Superfreaks/ACRA: Superfreaks Season 3 #12

[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 #12

                      "PRIME TIME"

                         PART I 

Two weeks ago

  The Chauvani known as Yogweg went to see the ship's
doctor complaining about a chest cramp.
  "Is it serious, doctor?" he asked.
  "I can't be sure," his doctor replied.  "Why don't
you lie down other there so I can examine you."
  Yogweg went to lie down on the examination table
while his doctor gathered up his instruments.
  "How long have you had these cramps?" his doctor
asked.
  Yogweg thought for a moment.  "I think it started
after we had a shore leave on the Rigel colony.  It
was very dark that night so I couldn't see very well. 
I felt something bite me.  I assumed it was the hooker
I had rented for the night but now I think it might
have been something else."
  "I see."
  Just then, Yogweg's chest started to expand.
  "Doctor, what's going on?" he asked.
  "I can't be sure," his doctor said, "but I can tell
one thing."
  "What's that?"
  "Whatever is ailing you, I'm afraid it's..."
  An alien popped out of Yogweg's chest and scurried
out of the sick bay.
  "Very serious indeed."

Today 3:05 pm

  "They captured the creature and killed it,"
Ambassador Hakweg explained.  "They thought it was
over.  Then, Sotweg, one of the ship's officer's, came
down sick while on shore leave here on Earth and was
taken back to our embassy to recuperate.  We had left
him alone for a while and when we went back to check
on him his chest had been blown open from the inside. 
It took us a while to realize what had happened,
namely that Sotweg had been bitten by the alien while
he was in the process of hunting it down and killing
it.  Apparently that is how they breed: they bite into
creatures and implant an embryo inside the host
organism.  Sotweg had been killed when the alien burst
out of his chest.  We then realized that one of the
aliens would then be free here on Earth.  That's when
we took a vote and decided to contact you and tell you
what had happened."
  "You took a _vote_?" Edward Bailey asked.
  "Yes.  It was close, actually.  Some of us argued
that admitting wrong would open us up to demand for
compensation.  But I insisted that we contact human
authorities as soon as possible as you might have been
able to track down where the alien had come from and
have held us responsible anyway."
  "Well, gee," Detective John Phelps said.  "You
think?"
  Detective Michael King sighed.  "You really should
inform us right away of any suspicious deaths that
occur at your embassy."
  Ambassador Hakweg was taken aback.  "But I thought
our embassy was to be outside of your jurisdiction."
  Michael nodded.  "Yes but in this case you've
released a deadly alien that has claimed at least
seven human lives in the past week alone."
  "Okay," Hakweg said.  "My bad."
  Edward considered what Hakweg had told them.  "So
they're using humans to breed?"
  "It would appear so," Michael said.
  "Well, that makes sense," Edward said.  "It explains
the pattern I've been seeing."
  "Go on."
  Edward pointed to a map of Pepperton.  "The Chauvani
embassy is here.  Midtown park is here.  A few days
ago we found two victims here and yesterday we found
four victims over here.  Now what if the aliens mature
in a matter of, say, a couple of days and then are
capable of planting embryos into humans?  Then we're
not dealing with a single alien at this point but at
least eight."
  "My God," John said.
  "The first victim was no doubt attacked by the alien
coming out of the Chauvani embassy and the two victims
on the other side of town were probably attacked by
that alien plus it's offspring.  And so on and so on. 
It thus appears then that the aliens are travelling
together and that gives us the advantage of perhaps
being able to track down the whole pack and kill them
all at once."
  "It won't be easy," Hakweg warned them.  "Our people
hunted down a single one of those creatures on a
closed ship and it still managed to evade us for
hours.  If you like, perhaps I could arrange to have a
team of Chauvani soldiers to help you hunt the
creatures down.  It's the least we can do."
  Michael shook his head.  "Thanks but we've got
people here we can contact for things like this."

