Marvel 2000 Presents
Force Works 36
"National Sanity."
Part 2
Empire State University, Several years ago
Namorita Prentiss threw down her pencil in frustration, and rubbed her eyelids. Twenty minutes of staring at the paper hadn't produced the slightest in way of results.
"I'm so freakin' close to finishing, so why did I wait to take calculus?" Namorita asked no one in particular.
"Because you're an idiot!" opinioned Jennifer Garner, her roommate.
"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Namorita snapped, "Neptune, I'm so close to graduating, but this class…suffering shad…"
"Look Nita," Jennifer said sympathetically, "if you're really having that much trouble, why don't you join me for a study group? There's this Freshman tutoring, and he's freakin' awesome. Like a young Reed Richards or somethin'."
"If I want to finish my Masters, I may have to," Namorita sighed, "damn degree requirements. I hope he's really smart, because I can't get this at all…"
Later…
Namorita tapped on the door lightly, and hoped that her roommate wasn't lying when she said the tutor inside was a genius. Namorita was beginning to worry that she might not actually pass the class.
A young man opened the door.
"Can I help you?"
"Are you John Virgil?"
"That's me, here for some extra tutoring?"
"Yes, and my eyes are up here."
"Yes, but I'm giving mine a moment to gain their strength before the hike."
"Wait, wait wait."
Metro City, Force Works Tower
Charcoal looked at Namorita from across the team briefing room. The entire team was present, and listening to how she personally knew a villain who'd attacked Reagan National Airport only three hours ago.
"Just skip to the mad scientist part. We don't need 'The Big Bang Theory' reenactment, okay?"
"There was no mad scientist part!" Namorita snapped, "last time I saw John was at a Frat party talking to some red head! He's a friend who tutored me in higher level math and that's all!"
"So you have no idea why he's running around calling himself Pulsar, then?" asked Technocrat.
"With minions, don't forget the minions," Charcoal added.
"None," Namorita replied, "I mean, yeah, he was smart, amazingly so, but I don't recall him ever becoming angry. If it wasn't pop culture, girls or science, I doubt John really cared about it. He was a friend, but I haven't spoken to him in years."
"So what about his crew?" Arsenal asked, "were we able to turn up anything on them?"
"We lucked out there, actually," Technocrat reported, "the female wasn't in any law enforcement database, but I learned who the other two superhumans are."
Technocrat activated the main monitor. The first image was of a man in ragged clothes, long hair and dirty, unkempt beard. It was the face of a man who scraped by on the street. The second was of a large man-child, a pout on his face as he held up a plaque on his mug shot.
"The first man goes by the odd name of Neutron Bum. Real name Bob Elliot, former Vietnam veteran. Medical records shows that he tried to get treatment for Post Traumatic Stress, but was turned away from the VA because of lack of residence."
"Because he was homeless?" Tarene asked, aghast.
"I'm afraid so," Technocrat stated, "he stumbled across some toxic waste, gained powers…"
"And started demanding money for coffee," Nova finished, "I remember him, weird case with him, the FF and Slackstick. Thought he was just crazy. Well, not crazy crazy, you know what I mean."
"In our business, the line between insanity and egocentric is blurred, I will concede," Technocrat replied, "the second person is Max Hampton. He was convicted of felony murder in Texas, along with two other individuals and scheduled to be executed. He and his partners knocked over a convenience store and had Max rip the ATM out of the wall. They accidently shot a customer while making a get-away."
"…but he's mentally disabled," Adam Sol said.
"Apparently he's ten points over Texas' minimum for execution," Technocrat said flatly, "oh, it gets better. They used different rationales for the crime, one for each defendant and yes that was perfectly legal."
"Lovely," Namorita muttered, "what did you turn up about John? From what I remember, he wanted to get a teaching position, but he still had a ways to go."
"He was expelled for medical reasons, according to the records I liberated," Technocrat replied, "what that means exactly I haven't a clue, but its obvious there's more there."
"Didn't this guy tell us where to find him?" asked Sabre, "a state run mental asylum. Give me some addresses and three hours…"
"There must be hundreds!" Tarene exclaimed.
"Actually, there are only a handful," Mirage replied, "Reagan cut federal funding for them in the 80s, and after that most States simply couldn't to keep them open."
