Back to GatefoldIssue #2 by Tobias Christopher
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Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue Richards, has finally decided he wants to follow in the family footsteps and become a hero in his own right. Even though H.E.R.B.I.E., his nanny, er… parental appointed protector, objects to Franklin going out into the world to begin his career as a hero.
Meanwhile, several dimensions away, a trio of powerful brothers has started destroying life everywhere they find it. And now they're making their way towards Earth. With every other hero in the city of New York too busy to deal with the situation, Franklin has decided to gather a group of heroes on his own to find out what's coming, and if it can be stopped before it's too late.
Meanwhile, several dimensions away, a trio of powerful brothers has started destroying life everywhere they find it. And now they're making their way towards Earth. With every other hero in the city of New York too busy to deal with the situation, Franklin has decided to gather a group of heroes on his own to find out what's coming, and if it can be stopped before it's too late.
“MAN VS MACHINE”
"Let's see. I'm going to need this. And this, and this. I might need this," Franklin said as he started tossing emergency supplies into a backpack. Dehydrated food packets, first aid kits, flashlights, a pocket knife, and some objects that he didn't know what they were, but thought they looked cool. "Should I bring toilet paper? I don't want to end up on a world that doesn't have toilet paper."
As the teenager walked around the lab, tossing stuff into the bag, his parental appointed protector, H.E.R.B.I.E., followed behind. The robot grabbed the stuff out of the backpack as quickly as it was put in, putting it back where it came from.
"If you think I am going to allow you to go traipsing around the multi-verse, you're crazier than your parents the time they let Wolverine join the team," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he floated around the room, trying to stop Franklin.
"Yeah, I'll never forget the epic battle between Yoshi and Wolverine that nearly destroyed the whole building." Franklin sighed as he remembered the most epic fight that anyone in New York had ever seen. After a long pause of Franklin staring in nothingness while remembering that fight, he continued roaming the room. "But yeah, I am going. With or without you guys."
"Come on, Frankie, we don't even have any powers to defend ourselves," Andy Maguire said as he sat on the table, eating an apple. "How are we supposed to survive in a place that's probably dominated by super-beings on a planet that's about to be wiped out? What are we supposed to do, help them build a rocket ship to launch the sole surviving baby to another planet so it can grow up and become protector of a whole new world, like in that movie, what was it called? Oh, yeah, Coneheads."
"Like you said, strength in numbers," Franklin told him. "We just need to find a few more people willing to go with us. Some people who are strong enough to put up a fight if it comes down to it."
"You know, I think I might just know a guy," Andy said as he finished his apple.
"What part of 'no one is going' is neither of you getting?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked. "No one is going anywhere and-" The sliding doors to the lab were already shutting, Andy and Franklin having departed seconds earlier. "The Richards could have had a puppy. Johnny suggested a puppy over having a kid. A puppy would have been much easier to handle. I wonder if that mutation ray is still lying around. I could turn Franklin into a cute little golden retriever. My artificial life would be so much easier."
"Dude, why is your robot such a dork?" Andy asked as he headed to the stairwell. Franklin grabbed him by the collar and dragged him toward the elevator down the hall.
"You know how they say you're not supposed to eat Pop Rocks and drink cola at the same time?" Franklin asked as he pushed the button. "Well, you're not supposed to pour both into your robot's A.I. system, either. H.E.R.B.I.E. was never the same after that."
Franklin stared into nothingness to remember once again as Andy pulled him into the elevator.
# # # # #
In another world, the trio of cloaked brothers were standing on a planet now filled with the endless corpses of chibi versions of characters from every police procedural cop show ever made.
"All of this cuteness makes me sick," A said as he picked up the dying form of Dennis Franz. "This isn't imaginative, it's just sickeningly annoying. And this one keeps trying to show its posterior."
"Come, brothers, let us move forward," B said. "There are many more worlds that need to be cleansed."
C paused for a moment as he looked around. "Brothers, can you not feel it? Every time we destroy a world, something changes."
"Yes, we grow stronger in our power," B reminded him. "We feed on the imagination that these worlds have terribly squandered."
