All We Have To Fear

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 14:

Inside the haunted house, not far from the location of the phobifier where everything had begun, Jimmy stirred restlessly as he wandered aimlessly in uneasy dreams. From far away he could hear familiar voices calling, but the words were too faint for him to make out clearly. As he regained consciousness by degrees he became aware that the voices he thought he had heard were actually the inhuman sounds of some enormous beast shrieking in the distance. He lay there, wondering what the source of the cries could be, and the memories of what had happened came flooding back.

Poultra! he thought. He struggled to his feet in a daze and stumbled through the dark passage towards the entrance. His head ached, and he paused for a moment at the entryway to collect his scattered thoughts. It was still night, but the moon was rising high enough to throw some light on the dark surroundings and let him get his bearings. The bestial cries had come from the direction of downtown Retroville, and day or night Jimmy knew there would be people there for Poultra to menace.

As he leaned against the frame of the haunted house, he reflected on the events that had brought things to this dire situation. All of it, he knew, was because of the phobifier – his phobifier – and if anything happened it would be his fault. It was his responsibility to fix things. He had hoped that retuning the phobifier would somehow reverse the process that had created the monsters that were loose in Retroville, but his hopes had been in vain. He would have to deal with Poultra alone. But how?

He thought back on his past encounters with Poutra, searching for a clue. This monstrosity was not the real Poutra, he knew, but as the product of someone's imagination it should have the same weaknesses and fears of the original. Maybe that was the answer. He activated his wristcomp.

"Goddard?" The image of his robotic dog appeared on the screen and barked. "I know it's late, but I need you. Meet me at the vending machine on the corner of Hall and Oates. We have a town to save."

In town the military helicopter had landed and General Abercrombie's aide was using the aircraft's public address system to address the crowd. "Citizens of Retroville!" she announced. "Military assistance is on the way and there is a chance of serious injury to anyone remaining in this area. We ask that you disperse and return to your homes until further notice. What's that?" Some unintelligible words from the general could be heard coming from the loudspeaker, followed by the clearer, albeit outraged, voice of the lieutenant. "No, I will not tell them we'll open fire if they don't! We're trying to protect these people, not just clear the area!" More unintelligible mumblings followed before the general's aide continued. "Yes, I will have it my way, General. Citizens of Retroville!" she went on. "Please disperse immediately. This is for your own safety." There was a pause. "Really. I mean that."

The crowd began to drift away and Sheen gave a sigh of relief. "Well, as everybody knows, once the military is in complete control everything will be fine once again."

"Yeah, right," Cindy snorted. "Are you forgetting what happened when we all got super powers?"

"Or when I became a 50-foot tall vegetable women?" added Miss Fowl.

Libby nodded thoughtfully. "Jimmy really pulled our fat out of the fire those times. I sure wish I knew where he was. I keep thinking that he'd find a way to deal with this oversized crispy strip."

Carl suddenly pointed up in the air. "Look! Up in the sky!"

"It's a bird," Sheen cried.

Carl punched him. "Not that way!" he scolded. "That's just Poultra." He gestured again. "That way!"

"It's a plane," Sheen corrected himself as he squinted in the direction Carl was pointing.

"No," Libby called excitedly. "It's Jimmy!"

Sheen squinted again. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Cindy said sourly, unable to keep the anger out of her voice. "What the heck is he doing here?"

"It looks like he's headed for Poultra," observed Miss Fowl.

Cindy made a noise of disgust. "What? Why? Doesn't he know the military is dealing with it?"

Libby shook her head. "Apparently not."

High overhead Jimmy and Goddard sped towards Poultra, who was pecking gaping holes in the sides of the tall buildings in a search for prey. "Hey, feather-head!" Jimmy yelled as he closed the distance. "Remember me?"

Poultra turned in the direction of the strident call and all three eyes glowered in malevolent recognition. With a scream of hatred the giant fowl lunged at her approaching foe and snapped at him like another bird might at an irksome fly. Jimmy and Goddard nimbly dodged the attack and circled around for another pass.

"You do remember me," Jimmy called out. "That's good." It was good, he told himself. The fact that Poultra remembered him meant that she would also remember something else he had brought. "Because there's someone I want you to meet." Jimmy reached down and pulled a brightly colored object from his pocket. "Say hello to my little friend!"

Poultra suspiciously regarded the object in Jimmy's hand, and slowly her baleful stare dissolved into a look of fear. Her three eyestalks recoiled in terror as she recognized the can of Purple Flurp and the consequences of her last experience with the carbonated substance. Flapping her vestigial wings in panic she wheeled around and tried to flee, but Jimmy and Goddard were too quick for the giant chicken-beast. They headed her off, forcing her to spin and try another direction. The few remaining onlookers below watched with mixed curiousity and wonder as Jimmy's maneuvers kept Poultra spinning in a futile effort to escape.

"What is he trying to do?" asked Carl. "Teach her how to dance?"

"No," Libby answered as the truth dawned on her. "He's using Purple Flurp to panic her. I think that he's trying to scare her to death!"

"The big show-off," sneered Cindy. "I could have thought of that."

"Well," Sheen pointed out, "if he does succeed at least we won't need those jet fighters they're sending in to stop Poultra."

Cindy's look of irritation changed to one of shock. "What did you say?" she demanded.

"What?" Sheen asked, puzzled.

"What did you say? About the fighters?"

"I said we wouldn't need them." Sheen shrugged. "It's too bad. They should be here in just a few minutes and it would have been great show."

Cindy look towards the sky, worried. Sure enough, she thought that she could see two points of light moving slowly across the sky towards them. Nightmare memories of a world that could have been returned to her and she looked up at the massive figure of Poultra. "Neutron doesn't know about the fighters," she said. "And they don't know about him. If the missiles hit Poultra when he's that close to her…" She let the sentence trail off and grabbed Spider-Sam's arm. "Come on!" she shouted. "We've got to warn him! You others get to the general!"