"Where did their patients go?" Tarene asked, her voice mixed with compassion and concern.
"Out on the street," Mirage cleared her throat uncomfortably, "anyways, I managed to get a list of what Pulsar stole at Reagan National from SHIELD. Apparently they were transporting some third generation Controller disks, and some technology reverse engineered from Hate Monger."
"So what could he build with that, Taki?" Arsenal asked.
"Hard to say. He could create a devise to influence emotions, remove all inhibitions or negate emotions all together," Technocrat replied, "so I think we should invest more time in making sure what he's building never sees use."
"It can't be that bad," Namorita defended, "I mean, look what he did at Reagan National to keep anyone from getting hurt."
"What did he do at the airport?" Wolfsbane asked, "I thought the injuries were low…"
"They were, impossibly so at first glance" Technocrat stated, "SHIELD did a sweep, and found over three dozen force-field projectors. They're still being analyzed, but according to eye witness accounts, they somehow managed to activate around anyone who was threatened. Without those, causalities would have been in the hundreds."
"So he didn't intend for people to get hurt," Tarene said.
"Or he wants to save that for the big performance," Arsenal countered, "I don't think we can afford to find out either way."
"Agreed. Nova and I will put a team together. If he was expelled from Empire State University for reasons that aren't on the official record, chances are he's going to show up there next," Mirage stated, "Finally Kim, Charlie? I want to see the both of you in the training room in twenty minutes."
The two young super-humans glanced at one another, and by chance both muttered something obscene under their breath at the same time.
"Dismissed."
Gradually, everyone filed out of the room, while Mirage and Nova remained to plot their next move. They debated ideas back and forth, before the two heard someone clear their throat. The two leaders of Force Works glanced over to see Tarene still in her seat.
"I uhh, I needed to say something in private," Tarane stood up nervously.
"Sure, what's on your mind kiddo?"
"We're not allowing Max to go back to Texas."
Mirage and Nova exchanged a look.
"Say again?"
"I'm tired of compromises, of half wins," Tarene said simply, "not this time. We are not sending a mentally disabled person back to be executed. I won't let that happen."
Both Nova and Mirage were a little taken back. Tarene's tone of voice wasn't threatening. It was just calm, matter of fact, devoid of any emotion. But just standing there, as immovable as a rock, the words conveyed the easy, sheer power that it was so easy to forget Tarene possessed.
"Give us an alternative," Nova replied, "and we'll take it."
"'Kay!"
Twenty Three minutes later
Mirage leaned over the controls, drumming her fingers on the controls as she observed Charcoal and Sabre below. The two were trading barbs, but so far that was all.
"So how are the happy couple?" Arsenal asked as he strolled into the booth.
"No punches yet," Mirage replied, "but that's not always a good sign with people like us. But whatever the issue is, I want it aired out here before it ends up screwing us in the field."
"Again," Arsenal observed.
"Yeah, again," Danielle sighed, "be quiet, I think they're getting to the meat…"
"…former member of the freakin' Thunderbolts!" Sabre snapped.
"And for that you want to show me up?" Charcoal demanded, "I had the situation under control! If you'd done what you were supposed to, we wouldn't even be worrying about these chumps!"
"Hey, you switched teams in the middle of the fight," Sabre defended, "so excuse me for thinking trusting you might be a mistake!"
"Okay, not trusting me with secrets is one thing, not trusting me in a fight is completely different!" Angry, Charlie instinctively changed into his Charcoal form and pointed an accusing finger at Sabre, "And you know what, Dani trusts me. Frankly, I don't give a damn what you think, but if you want a piece of me, just try and take it!"
Sabre vanished before Charcoal's eyes, and before he could move an inch he felt hundreds of blows land all across his body.
"That all you got!" Charcoal demanded as he shifted his density to that of a diamond.
"I've barely started!" Sabre hissed.
"And you're already done!" Charcoal reached out to the fire that burned at his core, and cast a blast of flame out of his hands and at the floor. The flames splashed against the floor and spread outwards like an oil spill, and Sabre had to dash a good twenty feet away to avoid being burned.
"Wow, look at that," smirked Charcoal, "this little lump of coal outsmarted mini Quicksilver. And you wonder why Dani keeps me around."
"Actually, that's not why," stated a new voice.