"Yes, but I feel as if we're headed toward... something powerful," C said. "It's as if we're being drawn somewhere."
"I can feel it, as well," A said as he tapped his staff onto the ground, creating a portal to a new world. "I didn't want to bring it up just yet, but…could it be possible we're being drawn towards... him?"
"Do not speak of such things, brother," B said. "He does not exist. He is merely a fairy tale, a thing of legend."
"You said the same thing when it was just the two of us, before we found our third brother," A reminded him as they stepped through the portal. "As powerful as we've become, surely a fourth entity has come into being."
"Then we shall keep going, and perhaps if he does exist, we will find him," B said. "Come, a new world awaits!"
# # # # #
"Alright, this guy's a little... weird," Andy said as he walked with Franklin down the street toward the gym. "But he's a good guy, really friendly, and most importantly he's pretty strong. He sticks up for all of us scrawny losers at school when we're being bullied. Okay, well, me. He's only ever had to stand up for me. But you get the idea."
Andy opened the door and found several people being tossed out of a wrestling ring. In the center stood a teenage boy in a black tank top and blue jean shorts, taking on all comers. He had shortcut light brown hair and a well-built physique that both Franklin and Andy couldn't help but admire.
"There is no way on God's green earth that he got that body naturally," Franklin whispered as they approached the ring, avoiding the full grown men who were being tossed out like they were rag dolls.
"Hey, Adam," Andy said as Adam looked around, realizing he was out of people to take him on. Adam Aaronson loved new challenges, and today's was seeing if anyone who beat him at wrestling. He was careful not to really hurt anyone as he tossed them out of the ring, only wanting a challenge and not to truly cause harm.
"Andy, right?" Adam asked as he approached them. Franklin noticed that he didn't have a drop of sweat on him, or even a hair out of place. "Glad you came by, I was hoping you'd start coming here to work on that scrawny frame."
"Scrawny?" Andy asked as his lip trembled.
"Look, Adam, we came because we need your help," Franklin said as he stood outside the ropes. "We're going on a trip and we need someone strong to have our backs."
"A trip, huh? Going somewhere rough?" Adam asked with a smile. "Going to walk down Yancy Street after dark?"
"Actually we're going to use my dad's interplanetary dimensional device and travel unexplored universes in an attempt to stop a rapidly approaching evil that wants to destroy our planet," Franklin said calmly.
"Wow," Adam said after a brief pause. "Was not expecting that response."
"So, are you in?" Andy asked.
"Okay, I admit, I'm curious. I'll listen to what you two are planning, but on one condition," Adam told them. "If you can take me down in the ring. Two against one, no holds barred. You two pin me, and I'm all yours. But if I beat the both of you, you both have to start training here so I can build you two bags of bones up. What do you say?"
"I say," Andy said as he ripped his shirt open like Hulk Hogan. "Let's do this!" Andy then realized he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath. "Oh, man, and I really liked that shirt."
"Okay, I guess if we have to do this," Franklin said, shaking his head at Andy as they climbed into the ring, seeing how scrawny his new friend really was. "Andy, buddy, you really do need to start hitting the gym."
Andy sheepishly covered his bare chest as the bell rang to start the match. Before they even knew what hit them, Adam had clotheslined the duo, knocking both onto their backs.
"Do we really need this guy?" Andy asked as he turned his head toward Franklin.
Adam was heading back toward his corner, and turned around just in time to see Andy swing Franklin around, launching the young man towards him, knocking Adam back onto his stool.
"Okay, I'll give you that one," Adam said as he stood up while Franklin lay on the ground, just as Andy used the ropes on the other side as a slingshot.
"JUMANJI!" Andy shouted as he launched himself at Adam while screaming, knocking him to the ground.
"Okay, guys, that's enough, I think that-" Adam started to say as Franklin elbow slammed Adam's chest, then realized how solid Adam's body was.
"OOWW!" Franklin said, holding his sore and reddened elbow.
Adam started to sit up as Andy grabbed the stool and smashed him in the back of the head.
