Superfreaks/ACRA: Superfreaks Trade Etherback Volume I (collecting 0-4)

[Martin Phipps]

Michael King, Mary Jones and Frank Lopez: crime scene 
investigators.  John Phelps, Mark Johnston and Tom 
Jackson: police officers.  Jack Greenspan and Edward 
Bailey: medical examiners.  Alan Russell, Cliff
Murdock and Leroy Laurel: lawyers.  These are the men
and women who are truly our last line of defense.  But
what about the capes whose cases they have to
investigate?  Should they be considered a help or a
hindrance? 

                    PROLOGUE

              NIGHT MAN AND MOON BOY 

  I couldn't bear to look at him.  He was the closest 
thing I had to a parent.  He had provided me with 
food, clothing and purpose for years.  But that didn't
make what he did right. 
  "Your honour, I insist that my client should be 
considered immune to this kind of lawsuit on the basis
of him having freely publicly revealed his identity." 
Leroy Laurel: he was always defending villains like
the Kidder, somehow always getting him off the death
penalty and back into minimum security Raftpork
Assylum.  Which, of course, he always managed to
escape from.  Ten times he was sentenced there and he
must have served, maybe, a total of nine weeks.  Leroy
Laurel was effectively setting him free every time.
Johnathon hated that man.  With a passion.  But now
he's using him as his defense. 
  "The court does not recognize such statements to be 
legally binding," the judge said. 
  "Your honour, the general public recognizes that 
retired heroes who freely reveal their identity do so 
under the assumption that they will not face 
reprisals." 
  "Mr. Laurel, the such statements also provide heroes
with the opportunity to appear in court in their
civilian identity and testify.  Your client has that
right.  Do not try to deny Mr. Dickenson's right to do
so as well.  Sit down." 
  "Yes, your honour." 
  He sat down and my lawyer stood up. 
  "Your honour, I call to the stand Greggory 
Dickenson, aka Moon Boy."  Moon Boy.  That was what 
they called me when I was a kid.  I asked Cliff why he
had to call me that and he told me that it was 
standard procedure to present all known aliases when 
calling a witness. 
  This was Cliff Murdock's first civil case.  He 
had a good track record as a prosecutor though: almost
every case he had been in had ended in conviction. 
Mind you, if bank robbers would finally learn not to
look directly into security cameras then he wouldn't
be so lucky. 
  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth 
and nothing but the truth so help you God?" 
  "I do."  I don't know why they had me swear on a 
Bible.  Johnathon didn't exactly raise me to be a 
Christian.  It's not as if we were the kinds to turn 
the other cheek. 
  "Could you describe how you came to meet Mr. 
Jenner?" my lawyer asked. 
  I nodded.  "I was with my parents.  We had just been
to see the movie Pinnochio.  It was dark already but
we didn't live that far from the theatre so we didn't
take a taxi.  We just walked home.  Well, started to
anyway. 
  "Then a man came from out of nowhere.  Well, he must
have come from somewhere but I don't know where.  I
didn't see him coming.  Like I said, it was dark. 
  "I'd lived a fairly sheltered life.  I hadn't seen a
lot of violence on TV.  To me, it was my parents 
talking to another adult, which is always boring.  I 
just wanted to go home: it was way past my bedtime and
I was tired.  I didn't know anything was wrong until
the man had shot both of my parents.  Dead. 
  "Night Man didn't appear until after my parents were
already dead.  I'm not bitter about that.  I mean, I
was standing right next to them and I didn't know
anything was wrong, not until the shots were fired.  I
guess it was the gunshots that got Night Man's
attention. 
  "Again, it was dark, so I couldn't quite see what 
happened next.  Eventually, I got used to being able 
to see clearly in the dark.  After all, I wouldn't be 
much use to Night Man if I couldn't see a damn thing 
in front of me every time we went out. 
  "I don't think the mugger saw Night Man too clearly 
either.  His voice seemed to come from all directions 
so the mugger shot wildly.  It probably would have 
made more sense for Night Man to have approached 
criminals silently and taken them out before they even
knew he was there, you know, in case he got hit by a
wild shot, but he never did.  He wanted the criminals
to know that Night Man had taken them out and that
there was nothing that they could do to stop him. 
That's how you make a reputation. 
  "By this time, I knew my parents had been shot.  I 
was crying. 
  "Now, I ask you, who looks at a child who's crying 
like that and thinks 'crime fighting partner'?" 
  "How did you become his ward?" 
  I shrugged my shoulders.  "I was an orphan.  I had 
seen my parents shot.  Few parents would want to deal 
with that.  I can understand that.  So it was easy for
Johnathon Jenner to get approval to take me in.  There
wasn't exactly a long line-up of people wanting to
adopt me.  Oh, and Mr. Jenner was rich.  That helped a
lot.  I certainly wouldn't be that much of a financial
burden on him." 
  "How long after you became his ward did you become 
Moon Boy?" 
  "Not long.  He wanted me to know right away that he 
was Night Man, the man that had supposedly saved him 
from the mugger.  He made it sound like I owed 
him.  It's not like he had brought my father back to 
life or anything.  That's what I needed: a father, not
a team leader. 
  "Anyway, he asked me how I felt.  How was I supposed
to feel?  He asked me if I was angry, if I wanted to
join him in the fight against evil." 
  "Then you became Moon Boy?" 
  "That was when my training began, yes.  I didn't get
the costume until he thought I was ready.  I was a bit
surprised by it when he finally gave it to me. 
It was white.  His was black.  He explained that it 
was because I was to be Moon Boy.  I asked why I 
couldn't be Night Boy and he told me that it would be 
good for me to have my own identity so that there 
wouldn't be any confusion if, one day, I chose to do 
some solo crimefighting.  Besides 'Night Man and Moon 
Boy' had a nice ring to it, so he said." 
  "Is this what you wanted?" 
  "Hell, no.  I was just trying to please him." 
  "And by making you a crime fighter, did he place you
in danger?" 
  "Absolutely.  Every time we fell into one of those 
death traps, I thought we were finished.  I should 
never have even been there.  I was a minor.  He wasn't
even my real father.  He was handed over by the state
for my protection for God's sake!" 
  "Were you ever seriously hurt?" 
  "All the time.  I'd get shot all the time.  He'd 
take me back to the secret Night Chamber in Jenner 
Manor.  The Night Car was fast and Edward, or butler, 
was ex-military and trained in triage.  I was always 
back on my feet within a week. 
  "But he'd be angry.  At me.  He'd say I should be 
more careful.  That this shouldn't keep happening. 
That every time I let myself get shot that I was 
jeopardising the mission.  That he ended up having to 
stop what he was doing, take me back to the Night 
Chamber and let the villains get away.  So I would end
up apologising to him. 
  "Thing is, what he didn't seem to notice, was that 
my white costume didn't exactly blend into the 
darkness as well as his black costume.  He always 
insisted on making a grand entrance.  That was his 
trademark.  But who did he think was going to get hit 
when the bad guys started shooting?" 
  "Why didn't you tell him you didn't want to be Moon 
Boy?" 
  "I did." 
  "What did he say?" 
  "He just got angry." 
  "Is that all he did?  Get angry?" 
  "No.  No, he didn't.  I mean, he was Night Man.  He 
was used to solving things with his fists." 
  "He hit you?" 
  "Yes." 
  "How often?" 
  "Often.  All the time.  But not as severely as that 
one time when I told him that I didn't want to be Moon
Boy.  No, I learned my lesson after that.  After that,
when he hit me it was because I had screwed up, either
on a mission or during a training exercise.  I guess
he figured my life as the ward of Johnathon Jenner was
comfortable enough that this was the only way to keep
me from getting soft." 
  "Did he ever injure you?" 
  "Yes.  He broke my arm one time.  And then he told 
Edward that it was one of the Porcupine's goons who 
did it so Edward told me that I needed to be more 
careful and I ended up promising to renew my training 
as soon as the arm healed." 
  "I see."  My lawyer nodded and sighed.  "Mr. 
Dickenson, did you ever consider becoming a solo 
crimefighter?" 
  I shook my head.  "It's not like I could now, is it?
 Mr. Jenner saw to that.  When he revealed himself to
be Night Man, he didn't actually say that I was Moon
Boy, but he might as well have.  So how could I go on
being Moon Man with everybody knowing my identity?" 
  Leroy Laurel stood up.  "Objection, your honour!  By
revealing his identity, Night Man had intended to 
protect not only himself but also his friends and 
family!" 
  "Overruled!" the Judge insisted. 
  "Did you want to go on fighting crime?" 
  "I don't know.  I wasn't given the choice.  To be 
honest, I think Johnathon Jenner made his mask 
statement out of spite, because he knew that I wasn't 
interested in becoming Moon Man, that the old costume 
didn't even fit me anymore.  I mean, he didn't have 
family and friends to protect.  There was only me. 
And who's to say he hasn't actually put me in more 
danger?  Villains back then had honour.  They had a 
code.  Nowadays, some new guy might want to make his 
reputation as the guy who killed Moon Boy.  I live in 
fear now.  I really do." 
  "Aren't you making things worse by coming out with 
this case then?" 
  "I just want people to understand what I went 
through.  I was too young to be dragged around like 
that and too young to be placed in such life and death
situations.  It was the same with Water Boy, Amazing
Girl, Arrow Boy and Quick Kid.  They should have all
been in school.  It didn't matter if they had powers
and abilities.  They should never have been placed in
that situation.  Not at that age.  Not when they are
too young to make their own decisions.  I just don't
want any superhero to ever take a teenaged sidekick.
Never again.  Because no matter what you might think,
it isn't what we really want." 
  "Thank you then for coming forward.  No more 
questions, your honour." 
  The judge nodded.  "Mr. Laurel, do you want to 
question the witness?" 
  "I do, your honour." 
  This was it.  This was the part where he tried to 
make me out to be the bad guy.  Now I know how 
Commissioner Morgan must have felt all those times 
testifying against the Kidder. 
  "Mr. Dickenson, you are the sole heir to the Jenner 
Toy fortune, are you not?" 
  "I am." 
  "And yet Mr. Jenner may have written a will giving 
it all to charity.  You don't know." 
  "No, I don't." 
  "And that's why you're here, isn't it?  Mr. Jenner 
makes a mask statement and now here's your opportunity
to make sure you get his money." 
  "I don't follow you." 
  "Really?  You said you weren't interested in 
becoming Moon Man." 
  "That's right." 
  "And you didn't think Mr. Jenner was happy?" 
  "I don't know." 
  "You said he made his mask statement out of spite." 
  "Okay." 
  "You thought you were written out of the will, 
didn't you?  And this whole case is so you can make 
sure you can get some of that money, isn't it?" 
  "Look I was thirteen when I started as Moon Boy. 
Thirteen.  I should never have been placed in that 
situation.  Who would have been blamed if I had been 
killed?  Plant Woman?  The Porcupine?  The Kidder?  It
was Mr. Jenner's stated responsibility to protect me. 
He wasn't doing a very good job of that by taking me
with him on missions." 
  "You said nobody else wanted you, is that right?" 
  "I was thirteen.  Too young to become a crime 
fighter but too old to be adopted." 
  "Are you sure it wasn't because of your attitude. 
You wanted revenge against criminals and you wanted 
the one guardian who could give you the chance to help
you fight crime." 
  "Look, the man who killed my parents went to the 
hospital that night.  He was barely breathing.  I'm 
surprised he pulled through.  I look back at it now 
and I wish he'd have been charged with assault.  Night
Man, I mean.  It was all about making a reputation:
you beat a criminal within an inch of his life so that
criminals think twice when they see you and surrender
on the spot.  Not that he didn't beat them up anyway. 
Look, the guy was nuts.  I'm not like that.  The man
who killed my parents lived to face justice.  What
more do you think I wanted?  Look, if I wanted to I
could have just joined the police.  When I was old
enough." 
  "But you couldn't wait, could you?" 
  "I'm not the one who's psycho.  That's Night Man. 
The only reason he didn't join the police is because 
he'd rather beat up criminals than arrest them.  And 
that's the truth." 
  "You saw your parents gunned down.  You didn't feel 
angry about that?" 
  "Of course!" 
  "No further questions your honour!" 
  "Of course, no further questions!  Because I'm not 
telling you what you want to hear!" 
  "You may step down," the judge told me.  So I did. 
  "I call to the stand Mr. Johnathon Jenner, aka Night
Man." 
  Now I had to look at him.  God, he's still fit. 
It's a wonder he doesn't still fight crime.  He used 
to tell me, as we both got older, that he was too old 
for this 'shit' but I figgered he was just kidding, 
that he was just quoting a line from a movie. 
  "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth 
and nothing but the truth so help you God?" 
  "Yeah." 
  "Mr. Jenner, Greggory Dickenson claims he didn't 
want to be Moon Boy.  Is that right?" 
  "No.  He begged me to let him help me fight crime." 
  "Did you even want to have him become Moon Boy?" 
  The bastard shook his head.  "I only took him on 
because nobody else wanted him, like he said himself. 
You see, I felt responsible: if I had only been there 
a moment sooner, his parents would soon be alive." 
The bastard grimaced.  "Maybe he blamed me.  He was 
always angry with me, you see.  I was scared he could 
have revealed my identity if I didn't let him come 
along." 
  "But weren't you putting him in danger?" 
  "Of course he was in danger!  That's why I was so 
angry with him!  I didn't want him there, goofing off.
 We could have both been killed!  But he was 
determined, every time he got hurt, to fix himself up 
and get back out there.  Do you really think I could 
have forced him to face danger if he didn't want to?" 
  "I see.  No further questions, your honour." 
  The judge nodded.  "Mr. Murdock, do you wish to 
cross examine?" 
  "Absolutely!" my lawyer said.  This was it.  The 
whole case rided on what my lawyer would be able to 
get him to say.  "Mr. Jenner, if you didn't want my 
client to be Moon Boy then why did you provide him 
with a costume?" 
  "I gave him a costume because he completed the 
training." 
  "And he didn't become Moon Boy until after he had 
completed his training?" 
  "That's right." 
  "So why didn't you just continue training him until 
he was old enough to decide for himself if he wanted 
to be a crime fighter?" 
  "He couldn't wait any more.  He was always asking me
when he was going to go out on missions." 
  "Why didn't you just tell him he wasn't ready?" 
  "He was ready." 
  "At thirteen?" 
  "He was fourteen by the time he had completed his 
training." 
  "Why did you give him a white costume when you had a
black costume?" 
  "He was Moon Boy." 
  "Why couldn't he have been Night Boy.  Or Moon Moy 
could have had a black costume." 
  "What difference does it make what colour his 
costume was?" 
  "At least you could give us a reason to believe that
you were concerned about your ward's safety.  You
didn't even have to give him a costume at all: he 
could have just stayed back in the Night Car if he had
wanted to come along." 
  "Nonsense.  He needed a costume to protect his 
identity.  That WAS for his protection.  And I needed 
to know where he was at all times.  If he got hurt, I 
took him back to the Night Chamber right away.  In 
fact, it was a good thing he had a white costume so I 
could keep an eye on him." 
  "Not just hurt.  Shot." 
  "A few times." 
  "And you didn't take him to a hospital?" 
  "There was no need.  Edward took care of him." 
  "Was Edward a doctor?" 
  "He'd had emergency medical training." 
  "But was he a doctor?" 
  "No." 
  "So Moon Boy was repeatedly shot during missions. 
And yet you didn't tell him he should quit?" 
  "Of course I did!  I did all I could to get him to 
listen to me.  I admit that.  I'm not proud of that. 
But ultimately, this was what he wanted." 
  "So why didn't he go on to become Moon Man." 
  "I don't know.  That was his decision.  Maybe 
because he never was that good a sidekick and wouldn't
have been that good a hero.  He knew that." 
  "Despite all your training?" 
  "Yes." 
  "But you told us that he was ready to become Moon 
Boy.  That he had finished his training." 
  "That was then." 
  "You just said he never was a good sidekick.  And 
yet you gave him a costume and took him along with you
on missions." 
  "Look, there's only so much training I could have 
given him in the Night Chamber.  Only by going out and
fighting crime could he get the experience he needed."

