Finish the Superhero Story

Cafe Society
41

For the first time since they had got together Mack sounded annoyed. “I thought this place would be a little harder to find” he commented in an acid tone, as the voices came from the speakers. Perhaps even he was getting tired.

Waxwork had not left with the others to rest during what was left of the night. The entity could allow up to three of it’s personalities to “sleep” and still be able to move and be aware. It was unusual for circumstances to require that it completely “shut down” Now Wax cocked several ears towards the sound of the voices.

“Hey, it’s late and this is a cruddy part of town. Let’s go back.”

"But we have to make contact with Mother again, or…’

At the word “Mother” Waxwork burst out “That sounds like Transciever! But who’s the one with her?”

Steve, who had been on the point of leaving to rest like the others, sounded as irritated as Mack had been “I’ll tell you who it is! Damn, you pay a kid’s tuition, you expect them to be in school!. I told her she wasn’t ready yet.” And he subsided, grumbling as only a parent can, while Mack wearily reached for the speaker transmitter.

42

Arthur stepped off the elevator into a lobby quite unlike the front desk up above: that had been your standard grungy police office front desk, not as chaotic as in most cities, but fairly typical. This was sleek, ultra-modern, with designer furniture and a gorgeous receptionist sitting behind the desk. Whatever money the feds had saved renovating part of the PCPD’s HQ to house the local offices of the BEI they’d likely blown on stuff like this, which was typical of the government.

The receptionist looked up as he approached, a phony smile plastered on her picture-perfect face. “Hello, and welcome to the Puritan City offices of the Bureau of Extranormal Investigations’ Domestic Metahuman Investigations Network. How can I help you today?”

“I’m here to see the prisoner.” Arthur grumbled.

The receptionist frowned. “I’m sorry, only authorized BEI personnel are allowed on the premises, but if you’d like to sit down and wait I can summon an agent to speak with you, Officer . . . ?”

“That’d be fine.” Dane mumbled.

He sat and spent the next several minutes reading a four year old copy of Metahumans’ Quarterly, trying to ignore Abyss buzzing at the back of his mind. After a few moments, the doors next to the receptionist’s office silently parted and a large, humorless looking BEI agent stepped through.

“Arthur Dane. You really are stupid, aren’t you? Where’d you get the cop suit? If I hear you’ve hurt someone . . .”

Arthur grinned. He knew this man, Special Agent Willem Walters, aka Ballbuster, a meta with superhuman strength. Dane had known he wouldn’t get far once he’d gotten past the cops upstairs, but he’d known they’d send Walters out to deal with him, being his parole officer and all.

“GOODBYE ARTHUR DANE.” Abyss said in Arthur’s head.

“Good riddance.” Arthur shot back.

Arthur briefly felt triumph as he locked eyes with Agent Walters, then as Abyss left his mind, washing away his consciousness with the force of its escape, he felt nothing at all.

43

Mack keyed the speaker, but before he could talk Steve was there.

“Tara, I told you to stay put at the University! Just what in the hell do you think you are doing?”

Daddy?, Uh, is that you?"

“Don’t you Daddy me! You get yourself down here where I can chew you out right! And remember, put your gloves on. You can’t read me but you don’t have your talent under complete control yet!”

*“I think we stepped in it this time Diana. You think Mother can get upset, you haven’t seen my Dad. Well, better get it over with.”

Mack and Steve waited for the two young women to arrive on the elevator. Tara was gloved when they stepped off, as this made it harder for untrained or inexperienced talents to make contacts. As father and daughter Steve and Tara were close, but there were some things he wouldn’t take a chance on her knowing about his work, although she was well aware he was a BEI agent. Diana(aka Factor) gingerly followed her friend. Steve opened his mouth to launch into a tirade, but this time Mack beat him to the punch.

“Young ladies, I have a mind to boot you out of here the worse for wear. But I know that Waxwork here needs to make contact with you so I will leave you to him. For the moment, Miss Tara, I will not unleash your father on you. We are both going to get some sleep. But you are not, under any circumstances, to leave here until we both have again spoken with you. Do I make myself clear?”

As it had with Cowboy Jack Mack’s flat, uninflected tone gave the two girls pause, and they simply nodded.

