Back to GatefoldIssue #17 by Tobias Christopher
March 2017 |
"Siege"
Machine Teen was holding Alpha by the neck, his feet dangling in the air as he tried to figure out what went wrong.
Five Seconds Earlier
"And we have no weapons, no headquarters, no other friends to turn to, and I'm hungry," Alpha said. "I don't think this situation can get much worse."
Seven Seconds Later
"Ah, I see what happened. Seriously, though, I can't breathe right now," Alpha choked out as Kittania rammed into Machine Teen, knocking into a desk and dropping Alpha.
"We need to go!" Kittania shouted as she helped Alpha up.
"Go where?" Valeria asked. "We have nowhere to run! Doom's virus is taking over the city and we have no way to fight it!"
Alpha grabbed Valeria and Kittania and flew into the air with them.
"You said that if we can get into the Baxter Building, we might have a chance," Alpha said, his voice raspy from the choking. "So, let's go to the Baxter Building!"
# # # # # # # # # #
Adam was still floating in nothingness as he thought he saw a small flash of... something in the distance. "If that's what I think it is, I might have a chance."
Adam floated toward the flash and put his hand on it. "YES! It's small, but I can use this as a conduit, maybe contact the outside world and find out what's going on. I just hope that whatever's happening with my body isn't causing any damage."
Machine Teen's body was lying next to the dismembered pieces of Sentinel's armor.
"Okay, my body's not responding," Adam said as he waved his hands around the flash, moving around bits of data and energy that were connected to the outside world. "But my wireless router is still up and running, so maybe I can use that to try to call someone. I just hope there's someone out there to call."
# # # # # # # # # #
Latveria
"So, what is this grand scheme of yours?" Sophie Von Doom asked her brother Vincent. "Just creating chaos?"
"No, my dear sister, that's only the beginning," Vincent said. "I have Machine Teen, Sentinel, H.E.R.B.I.E. and Cannonball's power at my disposal. But Cannonball's powers won't last forever. That's why I need Alpha. If I'm correct, his powers are limitless and the fool doesn't even realize it. He can charge my generator forever."
"So, now that you've got the remaining New Warriors on the run, what next?" Sophia asked.
"I capture Alpha and dispose of the other two," Vincent said. "And with Franklin and Icarus off world, they're no threat to us. Then I put my real plans into action. You see, right now with Cannonball's power, I can level a few cities before I run out of power. I can hold the world hostage and become its master before handing it over to father, winning his love and respect."
"That's what you're after? His love?" Sophie scoffed.
"And respect," Vincent reminded her. "Once I've given him the world, he'll have no choice but tell me that he's proud of me. You'll have your revenge against Franklin, I'll have vanquished every major hero in New York, and father will rule over the whole world. The Dooms will have everything they've ever desired."
# # # # # # # # # #
"It looks like H.E.R.B.I.E.'s amped up the security!" Alpha shouted as he dodged the laser blasts.
"Even going in from this point, he's got us blocked," Valeria told him. "What are the odds we can land on the roof?"
A stray blast struck Alpha, causing him to drop the girls onto the roof and fall toward the ground, several miles below. Valeria and Kittania looked over the side of the building, seeing Alpha had crashed onto the roof of a car parked in the street.
"Is he alive?" Kittania asked.
"He has to be," Valeria said. "Unless H.E.R.B.I.E.'s changed the security codes, we should still be able to get down into the lab from here. I need you to cover me once we get inside because H.E.R.B.I.E.'s going to toss everything he can at us."
"I will protect you," Kittania said as she held her broadsword up.
On the street below, a portal opened as the Doombots marched out and dragged Alpha back through to the castle in Latveria...
# # # # # # # # # #
Alpha was placed into a glass cylinder similar to the one Sam Guthrie had been trapped in while his powers were drained. The hero started to wake up as he looked over at Sam.
"What's going on?" Alpha asked.
"The end of the world, kid," Sam said weakly as he tried to sit up. "And we're going to be the cause of it."
"Over my dead body," Alpha told him.
"Yeah, actually," Sam said as he started coughing. "When that asshat comes back, he's going to finish me off and start using you to power his little toy."
"We'll just see about that," Alpha said as he felt around the glass. "
"That's not going to do you any good, there's no way to break it," Sam told him.