  "And yet he never was a good sidekick." 
  "Yeah, well, he was a liability.  Do you really 
think I would have wanted him there?" 
  "You told him he had finished his training." 
  "I had trained him the best I could." 
  "You told him he was ready." 
  "Ready to join me as Moon Boy." 
  "He could have been killed." 
  "Yes." 
  "That would have been your responsibility." 
  "You don't understand." 
  "What don't I understand.  Explain it to me." 
  "Look, he saw his parents killed." 
  "Go on." 
  "You don't know what that's like." 
  "And you do?" 
  "You're damn right I do!  I saw my parents killed! 
It was a gangland hit at a wedding.  My parents 
weren't involved in the gangland but some of their 
associates were.  They killed everybody."  Beat.  "You
don't f... you don't know what it is like." 
  "Maybe not.  I don't know what it is like to lose a 
parent, let alone two.  But I know what it is like to 
have a son.  That is no responsibility to be taken 
lightly.  And this was a responsibility placed on you 
by the state.  The last thing you should have done was
to have placed your ward in the line of fire, let 
alone encouraged him by giving him a costume and 
telling him he was ready." 
  "He was." 
  "First you say he was.  Then you say he wasn't.  Now
you say he was.  Which was it?" 
  "He was ready.  I had trained him.  He was ready." 
  "And who are you to decide when a fourteen year old 
boy is ready to fight crime?" 
  "WHO AM I?!  I'M NIGHT MAN!  WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" 
  "Order!  Order!" the Judge said.  "One more outburst
like that and I'll hold you in comtempt of court!" 

  Wow. 

  "No further questions, your honour." 
  "You may sit down." 
  I didn't watch Johnathon Jenner sit down.  I imagine

he was watching me though. 
  The Judge sighed deeply.  "The purpose of the mask 
statement is to protect heroes from reprisals.  It 
doesn't give people a blank slate.  If it did, then 
villains would start making mask statements and 
claiming that they can't be charged with the crimes 
they had commited.  Of course they can.  And the way 
we treat our heroes should be no different. 
  "There is no doubt in my mind that a crime was 
commited by Johnathon Jenner.  Johnathon Jenner was 
entrusted by the state with the responsibility to 
protect Greggory Dickenson.  Instead, he was placed in
the line of fire and repeatedly injured, shot even, as
Johnathon Jenner himself admits in testimony.  And yet
Greggory Dickenson was never taken to a hospital. 
Presumably, this was to protect their idenities.  It
also nicely protected Mr. Jenner from facing child
endangerment charges at the time! 
  "I therefore order Johnathon Jenner to hand over 
half of his assets to Greggory Dickenson, effective 
immediately.  These are punative damages and do not, 
in my opinion, go far enough in light of the crime 
that was commited.  They are fair in the sense that 
Mr. Jenner himself decided to make Mr. Dickenson his 
partner and not just merely his ward.  I also order 
Mr. Jenner, based on his outburst today, to undergo 
psychiatric evaluation.  I will leave it up to a 
trained psychiatrist to decide whether or not Mr. 
Jenner will have to join his opponents in Raftpork 
Assylum. 
  "I must say, frankly, that my sympathies in this 
case did lean towards Mr. Dickenson, who was merely a 
teenager when all this happened.  Given the nature of 
the danger that was faced, I'm actually surprised 
other sidekicks haven't come forward to sue the heroes
that brought them along on missions.  Perhaps now they
will." 

                  SUPERFREAKS #1 

               SINS OF THE FATHERS 

                      PART 1 

2:30 am 

  "1:00 am, the people in the next room heard 
screaming so they called the police.  We got there at 
1:30 am." 
  "Has the body been moved?" 
  "Not unless he moved the body before we got here." 
  "Just tell me if you moved the body." 
  "No.  We didn't." 
  "Thank you.  I'd like to speak to Mr. Extreme." 
  "He's just known as 'Extreme'." 
  "Maybe to you.  But I prefer to keep a distance." 
Michael King was grumpier than usual.  He didn't like 
it when he was called down to a crime scene at 2:00 in
the morning. 

2:35 am 

  "You wanted to speak to me?" 
  "Mr. Extreme..." 
  "I'm just called 'Extreme'." 
  "Very well, Extreme, I assume you are aware of your 
rights." 
  "The arresting officers already read them to me, 
yes." 
  "We just want to know the truth.  It would save 
time, you see.  Anything you could say to shed light 
on what happened would be appreciated." 
  Extreme sighed.  "Alright.  Her name is Paula Pound.
 Or at least that's what she said.  It probably isn't
her real name: it would be a strange coincidence if
her family name and her job description were the same.

 You see, she's a super, like me.  She can pound a car
into a cube.  I didn't think there'd be a problem." 
  "We'll run her fingerprints, maybe show her picture 
around.  We will have to find out who she really was 
so we can contact her relatives." 
  "Of course.  Anyway, one thing led to another.  I 
mean, I'm Extreme.  Women love me.  But I rarely, you 
know, get any.  Your ordinary woman, I could just 
crush them.  Not on purpose of course, but I like it a
bit rough." 
  "Go on." 
  "We hit it off right away.  But we both have our own
secret identities.  And we weren't planning on 
revealing who we were just yet, not unless things got 
serious.  We were both just interested in sex." 
  "So this was consentual." 
  "Absolutely!  You can ask downstairs.  We both 
checked in.  Under assumed names, of course." 
  "Right.  Mary?" 
  "Yes?" 
  "Go check the registry.  Perhaps she signed in using

her real name." 
  "Okay." 
  "You were saying." 
  "I don't think her real name was Jane Smith." 
  "We have to allow for the possibility." 
  "Anyway, things were going great.  And then she was 
dead." 
  "Just like that?" 
  Extreme nodded.  "Look, I would have called the 
police myself, but I have super hearing: I knew that 
the couple in the room next to us had already called 
the police.  So I waited for the police to get here. 
I wanted to make sure she was alright." 
  "She's not alright.  She's dead." 
  "Yeah, but... I thought maybe she just had passed 
out.  Her heart was still strong.  At first.  Then it 
started to fade away.  I swear... all the powers I 
have... I have nothing that could have brought her 
back." 
  "You could have flown her to a hospital." 
  "I screwed up.  I panicked.  I'm sorry." 
  "I think, for your own protection, that you find 
yourself a lawyer before we continue this 
conversation." 
  "I understand." 
  "In the meantime, you'll be in the custody of the 
arresting officers." 

8:45 am 

  "Who found the body?" 
  "Garbagemen.  She'd been thrown out with the trash."

  Michael examined the body.  Two dead women in 
Pepperton found just a few hours apart.  But this one 
didn't look like an accident.  Mary Jones had her own 
theory. 
  "It looks like the killer knew her," she said. 
  "Why do you say that?" 
  "She appears to have been stabbed ten times.  He 
really wanted her dead.  If this had been a robbery 
then stabbing her once would have been enough." 
  "I agree," Michael said, "but it's also possible 
that he's just a psycho who had a bad day.  Either 
way, we're going to have to make this case a top 
priority: we'd be responsible if the killer were to 
strike again." 
  "You think this is a new serial killer?" 
  "We have to be prepared for the possibility." 

10:50 am 

  "Did you finish the preliminary examination of the 
body we found in the hotel?" 
  "I did." 
  "What did you determine to be cause of death?" 
  Dr. Jack Greenspan hesitated.  He'd never seen a 
case quite like this one.  "Near as I can tell, her 
skin is virtually invulnerable: that made the 
examination very difficult.  But her internal organs 
are more sensitive." 
  "So she was killed during intercourse?" 
  "Near as I can tell she died shortly afterwards." 
  "So what, specifically, was the cause of death?" 
  "Ejaculation." 
  "Ejaculation?" 
  "The force of the blast, if you will, would have 
been sufficient to rip a normal girl apart.  In her 
case, she appears to have ultimately died from 
internal bleeding." 
  "Would she have been in a lot of pain?" 
  "No.  I don't think so." 
  "How long would it have taken her to die?" 
  "Fifteen.  Maybe twenty minutes." 
  "I see." 
  "So what do you think District Attorney Russell 
will say?  He's got no love for capes." 
  "Alan Russell is a good man.  You've told me that 
the evidence shows that she died accidentally.  If, as
you say, she wasn't in a lot of pain when she died 
then that corroborates Extreme's claim that he didn't 
think she was dying, that he thought she had just 
passed out.  The only problem the DA might have is 
with his inability to act.  The fact that he could 
have gotten her to a hospital before she died." 
  "Moving her at superspeed would have exacerbated her
injuries." 
  "Then that's what we tell the DA." 
  "We might end up telling him that in court." 