"What the hell?" Adam asked as he turned around to look at Andy.
"They do it on WWE all the time, I thought it was a fake stool," Andy said. Adam stood up as Franklin jumped onto his back, trying to get him into a choke hold. Adam just ignored him as he grabbed Andy by the leg, turning him upside down and lifting him into the air. He then grabbed Franklin by the shirt and held both young men in front of him.
"Well, you're both determined, that's really admirable," Adam told them as Andy grabbed his leg and tried to pull him to the ground. "And you're not giving up despite the fact that I can clearly send both of your butts to the emergency room. I like that. No one's ever lasted in the ring against me this long. Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, now you have my attention."
"Ha, movie reference!" Andy shouted as Adam dropped them to the ground as he headed for the ropes to climb out.
"I'll change and meet you back here in a few minutes," Adam said as he climbed outside of the ropes in time for Andy to launch himself at his opponent again, flying out of the ring and onto the ground.
"You okay, Andy?" Franklin asked as he helped Andy up.
"Oh, look, there's Mr. Henshaw, I wonder where he's going. Perhaps to Holland," Andy said in a dazed voice before falling forward again. Franklin tried to catch him before he hit the ground face first.
In the changing room, Adam grabbed his clothes from his locker. After getting everything but his shirt on, Adam opened a small plate over the area where his heart should have been located, revealing wires and circuitry. He pulled out a small screwdriver and adjusted a few things.
"Those kids really packed quite a punch," Adam said to himself. "They almost knocked a few important wires loose."
"You okay, Adam" Franklin asked from outside the locker room door.
"Yeah, just finishing up," Adam said as he closed his chest plate and pulled on a t-shirt. "Be right out."
A few minutes later, the trio were exiting the gym as Andy buttoned up a spare shirt Adam had in his locker.
"Thanks for the shirt," Andy said as he finished the last button.
"No problem, kid," Adam told him. "Just don't go ripping that one to shreds, it's the only extra one I have. So, what, the three of us are just supposed to find whatever's destroying other worlds and just... tell it to stop? What's the game plan on this? Tell me we're not going in blind."
"Well, I was just figuring it to be a recon mission for now," Franklin said. "Just get the info on what's happening and bring it back. By then my dad and the others should be back."
"And if they're not? Or this thing wants to eat us?" Adam asked.
"I taste terrible," Andy said. "I licked some ketchup off my arm once after I'd sprayed a ton of Axe Body Spray on."
"Frank, I get why I'm going, but uh, why is Scrappy Doo here joining along? He might get hurt," Adam whispered.
"Because we're the only three guys who are willing," Franklin told him. "Unless you know of someone else who's up for traveling through space and time on a whim."
Adam stopped and stroked his chin as he thought about it. "Maybe I do. Plus he's good at building things. You could use a weapons guy on this, right?"
"Is he military?" Franklin asked.
"Why would his religion matter?" Andy asked as they continued down the street.
# # # # #
"Stupid intergalactic static," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he tried contacting the Fantastic Four as they were helping another world avoid a war. "Dr. Richards, is anyone there?"
"H.E.R.B.I.E.?" a voice finally said through the static. "Is that you, buddy?"
"Oh, God, it's Johnny. Anyone but the dumb blonde one," H.E.R.B.I.E. sighed. "Can you put Dr. Richards on? Or your sister? Or Ben? Or any inanimate object, really. I'll wait."
"Sorry, bud, all of them are busy," Johnny said. "What's going on? You remembered to tape the finale of Mad Men for me, right?"
"Look, Johnny, we have trouble and-"
"You DID remember to tape it for me, though?"
"Ugh," the robot said. "Yes, I remembered. Now can you just-"
"Oh! I almost forgot, Sue says that Franklin has to be in bed by 10," Johnny told him. "There's actually a whole list here that she didn't have time to go over with you, but this world kind of doesn't have toilet paper, so..."
"Johnny, would you just pipe down so I can-" H.E.R.B.I.E. said as more static started distorting Johnny's voice even further, until there was nothing but static filling the airwaves. "Johnny? I am so recording over your show if you don't answer me!"
