Issue Thirty-nine, Good Saruva Hunting Part II
Lorelei was eating lunch downtown when her cell phone buzzed. It was the
ringtone which let her know that something was being forwarded from
the Fortress. She turned on her cellphone and waited for the message.
A quick beep and a voice said, "Protectors' Central? This is
IPAC Switchboard."
"Go ahead IPAC," said Lorelei.
"We've got a call from an off-duty agent, something's going down
and she happens to be on-site. Patching you through now." There was
a soft click. "Agent Browning is on the line."
"Great. Protectors, I'm downtown and there are a group of paranormals
hitting an armoured car even as we speak."
"Give me the details, when, where, etc." PC scribbled down what the agent
said. "Got it, you'll get whoever's available as soon as we can get there.
PC out."
PC left money for her check and began to walk to her car. As she did, she
concentrated on connecting with the mainframe back at base.
PC smiled - her new abilities never ceased to amaze her. She sent everyone
a text message detailing the crime in progress and the location, and that
she would meet them en route.
She then got into her car and drove to the destination. "Defender may not
be happy about this." She thought to herself. "but I'll be there waiting."
Merlynne emerged from the secret entrance to the Fortress, taking care that
no one noticed her. She then concentrated and lifted into the air, heading
towards the coordinates PC generated to her.
Oleg Gavrilov moved his cursor over to the slidebar and re-ran his
simulation. As he waited for the testing routine to execute he leaned back
and nearly fell out of his chair as his helmet began to beep across the
room. Regaining his balance he walked across to the awaiting message and
put it on to access the transmission.
Once retrieved he removed his labcoat, handing it to a research assistant.
"I have to go, keep an eye on the sim. If it approaches our target, log it
and report to Dr. Walkins."
Minutes later he was in full armour soaring over the trees on his way to
Port Alexander and the coordinates PC had transmitted.
As Jim walked in the park, he breathed deep. A day off, finally in how
long. It seemed that between the Protectors, trying to get something on
Saruva and his daily duty and the home, he hadn't had a moment to himself in
ages. Making the most of his day, he'd spent some time with seeing mum and
now was just walking off a well earned steak sandwich.
It was just then, when he was contemplating washing the whole meal with a
pint at his favourite bar, when the his com unit went off. Making a mental
note of the details he quickly, if somewhat reluctantly, speed off toward
the nearest alley. Moments later a blue streaked Flex was leaping and
bounding over rooftops, drawing stares and pointing fingers as he moved
toward location PC had called him to.
Max lifted the communicator he had lifted from Sting during their last meeting f
rom the cradle he had constructed for his desk. He gave the message two reads b
efore placing the device back in its place of honor.
"Not my problem," he said to the room in general. He took up the paint brush an
d returned his attention to the portrait he was creating from memory.
Alden Bryce tapped the projection with his pointer once again for emphasis. The
numbers backed up his position, if only the executives before him would realize
it. The Falcon's Bluff offices of Hope-Bryce were bringing in more money than they had estimated. Alden just needed them to understand the new expansion was
not without cost to the company. Port Alexander's revenue growth had flattened
out. Valuable members of his original team were now three thousand miles away.
They liked it there and wished to remain. The company as organized was not rea
dy for the logistics of this.
The conference room door opened and Karen stepped in. She held a silver and bla
ck cellphone in hand, the look on her face urgent. Alden nodded to her. He mad
e the usual excuse and broke the meeting. In his heart, he didn't want to. The
issue was fresh in their minds and he needed to finish the presentation. Duty
called.
In past he had welcomed these breaks from the rigors of running his company. Si
nce Sting's death, Alden had really thrown himself into his work. Defender was
becoming a distraction, a liability. The costume was a reminder of all the frie
nds he had lost: Sting, Ka-sador, M'Krell, the Wanderer. He stared at the mask.
"Will you claim me too before this is over?"
"What was that, boss?" Karen asked.
Alden looked Defender in the eye one final time before pulling the mask on. "No
thing. Check that the parking garage is clear. I'm heading for the cycle."
Lorelei was the first to arrive. The robbery was taking place on
a commercial street and most of the area had been emptied as people
fled. There were a few exceptions; she noted a woman in a behind
an overturned table and guessed that was the IPAC agent. There were
three cars gathered around the armoured car and four security guards,
unconscious or dead lay around the vehicle. The front end of the armoured
car had been slagged. Six men were moving money from the armoured
car into the other cars while three other people stood watch.