1:20 pm 

  "Edward, the girl we found in the dumpster.  Do you 
have anything we can go on?" 
  "Yeah.  For starters, she wasn't so much stabbed as 
punctured." 
  "So you've identified the weapon?" 
  "It appears to have been retractable claws." 
  "Retractable claws?  As in the retractable claws 
used by Weapon Alpha?" 
  "That would be my guess.  We also have a sample of 
blood that doesn't appear to be the victims.  I'm 
going to test it for DNA.  Hopefully the government 
will allow us to obtain a sample of Weapon Alpha's DNA
for the purpose of comparison." 
  "I'm sure they would want to have him eliminated as 
a suspect.  First Extreme and now Weapon Alpha.  This 
is certainly a bad day for the Extreme Force Six." 

2:30 pm 

  "I want you to continue to press charges against 
Extreme." 
  Detective John Phelps looked at Alan Russell 
quizically.  "The death has been ruled accidental.  We
were going to drop the charges.  What do you want us
to charge him with?" 
  "Manslaughter.  His negligence led directly to Miss 
Brenton's death." 
  "Do you want us to bring him in?" 
  "You should never have released him." 
  "Do you seriously believe that the city's protector 
belongs in jail?" 
  "I'm going to ask Judge Matthews to prepare a 
summons for him.  He needs to have his day in court 
just like everybody else." 

4:30 pm 

  "Did you get the DNA sample you needed?" 
  Edward Bailey nodded.  "Yeah.  And I compared it to 
the sample I obtained from the victim.  It's a match."

  Michael looked sad.  Of course, he was very tired. 
"Alright.  We're going to have to bring him in. 

                        PART 2 

9:15 am 

  "Do you understand why you were asked to come here, 
Mr. Garfield?" 
  "Yeah.  And I didn't do it." 
  "The wounds on the victim match those made by the 
retractable claws coming out of your wrists.  We also 
were able to match your DNA with DNA found on the 
victim's body." 
  "Really?" 
  "Yes.  What do you have to say about that?" 
  "It wasn't me." 
  Michael King was getting impatient.  "We don't 
require a confession.  People are a bit more 
sophisticated now than they were ten years ago: they 
know going in that if we match your DNA then that's as
good as a fingerprint if not better." 
  "I have a twin brother." 
  "A twin brother?" 
  "Yes." 
  "With retractable claws?" 
  "Yes." 
  Michael King shook his head.  "That's not going to 
work.  You weren't born with retractable claws." 
  "We went into the Weapon Alpha program together. 
They told me he had died.  I believed them." 
  "They told you he had died?" 
  "We had both volunteered.  We both knew the risks. 
I agreed to let them cover up his death, to make it 
seem as though he had never existed, because we didn't
want to embarass the program.  But I see now that they
must have wanted him as a covert op.  Having his own
family disavow his very existance would have made him
the perfect soldier with no ties, no history and no
reason to question orders." 
  "Do you have any evidence to prove that your twin 
brother ever existed?" 
  "Of course not.  It was all destroyed." 
  "You never kept anything as a keepsake?" 
  "No.  Nobody was to know." 
  "And yet you're telling me this now." 
  "I feel responsible.  Detective Phelps showed me the
pictures.  It was a brutal slaying.  Maybe all this
time underground, maybe he's gone nuts." 
  "Or maybe this twin brother of yours is just that 
part of you that you sometimes allow to come out 
precisely so you can release your id and not feel 
guilty about it.  It wasn't you, you tell yourself, it
was your twin brother." 
  "No.  I swear I'm telling the truth." 
  "I don't believe you.  We're placing you under 
arrest." 

10:15 am 

  "He says he didn't do it." 
  "That's what they all say," Mary Jones said with a 
smile. 
  "What else have you got?" 
  "She appears to have been sexually assaulted." 
  "Well then that gives us motive.  He must have raped
her and killed her."  Michael thought for a moment. 
"When this goes to trial, he's going to use the 'evil
twin' defense.  Is there any way to rule it out?" 
  "Other than the obvious fact that his twin brother 
wouldn't have claws like him?" 
  "He claims that they went into the Weapon Alpha 
program together and were given the same claws." 
  "Bullshit." 
  "Why don't you go to his old neighbourhood and try 
to find people who were there when he was growing up. 
If we can prove that he didn't have a twin brother 
then he'll have no choice but to change his story." 
  "Alright." 

11:30 am 

  "Want to go out for a quick bite?" 
  Michael looked at his watch.  "It's a bit early. 
It's not yet time for lunch." 
  Detective John Phelps nodded.  "We're in a hurry. 
We need to grab a quick bite and head down to a crime 
scene." 
  "What happened?" 
  "It's Johnathon Jenner.  He's dead." 
  "Johnathon Jenner?  The toy magnate?" 
  "Yeah.  He recently came out as Night Man." 
  "That's right.  And I remember his former partner, 
Moon Boy sued him as a result, saying that it just put
him in more danger." 
  "Yeah." 
  "Seems he had a point."  Michael whistled.  "It's 
not a good time to be a super." 

2:15 pm 

  "I'm sorry to bother you." 
  "Not at all." 
  "My name is Mary Jones.  I'm with the Pepperton 
police department." 
  "How can I help you?" 
  "Do you remember a Mr. Logan Garfield?" 
  "Oh.  He lived here when he was a little boy, yes. 
Why?  Is he in trouble?" 
  "You could say that.  Was Mr. Garfield an only child
or did he have a brother?" 
  "An only child?  Heaven's no.  He had a brother.  A 
twin, in fact." 
  "Really?" 
  "Oh, yes, I remember it like it was yesterday. 
Little Logan and Lucas used to play together in the 
streets.  I remember my husband John, bless his soul, 
he used to tell them to be more careful, to watch out 
for cars but they wouldn't listen.  They were very 
headstrong, very determined to go their own way." 
  "I see.  Do you mind coming down to the police 
station and making a written statement to that 
effect." 
  "Of course.  But why?" 
  "Because it could be that Mr. Garfield is being 
accused of a crime he didn't commit." 

4:10 pm 

  "Jack identified the cause of death in the Jenner 
case as being poison that was absorbed through the 
skin.  What do you have on the lipstick I found?" 
  "Positive for poison.  I also found a woman's DNA." 
  "Did you run a match with those of known felons in 
our database?" 
  "Yeah.  I couldn't find a match." 
  "Poison in lipstick.  That was the modus operandi of
Plant Woman." 
  Edward Bailey nodded.  "That was a bit before my 
time but, yeah, I remember hearing about that.  Isn't 
she still in prison though?" 
  "I want you to run a comparison between her DNA and 
the DNA in the lipstick." 
  "But it couldn't have been her, not if she's been in
prison." 
  "But you could be able to tell if the DNA is from a 
relative of hers, somebody who might have had access 
to her poisons.  Somebody who might have had a reason 
to want to kill Night Man." 

11:05 pm 

  "Hello?" 
  >>Detective Phelps?<< 
  "Speaking." 
  >>It's about Logan Garfield.<< 
  "What about him?" 
  >>He's escaped.<< 

                        PART 3 

9:05 am 

  "Escaped?  How?" 
  "Johnston says he's able to pick locks with his 
claws.  And with his government training he had no 
trouble getting away." 
  "We need to get him back, John." 
  John sighed.  "I know.  I've put Johnson in charge 
of the case.  He's heading down to where we found the 
dead girl and he's starting from there." 
  "That's assuming that he's going to try to prove his
innocence.  He could just be going on the run." 
  "Then he's going to need transportation.  I've sent 
officers to the train stations, the bus stations, even
the airports.  We'll get him, Mike." 
  A man and a woman walked up to them.  "Excuse us. 
We're the parents of Diane Brenton, the girl who 
Extreme killed.  Who is in charge of the case?" 
  "That would be us," John said.  "I'm John Phelps, 
the lead detective and this is Michael King, the CSI 
in charge of the case." 
  "How can we help you?" Michael asked. 
  "I just... don't want him to get away with killing 
my daughter," the woman said. 
  "Well, I understand your loss, but her death has 
been ruled an accident." 
  John cut in.  "I spoke to The Super Soldier 
yesterday afternoon.  He's promised to personally 
deliver Extreme with a supeona today.  He goes to 
trial in two weeks." 
  "I hope that bastard rots in jail!" the man said. 
"If the criminal trial doesn't lead to a conviction 
then we're prepared to go after him in civil court!" 
They walked off. 
  Michael looked confused.  "The Extreme case is going
to trial?  I thought we agreed we were going to drop
the charges?" 
  "The DA wanted us to act on this.  I think he might 
have been in touch with her parents and now her 
parents are putting pressure on us directly.  They're 
serious, Mike.  You heard them: they want justice for 
their daughter." 
  "It sounds as if they are more interested in 
persecuting Extreme than in getting justice.  There's 
no evidence that the sex was non-consentual.  There's 
no crime." 
  "They want closure, Mike.  They can't just drop it. 
Can't you see that?" 
  "Okay.  So we'll have a trial.  But I'll be 
testifying for the defense." 
  "All any of us want is for the truth to be laid out 
in the open for all to see, Mike."  He thought for a 
moment.  "You know, it doesn't help the fact that 
these capes keep secret identities and work with 
covert government ops.  It makes people suspicious." 
  "You're right."  Michael nodded.  "You're absolutely
right.  It doesn't help at all." 

9:55 

  That scent.  It was just like his.  But different. 
It was Lukas.  It had to be. 
  "Hold it!  Hold it right there!" Officer Mark 
Johnston said as he pointed his gun at Weapon Alpha. 
He had been sent down to the crime scene looking for 
Weapon Alpha.  He had found him. 
  "I didn't kill the girl," Weapon Alpha told him. 
  "I don't care!" Johnston quiped.  "You're a 
futigive!" 
  "You're not going to shoot me.  I'm the only one who
can find the real killer." 
  "That's not how it works," Mark insisted.  "You let 
the CSIs do their job and let them find the killer. 
Okay?" 
  "That's not going to be good enough." 
  "Freeze!"  Weapon Alpha lept towards him.  He shot. 
Somehow, he missed.  Johnston wondered if maybe he'd 
deliberately missed rather than shoot somebody he 
still considered a hero. 
  Weapon Alpha had gotten away.  Again.  Johnston was 
going to be in deep shit when he reported this to 
Phelps.  Great.  Just great. 

2:03 

  "What do you want?" 
  "I'm here to talk about your daughter, Penny." 
  "What about her?" 
  Mary Jones had to be very careful taking to Plant 
Woman.  She had no reason to want to help her.  "You 
may have heard that Night Man is dead." 
  "No.  First time I've heard.  Can't say I'm upset to
hear it though.  What does this have to do with my 
daughter?" 
  "Night Man was poisoned by lipstick.  Your 
lipstick." 
  Penelope Kay aka Plant Woman smiled.  "I couldn't 
have killed him, dearie, I've been here in the joint."

  "We found DNA in the lipstick.  The DNA is of your 
daughter.  Miss Kay, your daughter killed Night Man." 
  "Good for her," Penelope said, her smile broadening.

  "You're not concerned that your daughter may end up 
facing prison?" 
  "I am concerned," Penelope said flatly.  "That's why
I'm not going to help you." 
  Mary sighed.  "Look.  You'll be coming up for parole
soon.  If you help me, I can put in a word with the
DA." 
  "And if I don't help you?" 
  "Then I'll tell the DA you were uncooperative." 
  Penelope sat there thinking for a while.  "So all I 
have to do is give you an address where she might be 
staying?" 
  "That's right." 
  "And you'll put in a good word with the DA?" 
  "Yes." 
  "So I could be out of here by next month?" 
  "Maybe," Mary said quickly. 
  "Maybe?" 
  "I'll do what I can." 
  Penelope made a clicking sound with her mouth. 
"Okay.  Try 1374 Elgin.  That's where her boyfriend 
lives.  I assume you've already been to her home 
address." 
  "Her home address is in the phone book." 
  "That's what I figured."  Penelope leaned forward. 
"So I'm going to get out of here, right?" 
  "We'll see.  I'll talk to the DA."  Mary stood up. 
"Thanks for your help."  Mary reached across the table
to shake Plant Woman's hand but she refused.  Mary
understood: a handshake to her was not the way to
ensure trust; she was a woman who believed in results.


