Superfreaks/ACRA: Superfreaks Season 3 #8

[Martin Phipps]

Michael King, Lana Lewis and Mary Bailey: 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 men and women 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 3 #8 

                         "SAY"

                         PART I 

9:05 am 

  Detectives John Phelps and Michael King of the
Pepperton Police Department looked down at the body of
stabbing victim that had been found the night before
by civilians passing by.
  "Strange," Michael said.
  "What?" John asked.
  "The body has been here for a while and the wound
was deep," he observed.  "There should be more blood."
  "Does that mean anything?" John asked.
  "We'll see what Jack says after he's had a chance to
do an autopsy," Michael decided.

9:06 am

  "The victim is Francis Joel," Detective Lana Lewis
said, refering to another body found in a hotel on the
other side of town.
  "_The_ Francis Joel?" Detective Mary Bailey asked. 
"The founder of Women Who Went Wild?"
  "That's him."
  "He's so short."
  "You thought he'd be taller?"
  "It's hard to imagine anybody taking their top off
for this guy."
  Lana laughed.  "After a few beers, you'd be
surprised what some girls would do on camera."
  "Oh I know what they do on camera.  Edward has an
extensive collection of Women Who Went Wild videos. 
>From before we got married I mean."
  Lana nodded.  "That experience could come in handy
on this case."

10:23 am

  "You were right to be suspicious," Pepperton Chief
Medical Examiner Jack Greenspan told Michael.
  "How so?"
  "Your victim isn't human."
  "Then what is he?"
  "I can't be sure.  All I know is that his organs
aren't in the right position."
  Michael nodded.  "Alright.  I think it's time for me
to call in a favour."

10:32 am

  "What the Hell are you guys doing looking at that
stuff here?" John asked Edward Bailey and Frank Lopez.
  "It's evidence," Edward told him.
  "Evidence of what?" John asked.
  "This was the last video Francis Joel, the founder
of Women Who Went Wild, shot before he was killed last
night."
  "Okay.  So I take it this girl here is a suspect?"
  "It's possible," Edward explained.  "The girls who
appear in these videos aren't paid.  Francis
essentially takes advantage of their being drunk to
get them to show their breasts on video."
  "Whoa!" Frank said.  "Now she's taking her panties
off!"
  John sighed.  "Forget about this one as a suspect. 
She obviously has nothing to hide."
  "How about the other girl then?  The one she's
kissing?"
  Edward shrugged his shoulders.  "We can't assume at
this point taht we aren't dealing with a crime of
passion."
  John sighed again.  "Does this really require two
people?"
  "I'm only too happy to help out!" Frank said.
  "We need to go over this footage again and again. 
We don't want to miss anything."
  "I'm sure."  John shook his head and walked off.
  "Wait!" Edward said.  "Let's go back a bit!  There! 
I've seen her before!"
  "Where?"
  "In Women Who Went Wild: Coeds on Campus #2.  It
came out a few years ago."
  "Are you sure?"
  "Positive.  I must have watched that video a dozen
times.  I'm sure that's her."
  "So years later she's at a Women Who Went Wild
party.  Coincidence?"
  "Or motive!" Edward said.  "Premeditated motive!"

