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Our Paranormal Chernobyl "There's no exposure," Goo told Maggie. "Nobody set se-e-erum loose. Just Stranger, saying that." Goo flexed the portion of its mass near the back of the van and the doors opened. Maggie, at the front of the van, saw two of the PRIMUS agents in her line of sight swivel their guns toward the back door. The helicopter was making a lot of noise, but she could pick up Stranger's voice. He seemed to be talking to someone inside the van. "—thought it was pretty clear where I was going with it. Remind me never to take you to a monkey knife fight. Boy, you haven't lived until you've seen a monkey knife fight." "Saint-câlisse de tabarnaik." Maggie looked to the dwarf next to her. "Let's hurry." Burning with curiosity and worry, she ran towards the open door, shields starting to blaze as they powered up. The tall detective had to use one arm to support the heavy bag while he opened it. He stared at the contents, eyes narrowed. Eli waited to hear what the cop would say, images of the tools and equipment he'd found in the bag were spinning slowly in his mind's eye. He'd have to sculpt them, naturally. A monument—or memorial—to the brilliance of his creators. Yes, it was morally reprehensible to experiment on the unwilling, but you couldn't argue with the results. "Hmmm…" the detective said. Whatever he might have said next was cut off by an electronic crackle and a distant voice. "Waters." The detective set down the bag, opened his jacket, and unclipped a radio from his belt. "Here." "Stranger may have, quote, lost it. I'm checking it out, but get the men ready and get all bystanders down." The detective turned to look at the helicopter hovering over the parking lot. The radio was pressed to the man's ear, the volume wasn't set to carry very far, and the voice on the other end was awash in helicopter noise—but Eli found that he could hear each word from the radio precisely, as if the entirety of his new body were a sounding board. He recognized the voice as being that of the other detective who had walked back with the girl, Maggie Thorin. "Check," the tall detective said. He took a step up the ramp, then turned back. "Don't move," he said to Eli. "I'll be right back." He stooped to pick up the heavy bag. "Mr. Waters, if the Stranger is a threat, you'll need me to help you take him down. I've felt his strength, and I don't think you want to. I'd like to help." "I let a couple metas 'help' me this morning," Waters said dryly. He grunted as he pulled the bag to his chest. "No thanks." And then he was running back toward the helicopter and the slime-covered van, the radio in one hand and the black bag tucked under his arm like a football. Eli watched him go, his peculiar new vision adding ripples and after-images to the detectives retreating form—echoes of motion and sound that made it hard to concentrate. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, brought short by the noise of stone on stone. He slowly lowered his hand as the ripples of sound faded, then began to walk in the direction the detective had taken. It was still a free country, and he was still a citizen; he could gawk at the proceedings like the rest of the look-e-loos, couldn't he? Besides, he had a stake in this. A rather large one at that. The detective may not be happy with his not staying put like a good boy, but the detective was still a flesh-and-blood human being. Eli felt he deserved a little bit of leeway here. Besides, that Stranger person needed to have an eye kept on him. Maggie rounded the corner of the van. The two PRIMUS agents kept their attention on the back of the vehicle. A quick glance in that direction gave Maggie's photographic mind a plethora of details to absorb: Stranger, the left sleeve of his black tunic freshly soaked with blood, was stepping out of the vehicle. Behind him, the interior of the ABC Eyewitness News Van was filled almost entirely with… Goo. The meta not only covered the outside of the van, but coated the surfaces of the inside too, displaying several times more mass than it had before. Not for the first time she wondered where the creature was getting all the extra molecules. The van was filled with equipment, and almost none of it had anything to do with television news. The two largest pieces looked like caskets, one pink and one blue, their lids propped open. Just beyond the caskets, in the center of the van, the metal floorboards had been ripped up, exposing a bouquet of wires and tubes. Two humans were caught in Goo's mass: a skinny, goateed young man, and an overweight woman in a ruffled, lime-green shirt and what looked like a man's tuxedo. Both of them were Caucasian. Goo's tendrils covered both their mouths, and their eyes were wide in terror. They were staring at the third occupant. A large, balding man lay on his back in the narrow space between the two caskets. He wore a white bra, orange girl's underwear, and beige pantyhose. His right arm was pointing toward the back door. Where his hand should be was a bloody lump that looked like a pound of raw hamburger. Where his hand should be was a bloody lump that looked like a pound of raw hamburger. Blood pooled around his arm. His eyes were closed, and his face slack. Maggie couldn't tell if he was alive or simply unconscious. "Crisse de ciboire, what's going on here?" She rounded on Stranger with fists clenched. "What did you do?" Stranger casually stepped down from the back of the van. "Relax, lady. Mr. Mass Murderer here was just giving Goo and I some info. And boy let me tell you he said a mouthful." "Mmmph," said Woody, as Goo tipped him on his side and moved him out of the van like a piece of baggage. Goo pushed Margaret after him and soon the two were standing outside the van, encased in Goo. Since the man had gone slack, Goo released its grip on him and slithered itself toward his hamburger-style