[Superfreaks/ACRA] Superfreaks Season 2 #4
Martin Phipps
martinphipps2 at yahoo.com
Sat Apr 7 03:48:54 PDT 2007
Michael King, Mary Bailey and Frank Lopez: crime scene
investigators. John Phelps, Mark Johnston and Tom
Jackson: police officers. Jack Greenspan and Edward
Bailey: medical examiners. Alan Russell and Roger
Roeper: lawyers. These are the men and women who
are truly our last line of defense. But what about
thecapes whose cases they have to investigate? Should
they be considered a help or a hindrance?
SUPERFREAKS SEASON 2 #4
"DEVASTATUS"
PART I
8:58 am
"Our invisible killer has struck again," Detective
John Phelps said.
Detective Michael King was skeptical. "Are you
sure?"
John nodded. "Witnesses saw the victim get stabbed
but they didn't see anybody there."
Michael sighed. "He's esculated."
"He thinks we can't stop him."
Michael grimaced. "He's wrong. We will stop him."
9:31 am
"I'm Lana Lewis and this is Oscar Unger. We're
Special Agents for the FBI."
"Oh, yes!" Naomi said. "I remember you. Detectives
King and Phelps are out on a case right now. You can
sit over there and wait for them if you like."
"Thank you. We'll do that."
"I'll give them a call and let them know you're
here."
10:02 am
"Michael! John!"
"Lana! Oscar!"
They all shook hands.
"Lana, I've got bad news. He's struck again."
"Your invisible killer? Are you sure?"
Michael nodded. "Witnesses saw the stabbing took
place but they couldn't see the assailant."
"When did this happen?"
"Around eight o'clock this morning."
"So it happened in broad daylight?"
"Apparently."
Lana sighed. "Michael, have you contacted the
Extreme Force Six about this?"
Michael grimaced. "I've been reluctant to do that
because there are still some jurisdictional issues
that we have yet to resolve with them with regards to
superpowered suspects."
"My God, Michael, the killer is esculating. He
doesn't think we can stop him. We need to get the
Extreme Force Six involved right away so that they can
stop him before he kills again."
Michael nodded. "Your right. It was my call and I
take full responsibility." He took out his cell
phone. "I'm going to call them right now."
11:10 am
"I got a call about an hour ago from Detective
Michael King of the Pepperton Police," the Super
Soldier said.
Weapon Alpha shook his head. "Him."
"He wants us to help him on a case."
"Does he now?" The Human Spider rolled his eyes
back.
"It involves an invisible man who is killing women
so, yeah, it sounds like a case where we could
actually help. You both have enhanced senses so use
them and find this guy."
"You're the boss," Weapon Alpha said.
"What happens when we find the guy?" the Human
Spider asked.
"Then he's to be kept in our custody. The civilian
police can't be trusted to imprison superpowered
criminals: they were always escaping. That's why
heroes like Night Man would constantly be facing the
same criminals over and over again every six months.
Now we have the means to imprison superpowered
criminals ourselves. What the American people want is
to feel safe and that's what we're providing for them,
a sense of safety. It's the only way. There are no
other options."
11:32 am
"Weapon Alpha and the Human Spider are here," Naomi
told everybody as they entered the precinct.
"Let me introduce everybody," Michael said. "You
know Detective John Phelps. This is FBI Special Agent
Lana Lewis and this is her partner, Special Agent
Oscar Unger. Lana, Oscar, this is Weapon Alpha and
this is the Human Spider."
The heroes and agents shook hands.
"Actually I do remember seeing you guys on TV,"
Oscar said.
1:01 pm
"So this is the crime scene, huh?" the Human Spider
said.
"He was here at eight o'clock this morning," Michael
said.
"I'm picking up his scent," Weapon Alpha said.
"Way to go Rover!" the Human Spider said.
"Quit with the jokes or I'll use my claws on you."
