Superfreaks/ACRA: Superfreaks Season 3 #4

[Martin Phipps]

Michael King, Lana Lewis 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 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 #4 

        "DIE HARD AT AN INTERSTELLER CONFERENCE"

                         PART I 

9:58 am

  "I present to you," the Dullkin Ambassador
announced, "Pepperton Chief of Crime Scene
Investigations Detective Michael King and his wife
Detective Lana Lewis along with Pepperton Chief
Medical Examiner Doctor Jack Greenspan and his date
Miss Naomi Chen.  We at the conference are all
grateful for the work they did solving the case of the
recent murder of a Chauvani delegate by a fellow
Chauvani."  There was applause.  
  The scene at the Pepperton Conference Centre was
surreal.  There were more aliens at attendance than
humans: in addition to the Dullkin and Chauvani
representatives there were Phallaxians, Senobbians and
Clingonians at attendance.
  "Allow me to express my personal appreciation!" the
Clingonian ambassador said as he approached Michael
and gave him a big hug.
  "Ow," Michael said as the Clingonian squeezed him
tightly.
  Also in attendance was Extreme who was hoping to
represent his planet Neon.  His attempts were met with
some resistance, however.
  "It was my impression," the Senobbian ambassador
told Extreme, "that your planet no longer existed.  Is
that right?"
  "Yes," Extreme admitted.  "It was destroyed in the
war against General Zon's forces."
  "But General Zon himself survived.  Isn't that
correct?"
  Extreme took a sip of his champagne.  "Yes, that's
correct."
  "And he even had himself cloned multiple times. 
Isn't that right?"
  "Yes."
  "So where is Zon now along with his clones?"
  "He's being held in a facility in another dimension
accessable through Extreme Force Headquarters."
  "I see.  So you actually represent a minority of the
Neonian survivors."
  Extreme took another sip of his champagne.  "Um, not
really.  Zon and his clones are criminals.  Zon
destroyed Neon, invaded other planets and even
attacked Earth.  Twice."
  The Senobbian ambassador waved him off.  "I'm sorry
but we are forbidden to interfere with the internal
politics of other planets.  One world's terrorist is
another world's freedom fighter!"
  Meanwhile, another Senobbian approached the buffet
table.  "I was wondering," he asked the four uniformed
caterers, "if you had any Senobbian food.  We
Senobbians find it very difficult to digest human
food."
  "You don't like human food?" the head caterer asked.
  "Not particularly," the Senobbian said.  "No."
  "Well, too bad," the head caterer told him.  "I
don't recall anybody inviting you here."
  The Senobbian sighed.  "Well, technically, you did. 
The Voyager spacecraft, for example, contained an
invitation to any aliens to come visit your planet."
  The head caterer signalled his fellow caterers. 
They all pulled machine guns out from under the
trolleys.  "Yeah, well, I don't recall any of us here
inviting you!"
  "My word!"
  The head caterer -and apparent terrorist- was handed
a hand gun by one of his cohorts.
  "Alright, everybody!" he announced.  "Do as I say
and nobody gets hurt!"
  "What is the meaning of this?" the Dullkin
ambassador asked.
  "Quite simply," the man told him, "this is human
beings claiming back their planet for themselves! 
This is our terrority and aliens are not welcome
here!"
  "What about me?" Extreme asked.  "I'm an alien and
I've lived here for decades!"
  The man nodded.  "Yeah and you pretended to be one
of us, didn't you?  And then you brought all your
friends!  Well it stops right now."
  Extreme smiled.  "I suggest you lower your weapon."
  "Or what?"
  Extreme laughed.  "Or what?!  I'm Extreme.  I'll
simply disarm you before you can even fire your gun!"
  "Oh really?" the man asked before he shot a bullet
into Extreme.  Extreme dropped to the floor, his
expression displaying both shock and confusion.
  "How?" Extreme asked.
  "That champagne you were drinking was laced with
Neonite!  It weakened you enough to be harmed by
bullets!  So I suggest you back off!"
  "You killed Extreme!" Naomi screamed.
  "Hardly!" the terrorist said with a sneer.  "You
kill Extreme and he comes back with half a dozen
clones, isn't that right?  Still, it wouldn't upset me
if he did die: he's just an alien after all."
  "He's a hero!" Naomi told him.
  "_I_'m a hero!" the terrorist insisted.  "I'm
defending the human race from alien invaders.  That's
how history will see this!"
  "You're a monster!" the Phallaxian ambassador told
him.
  "Speak for yourself, Dickhead!" the terrorist said
to the penis shaped alien.
  "Please!" the ambassador for Earth said.  "You don't
want to do this!"
  The terrorist leader just sneered at him.  "You're a
traitor to your own race!" he said.  "You disgust me!"
  "Excuse me," Michael said to his wife.
  "Where are you going?" Lana asked him.
  "I need to use the bathroom."
  "Oh no you don't!" the terrorist-in-charge told him.
 "You're not going to the bathroom!"
  "Oh really?" Michael asked.  "So do you want me to
piss on the floor then?"
  "Do as you wish!"
  "Fine!" Michael said.  "I choose to go piss in the
bathroom and not do it in front of every alien on
Earth!  Do you want a human being to act like a dog in
front of them?  I don't think so!  So if you don't
mind, I'll be going to be the bathroom now!  Shoot me
if you have to!"
  "Wait!" the terrorist-in-charge said.  He then
sighed.  "Fine.  Jeffrey!  Go with him!  Make sure he
doesn't try anything!"
  "Sure, Boss!"
  Jeffrey followed Michael into the bathroom.  Michael
stood in front of a urinal, opened his pants to pee
and then did so.  Jeffrey watched his every move. 
When Michael was finished, he zipped up his pants.  He
then stood perfectly still.
  "Hurry up!" Jeffrey said.
  Michael didn't respond.
  "Hurry up and finish!  I haven't got all day!"
  Michael just stood there.
  "Come on!"  Jeffrey nudged him with his gun.
  Suddenly, Michael turned around, grabbed the
terrorist's gun and, with a single motion, knocked the
terrorist off his feet and onto the floor.  A
subsequent kick knocked then knocked him out cold.
  Michael sighed.  "Good thing the Dullkin ambassador
didn't mention anything about me being an ex-marine
when he introduced me!"  Michael then thought for a
moment.  "What now?  The other terrorists will be
watching the bathroom door so if I go out there right
now then I will lose the element of surprise."  Then
he smiled.  "Of course."
  Michael started undressing both himself and Jeffrey.
 He then put on Jeffrey's clothing.  Finally, he put
Jeffrey's hat over his head and pulled it down to
cover his face.

