Thrusts of Justice (Chooseomatic Books), page 8
The ship looms on the horizon. And then just keeps looming — it’s enormous. A platoon of Cosmic Guardians is swarming like worker ants around a huge tower-like structure in an open hangar bay. “Aim for that thing,” you say. It seems like as good a target as any. “Fire!”
A burst of orange light sears your retinas, but when your vision returns, the scene in front of you looks very much the same, just with a smallish hole in the middle of it. You’re not sure what you were expecting — a chain reaction causing a concussive blast, perhaps? — but the mothership hasn’t budged.
“Maybe we’ve punctured it and they’re losing all their oxygen?” Tinker says helpfully.
“Maybe,” Conrad says. “Those look like engines in the back. Let’s pull around behind it for another shot.”
Effective or not, your opening volley has caught the attention of the Cosmic Guard, who start breaking away and rocketing toward you. Just as you’re in position, the first one crashes into you, knocking the jet just a hair off course.
Your second laser blast goes wide, missing the ship entirely.
“Damn it! Line up for one more!”
“That was it,” Tinker says, his head buried in a console. “That was all the power we had.”
“You said we had three shots!”
“I said two or three.” He’s as white as a sheet. “We got two.”
“I can reroute power from the engines,” Conrad says. “Will that give us what we need?”
Tinker whips out a pocket calculator and punches frantically at the keys. “Maybe! It’ll take everything we’ve got, though. Propulsion, life support… everything.”
Everything?
“It’s your call, boss,” Conrad says.
▶ If you use up your jet’s power for one last shot with the laser cannon, click here for page 289.
▶ If you get the hell out of Dodge and hope for the best, click here for page 210.
88
You decide to give your compatriots in the Cosmic Guard a wide berth, at least for now. So you bid Octavia farewell and rush to Washingtion, D.C. Thanks to your armor’s memory banks, you know to stay clear of Lightning Queen, since her bolts of electricity are powerful enough to short out your systems. In fact, Übermind once accomplished a similar effect with a localized pulse — electrical attacks in general are a bit of an Achilles heel.
Doctor Diabolus represents no such threat, though. You swoop down, pull him off the battlefield and carry him to a nearby rooftop for interrogation. His mind-control powers prove useless on you, and soon he’s telling you everything he knows, although it isn’t much. He claims that he was given his powers 15 years ago by Crexidyne Megacorp, but they erased all memory of the incident until last night. They sent a platoon of Guardians to abduct him, and demanded that he participate in today’s attack or they’d take back the superpowers they bestowed upon him so many years ago.
His story has the ring of truth to it — the Crexidyne project was certainly part of your orders to Thorpe, but your memory of it seems to be missing as well. Did you purposefully rid yourself of those memories? What purpose would that serve?
By the time you’re through with Diabolus, a handful of new villains has joined the fracas below. You spot members of the Justice Squadron approaching, and fly toward them to compare notes. In front is Megawatt, the man who can turn himself into a being made of pure—
Electricity. He attacks you without warning, and you never stand a chance.
THE END
89
You call an ambulance, and based on the horror and shock that registers in the the paramedics’ faces when they see your sorry ass, it was the right call. The doctors in the ER have to pump you with a ridiculous amount of morphine to provide any sort of pain relief whatsoever, and before long you’ve drifted off into blissful oblivion. Honestly, it wouldn’t be a bad way to spend an afternoon on unemployment — except for one thing.
That nefarious supervillain plot? It actually was the end of the world.
The truth is, while you were lying unconscious on top of a building in Cleveland, all sorts of crazy stuff was going on out there. We’re not saying that by the time you woke up you were in any condition to stop it. In fact, considering how the rest of humanity is going to die, all that morphine was probably a good choice. The world goes straight to hell, but you’re too doped up to hear any of the screaming.
THE END
90
You’re not sure how well the suit understands you, but you think safety as hard as you can, and it responds. At first you wonder if the suit’s idea of a safe spot might be somewhere out in the middle of the solar system, but after a few minutes of rapid travel you’re flying over the Pacific Ocean, and then plummeting into the depths of it.
You plunge through a smack of deep sea jellyfish, and then find yourself entering a vast complex of subterranean caves, emerging from the water in a dry, strangely-lit chamber miles beneath the ocean’s surface. You can’t imagine anywhere on Earth safer than this, which is good because you need to gather your thoughts. What does it mean that there are other Guardians on Earth? And what about Agent Moretti — is he really who he says he is? A little solitude is just what you need.
Except you’re not alone.
“Hello? Hey, you’re not Uncle Chuck.” You turn to see a thin, blue-skinned man with fins for ears who somehow looks more surprised to see you than you are to see him. As you recover from the shock, you realize this can only be one person.
“Ocean Boy!” As sidekick to the legendary Human Torpedo, Ocean Boy was a full member of the original Liberty Patrol before it disbanded in the mid-’80s. Since his powers only worked underwater — in fact, he couldn’t even survive on land more than a day or two, if you recall correctly — he was always something of a joke to the superhero fan community. He was only a few years older than you, though, so as a child you really looked up to him. He was everything you wanted to be.