The first was an asian woman dresseed in a black unitard, black boots
and red sash like belt; she looked slightly familiar to Lorelei. The
woman was in the street behind the car. On the other side was an
athletic looking man in a black bodysuit with an arrowhead emblem in
red on his facemask and each hand. He carried large and impressive
longbow, and wore a quiver of arrows. On top of the car itself
was a man in a gaudy candy-apple red bodysuit with a red visor.
Apart from them, the street was empty, although lined with parked
cars, SUVs and the occasional van or motorcycle.
Lorelei's first instinct was to disrupt the robbery but remembered that Defender
generally didn't like that unless necessary. Managing to get into costume befo
re arriving, she took a nearby position out of sight and contacted the
Fortress computer and database to try to get some IDs. That
done, she made a call.
"Defender, P, err, Sandstone. On the scene, three obvious paras and some thugs.
One I think is Python, the one that escaped recently, another's a longbow guy
that may or may not be Sharpshooter in new duds, and a third unknown. How soon?
They don't look like they're going to be much longer."
"Right," said Defender. "Stay under cover and we'll be there as soon as
possible."
Sandstone kept her head down and checked the commlines at the
Fortress. There was a message from Frostbite saying that MidKnight
Star was out of town, but he was on his way. She scanned for him
but saw nothing, so she returned her attention to the robbery.
A faint cry of "Last one," reached the hero's ears as one of the
thugs tossed a bag of cash out of the armoured car.
Sandstone cursed under her breath, "Martial Artists are a pain in my tuckus."
She said a silent prayer, thanked her father for raising her right, then launched a wave of earth and stone at an unsuspecting Python.
A wave seemed to rippled down the road, then broke free sending a
showever of stone and asphalt at the asian woman. The villain was
caught unprepared. She screamed as the rocks pummeled her, then
caught sight of Sandstone. After an epithet in Chinese, she
called, "We have company!"
The thugs ran to their cars and jumped in. The archer also ran
to the cars and climbed into the back of one, while Quantam jumped down
from the roof and ran to a second. Python, however, went racing toward
Sandstone. "Python," yelled the archer, "Let's go!"
"I have business here," said Python.
Python vaulted over the rising pavement ... stright into another
blast of stone. She landed in front of Sandstone with a glazed
look in her eye, and slurred, "Now you ... shall suffer."
Siberian Star slid into view above the building to Sandstone's
left and took in the situation.
Sandstone hit her com unit. "Star, please go after the cars. They have lots of
money and two paranormals. I'll be along as soon as I take out the trash."
She then casually moved into a step kick right into the face of Python. "No, I
won't." Sandstone said to her.
Even stunned as she was, Python was a highly trained martial artist.
She caught Sandstone's leg and pulled the young heroine over in
a takedown all the more startling since Python herself was clearly barely
able to stand.
Python was woozy enough that she her follow up punch was far too slow
and Sandstone was easily able to kip up and fire a snap punch to her
opponent's chin. Python's eyes rolled back into her head and she
dropped to the ground.
Siberian Star dropped down toward the cars, above them and out
of their line of sight. As he did, two cars started in motion heading
down toward Sandstone and the fallen Python, the third began to back
and fill to get around the armoured car.
Siberian Star took aim and a might blast of ice shot down
and completely destroyed the front end of the lead car, freezing it
to the road surface. The trailing car swerved and managed to avoid
rearending the wreck, but did clip it and lose a little speed.
Sandstone glanced over to where the IPAC officer was. "Please secure Python. I
don't think this battle is done yet." Sandstone was tired from letting out so
much energy at once, and although she needed time to catch her breath for more
long distance attacks, she didn't think she was going to get that chance.
The doors to the crashed car flew open and three thugs popped out,
leaned over them and opened fire. Bullets flew, bouncing off the
ground around Sandstone. One struck her dead on and bounced off
her silicate skin. "Crap," said one of the shooters. "She's bulletproof!"
Siberian Star floated above them unseen, as the second car, swerved and
began to pick up speed, obviously intent on abandoning the first car.
The last car finished pulling around the armoured wreck and began to flee
the opposite direction.
The IPAC agent left her cover and ran toward the fallen Python as per
Sandstone's request.
Siberian Star radioed to Sandstone that he was going after the fleeing car
and accelerated toward the escaping villains.
Sandstone used a moment to insure Python was ready for the IPAC member, then
closed in on the thugs, looking to do some hurtin. "Bulletproof, huh?" She
thought to herself. "I could get to like this."
Siberian Star took off after the more distant car, getting into good
position and then smashing it's hood with another blast of ice.