2:45 pm

  "Mr. Ambassador," Michael said.  "Thabk you for
coming!"
  "It is my pleasure to help you!" the Dullkin
Ambassador told him.
  "Your pleasure?"
  "Figuratively speaking of course."
  Michael nodded.  He showed the Ambassador the
autopsy photos for the stabbing victim.  "This man
obviously isn't human.  He looks human on the surface
but internally he's all wrong."
  "I see," the Dullkin Ambassador said.  "You would
appear to be correct."
  "Does he belong to any race you know of?"
  The Dullkin Ambassador nodded.  "He appears to be a
Skree."
  "A Skree?"
  "Yes.  They are shape shifters.  They can change
their appearance to resemble any humanoid species."
  "So why would a Skree be here on Earth?"
  "I can't be sure."
  "Please speculate."
  "The Skrees have, for a long time, been at war with
the Krulls.  The Krulls are also shape shifters.  It
is possible that there are also Krulls on Earth and
that this Skree was killed by a Krull.  Perhaps they
encountered each other on the street and a fight
ensued."
  "Are the Krulls also shape shifters?"
  "Yes.  That is how the war began.  Skrees and Krulls
would infiltrate planets to learn what they can and
possibly exploit the worlds in secret.  When Skrees
and Krulls would both be on the same planet, they
would recognize each other and conflict would ensue. 
The Skrees and Krulls consider their shape shifting
abilities to be their main weapon so they go through
considerable effort to hide from not only the
inhabitants of whatever planet they are on but also
from each other.  They also study each other's
weaknesses so that they can easily identify each
other."
  "I see.  And what weaknesses are those?"
  "Krulls have difficulty getting their skin colour to
match with one of the colours common on the planet
they are on: they always end up looking too greenish. 
Skrees don't like to be out during the day because
most planets circle yellow suns and the light from a
yellow sun weakens them."
  "Really?"  Michael thought for a moment.  "I think
we might actually have a Skree locked up already at
Raftpork Assylum!"
  "Ah, well, that would be a bit of luck then," the
Dullkin Ambassador said.  "He might be able to tell
you more about them than I could."
  "He might indeed be able to.  Thank you, Mr.
Ambassador."
  "I am gald to be of help," the Dullkin Ambassador
said, "figuratively speaking of course."

10:35 pm

  It had been a couple of weeks since David Graham's
escape from Raftpork Assylum and he was feeling lonely
being holed up in his mother's old house.  So he
decided to go to a local club in see if he couldn't
find some companionship.
  "Hey there!" David said with a smile to a lady he
found particularly pretty.  "What's a nice girl like
you doing in a place like this?"
  She rolled her eyes.  "That's so lame!"
  "Lame?"
  "Yeah," she said.  "You don't do this very often, do
you?"
  "No," he admitted.
  "You don't just walk up to a girl and give her a
line!  You need to say something about yourself.  Tell
a girl what makes you special and why she should
bother talking to you!"
  David thought for a moment.  "I'm a dangerous man,"
he told her.
  "Dangerous?  How so?"
  "If I said the word," he said and snapped his
fingers, "everyone here would die."
  "What do you mean?"
  "Whatever I say comes true," he told her, "so if I
said 'Everyone in this room is going to die' then
everyone in this room would die."
  Just then, the girl he was taling to passed out and
dropped to the floor.  She wasn't breathing.  Nor was
anybody else in the bar: they were all lying on the
floor dead.
  "Oops," David said.  He grabbed somebody's cellphone
and dialed 911.  "Hello.  I'd like to report a murder.
 Several in fact."

                         PART II

12:01 am

  "They're all dead," Detective John Phelps told
Detecive Michael King.  "Every last one of them."
  "So who called 911?" Michael asked.
  "That's a good question."
  Michael nodded.  "We need to collect all the cell
phones and find out which, if any, one made the call."
  "Do you think the killer called it in?" John asked. 
"If he did, would he have left the cell phone behind?"
  Michael shrugged his shoulders.  "It's the only lead
we have."

10:05 am

  "Michael!"
  "Yes, Lana?"
  Detective Lana Lewis grimaced.  "I just called
Raftpork Assylum.  The man I told you about escaped
two weeks ago."
  "Any chance that our victim _is_ that man?"
  Lana nodded.  "I'll have Oscar send over the old
case file."
  "You do that," Michael said, "although if the Skree
are shape changers then he might not have the same
face anymore."
  Lana sighed.  "I can't believe that he really was an
alien all this time."
  Michael smiled.  "It's so cliche isn't it.  Crazy
people will say they are from another planet."
  "I guess."
  "How's the Francis Joel case coming along?"
  "Great.  Officers Johnston and Jackson brought in
the suspect that Edward identified yesterday from the
video footage."
  "So you think she's the killer?"
  Lana nodded.  "She matches the description of the
last person that people saw Joel with before he died."
 She sighed.  "I never thought I'd say this but it's
great having somebody on the team who's familiar with
this sort of thing."