"What's your favorite song?"
"What?"
"Just tell me."
"'The Judds 'Why Not Me'."
"...Okay, favorite song that I've actually heard of."
# # # # # # # # # #
Kittania rushed down the stairwell, slicing through laser armed drones as she headed toward the lab with Valeria behind her.
"I hope your father does not mind me breaking the door!" Kitannia said.
"I think he'll be okay with it," Valeria told her as Kittania used her sword to cut the door open before she kicked it in. "I need to get to the central computer!"
"What are you doing, Valeria?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked.
"Shutting you down and saving my friends!" Valeria shouted.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that, Valeria," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he floated out of the shadows with a large laser pointed at them. "You must be terminated."
"This isn't you, H.E.R.B.I.E.," Valeria said. "What happened to the robot that was my brother's best friend? The one who was supposed to keep him out of trouble? Did you-- did you do something to Franklin, too?"
"Your brother left this dimension because of you," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he showed her a viewscreen. "I've been monitoring him to make sure he doesn't want to come back."
H.E.R.B.I.E. showed her the footage of Franklin and Josh on the wilderness planet that he had taken earlier. Franklin and Josh were sitting on the riverbank, just enjoying the view.
"Franklin, are you sure you never want to go back?" Josh asked.
"My sister took everything from me," Franklin told him. "My team, my friends... she even took my parent's love from me. Before she came along, my dad looked at me differently. Then she showed up with her super brain and... the way he looked at me changed. Like I wasn't smart enough anymore. I'm not smart, Josh. I can't build fancy gadgets or do scientific equations like my dad or Valeria can. I mean, without my powers, I'm pretty much worthless."
"Hey, hey, hey," Josh told him. "You are not worthless. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me, Franklin. And you are smart. We wouldn't have gotten this far is you weren't. I don't care about your powers, or who your family is. I care about you. And even if we spend the rest of our lives here, then I'm glad I'm spending it with you. Your sister can never take that from you."
H.E.R.B.I.E. shut the screen off.
"Franklin's never coming back, little girl," the robot laughed. "He even destroyed his little portal gun so he didn't have to return. He's gone, and it's all because of you."
"No, it's not true," Valeria said as she shed a tear. "Franklin can be annoying and a brat, but... I do care about him."
The laser started to light up and Kittania got ready to defend against it, just as H.E.R.B.I.E.'s expression started changing, then going blurry and cutting in and out.
"Hello?" Adam asked through the robot. "Is anyone out there?"
"Adam?" Valeria asked. "Is that you?"
"No, it's Rosie the Robot," Adam told her. "What the hell is going on? Why can't I get back into my body?"
"Because Vincent Von Doom took it, and Sentinel, and H.E.R.B.I.E.," Valeria told him. "You're all under his control!"
"I don't know how much longer I can stay on this channel, but I have a reboot switch inside of my chest.
"What does it look like?" Kittania asked.
"It's a big button that says 'reboot'," Adam told him. "That should wipe out everything my body's downloaded over the last 48 hours, including what Doom's put into my system. I should be normal again after that. Good luck."
Adam was tossed out of H.E.R.B.I.E.'s body as the robot took control again, just in time for Kittania to kick him through the window and onto the street below.
"Okay, now we know how to get Adam back," Valeria said. "Then maybe we can free Juston and stop Doom, but Franklin..."
"We will find him and settle this," Kittania promised as she put a hand on Valeria's shoulder. "But perhaps we should consider taking this fight to Doom himself."
"First we free Adam, and see where he hid Juston," Valeria told her. "We'll need all the help we can get."
The wall next to the broken door was smashed in as Machine Teen stepped through the hole.
"This ends now," Machine Teen said as a desk was tossed at him, pinning him to the wall. Kittania jumped onto the desk, and with one sliced, cut his shirt clean off. Valeria slid between her legs and opened the chest place on Machine Teen's chest and hitting the reboot button. His robotic eyes closed as his head dropped.
"I thought he was supposed to reboot, not die," Valeria said as the Windows logon sound was heard. Machine Teen opened his eyes and looked around.
"That better not be my favorite shirt that's in pieces next to me."
