The Origin of MASK
Chapter 25: Not a Game Any More, Part 1
By Qweb and/or Jelsemium
The sun cast long shadows, but the light hadn't yet turned orange when the wide, black jet with the double tail began to circle over the minor Tennessee tourist attraction. Shadows fell across the homely face of Frenchman's Folly, making it seem as if the house had been backed against the high cliff by the circle of Venom vehicles that faced it.
The inhabitants of the odd looking building looked equally beleaguered. A group of visitors huddled on the roof next to the telescope they'd been using to view wildlife. The owner, Wilberforce, stood, head held proudly, facing Vanessa, who seemed a sleek, deadly figure in the shadows — a dark blue panther with a wicked temper. From far above, Matt saw her throw back her head in apparent laughter; then the energy whip cracked out from the crown of her mask. It lashed a chunk out of the low brick wall that surrounded the roof, then it caught up the telescope, crushed it and casually tossed the pieces into the cliff face several yards away. The demonstration was effective. Wilberforce backed away to join his tour group.
"Looks like the Injuns have the fort surrounded," Dusty said.
"Then it must be time for the cavalry," Matt replied.
The MASK agents had spent the trip from Boulder Hill repairing and repowering their vehicles and their weapons. Good thing, too, Matt thought. It wouldn't do to go against Venom as if it was another war game.
Hondo studied the seven Venom vehicles arrayed before the house. At one villain per vehicle, the nine MASK agents had the bad guys outnumbered. But the Venom agents had the five MASK vehicles outgunned. Still, Hondo thought, MASK had the element of surprise going for it. MASK knew all about Venom, but Venom didn't know what it was about to get into.
The strategist saw Vanessa look up at the circling jet.
"The rest of them must be ransacking the house," he said. "They obviously don't expect company."
"Then why don't we drop in and give them our regards?" Matt said as he donned his mask.
The transport was put on computer pilot. As soon as the MASK agents deplaned, the transport would head for the nearest programmed landing field — which happened to be a back pasture at Calhoun's Kentucky horse farm. The landing ramp cranked open.
Vanessa watched all this activity with suspicion. But she never expected to see a green motorcycle drive casually out of the plane's back door a thousand feet above the ground. Condor plummeted toward the ground, then its rotor sprang up. The one-man helicopter hovered, waiting for the red and purple sports car that sprouted wings and followed it out of the plane. The pilots turned their faces toward the Folly. Vanessa's cold heart missed a beat when she saw both men were masked.
"Mayhem! Get out here!," she screamed. "We've got company!"
"Who? The police?" Mayhem shouted as he ran outside.
"No! It's THEM!" she said with conviction.
"Them, who?" Dagger asked curiously.
The Venom crew poured out of the house. Vanessa leaned over the edge of the roof and pointed up.
"THEM !"
Side by side in the open cargo door were a pair of ominously familiar orange vehicles, the jeep and pickup truck that had sidelined Outlaw, Vampire and Jackhammer without even working up a mechanical sweat.
"Hey! That's the flying car I told you about," Rax exclaimed, pointing at Thunderhawk. "The one that made the architect disappear in Vancouver. And you said I was seeing things," he added reproachfully.
Mayhem began to sweat. How long had these mysterious vehicles been dogging his trail?
"You know something," Dagger said thoughtfully, which took a lot of concentration. "There was a red and purple car like that one outside the lab in Los Angeles." The arsonist regarded the gaudy vehicle fondly. "I remember. I thought it was pretty."
"That doesn't prove anything, pinhead," Bruno growled. "There are a lot of funny looking cars in L.A. If those guys had a flying car, why would they attack you in a pizza truck."
Rax ducked involuntarily at the thought, scanning the skies in dread. But there was no ominous pizza truck to be seen, only the equally ominous jeep and pickup poised in the open door.
Jacques wondered if the others had reached the battle zone yet. The MASK agent who had been left behind wandered disconsolately through the steel-lined halls of the underground MASK headquarters, trying to think of something to do to take his mind off the battle he couldn't take part in. A strange, furtive noise from the briefing room caught his attention.
"You got it!" he heard Buddy say with quietly spoken triumph.
Curious, Jacques stepped toward the partially open door.
"You're father isn't going to like this," T-Bob's voice quavered.
"We're not hurting anything," Scott protested. Then the boy's voice rose in alarm. "No! T-Bob, watch out!"
Buddy cried out, too; then there was a loud, metallic crash and the sound of machinery running wild. Jacques poked his head around the corner. An unguided aluminum missile clipped his head and shattered against the edge of the doorframe.