“Oh,” he says, a little skittishly. “Cosmic Guardian. I remember you from when I was a kid.”
“Actually, that was my predecessor. I’m new.” You can barely contain your excitement, and open your visor to introduce yourself.
He takes your hand somewhat reluctantly. “I’m, uh… well, Ocean Boy’s actually my real name,” he says. “I’m sort of part fish.” It takes some time for him to open up, but before long you’ve got him regaling you with tales of his thrilling exploits with the Liberty Patrol. Basically, you’re two fans geeking out over your shared enthusiasm, and it’s not until a few brisk hours later that you’re interrupted by a loud splash coming from the water’s edge behind you.
“Obie! You have a friend!”
Standing before you is Chuck Westernson, the Human Torpedo himself, a grey-bearded, barrel-chested mountain of a man. He may have put on a few pounds since his heyday, but he still has arms like tree trunks, and is carrying two enormous glass jugs almost as big around as he is.
Ocean Boy blushes a deep magenta. “Um, this is the new Cosmic Guardian,” he says.
“Well, you’ll stay for drinks, won’t you?” He raises one of the mighty jugs over his head, beaming. “It’s eighteenth-century pirate rum!”
▶ Normally this would be the part where you make a choice, but the chances of you turning down drinks with Ocean Boy and the Human freaking Torpedo are roughly zero percent. Besides, based on the size of those bottles, it’s important that you rescue the pair of them from alcohol poisoning (or at least help spread the alcohol poisoning around). Click here for page 56.
92
Who needs the Nightwatchman’s toys when you have cleverness? And guile? This is definitely the best idea you’ve had so far.
“I must have gotten the instructions mixed up,” you say. Look at you, with the guile. “What was the whole deal with the D.C. contingent again?”
His eyes narrow. “Who did you say you were?”
“Ha! Like you don’t remember. You hired me yourself. Remember? At the thing?” This isn’t working as well as you’d hoped. “Standards and Practices?”
“Security! I have a Code Blue on floor 58. I repeat, Code Blue!”
Son of a bitch. You hit the button on your wrist screen and tackle Moretti, punching through the window behind him with an augmented gauntlet strike and pulling him through the shattered glass. You pop your wings as soon as you’ve cleared the ledge and tumble into a controlled glide.
That part was pretty smooth, at least. There’s only one problem. Your entire plan hinged on flying below the radar, and Code Blue calls several hundred Cosmic Guardians into Moretti’s office from their post on Crexidyne’s roof. Rather than opening fire, they quickly determine that they’re up against the Nightwatchman and simply short out your costume’s power while you’re still in mid-flight. Your cloak relies on an electrical pulse to maintain the rigidity of the glider configuration, so it immediately goes limp.
It’s over 50 stories to the New York City streets below. You do your best to land on Moretti, but his bony ass isn’t nearly enough to break your fall.
THE END
93
If you blast off to confront them in space, you’re looking at, what, a big silver coffin versus whatever weaponry the advanced alien race has brought to invade an entire planet with? How is that possibly going to work out in your favor? Let them do their worst. They may have time to prepare, but so will you, and you intend to be ready for them.
Alas, all you have up your sleeve is travelling the globe throughout the night and convincing a bunch of additional supervillains (and even a hero or two) to join your cause. What the aliens bring to the party is the technology that created all those superbeings in the first place, but in reverse. Just after dawn, a pair of Guardians flies in carrying a big glowing orb between them. It pulsates, and the various superpowers drain from your collected forces. If you hoped that no history with Crexidyne’s R&D department meant no takebacks on your own abilities, you’re out of luck. That meteor was filled with the same biochemical crud Crexidyne’s lab monkeys use, and your purple goo powers dry up on the spot.
Curiously, the Ox is the only one among you who seems immune. A giant, orange bolt of light from out of nowhere vaporizes him before he has much of a chance to gloat, though. Then more Guardians fly in, wiping up the rest of the riffraff with minimal effort.
THE END
94
You just fled a group of several hundred Cosmic Guardians on top of a building. What makes you think there will be fewer of them on their own spaceship?
The manual override instructions start out fairly clear: pull the thrust control all the way down and hold it while your copilot flips a series of switches. The ship appears to be of alien design, with various human control mechanisms haphazardly welded to it. You grab the thrust lever and have Ox take the role of copilot. Instantly, the ship lurches and starts to plummet toward the Earth. The next set of instructions is for—
Uh-oh. The memo outlines jobs for a pilot, copilot, navigator, navigator’s assistant, and dedicated technician to monitor something called “yaw.” “Ox!” you shout. “Can you, uh, reach that lever back there with your foot or something?”
It’s too late. The craft goes into a roll, throwing you off your feet and pressing you helplessly to the ceiling. You desperately attempt to reach the controls, but it’s no use. Panicked, Ox starts screaming at the top of his lungs, “I’m too pretty to die!”
The good news is, your friend truly is indestructible. Moments later, he’s prying himself loose from the ship’s burning wreckage. The bad news is, although you turn to malleable purple glop on impact, after losing consciousness your body quickly reverts to its original form. And that form burns to a crisp before the Ox can pull you out of the flames.
Stupid yaw.
