Silent Jury
Issue #23
by Tom Zjaba

Chapter 27
Down Time

    Daniel returns to find the Silent Jury waiting for him. A flash of light appears, signifying his arrival. The light catches their attention and pulls them from their conversation. As he appears, a smile comes over their faces. "It is done. Doctor Warlock will trouble us no longer." He says as he returns the smile. The girls rush over again and give him a big hug.

    The super villains look on at the reunion with disgust. They were so close to victory, but now their fate is unknown. If it wasn't for the two familiars, Ozmodeus and Damien, they would try to make a break for it. But after the trouncing they took from these creatures, they have no option but to sit and wait. Everyone is accounted for except for the Mob. With the hundred clones of him running around, he was able to keep Damien busy while the real one escaped into the forest. Right now, he is running as fast as he can through the dense forest. His legs are tight and his muscles ache, but the thought of spending the next decade in prison is enough to keep him running. The further away he can get, the better his chances are. He is banking on being overlooked in all the commotion.

    Robert is the first one to break up the reunion. "I hate to stop this tender moment, but we really should be freeing Gadget and Mr. Smith." The girls let go of Daniel and have an almost sheepish look on their face. Daniel nods in agreement as he does a teleport spell that sends everyone into the fortress.

    When they are teleported into the fortress, the Blink looks around in shock. "Did we just teleport?" he asks as he looks over his body, making sure it all came with him.

    Daniel looks at him and smiles "Yes, I did a teleport spell. A simple spell, though the number of people did increase its level of difficulty." Before they can get into a deep conversation about spells and magic, the girls and Robert rush off to look for Gadget and Mr. Smith.

    They head downstairs towards the recently discovered rooms. "I am guessing they would be locked up in the cells we found downstairs." Robert says as he leads the group. Down the stone stairs, they rush, doing their best to keep from falling. While the stairs are large, they are also slick from the dampness of the cave like surroundings. Unlike the control room, which has powerful dehydrators to keep the dampness under control, the stairs remain damp and slick.

    As they reach the room, Robert stops them before entering. "We should proceed with caution. There may be traps set." Vanessa is eager to release her father, but she knows that Doctor Warlock is capable of anything. Robert steps into the room first, having his armor ready for anything. As he looks around, he sees nothing that would signify a trap. But he does see the two men locked in cells.

    When Vanessa enters the room, she immediately sees her father and rushes to his cell. "Daddy, are you all right? I was so worried about you." He rises to his feet and tries to speak, but finds that the silence spell is still working. Mr. Smith also rises as Robert rushes over and uses the strength of the suit to tear the doors off the cells. He easily tosses the heavy, steel bars to the side. With the bars gone, Vanessa rushes in and hugs her father. Robert gives Mr. Smith a hand as he slowly rises from the cold stone floor.

    Daniel and Charlie enter the room and join in the celebration. Gadget comes over to Daniel and tries talking, showing him that he has been silenced. Daniel looks on as he says "He put a silence spell on you. I can easily remove that." He closes his eyes and chants something in an unknown language as he waves his arms. Two rings of light emerge from his hands and one goes over the head of Gadget and the other over Mr. Smith's head. The rings move down towards their throat and change from a glowing yellow to a pulsating red. They flash a few times before they disappear altogether. As they are gone, Gadget tries speaking "Vanessa, can you hear me?" She smiles and says "Yes I can Daddy!" and she hugs him tightly.

    With the men saved, they head out of the hideout to deal with the one remaining problem. As they return to the battleground, they are greeted by the villains who have not moved. Of course, when you have a stone golem and a gargoyle watching you, it is easy to stay put. When the villains see them again, the Myth stands up and yells out. "Whatcha gonna do with us now?" The other villains nod in agreement. They really want to get away from these familiars.

Daniel turns to the team and says "I have a suggestion." They listen intently as he says "I can strip them of their powers and then erase the memories of these past days, but I do not know how you feel about this." The team starts talking amongst each other.

    Vanessa is the first one to speak up. "By erasing their memories, can you insure that they do not lose their other memories? Sure, they are bad guys, but I wouldn't want them to forget their families, stuff like that." Robert and the others do nod in agreement.

    Daniel thinks about it as he replies "I have never used the spell, but I am sure that I can pinpoint what to erase." Before he can do anything, the Myth speaks up "I know we're enemies, but I really don't want my mind wiped out. There has to be another way." The other villains nod in agreement. The thought of becoming amnesiac or worse, a vegetable, scares them.

    The Duellist speaks up "Can't you just take our weapons? Without them, what harm can we do?" Robert is the first to speak up. "You know where our headquarters is as well as what we look like. You can do allot of harm with that knowledge." The rest of the Silent Jury nod in agreement. Daniel then looks over at Robert and says "You make the call." Robert lowers his head as he hates having this kind of burden. But he knows that he is the leader of the team and these are the kind of decisions a leader has to make.

    After a long minute of thinking, he finally looks at Daniel and says "Erase their memories and send them somewhere far away." Daniel nods in agreement as he turns to face the villains. "If you cooperate, this will not hurt a bit." The all cower at the decision. The Myth and the Foreman realize they don't have any other option, so they turn and attack Osmodeus. "I would rather die a warrior than live as a vegetable." the Myth says as he attacks the giant golem. The foreman charges at Damien with his hammer swinging.

