Post by dans on Apr 1, 2020 1:48:58 GMT
This story takes place on Georwell, in the Comico universe. You can learn more about the Justice Machine's history here:
This story takes place in the year 1978 on the Georwellian calendar, which by an amazing cosmic coincidence, corresponds to 1978 on the other dimensional Earth... about 6 years before the Justice Machine meets the Elementals and travel from Georwell to Earth via a Dimensional Lock.
A Matter of Karma
Chapter 1: Important Meeting
Chief Prosecutor Arndo Zarren, head of the Georwell Ministry of Truth and Justice, tried to remain confidenrt as he hurried to a secret meeting with Councillor Two, one of the Council of Nine that ruled Georwell. He was sure he knew what was going to happen. The Councillor would read him off for something and threaten to punish him, probably by turning him over to Research Central as an experimental test subject for the rest of his life. Which would undoubtedly be very short and extremely painful.
And then, being a reasonable man, Two would offer Zarren a chance to redeem himself by performing some difficult task or another. Something which would have to be done in secret, something for which Zarren would be punished severely if he failed or was caught, something that Two needed done, but couldn't be connected to. Certainly something illegal and dangerous, maybe even something treasonous.
And then Zarren would be the Councillor's thrall forever. In the future, if Two was ever displeased with Zarren for any reason, just a hint from the Councillor to a proper authority and Zarren would be turned over to Research Central, unless he was simply summarily executed.
Zarren knew the game; he used it on his own underlings. And it had been tried on him before, notably by former Chief Prosecutor Barez, who had been 'coincidentally' executed for treason not long afterward. Councillor Two was perhaps less likely to make the kind of pretermissions Barez had made, but he was human. He'd probably been a Councillor long enough to grow careless, and if he made any slips, Zarren would take advantage of them.
And yet, his confidence was hard to sustain. Outside of Councillors, the Chief Prosecutor was probably the most powerful man on Georwell, but the power of a Councillor dwarfed Zarren. The Chief Prosecutor could walk into the meeting and vanish, and within an hour, there would be no recorded references to him anywhere, as the Department of Historical Accuracy would fictionalize him and erase him from history as if he had never existed. It wouldn't be long before he even faded from human memory.
"Ah, Chief Prosecutor Zarren, thanks so much for your time. Please come in." When Zarren was seated, Councillor Two turned to his sub-citizen attendant. "Chames, please get the Chief Prosecutor a drink - whatever you prefer, Prosecutor. I recommend either Euvian Stout or Quialmian Champagne; I've just received new shipments of each." These were the two most expensive beverages available on Georwell.
This colleagial treatment, perhaps designed to put him at ease, was instead making Zarren even more nervous and hyper-vigilant. Or perhaps that was the point, and thinking that made him even more uneasy. "Thank you, Councillor, I would appreciate water."
Councillor Two nodded approvingly, and Chames scurried off on his task. Zarren studied Two's face closely - Councillors never appeared in public without the traditional purple hood - but almost certainly the face he was seeing was a holographic image. And any tells he noted were what the Councillor wanted him to see. But there might be some information there he could use anyway, if he could sift through the various layers of deception he suspected. Today Councillor Two was wearing a smooth male face, with regular, nondescript features and mousy brown hair. He was smiling and his eyes fairly twinkled with humor. Zarren wondered if the joke was still somehow on him…
"I know you are a busy man, Prosecutor, so I'll get right to the point. I'd like you to arrest a man."
Zarren almost choked on his sip of water - he hoped he'd controlled his reaction and the Councillor wouldn't notice. Councillor Two - or any of the Councillors - had at his disposal all of the resources of the Georwellian military, which included the Uncle Friendlies, Georwell's police militia. And the funds to hire the best detectives, bounty hunters, investigators, assassins, whatever. If he was asking for Zarren's help, he must need the Justice Machine. And if he needed the Justice Machine, the man in question must be very unusual. Perhaps Zarren had some unexpected leverage here.
"What can you tell me about this man, Councillor?" Zarren leaned forward.
"No one knows his real name; he uses multiple aliases, and he has access to Councilor-level technology, as we have been unable to obtain a verifiable image. He is a con man and thief of the highest order. One of his current aliases is Luchaj Renard. The Council of Nine wants this man captured and removed from society, by whatever means is necessary, as soon as possible."
