Crime Mime (as the news <BR>reports had referred to him; the man himself hadn't spoken a word as yet, <BR>let alone formally introduce himself) suggested that the force field <BR>would weaken and dissipate in a few minutes. But in the meantime the <BR>Crime Mime would have escaped.<BR> He explored the inside of the construct. It was larger than either <BR>of the previous two that he'd been in, so he had to float as he examined <BR>the upper section. Was there a weak point? Probably, since he knew <BR>these things weren't airtight. He tried to recall if a cube was any <BR>weaker on the faces than on the edges or vertices.<BR> Then the Crime Mime came back. Slowpoke wondered why, and was <BR>answered when the mime made exaggerated motions of pointing at Slowpoke <BR>and pretending to laugh so hard that he had to clutch his belly. <BR>Slowpoke took note of that with a clinical detachment. .oO( Keep <BR>laughing, ) he thought. .oO( The longer you hang around here the closer <BR>I am to escaping. )<BR> The four-colour decided to try something. It probably wouldn't <BR>work, but even so it might amuse the Crime Mime into lingering a bit <BR>longer for some more artfully contrived guffaws. Slowpoke flew to the <BR>top of the cube and began to push against the uppermost part of the front <BR>face. Astonishingly it tipped over almost straight away.<BR> Slowpoke toppled with it and landed unceremoniously on his face. No <BR>surprise there: he had been hard up against the top surface (which had <BR>now fallen over to become the new front) and had had nowhere else to go <BR>with the thrust that he had been generating. Okay, so next time he <BR>wouldn't start with so much force.<BR> The Crime Mime was now pantomiming hysterics. Right. So. Clearly <BR>the mime was able to vary not just the size and shape of his constructs, <BR>but also other variables such as fixed versus mobile locations. Maybe <BR>even the rate at which they weakened and decayed - in which case <BR>Slowpoke's guestimate on how soon he could break out might be off.<BR> Change of tactics then. It occurred to Slowpoke that he could simply <BR>use his flight to propel the cage after the Crime Mime and use it as a <BR>battering ram. If he acted fast enough he could catch the cackling <BR>criminal off guard and pin him against a wall. Maybe. A nasty thought <BR>reared its head in response and demanded to know what if the Crime Mime <BR>was immune to his own powers.<BR> Slowpoke decided to continue to play for time instead. He once <BR>again flew up to the top edge of the new front face of the cube and <BR>pushed. Once again the cube tipped over. The Crime Mime was so <BR>impressed that he started to silently clap sarcastically. Slowpoke <BR>ignored him and once again flew up to the top edge of the new front face.<BR> With exaggerated steps the Crime Mime sauntered up to the force <BR>cube, taking up a position right at the point where the cube would <BR>topple onto him if Slowpoke continued to roll it forwards. Then he <BR>thumbed his nose at the hero.<BR> Slowpoke quite deliberately pushed the cube over, but the Crime <BR>Mime took one large pace to the left, sidestepping being squashed and <BR>putting on a smug expression. He made more insulting gestures, but <BR>Slowpoke was happy with the situation: he'd felt the surface of the <BR>force cube begin to grow wobbly. It wouldn't be long now.<BR> Hoping he was presenting a sense of mere bloody-minded relentless-<BR>ness, Slowpoke unhurriedly but methodically floated up to the top of <BR>the cube, reoriented himself so that he was again facing the direction <BR>of the Crime Mime, and once more pushed the cube over. Once again the <BR>Crime Mime sidestepped being squidged.<BR> The Crime Mime did a mocking little dance, turned his back on <BR>Slowpoke and waggled his buttocks in the four-colour's direction. Which <BR>was foolish of him. As soon as the criminal's back was turned Slowpoke <BR>flew hard against what he hoped was a sufficiently weakened surface of <BR>the force field, which obligingly ruptured. Slowpoke crash tackled the <BR>Crime Mime and wrestled him to the ground.<BR> This in itself was not good enough. Even as Slowpoke reached for <BR>handcuffs to restrain his opponent, the mime made a quick gesture with <BR>his hands, creating a wedge that barrelled the approaching police down <BR>the stairs, except for one of them who went over the railing of the <BR>staircase. It was a two story drop to the floor of the foyer below.<BR> Slowpoke risked wasting a whole half second kneeing the Crime Mime <BR>in the stomach before flying after the falling man. Maybe that would <BR>slow the mime down long enough for the police coming up the matching set <BR>of stairs to capture him. Whatever the case, Slowpoke should have kneed <BR>him more quickly.<BR> The rescue looked hair raising -- like an attempt to save someone <BR>at the very last second and which *failed*. Slowpoke flew through the <BR>upper balcony at an angle, yelled, "Take a deep breath!" and grabbed the <BR>cop just before he hit the floor below. Somebody screamed. The two of <BR>them hit the floor and vanished.<BR> They re-emerged scant seconds later. Slowpoke flew straight back <BR>up towards the balcony where he had left the mime. The cop blinked as <BR>they emerged back into the light. "Whoa! I thought I was a goner there <BR>for a moment."<BR> Slowpoke shook his head inside the hood of the grey sweatshirt. <BR>"No. Power of intangibility. I've got the luxury of a much longer <BR>stopping zone and turning circle."<BR> "Gotcha."<BR> By the time they arrived back at the mezzanine level the Crime Mime <BR>was gone. In what couldn't have been anything more than ten seconds he <BR>had seemingly ducked away and vanished, and a fruitless quarter hour of <BR>searching produced no sign of him. The police might have better luck on <BR>the security camera footage.