"Ooo," the Human Spider said. "He's really scary!"
Everybody followed Weapon Alpha to the abandoned
warehouse district. "He went this way."
"I can't see him," the Human Spider said.
"Of course not! He's invisible!"
"Ah! That makes sense."
Weapon Alpha said something under his breath that
nobody else could hear.
Finally, Weapon Alpha made the announcement
everybody was hoping to hear. "He's in this
warehouse! He's somewhere over there!"
"I sense him too!" the Human Spider said and then
fired his webbing in a wide dispersion pattern.
"Look!" Lana said. "Something's caught in the web
over there!"
"Yay!" the Human Spider said. "We got him."
"Alright!" John said. "Thanks for your help. We'll
take it from here."
"Um... no," the Human Spider said. "He's under our
custudy."
"Wait? Since when does the Extreme Force Six take
custody of the criminals they apprehend?" Oscar Unger
asked.
Michael sighed. He resisted the tempation of saying
"I told you so." Instead, he directed his demands to
the Human Spider. "Look, Ken," he said saying the
hero's real name in a way that the FBI agents wouldn't
pick up on. "This guy killed three women. He has to
face justice in a court of law. The victim's families
are going to demand it."
"This guy is our prisoner now. You wouldn't have
caught him without us," the Human Spider pointed out.
"Okay, fine," Michael said, "but we need to know if
he's killed any other women. We're going to have to
question him. And he's going to have to have a lawyer
present."
The Human Spider thought for a moment. "Look, we
can let you question him in the Anti-Dimension. And
you can bring a lawyer with you. I'll just have to
clear it with my superiors."
"Fine. You do that."
Lana was confused. "What's the Anti-Dimension?"
"It's what I didn't get a chance to tell you about.
Do you want to come with me and see?"
"Sure."
PART II
2:03 pm (the same day)
Detective Michael King and FBI Special Agent Lana
Lewis brought Public Defender Roger Roeper to Extreme
Force Six Headquarters where the Human Spider and
Weapon Alpha still had Matthew Spencer in their
custody. The Super Soldier was there to greet them.
"Just wait a few minutes and the portal will be on
line," he told them.
"Excuse me, I'm FBI Special Agent Lana Lewis," she
said. "What exactly is the Anti-Dimension?"
"The Anti-Dimension is a world just like ours but
different," the Super Soldier told her. "If you want
a more technical, scientific explanation then you will
have to speak with Doctor Richard Reed. He's the one
who discovered the Anti-Dimension. For me, it is just
a convenient place to put superpowered criminals."
"I see," she said.
2:12 pm
"Alright, everybody come with me," the Super Soldier
said.
They all passed through the portal to the
Anti-Dimension: first the Super Soldier, then the
Human Spider, Weapon Alpha and Matthew Spencer and
finally Michael King, Lana Lewis and Roger Roeper. On
the other side was a laboratory not unlike the one
they had just left and beyond that was the prison
designed to hold superpowered criminals.
"Everybody follow me," the Super Soldier said.
"There's a room which has a field where superpowers
are negated. That's where we bring superpowered
criminals for questioning."
"Why not just build the entire prison with a power
negating field?" Michael asked.
"Because the power negating field spends an enormous
amount of power," the Super Soldier explained. "We
only turn the field on when we are questioning a
superpowered criminal."
"Fair enough."
"Good. Now you understand why we need to keep these
people here."
The Super Soldier was the first to enter the room:
as he did not technically have super powers the field
had no effect on him. The Human Spider and Weapon
Alpha stopped at the door and threw Matthew Spencer
inside. Matthew wanted to turn invisible but found
himself unable to. The Super Soldier stood there
laughing at him.
"It's alright for you to come in," he said. "The
power negating field only works on superpowers."
Michael, Lana and Roger entered the room. There was
a table already set up with five chairs: the Super
Soldier sat down at the head of the table with two
chairs on either side of him. Michael and Lana sat
down on one side and Matthew Spencer and his lawyer
sat down on the other side.