Two young members of Force Works glanced towards the door, and saw Moonstar leaning against the frame.
"Charlie, you can leave. I need to speak to Sabre alone," Moonstar said.
"I didn't start this…!" Sabre defended.
"Have fun," Charcoal smiled as he lumbered out the door.
"So…," Danielle began, "you do know that deciding who to trust is my job, right?"
"…yes."
"And where everyone needs to be on the battlefield, that's something I decide too, right?"
"…right," Sabre rubbed the back of her neck as she cast her eyes downward.
"Look, Charcoal has as much right to be here as anyone else. He pulls his weight in the field, something you don't when you disobey me."
"Hey, I was trained by my grandfather…"
"I don't care!" Dani snapped, "experience is the best teacher. Charcoal has it, I have it, you don't. Not working with a team, at any rate. Villains aren't going to cut you a break because of who your Grandfather was, and neither will I. Understood?"
"…yes," Sabre muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"Yes sir!" Sabre shouted.
"Good. You're part of the team who's going to tackle Pulsar," Dani stated, "but only if you follow my orders to the letter. Is that understood?"
"Understood," Sabre sighed in relief.
"We're leaving in ten. Take care of anything you got to take care of, and meet us in the hangar," Mirage said, "oh, and find X-Treme and Charcoal for me. I need to talk to them before we leave."
Tokyo, Japan
Narato Moronobu wiped the sweat from his brow, and more than ever wished that he was more than just an intelligence analyst for the Public Security Intelligence Agency of Japan. He liked to think that, if he were a field agent, he might have more faith in ad-hoc plan to save his son from the monster he'd concocted.
He was waiting, briefcase in hand, in one of the seedier parts of town. Moronobu had managed to find enough courage to insist on a face to face meeting, but he prayed it wouldn't come to that. The man who'd taken his son terrified the middle aged analyst, and he had no illusions about the man's power. That was why a dozen sharp-shooters, (armed with confiscated Hydra laser-casters that wouldn't be missed from storage), were placed on the rooftops, ready to blow the demon back to hell.
Moronobu wrinkled his nose as the smell of the alley continued to assault his nose. He checked his watch for the seventh timein the last three minutes, and saw it was the exact time for the trade-off seconds before something came crashing down on top of the trash can next to him.
He glanced towards where the object had landed, and the blood drained from his face as he saw that it was a human hand.
Moronobu looked up, and saw a wave of human body parts falling from the sky like confetti. Though he couldn't see any faces through his panic, the Intelligence Analyst knew immediately that the bodies now falling were those of the men he'd hired.
He ran towards the mouth of the alley, the safe return of his only son now forgotten. He was within three feet of escape but forced himself to a sudden stop when an impossibly sharp blade appeared in front of his path.
"Mr. Narato, I believe we have business to discuss."
Mr. Narato paled as an albino man in a well tailored suit, sun glasses and pitch black hair that flowed past his shoulders.
"Gorgon…I…please understand!" Mr. Narato broke out into a cold sweat, keenly aware of the severed limbs scattered in the alley behind him, and just how close the blade that done it all was to his throat. Only a few stray specks of blood betrayed the fact that sword had done the deed, otherwise it gleamed perfectly in the light of the midday sun. Given the sheer number of people killed, Mr. Narato couldn't understand how it remained so impossibly clean, and certainly had no desire to learn firsthand.
"You brought insurance. Understandable and commendable as you know now how serious I am," Gorgon said in a polite, business tone, "now that that foolishness is behind us, I trust you are ready to make our exchange?"
Mr. Narato looked the briefcase that had clutched in his hand, and knew that the moment he set it down, his career would be over. Even if he was spared a ridiculous jail sentence (that he knew he deserved), he knew his employers would blacklist him without a second thought. His only consolation was the fact the information he was handing over had nothing to do with Japan, but with a monster who deserved to be Gorgon's victim.
"My son," Mr. Narato set the suitcase down, "hand him over. Alive, as promised."
"Of course. I was actually impressed you specified alive," Gorgon remarked, "I know of far too many who seek refuge in the wording of an agreement, not the spirit, and call it honor. Akeno, your father has secured your release."
"Oh, thank Kami you're unhurt!" Mr. Narato embraced his son, and was so relieved to see his son alive that he didn't notice how he was wearing an all white uniform, or how his son looked at him through cold, emotionless eyes.
