Issue #27 (January 2021)
Written by John Cheese Featuring: Zombie Master
The Enforcer
Man Bull
Flintlock
Spear
Ghost
Thundersword
Headhunter
Sunset Bain
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Scorecard and the Natural looked at their captive strapped to an antique table with vines, patches of toxic looking mould and electrodes sprouting from his body.
“I’ll ask you again, what is the password to the main operating system?” Scorecard asked as an electrical charge ran through their dark-skinned captive’s body, the remains of his blue and yellow armour smoking as he screamed. “Yellow Cat Series 4 Episode 11 Synopsis – Yellow Cat steals a trolley from a hypermarket to make a lethal soapbox derby car. Meanwhile Kooky Crow deals with her growing desire to eat the Grumpapillar.” The man strapped to the table groaned. “Filler episode, funny but ultimately not one that advances the plot.” “This is ridiculous, he’s recited a synopsis and review for three and a half seasons of some fucking kid’s TV show.” The Natural hissed as the blue armoured form of the Harbour Master walked into the room. “He won’t talk before his teammates arrive.” “Green Guardswoman sent in a report, Shockwave and Chemistro are half way back to the house and Lodestone is with them.” The Harbourmaster stated grimly as he looked at the stricken body of the man. “I assume the Spear is more resilient to interrogation then we estimated.” “And some. The computers are unbreachable, with Crossfire, Headhunter, that ninja octopus chick and Ghost all in the system at one point in a time, the defences are too erratic to be hacked easily.” Scorecard sighed as he sent another pulse of electricity through Spear’s body. “At least Iguanid and I were able to sabotage Shockwave’s proto-armour and Chemistro’s alchemy gun, but still Lodestone was, is, a little beyond what we bargained for, the plan was to ambush her alone…” He stopped as the Harbour Master waved a hand to silence him. “The Guardswoman will deal with them, at the very least slow them down.” The Harbour Master announced over the screams of Spear. “We just need another villain, one who can breach these defences with ease.” “The Ghost? He won’t join us.” The Natural hissed as she caused another fungal patch of rot to grow on her captive’s body, this time covering Spear’s left eye and cheek. “Not willingly, but you can make him.” Harbour Master responded as a silhouette phased out of his shadow, its outline jagged and radiating light blue energy. “Use Headhunter’s body as leverage, it may prove crucial.” “I will.” The figure wailed as it phased back into the ground. “Let the Haunting begin.” “You are so pretty without that armour.” Winter Woman cooed as she removed the last of Ronin’s armour, the unconscious swordswoman sporting bruises across her body. “And you have such a wonderful wardrobe.” She continued as she held up a purple and black kimono. “What’s that, I can have it once you’re gone, you are too kind.” She added as she removed the mail under mesh covering Ronin’s body. “What’s that, you like being my doll.” Winter Woman continued as she leaned in to listen to her former adversaries non-existent and imagined words. “What! No, I’m not insane!” She snapped before slapping Ronin, the impact causing her target to moan and stir. “Not yet.” Winter Woman gulped as she ran her hand across the bath tub, the ice surrounding Ronin’s body shocking it back into dormancy. “You shouldn’t be so mean! You deserve this, you all deserve this!” McMurdo, Antarctica - 5 Months Ago “Kevin I’m going out to take another sample from the west field.” The blonde-haired woman dressed in a parker and thick trousers stated. “I’m getting weird interference on the EM reader.” She added, as she turned the backpack mounted reader on, a strange warbling sound emitting from the scanner. “Before you go, are you cross Hayley?” Kevin asked, his voice muffled by the bandana and hood he wore. “It’s annoying but it isn’t enough to make me angry.” Hayley replied, a confused look on her face. Seconds later the sound of engines above caused both scientists to look up as the squat sickle winged craft broke through the night-time cloud and landed next to the C21 cargo plane. “We’re not expecting more staff and cargo?” Hayley asked as she looked over at Kevin, her eyes trained on the pistol he held. “But guns are…” “Shut up!” Kevin yelled as he smacked Hayley round the head. “You are a security breach and must be dealt with.” He added, as he removed a syringe from his belt and loomed over Hayley. Lashing out Hayley ran for it, barrelling out the door and straight into a cordon of her former teammates, all armed with assault weapons. Behind them a man dressed in a red jumpsuit, one eye replaced with a cybernetic lens looked at her. “Sir, this one was immune to the sub-hypnotic frequency.” One of the researchers announced as Kevin loomed behind her and jabbed the syringe into her neck. “Take her to the cooler, she is worth study at a later date.” The man with the lens stated, as Hayley’s head spun and she dropped to the floor, alternating