# # # # # # # # # #
After explaining everything to Adam, the trio looked out the window to see that both H.E.R.B.I.E. and Alpha were nowhere to be found. "I don't know where Juston is, I was trapped in a void, remember?" Adam asked. "Maybe Doom took him like he probably did with Andy."
"Then let's go to Latveria," Valeria told them.
"Can I put a shirt on first--"
"Let's go to Latveria, NOW."
# # # # # # # # # #
Latveria
"Why has Machine Teen gone offline?" Vincent asked as he looked at the computer screen. "He's supposed to be killing the last of the New Warriors!"
"Maybe they finished him first," Sophie said as she spun around in her chair. "Like it matters, you still have Alpha to power your machine, and Franklin's not here to stand your way."
"True, but I want to be sure that none of those pests screw up my plans," Vincent told her. "Any minute now, the last of Cannonball's kinetic energy will be siphoned off and I can start on draining Alpha."
"Yeah, about that," Alpha said as he stood in the doorway, his arm around Cannonball's shoulder to help him stand. "Gonna have to take a pass on that. And by the way... where's my puppy!"
"How? That was shatterproof glass!" Vincent shouted.
"My music teacher always said that my singing voice could shatter glass, I guess she was right," Alpha told him.
"I'm never listening to Garth Brooks again," Cannonball weakly said.
"Doombots, the prisoners have escaped!" Vincent shouted. "Retrain them! Doombots, did you hear me?"
The head of one of the Doombots rolled over to Vincent's feet as Kittania, Valeria and Machine Teen stood at the door with a portal closing behind them.
"It's over," Valeria told him. "We're shutting you down."
"You think you can stop me?" Vincent asked with a laugh as a blast shield appeared in front of him. "I've drained Cannonball's energy into my generator, so I can do this!"
The room filled with a bright light, stunning everyone. The New Warriors fell to the floor after being struck by the kinetic energy from Vincent Von Doom's ceiling mounted lasers.
"And that's how you finish a job," Vincent said as someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned around as punch hit him in the jaw, sending him to the ground. "Who dares!?"
"That's my little sister and my friends you just shot at," Franklin said as he cracked his knuckles with Josh standing behind him. "Alright, Doom, you want to dance with the New Warriors? Let's fuckin' dance."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Machine Teen was holding Alpha by the neck, his feet dangling in the air as he tried to figure out what went wrong.
Five Seconds Earlier
"And we have no weapons, no headquarters, no other friends to turn to, and I'm hungry," Alpha said. "I don't think this situation can get much worse."
Seven Seconds Later
"Ah, I see what happened. Seriously, though, I can't breathe right now," Alpha choked out as Kittania rammed into Machine Teen, knocking into a desk and dropping Alpha.
"We need to go!" Kittania shouted as she helped Alpha up.
"Go where?" Valeria asked. "We have nowhere to run! Doom's virus is taking over the city and we have no way to fight it!"
Alpha grabbed Valeria and Kittania and flew into the air with them.
"You said that if we can get into the Baxter Building, we might have a chance," Alpha said, his voice raspy from the choking. "So, let's go to the Baxter Building!"
# # # # # # # # # #
Adam was still floating in nothingness as he thought he saw a small flash of... something in the distance. "If that's what I think it is, I might have a chance."
Adam floated toward the flash and put his hand on it. "YES! It's small, but I can use this as a conduit, maybe contact the outside world and find out what's going on. I just hope that whatever's happening with my body isn't causing any damage."
Machine Teen's body was lying next to the dismembered pieces of Sentinel's armor.
"Okay, my body's not responding," Adam said as he waved his hands around the flash, moving around bits of data and energy that were connected to the outside world. "But my wireless router is still up and running, so maybe I can use that to try to call someone. I just hope there's someone out there to call."
# # # # # # # # # #
Latveria
"So, what is this grand scheme of yours?" Sophie Von Doom asked her brother Vincent. "Just creating chaos?"
"No, my dear sister, that's only the beginning," Vincent said. "I have Machine Teen, Sentinel, H.E.R.B.I.E. and Cannonball's power at my disposal. But Cannonball's powers won't last forever. That's why I need Alpha. If I'm correct, his powers are limitless and the fool doesn't even realize it. He can charge my generator forever."
"So, now that you've got the remaining New Warriors on the run, what next?" Sophia asked.