3:35 pm 

  "Have a seat." 
  "It's okay.  I don't get tired." 
  Leroy Laurel looked up at Extreme.  "Please sit 
down.  It makes me nervous having someone standing 
like that in front of me.  And it's more comfortable 
to me to look people in the eye." 
  "Alright."  He grabbed a chair and sat down. 
  "You need to accustom yourself to being around 
odinary people." 
  Extreme didn't respond.  Of course, as Kenneth 
Clark, reporter for the Daily World, he had to be 
around ordinary people but he was accustomed to acting
like a God when he was Extreme.  If he tried to act
more human when he was Extreme then wouldn't people
immediately recognize him as Kenneth Clark? 
  "So what is this I hear about you being accused of 
killing somebody?" 
  "I did kill somebody.  Diane Brenton.  But it was an
accident.  And the police agreed that it was an 
accident." 
  "So why are you being charged?" 
  "The district attorney is charging me with 
manslaughter / negligent homocide.  He says I should 
have known what was going to happen." 
  "What did happen?" 
  Extreme sighed.  "Three days ago I met Diane 
Brenton.  I didn't know her as Diane Brenton: she 
called herself 'Paula Pound'.  Anyway, we hit it off, 
we went to a motel and we had sex." 
  "And?" 
  "That's how she died." 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "As Paula Pound, Diane Brenton was a super.  She was
superstrong.  But not, apparently, completely 
invulnerable." 
  "Ah." 
  "Look... I've been thinking... after I had my 
orgasm, I was in a weakened state.  I don't even know 
if my powers were working, if I even could have flown 
her to a hospital, even if I actually thought she was 
dying." 
  Leroy Laurel leaned back on his chair and thought 
for a moment.  "Alright," he said, leaning foward 
again.  "I'll take your case." 
  "Thank you."  He offered to shake Leroy's hand. 
  "I don't think so," Leroy said, waving his right 
hand.  "Seems to me you don't know your own strength."


11:45 

  "Lukas!" 
  "Logan?" 
  "Lukas, I'm bringing you in!" 
  "Over my dead body!" 
  "If that's the way it's got to be." 
  The two brothers both popped out their retractable 
claws. 

                        PART 4 

2:05 am 

  Michael was pissed: second time in three nights he'd
been called down to a crime scene in the middle of the
night. 
  "I had to kill him," Weapon Alpha said.  "He was 
going to kill me." 
  "He was your brother." 
  "He would have killed you too.  Any of you." 
  Michael shook his head.  "Don't you see what you've 
done?  There's no way we can prove that he killed the 
girl and not you." 
  Weapon Alpha exhaled.  "Maybe you can find the 
girl's blood on him." 
  "Maybe.  We're certainly going to try.  But we'll 
never know the full story.  Not now." 
  "Do you think I wanted to kill him?" 
  "For all we know, you killed him to cover up the 
truth."  He looked at the body.  "Look at him.  He's 
wearing the same costume as you." 
  "So?" 
  "So all this time there have been two Weapon Alphas 
and yet you're telling me you didn't know?" 
  "I swear.  I didn't know." 
  Michael sighed.  "You see, Mr. Garfield, that's the 
part that I find hard to believe." 

11:02 am 

  "Are you Penny Kay?" 
  "I am." 
  "I'm Detective Mary Jones and this is Officer Mark 
Johnston.  We're from the Pepperton police 
department." 
  "Yes," she said.  "I've been expecting you." 
  "Miss Kay, we're placing you under arrest for the 
murder of Johnathon Jenner aka Night Man.  You have 
the right to remain silent.  If you give up the right 
to reamin silent, anything you say can and will be 
used against you in a court of law.  You have the 
right to an attorney.  If you cannot afford an 
attorney, one will be appointed for you by the courts 
to act in your defense.  Do you understand these 
rights?" 
  "I do." 
  "Then come with us." 
  "He didn't know about me." 
  Mary, always the investigator, was curious.  "Why 
would he have known about you?" 
  "He should have known about me.  He should have 
known that Plant Woman had had a daughter." 
  Mary nodded.  "So.  He was your father." 
  Penny smiled.  "Very good." 
  "Why didn't you just tell him who you were?" 
  "All these years I knew Night Man was my father but 
I didn't know Johnathon Jenner was Night Man.  After 
he came out as Night Man, it took a while the gather 
up the courage to go see him." 
  "And?" 
  "He... hit on me.  He told me I was very attractive.
 He actually thought I'd be interested in an old man
like him." 
  "He didn't know." 
  "HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!" she screamed. 
  "Hey!" Officer Johnston said.  "Take it easy." 
  "So I agreed to go out with him.  I went home first.
 I put on some of my mother's old makeup." 
  "You kept your mother's old makeup?" 
  "Sure," Penny said with a deranged smile.  "The 
colours are beautiful.  And they're perfectly safe as 
long as I don't kiss anyone." 

3:30 pm 

  The guard in front of Extreme Force Headquarters was
a military police officer.  After being told to stop, 
Michael King showed him his badge. 
  "I'm here to see The Super Soldier." 
  "Follow me." 

3:40 pm 

  "A Detective Michael King from the Pepperton police 
is here to see you, Sir." 
  "Send him in." 
  Michael went in to The Super Soldier's office.  "Mr.
Super Soldier." 
  "I prefer to be called _The_ Super Soldier." 
  Michael cracked a smile.  "Alright." 
  "Sit down.  Please." 
  Michael sat down.  "Been quite a week, hasn't it?" 
  "Indeed." 
  "Night Man murdered.  Extreme facing charges of 
criminal negligence.  And then there's the whole 
Weapon Alpha situation." 
  The Super Soldier nodded.  "Quite a mess.  I know." 
  "Now, what bothers me is that there were two people,
brothers, both of whom wore the Weapon Alpha costumes
and both of whom had retractable claws given to them
by the government." 
  "Apparently." 
  "So, what I want to know is this: did you know there
were two Weapon Alphas?" 
  "No, I did not." 
  "They didn't tell you?" 
  "Detective King, I am on a need to know basis here 
and apparently I didn't need to know." 
  "I see.  So can I speak to anyone who would have 
known?" 
  "All information regarding the Weapon Alpha program 
is classified as top secret." 
  "Aren't you the least bit curious yourself about 
this?" 
  "My superiors tell me that Lukas Garfield was a 
covert ops agent who went rogue a few weeks ago and 
they hadn't seen any sign of him until he turned up 
dead this morning." 
  "Can I speak to your superiors?" 
  "No, you can not." 
  "I'm trying to run an investigation here." 
  "I'm sorry, Detective King, but we have to maintain 
a level of secrecy here for the sake of national 
security." 
  "Can you at least tell me why your superiors, who 
obviously knew of the existance of a second Weapon 
Alpha, did not volunteer information to us when your 
Weapon Alpha was charged with murder." 
  "That would be a question for my superiors." 
  "But you told me that I wouldn't get a chance to 
speak to your superiors!" 
  "That's right." 
  "That's not very helpful then, is it? 
  The Super Soldier sighed.  "I'm sorry, but that's 
the way it has to be.  The identities of my immediate 
superiors are classified.  It's for their protection, 
you see." 
  "Protection from what?  Prosecution?" 
  The Super Soldier smiled.  "I assure you, Detective 
King, there's no conspiracy here.  There's no cover 
up." 
  "I wish I could believe that." 
  "Again, I'm sorry.  I wish I could be more help." 
  Michael nodded.  "The Extreme trial is coming up in 
two weeks." 
  "I know.  I was the one who handed him the supeona."

  "I was planning to testify for the defense." 
  "Anything you can say in his defense would be 
appreciated." 
  "But now I'm not so sure.  I'm starting to have 
doubts." 
  The Super Soldier stared blankly.  "You will do your
job.  You will follow the evidence.  And your 
testimony will be based on that." 
  Michael nodded.  "You're right.  Of course.  I just 
don't feel good about it anymore." 
  "You don't have to." 
  "We'll be keeping an eye on you.  All of you." 
  The Super Soldier nodded.  "Feel free to keep in 
touch." 
  Michael couldn't help but smile.  "We will." 

                   SUPERFREAKS #2

                CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

                       PART 1 

9:15 am 

  "Detective King?  We meet again." 
  "So we do."  Michael King had met The Super Soldier 
two weeks ago.  It wasn't the friendliest of meetings.
 "You said you had found a body?" 
  "Mr. G is the one who found the body." 
  "You say this is an old hideout for the Brotherhood 
of Masters?" 
  "Not quite so old.  They appear to have recently 
abandoned it.  You see, they've never won a fight 
against us so, nowadays, when we're closing in on them
they prefer to just cut and run." 
  "I see." 
  "The body is over here.  They appear to have had put
it here on display." 
  "This is not a fresh corpse." 
  "No.  We noticed that ourselves." 
  "It might be hard to identify who he was." 
  "Not necessarily.  The costume is familiar." 
  "So you think you know who this is?" 
  "I'm afraid so."  The Super Soldier sighed.  "It 
appears to be the Archer, one of the members of the 
original Extreme Force Six." 
  "Christ." 
  "But, as you say, it is hard to tell.  I was hoping 
your people could positively identify him." 

12:05 pm 

  "Good to see you all here," John Phelps said.  "It 
isn't often that we're all in the same place at the 
same time." 
  "Yeah, well, you said you were going to buy pizza," 
Mary Jones said. 
  "Don't worry.  It's coming." 
  "It had better get here soon," Michael said.  "I'm 
due in court this afternoon." 
  "I thought you weren't going to testify until 
tomorrow." 
  "I feel an invested interest in this case," Michael 
explained.  "I strongly believe that Extreme is 
innocent and I want to see him get a fair trial." 
  "Fair enough.  I just wanted to congratulate you for
all the hard work you've done, starting with the 
Dragneto case you all worked on a month ago: the jury 
came back with a decision yesterday and he's guilty on
all counts." 
  Michael smiled.  "I knew his 'mind control' defense 
wouldn't stand up in court." 
  "Meanwhile, Penny Kay has officially pled no contest
to the murder of her father, Johnathon Jenner aka
Night Man." 
  "With her daughter going to jail, is there any 
chance of Plant Woman being released?" Mary Jones 
asked. 
  John Phelps shook his head.  "The DA isn't going to 
want a convicted killer to go free." 
  "But she helped in the investigation.  Now they're 
both in prison." 
  "Yeah, well, they both killed people." 
  "I promised I'd do what I could to get her 
released." 
  "I know.  And that's the sort of thing we say when 
we have to get the information we need." 
  Just then, the pizza delivery guy arrived. 
  "Alright!" Edward Bailey said.  "The pizzas are 
here!" 

1:05 pm 

  "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client, 
Extreme," Leroy Laurel said, pointing to the man in 
question, "is a hero.  He has saved hundreds, if not 
thousands, of lives in this city alone.  Every moment 
that he spends here in court is time that he could be 
spending out there saving lives. 
  "It's true: Diane Brenton died as a direct result of
his actions on that fateful night.  And it is true 
that, as a metahuman, Extreme needs to be extra 
careful when relating to ordinary people.  But Diane 
Brenton was no ordinary person: she was Paula Pound, a
metahuman like himself.  And what happened to her was
an accident. 
  "Ask yourself, what would you have had Extreme do? 
Would it have helped if he had worn a condom?" 
  "Objection!" District Attorney Alan Russell said, 
standing up.  "The council for the defense is not 
treating the deceased with the proper respect!" 
  "Overruled!" Judge Kevin Matthews said.  "Please do 
not interrupt the defense council's opening 
statements." 
  "Thank you your honour."  Leroy Laurel continued. 
"I respect Diane Brenton.  I also respect Extreme.  He
is more than human, yes, but in some ways he is just
like the rest of us.  He has the same urges.  The same
needs.  Extreme thought he had found somebody with
whom he could satisfy those needs.  He was wrong. 
  "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is something else 
that makes us human: the ability to make mistakes. 
Extreme made a mistake, yes, but it was an honest 
mistake.  He is not guilty of criminal negligence. 
Thank you." 

3:01 

  Alan Russell had just called to the stand Doctor 
Jack Greenspan as a witness for the prosecution. 
  "Dr. Greenspan, could you please describe for us the
work you do for the Pepperton police?" 
  "I'm a medical examiner.  My duties include 
determining both the time and cause of death of bodies
brought to the morgue.  My work leads to determining
how and under what circumstances a person died." 
  "And what can you tell us about the death of Diane 
Brenton?" 
  "Diane Brenton died as a result of internal 
bleeding." 
  "And what was the cause of this internal bleeding?" 
  "It appears as though when Extreme ejaculated inside
of her that the force was too strong for her internal
organs to take." 
  "And how long would it have taken her to die?" 
  "At least fifteen minutes." 
  "Thank you.  No further questions, your honour." 
Alan Russell went to sit down. 
  "Do you wish to cross examine?" Judge Matthews asked
Leroy Laurel. 
  "I do."  He stood up and walked over to where the 
witness was seated.  "In your opinion, Dr. Greenspan, 
was Diane Brenton in a lot of pain as a result of her 
internal bleeding?" 
  "I don't think so.  The hemoraging would have made 
it difficult for her to breathe and she would have 
passed out before she died." 
  "Would it have been possible for someone who had no 
medical training to know that she was dying?" 
  "Not necessarily." 
  "Thank you," Leroy Laurel said.  "No further 
questions." 