hand. It wrapped a pseudopod around the mashed appendage and attempted to stem the loss of blood. Rivulets of blood flowed into Goo's mass like a horrible parfait. Outside the van, Goo spoke to anyone who would listen. "Need do-o-octor. No-o-o-ow." Stranger his head toward the hospital and shouted at the top of his lungs, "IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?" Detective Hammersmith came around the side of the van, gun drawn. He was talking into a small radio. F.M. Buck jogged to a stop near Maggie. Two armored PRIMUS agents came around the other side of the vehicle, making four MCTs with their weapons pointed toward the rear exit and the people there. The agents' eyes were hidden behind their faceplates, so it wasn't clear who they were targeting: the suspects, Goo, Stranger, the dwarf, Maggie… or perhaps all of them. The huge double-rotored helicopter, side door still open from when the agents had jumped from it, rose thirty feet higher and edged a few yards south, so that it was no longer directly above the van. The wind and engine noise eased slightly. "We've got a medic in the Chinook," Buck said loudly. "Everybody stay put for a second, and we'll bag the garbage and take out the trash." In a low voice, he asked Maggie, "Any meta powers on these two? And do we have to worry about Stranger?" "I don't think they have meta-abilities, but it never hurts to be cautious," Maggie said. "As for Stranger…" A moan attracted her attention. It was the man in the Power-Puff Girl underwear. "…give me a moment before we address that issue. He's calm for now." Maggie hopped into the van and knelt next to the man. His eyes fluttered open. His pupils were dilated, and he didn't seem to be focusing. He was going into shock. Maggie lifted his arm straight up from his body, with Goo's pseudopod still attached. She pressed down hard on the inside of the man's forearm, clamping down on the main artery leading the wrist. The pressure briefly sent more blood squirting into Goo's translucent mass. The man moaned again, more loudly. "Get him away from me," he said urgently. His breathing was fast and shallow, and his speech was slightly slurred "Get him away from me!" His eyes were wide open, but he still didn't seem to be focusing. The skin of his face was pale and clammy. "We'll get you outside instead," Maggie said. She turned to Buck. "Buck, can a couple of your guys carry this man to the ER? He won't have long to go for treatment." The dwarf, still standing several feet from the van, shook his head. "Too insecure. I've got a medic up there with all the tools—and it's quicker." He glanced up. The side door of the helicopter was open, and a PRIMUS agent stood in the opening, aiming a large turret-mounted weapon at the group. Another agent appeared in the doorway, holding a cable and hook. He attached it to something out of sight, and then pushed the object through the door. It was a stretcher, with four guidewires holding it to the cable. The stretcher began to lower to the ground. "Goo, can you hold on to the other two a mite longer? We'll secure them as soon as this guy's airborne." "Got 'em," Goo said. Then, extending a tendril to Maggie's ear, Goo whispered, "Ma-a-aggie, got situation. B says these PR-I-IMUS in on it. Will kill him and other two. Not sure beli-ie-eve him. But. Think should call co-o-ops instead." Maggie nodded, then glanced at F.M. Buck next to her, then, meaningfully, to Hammersmith. She hoped Goo would pick up on what she couldn't say with the PRIMUS 'consultant' right next to her. And then the stone man appeared, scant feet from where Stranger stood. There were dozens of people standing at the edge of the lot: visitors in civilian clothes, nurses in blue smocks, even a few barefooted people dressed in hospital gowns. As Eli approached, a few turned to look at him, and then a cry went up, and the crowd parted. He moved past a row of parked cars and reached the line of squad cars, their lights strobing. Beyond them, Detective Waters was yelling at the uniformed officers to step back and form a line. The detective looked up as Eli went around them. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he shook his head, and went back to ordering the officers into position. Eli suspected that he was making a nuisance of himself in Waters' authoritarian eye, but he didn't care. He wanted to know what was going to happen next. A PRIMUS agent was stationed at the front of the van, and the creature Maggie called "Goo" still covered the top of the vehicle. Most of the attention seemed to be on the rear of the van, hidden from Eli's view. He heard Stranger call in a booming voice for a doctor in the house. Above, the helicopter hovering over the van lifted higher and edged a few yards away, to the north. Eli reached the side of the van in two more long strides. The other detective, the short, balding one, stood there talking into his radio, his other hand holding his pistol. He could see more of the scene now. Maggie stood next an extremely short, old man: a dwarf. His beard and hair were white, and he wore a bulky, multi-pocketd vest that looked like something a fisherman would wear, if he was trolling for Buicks. Behind him, concentrating on the back of the van, were two men in white armor carrying large weapons. Eli wondered what the dwarf had to do with things. Probably not the handiwork of the robots, since nobody was ordering him around. Probably the opposite. A moan came from somewhere in the van, and Maggie jumped into the back of the vehicle and out of Eli's sight. The balding detective glanced over his shoulder, saw the stone man there, and did a classic double take. The detective backed a few feet away from the van and Eli, so that he could watch both of them. Just because Eli was… well, whatever it was he was… that didn't give him the right to waltz into the middle of a police action. Skirt the outside