The Canadian dropped to the floor, flattening down to avoid the continuing bombardment, shaking his head to clear it. He reached up to gingerly touch his bruised scalp and felt sticky liquid in his hair. Ace came around the corner wondering where everyone had gone. He found his friend lying on the floor, a trickle of red running down the side of his face.
"Jacques! You're bleeding!" he cried, as he leaped forward, crossing in front of the open door.
"Look out!" Jacques cried, too late.
A tight formation of blunt-nosed missiles shot out the door to thud painfully against Ace's shoulder. The pilot spun around, slipped in a fizzing puddle and crashed heavily to the floor. He lay still, not daring to move, as root beer bombs burst messily around him. He wondered if the other MASK agents were in as much trouble as the ones who had been left "safely" at home.
From Firecracker, Hondo looked at Condor and Thunderhawk circling to protect the transport until the others got clear. He looked down at the ground far, far below.
"It's easy for them," he commented. "But pickup was not meant to fly."
"Where's your spirit of adventure?" Gloria laughed from the jeep next door.
"Back in the dresser drawer where all good cowards keep it," the teacher replied.
The drop zone came up. The green light came on. Dusty stomped on Gator's accelerator.
"Yee-haaah!" he shouted as the flightless jeep plunged out of the plane.
Firecracker followed with less enthusiasm.
"I'm just glad I've got a doctor riding with me," Hondo said to his seatmate.
"Why?" asked Julio, as they nosed over the edge and suddenly dropped.
"Because this makes me feel sick!" Hondo said with a gulp.
Parachutes popped open, bringing the orange vehicles to an even keel as they glided toward the clearing around Frenchman's Folly.
Mayhem shook himself out of his disbelieving trance. "To your vehicles!" he ordered.
They scrambled. Vanessa darted toward the roof door. Unfortunately — for them — that's where the tourists were huddled, and they didn't get out of the way fast enough to suit her. She kicked a child aside and brutally shoved her mother away. As the Venom agent ran inside, she paused a moment to destroy the door and the stairway to keep the others from following. Wilberforce and his guests were trapped on the roof.
Dusty and Gloria saw the whole thing from the air.
"She's mine, Dusty!" the girl said through gritted teeth.
"You can have her," the cowboy assured her. "My mama taught me never to play with dangerous critters."
Matt and Brad swarmed all over the Venom agents, keeping them busy ducking until Firecracker and Gator touched down, but Mayhem finally dodged inside Switchblade.
The heavy helicopter roared skyward. It shouldered aside the lighter MASK aircraft like a bully in the schoolyard and went after a sitting target. Rhino, the last vehicle out of the transport, floated helplessly down on three huge parachutes. Bruce and Alex could see Switchblade's thunderous approach, but they couldn't maneuver. Condor and Thunderhawk pursued Mayhem, but couldn't catch up.
All Alex and Bruce could do was sit and wait, well, almost all. The big rig cab's twin diesel smokestacks swiveled down to belch blinding smoke and killer lasers. The agile black chopper dodged the fire, its blades fanning away the smokescreen. With almost contemptuous casualness, Mayhem opened fire on the parachutes.
Rhino dropped like a two-ton truck. Alex calmly aimed the smokestacks at the ground and turned on the anti-grav ray that had caused so much grief earlier in the day. Rhino glided down like an autumn leaf.
Mayhem ground his teeth as Condor and Thunderhawk caught up with him. "Who are these people!" he shouted at no one in particular.
An ominous chuckle answered him. "Your worst nightmare!" said the unfamiliar voice. Matt knew almost everything about Venom, including their usual radio frequency. Mayhem hurriedly switched to the backup channel.
"Would you morons hurry up and give me some help!" he growled at his troops.
"Yes, sir. Right away, Mr. Mayhem, sir," Gorey answered, leaping to the seat of the monstrous oil tanker called Outlaw.
Freed from its parachute, Gator galloped across the lawn, followed by Firecracker.
Standing in the back of the jeep, Gloria played the Ouch Cannon across the largest Venom vehicle just as Gorey opened up the back of Outlaw to reveal the awesome array of weaponry in Venom's mobile command post. The awesome array became so much electronic spaghetti as Gloria's electronic disrupter beam scrambled its complicated circuitry.
Gorey tried frantically to fire something, anything, as the MASK vehicles roared by; but he couldn't even get the motor to turn over.
Firecracker passed, standing high above its tires like a rolling gun tower. Julio raked the oil tanker first with the grill mounted heat rays, then with the freeze rays in the pickup's tail. Under the stress of the wildly fluctuating temperatures, the already "ouched" Outlaw simply fell apart.