# # # # #
Adam led Franklin and Andy to a nearby junkyard that was filled mostly with old cars and discarded pieces of metal and machinery. There were piles of junk as far as the eye could see.
"Your man lives here?" Andy asked.
"Man isn't quite the right word," Adam said as they walked past the piles of junk all around the place. "He goes to our school, but he mainly hangs out in the metal shop. Juston, are you here?"
The sound of loud 80's hair metal music was heard, along with the sound of a band saw. As they got closer, a teenage boy with long stringy brown hair lifted his head from his latest project. He was wearing a red and black flannel shirt with a black AC/DC t-shirt underneath. He lifted the safety goggles off of his eyes as he saw the three young men approaching.
"Hey, Tin Man!" Juston shouted as he rushed over and hugged Adam, patting him on the back.
"Tin Man?" Franklin asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's just a nickname," Adam said. "He calls me Tin Man and I call him Scarecrow. It's a long story, we'll tell you about it sometime."
"What does that make you?" Andy asked as he looked at Franklin.
"Probably the Wizard since this shenanigan is all my idea, Cowardly Lion," Franklin told him.
"Aw, man," Andy whispered as he stared down at his shoes. "Well, it beats being a munchkin."
"Juston, my boys here need some help with a trip they're going on," Adam explained. "They could use a tech genius on board."
"I don't know, I'm kind of in the middle of some things," Juston replied. "Right now I'm turning a microwave oven into a high powered laser rifle, then I'm going to test it out on a toaster strudel, see if I can't cook it in under ten seconds. I don't know if I have time for a road trip. Where you going, cross country?"
"Interdimensional field trip," Franklin said. "We're going way out on this one. It might be an end of the world situation, we don't know yet."
"End of the world? Why does the end of the world always happen in New York?" Juston asked them as he sighed. "So, who's leading the charge on this little mission? Must be a big time hero if you're hopping dimensions."
Franklin stared down at the ground, Andy nervously tugged at his collar, and Adam coughed nervously.
"Seriously?" Juston asked with a loud laugh. "Four teenage boys with no powers, no training, and no clue what they're doing are going to go across the universe to stop a possible world eating evil entity?"
"My robot's going, too," Franklin said matter-of-factly.
"I don't think so, guys," Juston said as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes. "Sorry, not really interested in the whole suicide mission thing."
"Come on, Juston," Adam said, talking so the others couldn't hear him. "I really like these guys. I don't want to see them get killed. I finally have a chance to make some real friends in this town besides you."
"Do they know that you're, you know, not a real boy?" Juston asked.
"No, and I kind of want to keep that under wraps," Adam said. "I don't want them looking at me like a freak like everyone else who knows about me does. For the first time since my dad died, I feel like I can have a normal life."
"Adam, you're not a freak, you're special," Juston reminded him. "I'm glad you let me in who you really are, even if it was just for the free upgrades to your system."
"So, are you in?" Adam asked.
"I guess so, for you," Juston told him as he looked over Adam's shoulder. "Where'd they go?"
As Franklin and Andy looked around the junkyard, a pair of glowing eyes was watching them from within a pile of junk, designed to hide a secret from all trespassers. As soon as Franklin got into its sight, a blinking light went off inside its head.
MUTANT DETECTED
Directives:
Engage
Detain
Destroy
"You think we stand a chance of actually pulling this off?" Andy asked as he walked alongside Franklin. "I mean, what if we do find something dangerous?"
"Something dangerous could be coming towards us, regardless," Franklin said. "I'm not just going to sit back and wait for something to come to us. If there's even the smallest chance of stopping whatever it is, I'm taking it. Heroes don't back down, Andy."
"But I'm not a hero," Andy said as he stared down at the ground. "I'm just a 98 lb. weakling. Hell, I don't even have a hot date tonight. I was just trying to impress you. You seem so cool, getting to hang out with the Fantastic 4 and going on all those adventures. You'd probably never look twice at a paperboy from the poor part of town."