'The entire Council? There must be an opportunity here for me!' Zarren thought eagerly, though he carefully controlled his expression and body language.
"In that case, Councillor, I should get started as soon as possible. Please send me any information you have collected and I will devote the resources of the Ministry of Truth and Justice to his capture."
"Excellent, Chief Prosecutor. I look forward to hearing of the capture of this Renard soonest. Chames will show you out, and the information will be at your disposal by the time you reach your office." The figure of Councillor Two disappeared; the entire time, Zarren had been meeting with a holographic image.
Zarren's mood was considerably altered when he walked out the door. 'A chance to be owed a favor by the entire Council of Nine, just for the capture of a single man!' But then his worry returned. 'This is too good to be true. So it can't be as good as it looks...'
First, he'd find the trap. Then he'd bring in this Renard fellow. Then he'd make sure the trap closed on someone else…
And then, being a reasonable man, Two would offer Zarren a chance to redeem himself by performing some difficult task or another. Something which would have to be done in secret, something for which Zarren would be punished severely if he failed or was caught, something that Two needed done, but couldn't be connected to. Certainly something illegal and dangerous, maybe even something treasonous.
And then Zarren would be the Councillor's thrall forever. In the future, if Two was ever displeased with Zarren for any reason, just a hint from the Councillor to a proper authority and Zarren would be turned over to Research Central, unless he was simply summarily executed.
Zarren knew the game; he used it on his own underlings. And it had been tried on him before, notably by former Chief Prosecutor Barez, who had been 'coincidentally' executed for treason not long afterward. Councillor Two was perhaps less likely to make the kind of pretermissions Barez had made, but he was human. He'd probably been a Councillor long enough to grow careless, and if he made any slips, Zarren would take advantage of them.
And yet, his confidence was hard to sustain. Outside of Councillors, the Chief Prosecutor was probably the most powerful man on Georwell, but the power of a Councillor dwarfed Zarren. The Chief Prosecutor could walk into the meeting and vanish, and within an hour, there would be no recorded references to him anywhere, as the Department of Historical Accuracy would fictionalize him and erase him from history as if he had never existed. It wouldn't be long before he even faded from human memory.
"Ah, Chief Prosecutor Zarren, thanks so much for your time. Please come in." When Zarren was seated, Councillor Two turned to his sub-citizen attendant. "Chames, please get the Chief Prosecutor a drink - whatever you prefer, Prosecutor. I recommend either Euvian Stout or Quialmian Champagne; I've just received new shipments of each." These were the two most expensive beverages available on Georwell.
This colleagial treatment, perhaps designed to put him at ease, was instead making Zarren even more nervous and hyper-vigilant. Or perhaps that was the point, and thinking that made him even more uneasy. "Thank you, Councillor, I would appreciate water."
Councillor Two nodded approvingly, and Chames scurried off on his task. Zarren studied Two's face closely - Councillors never appeared in public without the traditional purple hood - but almost certainly the face he was seeing was a holographic image. And any tells he noted were what the Councillor wanted him to see. But there might be some information there he could use anyway, if he could sift through the various layers of deception he suspected. Today Councillor Two was wearing a smooth male face, with regular, nondescript features and mousy brown hair. He was smiling and his eyes fairly twinkled with humor. Zarren wondered if the joke was still somehow on him…
"I know you are a busy man, Prosecutor, so I'll get right to the point. I'd like you to arrest a man."
Zarren almost choked on his sip of water - he hoped he'd controlled his reaction and the Councillor wouldn't notice. Councillor Two - or any of the Councillors - had at his disposal all of the resources of the Georwellian military, which included the Uncle Friendlies, Georwell's police militia. And the funds to hire the best detectives, bounty hunters, investigators, assassins, whatever. If he was asking for Zarren's help, he must need the Justice Machine. And if he needed the Justice Machine, the man in question must be very unusual. Perhaps Zarren had some unexpected leverage here.
"What can you tell me about this man, Councillor?" Zarren leaned forward.
"No one knows his real name; he uses multiple aliases, and he has access to Councilor-level technology, as we have been unable to obtain a verifiable image. He is a con man and thief of the highest order. One of his current aliases is Luchaj Renard. The Council of Nine wants this man captured and removed from society, by whatever means is necessary, as soon as possible."
