Superfreaks/ACRA: Superfreaks Season 2 #15
Martin Phipps
martinphipps2 at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 9 07:37:42 PDT 2007
Michael King, Mary Bailey and Lana Lewis: 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
the capes whose cases they have to investigate?
Should they be considered a help or a hindrance?
SUPERFREAKS SEASON 2 #15
THE ANT-SIZED MAN
PART I
9:02 am
"Explain to me what happened, John," Detective
Michael King asked.
Pepperton City Police Detective John Phelps sighed
before answering his collegues question.
"Goodhead Corporation CEO Joel Byrne got shot a few
days ago as he was getting out of his car and
returning to work from a lunch break. The weapon used
to kill him belonged to Officer Mark Johnston."
"Is there any reason to believe that Mark was the
one who actually fired the gun?"
John shrugged his shoulders. "Mark claims that he
was unconscious at the time. He says somebody jumped
him after he had finished breakfast. He says that the
guy who jumped him must have taken his gun."
"Who did he say jumped him?"
John thought for a moment. "Peter Hanks. Mark said
he had to have been on drugs or something."
"Peter Hanks?"
"Yeah."
"He's an employee at Goodhead Corporation."
"Was. He got immunity from prosecution in the
Goodhead Junior case in exchange for his testimony
against the corporation."
"Really? And where is Peter Hanks now?"
John shrugged his shoulders. "Disappeared."
"Along with his testimony then."
"I'm afraid so."
Michael nodded. "Okay. I'll take a look at the
body before I speak to Mark."
"Okay." John smiled. "Welcome back, by the way.
Did you have a good honeymoon?"
Michael nodded. "Oh, yes, indeed, but I'm too much
of a gentleman to go into any more detail than that."
John smiled weakly. "Fair enough."
9:29 am
"Do you still have the body of Joel Byrne?" Michael
asked.
Jack Greenspan nodded. "Sure. He's right over
here." Jack pulled opened a drawer and the body was
inside. "It's your typical gunshot wound to the
head... except for one thing that was a bit odd."
"What was that?"
"The angle at which the bullet hit him."
"Explain."
"The path from the entry would to the brain made a
roughly forty-five degree angle with the horizontal,
which means that the victim was either lying on the
ground when he got shot --"
"Or the killer was very short and shot him from
below."
"Or he could have just been crouched down waiting
for the victim I suppose."
"Perhaps. Anyway, thanks."
9:52 am
"What did you notice about the man who attacked
you?"
Officer Mark Johnston looked at Detective King
suspiciously. "So you believe me when I say I was
attacked."
Michael nodded. "The doctor's report was
inconclusive: he said you'd suffered a mild concussion
but he couldn't say if you'd been unconscious or not.
But you're still innocent until proven guilty."
"Fair enough. He said his name was Peter Hanks."
"You told John that he was on drugs."
"Not on drugs. Drugged. He said somebody had
poisoned him."
"Who?"
"He wasn't sure. But then... oh God..."
"What?"
"I told him that it could have been somebody from
Goodhead who had drugged him. That must have been why
he took my gun. That's why he killed Byrne."
"Alright. What else can you tell me about Hanks."
"He was short. Really short."
"How short?"
"He couldn't have been over five feet tall."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I remember that because I thought it was
strange that somebody so short had such a strong
punch. Also, I remember him grabbing me."
"So maybe he lifted you up and that's why he seemed
short."
"No. No. He really was that short."
Michael fished through the files he had with him.
One of the files he found was Peter Hanks's employment
file that Detective Phelps had retrieved from Goodhead
Corporation a couple of days ago. He showed it to
Mark.
"It says here that Peter Hanks was five feet ten
inches tall."
"No, that can't be. I'm barely that tall myself and
I was definitely almost a foot taller than him."
Michael nodded. "Okay. Thanks."
10:12 am
"Mary?"
"Yes, Michael?"
"You investigated the crime scene where Joel Byrne
was killed."
Detective Mary Bailey nodded. "That's right.
Edward and I were both there. It was Edward who found
the gun."
