Joseph
gently manipulated the active forces within the
Earth's magnetosphere as he reached his destination.
Before him stood a relatively small building. It was
rectangular, ten meters long and no more than four
meters wide. The single-storey building's ceiling was
about three meters above the ground.
By
focusing on the planet's magnetic lines, Joseph could
sense a powerful electrical current emanating from
inside the building and flowing, below ground, to a
destination that he could not determine.
As he
regarded the plain-looking building, the powerful
heroine named Aleta flew up and landed beside him.
She stood silently for several minutes, hoping not to
disturb Joseph's concentration, but eventually did
speak.
"Should
we go in?" she asked.
Joseph
looked up suddenly, his focus lost. "I don't see
why not. I suspect that this building is nothing more
than a power plant." He stepped forward, and
used his power of magnetism to tear the metal door
right off of it's hinges. It was flung above his head
and landed somewhere distant in the desert behind
him.
"Could
we keep the property damage to a minimum?" Aleta
asked with a smile.
Joseph
walked past her and into the building without
replying. The interior was well lit and empty save
for a large metal cylinder, with a green dome at it's
top, in the center of the room. It emitted an audible
hum, and Joseph wondered at it's function.
Aleta
entered from behind him and studied the machine from
closer quarters. She could not discern it's purpose
either.
"Looks
like we came all this way for nothing," Aleta
said.
"No,"
Joseph approached the machine and, summoning all of
the power at his command, made it shut down without a
peep.
Several
hundred kilometers to the north, a cliff face
collapsed.
Daywalker
and Ph-Eros
"See
what happens when you try and play the hero?"
Daywalker spat at Ph-Eros as he and two of his
companions were led into a cave buried deep into the
cliffside. "You can't be a hero without making
sacrifices. This is ours. We're going to rot in this
stinking - "
"Shut
up!" one of his captors yelled, striking him in
the back of the head with the butt of a long rifle.
Daywalker's head snapped forward, and a sickening
snap could be heard as his neck joints bent too far.
Daywalker immediately righted himself and gave his
neck a stretch.
"My
God," Ph-Eros whispered. "At least I've
guessed what your power is - you've got the power of no
sense. How did that not send you to the ground
sobbing like a baby?"
"Does
it matter? We'll be dead soon enough."
"Maybe
not. Doc Savage back there might be able to do
something."
Daywalker
turned his head to face his other companion, and was
once again rebuked with a rifle butt to the head.
This time he was ready, and he managed to keep his
head in roughly the position he had intended. He saw,
behind him, a naked man with short black hair, a
short black beard, and many wrinkles. His name was
Stephen Strange, and his slight, elderly form hid
enough power to secure the trio's escape with
relative ease.
They
traveled deeper and deeper into the cave, and were
finally led into a small cave that was set up like an
office. Inside, a man with a grotesquely disfigured
face - with scars making his eyes appear nearly
closed and pock marks across his face - sat at a desk
and eyed them as their guards departed.
Also
behind the desk stood the short leader of the Flying
Skull Game team, Gethimnow. He had a broad
grin on his face, and he reminded Daywalker of a
little black goblin.
In the
darkness of the far corner of the room, Daywalker
heightened night-vision allowed him to notice a small
glint of silver and a minute change in the level of
darkness. Someone was standing there, hidden.
"I
am Kal Jerico," the disfigured man said, rising.
"Please try to understand that we are not your
enemies, only your manipulators. We want to use you
to draw out Dragon's Claws. Please do not take your
kidnapping personally."
"Oh,
of course not," Ph-Eros said
sarcastically. "We'll just sit down, bound and
gagged like good little hostages and wait until you
deign to let us go. Okay?"
A
slight tremor rocked the cave complex.
"What
was that?" Kal Jerico asked his lieutenant.
"Just
a minor tremor, sir," Gethimnow replied.
"We get them all the time. The seismic monitors
pick them up. They're normally not strong enough for us
to feel them, though."
Kal
Jerico nodded. "Very well. Now, strangers,"
he said, facing Ph-Eros, Daywalker, and Doc Savage,
"which team do you play for?"
"Team?"
Ph-Eros asked. "We're not gay, if that's what
you're asking! At least, I'm not!"
"Shut
up, Ph-Eros," Daywalker snapped. "What do
you mean, Mr. Jerico?"
"Your
Game team. What is it?"
"We
don't even know what the Game is. We're not
from around here." Daywalker said.
"Ah,"
Jerico said wistfully. "Then I shall tell you.
The Game was created years ago by the World
Development Council, as a way to curb the civil
unrest that plagues our world. The Game involves
two teams fighting one another in the hope that
either the other team will be knocked unconscious or
that one team will reach a checkpoint behind enemy
lines.
"Unfortunately,
only a few years ago the Game was banned.
However we, like many Game teams, have
refused to go quietly into the night. We continue to
play, on our own ground, and hope that one day we
will be able to face the greatest team ever -
Dragon's Claws - despite their current contract with
the W.D.C. to take out all Game teams."
"Sir!"
someone shouted as he ran into the room. "Sir!
The cliff face has collapsed! We are trapped!"
Kal
Jerico looked from the Exiles, to the new arrival,
and then at his lieutenant. "Gethimnow, guard
them," he ordered. "Vorin, lead me to the
cave-in." He raced out of the room behind his
officer as Daywalker as Ph-Eros looked at one another
slyly.
Gethimnow
ran. He bolted for the door and, just before
Daywalker could get hold of him, slammed his hand
down on a concealed panel in the cave wall. Four
solid bars sealed the small cave shut, and left
Daywalker, Ph-Eros, and Doc Savage trapped.
"Wonderful,"
Daywalker sighed.