4:55 

  "Has the prosecution called all its witnesses?" 
Judge Kevin Matthews asked. 
  "We have your honour," Alan Russell replied. 
  "Very well then.  We will adjurn until tomorrow 
morning when the defense will have an opportunity to 
present its case." 
  "Your honour," Leroy Laurel said, standing up, "if 
it would please the court, I would kindly ask that we 
postpone continuing this trial until the day after 
tomorrow." 
  "Why is that?" Judge Matthews asked. 
  "The Night Man funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.  I
rather thought that it would be humanitarian of the 
court to allow Extreme to mourn the loss of his former
teammate." 
  "Of course.  Does the prosecution have any 
objections?" 
  "No, your honour," Alan Matthews said. 
  "Very well then," the Judge said.  "We will continue
these proceedings after one day's rest."  He slammed
his gavel down on his desk to officially end day one
of the Extreme trial. 

                       PART 2 

9:05 

  "Greggory?" 
  "Bonnie!  It's been years!" 
  "Greggory, why did you do it?" 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "Why did you betray Night Man like that?" 
  "Betray...?" 
  "Why did you ruin his reputation with your stupid 
court case?" 
  "Now... hold on..." 
  "He raised you, Greggory.  He raised you from a 
small child.  When nobody else would." 
  "Yes, he did.  He took me in.  And then he 
immediately started training me for his war on crime."

  "I thought you wanted to be Moon Boy." 
  "We didn't form Electric Youth until after we'd all 
been active as sidekicks for a few years.  I'd gotten 
used to being Moon Boy.  To be honest, I was proud to 
be Moon Boy.  But I never had any powers.  If I got 
shot, the bullets didn't bounce off." 
  "I didn't know you felt this way.  You should have 
said something." 
  "I didn't want you to think of me as a coward." 
  "Really?  So now it's my fault you were Moon Boy?" 
  "I didn't mean it like that." 
  "Are you really going to go around suing people for 
making you do something we all thought you enjoyed?" 
  "Look, I was a kid.  We were all kids.  It was 
different for you because you actually had powers." 
Greggory bit his lip.  "Are you still Amazing Girl?" 
  "I might take over from Amazing Woman if she were to
quit but otherwise, no, I have a family now." 
  "Good for you.  So... I take it you're here for 
Night Man's funeral." 
  Amazing Girl rolled her eyes.  "No, really, I like 
hanging out at funeral homes." 
  Greggory smirked.  "Actually, I miss him.  He's the 
only father I knew." 
  Tears welled up in Amazing Girl's eyes.  "I know." 
  "Yeah." 
  "It's okay for you to cry." 
  "No it's not," Greggory said sadly.  "I'm not 
supposed to cry.  I'm Moon Boy, remember?" 

10:02 

  "What have you got for me?" 
  Edward Bailey turned to look at his boss, Michael 
King.  "I've been able to reconstruct what he must 
have looked like based on his bone structure." 
  "Is that it?  What about DNA?" 
  "The Archer never revealed his identity so nobody 
knows who he really was.  So we don't have any DNA to 
use as a comparison." 
  "Right.  Alright then.  Show me what you've got." 
  "Okay.  I ran this facial reconstruction program 
based on scans of his skull and then added facial 
features based on his race and gender.  This is what I
got.  I then added the Archer mask.  Now, compare the
resultant face with this old picture of the Archer." 
  "It looks like the same guy." 
  "If he were standing right here in front of us then 
I'd swear he was The Archer." 
  Michael nodded.  "Looks as though The Super Soldier 
and his buddies are going to have to arrange another 
funeral." 

11:05 

  "Johnathon Jenner was a hero, whether as the owner 
of the Jenner Toy company, as a billionaire 
philanthropist or as the hero known as Night Man.  It 
was, in fact, only a year ago that we learned that 
Johnathon Jenner and Night Man were one in the same." 
  Father O'Brien looked down at the open casket. 
"Johnathon, you will be missed both as the man and as 
the hero.  Because the world still needs heroes like 
you." 

12:15 

  "You're Wendy Wang, reporter for the Daily World, 
right?" 
  "That's right." 
  "I'm Mary Jones, a crime scene investigator for the 
Pepperton police department.  I saw you at the Extreme
trial yesterday." 
  "I've always had... an interest... in Extreme." 
  "But you never...?" 
  "Never...?  Oh no no no no.  Good thing I suppose." 
  "Yeah.  It's too bad he couldn't just turn off his 
powers." 
  "That would have been nice." 
  Mary looked around.  "It seems as though every cape 
in Pepperton showed up today." 
  "Yeah.  Night Man was one of them.  They're like a 
family." 
  "I never thought about it that way." 
  "It's hard for them to develop relationships because
most of them have secret identities.  That's why so
many of them reveal their identities later in life:
they don't want to grow old alone without anyone
knowing who they were." 

2:05 

  "Wendy." 
  "Ken." 
  "Wendy, I want to thank you for supporting me 
yesterday at my trial." 
  Wendy Wang looked straight into the face of Kenneth 
Clark.  "Ken, are you sure you want to talk about this
here?" 
  "Sure." 
  "I mean, it's bad enough that you leave as Extreme 
and then immediately come back as Kenneth Clark.  You 
don't want people overhearing this conversation and 
figuring out who you are." 
  "I wouldn't worry about that.  They're not going to 
think that mild-mannered Kenneth Clark is Extreme." 
  "I figured it out." 
  "Yeah but you were ace reporter Wendy Wang.  And it 
was years before you caught on." 
  "Yeah, well, like you said, it's not what anybody 
would have thought." 
  Kenneth bit his lip.  "I'm sorry things didn't work 
out for us." 
  Wendy nodded.  "Yeah, well, turns out you were right
about us not being able to be intimate."  She thought
for a moment.  "You know, I could testify on your
behalf tomorrow.  Tell everybody you didn't mean to
kill that woman." 
  "No," Kenneth said.  "Thank you, but no.  The 
prosecution would only use your testimony against me: 
they would use it to say that I knew that I could kill
a woman this way." 
  "I suppose so.  I just... I just want to help." 
  "You are helping me, Wendy.  Just by being there." 

                        PART 3 

10:01 am 

  "I call to the stand Detective Michael King." 
  Michael King got up and proceeded to the witness 
stand.  "Raise your right hand.  Do you promise to 
tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the 
truth?" he was asked by the bailiff 
  "I do," he said, putting his hand on the bible and 
raising his right hand. 
  "Sit down."  He sat down. 
  Leroy Laurel looked at his witness.  "Detective 
King, at approximately what time did Diane Brenton 
die?" 
  "Around one o'clock in the morning.  That was when 
the people in the room next door called the police." 
  "And what time did you arrive on the scene?" 
  "Around two thirty." 
  "And what did Extreme say to you when you got 
there?" 
  "That he was sorry.  That he didn't mean to kill 
her.  That it was an accident." 
  "Did he seem sincere?" 
  "Absolutely." 
  "And, in your opinion, was the sex consentual?" 
  "That seemed to be the reason they went to the 
hotel, yes." 
  "And once the sex was over, was there anything that 
Extreme could have done to have prevented her death?" 
  "No, I don't think so.  With the kind of internal 
injuries she had withstood, it may have been dangerous
to move her.  That's assuming that Extreme would even
have been capable of flying her to a hospital in time,
what with him having just experienced a powerful
orgasm." 
  "Objection!" District Attorney Alan Russell said, 
standing up.  "Speculation!" 
  "Your honour, Detective King is here as an expert 
witness!" 
  "I'll allow it," Judge Matthews said, "but in the 
future please instruct your witnesses to stick to the 
known facts." 
  "Thank you.  I will.  No further questions, your 
honour." 
  "Do you wish to cross examine?" the judge asked the 
DA. 
  "I most certainly do!" he said, getting up and 
walking over to where Michael was sitting.  "Detective
King, how strong do you suppose Extreme is?" 
  "I thought you didn't want me to speculate?" 
  "In your expert opinion?" 
  "Very strong." 
  "Strong enough to crush a woman with his bare 
hands?" 
  "I would imagine so, yes." 
  "So would you say that, this being the case, that 
Extreme needs to be careful when experiencing 
relations with women." 
  "Absolutely." 
  "No further questions your honour!" the DA said. 
  "You may step down," the judge said.  He did. 

11:55 am 

  "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you've heard the 
testimony given today.  It is your duty to decide 
whether or not Extreme was criminally negligent in the
death of Diane Brenton.  It is my duty to instruct 
you, when making your decision, not to consider the 
years of public service that Extreme has done for us 
as the most powerful hero in Pepperton." 
  Alan Russell sighed.  When judges specifically asked
juries to forget something immediately before they
went into deliberation, it usually had the opposite
effect. 
  "Your decision today should be based only on the 
facts of the case presented to you in this court.  We 
appreciate the service you are doing for us and hope 
that you will be able to come to a decision you can 
all agree on.  Good luck." 
  The judge slammed down his gavel and the trial broke
for lunch. 

12:30 

  "Wendy?  What do you think?" 
  "I think the judge is on your side.  I mean, even if
the jury were to forget that you are the city's 
protector, it doesn't mean he will.  Even if you're 
found guilty by the jury, I doubt if the judge will 
sentence you with anything besides community service, 
which technically is what you do anyway." 
  "I hope you're right.  I just don't want the public 
to think of me as a killer." 
  "I know." 

2:55 

  "Has the jury reached its verdict?" 
  "We have, your honour." 
  "Could you please hand it to be bailiff?"  The jury 
foreman handed the verdict to the foreman who then 
passed it on to the judge.  "I see.  Could you please 
read the verdict for the court?" 
  "We find the defendent... Extreme... not guilty." 
  People around the courtroom breathed a sigh of 
relief. 
  But not everybody was happy. 
  "Bastard!" 
  "Martha, please, sit down!" 
  "Bastard, you killed my daughter!" 
  "Order!  Order!  Bailiff, please escort this lady 
outside!" 
  Extreme turned to his lawyer.  "Thank you.  I'd 
shake your hands but..." 
  "That's fine.  Just wait until you get my bill.  You
can thank me then." 

4:25 

  "I'd like to speak to one of the crime scene 
investigators here." 
  "I'm sorry but they are all out on duty.  May I ask 
who you are and what it is you want to talk about?" 
  "My name is Gary Alda but it might be better if you 
told them that Mr. Quick wanted to speak to them. 
It's about the Archer case." 

                        PART 4 

9:35 am 

  "We appreciate you coming down to speak with us." 
  "I feel so bad about what happened to Christopher." 
  "Christopher?" 
  "Christopher Prince.  That was The Archer's real 
name.  I assume he wouldn't mind people knowing now 
that he's dead." 
  Michael King turned to look at Edward Bailey. 
"Edward, go on line and google the name Christopher 
Prince for me and then give me whatever you find." 
  "Got it."  He got up and headed to his workstation. 
  "Could you possibly tell us everything you know 
about Extreme Force Six?" Mary Jones asked. 
  "I really don't know anything about the current 
organisation." 
  "Just tell us anything you do know about the group 
when you were with them," Detective John Phelps said. 
"Anything that might help us with our investigation." 
  "Alright."  Gary Alda let out a big sigh.  "We 
banded together twenty years ago, me, Extreme, Amazing
Woman, Night Man, Waterlord and The Archer.  We wanted
to face the enemies that none of us could face alone. 
We took the name Extreme Force Six in honour of
Extreme because he was the most powerful one amomgst
us.  We didn't work for the government back then. 
That didn't happen until after the original group
disbanded. 
  "I guess it was my fault the group disbanded.  You 
see, my powers developed because I was testing a new 
nerve stimulation drug on myself.  I never went public
with my discovery because the drug caused the heart
rate to increase tenfold and, frankly, that's not
healthy.  For years I had the ability to run at super
human speed.  But eventually my powers started to fade
as the effects of the drug wore off.  I wasn't going
to take another dose for fear of what it would do to
my health.  So I had to quit being Mr. Quick. 
  "They tried to talk me out of it, telling me that my
experience made me a valuable asset to the team.  But
I was used to being able to run around fast and stop
the bad guys before they even knew I was there.  If I
were to just be standing around while my teammates
fought the villains then I would have been a liability
to the team. 
  "I suggested they start calling themselves Extreme 
Force Five.  Or that they could just recruit a new 
member.  But Chris wanted no part in the group if I 
was going to bow out.  He said he always prefered to 
work alone anyway.  So the group simply disbanded: 
Waterlord went back to living in the ocean and I 
assumed, since we didn't hear from him anymore, that 
Chris had gone back to his private life. 
  "I guess I was wrong." 
  "I'm sorry." 
  "It's alright.  I wondered why he never got in touch
with me.  Now I know." 
  Officer Mark Johnston got up and went over to shake 
Gary Alda's hand.  "I just want to shake your hand," 
he said.  "You people were my heroes when I was 
growing.  You were all our heroes.  I'm so sorry, what
with Night Man and now The Archer." 
  "I know.  And I'm sorry I can't help you with 
regards to the new Extreme Force Six.  I have nothing 
to do with that group." 
  "That's okay," Michael King said.  "You've been a 
lot of help.  We appreciate you coming down to talk to
us." 