"You shouldn't have made me feel so ashamed of who I am," Akeno said flatly.
Mr. Narato looked down, and saw his son's arm sticking into his chest, and could feel his son's fingers with each beat of his heart, just before they closed.
"Make sure to hide the body properly," Gorgon strolled over and picked up the suitcase, "we can't chance discovery this early. When you're done with that, head back to the compound."
Gorgon held the suitcase carefully, as if it were made of delicate glass. The contents were easily the most important find yet.
"We have history to make."
Force Works, in transit
Mirage and Arsenal sat at the controls of the Stealthwing, in sync but in perfect silence. Danielle fought the urge to glance over. Lately, her relationship with Arsenal had been on and off. He seemed interested in her earlier in the week, but lately he'd been finding every little excuse to avoid her.
Danielle sighed, and wished she had a relationship like the one Namorita and Rich had. Easy, confident, just there for one another at all times. She saw the two sitting side by side, his hand over hers. The two were having a serious discussion, but Danielle saw how the two found strength in one another.
What is wrong with me that I can't find a relationship like that? Dani sighed. With a heavy heart, she pushed the thought out of her head, glanced towards Arsenal, and then turned her full attention to the instruments. When all else failed, being professional made Mirage's churning emotions into a sea of calm.
"I should have done something," Namorita muttered as she clenched her fists, "John was such a nice guy! If someone was just there for him…!"
"There for what?" Rich asked.
"I don't know…"
"Exactly!" snapped Richard Rider, "for all we know, he's off his gourd because of some crazy lab accident, alien meteor or bad beer!"
"…bad beer?"
Rich shrugged, "Hey, in our line of work, we've seen weirder. The point is, there's no way you could have know he needed help then. Focus on knocking sense into him now, okay?"
Namorita chuckled despite herself, "You make it sound so easy."
"Yeah well, I'm smart enough to know it ain't," Rich replied with a heavy sigh, "but there wasn't anything you could have done, babe. We don't even know why he want Darth Vader, so it's a little early to say you screwed up, don't you think?"
"I think we're going to find out," Arsenal deadpanned. He pointed ahead at the Empire State University, and the energy field that was slowly creeping into a dome around the entire school.
"Arsenal…!"
"Got it," Arsenal threw the controls forward, and sent the Stealthwing hurtling towards the slowly closing breach in the field.
"No, Bobby, wait!" Mirage shouted, but by then it was too late.
The Stealthwing shot forward, and the front section just barely squeezed through the narrow gap.
Unfortunately, that was all that was able to make it through the force-field. The Stealthwing's fifty foot wingspan, engines and a full inch of steel was sheared off, like skin off an orange and the once high tech aircraft felt like a cruise missile than the multi-million dollar aircraft it had been only moments before.
"Nova!" Mirage shouted, though she needn't have bothered.
The Human Rocket blasted out of his chair and within seconds was at the nose of the fatally wounded aircraft. He caught the aircraft in his arms effortlessly, and then braced himself. The ship's out of control fall became a swift but steady descent. Nova set the damaged aircraft down on the lawn gently.
"What the hell was that?" Mirage demanded as she unstrapped herself and turned towards Arsenal.
"That was me getting us inside before the force-field closed!" Arsenal snapped, "I thought that's what you wanted me to do!"
"No, I wanted you to pull up while our flyers got out!" Mirage shouted as she and the team exited the mangled craft, "Vibraxis can phase through the shield, Sabre could dig a tunnel in seconds, Namorita can punch through the dirt like it like it was Styrofoam! Even if we got through, where the hell were we supposed to land? We'd have slammed into the other side!"
"Look, I'm sorry, I screwed up, okay!" Arsenal snapped, "get off my back, it's not like I was trying to kill us!"
"Could have fooled me!"
"Excuse me," Pulsar cleared his throat, and Force Works turned their attention towards the Star Powered villain and his posse. And standing next to the young villain, Namorita recognized, was the school dean, Howard Parker, his hands bound in solid yellow energy, "can you guys hurry it up? We're kind of on a clock here, you know."
"Nova, Tarene, handle Pulsar. Everyone else, you know what to do," Mirage growled.