“Come on Steve. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be busy ones. It seems our group is going to have to learn to swim by jumping into the water.”

44

Marion lay on her small bed. She lived in a room off the main library. Books were her life and she saw no reason to be far from them. On the table near her bed lay a much perused copy of The Illiad.

A dark form detached itself from her wall. It edged closer to her, not making any noise. It reached out long fingers toward her.

Suddenly, Marion shot her hand out from her blanket and touched The Illiad. Instantly there appeared a man wearing ancient armor and wielding a sword. The figure jumped onto the bed and swung its sword. The creature vanished before the sword made contact.

Marion stood up, panting in the excitement. She looked around. The swordsman stepped down to the floor and scanned the room. The lights from the street outside cast odd shadows around her room.

Three more shadow beings came from the walls. As the swordsman jumped for one, Marion darted for a pile of books in the corner and grabbed two. Moments later a dark cloaked figure brandishing a red glowing sword and a caveman with a huge club appeared. Each headed for one of the shadows.

The shadows parried the blows of Marion’s heroes. The seemed to be unaffected by the weapons.

Behind Marion, another shadow hand detached from the wall. Forming a fist, it struck the side of her head. The three heroes faded leaving only the shadows.

45

Bump.

Did we forget about this, or have we tapped our creative abilities?

C’mon, Baker, Jeff, Fibber! I’ll post myself in a bit, as soon as I have a chance to review everything?

46

well, I became confused and was too lazy to map things out – if someone wants to sort things out, that would bump me back into the fray. The problem was we began jumping about so much that things lacked focus – too much so.

Anyone want to lay this out?

47

Baker’s good at recaps.

48

Wow! I was just thinking about bumping this myself! Sure, I’ll do a recap, but I’m on my break at work now and it will have to wait until this evening. I didn’t want to let this thing go, it was too good to let die.

One thing to remember about the timeline in the story so far, that barely 24 hours have passed in the action. I forsee some more time passing though, and a lot of good action. I’d emailed Fibber a while back with a question about Arthur Dane/Gladhand, and what his ultimate fate could be, so I was still thinking about it.

Check back later this evening. In in the Central Time Zone, so I hope to have it done by 9:00PM my time.

49

Ok, this recap may be a little different than those I made in two other “Finish” stories. For one thing, the tale is still in it’s second day. And for another, the team leader/organizer morphed into a different person than envisioned at the outset.

Puritan City- As stated in the OP it is a place with an unusual number of superheros(along with an assortment of supervillians), people with abilities differing from the average human. Also known as metahumans.(Fibber McGee, 9/11)
The good guys go there of their own free will, but meta-human crooks are sentenced to relocation there.

Julie Warner- former actress, meta-human with butterfly type wings as the visible sign of her difference. Flight ability unknown, or other powers. Wings delicate and brightly colored. She herself is black.(Baker, 9/8) She has been pursued and attacked by a deadly sounding stalker(Jemidex, 9/9) and her career ended as a result. She seeks the counsel of

Ignatius “I-Mack” Mackenzie-Human Computer for Hire. “Mack” is a meta-human seeking to set up a professional quality league of meta-human crime fighters. He is older, loves bound books. His abilities are so far in the mental though processes areas. He forgets nothing, and the data he stores in his head can be mixed, matched and sorted, then pop out results, much the same as a computer. He has an outer office/rooms setup, but on a lower level there is a secure redoubt known as The Catacombs, with living and working facilitites for a number of people. His “broadcast” that has called several selected meta-humans to meet him also brings in

Jacqueline Cartwrightaka Cowboy Jack. Mack would have preferred that she not hear the call, but she did anyway. Fibber McGee’s post of 9/5 details her abilities and tendencies better than a shorter summary here. Once involved it is assumed it’s safer to keep her where an eye can be kept on here than to toss her out.

Next to arrive at Mack’s place are Stephen Spector"The Spook" and Zachary Rowe, “Zero” Spector is the only member of the proposed team not a meta-human. He is a former BEI agent(Bureau of Extranormal Investigations) The Spook could be an asset because of his presumed knowledge of the local meta-humans, and the other agents who manage them. He does have a daughter who is meta-human however. “Zero” is a former athlete who was not(presumably) meta-human at birth.(Jeff Olsen, 9/6) He is a sort of human chameleon, who can blend in and move around like a shadow. Has limited power of teleportation. In his thirties.

