ACTION FORCE: GO!

A super-hero story by B.L. Bushong

Chapter 1: Introduction.

There are many heroes in this world, and many, many, many more villains. This is a world of my own creation, and, before we go any further, I want to explain some things. 1) The year in my world is 2021, the same year Sealab went crazy. 2) In my fictional world, Earth has found life on and colonized Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto. This colonization of the migration of various aliens to Earth has empowered many of the citizens of Earth with various powers, and many have taken the side of either the Heroes or the Villains. 3) Due, in no small part, to this excessive amount of super-powered individuals, many small and large factions have come about on both sides. The ones we will focus on throughout the story the most will be the Action Force and the Society for No-Good Bad-Doers (SNGBD). So yeah… Enjoy. – B.L. Bushong

This is the City of Paraopolis. Things get ugly here from time to time. Real ugly. This place is a super-villain haven. Some of them are stronger than others, some of them are more evil than others, but one things for sure: They all make our property value plummet a little lower with every passing day.

This Crime problem called for a solution, and the citizens of the city, in one collective unison, called out for help. That's why it began… here's how it began.

Paraopolis, 10 June 2015

"Inspector Davis!" a voice from the com-screen stated urgently, "Come in Inspector Davis!"

"What is it?" Davis inquired. It had been a long night, and he was tired. Who could blame him for being a little rude in response to his tedious paperwork? No one, that's who. Danny Davis was not a man you wanted to get on the wrong side of. He was tall, tan, and muscular, with a bad temper and an itchy trigger finger. He was the marvel of the PPD.

"We have received reports of the thieving team that we have been after for the past few months trying to break in to the city's defense mainframe," the man on the screen informed Davis, "You know how they operate. Once the Techy gets the system down, the Bulk is gonna do some smashin'."

Davis smiled. 'Techy' and 'Bulk' were Police jargon for 'Technomancer' and 'Really Big Green Guy'. In truth, Davis had been on these two's case for a while, now. The Technomancer was known to have been born by the name of Travis Finch, a lower elements kid who just happened to have a knack for the recently developed magic of Technomancy. Under the assumed name of 'The Technophile', he quickly became known as one of the world's best technomancers. And at fifteen, with no formal training of any sort. Kids these days… too smart with their damn computers. The Bulk was born Logan Bushong, a kid from a prominent thieving clan. He was genetically large- Standing about 7'0" and weighing upwards of 400 pounds (pure muscle). He had an unfortunate side effect of turning green and only being able to say his name when he was angry, but in his green state he could easily lift and throw a PPD tank 300 feet, as well as jumping over 15 feet vertically and being able to run up to speeds of 90 miles per hour. These attributes had earned him the nickname 'The Incredible Logan'. Basically, the way this partnership worked out was that Technophile took care of knocking out the high-tech computerized security systems that every home-owner possessed these days and the Incredible Logan took care of the not-so high tech ones. Six-inch steel walls, guards, and machine-gun turrets, to be exact…

Davis could already tell this would not be an easy case… but he had to try. That's where the taxpayer's money was going, after all… into his try fund.

Technophile had already bypassed the main firewall of the city. Peace of cake, no problem. He could easily have done it with his eyes closed. Here was the tricky part… He couldn't seem to pass a field of encrypted virus-bombs. He was not using a computer to do this, either. That was for amateurs. All the great Hackers were using their mind to do their work these days. The downside was that if he tripped even one of the viruses, his motor skills were gone until his brain's self-diagnostics kicked in. That wouldn't take more than five minutes, but five minutes is quite a long time when the police are attempting to break through your partner's barricade. His large partner was standing next to him, piling debris at the door and compacting it to form a wall.

"How much longer we got, Trav? Do I need to go Big Green yet?" Logan inquired.

"It should not be too much longer, Logan," Technophile replied. Part of the genius of this partnership was that Technophile designed things to make Logan's condition a lot more convenient… for example, special rings that, when slammed together, forcibly activated his normally emotion-controlled powers, and an earpiece that translated whatever the word 'logan' was meant to mean at the time. The earpiece also served as a communication link between himself and Logan. Pure brilliance.

Logan's end of the partnership was mostly physical. He was a tactical genius and a great combatant, two departments that Technophile was lacking in.

Logan held the door shut to the force trying to get in. It was hard, even for him, to withstand the pressure of a PPD battering ram slamming against his debris-wall. He needed to change, and soon.

"Almost, almost," said Technophile, oblivious to his partner's plight, "We're almost in, Logan!"

"Indeed you are," came a voice, seemingly from nowhere.

Logan roared as he turned about-face to meet the source of the voice. "How the hell did you get in here?" he shouted at the translucent figure of a man, who seemed to be staring at him quite intently.

Technophile turned as well. "It's a hologram, Logan," he concluded authoritatively, "He's not actually here, just projecting himself to talk to us."

"What the hell do you want?" Logan shouted at the hologram, attempting to use his size and anger to intimidate the smaller man in front of him. He obviously did not fully understand the concept.

"I wish to strike a bargain," the man intoned, in a soothing, mesmerizing voice, "Your freedom for your services."

"Services?" questioned Technophile, suspicious, "And what might these services be?"

"Come join me, as a special paramilitary super-powered task force," the man offered, "Do some good for a change."

"We're getting paid this way, boy!" Logan shouted at the Hologram, still trying to impose his size and strength, "Why would we wanna join you?"

"Double what you're making now," the man offered.

Logan and Technophile looked at each other in disbelief. Did he just say double?

"And we're talking double in fully accredited American Credits, correct?" inquired the ever-suspicious Technophile.

"Totally legit," claimed the man.

"Don't cheat a cheater, dude. I wanna know how you can get so much money!" Logan yelled.

"I have my ways," the man calmly answered, "will you join me or not?"

Logan and Technophile looked at each other once more. Logan slowly nodded and Technophile smiled. Double what they're making now?

Technophile cleared his throat. "Alright, you've got a deal, Mr…"
"Davis," the man replied, "Inspector Davis."