Though he was faster, Nova let Tarene take the take the lead. Pulsar stood there smirking, surrounded by a force-field strong enough to repel the entire United States navy, and just shook his head as the young Goddess pulled back her mace and smashed him across the chest.
The scene was almost comical, as the ground shook from the force of the blow, and Pulsar vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only a trail of smoke as proof he was ever there. Nova shot after the villain's hurtling form, still shielded but very much surprised by Tarene's sheer power. Pulsar slammed into his own force-field, and Nova let loose a blast of energy from his hands, pinning the villain to the energy field.
Just hope the others can back us up soon, Nova thought to himself, because our luck ain't gonna hold out much longer.
"Bring it, you stupid little punks!" Neutron Bum spat as he unleashed a wave of atomic energy.
"It shall be brought indeed!" Vibraxis countered as he unleashed his sonic energy, blunting the onslaught. But the Wakandian Warrior knew he wouldn't last long, as beads of sweat began pouring down his face. His vibrations were deflecting the majority of the energy, what little bit that remained was enough to sear his lungs.
"I got nuclear fire in my belly, boy," smirked the radioactive veteran, "you think you can equal that?"
"Easily," Vibraxis coughed, "I have friends."
Arsenal slapped Neutron Bum in the back of the head, and the older man fell unconscious in seconds.
"I give up, I give up!" Max Hampton threw his arms up in surrender at the sight of X-Treme and his many, many blades.
"Hands down and behind your back," X-Treme ordered.
"Not again," Max whimpered, as X-Treme bound his hands behind his back with plastic riot ties. If Max flexed his muscles, he'd break through them in a second, but the young man was too brow beaten to try.
"Technocrat, where's our third?" Mirage asked, a psychic arrow in her bow.
Technocrat nodded to his right, and Mirage released her arrow. Pulsar's main assistant, Reflection, cried out as the arrow struck her, and she suddenly became visible again.
"Damn, could this guy have gotten a lamer crew?" Sabre smirked.
"It's not over yet," X-Treme pointed up, where Pulsar was battling back and forth with Nova and Tarene.
"Um, excuse me?" Everyone turned their attention to Dean Parker, who held up his energy-cuffed hands, "could I get some assistance, please?"
"Just one moment," Technocrat formed a dozen sensors into his hands, and began scanning the energy cuffs, "hmm, impressive. A perfectly contained energy field that could flatten five city blocks if not properly deactivated."
"Oh God!" shrieked Dean Parker
"That's why I intend to deactivate properly," Taki said with a roll of his eyes, "I don't suppose you could tell us why he's decided to attack the college and take you hostage, in particular?"
"That's…a confidential matter regarding student records," Dean Parker said quickly.
Technocrat looked at the Dean with a raised eye-brow, "Really? Do you really think that now is the best time to respect student confidentiality?"
"All you need to know is that boy is insane!" snapped the Dean, "he could kill us all!"
"He's not evil!" Namorita shouted. She grabbed the Dean by his collar and looked him straight in the eyes, her hot breath washing across his face, "I've been in enough board meetings to recognize an evasion when I hear it! Now tell us what you know, or Neptune help you…!"
There was a loud sonic boom, and the gathered heroes looked up to see that Pulsar was now the only force in the sky.
"Lets hope your hunch pans out, Namorita," Sabre grunted as she braced herself, "because otherwise we are so boned."
Minutes Earlier
Nova slammed his fist into a wall of hyper-gravity, inches from Pulsar's smirking face.
"So you would be 'Nita's one concession to the stupid blond stereotype," Pulsar asked, "some dumb jock."
"He's not a jock!" Tarene shouted as she came rocketing down from below. Her war mallet struck Pulsar's shields, and the villain felt his teeth rattle.
Pulsar released a burst of light, blinding the two heroes, and shot backwards, putting some distance between him and them.
"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but you have to know we're going to stop you," Nova said.
"I know you'll try," Pulsar replied, "but you need to face facts. I can control the four fundamental forces of the whole universe!"
"And wouldn't it just suck if I could do the same," asked the Human Rocket, "good thing I'm channeling Nova force."
Pulsar didn't have time to so much as blink in response as Nova unleashed a gravimetric pulse. The wave of gravity interacted with Pulsar's own shields. The effect was like hitting clay with a deluge of water, and Pulsar's shields diluted to the point of almost non-existence.