Mr. Seven, dubbed “The Master of Luck” by the press is next. He speaks with a high class British accent and is dressed to the nines at his first appearance. Maybe it is his lucky ablity to notice things others don’t that show him BAGS of money in the hallway outside of MacKenzie’s office, when the other arrivals overlooked them. The cramp that Cowboy Jack gets in her hand(ddgryphon, 9/6), shows his luck may be controllable.

Emma Fetzer is a telempath, with the ability not only to sense the emotions and feelings of others, but to influence them in return. She is slightly chubby and likes to hear the dinner bell ring. Her nature is sympathetic and gentle. But don’t forget, people can act against type when they have to!

Arthur Dane, “Gladhand” is a meta-human crook sentenced to live in Puritan City. He shakes your hand and you have complete confidence in him, huh. Then it is presumed he fleeces you. Posts by Fibber McGee and ddgryphon on 9/7 detail his assimilation by an entity known so far only as

Abyss Whoever or whatever Abyss is, it seems to be an entity of multiple personalities, or possibly one personality that has “imprisoned” many others. Abyss may be solely an energy being, as it uses hosts to get around and accomplish it’s ends. Only uses meta-humans as hosts, unknown if this is a preference or a requirement for it. Abyss is evil and has a desire to rule the world(Fibber McGee, 9/11)

Supporting characters:

Waxwork, a four person entity melded into one rather horiffic looking body. Seems to act as a messenger, and works with/answers to a so far yet unseen person called

Mother. Age, appearance, ability unknown. Possible she/it has a sort of group of it’s own, as

Tara Spector, “Transciever” a metahuman telepath, (and daughter of the Spook) seems to be supposed to keep in contact with her. Tara may be new to her abilities, as her father is heard to grumble about how her talent isn’t under control yet.(Baker, 9/16) She is accompanied to both the library(Jeff Olsen 9/11) and Mack’s offices(Jeff Olsen, 9/13) by a friend named

Diana aka “Factor” Diana/Factor is a disguise expert. Both young women are “college age”, and at one point Steve the Spook is heard to grumble (yet again) about paying for her school.

Marion is a librarian (pretty naturally) consulted by Zero. She appears to be a whiz at searching databases, and produces for Zero a list of names and incidents which may have disturbing consequences(Jeff Olsen, 9/10)

The Void -see Jeff Olsen’s two posts of 9/10 explaining this entity way better than I could.

Special Agent Willem Walters aka "Ballbuster, a metahuman with superhuman strength, and current BEI agent. Formerly he was Arthur Dane’s parole agent, and now presumed to be controlled by Abyss, since Arthur Dane, as it’s host, shook his hand.

There are of course other names named in the story, but to list them all would simply be rewriting the story.

Currently, Agent Walters, at the BEI, has been taken over by Abyss. The BEI facility is housing an unnamed meta-human than seems to be extremely powerful, possibly deadly. Will Walters be giving Abyss access to this entity? What could the consequences be?

And who are the shadows that have attacked Marion? She is not said to be a metahuman, but has a copy of The Illiad with interesting properties.

The “good guys” are mostly still with Mack in the Catacombs, but it’s a new day and they should be awake by now and ready for action.

I noted that, with a few exceptions such as Zero’s, many of the abilities of the league Mack is forming are mental or non-physical abilities. How will this affect their crime fighting style? Can they use their minds but still get medieval on somebody the old fashioned way? Cowboy Jack could, she seems to be a hardcase.

I have tried to use “possibly”, “probably”, or “seems to be” when I am making guesses or decuctions about the characters. If you notice mistakes or omissions I have made, please point them out so we don’t make any major continuity errors.

There is still a lot to learn about our superheros. Some have been described physically, but not all. Same goes for backstories.

—Little things I have noted—

Mack/Ignatius/Iggy/IMac has an even temper, but even he can get testy(Baker, 9/14)

What’s it like for a normal human to have a metahuman daughter?

Are former hosts of Abyss past recovery? Boozehound, who proceeded Arthur Dane as a host is reported to be catatonic, and that may be the fate of Dane as well.

Just who or what is “Mother”? I have an idea, but it may be too cutesy for this story.