"Andy, you don't have to impress me," Franklin said as he put an arm around Andy's shoulder. "I like you, okay? I want us to be friends, no matter how this adventure goes."
"Even if we end up getting killed?" Andy asked.
"When we get to heaven, we'll double date with the girls from Poltergeist, and shoot spit balls down at Justin Bieber when he gets to Hell," Franklin smiled as a rumbling was heard from behind them. The pile of metal started shaking as the 20 foot form of a Sentinel rose up.
"HALT MUTANT!" the Sentinel shouted as it held its arm forward, charging up a laser blast in its hand, firing a large charge of energy at the two boys.
TO BE CONTINUED...
As the teenager walked around the lab, tossing stuff into the bag, his parental appointed protector, H.E.R.B.I.E., followed behind. The robot grabbed the stuff out of the backpack as quickly as it was put in, putting it back where it came from.
"If you think I am going to allow you to go traipsing around the multi-verse, you're crazier than your parents the time they let Wolverine join the team," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he floated around the room, trying to stop Franklin.
"Yeah, I'll never forget the epic battle between Yoshi and Wolverine that nearly destroyed the whole building." Franklin sighed as he remembered the most epic fight that anyone in New York had ever seen. After a long pause of Franklin staring in nothingness while remembering that fight, he continued roaming the room. "But yeah, I am going. With or without you guys."
"Come on, Frankie, we don't even have any powers to defend ourselves," Andy Maguire said as he sat on the table, eating an apple. "How are we supposed to survive in a place that's probably dominated by super-beings on a planet that's about to be wiped out? What are we supposed to do, help them build a rocket ship to launch the sole surviving baby to another planet so it can grow up and become protector of a whole new world, like in that movie, what was it called? Oh, yeah, Coneheads."
"Like you said, strength in numbers," Franklin told him. "We just need to find a few more people willing to go with us. Some people who are strong enough to put up a fight if it comes down to it."
"You know, I think I might just know a guy," Andy said as he finished his apple.
"What part of 'no one is going' is neither of you getting?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked. "No one is going anywhere and-" The sliding doors to the lab were already shutting, Andy and Franklin having departed seconds earlier. "The Richards could have had a puppy. Johnny suggested a puppy over having a kid. A puppy would have been much easier to handle. I wonder if that mutation ray is still lying around. I could turn Franklin into a cute little golden retriever. My artificial life would be so much easier."
"Dude, why is your robot such a dork?" Andy asked as he headed to the stairwell. Franklin grabbed him by the collar and dragged him toward the elevator down the hall.
"You know how they say you're not supposed to eat Pop Rocks and drink cola at the same time?" Franklin asked as he pushed the button. "Well, you're not supposed to pour both into your robot's A.I. system, either. H.E.R.B.I.E. was never the same after that."
Franklin stared into nothingness to remember once again as Andy pulled him into the elevator.
# # # # #
In another world, the trio of cloaked brothers were standing on a planet now filled with the endless corpses of chibi versions of characters from every police procedural cop show ever made.
"All of this cuteness makes me sick," A said as he picked up the dying form of Dennis Franz. "This isn't imaginative, it's just sickeningly annoying. And this one keeps trying to show its posterior."
"Come, brothers, let us move forward," B said. "There are many more worlds that need to be cleansed."
C paused for a moment as he looked around. "Brothers, can you not feel it? Every time we destroy a world, something changes."
"Yes, we grow stronger in our power," B reminded him. "We feed on the imagination that these worlds have terribly squandered."
"Yes, but I feel as if we're headed toward... something powerful," C said. "It's as if we're being drawn somewhere."
"I can feel it, as well," A said as he tapped his staff onto the ground, creating a portal to a new world. "I didn't want to bring it up just yet, but…could it be possible we're being drawn towards... him?"
"Do not speak of such things, brother," B said. "He does not exist. He is merely a fairy tale, a thing of legend."
"You said the same thing when it was just the two of us, before we found our third brother," A reminded him as they stepped through the portal. "As powerful as we've become, surely a fourth entity has come into being."