Hovering overhead, Siberian Star awaited for any activity from the newly
stopped car. The impact had been pretty sudden so he expected whoever was
inside could be injured, but discretion was warrented just in case anyone
came out, mad.
Sandstone reached the nearest thug and launched a kick and punch combo
at him. He ducked the kick but bobbed back up into the punch and
let out a whoof.
Sandstone fired a snap kick at her foe who grunted and swung back
using his gun as a club. His comrades moved around the car to
swarm the heroine.
The doors of the car Siberian Star had just totalled swung open
and three thugs staggered out, as did Quantum. Quantum caught
sight of the hovering hero and shouted,"There!" Pistols were produced
and fired, although one of the gunmen was so woozy that the recoil made him
slip. Quantum raised a hand as well, and a bolt of crackling red
energy roiled toward Siberian Star.
Sandstone took the punches from the thugs, and they hurt, but not
as much as she thought they might.
She punched back and landed a couple of blows which felled the thug
facing her.
Flex assessed the situation and ran to help Sandstone, leaping
into the fray as he drew close. The attack nearly bowled the
thug over, but he managed to keep his feet. "Cripes! Another one,"
he growled.
Siberian Star dodged out of most of the energy blast Quantum had sent,
which sent him into the path of the bullet. Blood sprayed from
the flesh wound.
He turned the dodge into a dive, pulling up in front of Quantum and launching a
modified Flying Dragon Death Kick. The blow landed solidly.
Seeing how the thugs clearly seemed to be 'on something' Flex grew suddenly
expanding in mass and size as he aimed a punch at the nearest thug.
"Flex, go help Star. He's got a meta on him in addition to the 'roid boys. I got these two, and we can't let the meta get away." Sandstone said as she fired
another set of kicks at the nearest thug. Flex could have sworn he recognized
the voice behind the mask, even though it was the first time he had ever seen Sandstone.
Sandstone went wild on the remaining thug, launching punch after punch
after
kick. The thug ducked and covered
and was looking pretty woozy. Sandstone heard a strange zapping sound
and the thug stiffened a glazed look coming into his face. She looked
and saw the IPAC agent bracing her arms and aiming one of their Taser like
guns at the thug.
Siberian Star was showing Quantum how to have a punch up Moscow style,
or rather trying to. For some reason he was having problems with his
gyros and was rather unstable.
Quantum took advantage of the opening and SS was smashed by
crackling red energy. A second, much smaller burst
followed the first. So did
another round of fire from the thugs.
Seeing that the new kid had things under control, Flex turned and leapt
toward Sibarian Star and Quantum.
Siberian Star got his gyros under control and avoided all the incoming
fire as Flex ran toward him.
Sandstone set up a leaping spin kick and the last thug went down in a
heap. The IPAC agent started to come forward, so Sandstone could review
the situation.
Siberian Star was subjected again to a hail of gunfire and crackling
energy, although one thug cursed a jammed pistol.
As he dodged, Siberian Star found himself in a position to return fire
and a blast of ice lanced out at Quantum who rolled clear of some of
the attack.
Sandstone left the cleanup to the IPAC agent and gestured. The road,
literally, rose to meet her feet. A wave of earth lifted her and
propelled her along the ground toward the fray, startling Flex
as it nearly ran over him.
Flex, after being surprised by Sandstone, used the "wake" of her movement,
leap at Quantum, smashing into the villian and knocking him to the ground.
Flex didn't wait for Quantum to recover, using his superior strength and
height to his advantage. he pummelled the villain mercilessly, in order to
encourage him to stay down.
Quantum tried to roll away, but the Mouldable fist of fury prevented
him.
At Sandstone's command a wave of rock struck at two of the thugs, they
grunted and ducked, Siberian Star slammed a cage of ice down over
one of them, and the three took stock of their situation before dropping
their guns and raising their hands.
"Good boys." Sandstone said as the rock refuse began to disspate around them.
She turned to Siberian Star. "Any way you have to trace or track the third car,
or is this as good as it gets?" she said.
Siberian Star paused for a second trying to place the voice. "Nyet, these
were the lucky ones, they do not get to be hunted. I am sure they will
cooperate," he said loud enough for the caged man to overhear.
After making sure that Quantum was staying down, Flex returned to his normal siz
e. turning to Siberian Star he nodded his greeting before turning to Sandstone,
with a slightly quizzical look. "So, to coin a phrase, I don't think I've seen
you around here before. I'm Flex and who do I have the pleasure of addressing?