11:35 am

  "So is this the cell phone that was used to dial
911?" Michael asked Edward.
  "Yep," Edward said.  "I used it to dial my own cell
phone and the number that appeared on the call display
on my cell phone matched the number that called 911
last night."
  "Clever."
  "I have my moments."
  "So were you able to get a print?"
  "Yep," Edward said.  "And I ran the print through
the data base."
  "Did you get a match?"
  "Yes I did.  The print belongs to David Graham.  He
escaped from Raftpork Assylum two weeks ago."
  Michael sighed.  "Raftpork Assylum needs to keep
better track of its inmates.  I don't suppose you can
provide me with a current address?"
  "Not conclusively, no," Edward admitted.  "His last
known address was an apartment but that's been rented
out already.  There's always his mother's place
though.  David was an only child so the place was
probably never sold.  It's at 435 Third Street."
  "Thanks."
  "No problem."

2:15 pm

  "Open," David said.  The refriderator door opened. 
David sighed.  Perhaps he could get his powers to work
after all.
  Just then there was a knock at the door.
  "Police!" he heard a man say.  "We're coming in!"
  Officers Mark Johnston and Tom Jackson waled in,
pointing their guns at David.
  "I don't want any trouble," David said.
  "You're coming to the precinct," Mark told him.  "We
want to ask you some questions."
  David didn't want that either.  "Stop!" he said.
  Mark and Tom just stood there.  They couldn't move.
  "Okay," he said.  "You're not going to die.  You're
going to keep breathing.  Okay?  But you won't be able
to move for another ten minutes.  That should give me
time to get away!"
  David walked out the front door.  Suddenly he would
hit by what appeared to be a beam of light.  He
dropped to the ground.
  "You killed him!" a man exclaimed.
  "No I didn't," his companion said.  "I had my
stunner on phase," he said, refering to the ray gun he
had apparently just fired.  "He'll be unconscious for
a while and then he'll wake up."
  "Alright," the first man said.  He spoke into a
botton on his jacket.  "We got him.  Three to
transport up."
  The three of them disappeared.

                         PART III
  
  When David woke up he was on the Skree ship
surrounded by Skrees.  Away from Earth, the Skrees
took on their natural appearance.  David thought they
looked hideous but they probably considered themselves
quite handsome.  Or their women did.  David didn't
even want to try to imagine what their women looked
like.
  "Why have you abducted me?" David asked.
  "You are to be used as a weapon against the Krulls!"
one of them said.
  "What if I refuse?"
  The Skree laughed.  "We took the liberty of doping
you with an uninhibitary drug.  You will do as we
say."
  "Coming up on the Krull homeworld now, Captain!" one
of his subordinates told him.
  "On screen!"
  An image of the Krull homeworld appeared on screen.
  "Drop out of transdrive!"  At the captain's order,
the ship reduced to sub-light speed.
  "The Krulls have detected us, Sir!  They are moving
towards us!"
  "Good!"  He turned to speak to David again.  "The
Krulls will destroy us!  You will die if you don't
strike at them first!"
  "This is not my war!"
  "It is when you are on my ship!  Say it!  Say 'The
Krull ships will all explode!'"
  "The Krull ships..." David began.
  "Will all explode!"
  "Will all explode."  David couldn't help himself:
the combined effects of the drug and the stunner used
on him earlier had made him open to suggestion.
  "It's working, Sir!" one of the crewmen announced.
  David realized with horror what he had done!  Every
single ship in the Krull Armada was experiencing a
transdrive core breach!  The chain reaction was
causing every single ship in the Krull fleet to
explode, killing everyone on board!
  "Excellent!" the captain said.  "Now we will attack
their cities!"
  "No we won't!" David said.
  "You don't understand," the captain laughed.  "We
don't need you anymore!  They are defenseless!"
  "This ship is going back into transdrive and heading
back to your homeworld!" he said.
  "Captain!" the helmsman said.  "Our transdrive
engines are back online!"
  "Drop back out of transdrive!" the Captain ordered.
  "I can't!  The controls aren't responding!  Captain,
the computer has set a course back to our home planet!
 At top speed!"
  The Captain pulled out his stunner and pointed it at
David's head.  "Stop this or I'll fire!  It's set to
kill!  I told you we didn't need you anymore!"
  "Your weapons won't work," David said.
  The Captain tried to blast his head off but nothing
happened.  In frustration, he moved forward to tackle
him.
  "Stop!" David said and the Capatin was frozen.  "All
of you will remain motionless for the remainder of
this trip back to your homeworld."

