HARDWARE 30: Street Master (by Henry Thrun)
HPT: Zoey and Wolfgang are characters from the play "Wolfgang and Axel" written by my brother, Perry Thrun.
I was feeling a lot better after the trip, especially now that I had Zoey to open up to. She was really cool about keeping my secret, and she didn't seem to mind listening. She was really fascinated by my powers and the technology I came up with, though she couldn't really follow most of it.
Desi wasn't enjoying it nearly as much. She wouldn't talk to either of us. Our friends would try to talk some sense into her, but she was really stubborn. Not what I expected when I first met her... For crying out loud, Zoey and I weren't even dating! Desi's such a baby...
But anyway, Zoey also told me about how Axel, one of our friends from church, had dealt with depression. I talked to him and he recommended his psychiatrist. I made an appointment to go see him.
With my appointment still a few days away, Patrick gave me a call and asked me to meet him. We had a usual rendezvous point.
"What's up?"
"Here, take a look at this." He handed me a small piece of a green material. It looked kind of like candy.
"I don't recognize it from my databases at all. What is it?"
"That's what I'm hoping you can help us with. We picked up a few hoodlums breaking into a fancy house. Each one had some of this stuff on them. We think it's some kind of new drug, but we can't do anything about it until we can identify it for sure."
"Why do you think it's a drug?"
"You should have seen those guys. They acted like they were completely high, except they were also very aggressive."
"The drug tests didn't pick up anything?"
"No. Whatever it is, it was undetectable."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Our hands are tied until we can declare this stuff illegal. You can say no, but I'd like you to just wander the streets and see if you can find the source."
"Oooh, undercover work! Will I be wearing a wire?"
"I thought you'd have one of your own," Pat replied with a smile.
"Ok, let's get down to business..."
This was a change for me. I usually just flew around or wore a trench coat if I walked, but now I was wearing some regular clothes while visiting some bad parts of town. I got offered all kinds of other drugs as I asked around. I wanted to bust each one of them then and there, but Pat said I should keep a low profile while doing this. Fortunately I had a photographic memory and would be able to pay all these guys a visit after this mission...
After telling every drug dealer in town how I wanted something "stronger that would really mess me up," I was directed to a man called the Street Master. He was outside a nightclub, surrounded by other party goers. He had long, dark hair, wore a leather jacket and gloves, and had torn jeans on. He also had a sort of crazed look in his eyes. One of his eyes was blue and the other was green.
I walked up and introduced my self. "Hi, my name's Tank." That's one of the names I was considering before I settled on Hardware. "I heard you've got some really good stuff."
"You've come to the right place, my friend." He pulled a chunk of the green stuff out of his pocket and cradled it in his hand. "This is Emerald Rock, the latest thing! Here's a free sample." He held it out to me and I picked it up.
Examining the Rock, I asked, "Where does it come from?"
"From a great, far away land!"
"Um, ok... No, really, where'd you get it?"
Street Master got a very annoyed look on his face. "Freakage," he said addressing a girl behind him. She stood up and approached us. Her hair was a total mess and she wore way too much make-up. She looked even crazier than Street Master. "Our friend here is asking about Emerald Rock."
She got right up into my face. "What are you, some kind of cop?" she shrieked at me.
"No!" I replied as I pulled back from her.
"Then try some!" she said as she grabbed the Rock from Street Master and shoved it in my face.
The Street Master spoke. "Despite her looks and personality, Freakage is a genius. She's the one who handles all our computer and chemical needs. She can tell you anything you want to know about Emerald Rock, but I think you'd be wise to take her advice and try it for yourself."
"Take it!" she screamed.
"Hey man," someone else said to me as I backed away from Freakage. "The stuff's great! There are no side effects or anything. Just try it!"
"Maybe later," I said as I tried to hurry away. "First I want to check out this nightclub." And I started towards the door, thinking there might be something else of interest in there.
Freakage grabbed Street Master's collar. "HE'S A COP! Definitely! KILL HIM!"
"Relax, Freakage," Street Master replied, pulling himself from her grip. "He's not going anywhere." I turned to see what the meant. Then he picked up a microphone and spoke into it. "Attention everyone. See this man about to enter the nightclub?" Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me. Even in the people in the nightclub were staring. Street Master continued. "Kill him."
"YES, YES!" shrieked Freakage. Everyone started coming towards me like zombies. I was totally surrounded.
OK, it was pretty safe to say that the Emerald Rock drug had some kind of hypnotic properties. When Street Master spoke into his microphone do-dad, whoever had taken the drug would do whatever he said. And, just my luck, he told everyone to kill me!
