3.
Salt Lake City, Utah
January 05, 00:59 UTC
With the red energy field around them, Garfield couldn't move himself or Raven to safety. He literally stared down the barrel of a gun as it charged up to fire at his head. With his eyes closed tightly, all he could do was wait for the shot to be fired and hope it wasn't too painful as he tried to morph into something to provide him with some form of protection. Seconds felt like years as he readied himself for his death when a loud clang made him open his eyes. The impending shot went wide, hitting the red disk above him as the cyborg bent backwards.
Now free of the red energy, Garfield scrambled to a kneeling position and saw the machine man thrash about with what looked like a large metallic bug on its back. A second later, the teen boy recognized the bug as Sphere in her pill bug mode. The living machine clamped down on the cyborg's metallic body with her sharpened talon-like pinchers as it beeped wildly.
As if the machine man wasn't already off balance with his destroyed foot, Garfield went to further trip him up by morphing into an anaconda and wrapping himself around the cyborg's legs. With their attacker on the ground, Sphere's head section split open as a forked device popped out and jammed itself in the back of the cyborg's head, making it jerk upright and cease his struggling.
Slowly, the red lights illuminating the plated parts dimmed and seemed to recede into the mechanical man's head. The last light to go out was the red, glowing eye as it shut down and lowered its head.
"Sphere," Garfield yelled as he morphed back to humanoid form, "you're fixed!"
Detaching itself from the cyborg, Sphere beeped happily as she transformed into ball mode when a Boom Tube opened nearby. Knowing what would happen, that being the cyborg being taken away, Garfield reached around the machine's waist to find something of use. Finding a grenade on his left side, the shape shifter grabbed it and fumbled around for an activation trigger. Finding a lever in the side of the explosive, he pressed it and hurled the grenade into the bright portal. A second later, it vanished and it was as if nothing happened at all.
"Okay," Garfield said as he blinked and rubbed his eyes to get the spots from the bright portal out, "I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I bet whoever's on the other side of that Boom Tube won't like what I just did."
Hurrying back to the unconscious Raven, Garfiled examined her head where she was bleeding. "Can you take us to Conner?" he asked Sphere who quickly morphed into her Supercycle form and revved her engine a few times. "We can't go too fast, I don't know how bad she's hurt. But if Klarion wants her, we can't let him get her."
After loading her in the back seat of the otherworldly vehicle, Garfield turned back to the deactivated cyborg. "We might as well take him with us. No use leaving him behind. Maybe someone can make him not evil."
Looking up to the sky, the teen only hoped there were others who made it out. He remembered how M'gann tried to save him as he flew backwards before losing consciousness. "I hope you made it, sis." He the hurried to where Sphere was, picking up the cyborg and Raven as he morphed into a gorilla, then hopped into the driver's seat as they flew into the sky.
Park City, Utah
January 5, 01:47 UTC
Inside an overly clean convenience store, a clerk, wearing a ridiculous red and white pin striped outfit and visor, flipped through one of many magazines from the rack in front of the register. She lazily chewed her gum, snapping it every now and then as she went over how she was working the graveyard shift instead of at the party a friend of a friend's cousin to her friend's next door neighbors best friend's boyfriend's brother was having. The only upside to the night was her having only three hours until her shift was over and she could listen to the latest pop musical sensation instead of the muzak version of 'The Girl From Ipanema'.
Blowing a large pink bubble, the blonde girl flipped through several more pages as it popped and she sucked it back into her mouth when the buzzer above the door dinged, or at least she thought it did. When she looked up, no one as there or on the camera screen monitoring the area just outside the front of the store. Shrugging, she returned to reading up on the latest celebrity beauty secrets. Not long after that, the sound of rhythmic clicking filled the store, making her look up. Looking around the front of the store, the collegiate girl lowered the overhead music and strained to hear if the sound would reoccur. When it didn't, she shrugged again and leaned back on her stool with her magazine raised in front of her face.
While reading the latest on upcoming spring fashion, a thud came from the counter she rested her feet on. Setting her legs down, the girl lowered her magazine and froze as she came face to face with a green chimpanzee. Her mouth hung open with her gum falling out as the oddly colored animal gave her a wide smile and held out one of its long arms. As it opened its hand, the girl could see a wad of five and one dollar bills crinkled up in its palm. Looking to the side of the chimp, she saw a blue basket full of what looked like snacks and medical supplies. Shaking, she turned back to look the animal in the eye and received the shock of her young twenty something year old life as it showed her its teeth in a large smile.
"WUUUAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Tossing her magazine in the air, the clerk took off running to the back of the store as fast as she could and burst through the back door as she ran down the street.