  Hours passed.  David knew he had arrived at his
destination when the ship automatically dropped out of
transdrive.  The Skrees started moving again.
  "What are you doing?" the Captain asked.
  "Setting things right," David said.  "All of the
Skree ships... will explode."
  "No!" the captain screamed.  "On screen!"
  The helmsman pulled up images of the other ships in
the Skree fleet.  Like the Krull ships before them,
they were all experiencing transdrive core breaches
and exploding.
  David saw once again, with horror, what his powers
were capable of.  He decided to ammend his previous
statement.
  "All of the Skree ships will explode... including
this one."

10:10 am (a few weeks later)

  Back on Earth, the Dullkin Ambassador went to see
his friend, Detective Michael King, at Pepperton
Police Precinct One.
  "Long time no see, Mr. Ambassador," Michael said.
  "Indeed," the Ambassador said.  "I have been busy. 
I have been busy with a murder investigation of my
own."
  "Oh?"
  The Dullkin Ambassador nodded.  "Every single ship
in both the Skree and Krull fleets has been
destroyed."
  "My God!"
  "The Skrees and Krulls, of course, blame each other
so they asked the Dullkins to investigate.  I have
been leading the investigation."
  "Have you uncovered anything so far?"
  The Dullkin Ambassador nodded.  "The last message
that a Skree ship orbitting Earth sent back to their
homeworld was asking for permission to abduct a human
who they felt could be used as a weapon against the
Krulls.  Apparently they were convinced that a single
word from him could destroy the entire Krull fleet. 
Is such a thing possible?"
  Michael sighed.  "We've been looking for a Mr. David
Graham.  He claimed to have killed his mother by
telling her to die.  Of course, he was declared insane
and locked in Raftpork Assylum.  He escaped several
weeks ago and, two weeks later, was at the scene of a
murder involving two dozen people at a bar.  Cause of
death for every victim was a stroke.  Exactly the way
his mother died."
  "So you believe that this Mr. David Graham could
kill people just by vtelling them to die."
  Michael nodded.  "And perhaps the Skrees believed he
was capable of much more.  He could have been the one
they abducted: we haven't been able to find him and
we've been looking for weeks.  It's as though he
dropped off the face of the Earth."
  "Do you believe he could have destropyed both the
Skree and Krull fleets?"
  "I don't know."
  The Dullkin Ambassador nodded.  "Then I will tell
the Skrees and Krulls that nobody from Earth was
involved in what happened to their fleets.  We
wouldn't want the Skrees or Krulls rebuilding their
fleets and coming to attack Earth in revenge, after
all, would we?"
  "Thanks," Michael said.
  "In the meantime," the Dullkin Ambassador said, "if
there are any Skrees and Krulls left on Earth then
they will stranded here because neither race has any
ships left with which to come pick them up."
  "I'm not sure if that's a good thing," Michael said.
  "What do you mean?"
  "The longer these aliens are on Earth, the harder it
will become for them to maintain their disguises. 
Eventually, they will get hungry.  They will want to
feed."

                        The End?

Bonus feature:
Rejected title gallery: "The Skree-Krull War"

Martin


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