LNH20: Generation 2.0 #1

[Martin Phipps]

                                   Generation 2.0 #1

                                     New Genesis

  The Yahoo sprayed his yahoo gas onto Google Man and his sidekick
Google Lad.
  "Ha ha ha ha ha!" The Yahoo said.  "Does that feel good?"
  "Can't... move," Google Man said.
  "Ha ha ha ha ha!" the Yahoo said.  "Poor Google Man.  My gas has
immobilized you!  Let me put you out of your misery!"  The Yahoo
pulled out his sword and ran it through Google Man's body!

  Google Lad awoke with a start.  He had had the dream again, the one
replaying his memory of his last encounter with The Yahoo.  The
Yahoo's gas had immobilized them both and Google Lad was unable to do
anything as he helplessly watched The Yahoo murder his mentor.
  Google Lad, aka George Patel, got up and went to the bathroom.
Taped to the mirror was a newspaper article: it's headline read "The
Yahoo Strikes Again!"
  "I will find you, Yahoo," Google Lad said.  "It doesn't matter how
many John Smiths there are out there: one day I will find the John
Smith who killed Google Man!"

  The bouncer in front of the Lucky Eights Club eyed Jay and May
Nguyen with suspicion.
  "You don't look eighteen," he said.
  "I get that a lot," May said.
  "Look," Jay said, "we're twins, born in Vietnam in 1993.  That makes
us both eighteen."
  "Fair enough," the bouncer said.  "If she's your sister then she's
your responsibility.  You can go in."
  "Thank you!" May said.
  They entered the club and took a look around.
  "This place is really crowded," Jay said.
  "Just keep a look out for her," May said as she scanned the crowd.
"Over there, by the bar!"
  "Are you sure that's her?" Jay asked.
  "She seems to fit the description we were given: short, shoulder
length brown hair, birthmark on her right cheek, tattoo on her left
arm..."
  "Wasn't the tattoo supposed to be on her shoulder?"
  "Her upper arm," May said.  "Anyway, it's got to be her.  And if it
isn't then we'll keep looking."
  They walked up to the bar and spoke to her.
  "Excuse me, are you Yang Yiling?" May asked
  "Who wants to know?"
  "We just want to know if you are the Yang Yiling who works for
General Baidu Tran." Jay said.
  "I don't work for a General Tran."
  "Okay..."
  "But you are Yang Yiling, aren't you?" May asked.
  "Yes," she said as she took a sip from her drink, "but as I said I
don't work for any general.  I work for a legitimate businessman named
Baidu Tran."
  "We didn't say anything about him being a criminal," May said.
"It's just that he is known in the local Vietnamese community as
General Tran because he was a general who fought for the North in the
war.  The Vietnam War."
  "I wouldn't know about that," Yiling said.  "He doesn't talk about
his past.  He's strictly business."
  "So what kind of business does he do exactly?" Jay asked.
  "Import export," Miss Yang said.  "Stuff like that."
  "Would you care to be more specific?"
  Miss Yang smiled.  "Why don't you come down to the office and speak
to Mr. Tran himself?  I'm just his secretary."
  "Because here in this club you could tell us things that you
couldn't tell us in your office," May said.
  "No," Yiling said.  "Not here."
  "Where then?" Jay asked.
  "Fair enough."  Yiling pointed to the exit.  "Follow me."  She
downed her drink in one gulp and got up.  As she turned to go out May
and Jay caught a glimpse of the tattoo half way between her shoulder
and her elbow: it was like a lower case letter m but with a pair of
bat wings.
  As she moved towards the door, Jay quickened his pace to keep up
with her.  May followed closely behind.
  "You're checking her out, aren't you?" May asked.
  "I'm strictly business," Jay said.
  "You'd better be!"
  Jay and May followed Yang Yiling out into the alleyway.  She turned
around to face them.
  "Tell me who you are and what you want," she said.
  "Oh no," May said, "we're the ones asking the questions."
  Then she screamed.  It wasn't a normal scream: it was the kind of
scream that had they still been back in the bar it would have broken
all the glasses and maybe a few of the bottles.  Jay and May were
stunned.  They had almost collapsed and were about to get back up on
their feet when Yiling screamed again, this time with an even greater
volume and higher pitch.  They exchanged a glance and agreed to show
Miss Yang what they could do: they grabbed hands, stood up and
produced a bright light, a light that would have blinded a person
normally for a moment at any time of day but which seemed even
brighter at this time of night.  Yiling stopped screaming.
  "Grab her mouth," May said.
  Jay grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth.  "How is she supposed
to talk to us?"
  Yiling then used some sort of martial art technique - it was too
dark in the alleyway to see just what and it all happened so fast -
and slipped out of Jay's grip.  She ran off.  Jay and May -exhausted
after having just produced their flash shock wave effect- were too
tired to follow her.
  "Sorry," Jay said.
  "It's okay," May said, catching her breath.  "So you tell me.  Is
she just a secretary?"
  "General  Tran is recruiting people with powers," Jay said.  "We
need to tell the LNH."