<BR> <BR> <BR> As soon as the police were finished getting a statement from him <BR>Slowpoke flew home. He was cutting it close to the curfew time, and <BR>flew back fast and low to Burlington College. Part of that meant <BR>pouring on the speed, but he also went intangible. This reduced wind <BR>resistance of course, however he had discovered a while ago that past a <BR>certain threshold he also turned transparent, making him effectively <BR>invisible to most of the school's sensors, which was just as useful.<BR> Because Burlington was a school for young metahumans. It included <BR>dormitories to border youngsters who -- like himself -- were wards of <BR>the state. And Slowpoke knew that if anyone at Burlington found out <BR>that Kevin Decamp was performing extracurricular heroing, they'd freak <BR>out. They seem fixated on the idea that he was automatically going to <BR>follow his father's footsteps and become a black cape, and Slowpoke had <BR>a pretty good idea that anything he did would be misconstrued because <BR>of this.<BR> Once he was back near campus Slowpoke found a secluded spot and <BR>quickly changed out of his costume-on-a-budget fighting togs: the navy <BR>coloured gloves and tights, the hooded grey sweatshirt and the fencing <BR>mask. Beneath the garb of his Slowpoke persona was the most-emphatically-<BR>not-on-a-budget Burlington College bodysuit. He wouldn't dream of being <BR>seen doing non-school-sanctioned heroing in the Colleges' tan and gold. <BR>But at the same time the school bodysuit was made of high quality <BR>materials that were both insulated and impact resistant. Despite the <BR>tactical application of his own powers to avoid getting hit in the <BR>first place Slowpoke had reckoned that the bodysuit was too useful an <BR>accessory not to make use of.<BR> Not for the first time he wondered if he should get a similar <BR>outfit done in his own colours. Possibly even go really high end, made <BR>of material with programmable molecules that would allow him to perform <BR>an instant costume change. Both types of material were expensive -- the <BR>quick change material insanely so -- but neither were actually beyond <BR>Slowpoke's means. It's just that there were more important things he <BR>could be spending his money on.<BR> That thought was shoved aside as his mind habitually returned <BR>to the topic of four-colour heroing. Could the Crime Mime have had <BR>programmable clothing? Slowpoke wondered on this as he quickly swapped <BR>his costume for a tracksuit and jogged back to his room after his 'late <BR>night workout'. If so it might explain how the villain had been able <BR>to vanish so quickly, and it would show on the security camera footage. <BR>Was there such a thing as programmable whiteface, though? Possibly, <BR>even probably when dealing with metahumans.<BR> As soon as he arrived at his room he collected some toiletries. <BR>He was hot and sweaty and really needed a shower.<BR> Mr Johansson, the maintenance man, glanced at him without much <BR>interest as they passed in the hall and said the obligatory, "Lights <BR>out in fifteen minutes."<BR> "Okay," Slowpoke responded and picked up his pace to the showers. <BR>There he undressed and made a cursory check of his face in the mirror. <BR>There wasn't any change in his complexion; certainly no improvement. <BR>He was still a ferret-faced teenager with lank hair and acne. Truth be <BR>known it was the main reason that he had chosen the full face mask in <BR>the first place. Then he showered and scrubbed himself all over before <BR>returning to his room with only a few minutes to spare.<BR> Now at last he could relax. Slowpoke sat himself cross-legged on <BR>his bed and did some meditating. He was in the middle of a self-imposed <BR>program of practising not thinking about Tolstoy's White Bear -- or <BR>white bears in general, for that matter -- and was by now quite good at <BR>it. The problem was that he had no active psi defences, and while the <BR>skill of not thinking about something was important for avoiding <BR>accidentally broadcasting one's thoughts, it was useless against a <BR>directed mental probe. Getting ahold of psi-block technology was the <BR>obvious answer -- and this was one of the several things that had a <BR>higher priority for Slowpoke than an expensive new costume. Until <BR>then Slowpoke would simply have to make do with thinking Kevin <BR>Duchamp's thoughts.<BR> Then, around half past ten he snuggled into bed and hid under <BR>the covers, turned on his flashlight and read another two chapters of <BR>Michael Harmond's _Living At Escape Velocity: A History Of Super Speed_.<BR> <BR>Next issue: 'My So-Called Life'<BR> <BR>==========<BR> <BR>Character credits:<BR> All characters here are created by Saxon Brenton.<BR> <BR>Author's notes:<BR> This series has been in production limbo since 2006. In an attempt <BR>to kick start the creative process and finally get something ready for <BR>publication I decided to emulate the shorter format that Dvandom choose <BR>for his _Exarchs_ series. Next issue will be cover events that were <BR>originally planned for the second half of #1. As a result the tone of <BR>two parts might seem a bit uneven, since they focus on completely <BR>separate aspects of Slowpoke's life.<BR> <BR>-----<BR>Saxon Brenton University of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia<BR> <A href="mailto:saxon.brenton@uts.edu.au">saxon.brenton@uts.edu.au</A> <A href="mailto:saxonbrenton@hotmail.com">saxonbrenton@hotmail.com</A><BR>"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex<BR>world of jet-powered apes and time-travel." - Superman, JLA Classified #3<BR> <BR>
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