Superfreaks/ACRA: Superfreaks #5
Martin Phipps
martinphipps2 at yahoo.com
Sat Sep 16 00:32:52 PDT 2006
Michael King and Mary Jones: crime scene
investigators. John Phelps and Mark Johnston:
police officers. Jack Greenspan and Edward Bailey:
medical examiners. Alan Russell and Cliff Murdock:
prosecuters. 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?
SUPERFREAKS #5
IT'S A MAD, MAD WORLD
PART 1
12:59 am
"That was a great party!"
"You know, I should get a taxi."
"Hell, no! My place is right around the corner."
"You mean..."
"That's right, Tiger. You've hit the jackpot!"
"Alright!"
1:02 am
"Ew! There's some drunk lying in the street."
"I don't think this guy's drunk. I think he's
dead."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I think that's his blood. And, besides,
he's got an arrow in his head."
"We'd better call 911."
"Yeah. Then we'll have to wait for the police to
get here. Shit!"
"Sorry!"
1:58
"I'm Detective John Phelps. What time did you
discover the body?"
"Around one o'clock."
"What were you doing when you found the body?"
"We were on our way home from a party."
"You live together?"
"No. I was going to her place."
"Okay. That's all for now, but we may need to ask
you more questions later."
"We already gave our names, addresses and phone
numbers to Officers Johnston and Jackson. Can we go
now?"
"Sure."
10:01 am
"Have you had a chance to examine the body?"
Detective Michael King asked.
Doctor Jack Greenspan nodded. "I've completed my
preliminary examination, yes."
"What have you got for me?"
Jack Greenspan waved his left hand in the general
direction of the body on the slab in front of him.
"Edward Alexander Goodhead. Male. Caucasion. 46.
Cause of death: an arrow to the head."
"You're sure?" Michael joked.
"Absolutely."
"Do you still have the arrow here?"
"Of course. It's over here. It's no ordinary
arrow."
"How so?"
"Most arrows are made of wood. This arrow is made
of metal. At sufficient velocity, it would have been
able to penatrate a kevlar jacket."
"So it's a trick arrow."
"I would imagine that an expert archer could fire
this arrow from a great distance and still be able to
confidently take out his target."
"Alright. Thanks."
11:31 am
"Michael King. We meet again."
"This isn't a social call, Super Soldier."
"No, of course not. My time is valuable too. Let's
get right to it then. Why are you here?"
"I take it you've heard of Edward Alexander
Goodhead?"
"Goodhead? Yes. He leads the Brotherhood of
Masters."
"He did. He was found dead last night. He was
murdered."
"How did he die?"
"An arrow to the head."
"Really? Well, there's nobody here who uses arrows
as weapons."
"The Archer did."
"That was before my time. Extreme Force Six wasn't
even affiliated with the government when he was a
member of the group."
"But somebody is using his arrows. Do you know who
that might be?"
"I think if you want to know then you should ask
somebody who knew the Archer personally. One of his
old teammates perhaps."
"Alright. One more question."
"Of course."
"Goodhead was your enemy. Did you ever wish he were
dead?"
"I don't kill people. And I don't use arrows."
"Still..."
"Goodhead was a villain, Mr. King. A lot of people
would have wanted to him to just go away. Personally,
I would have wanted him to face trial. Don't forget,
we found the body of the Archer in one of his
hideouts."
"So you're saying he might have been killed for
revenge?"
"I think that might be the case."
"Thank you. I appreciate your help."
"I'm glad to see our relationship has improved."
The Super Soldier stood up from behind his desk. He
and Michael shook hands.
"Me too."
"If you have any more questions, let me know and
I'll make time for you."
"Alright."
3:03 pm
"We appreciate you coming down here on such short
notice," Detective John Phelps said.
"Not at all," Gary Alda, the former Mr. Quick, said.
"You said on the phone that it has to do with the
Archer case."
"Actually, it has to do with the murder of Edward
Alexander Goodhead. He was killed by a metal arrow
that fatally struck his head."
"I see."
"Do you have any idea who could be using the
Archer's old arrows?" John asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do. The Archer had a
sidekick back in the day, known as Arrow Boy."
"Do you know who Arrow Boy was?"
"I can't be sure but I suspect that Arrow Boy was
Chris' nephew Harry Roy."
"Do you know where we can find Harry Roy?"
Gary Alda shook his head. "No. But there's a
chance he might have kept in touch with some of the
other sidekicks. They had their own team for a while,
although they disbanded pretty soon after we did."
