LNH: Classic LNH Adventures #309: Multi-Tasking Man LS Part Four
Arthur Spitzer
arspitzer2 at gmail.com
Sun Nov 19 13:02:16 PST 2023
And we're back in the past and can check the eyrie archive
once again.
And here's where you can find The Multi-Tasking Man miniseries:
https://archives.eyrie.org/racc/lnh/Miniseries/Multi-Tasking.Man/
And we have Multi-Tasking Man #4 by MTM creator Jeff Coleburn!
It's the Final Issue of this Limited Series! Are some filing
cabinets and desks going to learn the hard way not to mess with
Multi-Tasking Man?! And is a certain actor from Casablanca going
to turn out to me the Master Mind of all this?!!! (What?! I'm not
understanding what Bogie means?!! Is that what you're saying?!!!)
*Ahem*
Anyways...
_
| | Classic
| | =
| | ____ ____ _ ____ ___
| |__ | [] | | [] | | | | [] | | _ \
|____| \__] \__ | |_| \__/ |_|\_\
||
|_| OF NET.HEROES
ADVENTURES #309
=====================
Multi-Tasking Man LS Part Four
=====================
From: vsp at unix2.netaxs.com (beyond reproach)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.creative,alt.comics.lnh
Subject: REPOST: Innocent Bystander -- Multi-Tasking Man LS, Part 4
Date: 10 Aug 1994 05:39:11 GMT
Because NOBODY demanded it...
"Innocent Bystander"
--The Multi-Tasking Man Limited Series, Part Four (of Four?)--
-----
In the Monitoring Room, Rebel Yell and Ultimate Ninja burst in to
find Multi-Tasking Man frantically flipping filing cabinets and desks
around the room...
"Where'd he go?" asked the pair.
The question seemed to snap Multi-Tasking Man back to reality, and his
armored shoulders sagged. "Just making sure I'm right... He teleported,
or WAS teleported, out of the room when I had him cornered."
"You okay, Multi?" cautiously ventured Rebel Yell. "'Cause there's
something fishy about this Coke... you'd better run a scan on it."
Multi-Tasking Man looked puzzled for a minute. "Hmmm?"
"It turned you violent, aggressive, power-hungry... a real charmer."
His eyes went wide. "Almost sounds like a tactic of..."
"SHHH!" shushed Ultimate Ninja. "He might have other bugging devices
around... we'd all better be on our guard."
-----
Late that night, Multi-Tasking Man sat before his customary monitors,
scanning frantically for any sign of his shapeshifting foe. The entire
headquarters was on alert, and every appliance in the building had been
double-checked, but no sign of anything amiss had turned up.
Now, with W.I.L.B.U.R. safely stashed away in a closet, Multi-Tasking
Man sat staring at the lab reports, waiting for something to happen...
*crACKle* An electric blue flash in a corner of the room announced that
the waiting period was over.
"Game over, Bogie," snapped the hero, as he whirled and launched a pair
of sonic blasts into the corner. "You can't fool me... twice?"
The hero's armored jaw dropped as he saw his blasts do NO damage
whatsoever to the grinning miscreant. How HAD he shielded himself? (And
how had he grown so large and muscular, at that?)
Bogie grinned. "Give me a break... you can't even make Admiral on a
decent netrek server, and you think you can stop ME?"
Multi-Tasking Man snarled, then grimly raised both gauntlets. "But even
YOU can't withstand my ultimate blast..." The armor began crackling with
electrical energy as he cried, "AND NOW -- TASTE 1.21 KIBOWATTS OF POWER!"
A blinding white flash scorched the room, and when vision was restored,
Multi-Tasking Man lay sprawled across the floor, his armor drained of energy,
as Bogie buffed his nails in the corner.
"How...?" was all the hero could mumble.
"Gotta admit, boss," Bogie said to no one in particular, "your force
field comes in pretty handy." A sheen washed over the shapeshifter, as if a
transparent wall had been washed away. "Is it technological in nature, or
a personal power?"
"Never you mind, Bogie, that's MY secret," chuckled a deep voice.
With the last of his energy, Multi-Tasking Man creaked his head around
to see...
"A C T O N L O R D ?"
-----
Bogie sneered. "You were expecting Ethel Merman?"
A dark grin coursed across the face of the mastermind. "No, only a
holographic projection of myself -- I've transferred my power to Bogie for
the next ten minutes. He can have fun removing your organs -- I just want
to watch. And I want that armor, of course..."
Multi-Tasking Man struggled to free himself from the now-inert armor,
managing to crack the back seals. "How did you know of the armor?"
The holo-Acton laughed. "Who do you think put the idea into your HEAD,
fool? That special Coke put more into your system than caffeine. Once you
had a craving for absolute power in your head, your mind followed the drug's
subconscious clues and designed the ultimate power-armor... and, of course,
you just HAD to use your 'ultimate power' to its limits."