10:27 am

  As expected, the other terrorists were taking turns
watching the bathroom door.  They didn't respond with
alarm when what appeared to be one of them walked out.
  "Hey, Jeffrey, where's the cop?" the
terrorist-in-charge asked.
  Michael then aimed his gun at the
terrorist-in-charge.  Even with the hat down over his
head, he could see that there was no one standing
between himself and the villain.  He lifted his head
and opened fire.  The terrorist was shot down in a
hail of bullets.
  "What the--?" one of the other terrorists said. 
Just then, that terrorist was grabbed from behind by
the Chauvani ambassador.  The Chauvani ambassador then
lifted the terrorist above his head.  "Hey!"
  "Drop the weapon!" the Chauvani ambassador insisted.
 "Or I'll throw you against the wall!"  The terrorist
complied.
  Meanwhile, the Dullkin ambassador had grabbed the
final terrorist by the shoulder.  Dullkins are much
stronger than ordinary humans so the ambassador was
able to apply enough pressure and cause enough
resultant pain that the terrorist simply passed out.
  Jack Greenspan rushed over to check the terrorist
who had been shot.
  "Is he--?" Michael asked.
  Jack nodded.  "Dead, yes.  Cause of dead appears to
be multiple gunshot wounds to the chest."
  "Yes, of course," Michael said.  "We all saw him get
shot."
  "Sorry," Jack said.  "Force of habit."
  "What about Extreme?"
  Jack went over to check.  "It looks like he's still
breathing.  We have to get him to a hospital right
away!"
  Just then, the Clingonian ambassador stepped
forward.  "My hero!" he said to Michael with his arms
wide open.
  Michael braced himself for the painful embrace.