11:59
"Harry."
"Greggory."
"I know you did it, Harry. I know you killed
Goodhead."
"He deserved to die! He killed the Archer!"
"I know. But you can't go around killing people. I
think you need to turn yourself in."
PART 2
12:01
"You're not Moon Boy anymore?"
"I never really wanted to be Moon Boy," Greggory
explained. "Besides, the costume doesn't fit me
anymore."
"You could become the new Night Man."
"No thanks."
"Maybe you, me, Sal and Bonnie, we can form the old
team. What would we call ourselves? Electric Force?
No."
"Harry, you're not listening to me. You need to
turn yourself in."
"Why?"
"Harry, you killed someone."
"He deserved to die!"
"Okay. Tell you what. You come with me tomorrow
morning to the police station and tell them what you
did and why. Maybe they'll give you a medal."
"You think so?"
"Maybe."
"Because that's just what our team needs, some
recognition!"
"Okay. Sure."
9:35 am
"I'm Harry Roy. I'm the new Archer!"
"Alright," John Phelps said. "Mark, read him his
rights."
"Mr. Roy, you're under arrest for the murder of
Edward Alexander Goodhead. You have the right to
reamin silent. If you give up the right to remain
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 can not afford an attorney, one will
be appointed to you by the court to act in your
defense. Do you understand these rights?"
"Greggory said you'd be giving me a medal."
"Oh boy," John said.
9:58 am
"I want to thank you for bringing Mr. Roy in for
us," Detective Michael King said.
"Yeah," Greggory said.
"Have you ever considered a career in law
enforcement?"
"I don't think so," Greggory said with a laugh. "I
had enough of getting shot at when I was Moon Boy. I
prefer a job where I don't get shot at."
"Fair enough."
"You know, I don't think Harry is all there, you
know. It isn't just that he doesn't realize what he
did was wrong: he doesn't seem to have accepted the
fact that he's been arrested."
"I know. We're going to have to take that into
account."
11:32
"Alan? Do you have a few minutes?"
"Sure, Mary. What is it?"
"We arrested Harry Roy this morning for the murder
of Edward Goodhead but he doesn't seem to understand
what he's done. We were thinking he might not be
mentally fit to stand trial."
Alan nodded. "Alright. Go see Doctor Samuel
Leonard. Maybe you can set up an appointment with him
and he can question your suspect to determine his
fitness to stand trial."
"Alright. I'll do that. Thanks."
"No problem."
3:05 pm
"Detective Phelps?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Suri Das."
"Okay."
"This is difficult to explain."
"What is?"
"I can see the future."
"Really?"
Suri Das sat down in the chair in front of Detective
Phelps' desk. "Tomorrow, a woman will be killed. She
will be on her way home from work and she will be
attacked by a man who barely knows her. An
acquantance. He will seize the opportunity. He will
seize _her_. She will fight him but he will force her
down. He will rape her. And then, to stop her from
telling anybody, he will kill her."
"I see. And you saw this where? In your crystal
ball?"
"I'm telling you the truth. Please. You must
listen to me. A woman's life is at risk."
"Okay. Do you have the name of the victim?"
"No."
"An address?"
"No."
"Do you know where this happens?"
"He will take her into a dark alley."
"Could you be more specific?"
"I'm sorry. No."
"How about the attacker? Do you have anything on
him?"
"No."
John Phelps sighed. "Okay. If you can think of
anything else, please give us a call and one of our
officers will talk to you."
"Please. A woman's life is at stake!"
"I know. We'll do our best to catch this guy. I
promise."
"Alright."
"Thanks for your help."
3:25
"Naomi?"
"John?"
"You let that guy into my office?"
"He said it was urgent."
"Naomi, please, you need to screen people before you
let them into my office. Quite frannkly I've seen
enough nuts already today. Okay?"
"Sorry."
"That's okay."
PART 3
10:00 am
"Good morning, Mr. Roy."
"They told me you wanted to speak to me?"
Doctor Samuel Leonard nodded. "Yes. Sit down."
"I'm the Archer."
"Are you now?"
"Yes. The original Archer trained me. I was Arrow
Lad back then. Then I was a member of Electric Youth.
Now, I'm the new Archer."
"Because the old Archer died?"
"Yes?"
"How did that make you feel?"