of one (this particular one) sure, but he didn't want to break any more laws or scare anyone else. There were an awful lot of big guns being toted around, and nobody wanted them to be used. Well he didn't at least. He was content to wait and see. He moved over a few feet so he could see into the back of the van, but didn't come any closer to the "scene." Stranger, the man who'd attacked him and pummeled him into unconsciousness minutes before, stood a few feet away. A part of Goo had noticed the stone man walking across the parking lot, but there were too many other things going on that demanded higher priority. Besides, he hadn't seemed dangerous when he walked off with Maggie a few minutes ago. But now Stranger had seen him. Theo August stared at the man, his expression unreadable behind the metal mask. The fossilized man was stepping away from the van, toward Detective Hammersmith and the PRIMUS agents. Theo wasn't fooled by the thing's new shape: he'd watched it transform from lion to velociraptor, after all. The avatar of death, it seemed, could take many forms, but it could not shed it's cold rocky exterior. "What fuck is that thing doing loose?" Stranger said to Maggie. "You remember it tried to kill a nurse during our combat with the robots?" Without waiting for an answer, Stranger ran towards the creature and shouted, "Look out Hammersmith, I think the rock monster is going to attack!" The PRIMUS agents swung their weapons toward Stranger and the stone man. Hammersmith looked from Stranger to the other meta in confusion, but before he could move Stranger had jumped between the detective and the "rock monster." Not for the first time in his life, Hammersmith marveled at the incredible speed at which some metas could move. It was like seeing the Gazelle in action again. Maggie's first instinct was to jump out of the van and throw herself between stranger and the stone meta—but she couldn't let her patient bleed to death. Cursing frantically, she grabbed the first suitable object, which happened to be B's bra. She yanked the thing off his body with a loud snap, then began twisting it around the stump, forming a tourniquet. She was halfway through her list of church paraphernalia when she realized what she was using, but she was too preoccupied to care—and much too frustrated at being forced to deal with the consequences of Stranger's madness before she could prevent him from doing further damage. At least, the rock-man was likely to be tough enough to fare well should something happen. "I didn't try to kill anyone," Eli said to his accuser. "I did hurt someone accidentally though, and I'll do what I can to make amends for that. I'd just woken up and wasn't sure of what I was doing." He looked at the detective and then over to the armored girl in the van. "You wake up in a body made of rock, lucid after who knows how many years of confusion, and see how you handle it." He wondered if they'd let him look in the bag again. He wanted to make sure he'd remembered the way everything looked for the sculpting of it and its contents. "I do forgive you for attacking me, though. I could see where you might be confused by just whose side I might be on," he added, looking at the masked Stranger. Stranger's muscles relaxed a bit. Was this really just another victim of the robots and not some conjured creature? He had seen such monsters before and knew that they were very tricky to deal with. He needed a test, but what? "Put 'er there, pal," Stranger said, and extended his hand. "I sincerely hope this isn't the part where you try to re-enact some old 'Droopy' cartoon," Eli said as he took the offered hand. "That would be irksome." The creature's grip was firm and confident, Stranger thought. It wasn't the kind of handshake one would expect from native of the Abyss. Stranger let out a breath and shook his head from side to side. That was twice today he'd blown it. He thought it was ironic that someone who had been so maligned in his own life would be so quick to judge others. And unfairly at that. "You can tell a look about a man—or demon for that matter—from their handshake, and you have a good one," Stranger said. "Sorry about hitting you. I thought you were a… uh, well, sorry about a that." "Demon?" Eli replied softly. "There's no such thing as demons. Just the ones we make for ourselves." He released the Stranger's hand and clasped his own hands behind his back. He didn't know what else to say to this odd man in his tattered clothes and metal mask. "Why does that man have a bra tied around his arm?" "I think the more interesting question is who is that man. Why, it's none other than Russell Reinhardt-Mapes. Asshole supreme and former—who knows, possibly current—PRIMUS agent. He's the mass-murderer who's been killing people right and left, and who, coincidently, tried to kill you. Now the bra on his hand is less of a fashion statement and more of tourniquet. You see Goo, that big ball of slime over there? Goo and I were asking him a few questions and… well, let's just say he doesn't have your handshake. But he did have quite a bit to say." "Oh." Eli wondered if the Stranger had any idea of just how strong he was. Eli tried to order the dozens of questions that came to his mind. "You said he tried to kill me," he said to Stranger. "Did he build the robots? Did he send them out? And did he say why?" Before Stranger could answer, one of Goo's prisoners— the young man in the goatee—began babbling fearfully. Goo shook a head-like extension, trying to understand it all. Stranger wasn't making much sense, which was clearly both the norm for Stranger and dangerous for everyone else. Just as confusing to Goo were Maggie's intentions. She had indicated Hammersmith and Buck, but what did she want Goo to do with them? Bind them up like the others, maybe? No, that couldn't be it. Goo took a chance. It extended a tentacle toward Hammersmith and whispered