The Fury
Issue #6
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Seven
Old Demons
Surviving a brush with death, the Fury finds himself staring
down a very large and very dangerous robot that is bent on destroying him. He is
stunned by the events but he has little time to ponder the reasons for the
attack. Right now there is a volley of missiles headed right at him. Three
missiles are flying right at him and he has to decide what to do immediately. He
puts the shield back up and flies off in hope of dodging the missiles. But as he
feared, these are heat seeking missiles and they follow him as he flies skyward.
He looks back to see the missiles in hot pursuit of him. How does he get rid of
them? He flies off, trying to get away from the city as he wants to minimize the
casualties. As he gets higher and higher in the air, he starts to think of a
plan. He then thinks about a psychic power he heard of but never thought about.
The ability to start fires with your mind is something that he remembers seeing
a movie about. But is that a real power of just something that was created by
Hollywood? He decides to try and see if he can do that. He switches course from
heading skyward to heading back towards Earth. He sees a farm in the distance
and makes a beeline for it. He knew there were farms outside of the city limits,
but he has never been to one. As he flies down towards the barn, he sees a large
pile of hay. He looks at it and thinks about setting it on fire. He keeps flying
closer as his eyes are closed and he is concentrating with all his might. "Burn!
Burn!" he mumbles as he visualizes the haystack burning. And then like magic, it
goes up in flames. First he sees it in his mind and then as he opens his eyes,
he sees that he really willed the hay to burn. He now flies right at it and
pulls up at the very last second. As he ascends into the air, the missiles hit
the flaming haystack and explode. One missile after another, they destroy the
haystack as well as the barn. Debris pours down on the farm house and soon the
farmer and his wife rush out to see their barn in flames and a giant crater next
to it. They rush out to try and stop the flames. The Fury decides it is best to
get out of here. As much as he would like to help, he does not want to explain
this to the authorities.
Watching from his office, Justin Rage sees the brief
encounter between the Fury and the robot. He then turns to the scientists and
yells "What good is that robot if he can just fly away? Why didn't you make the
robot be able to fly?" They all look at each other with shocked looks on their
faces. They really expected the robot's missiles to take care of him. They never
really thought that. Justin is furious. Not only did they screw up, but now they
have nothing to say. It is one thing to screw up, but to not be man enough to
admit to it is too much for him. "Send that robot back to where he came from and
let me know as soon as it is dismantled." They cannot believe what they are
hearing. He wants it dismantled? "But sir, shouldn't we give it another chance.
That was just one encounter." Justin stands up and walks over to the smaller
scientist and stares him down. "I said I wanted it dismantled. Now either you
dismantle that robot or I will have you dismantled, do I make myself
understood?" The tone of his voice is enough to encourage the men to get out of
this office and get working on getting the robot back to the base. The men rush
to their lab in the sub-basement of the building and send a command for the
robot to return to the base. But instead of getting a response that they expect,
they get back a series of beeps. They look at each other and then one of them
grabs the controls and sends "Return to base now!" This time a different
response comes back. "01100111010111100110" comes back. And the numbers keep
coming back. They all look at each other as the numbers keep pouring in. One of
the scientists speaks up "That's binary code isn't it?" Another looks at it and
says "Why don't we have the computer run it and see what it means." They agree
that it is the best plan. So they run the code into their main computer and
after a few seconds a message comes back. "I think therefore I am. I understand
therefore I exist." As they read this, they look at each other with shocked
looks on their faces. One of them then speaks up and says what they are all
thinking "We should never have given the robot the ability to think on its own."
They all agree that it was a bad idea. At the time, they created a form of
artificial intelligence that allowed the robot to continue to evolve. It was
meant for it to learn from its battles and to come up with strategies on how to
defeat its chosen targets. But they never expected that it would give the robot
free will and the ability to break its programming and go off on its own. What
were they going to do now?
The Fury returns to his home to relax after the narrow
escape. He is unsure where the robot came from and why it was after him. He made
sure to look around to see if it was anywhere around. The last thing he wants is
for the robot to follow him home and destroy his new home. He carefully goes in
the back door and heads for the shower. He takes a long hot shower and tries to
relax his tense muscles. He then takes some aspirin for his throbbing headache
and heads for bed. Before he does, he walks over to the cabinet and takes out a
bottle of vodka. He begins to pour himself a glass of vodka when he stops. The
half full glass is sitting there and he looks at it. He thinks about how much
trouble alcohol has caused him. The nights in the gutter, the begging for money,
the shakes. He also thinks about the good feeling a really good buzz gives him.