'The entire Council? There must be an opportunity here for me!' Zarren thought eagerly, though he carefully controlled his expression and body language.
"In that case, Councillor, I should get started as soon as possible. Please send me any information you have collected and I will devote the resources of the Ministry of Truth and Justice to his capture."
"Excellent, Chief Prosecutor. I look forward to hearing of the capture of this Renard soonest. Chames will show you out, and the information will be at your disposal by the time you reach your office." The figure of Councillor Two disappeared; the entire time, Zarren had been meeting with a holographic image.
Zarren's mood was considerably altered when he walked out the door. 'A chance to be owed a favor by the entire Council of Nine, just for the capture of a single man!' But then his worry returned. 'This is too good to be true. So it can't be as good as it looks...'
First, he'd find the trap. Then he'd bring in this Renard fellow. Then he'd make sure the trap closed on someone else…
Chapter 2: Opportunity Knocks
"As you can see by my badge, Dukister Zucro, I work for the Department of Historical Accuracy," the caller, a tall, well-groomed man, with long, brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard, wearing an impeccably tailored, obviously expensive dark blue 3 piece suit, introduced himself by presenting a digital ID:
Luchaj Renard, Senior Researcher
Luchaj Renard, Senior Researcher
Department of Historical Accuracy
Tull City
Possession of a counterfeit government ID was one of the most dangerous crimes on Georwell. The public execution of those convicted of possessing counterfeit IDs was one of the most popular ceremonies of the semi-annual Justice for All Day holiday festivities. Still, Sharamara Lystsery was no nelix and hadn't risen to the position of Dukister of the Zucro Syndicate which ruled the underworld over a quarter of Third Continent by being foolish.
"A second, Senior Agent," he replied and touched a button on a small control panel worn on the inside of his left wrist. Renard nodded patiently; he knew he was being scanned by the most advanced identification technology available to the powerful Zucro Syndicate, and he was sure it would report nothing other than what he wished it to report. A green light blinked once on Lystery's control panel, and he turned back to his guest, reassured of his identity but leery of his purpose. "What can I do for the Department of Historical Accuracy?"
"In my research, I discovered a serious error in our recent historical archives, Dukister, which must be corrected immediately. Dear me, yes, immediately!" Renard was nodding his head along with his high pitched words. "One of my colleagues will certainly be reduced in rank and possibly be terminated, you can see how vitally important it is that this inaccuracy be corrected! Yes, indeed, immediately!"
Though agents of Depha were almost as feared as armored Terror Troopers by the general populace of Georwell, Renard was getting on the Dukister's nerves already. "I don't see how Depha's historical archives relate to me in any way, Renard."
"I'm ever so sorry, Dukister, that I've not been more clear. Please let me explain." Without waiting for permission, Renard continued. "I have discovered a vast unclaimed sum in the Bank of Tull, the result of an error on the part of one of the historical reconstructionists that works in my office."
Lystsery shuddered; historical reconstructionists fictionalized people and events - removed even the remotest mention of them from all public records, so that those persons and events had never existed. It was dangerous to even remember any event or any person which had been fictionalized, much less speak of them. Renard seemed to be implying that one of his agents had recently fictionalized someone who had a large fortune, and somehow forgotten to fictionalize the fortune as well. And then, it dawned on him!
'Bank of Tull… recent fictionalization… Crystalfist Syndicate! This must be the personal fortune of Grynk Ikeupu, the Calenor of Crystalfist!' His face showed no trace of the realization reverberating in his mind.
Crystalfist had been the largest gray Syndicate on Second Continent, based in Tull City, until it had somehow attracted the unwanted attention of the Ministry of Truth and Justice. Now it was gone, as if it had never existed, the underworld activity on Second Continent temporarily disrupted and running wild until some other Syndicate stepped in to take control. And somehow, the news had spread that the Calenor had been fictionalized, even though no one dared to talk of it.
Then the Dukistor had another flash of inspiration: 'There's no Depha agent error here; Renard did the fictionalization himself, somehow hid the records of Ikeupu's vast fortune, and now wants to profit on it by laundering it - with the help of Zucro Syndicate! It must be a tremendous amount for him to take such a dangerous risk.'
His irritation was instantly cleared up. Sharamara leaned forward eagerly. "So, how can I be of help you, Researcher Renard?"