Do the dreams/nightmares of Julie have a special significance?

I could go on but that’s enough for now. Between this recap and a quick rereading of the story, I’m sure anyone who wants to will be up to speed. I may post another episode tomorrow morning, but for now I am going to let my brain rest. But I am grateful to those who have decided to resurrect the tale. I thought it was too good, and too much fun, to let die.

50

The next morning, the group sat around a large table. Another table nearby was loaded with fruit, breads, pastries and beverages. Tara and Diana had been given food and asked to leave. The others waited for Mack to begin.

After finishing his coffee he stood up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sure you’re all curious as to why we’re here. While I’m not a liberty to explain everything yet, I can tell you a few things.

"There is some sort of threat to our existance. I mean the existance of life on this planet. The threat is of unknown origin and power.

“A plan is in effect to deal with the situation and the plan involves all of us. However, we must keep things on a need to know basis. With that in mind, I have assignments.”

He handed Mr. Seven two envelopes. One sealed, one not. "Seven, in that envelope you will find cash and a address. I want you, Julie and Emma to travel to New York City, go to that address then open the other envelope. You will find further instructions there.

“Jack and Zero will need to go to Harvard University and contact Professor Ispep. He has information for me pertaining to this matter.”

“Steve, Waxwork and I have some inquiries to make around here. We meet back here at midnight.”

“No,” said Jack calmly, “Julie stays with me.”

“Julie’s presence is necessary in New York and we both know why you can’t go there.”

“I won’t go there you mean and she doesn’t need to go either. We can just walk right out of here.”

“Jack. You are important to the plan, but not necessary. Julie is. I have ample influence to insure her cooperation. You have known me a long time and you know that I don’t say such things without cause.”

“If she’s harmed…”

“If she’s harmed,” Waxwork interrupted, “then we’re all in trouble.”

51

Jack spoke one more time, in a slightly different tone. “You said uesterday we are supposed to be a team. Doesn’t that mean trust? Why all the secrecy now?”

Mack sighed, “It’s an old principle. What you don’t know you can’t give away.” He looked at them all in turn, returning to Jack,with a trace of sadness in his gaze “It’s very probable we will not all survive this you know. But those of us who do will be a group this city needs to get past subsequent crises.”

Jack relaxed a little, “I can live with that. I hope.”

Emma asked, after glancing at Julie “Can I know, without giving too much away now, how long this New York trip will be?”

Mack considered, “Not long. We will need to be back together here in PC in a week or less, by my best calculations. There is an emergency contact in the envelope, if worst comes to worse.”

“One more point” put in Zero, “you that are staying here for now may need to contact Marion Sims at the public library. She pulled up some interesting stuff for me that could be related to this whole mess.”

52

Suddenly, the meeting was interrupted as Tara ran into the room clutching her head, followed closely by Diana.

“I’m receiving a message from Mother?”

“What is it?” Mack asked, getting to his feet.

“The message is vague, she’s too far away to send complete thoughts, but there’s a definate sense of urgency. Something’s happened, something big.”

“How big?”

There was a small television monitor on a table in one corner of the room. Steve Spector quickly crossed the room and swtiched it on. On the screen was a reporter standing outside the headquarters of the Puritan City Police Department, now nothing more than a smoking pile of rubble.

“About that big, I’d say.” Steve said, frowning.

53

“Tara, Diana,” Mack said, “Waxwork mentioned something that could be interfering with your abilities. He thinks you and Diana became psychically connected after your initial contact with Mother.”

“Makes sense,” they said in unison, then both burst out laughing.

“We should get your minds separated before continuing.” Mack turned toward Emma, but she was already ahead of him.

“Consider it done,” she said.

54

*Meanwhile, somewhen… *(hope you don’t mind, but I’m introducing a new twist to this roller-coaster ride, as well as what I hope is a neat way to tie some things together)

Rewind blinked. The last thing he had known, he was surrounded by Puritan City policemen. He squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to remember. He always had the hardest time remembering things. Someone placed some kind of…field? ray? something anyway, on him. Next thing he knew…

I/WE REQUIRE YOUR SERVICES AGAIN. His thoughts scattered like startled pigeons.