He thinks about the headache and how a little alcohol would always get rid of
his headache in the past. He picks the glass up and puts it in front of his eyes
and looks at it. The clear liquid looks just like water in the glass. As he
stares at it, the demons in him are battling. He can taste that vodka going down
his throat. He can feel the effects of the alcohol as it hits his brain. He
wants it, he wants it bad. But he has turned a new leaf and will not become a
slave to the bottle again. He pours out the glass and then pours out the bottle.
It is hard to do, but he knows there is no going back. He then gets a drink of
water and heads to bed.
The next morning, Jack wakes up in his bed to the sound of
the radio. He bought a clock radio and set it to wake him up the sound of the
radio. It usually wakes him up to the classic rock station. He is old school
when it comes to music and would rather wake up to the Stones or the Who than
some new wave or hip hop band. But instead of having music playing, there is a
special news bulletin. "We interrupt this program to bring you the following
special report. Coming to you live from Downtown North Harbor is our roving
reporter Sandy Michaels.........Sandy, what can you tell us.......Bob, I have a
hard time finding the words to describe what is going on downtown. The only
words that I can use is utter chaos. What appears to be a giant robot of sorts
is destroying the city......A robot? Sandy, do you have any idea where this
robot came from?.........Bob, right now no one knows where it came from or why
its attacking the people of North Harbor. The police are urging the citizens to
evacuate downtown as quickly as possible." He turns off the radio and puts it
back down. He does not want to go back and battle it, but he knows that he has
to. So he flies off toward downtown.
Justin Rage is sitting at his desk and has a very surly look
on his face. His hands are tapping on the desk as he is a very impatient man.
His door is open and he is waiting for his scientists to arrive. As he stares
out the open door, Deacon peeks his head in the door. "They are here, do you
want me to send them in?" He gives him an angered look and says "Send them in
now." A few seconds pass and the three scientists are escorted into the office
by four very big and very dangerous looking men. Once they are in front of his
desk, he waves to the guards to leave. "Close the door on the way out and thanks
for delivering them." They smile as they know things are not going to be pretty.
Whenever they have to deliver someone, it is bad news. One of the guards says to
the scientists "Nice knowing you egghead." They all laugh as they leave. No one
in the company outside of Justin Rage and Deacon like the guards. They are rude,
obnoxious and cocky. But they only have to answer to Justin Rage and Deacon, so
that is part of the problem. As long as they don't piss those two off, they are
fine. The scientist look nervous as the door shuts. Justin has found out about
the robot and is pissed off. Justin starts off by just staring at them. He
always likes to take his time and make a person squirm. It gives him
satisfaction to see these guys sweat. Once he feels they are sufficiently
scared, he speaks up. "When were you planning on telling me about this robot?"
They all look at each other with scared looks. No one is willing to speak up.
After a few seconds, Justin speaks up again. "Did you think I wouldn't find out
about? Do you think I'm stupid?" They all jump in and say "No!" He then stands
up and screams "Why didn't you tell me about the damn robot?" The men all take a
step back to get away from him. One of the scientists speaks up "We knew you
would be mad, sir." Justin breaks out laughing. "Mad, you were afraid I would be
mad?" He then pulls up a baseball bat and smashes it on his desk. The bat knocks
some papers and pictures off his desk as the impact of the bat shakes the whole
desk. "You have no idea how mad I can get. If you came to me right away, I would
be mad, but we could have resolved the problem. But now we have a rampaging
robot destroying downtown. I am so beyond mad. I am furious!" he screams as he
smashes the bat on the desk again. The scientists run to the door but find it is
locked. "Run away, that's what you cowards always do, run. There is nowhere to
run this time." The three of them are cowering on the ground covering their
heads with their hands. "Please don't kill us." one of them screams out. Justin
walks over and raises the bat over his head. "Tell me one thing. Is there
anything g on that robot that can be traced back to us?" One of the scientists
quickly blurts out "Nothing, honest. Even the programming has nothing." Justin
lowers the bat and says "You better not be lying. But to make sure, I will be
assigning someone to watch each of you. If I get fingered for that robot, I will
make sure you are never found again. Understood?" They all shake their heads
yes. "Now get up and get the hell out of here." He then pushes a button on his
desk and the door opens. As the scientists scramble to get out, they are greeted
by the guards who smile at them and say "We will be seeing you again." They just
run off as fast as they can while the guards laugh. Deacon then comes in and
says "Anything you want me to do?" Justin places the bat back down behind his
desk and says "Put a man on each one of those guys. I want them tailed 24/7. And
get someone to get information on their families. I want names, pictures and
where they go and when. I want these guys to know that if they screw up again, I
will kill them and their family." Deacon nods and then asks "What about the
robot?" Justin looks at him and says "They say there is nothing that can be
pinned to us. Let's hope they are telling the truth. We will let the authorities
deal with it for now. Right now it is only you, me and the scientists who know
about it. Make sure it stays that way." Deacon nods and then leaves.