in his ear. "Ha-a-ammersmith," Goo whispered. The detective, concentrating on Stranger and the stone man, jerked at the sudden appearance of the tendril. "Know this odd, but ple-ea-ase trust me. PRI-I-IMUS might be bad guys, here. Give custody, might kill. Can you take custody inste-ea-d?" "What?" Hammersmith whispered back. He kept talking, but kept his eyes on the new powerful metas in front of him. "Goo, you can't believe everything Stranger says," he said, not unkindly. "PRIMUS is not… they aren't bad guys. Just let us do our jobs, and we'll talk all of this over as soon as the situation's stable." "Not Stranger. Stranger okay with PRI-I-IMUS. Them." The tendril pointed toward the two snot-encrusted detainees. "They said PRI-I-IMUS would kill. I think possible—other evidence. You're good cop, Ha-a-ammersmith. Can't let happen, even to them." Hammersmith needed some convincing, it seemed. The portion of Goo that was coating Woody's head spoke quietly. "Woo-oo-oody," it whispered. "Somebody's taking you. Here's your chance. Choose who will take you, PRI-I-IMUS or cops." Goo released its grip on Woody's mouth. The stretcher being lowered from the helicopter reached the ground at F.M. Buck's feet. The dwarf pulled his attention away from Stranger and the fossilized man, then watched in surprise as Goo's tendril stretched across out to Hammersmith. Buck shook his head, then signaled to one of the PRIMUS agents. The agent shouldered his weapon and hurried over; the other agents continued to hold their weapons at ready. The PRIMUS agent unhooked the stretcher from the cable and lifted one side. Buck glanced at Stranger again, then picked up the other side. They carried it the short distance to the van. "Crimeny," Buck said, studying the man's face. "That is Mapes." Looks like what Q-Ball told us is true, Maggie mused. Now where is the connection with Sontag? Obviously they know something. I hope they'll talk. "Whoever he is, he needs that stretcher now," Maggie said, rising now that she was confident the man wouldn't die on her. "However, I hope you'll understand if I recommend this crew be taken in police custody, rather than PRIMUS." She looked F.M. Buck in the eye, something that required craning her neck. "Too much conflict of interest here. We want to avoid even the appearance of impropriety." She looked at Stranger. The man was dangerous, his treatment of Mapes proved that—no matter if they had an history. It wasn't a matter of whether they needed to take him in, but how and when. "Maybe we should talk outside," she suggested, glancing meaningfully at August. Still holding the stretcher, Buck followed Maggie's gaze to Stranger and the other meta, both of them talking now like old friends. Just behind the two huge men, Detective Hammersmith was whispering into the business end of one of Goo's outstretched tendrils. The old dwarf turned back to Maggie and Goo, scratching one of his mutton chops. He looked confused. Then he clicked his heels like Dorothy and rose two feet on the metal stilts built into his boots, which brought the stretcher level with the van floor, and his face closer to Maggie's—though she was still looking down at him. "Miz Thorin," Buck said, dropping his voice so that it wouldn't carry more than a few feet. The thundering of the helicopter overhead made sure of it. "I sure do love that accent of yours—I could listen to it all day. But I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." Russell Reinhardt-Mapes moaned, eye lashes fluttering. "… away from me…" he said again. "Let's get this bleeder up to my medic," Buck said, "and then you and I—" One of Goo's prisoners, standing just outside the van, suddenly squeaked. "What, is this some kind of trick?" he said. It was the young man with the goatee. Goo's tendrils had slid away from his face. "I pick the po—no! That's what you want me to say! I pick PRIMUS! No! The police!" His eyes were bulging. "Oh come on, just tell me which one you want! Just don't torture me!" Stranger thought of going over to interrogate the man but decided against it. Instead, he answered the stone creature. "He built these robots while he was working for PRIMUS on some operation called Birthstone. He was paid to use his robots to deliver a mutagenic injection into various people, myself included. It seems he's been at this for some time and that he was paid by a different person every time. It was all an experiment of some sort and those of us that lived through it were considered 'mistakes'—so his intent, and that of his employer, was to make sure all of the test subjects died." Stranger looked around at all of the PRIMUS agents around him, then said in a loud voice, "Oh yeah, he also mentioned that PRIMUS was going to make sure that he and his crew were killed, and that they would probably try to cart off survivors as well. Not sure if PRIMUS is behind all of it, but they're involved somehow." Stranger looked around at the PRIMUS agents. "Whaddya think of them apples, boys?" Then he turned and started walking towards the hospital. Maggie watched him go, clenching her fists in exasperation—then she turned to address Hammersmith, Buck, and Goo. "With PRIMUS potentially involved, Goo thinks it's safest to leave these men in police custody," she said, for Hammersmith's benefit, "and I agree." Buck shook his head. "Whaddya mean, 'potentially involved?' You think PRIMUS is behind all… this? All those dead agents I just saw at the school house?" Reinhardt-Mapes moaned loudly. The bleeding had stopped, but his the skin from the elbow up was turning white. Maggie frowned. "That tourniquet needs to be loosened periodically," she said. "Else he'll get necrosis." The PRIMUS agent next to Buck nodded. "What about him?" Hammersmith said. "Is Stranger right? Is he a PRIMUS agent?" "Ex-PRIMUS," Buck said. "I had to work with him once. They fired his a—" He suddenly looked at Maggie. It was