"I capture Alpha and dispose of the other two," Vincent said. "And with Franklin and Icarus off world, they're no threat to us. Then I put my real plans into action. You see, right now with Cannonball's power, I can level a few cities before I run out of power. I can hold the world hostage and become its master before handing it over to father, winning his love and respect."
"That's what you're after? His love?" Sophie scoffed.
"And respect," Vincent reminded her. "Once I've given him the world, he'll have no choice but tell me that he's proud of me. You'll have your revenge against Franklin, I'll have vanquished every major hero in New York, and father will rule over the whole world. The Dooms will have everything they've ever desired."
# # # # # # # # # #
"It looks like H.E.R.B.I.E.'s amped up the security!" Alpha shouted as he dodged the laser blasts.
"Even going in from this point, he's got us blocked," Valeria told him. "What are the odds we can land on the roof?"
A stray blast struck Alpha, causing him to drop the girls onto the roof and fall toward the ground, several miles below. Valeria and Kittania looked over the side of the building, seeing Alpha had crashed onto the roof of a car parked in the street.
"Is he alive?" Kittania asked.
"He has to be," Valeria said. "Unless H.E.R.B.I.E.'s changed the security codes, we should still be able to get down into the lab from here. I need you to cover me once we get inside because H.E.R.B.I.E.'s going to toss everything he can at us."
"I will protect you," Kittania said as she held her broadsword up.
On the street below, a portal opened as the Doombots marched out and dragged Alpha back through to the castle in Latveria...
# # # # # # # # # #
Alpha was placed into a glass cylinder similar to the one Sam Guthrie had been trapped in while his powers were drained. The hero started to wake up as he looked over at Sam.
"What's going on?" Alpha asked.
"The end of the world, kid," Sam said weakly as he tried to sit up. "And we're going to be the cause of it."
"Over my dead body," Alpha told him.
"Yeah, actually," Sam said as he started coughing. "When that asshat comes back, he's going to finish me off and start using you to power his little toy."
"We'll just see about that," Alpha said as he felt around the glass. "
"That's not going to do you any good, there's no way to break it," Sam told him.
"What's your favorite song?"
"What?"
"Just tell me."
"'The Judds 'Why Not Me'."
"...Okay, favorite song that I've actually heard of."
# # # # # # # # # #
Kittania rushed down the stairwell, slicing through laser armed drones as she headed toward the lab with Valeria behind her.
"I hope your father does not mind me breaking the door!" Kitannia said.
"I think he'll be okay with it," Valeria told her as Kittania used her sword to cut the door open before she kicked it in. "I need to get to the central computer!"
"What are you doing, Valeria?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked.
"Shutting you down and saving my friends!" Valeria shouted.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that, Valeria," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he floated out of the shadows with a large laser pointed at them. "You must be terminated."
"This isn't you, H.E.R.B.I.E.," Valeria said. "What happened to the robot that was my brother's best friend? The one who was supposed to keep him out of trouble? Did you-- did you do something to Franklin, too?"
"Your brother left this dimension because of you," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he showed her a viewscreen. "I've been monitoring him to make sure he doesn't want to come back."
H.E.R.B.I.E. showed her the footage of Franklin and Josh on the wilderness planet that he had taken earlier. Franklin and Josh were sitting on the riverbank, just enjoying the view.
"Franklin, are you sure you never want to go back?" Josh asked.
"My sister took everything from me," Franklin told him. "My team, my friends... she even took my parent's love from me. Before she came along, my dad looked at me differently. Then she showed up with her super brain and... the way he looked at me changed. Like I wasn't smart enough anymore. I'm not smart, Josh. I can't build fancy gadgets or do scientific equations like my dad or Valeria can. I mean, without my powers, I'm pretty much worthless."
"Hey, hey, hey," Josh told him. "You are not worthless. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me, Franklin. And you are smart. We wouldn't have gotten this far is you weren't. I don't care about your powers, or who your family is. I care about you. And even if we spend the rest of our lives here, then I'm glad I'm spending it with you. Your sister can never take that from you."
H.E.R.B.I.E. shut the screen off.
"Franklin's never coming back, little girl," the robot laughed. "He even destroyed his little portal gun so he didn't have to return. He's gone, and it's all because of you."