                         PART II

1:15 pm

  Extreme had been rushed to Pepperton General
Hospital and a team of surgeons had been quickly
assembled to operate on him and remove the bullet. 
With the bullet removed, his wounds quickly healed, a
sign that his body was already recovering from the
neonite poisoning.  He had not yet regained
consciousness, however.
  "Will he be alright?" Detective Michael King asked
the doctor as he came out of the surgery.
  "I think so," the doctor said.  "As you know, he's
very tough."  He sighed.  "I can't say I've ever seen
him this weak, however."
  "I don't think any of us have," Michael admitted.
  Michael thanked the doctor and turned to leave.  On
the way out, he ran into Extreme's teammates from the
Extreme Force Seven, Water Lord, Mr. G, Weapon Alpha,
both Human Spiders and Extreme's wife, Amazing Woman. 
Each of the men shook his hand and thanked him for
apparently saving Extreme's life but the super strong
Amazing Woman also wanted to give him a hug.  Michael
grimaced.
  "Please!" he said.  "Please be gentle!"

1:29 pm

  Once Michael had gotten outside, he was greeted by
two reporters, Janie Leland from WXPT News and Wendy
Wang from the Daily World.
  "Detective King!" Janie Leland said.  "How does it
feel to be a hero."
  "Pretty good," Michael replied.  "I suppose."
  "Is Extreme alright?" Wendy Wang asked.
  "He appears to be recovering," Michael said.
  "Are there any plans to give you a medal?" Janie
asked.
  "Not yet as far as I know," Michael said.
  "So will Extreme be coming out of the hospital
soon?" Wendy asked.
  "That's for the doctors to decide," Michael said.
  "Any indication whether the terrorists were acting
alone or if this was just part of a more organized
group?" Janie asked.
  "That's an unresolved question," Michael admitted. 
"The terrorists aren't talking.  But it hasn't been
that long since the Dullkins first arrived on Earth. 
I think it is safe to assume that no large scale
terrorist group has formed against aliens on Earth. 
But that is a long term concern of ours.  Certainly
this is a major embarassment for our entire planet."
  "So Extreme's condition is serious?" Wendy asked.
  Michael sighed.  "Yes, it is serious."  He grimaced.
 "Look, if it makes anybody feel better themselves,
people can feel free to pray for Extreme to make a
quick recovery.  But the doctors are doing their best.
 I'm sure it is only a matter of time before he gets
better."
  "Thank you, Detective King," Janie said.
  "Yes," Wendy said.  "Thank you.  Thank you for
everything."

1:55 pm

  Frank Lopez went into the men's bathroom at Precinct
One.  He checked the stalls to make sure that there
was nobody else there.  Then he took out his
cellphone.
  He opened the back of his cell phone and took out
teh sim card.  He then replaced the sim card with one
in his shirt pocket.  He put the cover back on the
cell phone and waited for the cell phone to establish
a connection with the network.  Then he quick dialed a
certain number.  It rang.
  >>Hello?<<
  "Yeah, hi."
  >>Oh.  It's you.  Where are you calling from?<<
  "The precinct.  But don't worry.  I'm in the
bathroom.  Nobody can hear me here.  And besides, I've
switched the sim card in my phone so there'll be no
record of this call on my phone."
  >>Just remember to change the sim pack back when you
are finished.<<
  "Sure."
  >>So what do you have to tell us?<<
  "Detective King just called the precinct.  Extreme
appears to be making a full recovery."
  >>Never mind about him.  What about the Dullkins? 
Are they going to give us any of their technology?<<
  "Well," Frank admitted, "unfortunately Detective
King and the Dullkin ambassador are really tight now
and he's actually discouraging the Dullkins from
providing too much technology too soon.  And with what
happened today I think the Dullkins understand his
objection.  Besides, I think he'd want to avoid having
the Dullkins give technology directly to your
company."
  >>We gave you a list of dummy corporations that
could bid for technology on our behalf so that
shouldn't be a problem.<<
  "Right," Frank said.  "Thanks for that.  That list
should come in handy."
  >>Just do what you can to see to it that we get some
of that technology!  And don't call back again until
you've made progress!<<
  "Right.  Alright then.  Bye."  He hung up and
proceeded to change the sim card back.
  Just then, Edward walked into bathroom and saw what
he was doing.
  "Hey, Frank," he said.  "Something wrong with your
cell phone?"
  "Yeah," Frank said quickly.  "The battery is low.  I
thought I could squeeze one more call out of it by
taking the battery out and putting it back in."
  Edward laughed.  "Good luck," he said.  "You know,
you could just bring your recharger to work with you."
  "I forgot," Frank said.  "I guess I also forgot to
recharge it last night."
  "Yeah, I guess so!" Edward said.  "Oh, by the way,
Michael just got in.  He asked about you.  He said he
wanted to see you in his office."
  "Okay," Frank said.  "I'll be right there."
  Frank left the bathroom and headed directly to
Detective King's office.
  "You wanted to see me, Boss?" Frank said.
  "Close the door," Michael said.
  "Okay."  Frank closed the door.
  "Sit down."
  Frank sat down.
  "Now, Frank, I want you to tell me what you've been
doing with Goodhead Corporation."