THE END
95
No guts, no glory, right? You throw your grappling hook like a seasoned pro, and it clamps right onto the Guardian’s foot as if it were designed to do just that — heck, for all you know, it was. You’re immediately yanked from your perch and are soon rocketing toward the stratosphere. It’s fun! As you continue rising, though, you start to worry — what if he just keeps flying higher until he breaks atmosphere? It seems like an unsportsmanlike way to rid himself of a hitchhiker, but you don’t know how these guys operate. Of course, your suit has a built-in glider, so you can always cut the cord and sail back to Earth before the air gets too thin.
Fortunately, it doesn’t come to that. Or unfortunately, perhaps? The Guardian slows his ascent, and you soon find out why. A whole platoon of similarly-armored, alien shapes surrounds the whole bunch of you. It’s the Cosmic Guard! Rumor had it that the Guardian was a member of an elite interplanetary peacekeeping force, and it looks like he’s called in some backup.
At least, it does at first. They open fire on him, and it quickly becomes apparent that they’re trying to take him down, not just rid him of his passenger. Is this some kind of renegade, rogue Guardian? Could Purple Stretchy Woman actually be the good guy here? You cut your line and activate the glider, but it’s too late — you’ve been spotted.
An elite interplanetary peacekeeping force blasts you into particles.
THE END
96
The first order of business is to get yourself out of the hellhole that is Cleveland, Ohio. The Ox says he can have you in New York City within nine hours, but you’re a bloody criminal mastermind now, and insist that he do better. First, though, you have him stuff Magnifico’s remains into one of his duffel bags — you can tell he’s done henchman work before, because he falls naturally into the role.
He finishes the gruesome task quickly, then starts scrolling through the contacts on his cell phone. “Hey, Tink,” he says after settling on one. “You know anyone with a jet or any kinda supervehicle? I need to get home from Cleveland in a hurry. Really? Yeah, awesome.”
He rattles off the address of the bank, and seconds later a pale gray cloud materializes just in front of it, and a tiny Asian girl who can’t be a day over 14 pops out of the cloud. She’s dressed from head to toe in black, but it’s more of a fashion statement than a supervillain costume — the look is backed up by several piercings and about half a pound of eye makeup. She gestures at you to follow, then disappears back into the mist.
“Teleporter,” the Ox says, almost giddy. “I never met one before — come on!” He hurries into the fog, and a moment later you hear his voice echoing from somewhere on the other side, so you decide it’s safe to follow. You step through and, after a mildly terrifying second of weightlessness, find yourself in a cramped workshop with the girl, the Ox, and two middle-aged men.
“This is Tinker,” Ox says as one of the men wipes his hand on his coveralls and offers it to you. You ignore it. “He makes weapons and stuff. And this is, uh…”
“Savage Cockroach,” the other man says, looking you over skeptically. You recognize the name, if not the face — he’s a villain with the power to replicate himself into any number of duplicates, each of which he’s perfectly willing to send to their death, making him a formidable opponent.
“And this is Suong,” Tinker says, repeating something to the black-clad girl in a language that might be Vietnamese. She just stares at you like she hopes you’ll drop dead on the spot — pretty much the reaction you’d expect from any teenage girl. “She’s new, so I’ve been helping her out here and there.”
The workshop is Tinker’s, and the Cockroach is there on business. He says the Cosmic Guard — a vast, intergalactic police force that provided Earth with the Cosmic Guardian you saw earlier today — is rounding up supervillains on orders from Crexidyne Corporation. His story makes little sense to you, since Crexidyne is a front organization for renowned villain Reginald Thorpe, and the Guardians are supposed to be the good guys. The Cockroach, however, claims his knowledge is first-hand, and has come looking for a weapon that can fend off armor-clad space marines. Tinker says he has just the thing, and drags out a big metal box with an electric paddle attached to it, explaining that he designed it for Übermind back in the ’90s.
You’ve got plenty of openings for lackeys, and could do worse than a mad scientist, a teleporter, and a one-man suicide squad. So you offer the three of them the chance to join your crew. There’s some grousing and posturing, but it quickly stops when you open the Ox’s bag and reveal a bloody, mutilated corpse in a Magnifico costume.
Of the three, you would have pegged Tinker for the most squeamish, but he quickly recovers from his shock and moves closer to inspect the hero’s remains. “Wow,” he says. “Yeah, this looks like the real deal. Hey, what’s this? Ox, it has your name on it.” He pulls a little glass orb out of a pouch he finds somewhere inside the bundle of gore.
“Gimme that,” Ox says, snatching the bauble and taking a closer look. Sure enough, it has a piece of masking tape stuck to it inscribed with the word ‘Ox.’ “Ew, it’s got a little worm or something inside. What’s Magnifico doing with a friggin’ worm in a ball?”
“Verminator could tell you,” Cockroach says. “He can communicate with stuff like that. Worms, rodents, bugs, pretty much anything small and disgusting.” He shakes his head, as if having second thoughts. “Only thing is, he’s a goddamn lying bastard. I left him in a Mexican jail a few years back. Feel free to bust him out, but you can’t trust him as far as you can throw him.”