10:24 pm

  "I'm scared," Sally said.
  "Don't be scared," Mack told her.  "We're going to
get through this."
  "But those alien creatures are right outside.  We're
completely surrounded on all sides.  And they are just
going to wait us out, aren't they?  We can't stay
here: we'll starve.  So we're going to die."
  "Don't think that way.  We're going to get out of
this.  I promise you."
  "How?"
  "I don't know.  We'll find a way."
  "Oh, Mack!  Hold me!"
  "It's okay, Sally.  I'm here."
  "You know, Mack, the one thing I'll regret..."
  "What?  What will you regret?"
  "Is if I die and I'm still a virgin."
  "Oh?"
  Just then, Alec chimed in.  "Wait, Sally, think
about what you're saying."
  Mack gave him a look that could kill (had he been a
natural magi or one trained in the art of killing with
a single look).  "Alec, butt out, okay?"
  "Don't you know Sally that in situations like this
girls are more likely to survive if they remain
virgins?"
  Mack rolled his eyes.  "Oh, come on, Alec!  You've
been watching too many horror movies!  Besides, it's
usually the black guy who gets killed first."
  "What?!" Darrel asked.
  "I mean in the movies."
  "Well, okay," Darrel said.  "That's better."
  Jack, the last of the five teenagers trapped in the
suburban house, let out a big sigh.  "Look, guys, this
is ridiculous.  I mean, so there are maybe a dozen or
so aliens out there.  Hello!  There's a whole city of
people out there too.  What makes you think the aliens
are going to be waiting outside waiting for us to go
out?  They've probably left already!"
  "Care to place a wager on that, Jack?" Darrel asked.
  Jack rolled his eyes.  "Sure.  Why not?  I tell you
what: I'll step out the front door, take a look around
and see if they're still out there, okay?"
  "Are you nuts?" Mack asked.  "As soon as you open
the door, the aliens are going to come in and kill us
all!"
  "Okay, fine," Jack said.  "I'll open the door just a
little, slip out and then I'll be right back."
  All four of his friends stood there with their jaws
hanging low.
  "What?" Jack asked.
  "You said 'I'll be right back'," Alec pointed out. 
"That's what _everybody_ says before they die."
  Just then, the doorbell rang.
  "Somebody's at the door," Sally said.
  "Thank you, Psychic Girl," Darrel said
sarcastically.
  "Should we answer it?" Alec asked.
  "What if it's an alien?" Mack asked.
  Jack rolled his eyes and let out a big sigh. 
"Right.  One of the aliens rang the doorbell."  He
opened the door.
  As it turned out, it really was an alien who had
rang the doorbell.
  "It's Extreme!" Sally said.
  "Thank God!" Mack said.  "We're saved."
  Extreme nodded.  "I just wanted to let everybody
know that you're safe now.  I located all the aliens
with my x-ray vision and killed them all with my heat
vision."
  "Alright Extreme!" Darrel said.
  "See?" Jack said.  "There was nothing to worry
about.  What did I tell you."
  Alec was sceptical.  "Wait," he said.  "Are you
absolutely sure they're all dead?"
  "Absolutely," Extreme assured him.
  "Because what if one of them were hiding in a lead
box.  Would you still be able to see it?"
  "No."
  "Well then how do you know for sure they are all
dead?"
  Extreme smiled.  "Because there aren't any lead
boxes in this neighbourhood."
  "Well, sure, none that you saw."
  Extreme sighed.  "My x-ray vision can see through
anything except lead.  Anything.  So if there were any
lead boxes in the neighbourhood then I would have
noticed that.  Besides, why would there be any lead
boxes in this neighbourhod anyway?"
  Alec shrugged his shoulders.  "I'm just saying that
creatures like these always find some way to come
back."
  Extreme shook his head.  "No.  You've been watching
too many horror movies."

                        PART II

9:32 am

  "I don't get it," Detective John Phelps said as he
walked into Michael's office.
  "What?" Detective Michael King asked.
  "I just arrested a suspect.  I read him his rights. 
I told him he had the right to remain silent.  Then he
confessed then and there."
  "Well, that's good, isn't it?"
  "But don't you find it weird the way people always
confess?"
  Michael smiled.  "It's because they are overwhelmed
by the shear weight of the evidence we have against
them."  He laughed.  "Seriously, guilty people are
usually just that: guilty.  And they say confession is
good for the soul."
  "Yeah, well, I just tell them if they are going to
confess they should just write it down and sign the
confession so they can't recant it later."
  "Oh, well, of course, it does happen sometimes that
people confess to crimes that they haven't actually
commited, such as when they are trying to cover for a
loved one."
  "Well, yeah," John agreed, "but those are the people
who can't even describe how the crime was commited."
  "Exactly."  Michael thought for a moment.  "You know
what we are here to serve, John?"
  "The public?"
  "The truth.  Above all, we're here to find out what
the truth is."
  John nodded.  "Well, that's the same thing, isn't
it?  The public isn't served if we put the wrong
person in jail."
  "Too true," Michael said.
  Just then, the phone rang.  Michael answered it.
  "Hello?" he said.
  >>Hi.  I'm Vince Vogul, an executive a MBC.<<
  "Okay."
  >>We're putting together a TV show about police
detectives.<<
  "A TV show about police detectives?  What's it going
to be called?"
  >>Uh... the working title is 'Police Detectives' but
if you think of a better title then you can let us
know.<<
  Michael laughed.  "I wouldn't dream of telling you
how to do a TV show."
  >>Well, actually, that's _exactly_ what we want you
to do.  We want you to be a consultant for the show.<<
  "A consultant?  I don't know.  I'm a bit busy
investigating real life crimes."
  >>Feel free to come down in your own time.  Perhaps
we could arrange for you to come down in a few days
and meet the cast.<<
  "A few days?" Michael said, checking his calendar. 
"I might be able to fit that in."
  >>Great!<<

