(The United States Mint-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
"Guys…over here."
Hank, carter and Linda moved over to where Kelly was kneeling, the young woman's hand placed gently upon the throat of a security guard.
"We too late?" Linda asked.
"To save this poor shlob?" Kelly asked. "Yea."
"Damn it." Carter cursed.
"Watch your language." Hank warned.
Carter frowned. "Are you actually going to give me a lecture on swearing while we're out on a mission?"
"There is still no reason…" Hank was cut off by Kelly cocking the guard's gun, looking it over carefully. The group took a step back as she examined the weapon carefully. "Whoa…" Hank stammered.
"Relax." Kelly said. "My dad is a cop, taught me all about guns…wait." Kelly commanded, Carter and Hank pausing mid-step. The young woman grabbed the keys from the guard's pocket and moved towards a security door, throwing it open and motioning for them to follow her.
Linda glanced at the guys, before following her student inside, Hank and Carter close behind. "Kelly…what…"
"These are the security tunnels…" She whispered, looking around. "they run all along the building. lets the guards into position quickly. Whoever killed the guard will expect us to come through the main warehouse door, which was 10 yards in front of us and to the right when we entered, but if we go through here, 5 yards left, 10 yards left, we can sneak up on them." She paused at another nondescript door, looking it over. "This should be it."
Hank looked at Carter. "Did you whammy her or something?"
"Don't look at me." Carter hissed. "I haven't whammied anyone since that Galatea chick."
"Kelly…what are you…?" Linda asked as Kelly opened the door. Linda froze as Kelly stepped aside.
Inside were hundreds of guns.
"Merry Christmas Kelly Raegan." She said with a grin, grabbing a shotgun.
&&&
(Lee Malion and Galatea)
"How are they doing, master?" Galatea whispered, leaning in close to her lover.
"Fine…would you get away from me, I need to concentrate!" Lee snapped, shoving Galatea aside. The paper clone whimpered as she moved away. "I want to make sure those idiots do what they are suppose to."
"Are we going to use the money to buy a big mansion for my brothers?" Galatea asked.
"Your brothers?" Lee questioned.
"The clones." She answered.
"What the…of course not…once I am done with them, they go back to being paper. I can't have them being linked back to me."
Galatea frowned. "What about me?"
"What about you?"
"Do I go back to paper when you're done with me, master?"
"You will if you don't…"
"FREEZE!"
Lee turned to find two newcomers on the roof. One had a gun trained on them, the other just stood there, waiting.
"You know, most people who get their powers start off small." The woman with the gun said. "Must say, you are a bit of an overachiever." She grinned. "I like dealing with overachievers."
"That's nice." Lee said, flinging confetti into the air. "Tell it to my little friends." The paper shivered, before transforming into a cloud of locust.
The dark haired beauty merely raised an eyebrow, before pulling out a small ball and tossing it in the air. With a pop, the locust turned back to paper, fried. "I come prepared for anything."
"Come prepared for her?" Lee asked, gesturing at Galatea, who, forgetting her sadness at her master's comment, thrilled in showing off her strength by breaking the stone ledge of the roof off with her bare hands.
The woman nodded. "Yup…Marshal?" The man who stood behind her shucked his shirt off, and before Lee could make a comment, the man's skin darkened as he transformed into some strange half man, half cat creature.
"ROAR!" Marshal snarled, leaping at Galatea, the two tumbling off the roof. Lee turned to find the woman glaring at him, gun raised.
"Lets try this again."
&&&
"We there yet, Mapmaker?"
Kelly frowned at Carter's pet name for her. "Shut up, Panic." She grit her teeth. 'Of course, his nickname is cool…'
"Shhh.' Linda hissed, making her way through the tunnels. "I think we're almost there."
"Whatever you say, Moses." Hank and Linda both glared at Carter. "Tough room."
Kelly just laughed.
The humor died away as the four slowly opened the security door, watching in utter amazement and horror as Lee's clone army moved through one of the main printing rooms, grabbing money and printing plates, loading all into crates. The men worked silently, like drones, as they took apart shut down presses and gathered their ill-gotten goodies.
"Am I…seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Hank whispered.
Linda nodded. "If you're talking about the Founding Fathers all alive and in triplicate, then yea, your seeing what we are all seeing."
Hank shifted the fire extinguisher he'd grabbed from hand to hand, the gun Kelly had made him grab, along with ammo, feeling awkward in his pocket. "You know…times like this…I wonder if I'm going crazy."
