Superfreaks/ACRA: Silver Age Superfreaks #2
Martin Phipps
martinphipps2 at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 21 04:41:59 PST 2007
Jim Morgan and Colin McKenzie: detectives. Craig
Franklin and John Phelps: police officers. Quinton
Macy and Jack Greenspan: medical examiners. Darren
Kent and Alan Russell: lawyers. These are the men 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?
Silver Age Superfreaks #2
Morning
PART I
9:02 am
"What do we have here?" Pepperton Chief Medical
Examiner Quinton Macy asked.
"Body was found earlier this morning," his
assistant, Jack Greenspan, informed him. "Looks like
the body was dumped last night. I estimate time of
death to be about twenty four hours ago."
"What's this sticking out of his throat?" Quinton
asked.
"It looks like a porcupine quill."
Quinton looked at him quizically. "Have you ever
seen a porcupine quill that big?" he asked.
"Not before today, no" was Jack's reply.
9:35 am
"I think it would have been better if you just told
Bruce rather than having me replace him before you
arrived," Colonel Wonder said.
Colin McKenzie smiled and waved a finger at Colonel
Wonder as if he were chastising a five year old. "I
disagree. You need to tell him yourself," he said as
he set up the tripod. "Besides, the last time I was
here I was asking him about a murder case. He'd
hardly let me into his house without a warrant -
especially when I'm bringing this." Colin placed the
video camera on top of the tripod.
"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say," Wonder
said.
"Tell him what you should have told him in the first
place rather than just taking over his body."
Colonel Wonder grimaced. "I explained..."
Colin raised his hand to silence Colonel Wonder,
just like the way a traffic cop would gesture to an
oncoming truck. "Now explain it to him."
"Right now?"
"I hit play already."
"Alright." Colonel Wonder looked into the camera.
"Bruce... I'm Colonel Wonder. I'm your counterpart
from another dimension. In order for me to exist in
your dimension, you need to replace me in the Twilight
Dimension. While you are there, you have no memories.
You might have noticed your memory lapses over the
years. I'm sorry about that but it's really for the
best: the Twilight Dimension is not a very pleasant
place and, believe me, you don't want to remember
having been there. The fact is that, over the years,
I've only ever taken your place here on Earth when
lives were at risk. I'm a hero, Bruce... which means
you're a hero too because you make my stays on Earth
possible. Of course, when the danger has passed, I
always return you back to where you were when I took
you so that you're never too disoriented, waking up in
some strange place I mean."
Colonel Wonder looked away from the camera to think
for a moment and then continued. "You didn't kill
that girl, Bruce. You must have retained some of my
memories when we switched back. No, I didn't kill her
either. I don't know who did, but don't worry:
Detective McKenzie is on the case and he'll find out
who the killer is. He always does. I had to tell him
about you and me so that he'd eliminate you as a
suspect. That's how he found out. And he's the one
who made this videotape..."
"Okay," Colin said. "That's enough. You'd better
change back now so he can see the video."
"Did you stop the video already?"
"No. I want him to see the transformation.
Otherwise he's going to think this is all some kind of
joke."
"Oh. I see." Colonel Wonder concentrated and -
following a bright flash of light - he disappeared,
replaced by Bruce Blake.
"What?" Bruce asked. "How...? Detective McKenzie?!
What are you doing here? Why do you have a video
camera?"
"It's alright! It's alright!" Colin assured him.
You blacked out again."
"You know about my blackouts?" Bruce asked.
Colin nodded. "And what's on this tape will explain
them. Do you want me to set it so you can watch it on
your TV?"
"Alright," Bruce said and then added, "Does this
have anything to do with what happened to that girl?"
"Yes and no," Colin said. "Don't worry. You didn't
kill her. I know that. And if you watch this tape
then you'll know it too."
"Let's see it then."
9:44 am
"Kenneth Clark?"
"Yes?" Kenneth asked. He was sitting at his desk
where he worked as a reporter for the Daily World
newspaper.
"I'm Johnathon Jenner. Of the Jenner toy company.
You might not recognize me."
"I'm sorry. I don't. Have we met?"
Johnathon smiled. "We met as our alter egos."
Kenneth's eyes widenned.
"Perhaps we can discuss this later at my mansion.
Say around seven o'clock?"
"Alright."
"See you then."
9:53 am
"This is insane."
"I thought that would be your reaction," Colin said.
"That's why I had it videotaped."
Bruce buried his face in his hands. "What does he
want?"
Colin nodded. "I you don't want you to take him
again then you should say so."
"Why in God's name...?"
"Because he's a hero and by willingly letting him
take your place then you'd be a hero too. You could
save lives."
"What do you suggest?"
"I was thinking maybe a code word."
"A code word?"
"Yes. Some way to let him know that it was okay for
him to do his thing. Something like 'Abracadabre'."
"I'm not going to say that," Bruce said
emphatically.
"Not even if you're in danger yourself?"
Bruce rolled his eyes. "How about 'Presto chango'?"
"Whatever. Why don't you say it like you mean it
and see if he agrees?"
