Silent Jury
Issue #20
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter 24
On the Offensive
As the fire goes out, the creatures return to the jungle. One
by one, they disappear into the thick foliage. Justin Rage watches as they
disappear. Once they are gone, he rises from the ground and looks at the last
embers of the fire. Looking up, he also sees that the rays of the sun are
beginning to creep across the island. The day is here and it is time for him to
explore more. But before he does anything else, he decides it is time to do
something. Walking over to his supplies, he digs through the crates, looking for
a bag. He knows that he packed it. Digging deeper in the crate, he finally comes
across it. Smiling, he pulls the bag up and opens it. Inside is a flare gun, a
compass, maps of the area, extra matches, a first aid kit and a wooden box.
Taking the wooden box out, he examines it. Thinking back to the first time it
came in his possession, he remembers when Deacon handed to him. It was taken
from a professor's trailer before they killed him and destroyed his stuff. It
was also the same day that they first learned who The Fury was.
Opening the wooden box, he sees the four vials of liquid.
They look the same as when he first examined them. He takes one out and looks at
it. Turning the bottle over, he watches the dark liquid move around. Is it the
same stuff that gave The Fury his power? Or is it closer to the liquid that made
the Psyclone insane? He remembers when the professor first worked for him. He
had so much promise. But as his experiments kept failing, so did his favor in
Justin's eyes. Psyclone was the closest he ever came. Only he could not handle
the expanding mind and went insane. But he was also the last straw for Justin
Rage. After that, he was fired and forced to do his experiments underground. But
his working relationship with Justin Rage didn't end, only the circumstances
did. Instead of working with a team on top secret projects, he instead created
illegal drugs for the mob. He then used the money to pay for his experiments. It
wasn't until he succeeded that he terminated that relationship. It wasn't the
money he needed so much as the supplies. The mob supplied him with what he
needed and paid him well for the drugs. But with the success of The Fury, he
could now go to a large corporation or the government and get the funding he
needed. He did not need their dirty money anymore. Only problem was they were
not ready for the business relationship to end. They needed the drugs and they
did not need someone exposing them. So they did the only thing they could, they
silenced him.
Fearing what the consequences of drinking the liquid may be,
Justin pauses. Will having great powers be enough to help him off this island?
While he has people that are loyal to him, will they remain so in his absence?
And having mind powers could come in handy when he returns to North Harbor,
assuming it is still there. But more than that, it could give him a decisive
edge over the beastmen, even more so than fire. His immediate safety needs to
take precedent over anything else. With that in mind, he takes the first vial
and downs it. It is a bit of a struggle to swallow it with the bitter taste, but
he manages. Grabbing a coconut, he breaks it open on a rock and chases the
formula down with some coconut milk.
Charlie and The Blink are the last to arrive at Robert's
house. The Blink stares in amazement at the size or Robert's house. "That is one
well off dude." he says they pull up the long driveway. As they arrive, they are
greeted by Robert, Vanessa, Connie and The One. They are all standing in front
of the house, talking. Charlie pulls the van up and stops. The group comes over
as they exit the vehicle. As The Blink first sees The One, he freaks out. "Whoa,
is that a giant robot?" The One returns the stare as he answers "I am as real as
you are." Vanessa quickly jumps in "So who is this?" Charlie stops for a moment
and looks at The Blink in his black and red costume and says "Team, I give you
the newest member, The Blink." He takes a bow and smiles at Connie. "Asian
chicks are so hot." he says to her. She gives him a dirty look as she asks "And
what is your power?" He smiles at her and says "I can move at super speeds."
Vanessa and Connie look at each other with. Vanessa jumps in and says "Prove it,
little man." He smiles at Vanessa and says "No problem." With that, he
disappears for a second. Connie and Vanessa feel something, but it is so fast,
they don't have time to react. Before they know what happened, he is standing
there, holding two bras. One is bright red and one is black. "Ladies, I think
these belong to you." he says as he holds them up for everyone to see. Realizing
that the bras look just like the ones they are, or were wearing, they both check
and find that they have indeed been removed. "You freaking pervert. If you ever
touch me again, I will break your fingers." Vanessa says as she feels very
violated. "You wanted a demonstration, you got one. So chill out." Robert is
unsure if he should laugh or be angry. Realizing how upset Vanessa is, he
decides it is best to not laugh. The One on the hand is quite upset. "Someone
needs to teach you some manners." he says as he makes a move towards The Blink.
Like that, the Blink disappears, only to appear behind The One. "We could keep
this up all day if you want to, you walking scrap heap." Realizing the situation
is turning ugly, Charlie quickly jumps in. "Everyone, please stop it. Might I
remind you that Gadget and Mr. Smith's lives may depend on us actually trying to
save them." This makes everyone stop and pay attention. Being the leader of the
team, Robert decides to take over. "Let me be the first to welcome you to the
Silent Jury. Hello, I am Robert." He comes over and shakes his hand. "Robert?
