Issue #37 (July 2019)
Written By: Tobias Christopher Franklin Richards
Valeria
Spider-Girl
Icarus
Machine Teen
Juston
Ms. Marvel
Alpha
|
The Pintauro Mental Institute
"I don't get it," the male orderly said as he headed toward the top floor with another orderly by his side. He wore a name badge that read 'Gavin'. "This patient's never given us an ounce of trouble. She's always so docile, even without drugs. She always just sits in the corner, holding onto that doll." As the two men climbed the stairs, the rhythmic pounding got louder and louder, despite the fact that there was no metal in the patient's room. "How is she doing that?" the orderly named David asked. "That's a padded room and she's in a straight jacket." The two men got closer to the door when the pounding suddenly stopped. Gavin started to slide the window slit open to see what was happening inside when the door exploded, sending the man flying back. He hit the wall across the way, knocking him out in a pile of debris. As the dust cleared, a teenage girl stood in the doorway. Her mousy brown hair was disheveled and the remnants of a straight jacket hung around her body. David took a deep gulp and started to run as the girl held her hand out. The orderly immediately ran into an invisible force and fell back to the ground, where the girl walked over to him. She tilted her head and asked in an angry, yet low-toned whisper. "Where. Is. My. Brother?" "Sibling Rivalry" New Warriors Headquarters The night had fallen over New York as Sam Guthrie walked into his brother Josh's bedroom. The room had been decorated with wall to wall music posters ranging from the Beatles to Meatloaf to Van Halen and anything else he could fit on the wall. On the wall also sat a special mantle for his prized acoustic guitar, with a table for his rock star Pop figures such as Alice Cooper, Jimmi Hendrix and 'Weird Al' Yankovic. His book shelf had nothing but biographies of famous musicians and an entire wall of CDs with every genre of music known to man. Josh had already put on his pajamas as he packed a suitcase for his bus in the morning. He put the last shirt in as he turned to face Sam. "I'm going to miss you, little brother," Sam told him. "So will Joey, he's really taken a shine to you singing to him at night." "I'm not leaving forever, Sammy," Josh told him. "Just going back home to get my head together. I can still take Joey off your hands so he can meet the family." "I appreciate it, but I think I need to spend some time with the kid before I take him to meet Mama and the kids," Sam told him. "Get your head together, huh?" "Franklin wasn't my first love," Josh reminded him as he shut his suitcase. "I need to talk to... her." "Then that means you're going to have to talk to him," Sam reminded him. "You sure you can do this without killing him?" "I've had a lot of time to think, maybe it's time to forgive our little brother," Josh said. "Besides, I miss the country air. I'll only be gone a few weeks." "Maybe I'll join you soon," Sam told him. "After I get Joey settled here." "Uh... Sam?" Adam asked as he poked his head through the door. "Fire alarms are going off on the roof this time." "Dammit, not again," Sam sighed as he stood up. "I'll check in on you in the morning before you leave." Several blocks away, Valeria Richards exited the movie theater with Lyja, Arana and Kamala during a girl's night out. "All I'm saying is that they need to remake The Expendables with Better Midler, Goldie Hawne and Diane Keaton," Arana told the group. "Maybe with Kathy Bates as the villain." "I could see that," Valeria told her. "And it could even be a straight sequel to First Wive's Club." "Would this Bette Midler have the same powers she had in that movie where she plays a witch?" Lyja asked. "Why not?" Kamala asked. "We can make it both a sequel to First Wives and Hocus Pocus." "So, do we have time for a pizza before we go online to play the newest World of Warcraft?" Valeria asked. "We've been lulling those German kids into a false sense of security. Tonight... we crush them with no mercy." "She kind of scares me." Kamala whispered to Arana. "At least you don't live with her." Lyja informed them just as an explosion shattered the windows of a nearby apartment building. "Well, the night of peace was nice while it lasted."Kamala sighed. She raised her hand, enlarging it to a size large enough to cover the group. Moments later whenever she removed it, the group were in full costume, ready to investigate the explosion. New Warriors Headquarters Josiah sat on the roof with a blanket over his shoulders as he sat in front of a campfire, holding a stick and roasting something over it. The boy's pet wolf cub, Sawa, lay next to him while happily chewing on a bone. Sam walked through the roof entrance and sighed as he sat down next to his son, running a hand through his hair as he stared out over the city while trying to find the words. Josiah had only been in this world for two days and was still having trouble getting used to things. Even though the boy was physically 12, trying to teach him about the world had become like trying to teach a 2 year-old. "We've talked about this, son," Sam told him. "You can't light fires where ever you want." "You said I couldn't light fires indoors," Josiah told him. "I can't sleep in that place. That room is too small and the bed's too soft. I don't like being closed in, I need to see the stars to sleep." "You're claustrophobic, I get it," Sam told him. "But the winter weather's too cold for you sleep up here. Maybe we can redecorate your room to make you feel more at home." "It's not just that," Josiah told him. "There are too many rules in this place. Sawa can't go with me everywhere, and I have to wear those tight shoes. And now I have use those white bowls when I have to pee, even when there's no one around. Think they were mad about where I went in that store?" "Well, it was a K-Mart, I highly doubt they even noticed." Sam said. "I'm just glad I got you out of there when I did." "Back home I could do whatever I wanted," Josiah said as he looked into the fire. "I was free, now it just feels like I'm trapped." "Kids need structure, Joey," Sam told him. "Otherwise they're just wild animals. You just need time to