Harry Roy shrugged his shoulders. "After he left
Extreme Force Six, he went solo for a while. I went
to school full time. But I was proud. Very proud."
"Do you miss him?"
"Sure."
"How do you think he died?"
"They killed him."
"Who killed him?"
"The Brotherhood of Masters. His body was found at
one of their old hideouts. They had hung him up. Put
him on display."
"I see."
"They had to be the ones who killed him. So the
Archer had to have gotten too close to them. And he
didn't have back up. That was his mistake. That's
why I am hoping that Moon Boy, Amazing Girl, Quick Kid
and me can all get back together again. I don't know
what we'll call ourselves though. We can't call
ourselves Electric Youth anymore. Electric Company?
No, that's a TV show. Remember? It was a kid's show
on PBS."
"You do understand that you are under arrest, don't
you? That you killed somebody?"
"Oh, sure, but that's just a formality."
"A formality?"
"Sure."
"Okay. You understand that you can't just go around
killing people, don't you?"
"Exactly. So I have to wait for this to be worked
out."
"Worked out?"
"Sure. You see, the man I killed was Edward
Goodhead. He was a very bad man. He deserved to die.
As soon as they determine that then I'll be able to
go back out there."
"I see. So, is this the sort of thing you'll do?
Kill people?"
Harry Roy smiled. "I protect the innocent. I
protect the innocent from people like Edward Goodhead.
People are safer now. Because of me."
11:01 am
"Well?"
Samuel Leonard sighed. "Alan, I'm sorry, but he's
just not fit to stand trial. He just doesn't
understand that what he's done was wrong."
"He doesn't know that it is wrong to kill people?"
Alan Russell asked incredulously.
"He's got a saviour complex. He thinks it is up to
him to save the world."
"They all have saviour complexes. These capes, I
mean. They all swoop down and save people."
"Yes, but most of them understand that killing is
wrong. He doesn't."
"Okay. So what do we do?"
"We're going to have to keep him under observation.
We'll tell him it is 'training'."
"What if he tries to escape?"
"He won't. He's very eager to please."
"He might get tired of being kept in custody."
"He doesn't even seem to understand that he _is_ in
custody. When he realizes that, we'll be making
progress."
"Are you sure it's not an act?"
"If it is an act," Sam argued, "it's a very good
one."
9:57 pm
"I got here as soon as I could," Detective Michael
King said. "What do we have here?"
"Tara O'Connel. Female. Caucasion. Twenty-four,"
Detective John Phelps said. "Looks like she was raped
and then killed. Left for dead here in this alley."
"I didn't bring my sexual assualt kit," Michael
said.
"That's okay. Mary's coming." John sighed.
"Michael, there's something else."
"What?"
"I had somebody in my office yesterday. The guy's
name was Das. He said he could see into the future."
"Oh?"
"Michael, he described this murder. Pretty much in
exact detail."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I can't help but think that if I had
listened to him that this girl would still be alive."
"You know, it could just be that he was the killer.
That he was describing what he was going to do."
John nodded. "I know. I sent Johnston and Jackson
to round him up."
10:30 pm
"Mr. Das?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Officer Mark Johnston and this is Officer Tom
Jackson. We're from the Pepperton police department."
"Yes?"
"We found a dead girl this evening. Exactly as you
described."
"Oh my!"
"Do you mind coming down to the station, answering a
few questions?"
"Of course. I just need to get dressed."
"That's fine."
"If you don't mind me asking," Officer Jackson said.
"Where were you this evening?"
"I've been here all this evening."
"Are you sure?"
Suri Das looked confused. "Surely, you're not
accusing me..."
"Of course not," Officer Johnston said. "It's just
standard procedure to ask that sort of question."
"I see. Well, I'm ready."
"Fine. You just follow Officer Jackson to the car
outside and we'll take you to the station."
PART 4
12:01 am
"I told you," Suri Das said. "You didn't listen and
now that girl is dead."
"Yeah, well, you didn't give us a lot to work with,"
Detective John Phelps said, "but maybe you can help us
find the killer."
"Of course."
"This is Frank Lopez. He's a sketch artist. Do you
think you could describe to him the man you saw in
your vision? Then we will know what he looked like."
"Of course."
"We appreciate you taking the time to come here at
speak to us."
"Not at all. It is my civic duty!"
2:58 pm
District Attorney Alan Russell was indignant. "Am I
to understand that two days ago you had a man come in
here and say there was going to be a rape and murder
the next day, that you brought him in after the rape
and murder actually happened and then you just let him
go?"