Rewind broke out into a cold sweat. He knew that voice. He reeled and caught the nearest wall, feeling physically ill as he felt invading tendrils snaking throughout his mind. He gritted his teeth, gave an almost physical push with his mind and felt the presence recede slightly.

He quickly oriented himself. He was not suprised to be in a different place - whenever he rewound or unspun, he always ended up somewhere in a direct east-west line in relation to wherever he was last. Something to do with the earth’s rotation. Rewind mentally shuddered and was thankful that his talent did not seem to punish him for things like the earth moving in orbit, galactic drift, and the forever shooting outward of all galaxies toward oblivion. He mentally shook himself. Not the time to drift into speculation. He was in a living room…light coming in the windows, must be daytime. Eyes scanning the room, he caught sight of a calendar hanging in the kitchen off of the living room. If the calendar was right…he counted red Xs on the days…it was about 14 months before he was incarcerated, which was 6 months before he was first forced to start rewinding…

YOUR RESISTANCE IS STRONG, BUT THAT IS NO MATTER. SOON WE/YOU/I WILL BE ONE. Rewind sensed an immense amount of arrogance and confidence behind that statement.

An overwhelming blast of force whiplashed through his mind. Rewind suddenly found himself simply along for the ride in his own body. He strode to a computer desk in the living room, turned on the computer, and proceeded to type and send several emails. Seeing the content of the emails, Rewind realized that several death sentences were being written for people he held dear. Was going to hold dear? He was having a hard time keeping it straight sometimes.

A few hours later, he video conferenced with a deranged looking man who spoke in an annoying sing-song voice.

YOUR FEE WILL BE PAID. IT IS A SMALL MATTER. THE BUTTERFLY WITH THE STING MUST BE DESTROYED. MEET ME/US AT THE DESIGNATED LOCATION TOMORROW AT DUSK.

The connection was terminated. A great frowning presence oriented on Rewind. At least, that’s how it felt.

YOU IRRITATE ME/US. I/WE MUST BE RID OF YOUR INTERFERENCE.

A blackness engulfed the whole of his mind. He could feel Abyss methodically scouring his brain like stell wool across a kitchen sink. In desperation, Rewind unspun. That is, his mind unspun. He did not even realize he could do that (perhaps that’s why he seemed to forget so much all of the time) - divorcing his mind from his body - until everything blinked, and an unaware Abyss began to tap into Rewind’s powers.

Rewind instantly understood what Abyss was trying to do. Rewinding and unspinning were what Rewind called his time-jumping ability because that’s how it felt to him. Going backwards, rewinding, he was swimming upstream, feeling the vast bungee cord of time trying to pull him back. He could only unspin (go forward in time again) half as far as he rewound though. If he tried to unspin someone who actually belonged where they were in time, it took even more energy. Currently, they stood in an empty house - one that was about to be moved into. Rewind could see all the signs, from the “Sold” sign in the front yard to the freshly cleaned carpets. The creepy assassin stood in front of Abyss, waiting for him to unspin him forward to a point where his prey would be in the house.

"Julie!" Abyss/Rewind cried. There was a flash of memory - red light, cobalt eyes, talons - horrible talons! With a surge of will, Rewind pushed all of his power past Abyss’ control, and drained their accumulated “spin” and unspun the attacker to the maximum extent. Instead of two days, it would be about two months before he would appear. At the same time, Abyss and Rewind were stuck in this time, having no spin accumulated to travel back forward on. They would have to go forward the way everyone else did.

Rewind, exhausted, waited for the inevitable oblivion, wondering if it would be his last.

55

“Yes, definitely that big” Steve repeated, then he sucked in a breath and bellowed “Goddammit, I had *friends * in there!”

His shout seemed to release the others from the brief spell of horror they had been under after seeing the disaster. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, until Mack silenced them. He had been the only one not speaking, his mind running, considering what this might mean to his so recently laid plans. When he did speak his voice was flat and cold.

“I knew we were in a crisis, but I didn’t feel it would get this bad right now. I believe our plans must change somewhat.” He looked them all over. “Jack, Zero, I still want you to go to Harvard. But first, Zero, I want you to see that librarian you mentioned and ask her to accompany you. It sounds as if she could be of assistance. Tell her this is an urgent matter.” “Emma, please assist Tara and Diana as you intended, then get back to me. You, Julie and Seven will not be going to New York after all.” Emma felt the briefest pang of regret, (there had been this deli that had the best bagels) but at the sound of authority in Mack’s voice she did not hesitate. “Ladies?” she said, and the three women moved to another room.