hard to tell under the wrinkles and excessive facial hair, but he seemed to be blushing. "Uh, excuse me, ma'am. They gave him the golden handshake. As opposed to Stranger's red version." "In other words," Maggie said with an amused smirk, "they fired his ass." Buck's cheeks flushed crimson. "So, what are we going to do with August?" Maggie asked next. "We can't just let him chop up this man and walk away. And we need to decide quick—there's still a missing scientist to find, as well as this little crew's employers, although I figure that where we find one, we'll find the other close by." "And this one needs a medic, quick," Hammersmith said. "You want me to take the boy down, just say the word," Buck said, trying to cover his embarrassment. "Not every day I get accused a workin' for the Devil and get asked to put out the fire, too." He laughed. "Least not with such a bewitchin' accent. But I'm sending Mapes up to the chopper and get him stabilized. If you're afraid of improprieties, go up with him. Then if the boys try to kill the witness, you have my permission to shoot down the Chinook." "I'll stay with Mapes in the helicopter," Hammersmith said. "And my men will guard the other two. Until we straighten this out, they'll be in police custody." Maggie chuckled. "I'm sorry for putting you in this position, Mr. Buck, but I'm sure you understand our position here, right? I trust you personally, Mr. Buck, and we need your help—but there are people who won't trust you, and you've got to admit they have cause to be suspicious. Your employer's pretty implicated." "Uh huh. And after we contain Mr. August, that'll pretty much seal the deal. At least he'll be accusing you and the cops of being in on it too, and Mapes will chime in if he's smart. But we'll blow that bridge when we come to it. First things first." He elevated another three feet on his stilts and turned toward the parking lot. Stranger was now thirty feet away, walking between the rows of cars, heading for the hospital. The big man glanced over his shoulder at the group, but kept walking. The dwarf, mumbling under his breath, pulled a set of goggles from one of the pockets in his bulky vest and fit the straps over his head. The goggles sat on his bald forehead like an extra set of eyes. He glanced down at Maggie and grinned. "Word?" "Word," Maggie said. "We need August in custody, at least until we know what's been going on in there. And he's still a runaway mental patient." "And wanted by the police," Hammersmith added. "What's your plan?" Maggie asked Buck. Eli watched the big man walk away. The Stranger was leaving, the girl and the dwarf were talking with the detective with lowered voices near the van, and Eli still didn't really have any answers. Something to do with someone or something called Primus; he'd gathered that much. The man with the bra had worked for them, and had used Eli and some other people as experiments. But experiments for what, exactly? And what constituted a failure, what a success? The girl and the small man seemed to be casting wary glances towards the retreating Stranger, and the gooey thing was… sort of… spreading itself out all over the place. Had he heard correctly? Was the goo working for this Primus person as well? He tried to recall anything he'd ever heard about Primus, but all his mind returned was the image of a rock band. Nothing but questions. But on the positive side, with the exception of the few policemen and agents he was closest too, most of the high-powered players seemed to be ignoring him. Odd. You'd think a man made of rock would get better billing. Then again, this was Chicago, and he could be patient. "Should he be leaving?" Eli asked the nearest policeman, gesturing towards the retreating form of the Stranger. "I'm not going to stop him," the man said. Buck rubbed his hands together. "We got about ten seconds before he reaches the crowd and becomes untouchable. Quick, what's this boy's powers? All I got from Agent Jardine and the police reports is that he's more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." "He has superhuman strength and resilience—higher-end on both, too," Maggie said. "Other than that I don't know, but he hasn't displayed anything else, at least while I was present." "No x-ray vision, eh? Good." He mumbled to himself again. Maggie noticed the two PRIMUS agents behind Hammersmith crouch down and begin moving to the west. "Here's the plan," he said in a voice just loud enough for Maggie, Goo, and Hammersmith to hear. "We're going to drop smoke on him. He's going to jump up to get out of the smoke—probably toward the chopper, but who knows. Then all our boys are going to hit 'im with net launchers." At that moment Stranger glanced over his shoulder at them, and Buck waved. "Stranger! Can I ask ya a question?" he called. Stranger stopped walking, and Buck kept talking in his low voice. "Maggie, as soon as the smoke goes up, you launch. Fly directly above the smoke. After our boy gets trussed by the net guns—after, mind you—you knock him back into the smoke. If we miss, do not get close to him—let 'im fall. Listen in on the PRIMUS channel for further instructions if we gotta improvise. "Goo, you're gonna be what we call in American Football the free safety. Stranger just might decide to pick up a car or two and toss it. Your job is to make sure the cars don't land on the cops or on that gaggle of innocent bystanders. And watch that stone guy—I don't know what side he's on yet. Cephus here'll guard the prisoners if you get busy. " "Bu-u-ut..." Goo began. Then it shook itself. This was no time to second-guess. And, besides, Stranger had hit Maggie. "Go-o-ot it," Goo concluded. "Here we go," Buck said, and dropped his goggles over his eyes. Stranger suddenly spun to face them. "Yes, my good man, what can I do for you?" A mortar round fired from the open side of the helicopter. Everything within twenty feet