"Then we shall keep going, and perhaps if he does exist, we will find him," B said. "Come, a new world awaits!"
# # # # #
"Alright, this guy's a little... weird," Andy said as he walked with Franklin down the street toward the gym. "But he's a good guy, really friendly, and most importantly he's pretty strong. He sticks up for all of us scrawny losers at school when we're being bullied. Okay, well, me. He's only ever had to stand up for me. But you get the idea."
Andy opened the door and found several people being tossed out of a wrestling ring. In the center stood a teenage boy in a black tank top and blue jean shorts, taking on all comers. He had shortcut light brown hair and a well-built physique that both Franklin and Andy couldn't help but admire.
"There is no way on God's green earth that he got that body naturally," Franklin whispered as they approached the ring, avoiding the full grown men who were being tossed out like they were rag dolls.
"Hey, Adam," Andy said as Adam looked around, realizing he was out of people to take him on. Adam Aaronson loved new challenges, and today's was seeing if anyone who beat him at wrestling. He was careful not to really hurt anyone as he tossed them out of the ring, only wanting a challenge and not to truly cause harm.
"Andy, right?" Adam asked as he approached them. Franklin noticed that he didn't have a drop of sweat on him, or even a hair out of place. "Glad you came by, I was hoping you'd start coming here to work on that scrawny frame."
"Scrawny?" Andy asked as his lip trembled.
"Look, Adam, we came because we need your help," Franklin said as he stood outside the ropes. "We're going on a trip and we need someone strong to have our backs."
"A trip, huh? Going somewhere rough?" Adam asked with a smile. "Going to walk down Yancy Street after dark?"
"Actually we're going to use my dad's interplanetary dimensional device and travel unexplored universes in an attempt to stop a rapidly approaching evil that wants to destroy our planet," Franklin said calmly.
"Wow," Adam said after a brief pause. "Was not expecting that response."
"So, are you in?" Andy asked.
"Okay, I admit, I'm curious. I'll listen to what you two are planning, but on one condition," Adam told them. "If you can take me down in the ring. Two against one, no holds barred. You two pin me, and I'm all yours. But if I beat the both of you, you both have to start training here so I can build you two bags of bones up. What do you say?"
"I say," Andy said as he ripped his shirt open like Hulk Hogan. "Let's do this!" Andy then realized he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath. "Oh, man, and I really liked that shirt."
"Okay, I guess if we have to do this," Franklin said, shaking his head at Andy as they climbed into the ring, seeing how scrawny his new friend really was. "Andy, buddy, you really do need to start hitting the gym."
Andy sheepishly covered his bare chest as the bell rang to start the match. Before they even knew what hit them, Adam had clotheslined the duo, knocking both onto their backs.
"Do we really need this guy?" Andy asked as he turned his head toward Franklin.
Adam was heading back toward his corner, and turned around just in time to see Andy swing Franklin around, launching the young man towards him, knocking Adam back onto his stool.
"Okay, I'll give you that one," Adam said as he stood up while Franklin lay on the ground, just as Andy used the ropes on the other side as a slingshot.
"JUMANJI!" Andy shouted as he launched himself at Adam while screaming, knocking him to the ground.
"Okay, guys, that's enough, I think that-" Adam started to say as Franklin elbow slammed Adam's chest, then realized how solid Adam's body was.
"OOWW!" Franklin said, holding his sore and reddened elbow.
Adam started to sit up as Andy grabbed the stool and smashed him in the back of the head.
"What the hell?" Adam asked as he turned around to look at Andy.
"They do it on WWE all the time, I thought it was a fake stool," Andy said. Adam stood up as Franklin jumped onto his back, trying to get him into a choke hold. Adam just ignored him as he grabbed Andy by the leg, turning him upside down and lifting him into the air. He then grabbed Franklin by the shirt and held both young men in front of him.
"Well, you're both determined, that's really admirable," Adam told them as Andy grabbed his leg and tried to pull him to the ground. "And you're not giving up despite the fact that I can clearly send both of your butts to the emergency room. I like that. No one's ever lasted in the ring against me this long. Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, now you have my attention."