"No, it's not true," Valeria said as she shed a tear. "Franklin can be annoying and a brat, but... I do care about him."
The laser started to light up and Kittania got ready to defend against it, just as H.E.R.B.I.E.'s expression started changing, then going blurry and cutting in and out.
"Hello?" Adam asked through the robot. "Is anyone out there?"
"Adam?" Valeria asked. "Is that you?"
"No, it's Rosie the Robot," Adam told her. "What the hell is going on? Why can't I get back into my body?"
"Because Vincent Von Doom took it, and Sentinel, and H.E.R.B.I.E.," Valeria told him. "You're all under his control!"
"I don't know how much longer I can stay on this channel, but I have a reboot switch inside of my chest.
"What does it look like?" Kittania asked.
"It's a big button that says 'reboot'," Adam told him. "That should wipe out everything my body's downloaded over the last 48 hours, including what Doom's put into my system. I should be normal again after that. Good luck."
Adam was tossed out of H.E.R.B.I.E.'s body as the robot took control again, just in time for Kittania to kick him through the window and onto the street below.
"Okay, now we know how to get Adam back," Valeria said. "Then maybe we can free Juston and stop Doom, but Franklin..."
"We will find him and settle this," Kittania promised as she put a hand on Valeria's shoulder. "But perhaps we should consider taking this fight to Doom himself."
"First we free Adam, and see where he hid Juston," Valeria told her. "We'll need all the help we can get."
The wall next to the broken door was smashed in as Machine Teen stepped through the hole.
"This ends now," Machine Teen said as a desk was tossed at him, pinning him to the wall. Kittania jumped onto the desk, and with one sliced, cut his shirt clean off. Valeria slid between her legs and opened the chest place on Machine Teen's chest and hitting the reboot button. His robotic eyes closed as his head dropped.
"I thought he was supposed to reboot, not die," Valeria said as the Windows logon sound was heard. Machine Teen opened his eyes and looked around.
"That better not be my favorite shirt that's in pieces next to me."
# # # # # # # # # #
After explaining everything to Adam, the trio looked out the window to see that both H.E.R.B.I.E. and Alpha were nowhere to be found. "I don't know where Juston is, I was trapped in a void, remember?" Adam asked. "Maybe Doom took him like he probably did with Andy."
"Then let's go to Latveria," Valeria told them.
"Can I put a shirt on first--"
"Let's go to Latveria, NOW."
# # # # # # # # # #
Latveria
"Why has Machine Teen gone offline?" Vincent asked as he looked at the computer screen. "He's supposed to be killing the last of the New Warriors!"
"Maybe they finished him first," Sophie said as she spun around in her chair. "Like it matters, you still have Alpha to power your machine, and Franklin's not here to stand your way."
"True, but I want to be sure that none of those pests screw up my plans," Vincent told her. "Any minute now, the last of Cannonball's kinetic energy will be siphoned off and I can start on draining Alpha."
"Yeah, about that," Alpha said as he stood in the doorway, his arm around Cannonball's shoulder to help him stand. "Gonna have to take a pass on that. And by the way... where's my puppy!"
"How? That was shatterproof glass!" Vincent shouted.
"My music teacher always said that my singing voice could shatter glass, I guess she was right," Alpha told him.
"I'm never listening to Garth Brooks again," Cannonball weakly said.
"Doombots, the prisoners have escaped!" Vincent shouted. "Retrain them! Doombots, did you hear me?"
The head of one of the Doombots rolled over to Vincent's feet as Kittania, Valeria and Machine Teen stood at the door with a portal closing behind them.
"It's over," Valeria told him. "We're shutting you down."
"You think you can stop me?" Vincent asked with a laugh as a blast shield appeared in front of him. "I've drained Cannonball's energy into my generator, so I can do this!"
The room filled with a bright light, stunning everyone. The New Warriors fell to the floor after being struck by the kinetic energy from Vincent Von Doom's ceiling mounted lasers.
"And that's how you finish a job," Vincent said as someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned around as punch hit him in the jaw, sending him to the ground. "Who dares!?"
"That's my little sister and my friends you just shot at," Franklin said as he cracked his knuckles with Josh standing behind him. "Alright, Doom, you want to dance with the New Warriors? Let's fuckin' dance."
TO BE CONTINUED...