The television was still broadcasting scenes of the ruined stationed, and an on the spot reporter was blathering on. “The cause of the explosion the wrecked PC Police Headquarters is still unknown. There are almost no known survivors” The camera zoomed in on an injured man on a gurney being loaded into an ambulance, and at the sight of him a new exclamation burst from the Spook "I might have known Ballbuster would survive! "In a lower tone he muttered, “Can’t have everything I guess.” He turned to Mack, “Maybe he will know something when he can talk. Think I should pay a visit to a ‘friend’?” “Take Seven with you” was the reply.

Emma and the two girls entered the room again. “That was quick” said Jack. Seemingly unperturbed Emma replied “Their minds are still new to the mental disciplines needed to handle thier talents. It was a simple matter to manipulate their feelings and seperate them.”

“Julie?” Mack said, and the butterfly girl started, seemingly having been almost forgotten. “I want you and Emma to stay with me. I have more question to ask since this occurence, they may be uncomfortable.” In a more gentle tone than he had been using “Do you agee to that?” Julie looked at Emma, who smiled back, and said in a tremolous tone. “Sure”.

“What about us?” said the voices of Waxwork, in almost plaintive tone. Mack appeared to stop and consider, and the others could almost see the synapses of his mind considering options. “Wax, take Diana and Tara back to Mother and explain what has happened. She rarely watches TV but she can’t have failed to feel the loss of that many minds so close by. She understandably doesn’t go out much, but ask if Julie could be a courier from her to us.” The younger woman’s eyes brightened at the prospect of “action” but dulled a bit when Mack continued. “I hadn’t wanted to use you, this new team shouldn’t be too large. But plans are changed now. So don’t go haring off on your own young lady!” Tara nodded, eyes round, and her father was heard to grouch “Wish she would mind me like that!”

With one more look at them all together Mack said “Let’s get going.”

56

:smack: I just realized I made an error. Of course Mother already knew something had happened, that’s why Tara and Diana came back to the Catacombs!

So change that one speech of Macks to “Wax, take Diana and Tara back to Mother. She rarely watches TV but she obviously knows something big has happened, feeling the loss of so many minds close by, and should know the details.”

Then the rest should go on as before.

57

Jemidex, I think you missed some plot points back on page one. For one thing, Julie’s attacker was shown not to be a metahuman.

58

I see what you mean Jeff Olsen. Perhaps Jemidex would consider rewriting it? We all make mistakes, like I did in my latest post.

For now I will write around it in my next posts. But Jemidex seems to be a good writer, let’s see what they can do in later material. It was a cool idea, just needs a different application maybe.

59

*I would have emailed this, but my email program and I are having a disagreement. Such is life.

To explain my latest post, the assassin that Abyss/Rewind sent forward into the future (at least from their point of view), had no powers. He was a normal. By going into the house before the house was lived in, Abyss/Rewind could simply move the assassin forward through time in the space he would be in. That explains how the attacker did not trip off alarms, traps, locks, etc. I left a couple of things unexplained, but have ready explanations for them if a need arises.

If someone could help me out by pointing out the confusing passage, I can see if I can edit my post to better fit.*

60

*I see what you are getting at. Truth to tell, I was a little confused by your post, even though I thought the idea was cool, and your writing is too. But let me ask one something, is the “deranged man” the assassin/stalker? It was your post of 9/9 that said he was baseline human, so the one who attacked Julie couldn’t have been Rewind. But your post of 9/9 gave me an intriguing idea about Julie, and why she seems to be important to/feared by some. Because, after all, who DID kill the guy. I think this can be worked out anyway.

My sympathies with your email. I myself am having trouble with getting IE6. I’m going to consider where I left*

I also notice another :smack: from my episode of earlier today. I meant for Tara, NOT Julie to be suggested as a courier between Mother and the new league. I was writing too fast as it was almost time for me to go to work. Sorry if I am confusing things, but I am having fun with this story and right about now I need some fun. My thanks again to Fibber for starting it!!!