"Considering Carter's the one that first put you in the nut house…" Kelly answered. "…I think we can all agree you aren't." She adjusted the ammo belt she had draped around her chest, then cocked the double-barreled shotgun. "Ready?"
Carter nodded, powering up his hands. "Remember the plan." They had spent 10 minutes coming up with a plan of attack in the supply room, one that, they hoped, would insure their survival. The manipulator clenched his hands, feeling his powers begging to be unleashed. "Remember Hank…be stealthy. We'll cover you."
"Got it."
Carter turned to the clones. "HEY!" All of them turned, staring at him with dull eyes. "What was that saying Ben Franklin use to say? Oh yea…you have nothing to fear…" He fired a blast, 5 clones falling to their knees. "…but fear itself!"
"That was Roosevelt." Linda corrected.
"Fine. Carter Daniels use to say…PANIC!" Hands lit up like stars, Carter rushed into the mob, striking every clone he could, calling out emotion after emotion. His arms swung about as he punched the founding fathers, each hit loaded with whammy-goodness. The old men were sent scurrying as he rained blow after blow on them, clearing a path. "PANIC!" he roared, firing off a double-fisted blast that leveled 30 of the clones, their silence broken by cries of terror. "Dr. Frey, stage two!"
"Got it!" Linda cried out, eyes glowing blue as she summoned all the water in Philly to her aid. Cracks appeared in the cement as her water jets blasted skyward. Waving her hand, she sent a wave of H2O into the ground as they were nearing Carter, covering his back as he worked.
Kelly was firing at anything that moved, shells falling to the ground like hailstones as she blasted the clones. Soon, where once men had stood, there were now drawings, riddled with bullet holes.
"How did you know they weren't human?" Hank asked.
"They're not human? Even better!" Kelly laughed, reloading two handguns and firing into the crowd.
Linda clenched her fist in anger. Her water blasts were doing little good; the clones did not feel pain like humans did, and thus just kept coming for more. Frustrated, she didn't realize she had channeled her rage into her attack, not until she heard a clone scream as a blast of water cut him apart.
"Dr. Frey!" Hank shouted. "Water at high speeds can cut through steel. Focus on a small amount and make it go fast!"
Agreeing with the idea, her eyes narrowed as she released the water into a mere pull, then sent a thin, fast line right at a clone, cutting through him and 4 others standing behind him like they were Swiss cheese.
"Ok, that works!" Linda called out.
"Terror, fear, fright, panic!" Carter called out as he moved deeper into the crowd, flashes of his attacks appearing from the mass of limbs and powdered wings. "Hank!"
"Stage Three." Hank muttered. "Wish me luck."
Kelly paused her firing. "Good luck." She cocked her guns, training them just beside Hank as the young man rushed through the mob, following Carter's path of fear-riddled bodies. Linda, living up to Carter's nickname for her, sent two walls of water after him, separating Carter and him from the rest of the mob. Kelly was firing like mad, hot shells covering her feet as she loaded and unloaded her guns as fast as possible, half her clips already gone for the handguns. The shotgun she would save for last…they needed that one, just to be safe.
"Terror!" Carter shouted, grabbing the head of one clone that had been trapped in the water tunnel and firing his manipulating energy right into his brain. After a moment, the clone's heart exploded, and he was reduced to paper.
"You're enjoying this too much!" Hank yelled.
Carter laughed. "Do what you love, that's what my guidance council use to tell me! When else will I get to kill George Washington? Fear!" The two of them moved quickly through the last of their attackers, and arrived at their target: A good size container marked with all the flammable liquid warning labels. "Set it here." Hank nodded, jamming the fire extinguisher in place, then drawing his gun, firing at a clone that had managed to slip past Kelly.
"Come on kid, let's blow this thing and go home!" Hank laughed.
"Why do you get to be Han?" Carter whined as they moved back to the girls. Once they were together, Carter began to fire off some quick blasts, while Hank grabbed Kelly's other gun and joined in, the floor was littered with paper, but there were still 200 clones left alive. "Linda, Kelly, remember, when I the magic word, I want you both to go. We can't spare a second." Carter focused as Kelly raised the shotgun. "Founding fathers!" he called out, Hank stopping his reckless shooting. The clones paused, confused. "Its time to spread the word…and that word…is PANIC!"
The instant Carter fired off the massive blast of energy Kelly pulled the trigger, hitting her mark and setting off the extinguisher and the steel container. As the fireball rushed them, Linda forced all the water she'd gathered to rise up through the roof, and slam back down to their level, forcing the water to go faster and faster until a white water wall separated them from the clones. Hank had already grabbed Kelly, pulling her behind the door for her safety, while Carter held Dr. Frey up. The Professor was screaming in agony as she forced the water to keep going, fighting against the fire that now pushed against her barrier. Carter wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, supporting her as she drew all her energy out into this final defense.