What is your super hero name?" As they stop shaking, Robert looks at him and
says "I don't have one." The Blink stops for a moment and asks "What is your
super power?" Robert maintains eye contact as he says "I don't have any. I wear
a suit of armor, like Iron Man." Vanessa comes over and shakes his hand and
retrieves her bra. "I'm Vanessa and I also wear a suit of armor." Connie is the
next to come over. "I'm Connie and I too wear armor." He looks around at them
and says "Is this a super hero team or the knights of the round table? Dude, you
need some variety in your powers." The One comes over, but he does not shake his
hand. "I am The One. I think my powers are self explanatory." The Blink looks up
and down at him, marveling at how big and how powerful he looks. "Now you're a
real superhero. Like a cross between the Thing and Colossus. I am impressed."
Charlie, realizing the urgency of the situation, takes over.
"I pulled up some surveillance tapes I had installed in the headquarters to get
an idea of what we are facing." He opens his laptop and hits a few buttons. "As
you can see, Doctor Warlock is back and he has his legion of villains with him."
He then does a slide show of the various villains. "I studied some of the past
battle with them and I think I found a weakness." The group all gathers around
the laptop. "As you can see, each of the villains has one thing in common. They
all seem to have an item that glows blue. I am guessing this is used to channel
energy from Doctor Warlock and serves as their source of power." He zooms on
each villain and shows their item. "This is where you come in Blink. If you can
speed in there and take away these items, I think we will strip them of their
powers. Then we can fly in and take them out. That will leave only Doctor
Warlock." Robert jumps in and adds "Only Doctor Warlock. He is one powerful
wizard. And this time, we don't have Daniel to battle him." Charlie nods in
agreement. "You are right, but we do have a few aces up our sleeve. We have The
Blink and The One. With the Blinks speed and The One's new found powers, we may
be able to take him out. The One adds to the conversation "I would almost rather
have you not disable the Myth. I want a rematch with him." Charlie looks over at
him and says "We need to take out Doctor Warlock first and foremost. By removing
his henchmen, we can concentrate on taking him out." The group nods in
agreement. Robert then speaks up. "The only question left is, do you have our
armor?" Charlie smiles as he points to the vehicle he came in, a black van with
darkened windows. "This van is a mobile lab. We have pretty much anything and
everything you need." He pulls out his remote and presses a button. The side
door opens up and the inside looks like any typical van. He then pushes another
button and the walls inside slide down, revealing suits of armor, weapons and
various gadgets and gizmos. "Go in and get yourself some armor." Robert, Vanessa
and Connie head inside and start fawning over all the armor. The Blink turns to
Charlie and asks "Is there anything in there that I could use? I don't want any
armor to slow me down." Charlie goes into the van and pulls out what looks like
a pair of gauntlets. He hands them to The Blink and says "These gauntlets will
give you the ability to zap someone with a few thousand volts of electricity."
He also hands him a belt with small battery cells housed around the belt. It
looks allot like a utility belt. "This belt has enough power for two good shocks
before it runs out and needs to be recharged. It may come in handy when you are
battling Doctor Warlock." The Blink takes the belt and puts it on. It weighs
close to ten pounds. "Not as heavy as it looks." he says as he fastens it. "We
are constantly trying to make it smaller and be able to store more power. The
prototype weighed over fifty pounds and had one decent shock before running out
of power."
Once they are all dressed and ready for battle, Charlie hooks
his computer into each of their armor and downloads maps of their headquarters.
"I am putting in maps of the whole headquarters, at least of all the areas we
have explored. This way if you get lost, you can reference it." As Robert looks
at the screen inside his helmet, he speaks out. "Is there any way to interface
Langston?" Charlie looks at him and asks "Langston? Who is that?" Robert laughs
as he answers. "That was the name for my computer in my original armor. Gadget
named it." Charlie laughs "He always did like Langston Hughes. I am surprised he
didn't name it Smokey after Smokey Robinson." They all get a good laugh at that.
He then finishes his answer "To answer your question, no, we can't. I know these
suits are not anywhere as good as the ones you are used to, but desperate times
call for desperate measures."
With the booting up done, they load into the van a large
pickup truck that Robert has. He attaches a trailer his father owned to the
back, so that The One can ride in it. The last thing they want to do is bring
notice to them as they drive there. As he looks at himself in his armor, he is
glad that he listened to his father when he told him to get tinted windows. Back
then, he figured it was so he could fool around with women in there and not get
caught. Little did he realize the true intentions were, or at least what he
thinks they were.
As they drive away, The Blink drives in the front with Robert
as they pull The One behind. The girls go in the van with Charlie. Once they hit
the open road, The Blink turns to Robert and asks "Do you guys like always
travel so lame?" Robert looks over at him and stares. "What do you mean?" The
Blink looks around at the vehicle. "You know, like soccer moms. Where is the
plane or at least a bat mobile or something." Breaking out laughing, Robert
responds "Give us some time. We have had a rough start." The Blink leans back in
the seat. "I saw the clips of the fight you had with those dudes in North
Harbor. You can really use a guy like me." Robert laughs as he responds "I hope
so. We lost a really good team member. One who would impress even you." This
makes The Blink sit up. "Did he like die or something? Is that why those chicks
are so cold towards me? They are afraid to get to know me because I may die."