"Can we make this quick?" the Super Soldier asked,
not wanting to blow the prison's electricity budget
all in one day.
"Alright," Michael said. "Matthew, besides Jordan
Banks, Adriana Winphrey and Cassandra Rivera have you
killed anybody else?"
"You don't have to answer that question," Roger told
his client.
"He doesn't have to but we already have a strong
case against him for three murders so it would be in
his best interest to co-operate at this point."
"I didn't kill anybody else," Matthew said.
"Just those three women?"
"Just those three," he admitted.
"Okay," the Super Soldier said. "Are we done?"
"Not yet," Michael said. "It would give the
families of the victims a lot of peace of mind if they
could see a written confession so that they know for
certain that we have the right person in custody."
"And you all have to be here for this?" the Super
Soldier asked.
"We have to witness him as he writes and then signs
the confession," Michael said. "Here. I brought some
paper and a pen."
"I would advise against this," Roger said.
"Then you'd be giving your client bad advice.
Frankly your client is no longer in American
jurisdiction."
"What?!" Roger asked.
"We're no longer on planet Earth. We're no longer
even in our home universe. We're in the
Anti-Dimension. American law doesn't apply here."
"So why am I here?" Roger asked.
"Because if he co-operates them we might be able to
negotiate the right to bring him back to Pepperton to
stand trial."
"This is ridiculous!"
"I actually agree," Michael admitted, "but as long
as there are superpowered criminals and they pose a
threat to people in Pepperton then we need the Extreme
Force Six to bring them in. And apparently that puts
these criminals under their custody. And unless
Matthew co-operates there's nothing we can do about
it."
"Okay!" Matthew said. "I'm going to write the
confession!"
2:21 pm
Matthew was about half way through writing his
confession when a huge explosion shook the prison.
"What was that?" Lana asked.
"Don't worry," the Super Soldier said. "Apparently
somebody from outside is attacking."
"Somebody from outside?!" Michael said.
"Yes but as soon as such an attack happens then the
various sections of the prison are sealed off so that
a loss of pressure only occurs in the immediate
section where the hull breach occurs."
"This has happened before?"
"It is an occasional occurence. But we've got a
security team in place to deal with it."
2:13 pm
With the prison hull breached, the being responsible
entered from outside. "You people have invaded my
dimension! Devastatus will destroy you!"
PART III
Devastus stood inside the prison. Almost everyone
had been evacuated from this damaged section of the
prison, however. Only three people stood there to
face him, Eliminator, Reject and Extreme Junior, the
three sentient clones of Extreme.
"You won't destroy us, Devastatus," Eliminator said.
"It is we who will destroy you!"
Eliminator flew over to Devatatus and gave him a
solid punch but Devastatus recovered immediately and
struck back with a blow of his own that sent
Eliminator flying backwards towards the wall. Reject
and Extreme Junior followed up with their own attacks:
Extreme Junior first hit him in the chest with the
full force of his two extended arms and Reject hit him
squarely in the face. Now it was Devastatus who was
stunned.
Eliminator stood up and walked over to where
Devastatus and his two fellow clones were fighting.
"You are very powerful," Eliminator said, " but you
can't take on all three of us." The three of them
managed to get Devastatus down on his knees and then
continued to pummel him until he was unconscious.
"We did it!" Extreme Junior said with satisfaction.
"Ugly man is down!" Reject said.
"Quite," Eliminator said, not wishing to point out
the irony of Reject describing somebody else as ugly.
"We need to get him to his cell before he wakes,"
Extreme Junior said.
"Indeed!" Eliminator said. "Last time we had to let
him get away because we weren't ready for him but now
we've got a prison cell with his name on it!"
4:56 pm
"Repairs have been completed," the Super Soldier
announced. "You can go back home now."
"Finally!" Lana said.