2:01 pm 

  "So.  How was it?" 
  "It was great.  Fantastic in fact." 
  "I don't think I've ever seen you so weak." 
  "Yeah, well, it really takes it out of me." 
  "So, it's true then.  You really wouldn't have been 
able to save her." 
  Extreme sat up in bed at looked at Amazing Woman. 
"No.  I guess not." 
  "I'm sorry." 
  "Why?" 
  "I never realized that I was the only woman who 
could possibly satisfy you." 
  "Right." 
  "If I had been there for you when you needed me then
Paula Pound would still be alive." 
  "Don't be ridiculous!" 
  "It's true." 
  "Doesn't make it your fault.  It wasn't anybody's 
fault.  It just happened." 
  "So... what now?" 
  "You mean... with us?" 
  "Yeah." 
  "This is a difficult time." 
  "I know." 
  "I don't want you involved in this controversy. 
Maybe when this all blows over we can come out as a 
couple." 
  "And in the meantime?" 
  "In the meantime, we can be discreet." 
  Amazing Woman pursed her lips.  "Fuck buddies?" 
  Extreme nodded.  "Fuck buddies." 
  Amazing Woman smiled.  "Okay.  So... are you back to
full strength yet?" 
  "Almost." 
  "Good." 

2:59 pm 

  "Mr. Cliff Murdock?" 
  "Yes.  Mr. and Mrs. Brenton.  Is that right?" 
  "Yes." 
  "What can I do for you?" 
  "We want you to help us bring Extreme to justice." 
  "I'm sorry but I don't understand.  Wasn't Extreme 
already acquited for the charge of criminal negligence
with regards to your daughter's death?" 
  "Yes, but..." 
  "What my wife is trying to say is that we want to 
pursue a civil case." 
  "You mean sue him?" 
  "For wrongful death, yes." 
  "But I'm a prosecuter." 
  "But you helped Moon Boy in his suit against Night 
Man," Martha Brenton pointed out. 
  "That was a favour to an old friend." 
  "But you won that case," George Brenton reminded 
him.  "Which means you have experience with this sort 
of case." 
  Cliff Murdock thought for a moment.  "It would be 
difficult to bring down a civil case against him 
because we don't know his civilian identity, assuming 
he even has one." 
  "They all do!" George Brenton insisted. 
  "It's also hard to get a substantial settlement out 
of an individual, not unless that person is fabulously
wealthy, and we can't say for sure that Extreme is
that wealthy." 
  "What do you suggest then?" Martha Brenton asked. 
  "Your best bet would be to sue Extreme Force Six. 
It's a government organisation.  You could argue that 
they should have reigned him in for the sake of public
safety." 
  "But that's the government!" George Brenton scoffed.
 "They're going to have the most expensive lawyers to
argue their case!" 
  "You have to be prepared for the possibility that 
the government would provide Extreme with the best 
lawyers possible anyway in order to try to pressure 
you to drop the case.  Do you still want to go ahead 
with the lawsuit?" 
  Martha Brenton nodded.  "Absolutely." 
  "It's what my daughter would have wanted," George 
Brenton insisted. 
  "Alright then.  I'll speak to the judge and see when
this can be brought to trial." 

3:34 pm 

  "Hello?" 
  >>Detective Phelps?<< 
  "Speaking." 
  >>You need to get down to the abandoned warehouse 
district right away.<< 
  "What happened?" 
  >>A shipment of drugs arrived from Columbia this 
morning.  We were responding to a tip but when we got 
there, everybody was dead.<< 
  "Oh God.  Not again." 
  >>That's right, Sir.  We believe the Exterminator 
was responsible.<< 

                    SUPERFREAKS #3 

                THREE DAYS TWO KNIGHTS 

                        PART 1 

8:15 

  "What do we have here?" 
  Detective John Phelps made a sweeping gesture at the
carnage in front of him.  "This was apparently a drug
lab until somebofy showed up and killed everybody
here." 
  "The Exterminator?" 
  "Most likely." 
  "We'll have to get more people down here.  There are
a lot of bodies to process.  We'll need to collect all
the bullets and shell casings and try to reconstruct
what happened here." 
  "I thought you said the Exterminator was 
manufacturing his own weapons.  Weapons that couldn't 
be traced." 
  "This is the fourth Exterminator hit in as many 
weeks.  Who knows?  He might be getting sloppy." 
  "I wouldn't count on it." 

1:15 

  "Kenneth Kendall?" 
  "Yes?" 
  "I'm Detective Mary Jones and this is Officer Mark 
Johnston.  We're with the Pepperton Police 
Department." 
  "Okay." 
  "I'm sorry, Mr. Kendall, but I regret to inform you 
that your wife, Mary Beth Wilson-Kendall, was found 
dead this morning.  She had been killed." 
  "Oh God no.  How?" 
  "She appears to have been strangled although we 
won't know for sure until we do an autopsy." 
  "Oh God no." 
  "Do you know of anybody who could have wanted to 
harm your wife?" 
  "Do I know anybody who would have wanted to harm my 
wife?" 
  "Yes.  That was my question." 
  "I know a lot of people who might want to harm my 
wife." 
  "Really?  Who?  Why?" 
  Kenneth didn't answer. 
  "Mr. Kendall, if you want us to find out who did 
this then you're going to have to tell us what you 
know." 
  "There are a lot of people who might want to hurt my
wife, if any of them were to find out who I really 
was." 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "I'm the Human Spider." 
  "You're the Human Spider?" 
  "I think somebody found out that I'm the Human 
Spider and now my wife is dead.  Oh my God.  No." 

3:32 

  "Edward!" 
  "Mike!" 
  "Here are all the bullets and shell casings 
recovered from the massacre at the drug lab." 
  "I'll get right on them." 
  "I also want you to find out all you can about who 
might want to kill the Human Spider or members of his 
family." 
  "The Human Spider?" 
  "It's important, Edward." 
  "Okay.  Say, Mike?" 
  "Yeah?" 
  "Did you hear the latest concerning the Extreme 
case?" 
  "No.  What's up?" 
  "The Brenton family and Extreme Force Six settled 
out of court for an undisclosed amount." 
  "Good.  Good for them.  What happened was nobody's 
fault but they needed closure after what happened. 
You can't just lose a child and not have anybody do 
something about it." 
  "And you know what else?  Rumour has it that Extreme
and Amazing Woman are an item now." 
  Michael King closed his eyes and shook his head. 
  "Hey... boss... what's wrong?" 
  "These capes... they're like celebrities now." 
  "I don't know, boss.  It seems to me they've been 
like celebrities for a long time now." 

5:55 

  "Exterminator War Journal Volume 316. 
  "I can sense the police closing in on me.  Don't 
they understand that we're on the same side?  They'd 
better stay out of my way.  I don't want to have to 
kill any cops." 

                         PART 2 

8:59 am 

  "Mark, I'd like you to meet your new partner, Tom 
Jackson.  Tom, this is Mark Johnston." 
  "It's good to meet you, Sir!" 
  Mark Johnston smiled.  "You don't have to call me 
'Sir'.  I'm your partner." 
  John Phelps laughed.  "But me, you have to call 
'Sir'.  Don't forget that.  Anyway, go.  Mark, you 
take Tom in your car.  Dispatch says that the 
Exterminator was spotted on Main street.  You can grab
the details at the main desk on your way out." 

9:15 am 

  "So just who is the Exterminator?" 
  "The Exterminator is a vigilantee with a gun.  He's 
been going around killing drug traffickers and drug 
manufacturers here in Pepperton.  My guess is that 
informants are more willing to talk to him because 
what they say doesn't go on record and they aren't 
going to be asked to testify: the Exterminator kills 
all the bad guys so nobody is going to come back after
the informants.  It's quick and easy." 
  "So why are we trying to stop this guy then?  It 
sounds as though he's doing our work." 
  "Because that's not the way things are supposed to 
get done.  We have a system of due process under the 
law and the Exterminator is setting himself up as 
judge, jury and executioner without any regard for 
people who might simply be in the wrong place at the 
wrong time." 
  "So the people who were working in a drug den at 
four o'clock in the morning were simply in the wrong 
place at the wrong time?" 
  "We're working under the rule of law and even 
criminals have rights.  You don't want anybody busting
into your home and shooting everything, do you?  The
law applies to criminals but it also applies to the
people who enforce it.  We're simply not allowed to do
things like that." 
  "I'm just saying that because we aren't allowed to 
do things like that, it's nice to have somebody doing 
things like that for us." 
  Mark sighed.  "He's breaking the law, Tom, and we 
have to bring him in." 

9:32 

  "This is the place.  Neighbours said that a man 
fitting the description of the Exterminator was 
operating out of the third floor apartment.  Let's 
go." 
  "Wait." 
  "What's wrong?" 
  "Is it normal for a rookie cop to be sent out on an 
assignment like this?" 
  Mark Johnston smiled.  "Don't worry.  He's not going
to shoot a cop.  We're just going to go up there and
ask him to come with us.  There's nothing to worry
about."  He hated having to lie to his partner. 

9:39 

  "This is the police!  We know you're in there!" 
  "I can hear him." 
  "Stand back.  I'm going to kick in the door."  Mark 
Johnston kicked in the door.  There was nobody in the 
room. 
  "Where'd he go?" 
  "I told you to stay back." 
  "You told me he wouldn't shoot a cop." 
  "He might." 
  "You lied to me?" 
  "Can we talk about this later?"  He looked around 
the room.  "The window's open.  He took the fire 
escape." 
  "We're going to follow him, right?" 
  "I'm going to follow him.  You're going to go back 
downstairs." 
  "Why?" 
  "Because while I'm looking for him out back, he can 
slip back into the building and escape through the 
from door." 
  "Gotcha." 
  Mark Johnston headed down the fire escape.  He 
didn't really believe that Tom was going to find the 
Exterminator in front of the building: he was just 
worried about a rookie cop getting killed.  It was 
much better if he faced the Exterminator alone. 
  Sure enough, there he was. 
  "Freeze!  Drop your weapon." 
  The Exterminator raised his gun.  Officer Johnston 
had no choice.  He fired two shots into the 
Extermintor's chest.  The Exterminator fell backwards.

 Officer Johnston found it odd that there was no 
blood.  He just stood there and waited. 
  "Nice try," the Exterminator said as he started to 
get up. 
  "I'm asking you again to drop the weapon."  Before 
the Exterminator could fire back, Officer Johnston 
fired two more shots.  One of the shots hit the 
Exterminator in the head. 
  This time there was blood.  This time it didn't look
as though the Exterminator was going to get back up. 
  Officer Johnston cautiously stepped forward.  It was
just as he thought: under the spandex costume, the
Exterminator was wearing kevlar.  The skull on his
chest was an obvious target but that was not the way
to take him out. 
  Officer Johnston just stood there for a moment not 
knowing what to do.  He had never killed anyone 
before. 
  "Mark!  Mark!  I heard shots!"  Tom Jackson saw the 
body.  "Oh shit." 
  "Yeah." 
  "So we got him?" 
  "Yeah.  We got him." 