Nova forced his way through, and grabbed Pulsar by the wrists.
"Okay John, now we're going to talk this out like hero to supervillain."
"Do you really think that this is that simple?" growled Pulsar, "or do you just want it to be?"
"If I wanted easy, I would have left this team and never looked back," Nova replied, "your first attack, you took precautions to prevent injuries. So I know this is more than a power kick!"
"Do you have a point?" Pulsar grunted, as Nova applied more force to his wrists. The young genius had designed a dozen defense mechanisms into his suit, but none of them were designed to be used this close. When all was said and done, the young genius was still only human, and Nova could crush tanks with his bare hands.
"End this now, before anyone gets killed," Nova pleaded, "whatever's wrong, let us help you."
"Sorry Nova, I really am," Pulsar smiled confidently, "but a true actor would never stop a play so close to the climax!"
Pulsar activated an emergency circuit, and Nova found himself blasted with enough energy to equal a small solar flare. The Man Called Nova was blown backwards, unable to stop himself, while beads of sweat dripped down Pulsar's face. His shields were good, but underestimating his own power by a single decimal point was enough to make him feel like he was in the middle of a bonfire and singe his eyebrows.
"That's enough of that!" Tarene shouted, as her hammer crackled with lightning.
"Go ahead and try it," Pulsar smirked knowingly, "I control the four fundamental forces of the universe, kiddo. That includes electricity, so you just think twice before…"
Lightning struck the neophyte villain from every direction, and when it was over Pulsar struggled to stay conscious. The programming in his suit was all that kept him aloft, and the white hot anger that lurked beneath if the surface of his heart gave him focus.
"Good shot," Pulsar coughed, "now it's my turn. The earth revolves at over seven thousand miles per hour."
Nova heard Pulsar's bland statement of fact, and his eyes went wide.
"John you bastard, don't you dare!"
Pulsar sent a stray command through his armor, and for a split second gravity around Tarene was completely severed. The young Goddess was pitched skyward like a lightning bolt, with such terrible speeds, that the brief seconds she stayed in earth's atmosphere the friction created a white hot flame around her.
Nova watched in sheer terror as Tarene hurtled away.
"Can she breath in space? Because…" Nova vanished in a sonic boom, "…damn, and I had the perfect simile prepared too."
Pulsar shrugged at the villainy lost, and lowered himself down to ground level. He soon saw that Force Works was waiting for him, and his assistants were all on the ground, unconscious. Luckily, Dean Parker hadn't made it far.
"I feel like I should be disappointed in my minions," Pulsar said evenly as his feet touched the earth once more, "but truth be told I don't think I could do much better in their place."
"John, please, let us help you!" Namorita begged, "whatever happened, we'll do everything we can to make it right!"
"You can't make right years of eating trash, years of scraping by, of abject humiliation," Pulsar voice was white hot, laced with venom, "but I am certainly going to try. Step aside, Force Works. I want Dean Parker, and you can't stop me. I'd just as soon not hurt friends of a friend, if I didn't have to."
"Bring it!" Arsenal threw his arms outward, unsheathing his bone claws while his eyes glowed crimson red, brimming with energy, "we can take you!"
Pulsar rolled his eyes, and just snapped his fingers. A wave of solid energy exploded out of the villain, and knocked over every member of Force Works as if they were just cardboard cut-out hit by a stiff wind. Dean Parker closed his eyes as he saw the energy coming at him, but to his shock only felt a mild warmth wash over his skin.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Force works sprawled out on the grass of his college, struggling to get to their feet. They were conscious, but he could tell they wouldn't be moving soon. And he saw Pulsar hovering several inches off the ground, smiling at him.
"John please, don't hurt me!" Parker begged, "I never meant for this to happen!"
"Dean Parker, be responsible," Pulsar gently floated towards the Administrator, "I'm controlling an experimental star contained in a pocket dimension, controlled via a neuro-mesh composite nervous system that allows me to control the four fundamental forces of the universe with precision lasers would envy.
"Anyone of my inventions could earn me a Nobel Prize, but at the moment, all it means for you is that if I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't even have to be in the same state," Pulsar slapped his hand on Dean Parker's shoulder, and the man jumped as if he'd been shocked, "so relax. What happens next will be intensely uncomfortable for you, but not the least bit cliché."