Bogie chuckled. "I'll admit, it did tickle a little."
"Do you think I'd drug you into building a power-blaster that would
work against ME?" sneered the hologram. "You thought you had absolute power
in your hands, and thus were absolutely... corrupted into helplessness."
Multi-Tasking Man scrambled free of the armor, falling backwards into
a pile of gadgetry he'd tried to show off earlier to the Legion. "Ah, I don't
think you'll be needing that any more. Collect the armor, Bogie, and then
collect Multi-Tasking Mite's head. It'll look good over my fireplace."
-----
As Bogie flipped the inert armor over his shoulder and steadied his aim
for a power-blast, Multi-Tasking Man reached into the pile frantically,
finally grabbing a particular handful of gadgets and rising to his feet.
Bogie nearly doubled over in laughter. "You're going to defend yourself
with a ... POTATO BROILER? Just for that, I'll be nice and kill you QUICKLY.
That's the best laugh I've had in weeks..."
A powerbolt erupted from Bogie's arm just as Multi-Tasking Man stabbed
at a button on the side of the Potato Broiler.
*crACKl--FZZT!*
The bolt fizzled out in mid-air, as a gleaming force field appeared in
its path!
"Well, THAT'S a new twist... pity it won't save you," Bogie said, as
he walked up to the force field and prepared to short it out.
"Then try THIS one on for size, Smiley," Multi-Tasking Man quipped, as
he readied the Widget Manufacturer...
As the transmorph ripped away the force field, a jet of high-pressure
oil squirted into his face. "Gnaaaaaargh..." gasped the blinded villain,
as the holo-Acton frowned at the sudden turnabout.
Multi-Tasking Man smiled. "And how elegant would *I* be if I designed
gadgets with only ONE FUNCTION? I'm not called Multi-Tasking Man for nothing,
y'know... And now -- "
"LOOK OUT, you idiot," cried the holo-Acton...
Ignoring the hologram, Multi-Tasking Man whipped out the Pocket Diaper
Steamer, flipped a switch from "hot" to "cold", and launched a massive stream
of ice across the room, entangling Bogie in a wall of ice!
*fzzzzzzzap!* *crACKLE!* Bogie reeled, as the already-stressed electric
armor had a massive short-circuit and sent kilowatts of power through him.
"You think you've won," snarled the shapeshifter, "but all I have to do
is teleport away..." Bogie began to grimace in concentration.
Slapping on his original power-gauntlets, Multi-Tasking Man grinned, and
said, "Ah-ah, can't have you leaving so soon..."
A shimmering golden force field formed around Bogie, the block of ice,
and the holo-Acton. "THAT should keep you from teleporting anywhere, at
least for the next, oh, let's see, five or six minutes? And by THAT time
your nifty new powers should have gone bye-bye, if Acton told the truth.
What do YOU think, Acton?"
The holo-Acton frowned again, and strode out of the force field. "I
think you're not serious if you think you can hold a hologram captive.
Another time, hero... another time..."
The trademark blue flash swept across the room, and the holo-Acton dove
into the nearest Internet feed, disappearing among a wave of bogus newsgroups.
-----
"So, NOW what," asked Ultimate Ninja, once Bogie had been sedated and
placed into custody. "Still want to play a bigger part in combat?"
With a big grin, Multi-Tasking Man replied, "You know it."
"But your armor..." Rebel Yell said, pointing out the sizzling remnants
of the powered armor lying amidst the wreckage in the Monitoring Room.
"Ah, I don't need it," Multi-Tasking Man replied, "I designed the
gauntlets on my own, and I can program them to do just about anything;
and whatever they CAN'T do, I've got my gadgets to handle."
"And the Monitoring Room...?"
Multi-Tasking Man grinned. "That's why I built W.I.L.B.U.R., after all.
As he proved, he's smart enough to hide from a firefight that he can't handle,
so he should have MORE than enough brainpower to run the monitors when I'm
away."
As if to prove the point, the closet door opened and W.I.L.B.U.R. poked
his head out. "Is the fight over yet?" he bleeped.
The three heroes shared a good laugh, as Multi-Tasking Man leaned to
the microphone and summoned Captain Clean-Up, as the Monitoring Room certainly
needed his particular talent...
-----
"Is the fight over yet?" W.I.L.B.U.R. bleeped.
From the dark shadows from whence he came, Acton Lord glared at his
monitoring screen, watching the disintegrating parts of the super-armor being
shoveled into a disposal unit...
"Not by a long shot, heroes... not by a long shot."
-----
Thanks for listening --- everyone drive safely, y'hear?
==========
Next Week: Time to Take A Turkey Day break... see you in Two!!
==========
Arthur "Same Classic Channel. But Same Time? Probably not." Spitzer
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