adjust, you'll be fine. In the meantime, you need to at least try, okay? That includes staying indoors where it's warm. When spring comes around, maybe we'll set you up a little place up here where you can sleep outdoors. In the meantime, it's time to get you to bed. You need your rest." "Can I finish dinner first?" Josiah asked as he offered Sam some of what was on the stick. "Joey, where did you get that meat?" "There were a lot of little white birds on the roof when I came up," Josiah said. "They're delicious." "Pigeon," Sam said as he slowly pushed the stick away. "You're eating... pigeon. At least it's healthier than a hot dog." Ms. Marvel, Spider-Girl, Valeria and Lyja arrived in the burned out remains of the apartment up the street, finding the escaped girl from the institute standing in the middle of the wreckage, her fists clenched with anger. She'd dressed herself in regular street clothes, although her hair still seemed to be disheveled. "PERCY!" the girl shouted. "Are you okay?" Spider-Girl asked. "Were you here when the explosion happened?" The girl slowly turned to face them with an angered look on her face. "I need to find Percy, he did this to me and I have to stop him before it happens again." "Okay, it doesn't look like there's anyone else here," Valeria told her. "So why don't we just sit down and--" The girl held out her hand, sending out a force field that sent the four girls flying back. "Don't protect him! He's a monster and I need to find him!" "I think she may be a little unhinged." Ms. Marvel said. "I don't know who this Percy guy is, but it sounds like she's out for blood," Lyja told them. "We may need to protect this Percy person." "Okay, Spider-Girl, you and Lyja go find this guy, we'll try to calm this girl down," Valeria told them. "We just have to hope that hasn't already--" The girls looked around to find that this new threat had disappeared. "That's not good." Lyja spotted a shattered family photo among the wreckage. She picked it up and brushed some of the glass away. "This is her, and this boy must be her brother," Lyja said. "He looks just like her, with shorter hair." "Then we need to find this boy and fast," Spider-Girl told her as she dived out of the window. New Warriors Headquarters "What do you mean you can't fix me!?" Juston shouted as he lay stomach down on a table in his his workshop. He was currently in his boxers as he tried to turn his head to stare at Franklin. "You fixed Adam and you barely touched him!" "Adam was different," Franklin said as he wheeled Juston's wheelchair over to the table. "Adam turning human and back wasn't caused by black magic. Sophie Von Doom's magic, is well, how do I put this lightly? It comes from Hell. Or, whatever passes for Hell in the world she comes from. Dark magic is what I'm saying, dude. And my powers can't counteract that kind of thing, otherwise I would have been home almost as soon as I left." "You can't even try?" Juston asked as Franklin helped him into his chair. "Oh, I could, but then the odds are that you'll wake up with goat legs, or demon horns, or you'll become a Republican," Franklin said. "Something evil like that could happen. Mixed magics aren't a good thing, trust me. Sophie's probably the only one who could fix this, and I highly doubt she's willing to do that." "Maybe if you asked nicely, showed a little skin," Juston suggested as Franklin gave him a dirty look. "Kidding. So I'm basically fucked." "You could be worse off," Franklin told him. "You're still able to build things, and you have all your friends here to help you." "But I just can't be a hero," Juston told him as he wheeled toward the glass case where his Sentinel armor stood encased. "I can't be Sentinel anymore. Just one more thing that I've lost." Franklin put a hand on his shoulder. "You're always going to be a hero, Juston. You lost your legs, not your mind. Maybe put that to use and find a new way to help others." "Thanks, Franklin," Juston told him as he pulled on a t-shirt. "Good to have you back." "Well, for now," Franklin told him. "I think I'm going to leave the team for a little while, maybe go work on improving myself." "Where are you going this time?" Juston asked as Franklin took a deep breath. "Promise you won't tell anyone, not even my family?" (*Follow Franklin into the Illuminati mini-series! -TC) Spider-Girl swung through the streets, followed by Lyja, who used her energy beams to propel herself through the air while Valeria talked to them through their earpieces. "Okay, according to the web search, the girl's name is Natalie. One year ago there was an accident involving her brother, but there were several different takes on the story from different witnesses, but the stuff that was confirmed was that Natalie and Percy had gotten into an argument before an explosion rendered her catatonic, only saying "Percy has to be stopped" before her parents put her into the institution so she wouldn't hurt herself." "Do you think Percy hurt his sister on purpose?" Lyja asked. "Or maybe it was an accident," Spider-Girl told them. "Either way, we need to keep these kids apart until we get to the bottom of this." "According to witnesses, Percy usually hangs around a video arcade less than a minute away from your location." "So we just look for a boy who looks the girl we just met," Spider-Girl said. "We're on it." The two heroes landed on the sidewalk in front of the arcade, where they heard a crying coming from an alley. Staying on guard, they calmly walked in where they saw a teenage boy with platinum blonde hair huddled up behind some garbage cans. "Please don't let my sister hurt me." the boy pleaded. "There she is!" Ms. Marvel shouted as she spotted Natalie walking down the street. "Hold it right there!" Valeria shouted as she ran in front of the girl, holding a gun shaped like a magnet. "We can't let you hurt your brother." "If I don't, people are going to die," Natalie told them. "He's already gunning for your friends. Percy is dangerous, I know what he's planning. He has to be stopped, no matter what." "That was easier than I thought," Percy said as he stood over an unconscious Spider-Girl and Lyja. "Two down, two to go. Then I get to move on to the ones that actually are a challenge." TO BE CONTINUED... |