  Walter "Wikipedia" Brown had gotten up early that morning because he
wanted to visit Juliana Almeida, aka Amazon Lass, in the infirmary.
She had been injured in the Legion's recent battle with the
Lycopersicons and he had been checking up on her regularly to see if
she had regained consciousness.
  "Is she awake?" he asked Kindle as he entered the infirmary.
  "Not yet," Kindle said, "but she's stable."
  "What does what mean?" Walter asked.
  "Stable means stable," Kindle said.  "She may be super strong but
she isn't invulnerable and she doesn't have a healing factor.  Just
give it time.  She's not in any danger."
  "There should have been more I could have done."
  "What does that mean?"
  "I'm smart," Walter said without bothering to feign false modesty,
"but I didn't know enough about the Lycopersicons.  Their culture,
their weaknesses.  I should have known more."
  "It's not your fault," Kindle said.
  "What good am I if I can't provide the Legion with the information
they need?"
  "You're not omnipotent," Kindle said.  "You don't know everything."
  "Omniscient."
  "Excuse me?"
  "Someone who knows everything is omniscient, not omnipotent.  An
omnipotent person  has the ability to do anything but is not
necessarily omniscient.  An omniscient person may know everything and
still not be able to change anything."
  "Okay.  Fair enough," Kindle said.  "Do you want to take a seat?
That way you can be here if she wakes up."
  "Alright."

  Meanwhile, Jay and May had just entered LNH HQ through the main
lobby.
  "Can I help you?" asked the professionally dressed woman at the
desk.
  "Yes," Jay said, "I was wondering if somebody in the LNH could help
us."
  "About what?"
  May interrupted.  "Last night we met a woman at the Lucky Eights
club.  We followed her into the alleyway, she screamed and ran off."
  "I see."  The woman raised her eyebrows.  "So you attacked a woman
last night and now you want the Legion's help?"
  "It's not like that!" Jay said.  "She had a power: a sonic scream."
  Just then Edward Boyd, aka E-Boy, was passing by the desk.  He
stopped when he saw Jay and May.  "Is something wrong?"
  "Are you a member of the Legion?" May asked.
  "Yeah, sure," he said.  "What's the problem?"
  "It's General Tran," May said.  "Baidu Tran.  He's up to something."
  "I don't know any General Tran," E-Boy said, "but I know somebody
who might.  Why don't you come with me?"
  "Wait," the receptionist said, "they can't just walk in!"
  "Oh," E-Boy said, "but these are old friends of mine.  Right."
  "Oh, yeah," May lied, "we've known him for years."
  "So it's no problem then, is it?" E-Boy asked.
  "I suppose not," the receptionist said.  "Go ahead."
  "Now, let's see," E-Boy said.  "The person you want to speak to is
Walter Brown.  My guess is that he's in the infirmary right now."

  "Hey," Juliana said.  "Have you been up all night?"
  "No," Walter said.  "I went to bed but then I got up early to come
see you.  How do you feel?"
  "That's kind of a dumb question," Juliana said, "seeing as how I am
in the infirmary."
  "Are you in pain?"
  "No, but I am really tired."
  Kindle came over and saw that she was awake.  "Good.  How are you
feeling?"
  "Fine."
  "You told me that was a dumb question," Walter complained.
  "It's different because she's a doctor."
  Kindle nodded.  "It'll be okay now," she said.  "She just needs
rest."

  Walter was just about to get up and leave when Edward walked in with
Jay and May.
  "Oh, hey, Walter, I see Juliana's awake."
  "Yeah," Walter said, "so I think I'll go back to my room and take a
nap."
  "Do you mind talking with my friends here?"
  "What about?"
  May spoke.  "What do you know about General Baidu Tran?"
  "Hmm," Walter said.  "General Tran.  Born 1915 in Hanoi.  Joined the
Viet Cong at 16 in 1931.  Was the youngest member of the Viet Cong to
achieve the rank of General, that being in 1960.  He retired from the
military in 1980 following the Viet Cong's victory in 1975.  In 1986,
he became a businessman and aided the new Vietnamese government led by
Nguyen Van Linh in introducing free market reforms in that country.
In 2006 he moved his business headquarters to Netropolis.  Why do you
ask?"
  "Do you know anything about him killing our parents?" May asked.
  "Actually, no," Walter said.  "I only know things that are part of
the public record."
  "Yeah," E-Boy said, "but maybe we can still help.  I mean, as long
as they are here."

  Just then, Dr. Penumbra and the demon known as Rwtn-T'bol appeared
in the infirmary.  Kindle was pissed.
  "Hey! No ancient otherwordly evil gods here!", she exclaimed,
fuming.  "Some people are allergic, you know? I'm trying to keep this
sterile!  Or as close as I can with costumed people coming and going
all the *&%#(@ time!"
  Jay and May grabbed each others hands and once again formed a flash
shock wave.
  "Whu--?", the creature said.  Dr. Penumbra punched the demon and
they both disappeared, along with several LNHers who had been in the
infirmary at the time.
  "What did you do?" Kindle asked.
  "All we did was create a flash of light!" May insisted.
  "So what happened to Walter and Edward and the others?"

    TO BE CONTINUED IN THE SPOON OF DESTINY SAGA!

Martin