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Libby.

"Get him to stop those jets from attacking!" Cindy called back as she and her costumed companion dashed off down the street.

Miss Fowl looked at the helicopter which was beginning to ascend. "But he's already taking off!" she protested. "How are we supposed to get to him?"

In response Sheen pulled the brim of his hat down low over his eyes. "Leave that to me," he said. He began running towards the aircraft with Miss Fowl, Libby, and Carl in close pursuit. By the time they reached the site of the chopper it was already more than a dozen feet in the air and Sheen leaped up, throwing this bullwhip forward as he did so. The lash wrapped around the helicopter's landing skid and pulled Sheen upward. Miss Fowl launched Libby towards Sheen with a quick boost and followed her up with a tremendous leap of her own. The helicopter rose into the sky with Sheen clinging to his whip, Libby holding on to Sheen's legs, and Miss Fowl clutching to Libby's feet. Carl watched them go, wheezing from exertion.

"Okay," he panted. "I'll just…wait here."

"What now?" Libby yelled up to Sheen over the noise of the rotors.

"I don't know," Sheen shouted back. "I'm making this up as I go."

"That's all right," Miss Fowl reassured them. "Just get me up there and leave the general to me."

Cindy and Sam, in the meantime, had made it to within a couple blocks of Poultra but found that the monstrous chicken's erratic movements made it impossible to get any closer. Cindy looked about her for inspiration, and two streetlamps on either side of the street gave her an idea. "Sam!" she called. "Just how strong is that webbing of yours?"

"Pretty strong," he replied. "And it's Spider-Sam, yeah."

Cindy gestured towards the lightposts. "I need you to spin a band of webbing between those two poles."

The portly superhero moved to comply. "Just what do you have in mind?" he asked her.

"You're going to slingshot me up to Neutron," she said. "If I'm lucky Goddard will be able to catch me and set us both down safely."

Sam paused in the midst of fabricating the belt of webbing. "And if you're not?"

"Then I guess I end up like a fly on a windshield," she admitted. She shuddered. "Just hurry up and get this over with before I change my mind."

Spider-Sam completed the job and waited for Cindy to take her position in the middle of the improvised slingshot. "Look Cindy," he said, "maybe I should be the one to do this. I mean, with my spider-powers nothing much should happen if I miss."

"No," Cindy replied. "I need you to pull the slingshot back and launch me. You couldn't pull the slingshot back far enough to shoot yourself that far."

Sam eyed the distance and was forced admit that Cindy was right. "Okay," he said reluctantly. "Take your place. And good luck."

Sam had woven a seat of sorts into the giant elastic band and Cindy settled into it as he began drawing it back. The silken material creaked as Sam stretched it ever further, grunting with exertion with each additional step he took. Finally he stopped with the muscles of his arms taut from the strain of resisting the force of the slingshot. "As far as…I can go," he gasped out. "Ready?"

Cindy gulped. "Ready," she answered, her voice even.

Sam nodded. "Okay, then. I'll try…for a…good shot." He waited for wait seemed like years to Cindy before he finally called out, "Okay…now!" He released the band, sending Cindy rocketing into the air towards Jimmy and the monster. "Good luck, kid," he said. "Yeah."

Back on the helicopter Miss Fowl and Libby had crawled up over Sheen and shinnied up the whip towards the entry hatch of the helicopter. When they were both on the relative safety of the runner Sheen pulled himself hand over hand up to join them. "Let's see you do that with a gun," he smirked at Libby as he carefully coiled the whip and returned it to his belt.

"Let's see you do this with a whip," Libby retorted. She flung the hatch open and dove through, rolling to her feet again in one easy motion with a gun drawn and in each hand. "All right, gentlemen," she said to the startled occupants. "Let's get on the radio and call off those jets."

General Abercrombie and his aide stared at the sight of a pre-teen girl confronting them with semi-automatic weapons, backed by a gangly boy and his old grade school teacher. "Is this some sort of joke?" the general demanded at last.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Miss Fowl snapped.

"Well, actually, it's hard to say," the general replied. "I can't remember if you ever joked when I was in your class."

"That's because I never did," Miss Fowl sniffed ominously. "And you know what else I've never done?"

General Abercrombie considered it. "What's that?"

Miss Fowl leaned forward with a sinister smiled. "I never bluff." She turned to the others and said, "Children, do you want to hear what the general's nickname was in school, and how he got it?"

General Abercrombie's face turned red and he made strangling noises. "You wouldn't dare!" he finally got out.

Miss Fowl regarded him calmly. "Try me."

The general's aide finally spoke. "What is it you people want?" she asked.

"We need you to call off your attack," Libby hastened to say. "If those jets attack Poultra, the missiles might also hit one of our friends."

"Forget about the attack," Sheen said eagerly. "What's this about the general's nickname?"

"Well, General?" Miss Fowl asked.

The general stood stock-still, clenching and unclenching his fists and chewing his lower lip. "All right," he conceded at last. "You win. Lieutenant, call off the air strike."

The general's aide switched on the radio and began transmitting. "Brass Hat to Strike Force Alpha," she intoned. "Abort attack. Repeat. Abort attack. We –" She broke off at the sight of two unmistakable points of light that appeared in the sky above them. She watched the missiles streaked through the sky towards their target in the streets of Retroville below before turning to the others. "We're too late," she finished.

End of Chapter 14

Author's Notes:

I apologize the time it's taken to get these last few chapters out. The demands of the "real world" have been unusually heavy of late. In addition, towards the end of each fan fiction I begin working on ideas for the next story and that always takes time to do. Hopefully things will go fairly quickly from here on out.

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