Dean Parker's face went white as he felt Pulsar spread a thin layer of electromagnetic energy across his body. Before Dean Parker knew what was happening, he was surrounded by a silver glow.
"John, stop…," Namorita forced herself up, "don't do this!"
"'Nita, stop being a drama queen," Pulsar said as he shook his head, "Now Dean Parker, before we start, I want you to remember the very real power I wield. The unconscious super-humans littering your campus are proof of that. If there's some random act of violence I need to commit to finally convince you to concede to my demands, just say so."
"No, that won't be necessary," Dean Parker said through clattering teeth.
"Are you sure? Because word has it there's a fraternity or two you're not fond of. I won't tell anyone, villain's honor!"
"Just do it already!" Dean Parker forced himself to say, unable to accept that this was his last day on earth. He couldn't believe that day that started out so ordinary would end with him disintegrated or worse, at the hands of a former student turned supervillain!
"Oh relax," Pulsar said calmly, "I'm not here to kill anyone, and that includes you. No, you don't get off that easy. Now, lets begin!"
Pulsar clapped his hands, and out of thin air a dozen copies of Dean Parker and Pulsar appeared over the campus, include one some twenty feet tall, standing over them.
"Greetings students of Empire State University, my name is John Virgil, AKA Pulsar, AKA the person responsible for the force-field around the campus and reason why you're not in class right now," Pulsar explained evenly, "I just need a few minutes of your time to right a terrible injustice. You may recognize the man next to me, Dean Parker. Say hello to your student body, Dean Parker."
"Students, please remain calm," Dean Parker said, like an automated warning. Panic stricken, he embraced protocol like a security blanket, "we hope to resolve this situation quickly and peacefully."
"You know, official responses are never reassuring," Pulsar observed, "but you're ultimately correct. I'm not here for bloodshed, I'm not in the mood and it's really cliché. As it so happens, Dean Parker, I simply want one thing."
Dean Parker felt his throat run dry.
"Explain to the student body why I was expelled," Pulsar said calmly. He channeld a small but visible amount of power into his gauntlet, "I hereby waive all student confidentiality matters."
"You were expelled…," Dean Parker swallowed a lump in his throat, "for violating the school's Code of Conduct Policy, specifically the endangering behavior policy."
"You've got the broad picture, good, good, now narrow it down."
"I…I don't know what you mean," Dean Parker.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Pulsar growled, "don't test my patience. Start at the beginning, and leave out a detail at your own peril.
Dean Parker suddenly felt the gaze of each and every one of his students. Being at the mercy of a former student somehow didn't make him nearly as self conscious as what he was about to confess to his entire student body.
"We'd been informed by a local Emergency Room that you had checked yourself in for having suicidal thoughts," Dean Parker said with a heavy sigh.
"Schizophrenia," Pulsar confessed, "I could have sworn the number six was telling me to hurt myself. And trust me when I say that ignoring insanity doesn't help solve the problem. Go on, Dean. You left out one last detail."
"What…what do you…"
Pulsar channeled just a small fraction of his power into his fist, and Dean Parker knew there wasn't any getting around it.
"And when were my expulsion papers delivered?"
"…the next day, while you were still in the emergency room."
"So, to summarize for everyone," Pulsar began, "I displayed signs of mental illness, sought appropriate medical treatment and for that I was expelled from college. That's a lesson they won't teach you in class!"
"Can you blame us! Dean Parker snapped, without thinking, "this attack clearly shows how insane you are!"
"Oh Dean," Pulsar chuckled, "if I was off my medication, I'd be a helpless bundle on the ground, hallucinating that abstract concepts have come to kill me. No, not allowing you to get away with punishing me because of my disease, showing you the power I now command, is an act of sanity. As it what will happen next."
"Damn it John, don't!" Namorita shouted.
Pulsar turned to the Dean, energy still flowing through each hand. He raised his gauntlets, took aim, and gave Dean Parker just enough time to scream in a girlish tone before unleashing a bolt of energy.
Dean Parker blinked, as he realized he was still alive. He looked at his wrists, and saw that they were no longer bound by solid energy.
"Sometimes, the most effective use of power is not to use it," Pulsar said simply, "but I think that in the next few days, when your expulsion policies come under scrutiny, you may wish I had killed you, instead of simply revealing to the world what a sickening coward you are."