Chapter 3: Qunitopple
Five good little soldiers, the Justice Machine, champions of Georwell. The elite unbeatable government strike force. And today, they were getting their asses handed to them.
Jaiime Conrad, Challenger, the long time leader of the Justice Machine, knew the reason things hadn't been going well. His team was still shaken by the recent loss of its most powerful member, the cyborg Integra*, who had sacrificed her life to stop, Oppugnant, a juggernaut in armor even more powerful than her own. Other than Challenger, none of the other heroes had ever lost a Justice Machine teammate in battle before, and they weren't properly focused on fighting. After 20 minutes of hot combat, Quintopple, a not-very-impressive subversive group, was on the verge of victory.
* Integra ( formerly Bruna Garonez, second in command of the Justice Machine) had been gravely injured in the last battle of the Rim Wars. Her still-living brain had been transplanted into a mechanical body, similar to the powered combat armor worn by Imperium Terror Troopers. She'd been the most powerful member of the Justice Machine, but even she hadn't been able to stop Oppugnant, and she'd finally activated the self-destruct in her armor. A tiny grain of anti-iron had slipped out of a collapsing magnetic bottle, and the resulting explosion had vaporized both the cyborg and her armored opponent.
Quintopple had impressive technology at their command. Forty minutes ago, they had landed a massive armored spaceship outside the Citadel of Data in Vanguard City on Georwell's Third Continent. Stealth technology made the ship difficult to target, and when it had been struck by weapon fire, it was protected by a force field of an unknown technology. A strike force of five, wearing powerful exoskeletons, had exited the ship and quickly overwhelmed the Citadel's human security team and their armored combat vehicles, while advanced weapons in the ship destroyed various fliers defending the fortress. Since then, the five had made impressive progress breaching the force-field reinforced indestructium ceramoplast walls of the fortress, which were theoretically capable of surviving an interplanetary collision.
The vast, heavily defended Citadel of Data protected Data Central, the giant data center for the Georwell Imperium. Control of the Imperium depended on control of data, and all the most critical data was stored in Data Central. There could be no better way to cause chaos and insurrection throughout the Imperium than destroying Data Central. Without the identification data stored here, billions of sub-citizens would soon try to claim citizen benefits, and public services would quickly be overwhelmed. There would be other disastrous consequences, of course, but a sub-cit revolt was considered the single biggest threat to Georwall. And yet, the enormous sub-cit worker population was required to maintain the expected standard of living for citizens.
The Rebel Underground propaganda asserted that Georwell's constant state of war for the past 1000 years was the most effective form of sub-cit rebellion control, by sending the most aggressive out to die, plus it helped maintain the sub-cit population at the optimum level. Sub-cits agreed vehemently. But no prudent citizen paid attention to Rebel agitprop and nobody cared what sub-cits might say.
So, a strike at Citadel of Data was a strike at the basics of Georwellian civilization, and the infallible Justice Machine was unleashed against yet another in a string of terrorist groups raised and supported by the Underground: Qunitopple.
The Machine's troubles had begun as the climbed out of the ballistic hypersonic flier that had brought them a quarter of the way around the world in 20 minutes. Demon had been coughing and gagging, and dodging and withstanding anti-aircraft fire as they landed had only made his nausea worse. He had staggered out of the flier almost a half minute behind the rest of the team. Getting his boots back on solid ground helped him perk up, and he seemed to have his fighting edge back as he raced past his already-beleaguered teammates and attacked without waiting for orders.
"The fly-guy is MINE!" he shouted. One of the five identically-clad villains was able to fly, and Demon raced toward him, seemingly ran part way up a vertical wall, leaped to the top of a damaged and smoking Bolo tank, and launched himself through the air at the startled flier, who was at least 40 feet off the ground and clearly not expecting to be attacked.
The five super powered terrorists comprising Quintopple were wearing identical costumes, but they had significantly different powers and this was, in part, contributing to the Machine's difficulties. The terrorists were well trained, they worked together well, and they made a point of switching opponents regularly. So Titan, for example, might finally figure out the best way to attack his current opponent, and launch an attack, and be greeted by a totally different set of powers than he was expecting. The Machine was disorganized, fighting one-on-one. By now, Demon had fallen to the ground and been stunned, and the Machine had dragged him into a huddle behind Dynamor and the external wall of the fortress, barely protected from their attacks by her invulnerability. It was time for some leadership and teamwork of their own.