"
Sandstone chuckled slightly. "Nom de guerre is Sandstone." She said as she was
punching some buttons on her cell unit. "Fairly new in town. Heard about this
brouhaha on the radio and thought I'd join in." She looked up and turned to Si
berian Star. "I recognize you from the media. You're with the Protectors, righ
t?"
As she said that, both Siberian Star and Flex received notification that they ha
d received text messages.
Siberian Star shook his head, "No, I'm an independent. Flex carries
membership, I believe." The young Russian checked out the fit of Sandstone
costume and excused himself as the text message indicator in his helmet
went off. Stepping aside, he accessed the communication keeping an eye on
the newcomer and the captured thugs.
The message read:
"GUYZ ITS PC. I'M SNDSTN. EXPLN L8R AT BASE. PLAY ALONG 4 NOW, PLZ."
Doing a doubletake, Siberian Star looked at Flex and said, "Take care of
our guest, I'm going to talk to IPAC." With a mini-salute to Sandstone,
Siberian Star jetted over to the IPAC agent.
Likewise Flex pulled to one side, pulling his communicator as he said,
"excuse me while I get this." The message was the same.
"Also not knowing quite what to say or do. Flex looked closer at the mask,
as if he might gain some added insight by staring hard enough. Then he
managed to mouth the words 'PC'. "I am looking forward to your
explanation."
The IPAC agent looked up as Siberian Star landed nearby. "The PNDF
crew is on the way," she said without preamble. "I hope these
will hold," she indicated the plastic cuffs she'd strapped around
the thugs' wrists. "These boys look pretty buff."
"I assume they have been apprised of the situation, they should be able to
restrain them. We'll stay here until they are neutralized. How did you
happen to be here?" he asked.
"I'm off duty," she said. "I like that place, Antonelli's," she pointed
at a restaurant down the street. "They make their pasta fresh and do their
own sausage. Maybe sometime when *you're* off duty, we could do lunch."
"We'll see," he said coyly. "You know how duty is, always calling. I'll
check the calendar and be in touch, Agent....?" he trailed off.
"Browning, Janis Browning," she said.
"Then until next time Agent Browning, do svidaniya," he replied before
jetting back over to Flex and Sandstone.
Sandstone nodded at Star on his return. "Did you happen to get a contact
name? I'm sure Defender will want to speak with some of these gentlemen
eventually. With all the robberies going on, I have a feeling this has
something to do with Saruva." Sandstone said.
"Da, she appears to be cooperative," Siberian Star answered. "If cash is
this important to Saruva then missing out on this haul will turn the heat
up some. Anything from these..." Star gestured to the captured thugs.
Sandstone shook her head and lowered her voice. "Didn't want to take the
chance of voice recognition just yet. Although I'd be glad to stand back
and look imposing if you wish to use your own powers of persuasion." Star
could have sworn he saw a smile in the creases of Sandstone's mask as she
said that.
Standing back from Sandstone and Star, Flex kept a wary on the thugs as he
mused over the shocking news that PC was Sandstone.
Siberian Star smiled at Sandstone and approached the caged thug. "Tell me
who you work for," he stated calmly.
"Him," he pointed at Quantum.
"Where were you to take the money?"
"We weren't," he said cooperatively. "Each car would go somewhere,
we'd get our cut on the spot and the supers would take the money
to its final destination."
"Your cooperation is not helping your fate," he said nonchalantly. "Looks
like he will be getting the gift," Siberian Star said turning toward
Quantum. The Russian turned to Flex, "he is yours."
"Care to assist me?" he asked Sandstone as he walked over toward Quantum.
Sandstone nodded towards Flex. "Thanks, Flex. We'll be back in a minute."
As they walked over towards Quantum, Sandstone whispered to Star. "You know,
you could stand to be a little less curt with Flex. I know you owe no
allegiance currently to the Protectors but I was under the impression you
and he were partners, my friend."
"We have a working relationship," he explained, "that is stronger than my
association with the Protectors. Mainly because Flex has asked me to join
him in keeping Port Alexander safe." They had arrived at Quantum and
Sandstone detected a hint of hurt feelings from the Russian.
Sandstone replied softly. "Thing have been too chaotic as of late on
personal matters, Sting's death chief among them. Believe me, it's nothing
personal on your part. I'm glad you and Flex are working together, he
really took Sting's death hard." She paused, just outside of Quantum's
presence, trying to recompose herself.
Siberian Star approached the limp form of Quantum and bent down, "Let's see
what sleeping beauty can do to save himself."
Suddenly a flashbulb went off in Sandstone's head. "Star, don't. He's a
teleporter, we'd run a real risk of him bolting on us. Maybe we need to
get your IPAC friend to get some restraints on this bozo before we chat with
him.