Aleta
and Joseph
"What
was that for?!?" Aleta asked angrily. "That
machine could have been used for anything."
"It
was transmitting a signal, hidden within the
electrical currents," Joseph said. "I could
barely pick up on it, and couldn't even begin to
decode it. Anything that will encoded must be
bad."
"How
did you come to that conclusion?"
"Instinct.
I haven't questioned either of your mysterious
epiphanies, have I?" Joseph snapped.
"Please, let us join Scamp. Perhaps she and
Firefly have discovered the signal's
destination."
"Fine,"
Aleta said. She took to the air and blew past Joseph,
and within seconds was out of sight.
Firefly
and Scamp
They
approached the settlement on foot, in order to avoid
upsetting any locals that saw them enter. Despite the
fact that Firefly could see no people from the air,
the settlement was crawling with humans, all under
cover to protect themselves from the harsh desert
sun.
No-one
paid any particular attention to the outlandish
costumes that they wore. Scamp was dressed in a tight
red and blue lycra suit, while Firefly's garb was
made of 'unstable molecules' and perfectly conformed
to any position his body might be in. It was the same
colour as long dried blood, and he had planned to
change it before being plucked away from his
homeworld.
They
approached a woman who was manning a food stall with
a very young baby boy beside her. There were no other
customers, so they immediately received her full
attention.
"I
have a gun. Try it and you'll both die," she
said calmly.
"Try
what?" Firefly asked. "We just want to ask
you some questions."
"Sure,"
the woman said, "and I'm the President of the
World Development Council. You Gamers are all alike;
stealing my fruit, trying to kill my husband..."
"Excuse
me? I don't think we're on the same wavelength here,
Miss...?"
"Deller,
and I'm giving you three seconds to leave before -
"
The
woman was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Aleta.
Aleta had long since lost Joseph, and was angry
enough that she simply took over Scamp and Firefly's
inquiries.
"Miss,
we are looking for a man named Spratt. He is a gang
member. Where do we look?" she asked.
The
woman considered pulling her gun out, but decided
against it. Instead, she pointed off to a building
less than ten minutes away. "That's the Dragon's
Claws' base," she explained. "They'll know
where to find any Game player."
"Thank
you," she said and, turning to Scamp and
Firefly, "Follow me."
They
did.
Doc
Savage
"So,
how do we get out?" Ph-Eros asked. "I'm
pretty useless against steel bars."
Daywalker
stepped up to the bars and grabbed them tightly.
Pulling with all his strength, he elicited a loud
groan from two of the bars but only managed to bend
them slightly.
"Whew!
Strong, too - you're everythin' a gal could
want!" Ph-Eros said.
"Shut
up," Daywalker snapped. "We have to get out
of here. Why don't you just turn the doctor here back
into Doc Savage?"
"That
won't be necessary," the doctor said. He flicked
his wrist, in the bars were retracted back into the
ceiling. Ph-Eros and Daywalker looked dumbfounded.
"If
you could do that all along, why didn't you do it earlier?"
Daywalker demanded.
"I
did not want to," the doctor replied stoicly,
"and please do not raise your voice. That will
make me angry, and you won't like me when I'm
angry."
"I
DON'T LIKE YOU NOW!" Daywalker shouted.
"This whole thing blows. I want to go somewhere
else. Now!" He turned to leave the cavern, but
found a silver clad figure blocking his path. The
figure was entirely covered in silver and black
armour, with a long silver cape flowing behind him.
Curved blades emanated from various points on his
armour, including the wrists, ankles, elbows,
forehead, and back - and an apparently autonomous
tail was pressed against his back.
"I
am the Scorpion," it said, "and I can give
you what you want, Richie Blade - but you have a duty
to perform now. I am here to help you with that. When
you are truly ready to leave, you may call on me for
help."
"I'm
ready to leave now!" Daywalker snapped.
"Very
well," the Scorpion said. "I will give you
what you truly want, but bear in mind that I may call
on you for help in the future." He began to
unbuckle his breastplate.
"Hang
on...!" Ph-Eros said.
The
Scorpion finished removing his breastplate, exposing
a black area that appeared to go on forever. In the
center was a tiny silver dot.
"Reach
for that point, Richie Blade, to be set on the path
to your heart's desire."
Daywalker
did as he was told, and he, Ph-Eros and the doctor
were drawn into the Scorpion's maw.
Dragon's
Claws' Base
Aleta
thumped loudly on the door of the three storey
building that served as the base of Dragon's Claws.
It took several knocks before she received a response
but, while she was knocking, Daywalker, Ph-Eros, and
the doctor appeared beside her.
"Isn't
anyone going to ask where we came from?" Ph-Eros
asked.
"I've
been doing this long enough to know that if you had
anything worth telling us you would tell us without a
prompt," Aleta replied, and kept knocking.
Suddenly, a black man in a red cap answered the door.
"We're
the Exiles," Aleta said, "and we want to
speak to your leader."
The man
stepped back from the door for a moment, and Aleta
heard some quiet voices whispering behind the door.
After a few moments, the door was opened, and Aleta,
Daywalker, Scamp, Ph-Eros, Firefly, and the doctor
were ushered into a building.
They
were led down several corridors until they found
themselves in a large, open area. Debris was strewn
around in a fairly random way, and before any of the
Exiles could ask for an explanation that man that had
served as their guide hidden himself somewhere among
the debris.
A
second later, a loud authoritarian voice could be
heard over a loud speaker. "Okay,
'Exiles'," it said. "You wanted to play -
but you should have chosen another team to fight.
We're Dragon's Claws - and we play for keeps!"
NEXT ISSUE: The Final
Showdown! Death's Head finally shows his face!