                        PART III

2:07 pm

  "First of all," Detective Michael King said, "do
they suspect anything?"
  "No," Frank said.  "They think I'm just spying for
them.  After all, they came to me.  They must have
thought I could use the extra money."
  Micahel shrugged his shoulders.  "You can keep the
extra money," he said.  "It's only you and I who know
about this.  You know, in case they approached anybody
else."
  "Are you saying we can't trust anybody?"
  "Let's not get paranoid just yet.  When you feed
them information, does any of it surprise them?"
  "Not really."
  "Okay."
  "Is that a good thing?"
  "Yes and no," Michael reasoned.  "It means that we
probably aren't giving them anything they didn't
already know, which is a good thing.  On the other
hand, it could confirm that there is a second spy
here, somebody who didn't come to me first."
  "So what do they need me for?"
  "Possibly they just want you to confirm what the
other spy is saying.  Or perhaps we're just reading
too much into it.  A lot of what we've told them is
already publically known anyway."
  Frank thought for a moment.  "The fact that they
already knew about Ken Riley and the Human Spider
clones, doesn't that prove conspiracy?"
  "It would except there's nothing illegal about
cloning a person as long as you have their
permission."
  "Right."
  "Just keep at it," Michael told him.  "That list of
dummy Goodhead Corporation companies is useful to us. 
I want to make sure that they don't get their hands on
any alien technology."
  "Alright," Frank said with a smile.  "I'm glad I
could help."

5:35 pm

  Michael stopped by the hospital and found that
Extreme was well enough to talk, if not walk, let
alone fly.
  "They told me what you did," Extreme told him.
  "Yeah," Michael said.
  "You're a hero."
  Michael sighed.  "I don't feel like a hero.  I
killed a man."
  Extreme nodded.  "What you did probably saved
lives."
  "Maybe.  Or maybe I should have just let the
diplomats do their job."
  "You did _your_ job."
  "I did what I knew how to do.  I did what I was
trained to do."
  "That's all anybody could expect from you."
  Michael grimaced.  "I just don't feel good about
killing anybody.  I'm not a soldier anymore: I'm a
detective.  I'm supposed to be solving murders, not
commiting them."

6:01 pm

  Mitchell Spitz, the Goodhead Corporation CEO, called
a news conference at Goodhead Corporation.  Even given
the short notice, reporters from all the local
newspapers and TV networks were able to send somebody.
  Mitchell Spitz stood at the podium and spoke into
the microphone.  "Today I announce today a new cloning
technique, one that allows us to implant detailed
memories into a clone and make it virtually
indistinguishable from the original donor.  Just
imagine!  Our best and brightest people can clone
themselves!  Imagine if you wanted to clone yourself
so you could go take that vacation you always dreamed
of!  Well, now you can!"
  Janie Leland raised her hand.  "Sir!  Janie Leland
from WXPT News.  What you're describing sounds
impossible!"
  Mitchell smiled.  "I'll let you in on a little
secret.  You know how the Extreme Force Six is not the
Extreme Force Secen because they have TWO Human
Spiders?  Well, one of them is a clone which we just
recently created and implanted with memories identical
to the first!  And the Extreme Force Six accepted the
clone as part of their team!  What does that tell
you?"

6:08 pm

  Assistant Pepperton District Attorney Clifford
Murdock turned to look at his boss, Alan Russell. 
They had both been watching the news conference on TV
in their office.
  "What do you think?" Cliff asked.
  "Incredible!" Alan admitted.  "All along we had
assumed that Goodhead Corporation was planning on
using their new cloning techniques for some mad scheme
to take over the world but instead they played the
Extreme Force Six and used them to provide them with
free advertising!  And most people don't realize that
BOTH Human Spiders are clones they created.  It's
ingenious!"
  Cliff sighed.  "So does that mean that Goodhead
Corporation has gone straight?"
  "I wouldn't go that far," Alan told him.  "What it
means is that they haven't broken any laws that we
know of.  Not yet anyway.  But we should continue to
keep an eye on them."

                TO BE CONTINUED (Probably)

Martin


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