between screaming and laughing. “The chemical creates a strange form of Erethism, she’ll keep herself quiet and contained until her body metabolises it in a few days. Keep her locked up…” He ordered as Kevin and another researcher lead Hayley away, “…until I call for her.” House of Twisted Roses, Charleston, South Carolina “They left me! Left me for a week in the cold!” Winter Woman snapped as she pulled Ronin’s strawberry blonde hair into a braid and added a jade hair clip. “The world doesn’t make sense anymore, sometimes, sometimes Winter Woman steps in and makes things all right, but mostly I’m just crazy Hayley!” She snapped as she looked down at her ‘doll’. Dressed in a kimono and obi, Ronin looked like a geisha, albeit one without makeup, lying in a rapidly melting bathtub of ice cubes. Clapping her hands in glee, Hayley took a moment to bend down next to her victim’s ear. “Wakey wakey.” She whispered. Seconds later Ronin opened her eyes, gasping in fear and surprise before being punched in the face. “Such a shame. You committed suicide when Headhunter died. We know she’s a lesbian, not so hard to believe you two were having a secret affair and you went to join her in death.” Winter Woman cackled as she turned away from the bath and got a piece of paper and a calligraphy pen. “Do you want to hear your suicide note? What am I talking about, of course you…” She turned back to the bathtub to see water and floating pieces of ice but no Ronin. “Where are you! I went to all this effort to make this look authentic!” Winter Woman yelled as she walked over to Ronin’s sword, freezing it into a solid block of ice. “You’re sick.” Ronin answered as she vaulted over the bed from her hiding spot, a forked spear in one hand and an ornate dragon hilted dagger in the other. Throwing up a wall of ice, Winter Woman was a hear too late, her foe vaulting over the rapidly growing construct and terminating her fall into a kick to the chest, knocking her backwards. “I beat you once!” Winter Woman hissed as she summoned up an ice buckler as Ronin thrust the spear forward. “I’ll beat you…ugh” She grunted as she used her powers to push her back onto her feet, only for Ronin to kick her back into the bathroom. “Classic villain mistake, monologuing works only if you’re unassailable.” Ronin replied as she hooked the haft of the spear behind the buckler and slammed Winter Woman in the throat, stunning her before knocking her down into the bath, her head hitting the taps leaving a large gash across her forehead. “I’m the hero through.” Winter Woman replied, calm and free momentarily from the madness of Hayley. “He said we would be heroes?” “Who?!” Ronin asked as she slammed the spear down, pinning the woman’s right arm down as she began to summon an ice dagger. “Our therapist, he called us the Sorrowful Seven, recommended we go to Blitzschlag to get powers and conquer our demons.” Winter Woman groaned as she fired a beam of freezing energy up at Ronin, the bolt causing the villainess to back off as she worked to remove the spear. “It was something like Zebidiah Killgrave.” “The Purple Man?” Ronin questioned as she moved back in and pressed the dagger against Winter Woman’s throat. “He’s using you; you are no more a hero then I or the rest of my teammates are.” “No.” Winter Woman whispered before her eyes rolled back to form pools of white energy. “No!” She repeated as she got up, the spear severing her trapped hand. “NO!” She screamed as the temperature began to rapidly drop, so much so that she didn’t feel the sharp and swift cut across her throat until she fell back into the bath under the frigid water. “Yes.” Ronin replied sombrely as she removed her spear and washed off the blade of her dagger. “I’m sorry.” Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina Ghost drifted past Headhunter’s body, performing the quarterly diagnostic check on the equipment that was keeping his employer alive. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the nurses and doctors, he just was worried that one of their enemies would try something. “Are you here?” A dark-skinned woman dressed in a skirt and blouse asked, a golden thunderbolt pendent hanging from her neck. “Here.” Ghost answered as he became visible. “There is no change, but at least no-one has made an attempt against her here.” He continued as the woman, Toby, sat down next to Gillette and held her hand. “I have been reviewing the medical practices and reputations of those attending her, they are all professional and have no connections to known Conspiracy members.” “We were going to go to Europe, see everything.” Toby whispered as she looked at the gaunt figure at the end of the bed. “It would be like her rebirth, she was so ready to become a different person.” “Wait what?” Ghost buzzed as she hovered over to Toby. “Say that again.” “She was ready to become a different person?” Toby replied as she looked into Ghost’s eyes, all while reaching over to the pendant round her neck. “What is it? What’s wrong?” “It all makes sense, a honey trap to lure Gillette into a kill box, it’s why you