"Fine." Bruce stood up and stretched his arms out
wide. "Presto chango!" he said and then was
immediately replaced in a flash of light by Colonel
Wonder.
"I take it 'Presto chango' is okay with you?" Colin
asked.
"It'll do," Colonel Wonder said. "Thanks. For
everything."
"No problem," Colin said as he gathered up the video
camera and tripod. "Oh! You should change back now.
That was just a test."
"Right." Another flash of light sent Colonel Wonder
back to the Twilight Dimension and returned Bruce
Blake.
"So it's all true," Bruce said.
"'Fraid so," Colin said. He had gathered up all his
equipment and was getting ready to go.
"Well, thank you then."
"Like I said to Colonel Wonder just a moment ago, no
problem! Now if you'll escuse me, I have to get
going! I have to get back to that murder case I was
working on."
"Oh yes. Of course. Goodbye, Detective McKenzie."
Colin McKenzie waved at him as he left.
7:01 pm
"Good," Johnathon Jenner said. "You're on time."
"I'm never late," Kenneth Clark told him.
"I rather thought you might have shown up as
Extreme."
"Right," Kenneth said. "About that...?"
"How do I know?" Johnathon Jenner smiled. "I'm not
just a millionaire playboy, Mr. Clark. I'm also the
world's greatest detective."
"You're secretly Jim Morgan?"
Johnathon rolled his eyes. "I'm Night Man."
"Oh. I see." Kenneth sighed. "So what do you
want?"
"I have a proposal for you."
"Which is?"
"I suggest we team up."
Kenneth smiled. "No offense, Night Man, but as
Extreme I am much more powerful than you. I don't
need a partner."
"I'm not so much interested in your power as in your
legitimacy. Imagine a team bearing your name."
"A team?"
"You can't be everywhere at once, my friend. A team
composed of a handful of people like you and me would
be able to handle menaces that none of us could handle
on our own."
Kenneth sighed. "Again, no offense, but I've delt
with people like Mr. Uoykcuf and Insomniac. You deal
with villains like The Kidder and The Porcupine..."
"I don't see why we shouldn't plan ahead. Suppose
our villains were to team up against us. We need to
be ready."
Kenneth laughed. "Mr. Uoykcuf has god like powers.
He wouldn't need to team up with anybody!"
Johnathon nodded. "Right. And how do you defeat
him every time? You pester him, needle him, piss him
off until finally you force him to say his name
backwards. Anybody can do that."
"I'm feeling tempted to say Uoykcuf backwards myself
right now."
"Just think about it. Okay?"
Kenneth nodded. "Okay."
"Feel free to come back anytime and let me know what
you think."
PART II
10:10 am
Craig Franklin had been working for the Porcupine
just over a day when he noticed an unlocked desk
drawer full of documents. He decided to come back
when the Porcupine wasn't around and see what he could
find. The door to the office wasn't locked. Nor was
there anybody inside. He went in to see what he could
find.
It didn't take him long to find what incriminating
documents providing details of drug shipments
specifying things like the kinds of drugs being
shipped, the quantities of drugs being shipped, the
names of the dealers being delivered to, the ammounts
paid and the estimated street values of the drugs...
and Eaglone's name was all over the documents.
"What are you doing here?" Craig had been so busy
reading the documents that he had forgotten that he
needed to be in and out quickly before the Porcupine
came back. "I'm waiting for your answer!"
That was his mistake. Craig didn't know what to say
so he responded by putting a bullet in the Porcupine's
head.
Craig had never killed anyone before. He was
momentarily stunned. When it had sunk in just what he
had done, he actually felt good about it: he had taken
out the Porcupine. Alright!
It was a righteous shooting. He remembered what the
Porcupine had done just two days ago, killing one of
his own men. It was a question of either killing or
being killed.
He heard others coming. They must have heard the
gunshot. He wasn't out of this yet. He stuffed the
incriminating documents down his shirt. The Porcupine
had about two dozen armed men working for him and he'd
probably have to kill every one of them just to make
it out alive.
Craig smiled in anticipation.
10:20 am
"Good morning, Arthur."
"Good morning, Mr. Clark. Mr. Jenner is expecting
you."
"He is?"
"Follow me."
Kenneth Clark was led to Johnathon Jenner's living
room and found Johnathon with two other guests.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "I've come at a bad
time."
"Not at all," Johnathon said. "We're all friends
here. Kenneth Clark, I'd like you to meet Priscilla
Diamond and Gary Alda."
"Well," Kenneth said, "it's nice to meet you both.
I just wanted to say, Mr. Jenner, that I have to turn
down your proposal."
"I knew you'd say that."
"You did?"
"That's why I asked my friends here: to help me
convince you."
"Excuse me?"
Johnathon smiled. "Kenneth, are you telling me that
you don't recognize Amazing Woman and Mr. Quick?
Granted, Gary Alda wears a mask when he's in costume
as Mr. Quick but all Priscilla here does to change
into Amazing Woman is take off her glasses."
"Yes, well," Kenneth said nervously, "glasses can be
a very effective disguise."
"As you know very well."
Kenneth addressed Johnathon's guests. "So do you
two think this is a good idea?"