10:58 am 

  "So who was he?" 
  Doctor Jack Greenspan did his best to clean up the 
Exterminator's face.  "My God." 
  "You know him?" Michael King asked. 
  "It's Craig Franklin.  He's an ex-cop." 
  "An ex-cop?" 
  "A few years ago, he was doing under cover work for 
the narcotics squad.  His work led to an arrest and a 
shoot out.  Some gang members got killed. 
 "He got the Mayor's citation and his picture in the 
paper.  But there were people who weren't happy about 
what happened. 
  "His whole family, his wife, his son and his 
daughter, they were all killed in a drive by shooting 
at his house." 
  "My God." 
  "Craig was also hit.  He took a leave of absence and
eventually quit the force.  They assumed he didn't
want to be a cop anymore.  Turns out, apparently, he
just wanted to do things his own way.  As the
Exterminator." 
  Michael King wondered for a moment how Jack knew all
this and then he remembered that Jack had been working
here a lot longer than he had and that he knew
everybody.  He shook his head.  "These freaks." 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "These capes.  It seems most of them get their start
when a member of their family dies." 
  "I imagine that would be a prerequisite." 
  "How so?" 
  "People who have stable family lives do not normally
put on tights and go out and fight crime." 

1:10 pm 

  Mark Johnston sat in Detective John Phelps' office. 
He noticed District Attorney Alan Russell standing 
outside. 
  "What's the DA doing here?" Mark asked.  "Am I in 
trouble." 
  "No.  Actually he's here to congratulate us for 
solving the case." 
  "Okay." 
  "You did nothing wrong, Mark.  It was a righteous 
shooting." 
  "I've never killed anyone before." 
  "I know.  That's why we're recommending you take the
rest of the week off.  I'm reassigning Tom to work
with Mary on the Wilson-Kendall case." 

3:03 

  "What have you got for me?" 
  It seemed to Edward Bailey that his boss asked him 
the same question every day.  "Most of the Human 
Spider's enemies are in prison.  Most of them can be 
ruled out because the way Mary Beth Wilson-Kendall 
died suggested that she was killed by an ordinary 
human."  He sighed.  "I think this is a dead end.  I 
think we need to look for other suspects." 
  Michael King nodded.  "I agree.  I sent Mary out to 
question people she knew." 

11:55 pm 

  "Dr. Platypus!" 
  "Ah!  The Human Spider!" 
  "I know it was you!" 
  "You know what was me?" 
  "You killed my wife!" 
  "Your wife?" 
  "Don't try to deny it!" 
  "The Human Spider had a wife?  Really?  And now 
she's dead?  I can't say I'm sad to hear that." 
  "You son of a bitch!" 
  "My my... where's your snappy banter?" 
  "I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!  You're 
not just going to go to prison and then get out and 
kill again!  This time you're going to die!" 

                         PART 3 

9:15 am 

  "Dr. Platypus is in critical condition." 
  Kenneth Kendall aka The Human Spider nodded.  "I 
couldn't do it.  I couldn't kill him." 
  Detective Michael King grit his teeth.  "You almost 
did." 
  "I know." 
  "What the hell did you think you were doing?" 
  "He killed my wife!" 
  "You don't know that!" 
  "Who else could it have been?" 
  "It's my job to find that out precisely so that 
madmen like you don't go after the wrong guy!" 
  "So I'm a madman now?" 
  "Look," Michael King said, calming down. 
"Yesterday, we... apprehended a man who was going 
around shooting criminals in cold blood.  He had also 
lost his wife and was going out for revenge.  So how 
are you any different from him?" 
  "I didn't kill Dr. Platypus." 
  "You almost did." 
  "I know!  I'm sorry!" 
  Michael King nodded.  "Alright.  I'm going to have 
my people draw up a report and we'll send a copy over 
to The Super Soldier.  I'll leave it up to your people
to decide if you're going to face any disciplinary
action." 
  "Fair enough.  Are we done?" 
  "Yeah.  You can go." 

12:05 

  "Stepanie Savoie?" 
  "Yes?" 
  "I'm Detective Mary Jones and this is Officer Thomas
Jackson.  We're from..." 
  Stephanie Savoie bolted.  She was going to try to 
run away. 
  "Freeze!" Tom shooted. 
  "Put the gun down, Tom.  We just want to talk to 
her."  Mary walked over to talk to Stephanie.  "As I 
was saying, we're from the Pepperton police department
and we're here to question you about..." 
  "I didn't mean to do it." 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "I didn't mean to kill her." 
  "Stop right there." 
  "It was an accident." 
  "Enough!"  Mary let out a deep sigh.  "Okay. 
Stephanie Savoie, you're under arrest for the murder 
of Mary Beth Wilson-Kendall.  You have the right to 
remain silent.  Should you give up the right to remain
silent, anything you say can be used against you in a
court of law.  You have the right to an attorney.  If
you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed
for you by the courts to act in your defense.  Do you
understand these rights?" 
  "Yes." 
  "Alright.  Come with us." 

4:05 

  "Why have you called me back here?" 
  "We've got the person who killed your wife." 
  "You do?" 
  "It was Stephanie Savoie." 
  "Stephanie?" 
  "She was your girlfriend before you met Mary Beth, 
right?  In fact, you broke it off with her just before
you started dating Mary Beth." 
  "Yeah." 
  "Stephanie seems to think that you broke it off with
her so you could start seeing Mary Beth." 
  "Yeah." 
  "So she blames Mary Beth for the fact that you broke
it off with her." 
  "So... she killed her?" 
  "She's confessed to killing her.  She says it was an
accident though.  We have only the evidence to tell us
whether she's telling the truth.  Frankly, it's hard
to imagine how you 'accidentally' strangle someone." 
  "My God." 
  "So Dr. Platypus did not kill your wife." 
  "My God.  I've made a horrible mistake." 
  Michael sighed and went to comfort Kenneth Kendall. 
"Look, son, it's okay.  It was an honest mistake.  You
naturally assumed that your wife's death was a result
of your double life as The Human Spider." 
  "No, I mean, I made a mistake when I told you people
about my secret identity.  Now my identity has been
compromised.  The Super Soldier is not going to be
happy about that." 
  "Actually, you didn't really have a choice.  We did 
need to know if there was even a chance of a your wife
being killed as a result of your work." 
  "But we need to keep our identities secret.  It's 
the only way we can remain safe while we're not on 
duty." 
  "I know.  I understand that now." 
  "You do?" 
  Michael nodded.  "Yes, I do.  I understand that you 
need to keep your identities secret so you can 
continue to have a private life.  So don't worry about
your secret identity: it's not going to leave this
precinct." 
  "That's a relief." 
  "But you tell The Super Soldier that I want to be in
the loop from now on.  I can't do my job if I don't
have all the information I need to solve a case.  He
can trust me not to go to the press with anything that
involves national security." 
  Kenneth Kendall agreed.  "Okay.  I'll tell him." 
  "Good.  Then we're done here." 

                  SUPERFREAKS #4 

                      DEJA VU 

                       PART 1 

12:55 am 

  "Mr. Austin?  Could you tell us what happened here?"

  Kevin Austin looked at Detectives Michael King and 
Mary Jones. 
  "It all happened so fast." 
  "Take your time," Mary Jones suggested. 
  "I was out with my girlfriend..." 
  "The victim?" Michael King asked.  "Linda Carver?" 
  "That's right.  We were coming home from a party. 
This guy: he pulled out a gun." 
  "So this was a mugging?" Mary asked. 
  "Yeah.  He wanted my wallet." 
  "Did you give him your wallet?" Michael asked. 
  "Yeah." 
  "So why did he shoot your girlfriend?" 
  "While I was handing him the wallet, Linda tried to 
grab the gun from him.  It went off.  Then he ran off 
with my wallet." 
  "I'm sorry," Mary Jones said. 

9:05 am 

  "Alan, good news." 
  "What's that?" District Attorney Alan Russell asked 
his assistant, Cliff Murdock. 
  "A new witness has come forward in the Desanto 
case." 
  "Really?  So he saw the shooting?" 
  "Not exactly." 
  "He saw the suspect leaving the scene?" 
  "No." 
  "Then what?" 
  "He's a psychic." 
  "A psychic?" 
  "Yeah.  He claims he had a vision of the murder the 
night before it happened.  He says he would have said 
something sooner but he says he didn't know what the 
vision meant until he saw a report about it on the 
news.  He says he can positively identify the killer."

  "You've got to be kidding me." 
  "You don't believe in psychic powers?" 
  Alan laughed.  "Even if I did, it would be 
inadmissable in court." 
  "What if we could prove to a jury that he had 
psychic powers." 
  "Have you ever heard of 'reasonable doubt'?" 
  "Come on.  It's not as though it isn't the only 
evidence we have on this guy." 
  "Exactly.  We're trying to convince a jury with 
cold, hard evidence and then you want me to distract 
them with this sideshow?" 
  Cliff nodded.  "Okay, so we can't use him in court, 
but couldn't we at least talk to him?  Maybe he can 
lead us to some hard evidence that we actually can 
use." 

11:50 am 

  "Hey!  Do you want to go get lunch?" 
  Mary Jones thought for a moment.  "I was planning to
go have lunch.  Why?" 
  "I mean with me." 
  "Edward Bailey... are you asking me out?" 
  "It's only lunch." 
  "What did you have in mind?" 
  "I don't know.  McDonalds?" 
  "McDonalds?" 
  "Or an Italian place." 
  "I usually just grab a sandwich from the local 
deli." 
  "Okay." 
  "And then I bring it back here." 
  "Oh.  Okay.  Never mind then." 
  Mary smiled.  "You give up too easy." 
  "Really?"  Edward thought for a moment.  "How about 
dinner then?  Italian?" 
  "What time?" 
  "Eight o'clock?" 
  "Better make it seven." 
  "Okay.  Seven." 
  "Where?" 
  "I thought we'd meet here at 6:30." 
  "I mean where will we eat dinner?" 
  "How about Guido's?" 
  "Guido's is right across town." 
  "We can take a taxi." 
  "Really?" 
  "Sure." 
  "Okay.  I'll be back here at 6:30 and we can take a 
taxi to Guido's." 
  "Great!" 

3:40 

  "Mr. Das?" 
  Cliff Murdock had brought his boss to Suri Das' 
apartment to check out his story. 
  "Yes?" 
  "Mr. Das, you claim to have psychic powers." 
  "There is no claim.  I really do have psychic 
powers." 
  "Can you prove it?" 
  "You want me to demonstrate my powers?" 
  "Please.  Tell us what happens tomorrow." 
  "Alright.  I need to concentrate."  Suri Das closed 
his eyes.  His face turned pale.  Given that he was 
from India, that's saying a lot.  "Oh my." 
  "What's wrong?" 
  "There is no tomorrow.  The world will come to an 
end in just a few minutes." 
  "This is ridiculous!" Alan scoffed. 

3:45 

  "Mr. Austin?" 
  "Doctor?" 
  "I'm sorry.  She didn't make it.  We did all we 
could." 
  "Doctor.  I need to be alone for a moment." 
  "Of course." 
  The Doctor left Kevin Austin alone in the waiting 
room.  He concentrated.  His eyes rolled back in his 
head.  His body began to shake. 

  The whole world went white. 

                          PART 2 

12:55 am 

    "Mr. Austin?  Could you tell us what happened 
here?" 
  "It all happened so fast." 
  "Take your time," Mary Jones suggested. 
  "I was out with my girlfriend..." 
  "The victim?" Michael King asked.  "Linda Carver?" 
  "That's right.  We were coming home from a party. 
This guy: he pulled out a gun." 
  "So this was a mugging?" Mary asked. 
  "Yeah.  He wanted my wallet." 
  "Did you give him your wallet?" Michael asked. 
  "No." 
  "No?" 
  "He was going to shoot my girlfriend." 
  "How do you know that?" Mary asked. 
  "I just do." 
  Michael shook his head.  "If you had done as he 
asked he might have just taken your wallet and left." 
  "No.  She was going to grab the gun from him." 
  "She told you this?" Mary asked. 
  "No." 
  "Then why do you say that is what she was going to 
do?" 
  "I just do.  I know." 
  "We understand how you feel," Michael assured him. 
  "No you don't." 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "I've been through this before." 
  "This has happened to you before?" 
  "It's hard to explain." 
  Mary pursed her lips.  "Mr. Austin, we're not 
blaming you for what happened." 
  "He was going to shoot her." 
  "Mr. Austin, he did shoot her.  We're just trying to
figure out why.  Did you try to get the gun away from
him?" 
  "He was going to shoot her.  I had to get the gun 
away from him.  But I wasn't fast enough.  I just 
wasn't fast enough." 
  Michael King sighed.  "Alright, Mr. Austin.  You'll 
need to go down to the station first thing tomorrow 
morning and provide a sketch artist with a description

so our officers can know what the mugger looked like."