"Did you find any trace of the killer at the scene?"
"No. None at all."
Michael nodded. "What we're looking for might be so
small that you could have missed it. I'm recommending
you go back to the scene with a portable vaccuum,
vaccuum all around the crime scene and sift through
what you pick up."
"Alright. Can you give me an idea what I'm looking
for?"
Michael nodded. "The killer."
PART II
10:32 am
"Doctor Leonard?"
Doctor Sameul Leonard, Pepperton City forensic
psychiatrist, looked up from his desk. "Extreme!
What brings you here?"
Extreme sighed. "Doctor Leonard, it's about Bizarre
Extreme."
"Your clone?"
"Yes. He killed a man a few days ago. I want you
to take a look at him."
"You want me to tell you if he was legally
responsible?"
"Yes."
"And if I find that he was?"
"Then I'll trust your recommendatioon and we'll do
as you suggest. Whatever that might be."
11:22 am
"Did you sift through the contents of the vaccuum?"
Mary nodded. "I sure did. First I sifted out the
small dust particles and then I sifted again to remove
any pieces of stone that got picked up."
"What did you find."
"This. At first I thought it was some kind of grub
but then I looked at it under a microscope."
"Let me see."
"Be my guest."
Michael looked through the microscope at what
appeared to be an ant-sized man. He was dead, of
course.
"What is it?" Mary asked.
"Not what. Who."
"Alright. Who is it?"
"It's Peter Hanks."
"You're kidding."
Michael showed her Peter Hanks's picture and Mary
took another look to confirm that it was him.
"How is this possible?"
"I believe that somebody at Goodhead Corporation
poisoned Peter Hanks with a poison that caused him to
become smaller and smaller until he eventually
disappeared, thereby not only killing him but causing
his body to be disposed of in the process."
"Ingenius."
"But Peter managed to live long enough to steal
Mark's gun and kill Joel Byrne."
"So that gets Mark off the hook. He was obviously
telling the truth."
"Yes, but we can't prove that Peter Hanks was
poisoned. All we have is this single bit of trace
evidence."
"This single bit of trace evidence is all that is
left of Peter Hanks."
"Exactly. So I'm wary of doing any tests on him and
then losing all the evidence we have."
"I think Edward will know what to do."
11:47 am
"Absolutely. I do know what to do," Edward told
Michael.
"What then?"
"Well, first of all, we need to take pictures of him
just in case he's no longer recognizable when I'm
finished with him."
"Fair enough. What then?"
"Then I cover him with an epoxy. Sort of like when
a fly is stuck in amber. When the epoxy hardens then
we'll be able to make fine slices that can be examined
under a microscope. That way we'll be able to see his
miniaturized internal organs and everything. This
will prove that this was the real Peter Hanks and not
some elaborate hoax."
"Do you think you can also get a DNA sample?"
"Sure? Do you have anything I can compare it to?"
Michael nodded. "John got a hair sample from his
home. Not only was he a suspect in Byrne's killing
but he was also a missing person."
"Until now."
"Until now. I'll get that hair sample to you ASAP."
"Great."
1:01 pm
"Bizarre Extreme?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Doctor Samuel Leonard."
"Another doctor?"
"Yes."
"Am I sick?"
"That's what I'm here to determine. Bizarre, you
killed a man a few days ago. Are you aware of that?"
Bizarre nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."
"Can you tell me why you did that?"
"He was a bad man. He was hurting another man."
"Do you think he deserved to die?"
Bizarre shook his head. "No no no. I didn't know
that I would kill him just by hitting him. If I had
hit myself like that I would barely have felt it."
"I see. So do you understand now that what you did
was wrong?"
"Yes. Very wrong. I won't do it again."
"I'm sure you won't."
1:55 pm
"Any results, Edward."
Edward nodded. "I've been able to preserve
incredible detail," he said. "The drug just made him
smaller and smaller until he couldn't breathe. He
suffocated to death."
"I see. Did you isolate the drug?"
"I think so." He showed Michael a piece of paper.
"This is the chemical composition of the drug."