"I think it would be a good idea to pool our
resources," Amazing Woman told him, "and we are
stronger with you than without you."
Gary Alda shrugged his shoulders. "Look, all I can
do is run fast. If the three of you want to get
together and form a team then I would be proud to be a
part of it."
Johnathon nodded. "Gary can run fast. Priscilla
has super strength. I have my fighting skills.
You're the only one here who is the complete package.
Granted we need you more than you need us... but we
_do_ need you."
Kenneth sighed. "Okay. What do you want me to do."
Johnathon smiled. "There are two others that I want
you to recruit personally."
12:15 pm
"What the hell happened here?" Jim Morgan asked when
he arrived at the scene.
"My cover was blown," Craig said, matter of factly.
"I had to shoot my way out."
"Couldn't you have left one of them alive?"
Criag shrugged his shoulders. "I made a decision in
the field not to take any chances."
"Fair enough. But where does that leave us?"
Criag pulled out the documents that he had retrieved
from the Porcupine's office. "Here. This is all the
evidence we need."
Jim Morgan looked over the documents. "This is all
very well and good," he said, "but it would be good if
we had a witness."
"I can be the witness," Craig said. "Eaglone hired
me based on my work with The Kidder. He then sent me
to work with the Porcupine. That proves he's dirty."
Jim nodded. "We'll see what the D.A. says
tomorrow."
PART III
3:06 am
No member of the human race had set foot in Atlantis
for over ten thousand years. Actually, since Extreme
technically wasn't a human being, there still hadn't
been a human being having set foot there.
>>Who goes there?<<
Extreme found telepathy a bit jarring. For
starters, it was hard to tell who was sending to him
and from where. The fact that they were in the dark
depths of the Atlantic ocean didn't help. Extreme
scanned the area with his x-ray vision. Ah. There
they were. Now... how to respond? Extreme didn't
need to breathe but it would be difficult, even for
him, to talk under water. He hoped that, given that
they could send thoughts to him, that they could also
detect what he was thinking.
.o(I'm a friend. I'm here to see Water Lord.)
9:14 am
District Attorney Darren Kent considered the
evidence against Eaglone. "It's a lot of heresay,
isn't it?"
"How so?" Officer Craig Franklin asked.
"Eaglone never admitted that The Kidder worked for
him, did he? And just because he led you to the
Porcupine didn't mean that the Porcupine worked for
him either. It just means he knew how to contact him:
he could have just assumed that you wanted to work for
another criminal after working for The Kidder."
"But the documents..."
Darren nodded. "The documents are good... if they
are genuine."
"What makes you think they aren't?"
"I'm not saying they are fake. I think we will need
a warrant though to prove that this is stationary that
Eaglone actually uses. It's too bad that there are no
documents with his signature."
"Look," Craig said, "I'm ready to testify. I don't
think I'd be able to go back to Eaglone after this
anyway. I'm no good to you anymore as an undercover
agent. I think this is our one and only chance to
nail Eaglone."
Darren nodded. "Perhaps a search warrant of
Eaglone's office will turn up more evidence. Although
they might see that coming."
"All the more reason not to wait."
"I agree."
"You do?"
"Sure. I'll give Jim more time to collect evidence
and then we'll take this to trial."
2:02 pm
Christopher Prince shot an arrow at a target five
hundred feet away but it didn't hit the target:
somebody caught it. Then that somebody flew over to
him and handed the arrow back to him.
"What did you do that for?" he asked as he took the
arrow and put it back in his quiver.
"I have a proposition for you."
"What is it?"
"Night Man and I are putting a team together. We
are thinking of calling it the Extreme Force Six but
we need a sixth member."
"Extreme Force Six?" Christopher smirked. "A bit
egotistical of you to name the team after yourself."
"That was Night Man's idea."
"Okay. But why me?"
"Why not you?"
Christopher laughed. "You fly. You break through
walls. I shoot arrows. Why do you need me? Why do
you need anybody?"
"I was thinking the same thing," Extreme admitted,
"but suppose one of these days Mr. Uoykcuf or the
Insomniac were to finally find a way to kill me? Then
who would protect humanity?"
"The army?"
"What if that's not enough?"
Christopher nodded. "Okay. But then who do we
answer to? Who decides who the bad guys are? Hmm?
It sounds a bit fascist to me."
"So you're saying no?"
Christopher smirked again. "I didn't say that."
"If you need time...?"
"Who are the other members of your group so far?"
"Me, Night Man, Amazing Woman, Mr. Quick and Water
Lord."
Christopher nodded. "Impressive."
"So you'll join us?"
"Tell you what: I'll show up to the first meeting
and give you my answer then."
"Fair enough."
8:54 pm
There was a knock at the door. District Attorney
Darren Kent got up from watching the latest episode of
Family Ties to go see who it was.
When Darren opened the door, he saw The Kidder
standing there. He knew The Kidder was a homocidal
maniac so he quickly went to close the door.
He was too late. The Kidder sprayed him with a fast
acting poison: Darren Kent was dead before he even hit
the ground.
The Kidder's laughter could be heard all the way
down the street.
TO BE CONTINUED
Martin
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