"Ha, movie reference!" Andy shouted as Adam dropped them to the ground as he headed for the ropes to climb out.
"I'll change and meet you back here in a few minutes," Adam said as he climbed outside of the ropes in time for Andy to launch himself at his opponent again, flying out of the ring and onto the ground.
"You okay, Andy?" Franklin asked as he helped Andy up.
"Oh, look, there's Mr. Henshaw, I wonder where he's going. Perhaps to Holland," Andy said in a dazed voice before falling forward again. Franklin tried to catch him before he hit the ground face first.
In the changing room, Adam grabbed his clothes from his locker. After getting everything but his shirt on, Adam opened a small plate over the area where his heart should have been located, revealing wires and circuitry. He pulled out a small screwdriver and adjusted a few things.
"Those kids really packed quite a punch," Adam said to himself. "They almost knocked a few important wires loose."
"You okay, Adam" Franklin asked from outside the locker room door.
"Yeah, just finishing up," Adam said as he closed his chest plate and pulled on a t-shirt. "Be right out."
A few minutes later, the trio were exiting the gym as Andy buttoned up a spare shirt Adam had in his locker.
"Thanks for the shirt," Andy said as he finished the last button.
"No problem, kid," Adam told him. "Just don't go ripping that one to shreds, it's the only extra one I have. So, what, the three of us are just supposed to find whatever's destroying other worlds and just... tell it to stop? What's the game plan on this? Tell me we're not going in blind."
"Well, I was just figuring it to be a recon mission for now," Franklin said. "Just get the info on what's happening and bring it back. By then my dad and the others should be back."
"And if they're not? Or this thing wants to eat us?" Adam asked.
"I taste terrible," Andy said. "I licked some ketchup off my arm once after I'd sprayed a ton of Axe Body Spray on."
"Frank, I get why I'm going, but uh, why is Scrappy Doo here joining along? He might get hurt," Adam whispered.
"Because we're the only three guys who are willing," Franklin told him. "Unless you know of someone else who's up for traveling through space and time on a whim."
Adam stopped and stroked his chin as he thought about it. "Maybe I do. Plus he's good at building things. You could use a weapons guy on this, right?"
"Is he military?" Franklin asked.
"Why would his religion matter?" Andy asked as they continued down the street.
# # # # #
"Stupid intergalactic static," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he tried contacting the Fantastic Four as they were helping another world avoid a war. "Dr. Richards, is anyone there?"
"H.E.R.B.I.E.?" a voice finally said through the static. "Is that you, buddy?"
"Oh, God, it's Johnny. Anyone but the dumb blonde one," H.E.R.B.I.E. sighed. "Can you put Dr. Richards on? Or your sister? Or Ben? Or any inanimate object, really. I'll wait."
"Sorry, bud, all of them are busy," Johnny said. "What's going on? You remembered to tape the finale of Mad Men for me, right?"
"Look, Johnny, we have trouble and-"
"You DID remember to tape it for me, though?"
"Ugh," the robot said. "Yes, I remembered. Now can you just-"
"Oh! I almost forgot, Sue says that Franklin has to be in bed by 10," Johnny told him. "There's actually a whole list here that she didn't have time to go over with you, but this world kind of doesn't have toilet paper, so..."
"Johnny, would you just pipe down so I can-" H.E.R.B.I.E. said as more static started distorting Johnny's voice even further, until there was nothing but static filling the airwaves. "Johnny? I am so recording over your show if you don't answer me!"
# # # # #
Adam led Franklin and Andy to a nearby junkyard that was filled mostly with old cars and discarded pieces of metal and machinery. There were piles of junk as far as the eye could see.
"Your man lives here?" Andy asked.
"Man isn't quite the right word," Adam said as they walked past the piles of junk all around the place. "He goes to our school, but he mainly hangs out in the metal shop. Juston, are you here?"
The sound of loud 80's hair metal music was heard, along with the sound of a band saw. As they got closer, a teenage boy with long stringy brown hair lifted his head from his latest project. He was wearing a red and black flannel shirt with a black AC/DC t-shirt underneath. He lifted the safety goggles off of his eyes as he saw the three young men approaching.