A few days later.  2:10 pm

  "Detective King!"
  "Mr. Vogul?"
  "That's me!  Come!  Come!  I want you to meet the
cast."
  "Okay."
  "This is Cindy Gabriel who plays our lead detective,
Jane MacKenzie."
  "Nice to meet you, Detective King," Cindy said as
she shook his hand.
  "A female lead detective?" Michael asked.
  "We thought it would be edgy," Vogul told him.
  "Kevin Miles here plays her partner, Donald Stern."
  "Okay."
  "George Cameron plays the lab tech, Manny Dresser."
  "Okay."
  "Hank Hall plays the coroner, Dr. Harry Shelby."
  Hank shook Michael's hand.  "I'm thinking my catch
phrase will be 'He's dead, Jane.'"
  "You see, Jane is the name of the lead detective,"
Vogul explained.
  "I got it," Michael assured him.  "Thank you."
  Cindy laughed.  "Then I'll say 'So who do you think
did this?'"
  Michael sighed.  "And Hank will say 'I don't know. 
I'm a doctor, not a detective.'  Right?"
  Vogul laughed.  "Practically writes itself, doesn't
it?"
  "Yeah," Michael said.  "It's great stuff."  He
rolled his eyes.

6:45 pm

  Having just gotten back home, Sam Hammer was
surprised to find a stranger in his living room.
  "Who are you?" he asked.
  "You don't know?" Philip Martin asked him.
  "No," Sam said, clearly annoyed, "and what's more I
don't remember inviting you in."
  "I thought you knew everything about me."
  "What are you talking about?"
  "I'm Philip Martin."
  "Oh!" Sam said in realisation.  "The psycho who went
around killing internet trolls."
  Philip grimaced.  "You're going to call me psycho to
my face?"
  "Sure.  Why not?  I'm the kind of guy who isn't
afraid to say to somebody's face what I've said about
him on line.  What of it?"
  Philip closed his eyes and sighed.  He then opened
them again, having regained his composure.  "I don't
appreciate being called a psycho."
  "Oh really?" Sam asked.  "Then perhaps you shouldn't
go around killing people!  Psycho!"
  That was it.  Philip grabbed Sam by the throat.  He
then activated his power.  Electrical current poured
out of Philip's hands and passed through Sam's body on
its way to ground.  Philip let go of Sam when he was
sure he was dead.  He let Sam drop to the floor.
  "I told you," he said.  "I don't like being called
'psycho'."

                       PART III

9:02 am

  Pepperon City Police Detectives John Phelps and
Michael King arrived at the scene of Sam Hammer's
murder.  Michael immediately started examining the
body.
  "Look, here," he said.  "Around the neck."
  "What am I looking at?" John asked.
  "That's where Philip Martin grabbed him."  Michael
sighed.  "It seems he's electrocuted another victim."
  "He's playing with us," John said.  "He doesn't
think we can catch him."
  Michael nodded.  "He's wrong.  We just need to
figure out why he went after this particular victim
and then we'll have an idea of where he'll go next."