haven’t left, you’re waiting for an opportunity to strike.” Ghost stated as he pointed to Toby, her hand phasing through her pendant. “Don’t bother, I can make objects intangible around me as well. You never cared, you were bait, but who else is involved? Ronin? She introduced you. Sunset Bain obviously, and that means by extension the Conspiracy.” Ghost gasped as Toby balled her fist and struck him, knocking the cyber-criminal to the floor. “You idiot! I’m here because I love her!” Toby yelled as she stood over the Ghost. “Is that so hard to believe.” “It’s all there though, it all makes sense.” Ghost wheezed as he reached out for Toby, his fingers grabbing her leg, electricity arching up and down her body. “Confess, you were behind the rocket attack outside her home. Tell me who the shooter is, and then who your co-conspirators are.” “Her name is the Green Guardswoman.” A voice stated behind them, causing Ghost to release Toby, and both parties to look to where it was coming from. Tearing her IV line and monitors out, the Headhunter sat up, her eyes glowing blue. “But you needn’t worry about her, worry about the Haunting.” Gillette leaned against the wall, watching the living world dash past, unseeing and uncaring about the spirits they shared their space with. As an avid people watcher, she would have loved this if not for the spectral hitman chasing her and her only ally on this plane. “So how do we beat this, how do I get back to my body?” She eventually asked Crossfire, the later scanning the hallways up-ahead for any sign of Lord Quietus or his minions. “Something is happening, something urgent.” Cross replied as she began to walk down the hallway, Gillette stumbling to keep up. “It’s a hospital, something urgent it always happening.” Gillette answered as she felt static run through her, almost as if she was being electrocuted. Panicking she began to collapse but steeled herself after remembering how she’d beaten the illusion of Electro. “Something happening with you.” Cross answered as he came to a stop, an orderly flying backwards out of the room Gillette had been placed in. “You can feel the static yes?” He asked as both villains peered in to see the Headhunter punch Toby in the face, her eyes glowing blue and electricity sparking around her body. “It seems an errant spirit or something of that ilk has hijacked your body.” He mused, as Ghost went to phase through one of the Headhunter’s punches, only for her own blow to go intangible and strike him, knocking him to the floor. “That’s…” Gillette began to state, only for a nail to embed in Cross’s shoulder as Boltface and Shiv came running down the corridor. “Crap they found us!” She cursed as Cross pulled the nail out of his shoulder and threw it to her. “We need to stay close; this could be the chance we’re waiting for.” Cross ordered, as Gillette threw the nail, the projectile stabbing into Shiv’s stomach. Emerging from the ward, the possessed Headhunter stretched herself and stalked down the halls. Seconds later Ghost emerged, drifting after the possessed body. Leaping through him Shiv bore down on Crossfire, only for Gillette to intercept and throw the hitman over her shoulder, even as Bolt Face aimed her nail gun at the villainess’s exposed back. Reacting quickly, Cross grabbed two of Shiv’s knives and threw them, the first disarming the shooter, the second embedding in her face, her body flowing down into the ground as it was sucked into the great beyond. “Cross!” A voice bellowed as Crossfire dropped down to grab his foe’s nail gun. Turning around he saw the illusion of Hawkeye standing at the end of the corridor. “Go, I’ll handle this.” Crossfire ordered, as his opponent pulled back on his draw string. “I’ve been waiting for this for so long.” “You added Man Bull, the Enforcer, Ghost and some chick named Ronin to the team?” Lodestone asked as the car came to a stop at the intersection. “What is it with you and ninjas Sneed?” “So, sue me I’m a Japanophile.” Shockwave answered as he watched the lights, ready to pull away as soon as they turned red. “Team composition is fine, its just…” “Just what?” Lodestone asked. “Just that Gillette has become obsessed with this group the Conspiracy ever since they sent that hit-team after us in Antarctica and then again in Phoenix.” Chemistro answered as he palmed a breath mint and swallowed it down. “We’re doing less actual jobs, and when we do she’s only half there.” “But these guys are out to get you right?” Lodestone asked as the lights went green and Shockwave pulled the car away. “I guess, sometimes though the stress makes me feel like I’m going to explode.” Shockwave answered as he began to turn into the road leading to home, only to see a jack-knifed lorry blocking the road. “Lousy traffic news didn’t say anything about this!” He swore as he began to turn around, unaware of the woman dressed in lightweight green armour sitting in the cab, loading a projectile into her grenade launcher. “And the villains go boom.” She whispered as she aimed the launcher at the car’s flank and pulled the trigger. To Be Continued… |