"Almost!" Carter screamed over the raging water and screaming clones. He could hear them as they burn to pieces, reduced to nothing but ash. "Drop it, now!" Carter exclaimed, and Linda groaned, passing out as the water crashed to the ground, soaking them all and revealing the damage. The area was destroyed, metal twisted from the sudden heat, the crates and money and clone paper now dust. All that remained was the four travelers, standing in the wreckage.
Carter cradled Linda, Hank hurrying to help his new friend out. Kelly was by their side, looking on with wide eyes.
"We did it." She whispered in awe. "We did it."
Hank smiled, and was soon laughing, after a moment all three cheering in delight.
They'd done it.
&&&
Marshal snarled as he slammed his fist into Galatea's face, fangs flashing as he gave her a grin. The strong woman merely cracked her neck before rushing him, powerful fists driving right through stone and brick.
When Marshal and Galatea had tumbled off the building, Marshal had quickly transformed into a bat, gliding down to safety before going back into his hybrid puma form, ready to try and aid the girl…if she were alive.
Galatea had simply stretched her legs out though, powerful muscles absorbing the impact as she made a 1-yard crater in the road.
She hadn't a chance to rest, as Marshal had been on her, clawing and biting at her flesh. He hadn't expected anything to happen when she went to slap him, but moments afterward, when he'd felt his head snap back, he'd sworn he'd been hit by a truck. That's when he had decided to take the kid gloves off, and Philadelphia became their battleground.
They'd fought for ten minutes, Galatea ripping light posts from their foundation and wielding them like clubs. Transforming into a cheetah so he could escape didn't help; Galatea merely used her strength to make super jumps, landing right near him and begin the fight again.
Soon, they had come to the river, battling it out on the tourist's walk. Marshal's claws tore through Galatea's shirt, the woman screaming as he ripped her into her flesh. She gave him a hard kick, cracking some of his ribs. Enraged, the morpher swung his claws, his index finger catcher her on the left cheek, leaving a gash. Galatea cried out in pain, grabbing his arm as she tumbled back and into the river.
Marshal coughs as he arose, looking around for his opponent. He saw Galatea cry out once…twice…then sink down. He scanned the waters, body shivering. Or maybe for a different reason.
Galatea was gone.
&&&
Helena sighed as she watched Lee crawl away from her, wrapping his arms around part of the roof's brick lip. "This is just sad. I've shot you…" He gestured to his leg, where blood was still oozing out. "can we just stop this?"
Lee choked back a laugh. "You think you can stop me? I've been planning this for weeks…"
"If you are getting delusional because of the blood loss, let me know so I can knock you out and patch you up."
"Everyone tries to stop me…everyone stands in my way, doesn't believe I can do anything." Lee ranted, the loss of blood causing him to become delusional. "They won't stop me, you won't, they won't…"
"Geez, who hit your button?" Helena questioned.
Lee just laughed. "I held back, just to be safe…why did I play it safe?" His tone grew confused. "Always play it safe, that's what dad wanted me to do. I'm nothing like him…nothing!" He screamed manically. "How's this for safe, dad!" Lee's head snapped back, eyes glowing. Helena's eyes went wide, and hurrying towards the artist, she smacked his hard. Lee blinked, dazed.
"What was that?" Helena snapped. "What did you do!?"
"Want to stop me?" Lee asked with a laugh. "Oh…its too late for that."
&&&
Hank looked up suddenly, laughter fading as he looked about the remains of the printing room. "Guys…do you hear that."
Carter took a step forward, straining to hear what Hank was listening to. "Yea…sounds like…"
"Footsteps." Kelly said softly.
"A lot of them." Hank added, adjusting Dr. Frey's limp body in his arms so he had a better grip.
Before they could say more, doors slammed open, and hordes of Founding Father Clones burst in. They took one look around, settling on the 4 heroes.
"Them!" A Thomas Jefferson shouted. "They are the ones that stopped Master Lee's first wave!"
"Attack them at once, do not let those ruffians escape!" John Adams cried, shaking his fist in the air. "For Master Lee!"
"For Master Lee!" the clones shouted, running at the group, more pouring from the doors.
"Fall back…" Carter said in fear, eyes wide. Kelly was already readying her gun, as Hank heaved Dr. Frey over his shoulder and moving to the door. "FALL BACK!"