"Diviner, we need to be able to identify them!" Challenger barked at his wife and second-in-command. He twisted controls on his multi-pistols as he spoke. "Point at them and tell me what their powers are. The rest of you, pay attention!"
She pointed at the flier.
Jaiime Conrad, Challenger, the long time leader of the Justice Machine, knew the reason things hadn't been going well. His team was still shaken by the recent loss of its most powerful member, the cyborg Integra*, who had sacrificed her life to stop, Oppugnant, a juggernaut in armor even more powerful than her own. Other than Challenger, none of the other heroes had ever lost a Justice Machine teammate in battle before, and they weren't properly focused on fighting. After 20 minutes of hot combat, Quintopple, a not-very-impressive subversive group, was on the verge of victory.
* Integra ( formerly Bruna Garonez, second in command of the Justice Machine) had been gravely injured in the last battle of the Rim Wars. Her still-living brain had been transplanted into a mechanical body, similar to the powered combat armor worn by Imperium Terror Troopers. She'd been the most powerful member of the Justice Machine, but even she hadn't been able to stop Oppugnant, and she'd finally activated the self-destruct in her armor. A tiny grain of anti-iron had slipped out of a collapsing magnetic bottle, and the resulting explosion had vaporized both the cyborg and her armored opponent.
Quintopple had impressive technology at their command. Forty minutes ago, they had landed a massive armored spaceship outside the Citadel of Data in Vanguard City on Georwell's Third Continent. Stealth technology made the ship difficult to target, and when it had been struck by weapon fire, it was protected by a force field of an unknown technology. A strike force of five, wearing powerful exoskeletons, had exited the ship and quickly overwhelmed the Citadel's human security team and their armored combat vehicles, while advanced weapons in the ship destroyed various fliers defending the fortress. Since then, the five had made impressive progress breaching the force-field reinforced indestructium ceramoplast walls of the fortress, which were theoretically capable of surviving an interplanetary collision.
The vast, heavily defended Citadel of Data protected Data Central, the giant data center for the Georwell Imperium. Control of the Imperium depended on control of data, and all the most critical data was stored in Data Central. There could be no better way to cause chaos and insurrection throughout the Imperium than destroying Data Central. Without the identification data stored here, billions of sub-citizens would soon try to claim citizen benefits, and public services would quickly be overwhelmed. There would be other disastrous consequences, of course, but a sub-cit revolt was considered the single biggest threat to Georwall. And yet, the enormous sub-cit worker population was required to maintain the expected standard of living for citizens.
The Rebel Underground propaganda asserted that Georwell's constant state of war for the past 1000 years was the most effective form of sub-cit rebellion control, by sending the most aggressive out to die, plus it helped maintain the sub-cit population at the optimum level. Sub-cits agreed vehemently. But no prudent citizen paid attention to Rebel agitprop and nobody cared what sub-cits might say.
So, a strike at Citadel of Data was a strike at the basics of Georwellian civilization, and the infallible Justice Machine was unleashed against yet another in a string of terrorist groups raised and supported by the Underground: Qunitopple.
The Machine's troubles had begun as the climbed out of the ballistic hypersonic flier that had brought them a quarter of the way around the world in 20 minutes. Demon had been coughing and gagging, and dodging and withstanding anti-aircraft fire as they landed had only made his nausea worse. He had staggered out of the flier almost a half minute behind the rest of the team. Getting his boots back on solid ground helped him perk up, and he seemed to have his fighting edge back as he raced past his already-beleaguered teammates and attacked without waiting for orders.
"The fly-guy is MINE!" he shouted. One of the five identically-clad villains was able to fly, and Demon raced toward him, seemingly ran part way up a vertical wall, leaped to the top of a damaged and smoking Bolo tank, and launched himself through the air at the startled flier, who was at least 40 feet off the ground and clearly not expecting to be attacked.
The five super powered terrorists comprising Quintopple were wearing identical costumes, but they had significantly different powers and this was, in part, contributing to the Machine's difficulties. The terrorists were well trained, they worked together well, and they made a point of switching opponents regularly. So Titan, for example, might finally figure out the best way to attack his current opponent, and launch an attack, and be greeted by a totally different set of powers than he was expecting. The Machine was disorganized, fighting one-on-one. By now, Demon had fallen to the ground and been stunned, and the Machine had dragged him into a huddle behind Dynamor and the external wall of the fortress, barely protected from their attacks by her invulnerability. It was time for some leadership and teamwork of their own.