With a quizzical look, the green chimp scratched its head and laid the money on the counter before hopping to the floor with the basket in hand. Making his way across the parking lot, the chimp climbed the side of a drive through doughnut shop to the roof where the Supercycle waited and morphed back to normal.
"Okay, I think I got everything we need." Climbing in the back seat where Raven lay, Garfield was glad he wore his mission suit under his clothes. It was something he was getting used to as most of the others always had their suits under their civilian clothing. "The, uh, roboman didn't do anything while I was gone, right?"
Sphere beeped in her usual tones, letting Garfield know everything was still alright by the tone she took.
"Good." One by one, he pulled out what he had bought, even though the girl screamed and ran away, and set his supplies next to him.
"Okay, please don't get the wrong impression and hurl me off the roof." Moving closer to the cloaked girl, Garfield took out a bottle of iodine and applied it to the gash on Raven's head.
"It doesn't look too bad. I just don't know whether or not to wake her up."
Capping the antiseptic, he grabbed a small first aid road kit and took out a roll of gauze. Smoothing her hair back, he began to wrap her wound to keep it clean then applied two clips to keep it from falling off. Repacking the kit, he set it back in the basket and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, a few sticks of beef jerky, and a bundle of bungee wires.
"So haw far is Conner?" he asked as he climbed in the middle seat and took a bite of his snack.
He began to wrap the bungee cables around the cyborg's arm and legs in case it woke up and tried to kill him all over again. A display screen in front of the handle bars flipped around to show the teen their current location and that of Superboy's. "It shouldn't take us to long, just a few hours at top speed." He then turned to look at the injured girl sleeping in the back seat. "Better go half that. We shouldn't risk her getting more hurt than she already is."
Out in the distance, the sound of sirens could be heard with bright lights coming into view. Taking a look from the Supercycle, Garfield saw two police cars come to a halt outside the store and three officers move towards the entrance. Not even a minute later, an animal control truck joined them and a portly, dark skinned man with a pole snare and tranquilizer gun joined them.
"Animal control? I take offense to that." After taking a swig of his drink, he went to sit back next to Raven, leaving the cyborg in the middle seat where he could keep an eye on him. "Come on, girl. Time to go. I hope Conner's alright and can help me find sis."
Giving a few beeps, Sphere levitated into the air carefully and flew off into the night.
Smallville
January 5, 13:13 UTC
"I really don't like this." Walking down Main Street in the middle of Smallville, Cassie kept a nervous lookout as she, M'gann, and Conner kept to the side of the streets under the various canopies of the small shops.
M'gann was in her Megan disguise, a pair of jeans, white shirt, and cowboy boots. Conner had on his usual clothing with a plaid button-up shirt over it while Cassie was still in one of Conner's shirts and torn up jeans.
"Just stay cool, Cass," Megan told her as she looked at every open space between buildings.
"And don't freak out." Leading the group was Conner who eyed the inside of every shop they passed by.
Since leaving the Kent Farm early in the morning, the three and Wolf ventured to the Lex Farm plant to investigate the chemical spill but were surprised when they turned up nothing at all. The entire compound was empty with no sign of an accident whatsoever. After a few hours searching, and the disappointment of finding their phones and computers didn't work, the group headed into town on foot just in case anyone was looking for any vehicles on the street. As it turned out, they should have taken a vehicle as there was no one left in the entire town.
"Anything yet?" Conner asked as he stopped at a small clothing store and tried the doors.
"No," Megan answered. "I can't pick up on no one's mental waves or any animals for that matter besides Wolf. It's as if the entire town is dead."
"Maybe it is," Cassie said as she gripped onto her rope tightly. "Maybe there was a chemical spill or an airborne virus that got out and it infected everyone here, turning them into monsters and making them attack anyone they come across only to hide in the shadows waiting for new victims to devour."
Both Conner and Megan turned back to look at her skeptically as Wolf did the same.
"What?" Cassie asked. "It happened in a videogame. It could happen in real life."
Shaking his head, Conner broke the lock to the doors he was at and ushered the blonde girl inside. "They should have some clothes in here for you. Wolf, stay with Cassie."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna look for something to drive while M'gann looks for a working phone."
"I'll establish the mind link," M'gann told them, "so keep an eye out. I'll meet you two at the pharmacy. I might be able to get an outside line there or see what really happened here."
"Okay. I'll be headed to the garage on the street behind here. If I find something, I'll pick you two up." Looking around quickly, Conner patted Wolf on the head and looked at his girlfriend. "Be careful. You too, Cass."
"Back at you," Cassie told him.
"Meet you both in twenty," M'gann said then switched to the mental link. "And stay in contact." Taking off in different directions, the three team members went to start their individual tasks.