"I do apologize for the inconvenience," the Super
Soldier said. "You just came at a bad time."
"But you said this had happened before," Michael
reminded him.
"Yes," the Super Soldier said, "but it is all
cleared up now. I tell you what: before you go, I
will give you one more tour of the prison and you'll
see that everything is alright now."
The Super Soldier took them out of the room where
they had been waiting and into the area that had been
attacked by Devastatus.
"See?" the Super Soldier said. "That's the wall
that was breached by Devastatus. But as you can see
it is fully repaired now and the area has been
repressurized."
"Where is Devastatus now?" Roger asked.
"I'll show you," the Super Soldier promised.
"I don't think you'll be able to take him on as a
client, Roger," Michael said to him. "This isn't our
universe, remember? This Devastatus won't even be
human."
"I know," Roger said. "I'm just curious."
The Super Soldier led them into the area with all
the holding cells. Again Michael was able to see the
Brotherhood of Masters members, Zon, the Zon clones
and all of the other immates, most of whom he didn't
recognize.
"I still haven't gotten the paperwork on all these
people," Michael pointed out.
"Oh, the paperwork is ready," the Super Soldier
assured him. "It's sitting on my desk. I'll give it
to you as soon as we get back home." The Super
Soldier pointed to the cell holding Devastatus.
"There he is."
"How do you know there aren't others out there like
him?" Michael asked.
"Oh, don't worry," the Super Soldier told him. "We
delt with him easily enough and we'll deal with others
just as easily."
"You delt with one easily enough. How about a
hundred? Or a thousand?"
"If there were more of them then they would have
attacked by now," the Super Soldier said.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Michael said. "This is
their universe, not ours, and we are the invaders. I
wouldn't be surprised if there aren't others like him
out there. And with us holding him prisoner, they
would have more reason to attack."
"The fact that we can hold one of them prisoner is
good reason for them to stay away," the Super Soldier
pointed out. "Let this be their deterent. Now they
can learn to live and let live."
"It's probably not a good idea to try to guess how
an alien race might think," Michael pointed out.
"Even in our own culture, when the enemy holds one of
us prisoner it is hardly considered a deterent."
"You let me worry about that," the Super Soldier
said. "It is best the three of you get back. The
Human Spider and Weapon Alpha already left hours ago:
they were on their way back when this happened."
The Super Soldier led them back to the laboratory
where the portal back to their home dimension was.
Again, the Super Soldier was the first to pass through
with Michael, Lana and Roger following close behind.
"About those papers," Michael said.
"Right. Follow me."
"Look, I'd best get going," Roger Roeper said.
"I've been gone all afternoon."
"Understood," Michael said.
Michael and Lana followed the Super Soldier to his
office. The Super Soldier handed him a thick file.
"This has all the information you wanted about all
the prisoners we have in the Anti-Dimesion," he said.
Michael took the file and slipped in the confession
that Matthew Spencer had written. "Alright. Thanks.
We're done here so we'll be going now."
"Let me know if you need anything else," the Super
Soldier told him.
5:30 pm
Michael and Lana stood outside of Extreme Force Six
Headquarters.
"So I guess you'll be heading back to Langly
tomorrow," he said.
"Yeah. I should call Oscar and let him know that
I'm alright."
"Fine. You do that. Are you two close?"
"Close?"
"Or are you just partners?"
"We're partners but we're also friends."
"But just friends?"
"Yeah. Just friends. Why?"
"I thought after you called Oscar and let him know
that you were alright that we could go somewhere and
have dinner. It's almost time. Are you hungry?"
"Dinner?"
"Yeah. This is only your second time to Pepperton.
I thought I'd introduce you to a restaurant I knew."
"Alright. Fine."
"Just you and me. No Oscar."
"He can proably get something at the hotel," she
suggested.
"Okay. Good." Michael was very pleased with
himself just then. Very pleased indeed.
THE END
Martin
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