"Hey, Tin Man!" Juston shouted as he rushed over and hugged Adam, patting him on the back.
"Tin Man?" Franklin asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's just a nickname," Adam said. "He calls me Tin Man and I call him Scarecrow. It's a long story, we'll tell you about it sometime."
"What does that make you?" Andy asked as he looked at Franklin.
"Probably the Wizard since this shenanigan is all my idea, Cowardly Lion," Franklin told him.
"Aw, man," Andy whispered as he stared down at his shoes. "Well, it beats being a munchkin."
"Juston, my boys here need some help with a trip they're going on," Adam explained. "They could use a tech genius on board."
"I don't know, I'm kind of in the middle of some things," Juston replied. "Right now I'm turning a microwave oven into a high powered laser rifle, then I'm going to test it out on a toaster strudel, see if I can't cook it in under ten seconds. I don't know if I have time for a road trip. Where you going, cross country?"
"Interdimensional field trip," Franklin said. "We're going way out on this one. It might be an end of the world situation, we don't know yet."
"End of the world? Why does the end of the world always happen in New York?" Juston asked them as he sighed. "So, who's leading the charge on this little mission? Must be a big time hero if you're hopping dimensions."
Franklin stared down at the ground, Andy nervously tugged at his collar, and Adam coughed nervously.
"Seriously?" Juston asked with a loud laugh. "Four teenage boys with no powers, no training, and no clue what they're doing are going to go across the universe to stop a possible world eating evil entity?"
"My robot's going, too," Franklin said matter-of-factly.
"I don't think so, guys," Juston said as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes. "Sorry, not really interested in the whole suicide mission thing."
"Come on, Juston," Adam said, talking so the others couldn't hear him. "I really like these guys. I don't want to see them get killed. I finally have a chance to make some real friends in this town besides you."
"Do they know that you're, you know, not a real boy?" Juston asked.
"No, and I kind of want to keep that under wraps," Adam said. "I don't want them looking at me like a freak like everyone else who knows about me does. For the first time since my dad died, I feel like I can have a normal life."
"Adam, you're not a freak, you're special," Juston reminded him. "I'm glad you let me in who you really are, even if it was just for the free upgrades to your system."
"So, are you in?" Adam asked.
"I guess so, for you," Juston told him as he looked over Adam's shoulder. "Where'd they go?"
As Franklin and Andy looked around the junkyard, a pair of glowing eyes was watching them from within a pile of junk, designed to hide a secret from all trespassers. As soon as Franklin got into its sight, a blinking light went off inside its head.
MUTANT DETECTED
Directives:
Engage
Detain
Destroy
"You think we stand a chance of actually pulling this off?" Andy asked as he walked alongside Franklin. "I mean, what if we do find something dangerous?"
"Something dangerous could be coming towards us, regardless," Franklin said. "I'm not just going to sit back and wait for something to come to us. If there's even the smallest chance of stopping whatever it is, I'm taking it. Heroes don't back down, Andy."
"But I'm not a hero," Andy said as he stared down at the ground. "I'm just a 98 lb. weakling. Hell, I don't even have a hot date tonight. I was just trying to impress you. You seem so cool, getting to hang out with the Fantastic 4 and going on all those adventures. You'd probably never look twice at a paperboy from the poor part of town."
"Andy, you don't have to impress me," Franklin said as he put an arm around Andy's shoulder. "I like you, okay? I want us to be friends, no matter how this adventure goes."
"Even if we end up getting killed?" Andy asked.
"When we get to heaven, we'll double date with the girls from Poltergeist, and shoot spit balls down at Justin Bieber when he gets to Hell," Franklin smiled as a rumbling was heard from behind them. The pile of metal started shaking as the 20 foot form of a Sentinel rose up.
"HALT MUTANT!" the Sentinel shouted as it held its arm forward, charging up a laser blast in its hand, firing a large charge of energy at the two boys.
TO BE CONTINUED...