"Diviner, we need to be able to identify them!" Challenger barked at his wife and second-in-command. He twisted controls on his multi-pistols as he spoke. "Point at them and tell me what their powers are. The rest of you, pay attention!"
She pointed at the flier.
"Flight, radar, some kind of projectile weapon." "RED" Challenger shouted and fired with both pistols. Out of a dozen small projectiles, at least one got through and splattered the flier with red dye.
"Their Challenger!" "BROWN" and another was splattered with brown die.
"Strongman!" "BLUE" By now, the opponents were trying to dodge, but Challenger was very good with his pistols, and another got splattered with blue.
"Blaster!" "YELLOW!" This one fired an energy blast and vaporized Challenger's darts, but Jaiime was satisfied with his results.
"Stealth!" This time, Tessei pointed at what seemed to be an empty spot, but with his combat goggles enhancing his vision, Jaiime was barely able to see a wavering outline. It was enough.
"Diviner, that one's yours! Titan, give me a boost and then you and Dynamor take out the Blaster. Demon, you got the brown guy. Don't screw it up! All of you, stay away from the Strongman, he's slow enough to avoid. After you take out your assignment, then gang up on him. I'll be busy for a while. Jemin, Up, UP and AWAY!" He leaped feet first at Titan, who grabbed his legs, swung him around twice like a hammer thrower, and then released him towards the flier.
Demon wiped grime off his face and climbed to his feet. He threw his billy club and then blasted off like a rocket after it. 'Their Challenger' had so far displayed exceptional martial arts skills and enhanced speed, and someone watching their fight would have almost thought the two were dancing. Their movements were fast and graceful, and any error on the part of either could have been fatal. But after a minute, neither had made that fatal error.
Challenger was clearly going to miss the flier, so the villain changed his flight path to go to the aid of his team. But Jaiime had other ideas. As he flew, he adjusted one of his pistols and fired, and a projectile flew out and blasted open into a bolo - which wrapped tightly around the body of the flier and pinned his arms to his sides. A second shot followed almost instantly, and a magnetic cable flared out and stuck to the bolo cable wrapping the flier. A powerful motor reeled in the cable, pulling Challenger behind. He slammed into the startled, tightly bound flier's head, knocking him unconscious. He grabbed his opponent and as they fell, he bit hard on a false tooth - and for just and instant rockets flared from the soles of his boots, just enough to cushion their landing. As he'd planned, he was within a few feet of the open airlock in the villains' ship. He dropped his bound captive to the ground and rushed inside.
Dynamor rushed the Blaster, followed by Titan. The villain's rays, beams, bolts and even bullets were ineffective against Dynamor - the Energizer embedded in her nervous system absorbed energy from the environment around her, including the villain's weapons, and converted it to biotonic energy fed back into her nervous system - which made her stronger and almost invulnerable. The blaster switched targets and started blasting the ground in front of the heroes, and Dynamor fell into an instant crater, but Titan grew larger, crossed the crater in a stride, and slammed a giant fist into the villain before he could switch targets.
Even with her enhanced senses, Diviner was having trouble following the Stealth guy. Earlier in the fight, he would fade from visibility, appear again next to a battle between one of his teammates and a hero, and distract the hero with an unexpected attack, giving the teammate time to renew the attack or even switch opponents with another villain. It had taken Tessei a while to 'tune in' on him. By now, she could tell where he was generally but when he attacked her, her fix wasn't precise enough. He was battering her and she was barely blocking his most potent attacks. If she didn't change her tactics quickly, she'd be beaten. She switched from trying to locate him to detecting the air currents he made when he moved, and the battle became much more even.
Demon's brawl continued, and it was clear that the villain who'd been dyed brown was wearing him down. The red and blue clad self proclaimed 'Fastest Man on 3 Planets" movements were slower and his attacks weaker, and even when he blocked an attack, he was being hurt.
Titan and Dynamor had turned their attention to the strongman. He was much stronger than either of them, and more damage-resistant than even a fully-charged Dynamor, but his movements were slow and a little clumsy. They were striking him more often than he could strike back, so they were landing several blows for each of his. The amount of damage being done appeared to be about equally distributed between the three. It looked like it could be a long drawn out battle!