She then looked over towards where Python was. "Maybe our other dance
partner might be more forthcoming. Shall we? Maybe you can introduce me to
your lady friend."
Siberian Star pulled back from the unconscious form of Quantum and stood.
"Perhaps you are right." Leading Sandstone over to Agent Browning,
Siberian Star made the introductions. "Agent Browning, this is
P...Protector Sandstone, she is a new affiliate with the team. Quantum is
a known teleporter, so your agents need to be aware of that and provide a
Mark V Molecular Scrambler for his restraint."
"Or just keep him out until we get him back to the PNDF," she countered.
"Nice to meet you Sandstone."
"A pleasure" Sandstone said, again lowering the pitch of her voice subtly.
"We have reason to believe that this heist has ties to Dr. Saruva. We asked
about the restraint because we would like to question both Quantum and
Python about their involvment." Sandstone looked to see if Python was still
nearby.
"It's not standard equipment for a pickup team, so he'll be out until
we get him back to the PNDF. Sorry." She looked over at Python.
"I'm not sure what she's got, though."
Sandstone checked her database, "Looks like superstrength is the main thing."
"Well, she'll probably make short work of my plasticuffs, then, but the
team has heavy shackles. Or you could just point a rock or an icicle
at her head."
Siberian Star nodded and raised his hands.
Python was thoroughly iced up and then brought round. She looked
at her captors in turn, finally letting her gaze rest, full of loathing,
on Sandstone.
"Oh goody. I have an archenemy." Sandstone said smirking. "Your flunkies
have already sung what they know, it will probably help your chances of
getting out of jail at some point before the next century if you follow
suit. Once your flunkies got their cut, where were you supposed to take the
remaining money to?"
"When someone has need of my services, they will find a way to acquire
them. After that has happened, we shall meet again," said Python
with disdain dripping from her voice.
"And how often will that be when word gets out that you couldn't get the job don
e?" Sandstone countered. "My experience is that potential employers don't use
their time and resources to break someone out of a maximum security paranormal d
etention facility when they drop the ball like you did today. Your chances of g
etting out of a long stretch at PNDF are a lot better in cooperating with us tha
n with your sugardaddy breaking you out, especially since if he's who I think he
is, he has no tolerance for losers."
"They have before, and will again, and besides," she smiled an evil
smile, "you could halve my sentence and I would still be dead long
before I could serve it."
Sandstone rolled her eyes. "Some people are simply truly beyond redemption. " s
he thought to herself. She looked towards Siberian Star to see if he had anyth
ing to add.
"Perhaps IPAC can extract the needed information," he said calmly. "You
had your chance Python, and there will not be a second escape."
Siberian Star turned away from Python and began to walk back over to Flex,
"Have you heard anything about large amounts of cash being spent in Port
Alexander?" he asked Sandstone.
Sandstone walked over with him, speaking quietly. "Yeah. And it's being used t
o buy various kinds of tech equipment. Although it's nothing that would hold up
in a court of law, I'm convinced Saruva's getting ready for something big."
"He has greased many palms then, I have some feelers out for Saruva but I'm
not sure if any will pan out. I'll be in touch if I hear anything, until
then your resources are the best lead we have. Perhaps we could try to
trace some of the equipment when it arrives here? things that require this
kind of cash must demand some special care when delivered."
"Good plan." said Sandstone. She was really starting to wonder where the rest o
f the team was at this point, especially Defender. "We should probably talk abo
ut this in a more private setting? Are you available tonight to come in for a d
ebriefing? I can only assume Defender's going to want to talk about things and
your thoughts could be beneficial to finally nailing this maniac."
Siberian Star paused in thought for a beat, "I am available. What time and
where should I meet?"
"Not sure yet." Sandstone replied. "Not really my call. Have anything you
could be doing that you could be pulled away from? Defender will probably
set the time."
"I am always working, but I will make time." Siberian Star looked to his
left and saw television crews beginning to set up live feeds and excused
himself. "I await your leader's call," he said lifting into the air toward
the reporters.
Sandstone formed some earth beneath her, and it lifted her into the sky with Sta
r. "Actually, I'd like to meet the press too, this time. I'm sure they're goin
g to want to know who the new kid is." she said before pausing briefly. "That i
s, unless you hate to share."
"Not at all," he said with a smirk.
While Sandstone and Siberian Star met with the press, a pair of unobtrusive
vans pulled up and the IPAC clean-up crew began to do their work.
Last Updated 16 March 2005