Gorey stood in the debris in a rage of frustration. "Samson, on!" he ordered the mask whose force fields gave him superstrength. He picked up the tanker's cab and threw it at Thunderhawk as the jet skimmed past.
"Gulliver, on!" The field from Calhoun's mask surrounded the truck-sized missile, shrinking it to the size of a matchbox. It flew in Thunderhawk's open door and landed in Calhoun's lap. The Southerner quickly tossed it out again. He didn't want that thing inside Thunderhawk.
The tiny truck fell back at Gorey's feet. Totally deflated by his bad luck, Gorey picked up his beloved truck, stroked it in apology for his anger and put it in his back pocket.
The blast of an air horn made him jump. Rhino's shadow fell across the little man as the truck dropped toward the ground with minimal control. Gorey scrambled for safety. Rhino hit the ground with a bone jarring thump. The tangle of tattered parachutes fell around it.
Bruce looked at Alex with admiration, though Alex couldn't see his expression through Bruce's Lifter mask. It had taken rock steady nerves and a masterful hand on the controls to keep the truck directly over the lifesaving anti-grav rays.
"That was spectacular, Alex," he said. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, old chap, I do believe I am," Alex said.
His teeth flashed in Jackrabbit's open muzzle. As soon as Switchblade had opened fire, Alex had felt the old, familiar confidence flow back. His battle-wise instincts had operated almost of their own accord to bring them down safely. And the Brit knew, with sudden certainty, that he might be older, but he wasn't going to disgrace himself as a part of MASK.
"I think I'm better than I've been for a long time," he told Bruce.
As Gator rushed toward the Folly, Gloria saw Vanessa hadn't come out yet. The Kung Fu expert told Dusty to stop.
"Drop me off at the door, cowboy," she said. "I've got a date to keep."
"You sure you'll be all right?"
"I'm a big girl, Dusty," Gloria said as she leaped out.
"Sure. But Vanessa's bigger."
"You know what they say about the bigger they are … "
Dusty threw Gator into gear and scooted off. "Just don't let her fall on you," he called in parting.
Vanessa's treatment of the people on the roof had made Gloria angry. The same innocent bystanders were on Dusty's uneasy mind, too, as he wheeled off toward the main battle.
Vanessa came down the remaining flights of stairs at breakneck speed. The adjective nearly became literal when her shin connected with something solid as she barreled out the door.
The venomous female plowed her way to a halt then twisted around to find out what tripped her. It was one of Them.
The first thing that Vanessa noticed about her attacker was the canary yellow mask, then the yellow shirt, green vest, blue pants and red boots. Warfield did a doubletake as she noted how the clothing hung on her attacker.
"You're female!" Vanessa accused.
"And you're history, Warfield," Gloria replied. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size…?"
Aura wasn't built to be expressive, but Gloria managed to convey the impression of surveying Vanessa's hips and thighs.
"…That is, if you can find somebody your size," Gloria continued in as catty a manner as she could.
The ploy worked. Vanessa leaped to her feet and charged without using her mask. Gloria stepped aside nimbly. But Vanessa managed to grab the smaller woman and drag her to the ground. Warfield tried for an arm lock, but Gloria slipped out and gained her feet. They circled each other with cat-like grace and wariness. Vanessa leaped in with a savate kick similar to the one that had winded her in Vancouver. Gloria blocked, and then used the karate chop that Jacques had floored her with during practice.
Vanessa scrambled away on hands and feet, declining to continue with the hand-to-hand garbage. The Venom agent wondered what, if anything, the yellow mask did. It was too much to hope that it was just for show, but perhaps it wasn't useful in direct combat. Anyway, she'd soon find out. "Whip, ON!"
The bluish energy whip snaked out and gouged the ground where Gloria had been standing. But Gloria was already in mid-flight. She leaped up and grabbed the doorframe, then swung out and over Vanessa's head. She landed behind Vanessa and kicked the Venom agent's legs out from under her.
Aura was freshly charged, but Gloria didn't want to run it down at the start of the battle. She remembered Matt's warning. Never try to use a mask after the batteries became exhausted. They would draw on the natural electrical energy of the wearer's body with potentially fatal results. It was better to save the mask until she really needed it.
Even if Vanessa had such constraints, being floored a second time would have erased them. She whirled to face her antagonist.
"Whip. . ." she didn't get a chance to finish, for Gloria leaped in with a kick aimed at the jaw.
Vanessa dove out of the way and ran up against her car's unyielding fender. She scrambled into the driver's seat.
"Okay, dearie," Warfield snarled. "See how you handle Manta's weapons."
In the next episode:
The battle continues as Rax meets wildlife,
Malloy acts stuck up
And Gorey pockets an Outlaw.