Demon wiped grime off his face and climbed to his feet. He threw his billy club and then blasted off like a rocket after it. 'Their Challenger' had so far displayed exceptional martial arts skills and enhanced speed, and someone watching their fight would have almost thought the two were dancing. Their movements were fast and graceful, and any error on the part of either could have been fatal. But after a minute, neither had made that fatal error.
Challenger was clearly going to miss the flier, so the villain changed his flight path to go to the aid of his team. But Jaiime had other ideas. As he flew, he adjusted one of his pistols and fired, and a projectile flew out and blasted open into a bolo - which wrapped tightly around the body of the flier and pinned his arms to his sides. A second shot followed almost instantly, and a magnetic cable flared out and stuck to the bolo cable wrapping the flier. A powerful motor reeled in the cable, pulling Challenger behind. He slammed into the startled, tightly bound flier's head, knocking him unconscious. He grabbed his opponent and as they fell, he bit hard on a false tooth - and for just and instant rockets flared from the soles of his boots, just enough to cushion their landing. As he'd planned, he was within a few feet of the open airlock in the villains' ship. He dropped his bound captive to the ground and rushed inside.
Dynamor rushed the Blaster, followed by Titan. The villain's rays, beams, bolts and even bullets were ineffective against Dynamor - the Energizer embedded in her nervous system absorbed energy from the environment around her, including the villain's weapons, and converted it to biotonic energy fed back into her nervous system - which made her stronger and almost invulnerable. The blaster switched targets and started blasting the ground in front of the heroes, and Dynamor fell into an instant crater, but Titan grew larger, crossed the crater in a stride, and slammed a giant fist into the villain before he could switch targets.
Even with her enhanced senses, Diviner was having trouble following the Stealth guy. Earlier in the fight, he would fade from visibility, appear again next to a battle between one of his teammates and a hero, and distract the hero with an unexpected attack, giving the teammate time to renew the attack or even switch opponents with another villain. It had taken Tessei a while to 'tune in' on him. By now, she could tell where he was generally but when he attacked her, her fix wasn't precise enough. He was battering her and she was barely blocking his most potent attacks. If she didn't change her tactics quickly, she'd be beaten. She switched from trying to locate him to detecting the air currents he made when he moved, and the battle became much more even.
Demon's brawl continued, and it was clear that the villain who'd been dyed brown was wearing him down. The red and blue clad self proclaimed 'Fastest Man on 3 Planets" movements were slower and his attacks weaker, and even when he blocked an attack, he was being hurt.
Titan and Dynamor had turned their attention to the strongman. He was much stronger than either of them, and more damage-resistant than even a fully-charged Dynamor, but his movements were slow and a little clumsy. They were striking him more often than he could strike back, so they were landing several blows for each of his. The amount of damage being done appeared to be about equally distributed between the three. It looked like it could be a long drawn out battle!
Suddently, all five members of Qunitopple froze in place. Challenger exited the ship triumphantly. "The way these guys moved, their uniforms have to be covering exoskeletons which give them their powers, and those exoskeletons had to be under computer control, and the only place they could have hidden a computer that complex was in the ship. I found the computer - and that was that!"
"Guess they didn't know about you and computers, huh, bossman?" Titan asked with a laugh. "They shoulda locked the door."
Demon pointed to the sky. "Second team's here!" A Ministry of Truth and Justice troop carrier was fast approaching. "Zarren will be aboard, late as always, and he'll find a way to take all the credit. Don't know why we keep working for him, Jaiime."
That kind of talk made Challenger uncomfortable. "Shut up, Demon! You could end up with an alpha-grade field demotion if Zarren hears you talk like that." An alpha-grade field demotion was a summary execution on the battlefield. Everyone backed a step away from their youngest member. It wasn't the first time Demon had made that kind of comment, and while all of them had entertained similar thoughts in the past, they had learned by now to keep those thoughts to themselves. It wasn't clear yet if Demon would learn soon enough to survive, and nobody really wanted to be included if he was demoted.
And then the carrier landed, and Zarren took charge - and the next day, when the stories reached the news, Demon was right. Zarren grabbed all the credit, while the Machine looked barely second rate.