10:25 am 

  "Hey, what's up, Doc?" 
  "Very funny." 
  "And people say I don't have a sense of humour." 
  Jack Greenspan was tempted to say that they were 
right, that Dectective Michael King did not have a 
sense of humour, but he decided to let it go. 
  "Seriously though, what do we have here." 
  "Irwin Stevens.  Male.  Caucasion.  35," Jack said, 
refering to the body on the slab in front of him. 
"Occupation: alligator hunter." 
  "As in the Alligator Hunter TV show taped in 
Florida?" 
  "The same." 
  "My nephew watches that show." 
  "I think it's safe to say it will be in reruns for a
while." 
  "Cause of death?" 
  "He was scuba diving in the Atlantic and he was 
stung by a stingray in the heart.  Death would have 
been instantaneous.  He then floated ashore here in 
Pepperton." 
  "So nothing suspicious.  Why call me down here?" 
  Jack grimaced.  "It just seems wrong somehow.  You 
would have thought he'd have been done in by an 
alligator, a snake or a shark, but not a stingray." 
  "You don't think this was an accident?" 
  "It wouldn't hurt to try to find out if anybody 
could have had a grudge against him." 
  "Alright.  I'll look into it." 

2:45 pm 

  "Hey, Tom, guess what?" 
  "What?" 
  "I've got a date with Mary tonight."  Edward Bailey 
was beaming. 
  "Mary?  No way!" 
  "Seriously.  I asked her out for lunch and she 
suggested dinner instead." 
  "_She_ suggested dinner?" 
  "Well, sure, because she usually has lunch here." 
  "Okay.  So where are you going?" 
  "Guido's." 
  "Guido's?  Isn't that expensive." 
  "Tom, this is a date.  What would you suggest? 
McDonalds?" 
  "Do they pay you enough here to go to Guido's?" 
  "It's not that expensive.  Besides, yeah, lab work 
pays really well.  I probably make a lot more than you

do." 
  "Really?" 
  "Really." 
  "But I'm a cop.  I put my life on the line." 
  "I'm a cop too, Tom.  You can't make an arrest 
without the evidence to back it up." 
  "Okay.  Anyway, good luck with Mary." 
  "Thanks." 

3:45 pm 

  "Mr. Austin?" 
  "Doctor?" 
  "I'm sorry.  She didn't make it.  We did all we 
could." 
  "Doctor.  I need to be alone for a moment." 
  "Of course." 
  The Doctor left Kevin Austin alone in the waiting 
room.  He concentrated.  His eyes rolled back in his 
head.  His body began to shake. 

  The whole world went white once more. 

                        PART 3 

9:35 am 

  "Mr. Austin?" 
  Kevin Austin woke up.  He was in a hospital bed. 
Standing next to his bed were detectives Michael King 
and Mary Jones. 
  "Mr. Austin, are you able to talk about what 
happened?" 
  "There was a man with a gun.  He shot me." 
  "Why did he shoot you?" 
  "He was going to rob me.  I dived in front of my 
girlfriend." 
  "Why did you dive in front of your girlfriend?" 
  "He was going to shoot her."  Kevin looked around. 
"Where is she?" 
  "Mr. Austin, the bullet passed through you." 
  "Where's Linda?" 
  "Mr. Austin, you're going to be okay." 
  "Where is she?" 
  "After the bullet passed through you, it hit Linda."

  "No."  He closed his eyes. 
  "She's in critical condition.  That's why we need to
speak to you." 
  "Alright." 
  "We have a Mr. Lopez here.  He's a sketch artist. 
Frank, could you come over here please?" 
  Frank Lopez sat down and held a sketch pad in front 
of him.  "Mr. Austin, the man who shot you.  Did he 
have a round shaped head or an oval shaped head?" 
  "Oval." 
  "Like this?"  Frank showed him his sketch of the 
man's head. 
  "Yeah." 
  "And the eyes?" 
  "Ovals." 
  "Like this?" 
  "Bigger." 
  "We'd better be going," Michael King said. 
  "Don't worry, Mr. Austin," Mary said, "we'll find 
this guy." 

11:40 

  >>What we have here is a shark we captured 
underwater and placed in a cage.  Notice how angry it 
gets when we prod it.<< 
  Michael paused the tape and turned to Mary.  "What 
do you think?" 
  "I imagine this would have angered a few people at 
the ASPCA," she said. 
  "I'm sure," Michael said, "but not enough to commit 
murder." 
  "So what's your theory?" 
  "Remember how Waterlord was able to command sea 
creatures?" 
  "You think Waterlord did this?" 
  "Not necessarily.  We don't know if that was 
Waterlord's own unique ability or if any Atlantean 
could command sea creatures.  In any case, we don't 
have any physical evidence to tie any Atlantean to 
this death." 
  "For that matter, I doubt if they even get TV in 
Atlantis," Mary said with a smile. 
  "No, probably not," Michael said with a straight 
face, "but if Waterlord should ever return to
Pepperton 
then I would want to ask him about this." 
  "So that's it then?" 
  Michael took a look at the clock on the wall. 
"Sure.  It's almost time for lunch anyway." 

3:05 

  "Did you hear about Edward and Mary?" Tom asked his 
partner. 
  "Hear what?" Mark Johnston asked. 
  "They're going on a date." 
  "Good for them." 
  "Aren't you surprised?" 
  "Not at all.  He's been pining after her for a 
while.  Everybody knew that." 
  "Including her?" 
  "Probably." 
  "Well if she knew he was interested and she was 
willing to go out with him then why didn't she say 
something?" 
  Mark smiled.  "You don't know anything about women, 
do you?  Women want you to ask you out.  They aren't 
going to ask you out themselves even if they are 
interested." 
  Detective John Phelps walked up to them.  "If you 
two ladies are done gossiping, I've got an assignment 
for you."  He showed them the sketch Frank Lopez had 
drawn.  "This is a sketch of the guy who shot Kevin 
Austin and Linda Carver last night.  I want you two to
go down to the scene of the shooting and ask around
and see if anybody can recognize the perp from the
sketch." 
  "Yes, Sir!" Tom said. 
  "Now, gentlemen!" 
  "Right away, Sir!" Mark said.  They both left. 

3:45 

  "Mr. Austin." 
  Oh no. 
  "Mr. Austin, it's about your wife." 
  Not again. 
  "She didn't make it." 
  "I understand.  Doctor?" 
  "Yes?" 
  "I need to be alone." 
  "Of course."  The doctor left. 
  Kevin Austin concentrated.  The drugs they had given
him for the pain made concentration difficult but
Kevin's reality changing powers could only take back
one day and in a few hours time it would be too late. 

  Once again, the whole world went white. 

                          PART 4 

12:55 

  "Miss Carver?" 
  Tears rolled down Linda Carver's eyes. 
  "Miss Carver, are you going to be okay?" Mary asked.

  "I'm sorry.  Who are you people?" 
  "I'm Detective Michael King and this is Detective 
Mary Jones from the Pepperton police department.  We'd
like to know what happened here." 
  "It all happened so fast." 
  "Take your time," Mary said. 
  "There was a man.  He had a gun.  No wait.  I didn't
see a gun.  But when Kevin jumped him he pulled out a
gun." 
  "Your boyfriend jumped him _before_ he pulled out 
the gun?" 
  "Yeah.  He must have known he had a gun." 
  "Go on," Michael said. 
  "Anyway, Kevin jumped him, he pulled out his gun, he
shot David and then he ran off.  He didn't even take
David's wallet.  He was freaked." 
  "Thank you, Miss Carver," Michael said.  "You'll 
need to go down to the station first thing tomorrow 
morning and provide a sketch artist with a description
so our officers can know what the mugger looked like."
 Michael and Mary walked off. 
  "Well, Mike, what do you think?" 
  "Somehow he knew the perp was carrying a weapon." 
  "I know.  He could just tell.  We could have used 
somebody like that on the force." 
  "I know," Michael said.  "What a waste." 
  The paramedics covered Kevin's face with a sheet 
before they loaded his body onto the ambulance. 

3:40 

  "Mr. Das?" 
  Cliff Murdock had brought his boss to Suri Das' 
apartment to check out his story. 
  "Yes?" 
  "Mr. Das, you claim to have psychic powers." 
  "There is no claim.  I really do have psychic 
powers." 
  "Can you prove it?" 
  "You want me to demonstrate my powers?" 
  "Please.  Tell us what happens tomorrow." 
  "Alright.  I need to concentrate."  Suri Das closed 
his eyes.  After a few minutes, he just shrugged his 
shoulders. 
  "What's wrong?" 
  "I'm sorry, Mr. Murdock, but there's nothing special

happening tomorrow." 
  "This is ridiculous!" Alan scoffed.  "Let's go." 

3:55 

  "Alan, I'm sorry." 
  "You should be." 
  "I thought that guy was for real." 
  "You just want to believe in the supernatural." 
  "Is it so hard to believe that people can see into 
the future?  We live in a world where men can fly, 
bend steal and deflect bullets!" 
  Alan smiled.  "There may be people with psychic 
powers but he's not one of them.  The guy is just a 
fraud." 

7:05 pm 

  "So, what will you have?" Edward asked Mary. 
  "I'll have spaghetti." 
  "Okay.  I'll have spaghetti too." 
  "You don't have to have what I'm having." 
  "If I order a pizza then it will be too much for 
me." 
  "If you like, you can order a pizza for both of us."

  "Is that what you want.  Pizza?" 
  "No.  Actually I want spaghetti." 
  "Then we'll have spaghetti." 
  Mary laughed. 

8:25 pm 

  "Have you ever seen this guy before?" Mark asked a 
passerby. 
  "Yeah," the guy said.  "That's Chris.  Chris Favre."

  "Can you tell us where he lives?" 
  "Yeah.  Sure.  He lives in that building over there.

 Third floor.  Apartment A." 
  "Thanks." 

8:30 pm 

  "I'm full," Edward said. 
  "So what now?" Mary asked. 
  "We could go back to my place." 
  Mary laughed.  "I don't think so." 
  "Seriously.  I've got something you might be 
interested in." 
  "I'm sure." 
  "I've installed a new security system." 
  "A security system?" 
  "Yeah.  Cameras and stuff.  I thought you could come
by and take a look at it.  Maybe give your expert
opinion." 
  "Okay." 

8:35 pm 

  "Are you Chris Favre?" Mark asked. 
  "What's it to you?" 
  "Mr. Favre, you're under arrest for the murder of 
Kevin Austin.  You have the right to remain silent. 
Should you give up the right to remain silent, 
everything you say can and will be held against you. 
You have the right to an attorney.  If you can't 
afford an attorney, an attorney will be provided by 
the court to act in your defense.  Do you understand 
these right?" 
  "It was in self defense!  The guy came right at me!"

  "I said, do you understand these rights?" 
  "Yeah." 
  "Then shut up.  Save it for when we get downtown." 

8:55 

  "See?  There's a camera right there!" 
  "Oh yeah." 
  Edward used his key to open his apartment door and 
led Mary in.  "There are other cameras inside.  Check 
this out."  He picked up a remote control, turned on 
the TV and switched to the auxiliary function.  "I can
monitor all the cameras using the TV.  And it is all
being recorded." 
  "You have cameras inside too?" 
  "Yeah." 
  "Why?" 
  "In case somebody broke in." 
  "You've got a camera pointing to your bed." 
  "In case somebody broke in and attacked me in my 
bed." 
  "Uh huh.  You wish." 
  "What are you implying?" 
  "Maybe you wanted to lure me here, have your way 
with me and then post the video on the internet." 
  "No," Edward said.  "I wouldn't do that.  And, hey, 
besides, if that was what i was planning then why 
would I tell you about the cameras?" 
  "As if I wouldn't notice them.  Maybe you thought 
the cameras would be a turn on." 
  Edward shook his head.  "Look.  I wouldn't be 
posting anything on the internet." 
  "Excuse me?" 
  "I mean, IF anything happened." 
  "That's a big if, Edward." 
  "Look, I swear, that's not what I was thinking." 
  "Uh huh." 
  "I just wanted to show you my system and ask you 
what you think.  So?" 
  "Well, it is certainly very thorough." 
  Edward laughed.  "Look, we have to go to work 
tomorrow.  I don't want to do the wrong thing and make
things weird." 
  "Okay." 
  "And, besides, you're a detective.  If I get out of 
hand then you can arrest me." 
  "Don't you forget it!" 
  "Alright then.  Do you want to go then?" 
  "Do you want me to go?" 
  "No.  Not unless you want to." 
  "I can stay for a few minutes.  Do you have anything
to drink?" 
  "Just some soda." 
  "Alright.  I'll have some soda.  Then I've got to 
get going." 
  "Fair enough.  I'll get the soda." 

Martin

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