The robot is going down the street in downtown and just
destroying everything in its path. There is a trail of destroyed cars, knocked
over light poles and damaged storefronts. As the robot continues down the
street, the Robert and Vanessa of the Silent Jury arrive in their armor to
battle the robot (for some details of this battle, check out Silent Jury issue
#2). They are in heated battle with it as The Fury arrives. He comes in the nick
of time as the robot has gotten the best of the Silent Jury. The Fury knocks it
into a hole and goes after it while Robert tends to Vanessa who was injured in
the battle. As the robot falls into the hole, it lands on its back. Before it
can get up, The Fury flies down and scans over the hulk of metal. He does put up
a mental shield as he learned from their last encounter that it is crucial to
his survival. He thinks to himself, "There has to be some weakness." He then
sees a door open in its chest and inside are two missiles. Before they can fire
out, he mentally shuts the door. Just as he closes the door, the missile are
fired, but the closed door stops their momentum and they explode inside the
robot. The explosion is powerful and it sends The Fury flying out of the hole
along with pieces of the robot, hunks of concrete and other debris. The shield
once again saves his life as he is shot out of the hole and flies a good hundred
feet in the air and into the side of a building. He rams into the side of the
building, smashing through a window and landing inside an office. Luckily the
employees were already evacuated from the office building, so no one is hurt.
After he hits, he slowly gets up and works his way over to the window. While his
body is not sore, his head hurts. The impact of the explosion took its toll on
his mind. He looks out the window and sees a crater in the middle of the street.
As he looks around, pieces of metal from the robot and chunks of concrete from
the street have flown and smashed hundreds of windows on all the nearby
buildings and cars. Smoke is pouring out of the hole. He pulls a chair over and
sits down and watches as the fire department arrive and work on putting out the
fire. Soon the streets are full of police and fire men, working to clear the
area and to tend to anyone who was injured. Realizing that things are under
control and that the robot was not coming back out, he stands up and flies out
the window. As he does, one of the police men looks up and sees him fly off. He
points up and the others watch as he flies off into the sky. He flies right past
a news helicopter. The camera man quickly turns the camera to film him flying
off.
That night, Jack sits down to a nice meal of fried chicken
from the local take out joint and relaxes in front of the television. He turns
on the afternoon news to see what their take is on the robot and the whole
incident. As he turns it on, a pretty blond woman is standing about a dozen feet
from the crater and talking. "I am at the scene of the huge explosion on
Jefferson Boulevard in downtown North Harbor. Earlier today, a rampaging robot
came down here and caused millions of dollars of damage when the Silent Jury
arrived and defeated it. Later, the Fury was seen leaving the scene of the
crime. Whether he was responsible for the robot is
unknown at this time. All we know is the authorities want some answers and they
want them now." He turns off the television and throws his plate across the
room. He risks his life to stop this crazy robot and they think he may be
responsible for it. What kind of crap is this? He then walks into the kitchen
and goes into a cabinet and pulls out another bottle of vodka. This time he does
not think about it and just starts chugging it. And he continues to drink it
until he passes out on the couch.
Justin Rage is also watching the same news broadcast. He smiles when he hears that they are possibly suspecting The Fury. As soon as it is finished, he picks up the phone and calls Deacon. "Did you see the newscast? Great. I want you to get to work on a smear campaign for this so-called Fury. Do whatever it takes to build on this story and get the public against him." He then hangs up the phone and leans back in his chair and laughs.
The Fury
© Tom Zjaba 2006-2008