Entering the store, Cassie immediately went to work in finding a new outfit. Jeans were not a problem to find, as the store was fully stocked with her size, but finding an acceptable top was difficult. She knew beggars cannot be choosers but she really didn't want to wear rhinestones for the rest of her time until they got back to the League. The Native American inspired clothing was out as were the shirts better suited for working in the back yard on a hot summer day when she stumbled across a plastic female torso with a red tank top on it. It didn't take her long to dress and retie her tennis shoes in the back of the store so she could keep an eye out for anyone who might pass in front on the street.
"Might as well." On her way out, the demi Amazonian pulled a chorded phone from beside the register and let out huff. She grabbed the receiver and quickly brought it to her ear before slamming it back down again. "Great, phone lines are dead here too. First the Kent house, then Lex Farms, and now the town. Terrific."
Over in the garage behind the clothing store Cassie was in, Conner looked over the two pickup trucks he found sitting on two lifts in the work bay area. The blue one appeared to be in good shape and only needed the front tires put back on. The second needed brakes in addition to its tires and judging from the full oil container below it, needed to be refilled with fresh oil. After lowering them both from their hydraulic lifts, he gave the engines a quick look over.
"Great. This one need spark plugs, oil, brakes, tires…and brake fluid."
Moving to the previous one, he hoped it was better than the former. "Needs a battery, spark plugs, wires, and tires. Oil seems good. Now where do they keep all this stuff?"
He turned his back to the vehicle and gave the interior of the garage a look over. The smell of oil was thick in the air as was the smell of rubber from the wall of tires towards the back. A long workbench held, most likely, all the tools he would need to get the blue truck up and running again with a stack of spark plug boxes and wires lying haphazardly near one end.
"M'gann, Cassie," he said via the mental link. "I found a truck but it needs parts. It'll take me some time to find what I need but I got about half of them already."
"Understood," M'gann replied. "Phone lines here are dead and the computers are down. I can't get word to the others or…or to Gar."
"We'll find him, I promise. Give me around ten or fifteen minutes to get this thing up and running and we'll find a town that has a phone."
"Okay. I'll keep looking to see what I can find here."
"Uh, guys?" Cassie broke in. "I don't think we're alone."
"What do you mean?" M'gann asked.
"I think Wolf saw or smelled something. He's kind on guard here."
"Cass, where are you?" Conner asked as he grabbed a box of spark plugs, wires, a ratchet set, and an electric drill.
"We're just outside the Main Street Diner. I can see the pharmacy about three blocks ahead. Jeez, Wolf really doesn't like what he smells."
"Cass, get to my position," M'gann ordered. "Conner can you get that truck going any faster?"
"I have the tires nearby and still need to find a battery." In the garage, the Kryptonian had the four spark plugs in their slots and was currently tightening them in place.
"Well keep working, we'll try to buy you time if Wolf's detected hostels."
Returning to the task at hand, Conner finished tightening the last spark plug and began to attach their wires next.
"Come on, boy. Let's get to M'gann." Moving down the side of the stores to the pharmacy, Cassie kept her eyes open for anything that may move where Wolf was growling towards when the sound of something knocking over trash bins in a nearby alley grabbed her attention.
"I swear, if I hear someone yell 'Outlander' I'm so gonna smash in their face."
Moving backwards, Cassie and Wolf readied themselves for anything to happen. Shadows stretched out form the corners of every store the four passed on their way into town. The sound of metal meeting concrete could be heard with the sound of heavy boots marching down the street.
At this time, M'gann came out of the pharmacy with a map in hand and could see Cassie and Wolf slowly backing up when a screeching yell filed the air, making her cover her ears. At once, a large group of the same creatures who attacked them came into view with weapons ready to attack. Some looked different than others as they were missing wings but still wore armor. Instead of the spears the flying ones carried, they brandished what looked like Apocalyptic rifles similar to what Intergang would use.
Cassie looked around her. She was flanked on both sides by the creatures with the only escape being behind her. Wolf growled, baring his teeth as the insect-like creatures drew ever closer then stopped. One of the many armored individuals came forward and looked over the street before centering its vision on the girl and large white wolf. Raising its spear, it gave a loud, thunderous roar, sending the army behind it forward.
"Conner," M'gann said mentally. "You better hurry up and get here. Now!"
AN:
Hestia28 – 'Plead the fifth' means I can neither confirm or deny
Ben A – Trigon…Kinda, kinda not
Eric the Looney – Amazingly, parts of the comments you left are hit and miss. I'm close to being a part ahead of the current chapter so I hope what I have planned will send everyone for a loop.