"Actually, no," John said. "I had Mary take a
sample of his DNA. Then Frank did a sketch of the man
who he said commited the murder. This morning, Edward
compared his DNA with the traces of DNA that the
killer left behind. It wasn't a match: he's not the
killer. So I sent Johnston and Jackson out to look
for the man Frank drew."
"That's a wild goose chase!" Alan complained. "How
can you arrest someone on the basis of what a self
proclaimed psychic says? How I am supposed to use
that in court?"
"You might not have to. The officers in question
have already brought somebody in. Michael is
questioning him right now. He could be our guy, in
which case we should have him based on the DNA
evidence found on the victim."
3:02 pm
"Do you understand why you are here?"
"They said I'm being accused of rape. Who says I
raped anyone?"
"Not just rape. Murder. The girl is dead."
"Whatever."
"It doesn't bother you that a girl was raped and
killed."
"It's nothing to do with me. I didn't know her."
"Know who?"
"The girl. Whoever she was."
"Tara O'Connell."
"Yeah. Her."
"She lived in your neighbourhood."
Jack Willey shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't mean I
knew her."
Michael King showed him a photograph. "This is her.
You sure you've never seen her around."
"I'm sure."
"Please look at the photograph."
"Okay." He looked at the photograph. "I don't know
her."
"You're sure?"
"I just said I was sure, didn't I?"
"Okay. You know, we found traces of DNA left behind
from the killer. Hair samples. Skin samples."
"So?"
"So if we match your DNA to the killer's DNA then
we'll be able to prove in court that you were the
killer."
"But I don't have to give you my DNA, do I?"
"Wouldn't you want to be cleared. If you're
innocent, I mean?"
"Hey, man, you have nothing on me! I didn't even
know the girl! I've already told you that? Can I go
now?"
"Sure."
Jack Willey got up and headed towards the door.
"Jack?"
"Yeah? What now?"
"You left a strand of hair on your chair."
"Really? Tell you what. You can keep it. Ha."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"That's our DNA sample. You just told me I could
take it."
"Now... hold on."
"When the DNA from this hair matches the DNA we
found on the victim then we'll have you for rape and
murder."
"Wait. Wait just a minute."
"Care to change your story, Mr. Willey?"
3:28
"He confessed," Michael said with a big smile.
"Really?" John asked. "How did you do it?"
"I used the old 'You left some hair on your chair'
trick. It works every time."
"I love it!"
"So we don't have any real evidence then?" Alan
Russell asked.
"With Willey having confessed, you can ask Judge
Matthews to order him to give us a DNA sample. Don't
worry. You'll be able to buold a case."
"Okay. Because I can't use psychic testimony in
court."
"I know."
Alan sighed. "Michael, be honest, you're a man of
science. You don't honestly believe that a man can
see into the future, do you?"
"As a man of science, I shouldn't believe that a man
can fly either. But I know Extreme does. As a man of
science, I figure there must be a rational
explanation. I just don't know what it is."
"What do you expect me to do if the defense asks why
we went after Willey?"
"Just tell them that we got 'a tip'. You don't have
to be more specific than that."
"Are you suggesting that we hide the fact that a
psychic helped with this case?"
"I think it would be for the best if you didn't
mention it, yes. It's up to you, really. It's all a
matter of what you think te jury is willing to
accept."
"Okay. So, that being the case, are you going to
want to use psychics in the future? I mean, it could
be embarrassing for the department."
"More embarrassing than if people knew that I had
been told about the murder the afternoon before and
didn't act on it?" John asked.
"You just assumed the guy was crazy," Alan said.
"But you don't think he's crazy now, do you Alan?"
Michael asked.
"I don't know."
"Exactly. So if he comes back and tells us there is
going to be another murder then we will have to take
him seriously."
"I guess so."
"Because we can't take chances either way."
"Not that he gave us much to go on," John pointed
out. "I don't think we could have prevented this
crime."
"No," Michael said. "It would be nice though. It
would be nice if we could prevent crimes for a change
instead of just investigating them after they've
happened."
"But you do prevent crimes," Alan argued. "Every
time we put one of these bastards away we prevent them
from doing the same thing to somebody else."
"That's assuming we get a conviction every time."
Alan smiled. "You give me hard evidence I can use
and I'll give you those convctions."
Michael nodded. "Deal!"
THE END
Martin
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