of Stranger was instantly engulfed in smoke. From the crowd, came an almost inaudible "Oooo!" The next time Stranger glanced back over his shoulder, he saw the dwarf raised three feet in the air by his metal stilts. He was in front of the van, next to Maggie, Goo, and the rest of the crowd. The little man waved vigorously. "Stranger!" he called. "Can I ask ya a question?" When he heard the man's voice and saw man's position, Stranger began to smile. He knew that it was going to come to this, but he'd hoped to have a little more time to figure out what just what was happening. He had played his hand to his so called "teammates" and they were about to play theirs. It was an obvious move: all day long he had been trying to talk to PRIMUS or the police with his information, only to be ignored or attacked. And now a PRIMUS agent who specialized in locking people up wanted to talk to him. Stranger remembered the look the man had given him when they first met. His card was fancier, but he was just like the men who had kept him locked up all of his life. Yes, Q-Ball had a very good reason to leave. As far as the rest of them went, the only unknown was the stone creature. It was doubtful that he would be in on it, but Stranger couldn't be sure. Maggie would no doubt lead the attack, with Goo close on her heels. She'd promised not to attack him, but he knew what the word of a doctor was worth. As for Goo, he had already given up Stranger to everyone. It was all well and good when the information was flowing, but as soon as it was apparent that they would be found out, he had turned. Stranger thought it ironic that the relationship that Goo seemed to want to cultivate with Maggie would most likely in the end be through the wall of an industrial strength Tupper-ware container. Goo was more of a fool that Ed had been. He wasn't sure if Goo had know about what was happening before his transformation, but his experience as a PRIMUS agent should have given him more insight in to his looming fate. So what would they do? It was clear that they wanted his attention. They could have shot him from behind or tried to wrap him up like Q-Ball had done, but for some reason they choose not to. Now they wanted him to turn around and talk to the dwarf. Stranger remembered the trick that Red had used against Jigsaw. He had been blinded long enough to be put down quickly. Yes, the dwarf was up on his stilts so no one else would be affected. He'll blind him and probably have the PRIMUS agents shoot him when he can't dodge and he was stuck in to open. It was a risk he was going to have to take… the rat knew what he was talking about. Stranger poked his tongue against his mask and pulled it down so that it nearly covered his eyes. He then squinted and made sure that his eyes were only looking directly at the ground with only the faintest beams of light showing through. He kept his tongue on his mask ready to push it back up in an instant. He stopped at a point between two parked cars on his left—a Cadillac and a Suburban—and with a perky jerk turned towards the dwarf and appeared to look directly at him. "Yes, my good man, what can I do for you?" Stranger heard a whistling noise to his left, a soft crump, and then the world went black. He could no longer see the ground, or even his boots. An acrid smell, like burning rubber, filled his nose. "Shit," he mumbled. He moved his mask back with his tongue and dove to his right between the Suburban and the Cadillac. He hit the ground, and could feel his left shoulder against the Suburban. He quickly rolled underneath the vehicle, his back to the pavement. "This better work," Maggie muttered under her breath. "I'm not in the mood for another bruise." She rocketed off to a hovering stop over and upwind from the cloud of smoke, avoiding the worst of it. She looked down, trying to see if August would make a break for it. Eli glanced up at her, then toward the easily impressed crowd. Never mind that the powers-that-be had just (more than likely) royally pissed off someone capable of shredding metal in his bare hands. People were crazy, no doubt about it. Eli turned his attention to the smoky circle, waiting for the Stranger to emerge, wondering who his first target of opportunity would be. "We'll I'll be defenestrated," mumbled Buck. He elevated another yard, making himself a head taller than the top of the van, and adjusted his goggles. Maggie also picked up his voice over the radio. "He dived between a coupla cars." On the radio, one of the agents added: "That's under the car, sir. He's under the SUV. He's prone, and I have him in my crosshairs." "Roger, Johnny. Phil, you too?" Buck was subvocalizing now. Maggie heard him clearly over the radio, but to Goo he didn't seem to be talking at all. "Locked and loaded, sir," Phillip answered. "All right, Jimmy the Elder, move up and set. Everybody on Titans. Maggie, he's about twenty-five feet straight in front of you: watch for suddenly elevating objects. Simon, back the 'Nook up about fifty more feet, yer blowing the smoke away. Fire on my mark, or if he makes a run for it." Eli saw the PRIMUS agent to his right move into the smoke, his science-fictionally overwrought rifle at the ready. The agents to Eli's left had also moved closer into the smoke, and were crouched down somewhere he couldn't see. "Goo," Buck said aloud—and the dwarf seemed to intentionally say it loud enough for Eli to hear this time. "He may throw a car after all. Just try to intercept if you can." Stranger could hear the crowds—a lot of people had said "ooooh" when the lights had gone out—and he could hear the helicopter roaring somewhere above him. But he couldn't hear anything else, or see his own nose. Then again, he hadn't seen much of his nose since putting on the mask this morning. Not that his nose was much to look at. Stranger then crept up to the back end of the Suburban until he could feel the outline of the gas tank. He reached his finger to the far corner away from himself and poked a hole in it. He could smell and hear the gas pouring out of the tank. He crawled back to the middle of the vehicle. It was still darker than night around him, but at least he had his own personal waterfall. Very soothing. Three shells hit him simultaneously on the right side of his body—shoulder, ribs, and hip—and discharged with a sound like fifty yards of venetian blinds hitting a B-52 propeller. He tried to raise his arms, and found that he couldn't move. Something had covered his entire body, from head to toe. His throat went dry and his palms started to sweat. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the flutter of a little red wing and felt a light scratching on his mask. Now he could see little blue rats with red wings circling around him. His head began to spin and he could taste the pizza that Q-Ball had given him in the back of his mouth. Maggie's face flashed before his eyes. "I still think you need help," she said in her mocking voice. She punched him, rained blow upon blow upon his body. At first it didn't hurt, but with each blow he could see his body shrink and thin. Soon he was just a little boy. Maggie pulled back her arm, and now she held a long leather belt with a silver buckle. He tried to cover himself, but found that he was covered by a thick gel. Goo's strange voice rang out: "He's fre-e-e-eking out." And then the belt hit. Stranger shook his head to snap out of it, but he could still see the blue rats circling him, and now they sang a tune to match their merry-go-round dance.
His hands began to shake and he could feel a sickening rage building up inside of him. "Death it is," he mumbled. As the words slipped from his lips, the rats stopped dancing and fluttered away. The radio crackled again in Maggie's ear. "He's crawling forward to the rear of the vehicle," one of the agents reported. Buck answered. "Don't fire—he may step into the open and—" "He's doing something to the car… he's poked a hole in the gas tank, I think. Gas is spilling out." "I don't have my shot," another agent said. "I've got just his legs. Wait, he's crawling back to his original position." The agent chuckled. "Back in my sights, sir." "All right, same plan, boys," Buck said. "Everybody on Titans: Mark." Outside of the circle of smoke, all that could be heard was a loud whump!, as three rifles fired as one. Each of the agents reported in. "Hit." "Hit." "He is so hit." "All righty," Buck said over the radio. "Move in, but keep a perimeter. Nothing's more dangerous than an angry, psychotic brick." Out loud, the dwarf said, "He's wrapped up in titanium bands—a triple wrap. Not sure how long they'll hold, though. Stay ready." "Re-ea-ady?" Goo repeated, perplexed. "Saw Stranger tear metal be-e-efore. Be out in…" From deep inside the smoke, came a loud SNAP! and the piercing shriek of rending metal. "…no time," Goo concluded. "Sir," said one of the PRIMUS agents over the radio. Maggie wasn't sure, but the agent seemed to gulp. "Target just snapped the titans. If he's not clear yet, he will be in two seconds." "Crimeny," Buck said aloud. "How strong is that boy?" "Stranger is strongest there i-i-is," Goo explained to the puny human. Buck looked over his shoulder at the gelatinous creature and raised an eyebrow. Then he said to Hammersmith, "He's busted out, Detective. Warn yer troops." Back turned back to face the smoke and got on the radio. "This time, let him get out from under the car, and hit him with the Titans again. Nate, move up!" One of the agents who'd been guarding the suspects abruptly turned and ran toward the smoke. "No-o-o!" Goo yelled. "Stay back, a-a-agent! Ga-a-asoline!" "Hmmm…" Eli murmured, pondering the way the sound resonated throughout his stony body. "Hmmm…" The situation was going south, that was for sure. And one of the agents was running past him into the smoke. Was he insane? Or did he have some sort of super-agent glasses that let him see through the smoke? Either way, Eli doubted the man could stand up to one of Stranger's fists. Or a car. "Hrmmmm…" Eli decided that action was better than reaction at this point. He wasn't fast enough to catch a car (and didn't even know if he could), but he was able to do something. He saw the edge of a vehicle appear near the edge of the smoky area and this presented him with a plan. "It's like a broom," he said over his shoulder to the small man as he headed towards his target. "Or a bat. I'd clear your men out of the smoke if I were you." Buck, distracted by something Eli couldn't hear, suddenly realized the stone man was speaking, and looked down at him. "What's like a what? Where you going? Stay back, dammit! That smoke's the only thing keeping my boys alive!" "Get them out," Eli replied as he walked towards the truck. He squatted next to the passenger door, grabbed the frame, and felt his hands sink into the metal as if it were tin foil. He lifted, and the truck rose half a foot. The truck's alarm blared loudly as he began to move the vehicle back and forth. He didn't stop to think about the impossibility of what he was doing. A tiny part of his mind wondered if this weren't simply another twist in his madness, but it was only a tiny part. Then the frame twisted out of true, the metal squealing, and the far side of the truck dropped the six inches back onto its wheels. Disappointing. In the movies, Superman could pick up a car or helicopter by any bumper or strut and lift the entire vehicle over his head. Objects never failed to bear their own weight. Eli would have to move under the pickup and lift both sides of the frame at once to get it back off the ground. "Stop it!" Maggie yelled at the stone-man. "If you scrape that car on the ground, you'll risk sparking up a gasoline fire!" Maggie kept her high position, looking down, trying to spot August if he attempted to leave