An arrow flew past Pulsar's ear, and he spun around to see Mirage, Arsenal and Sabre on their feet, tense and ready for action.
"Thanks for not killing everyone," Mirage said, "but you still have a lot to answer for. If you surrender, I'm certain things can be sorted out with a minimum of jail time."
"No, no we won't be doing that," Pulsar pointed his hand towards his fallen teammates, and out of nowhere several small orbs of light floated up from their persons, "we'll be leaving, only I have to refuse your kind offer of tracking devises."
And in a burst of light, they were gone.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Dean Parker demanded, "what kind of heroes are you! He could have killed everyone!"
"He could crack the planet in half if he wanted," Mirage replied, "and we're working on stopping him. Now shut the hell up and let me…!"
"Where is that damn bastard! I'm going to tear his throat out his ass!"
Mirage looked up, and saw Nova floating down, with an unconscious Tarene in his arms.
"Neptune, is she okay?" asked Namorita.
"No thanks to your friend!" Nova spat, "you promised us it wouldn't come to this! I barely got to her in time!"
"He could have destroyed this place with a thought!" Namorira defended.
"Is that somehow supposed to make things better?" Nova asked sarcastically, "because from where I'm standing, he plenty of damage!"
"Enough!" Mirage shouted, "the fight's over. Now lets see if we have a chance to actually end this before this situation gets out of control, agreed?"
The two lovers just nodded silently. Mirage gave them a wary look, before she tapped her communicator.
"Wolfsbane, what's the situation?"
"The situation is that ye need to contact Blink on the bloody radio!" Wolfsbane said both aloud, and via the psi-link she shared with Mirage when shape shifted.
Several miles away, Mirage smiled and turned to Adam Sol, X-Treme, "Rahne's a little tense about flying solo. Thought you said she'd do okay."
"Everyone's nervous their first solo," X-Treme countered, "she should count herself lucky. My first flight I smacked a Holy meteor and nearly lost an engine. She'll be fine. Provided she gets good directions."
"Leftish a little bit," Charlie Burlingame, AKA Charcoal, rubbed his temple as he concentrated, "no wait, too far! Go right three feet!"
"We're flying over a hundred miles per hour!" Wolfsbane snapped.
"So?"
"So that means an inch means we could be off-course by miles!" Wolfsbane explained. She didn't mean to be so angry, but this was her first time flying solo. In the past, Adam had given her lessons
"…that depends how you define success," Blink reported from her chair in the co-pilot's seat.
Blink, Charcoal and Wolfsbane were in Force Works' spare aircraft, and deliberately hung back six miles. Mirage knew that Pulsar was smart enough to expect tracking devises, so they had to get clever.
Luckily, Charcoal had explained long ago that he would track the different parts of his transformed body for miles and miles. According to him, it was how he tracked Hawkeye when he wanted to join the Thunderbolts, and later how they tracked the Masters of Evil to their lair. Mirage figured that if it was good enough for Hawkeye, it was good enough for her. And so Charcoal broke off a few bits, and gave them to X-Treme to plant when he was placing the bugs.
"…but we're following them. They're a little blurry on the sensors, but they're there."
"I can feel them slowing down…they stopped!" Charlie shouted.
"Rahne, pull us up," Blink ordered, "we should be invisible, but I don't want to take chances. I'm going to take a look with the cameras."
"Rahne says we got their hideout," Mirage reported.
"So we got the bastard," Arsenal asked.
"Do we have a plan that isn't us getting our asses kicked?" Sabre asked.
"Dani, please, let me settle this peacefully," Namorita pleaded, "he didn't hurt anyone here, just like I said he wouldn't!"
"But he didn't surrender," Mirage countered, "he's got something more planned, we both know it. Sorry, 'Nita, but if your friend has anything more to say, he's going to have to do it from behind bars."
"Umm, Dani…?" Blink radioed.
The young teleporter looked out the side of the craft, and was completely baffled by what she saw on her screen. It wasn't as though she didn't recognize the style of building, and the aircraft's outboard cameras easily read the sign identification, but reading 'Avenal State Prison' didn't help her confusion one bit.
"He's already them…!"
Next Issue: Force Works must sneak into an overcrowded prison and overpower a villain with the strength of a miniature star. What could be easier?