This really makes Robert laugh out loud. "You are so off base. But to answer
your first question, no, he did not die. He was able to go back to his
dimension. His name was Daniel and he was a powerful sorcerer." The Blink looks
out the window at the houses. "I see. So how did you get him back to this other
dimension?" Taking a deep breath, Robert responds "You would have to talk to
Gadget and Mr. Smith. They are the ones who developed the machine."
In the other vehicle, the girls begin talking, while Charlie
drives. He is in the front seat and they are both in the second row. "So, are
you and Robert a couple?" Connie blurts out. Vanessa is stunned by the to the
point question. "I...I mean we...well...yes, we are a couple." She looks down as
if she was ashamed by it. "I sorta guess that when I called and you were on
vacation." Connie says as she looks out the window. "Were you two like a couple
or something? I don't want to be getting in the middle of something." Vanessa
asks as she looks up at Connie. "No, we were not a couple. I thought that maybe
one day we would be, but I guess it was not meant to be." Sadness comes over
Vanessa's face as she hears this. "I am so sorry. I had no idea you felt like
that." Connie looks up with a sad smile on her face. "Neither did Robert. I
never knew how to approach him. With his father dying and then all the problems
with the team, there was never a good time. I thought that maybe the time away
in Japan would give me time to think about this and see if it really was what I
wanted." Vanessa grabs her and gives her a big hug. "If you want, I will back
off. The last thing I want to do is allow a man to break up our team." Connie
squeezes her tight as she replies "I could never ask you to do that. But thanks
for being so understanding. You are like a sister to me."
After an hour, they finally arrive to the headquarters. They
park a half mile away as they do not want to telegraph their arrival. The last
thing they want is for the team to be waiting for them. They pull the vehicles
to the side of the road and then drive into the woods. Once they are out of site
of the main road, they emerge from the vehicles. Charlie quickly takes over. "We
are going to start with The Blink going ahead to the headquarters and making
sure everything is clear. While he is doing that, the rest of you will fly
there, carrying The One and meet him." Robert looks at him and says "Let's hope
this goes better than our other missions." The Blink then smiles and says "See
you in a few seconds." He then speeds off, through the trees. Robert grabs The
One by the shoulders and lifts him. The strength of the armor allow him to lift
him with ease. "I can carry him myself." Robert says as he ascends into the air.
He flies off towards the mountain, with the two girls following behind him.
While they are flying towards the fortress, The Blink easily
opens the door. With the combination and location given to him from Charlie, it
is a breeze. Once he is inside, he speeds through the fortress, grabbing all the
blue glowing items. The giant hammer of the Myth, the rapier of the Duellist and
all the other weapons disappear from their possessions. Having retrieved all of
them, he zooms outside and waits for the others. "Piece of cake!" he says as he
sets down the weapons and checks his cell phone for messages.
The Duellist looks to Doctor Warlock and says "My weapon is
gone. It just disappeared." The Foreman then enters the main room and says the
same thing. "One minute I had it and the next, it is gone." Doctor Warlock
realizes that something is not right. "Let me do a spell and see what is up. He
closes his eyes and does a realize spell. As he finishes it, gold dust flies
from his hands and makes out he outline of the path that The Blink took.
"Someone was here and they went at inhuman speeds." he says as she looks at the
path. It goes from one room to another and then exits. "We are under attack." he
says with an angry glare in his eye. "But what about our weapons? They were the
source of our power." The Foreman says as he pleads his case. "Retrieving them
is no problem." He then closes his eyes once more and casts a Return spell. Once
again, a small tornado spins and grows, just like the one that brought them to
the fortress. It then disappears into the air.
After a few minute flight, the group lands at the base of the
mountain. The Blink quickly comes over and shows them the weapons. "Just as
planned!" he says as he drops the weapons at their feet. But before they can
enjoy the victory, the small tornado appears and sucks up all the weapons. They
all leap back for fear of being sucked into the vortex. But it quickly
disappears along with all the weapons that The Blink just retrieved. "This
cannot be good." Robert says as he watches them disappear.
While they determine their next move, Robert radios Charlie.
"We have a problem. Over." He waits a second for a response. "What is the
problem. Over." Charlie says as his voice comes through radio in Robert's
helmet. "The weapons were taken as planned, but a vortex appeared and took them
away." Once again, there is a few seconds of silence. "Abort the mission." the
frantic voice says over the radio. But before he has a chance to do anything, a
bolt of lightning hits the ground between them, knocking them all back. The
impact of the lightning sends everyone to the ground, including The One. As they
try to recover from the impact, they hear a voice that sends chills down their
spines. "Welcome home heroes, too bad you won't survive the visit." As they look
up at the sky, they see Doctor Warlock and his group of villains flying down
towards them.
Silent Jury © 2006-2009 Tom Zjaba