Michael nodded. "And you're sure this is Peter
Hanks."
"DNA is a match. It's him alright."
"Excellent. This might be all we need."
PART III
3:32 pm
"Why are you here, Detective?" current Goodhead
Corporation CEO Mitchell Spitz asked. "Detective
Phelps was here just a couple of days ago asking
questions."
"There's been a development. We found Peter Hanks."
"Did you?"
Michael showed him a picture of Peter Hanks's body,
one that had been enlarged several times until a clear
picture of his face could be seen.
"That's him alright. What is that he is laying on?"
"A microscope slide."
"What?"
"Mr. Spitz, Peter Hanks was shrunk down to the size
of an ant. He then died from suffocation because he
couldn't breathe at that size."
"Astonishing!"
"We believe that the poison used was manufactured
here at your labs."
"Absolutely not possible. We don't manufacture
poisons here."
"I'm afraid I can't take your word for it."
"What do you suggest?"
"I'm going to have to search your labs."
"No. Not without a warrant."
Michael showed him the warrant that the judge issued
him half an hour ago.
Spitz sighed. "What do you hope to find?"
"I already know the chemical composition of the
poison that was used. And I do have a degree in
chemistry so, don't worry, I do know what I am looking
for."
3:35 pm
"Doctor?"
Doctor Samuel Leonard nodded. "Yes. Right. Your
clone."
"Bizarre Extreme. Did you finish talking to him?"
"Yes. He's become quite lucid. He's almost
eloquant, if fact."
"He's made a lot of progress. What I want to know,
doctor, is if he's a killer."
Doctor Leonard shook his head. "No. He's not. And
I will testify to that effect if there should be an
inquest into the victim's death."
"Perhaps we don't need to go through that."
Doctor Leonard nodded. "I'll recommend against it.
If anythingm he'd tried as a juvenile. He's barely
two years old, isn't he?"
"It was two years ago that he was placed in
incubation, yes."
"I think under the circumstances he's made a lot of
progress indeed. Perhaps he will one day be a hero
just like you."
Extreme smiled. "Hardly. He's no where near as
strong as me and never will be."
Doctor Leonard laughed. "I wasn't talking about
physical strength so much as pureness of heart."
"Right. Thank you, Doctor."
"You're welcome."
5:55 pm
"Sorry to keep you both waiting," Michael said.
"That's quite alright," Detective John Phelps said
in reply.
"What have you got?" Officer Mark Johnston asked.
"Well, I found traces of poison they used on Peter
Hanks."
"So it definitely was somebody from Goodhead
Corporation that poisoned Peter Hanks then?"
"I can't prove that. But it does show that they
were ultimately responsible, which gave Peter Hanks
motive for wanting to kill his former boss."
"So then he attacked me?"
"And took your gun. Edward found that his body
didn't deteriorate at all from the poison: he just
found it harder and harder to breathe as he got
smaller and smaller."
"Smaller and smaller? So that's why he was so
short! And why his clothes were too big for him!"
"Exactly. And as he got smaller, he would have
gotten stronger: his muscle density would have
actually increased."
"Which is why he was able to knock me out?"
"And why he was still able to pull the trigger even
when he had shrunk down to the size of a child: Jack
found it odd that the trajectory of the bullet was
upwards; Peter was literally standing under Joel Byrne
when he shot him."
"But he then shrunk down to the size of an ant?"
John asked.
"Yes. It must ahve been hard for his small hands to
hild onto the gun so he dropped it at the scene near
the body. He then must have collapsed from a lack of
oxygen: but he didn't die right away and the poison
continued to work on him until he had shrunk down to
ant size."
John sighed. "This all goes into the file. We're
slowly building a case against the whole company."
"Aren't you forgetting something, John?" Michael
asked.
John nodded. "Right. Mark?"
"Yeah?"
"These are yours." He handed back Mark his badge
and his gun. "No hard feelings?"
"Of course not. You were just following procedure."
Michael smiled. "Good to have you back, Mark."
Mark smiled. "It's good to be back."
THE END
Martin
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