    As soon as the attack happens, the Duellist, the Abstract Artist and the Miner make a run for it. They know their chances of escape are slim, but it is the only chance they have. But Daniel decides to end this before it gets out of hand. He waves his hands and recites an incantation. Dust flies from his hands and blankets the area where the villains are like snow. As the dust falls and they breath it in, the start to get groggy. The Myth grabs a hold of Ozmodeus, but his knees start to buckle as fatigue takes over. The foreman raises his hammer above his head as he tries to strike Damien, but the dust engulfs him and he starts to wobble. His eyes grow heavy and his movements slow. The hammer falls from his hands as he stumbles forward a few steps, before falling to the ground. As he hits the ground, his eyes close and he goes into a deep sleep.

    The other villains fare no better against the sleeping dust. The Abstract Artist tries to draw a box to hide in, but he breaths it in before he can finish it. Soon, is drawings go from straight lines to crooked ones. Soon, there is a line going to the ground as he falls down. The Duellist and the Miner fare no better as they are also caught in a deep slumber.

    Daniel looks around at the other heroes and says "With the villains sleeping, it will be easier to perform my magic. He then proceeds to take each villain aside and begin to probe their brains. The other heroes watch on in both fascination and horror. They are impressed that he can do such a thing, but fear that someone this powerful may one day turn on them.

    Later that evening, the group celebrates with pizza and wings. They are all around the dining room table at Robert's house. Twenty boxes of pizza, a dozen salads and a few hundred wings are strewn across the table. Two liters of soda and half filled cups also are everywhere. Everyone is enjoying themselves, even The One, who is forced to sit on the floor. With his immense weight, there are no chairs that can stand up to his bulk. He sits there with his own pizza and bottle of soda. The Blink is out eating everyone as he has an overflowing plate of food. Everyone stops to watch as he fills his plate once again with food. Vanessa is the first to comment "How can someone so skinny, eat so much food?" He looks up from devouring another piece of pizza and replies "It takes allot of food to run as fast I do. You should see me drink the protein shakes." Once he finishes talking, he devours another piece of pizza and washes it down with a glass of cola.

    Gadget looks over at the Blink and asks "Please don't take offense, but how did you get your super powers?" The Blink looks up at him and says "I can't believe it took someone this long to ask. " Everyone looks up at him as they wait for him to answer. He looks around and notices that everyone is literally looking at him. "I will tell you, but I expect to hear everyone else's origins afterwards." Daniel looks over at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Origins? I don't understand." Robert quickly jumps in and says "It is from comic books. All the heroes would gain their powers a certain way and would talk about it in their origin story." Still not sure, Daniel just acts like he understands.

    The Blink then proceeds to tell his story. "It all starts with me and two of my friends. We were the outcasts of the school, the loners. We all were big into computers and stuff like that. But my one friend, Duffy, wanted to play sports. He didn't have any natural ability, kinda of clumsy, slow kid. But he was smart. Super genius kinda smart. He decided that it was his goal to figure out how to become a better athlete through science." He pauses for a moment and eats another piece of pizza and refills his glass.

    Once he is done eating his pizza, which is seconds when you have inhuman speed, he returns to his story. "Duffy's father worked for some big-time pharmaceutical company. He was a scientist or something. Anyway, he encouraged Duffy to follow in his footsteps and built him a lab in the guest house. Duffy first started out doing all the typical experiments, but soon he was doing more and more elaborate things. Then he started looking into why some animals have such fast reflexes and stuff. He was looking for a way to replicate the speed of a cheetah, the reflexes of a mongoose, stuff like that. He hooked up with some dudes on the internet and they shared information. Then one day, he found what he was looking for. It was a way to make a person faster. At first it wasn't a huge difference. He took some pills and within weeks, he was fast enough to make the track team. His body changed as well, it became leaner, his muscles tighter. It wasn't long before he was not only running track, but winning."

    Charlie jumps in "Do you know anything about the pills he took, what was in them?" Blink looks over at him and nods no. "Sorry, but they died with him. But to get back to the story, he decided to share them with me and Benny. At first it was awesome, we went from geeks to jocks. We went out for the football team and were able to be first string wide receivers. It was awesome! We had fame, girls, everything. But Duffy wasn't satisfied and he kept modifying the formula. He wanted to go faster and faster. He wasn't satisfied being the fastest kid in the school, he wanted to be the fastest in the state, even the country. That is when he came up with a formula that was too powerful. We all took it and we gained the speed we wanted. We went from fast to super fast. The only problem is we weren't ready for it. None of us were. The human body isn't meant to run that fast. We soon found out that we could move faster than we could think and that causes problems. Duffy ran right into the side of a building and was instantly killed. Benny sped right out in front of a truck and was killed. It was enough to scare the daylights out of me. So I decided to keep a low profile while I learned to use my powers. I literally spent the last few years, learning to coordinate my brain and my body."

    Vanessa is moved by his story and decides to respond "That is really something. I am so sorry for your loss." He looks over at her and smiles "Thanks, but I am over it. I miss my friends, but I realize how great and dangerous this power is. None of us were ready for it." He then puts his head down for a moment as he thinks about his friends. Connie comes over and gives him a hug. He looks up at her and smiles. "Thanks, that means allot." he says as he looks at her.

    Once he regains his composure, he looks at the rest of them and says "Well, it is your turn to tell your origins." He looks right over at Daniel who then begins his tale. For the rest of the night, they take turns telling about how they became super heroes.

Silent Jury © 2006-2009 Tom Zjaba