I was immediately under attack from flying fists and kicks. I fought the best I could, but I was vastly outnumbered. Plus these were innocent people and I didn't want to harm them. I didn't want to reveal that I was Hardware, so as I fought I tried to replace my current drive with my Skeletal Hardware drive. I would be able to morph my body under my clothes, giving me metal skin and probably my only chance to survive.
I curled up into a ball as everyone kicked and punched. With my head ducked down, I pulled out my current jump drive. Just as I was about to put it away, someone managed to kick my hand underneath and send the drive flying out into the crowd.
I started coughing up some blood. I should have just changed into Hardware, anyway. Better some people find out then I end up dead! But I grabbed a new drive and managed to get it in my head. I quickly morphed my body into my Skeletal Hardware. It had no weapons, no flying ability, and wasn't particularly strong. But I was able to keep it hidden under my clothes.
The next few punches and kicks produced loud "clangs." People started recoiling in pain and I was able to get up. "What's going on?" the Street Master asked as I was able to get up and start fighting back. I pushed through the crowd and went towards Street Master. "Freakage, stop him!"
"DIE!" screamed Freakage as she jumped at me and started clawing my head. She was a total psycho! Others tried to grab me from behind, so I grabbed Freakage and threw him to the side. The Street Master was already on the run.
I wanted to track him down, but I had to stop all these "zombies." While holding them off, I tried issuing a command in the Street Master's voice. "Stop! Back off!" But it didn't do any good. The microphone thing must have used a certain frequency or something. I once again gave the command, but this time matching the frequency that the Street Master's microphone used. "STOP!" Everyone stopped where they were and froze. Finally!
I ran out and looked for Street Master, but I couldn't see him anywhere. Freakage was gone, too. So I called Patrick and asked him to come over.
The victims were being loaded into an ambulance. "You should go in an ambulance, too," Pat suggested.
"I'll be fine," I said as I spit out some more blood. "Besides, I have a doctor appointment in a couple days, anyway." It was a head doctor, but I just wanted to avoid the hospital again.
"Are you sure you'll be ok."
"Yeah. What about all those people?"
"We'll get that stuff flushed out of their systems ASAP. Thanks to you, we now know what that drug can do. We'll start getting the word out."
"I've also got some dealers to report. I can help go after them."
"Just give me the info. You need to get back to school. The sergeant would have a fit if he knew how much I already asked you to do."
"Ok, I could use a little R and R..." I gave Patrick names and descriptions before I left.
When I got back to campus, I went to Zoey's room and knocked on her door. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed when she answered the door. "What happened to you?"
"Are you alone?"
"Yeah, my roommate's out. Come in!"
"Thanks," I said as I entered. "I got beat up a bit before I could change into Hardware."
"That looks a lot worse than 'a bit'. Your face is all scratched up!"
"I need some kind of story. Something good. Our friends are going to get suspicious with me always coming back with massive injuries."
"How did you cover this up in high school?"
"I never got this beat up back home. I never should have come here. I'm wait out of my league."
"That's just your depression talking. Look at everything you've done already! You captured that Animax guy, you saved Desi's life, and you beat Magneto and saved Storm's life..."
"Yeah, I guess you're right..."
"Let me get some make-up. No one will know anything happened when I'm done with you!"
"Ok, just make me look pretty." Zoey and I laughed. Just then the door opened.
"Diana!" Zoey said in surprise. "I thought you were going to be out longer..."
"It started to rain... Jake what happened to you?"
"Uh... some of the animals at the zoo got out."
"Yeah," said Zoey. "They were all over!"
"You guys went to the zoo together?"
"Um..."
"Never mind, it's none of my business. Sorry to interrupt, I'll leave you two alone." And she stepped back out and closed the door.
"Desi's not going to like this," I said.
"Yeah... Well, I guess you don't need the make-up any more..."
"Yeah, I'll take a rain check. You can doll me up next time I get my butt kicked. Thanks anyway!"
"Yeah, see you later!"
The Street Master and Freakage were in an office. Freakage was examining something in her hand. They were standing before a man at a desk in a business suit. "You guys really blew it. This was going to be my best seller."
"It still will be, Mr. Seymour. Don't worry about it..."
"The police have started collecting some of my other dealers. I have plenty to be worried about. They'll be after you soon. I have plenty to worry about!"
"We'll take care of this," the Street Master replied. "Trust me."
"We'll see about that. We've got some more Emerald Rock for you whenever you're ready."
"Thanks," the Street Master replied. He and Freakage left the office. "What's that thing you're playing with?" Street Master asked Freakage.
"Ha ha ha! I'll find out as soon as I get back to my computer! HA HA HA!" Freakage held it up and looked at it. It was the jump drive Jake lost back at the club...