10:45 am

  "Sam Hammer posted on usenet about Philip Martin's
arrest regarding the murders of several people with
whom he had argued on line," Edward Bailey explained
back at the lab.  "He refered to him as a 'psycho'."
  "So you think Philip Martin went after him because
he felt insulted?"
  Edward nodded.  "Definitely.  It seems he's gone
beyond killing internet trolls to killing anybody who
pisses him off.  But we can use that to our
advantage."
  "Go on."
  "I was thinking: if I were to post on several usenet
newsgroups about Philip Martin being a psycho who's
now killed yet again then I would definitely get
Philip Martin's attention, especially if I posted it
to a lot of unrelated newsgroups, in which case I
would be not only trolling but spamming.  A double
whammy."
  "You want to set yourself up as bait?"
  "Yeah.  But I'd have to do it from home.  He'd get
suspicious if I posted from a police station."
  "Well now that I can't allow," Michael said. 
"You've got a young baby at home.  You wouldn't want
him placed in any danger."
  "So what do we do?"
  "I'll explain your idea to John and he'll get
somebody with undercover experience to carry out your
plan.  I'm sorry, Edward, but going undercover like
this is a lot more serious than simply going out into
the field to do investigative work."
  "I understand."

Three days later.  6:54 pm

  Officer Tom Jackson got home to find somebody
sitting on his sofa.
  "Who are you?" Tom asked.
  "Who do you think?" Philip asked.
  Tom nodded in realisation.  "Ah.  You're Philip
Martin."
  "Yeah.  The guy you called a psycho!"
  "So?"
  "So not only did you call me a psycho but you
spammed several newsgroups to do it.  Everybody hates
you.  They're going to thank me when you're gone."
  Tom pulled out his gun.  "Not so fast," he said. 
"I'm a Pepperton City police officer and you're under
arrest."
  "This was some kind of sting operation?"
  "It was a way to bring you out into the open, yes."
  Philip looked over to where Tom's computer was.  All
he had to do was get to it and touch the computer
modem and he could disappear.
  "Don't even think about it," Tom told him.  "I know
about how you escaped last time and I won't let you do
it again.  I _will_ shoot you."
  Philip decided to take a chance and go for it.  He
jumped up and started running towards the computer. 
Tom fired his gun.  Philip was hit in the arm.  The
sudden jolt of pain caused Philip to convulse and fall
to the floor.
  "You shot me, you asshole!" he said.
  "I warned you," Tom reminded him.  "Now get up nice
and slow."
  Philip was pissed.  He got up alright, but not
slowly.  He ran straight for Tom with his arms
reaching out for his neck.  Tom fired his gun a second
time, this time hitting Philip in the chest.  Philip
dropped to the ground a second time.  It didn't look
like he was going to get back up.

8:02 pm

  "He's dead alright," Jason said.
  "He should be," Tom told him.  He was sitting on one
of the chair that was normally sitting in front of his
computer.  "I shot him in the chest."
  "I still need to take him back to the morgue to be
autopsied," Jason told him.  "It's procedure."
  "Yeah, sure, no problem."
  Detective Phelps placed a hand on Tom's shoulder. 
"It's going to be alright."
  "I never shot anyone before," he said.
  "I know."
  "If there's an inquest they'll understand, right?  I
mean, the guy was unarmed but he still could have
killed me."
  John nodded.  "We'll have the CSIs confirm your
story.  You shot him twice, the first time to stop him
from getting away and the second time in self defense.
 As long as your version of what happened is supported
by the evidence then there won't be a problem."
  "Okay."
  "You will have to take some time off though.  And
you'll have to stay in a hotel until the scene has
been cleared and clean up is complete."
  "I understand."
  "Don't worry.  The department will pay your hotel
expenses."
  "Thanks."
  John sighed.  "It's the least we can do.  We placed
you in harm's way."
  "Yeah, well, that's the job, isn't it?"
  "So it is."

                       Epilogue

9:35 am

  Detective Michael King answered the phone in his
office.
  "Hello?"
  >>Hello, Michael.  Vince Vogul here.<<
  "Okay."
  >>We heard about your successful capture of Philip
Martin.  Congratulations.<<
  "Thanks.  I can't really talk about that case though
until after the inquest is over."
  >>I understand.  But I thought that when it was over
you might let us know the details of the case.  We
think it would make a great story for Police
Detective.<<
  Michael thought for a moment about what to say next.
 "How do I put this politely?  Hmm.  No."
  >>No?<<
  "I don't want you to put you to put any of our
actual cases on TV and have the victim's families have
to go through that."
  >>We'd change the names of the victims, of course!<<
  "That's not the point."
  >>I'm sorry you feel that way.<<
  "I'm sorry too," Michael told him.  "Goodbye, Mr.
Vogul.  Don't call here again."  He hung up the phone.

                        THE END

Martin


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