the smoke field. "Mr. Buck, please tell me you have something more solid to bring to bear." "I have a very big canary ready to sing," Buck responded over the radio. "Just keep Rocky here outta my way—if he picks up another damn car, or risks my boys in any way, I'm takin' him out like a bad carburetor. Now watch for flyin' cars." From inside the smoke came another startling crack. Several pieces of silvery metal, each about the size of the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt, arced out of the center of the smoke. "Sir!" one of them said. "He's flipped the car on its side—I don't have a shot." "I've got him, I've got him," said another voice. Maggie wished they'd identify themselves. From the loudness of the rotor noise behind this latest voice, however, she could tell it was someone in the helicopter. "Thaddeus and Jude, give him a net and a holler before he throws that thing," Buck said. "Watch yer back, Maggie." She glanced at the helicopter. In its open side door, two agents aimed their weapons. The agent who'd earlier lowered the stretcher for Mapes now held a rifle like his colleagues on the ground. The agent next to him still manned the big mounted gun. Maggie dropped from the sky in front of the stone man. "Stop it!" she yelled, hovering five feet above his head. "All you'll do is start a fire or give him time to escape!" Eli didn't even look up. "Not that stupid, girly-girl. Not going to let him escape, either. No way." He set the vehicle down, wondering whose vehicle he had just damaged. He was just about to shove it gently forward when his entire attention was caught by the most annoying sound he'd ever heard. From the helicopter, the smaller weapon fired first, sending a canister into the smoke. A moment later the big gun fired with a sound like a high-pitched warble. The energy beam had no color, but it was visible from the distortions it made in the air. For Eli, the gun's noise, even from this distance, was painful. The sound seemed to hit an entire range of frequencies that made the structure of his new flesh tremble in a disturbing way. Eli made a face as he stood behind his makeshift shield/club. This was unpleasant. The sonic afterimages of the weapons fire slowly dwindled away into nothingness. The news seemed dire indeed: Whatever weaponry the small mans minions were using were having no effect on the Stranger. He looked up the hovering girl, then back over at the dwarf. "You want my help?" Buck glared at him. "You try to 'help' me again, Stony, and you're next. Sit tight." Eli raised a stony eyebrow as he turned to face the dwarf. "Hrmm…" Then he shrugged. "Good luck. And I don't really have to sit anywhere on your say-so. Tried to get his attention, and it didn't work. So sue me. I've got a lot of things to think about, what with being turned into a rock. Better things to do than stand around here and be harassed by you. 'Your next', he says. Hrmmm…." "Double hit," one of the airborne agents reported on the radio. "James and John, move up," Buck said. "As soon as he breaks out, one-two him again. Fire at will." "He's in the open," Buck said aloud. "We're going for the take-down." The big gun from the helicopter fired again, and a moment later Maggie heard two more shots from inside the smoke, and a gabble of voices on her radio. "Three more hits! James got him with the Titans, but—" "Good lord," said another voice. "He broke the Titans. He's jumping!" "West," reported one of the men in the helicopter. "Landed on a squad car, just outside the smoke. Re-targeting…" "Maggie!" Buck yelled aloud. "You're s'posed to be up top! Go!" He turned to Hammersmith and Goo. "He's just outside the smoke, to the west." Goo turned—or did something like a turn—to face the Primus agent Buck had mentioned. "Cee-ee-phus," Goo said. "Better take these two. I might be nee-ee-eeded." With that, Goo released its grip on its two captives. The man nodded, and kept his weapon pointed at the pair. Hovering feet over the stone man's head, Maggie said to Eli, "You know, we won't pull this off without a bit of coordination." Eli was about to ask her how, or even what she wanted to co-ordinate with him—but then she flew away, arcing above the cloud of smoke. "Hrmmmm…." He turned and headed back towards the dwarf, wondering where the Stranger had gotten off to. Stranger pushed against the restraints, calling on the strength that made him one of the most powerful creatures on the planet. Most of the bands surrounding him snapped with a metallic twang. He was still bound by a few straps, but he was sure that one more heave would free him. From somewhere overhead, he heard Maggie loudly shout "Stop it!" followed by more words he couldn't catch over the noise of the helicopter. The Bug Lady was somewhere up there. He flexed, and the remaining bands hurled away from his body. He was free. They were closing in all around him, how could they have hit in all of this smoke… maybe the smoke was only affecting him… like maybe the smoke was only on him. He needed more cover, otherwise he was going to be toast. "Shit," he thought to himself. If he left the cover of the car to find something else then they'd really sock it to him. He braced his hands on the frame of the Suburban and pushed the truck onto its side, towards the direction that the shells had come from. He set it down as lightly as he could, and it settled onto the pavement with a slight clank. As soon as he let go, he was hit in the right arm by some kind of metal shell. It exploded with a Pop! and he was covered by some kind of soft material—it felt like Q-Ball's threads, only thicker. A moment later, he heard a sound like a high-pitched warble. A vibration went through his shoulder, and kept going, traveling through his chest. The vibration stopped, but in the brief moment he was in its grip he thought it was going to shake him apart. The situation was bleak. It was clear that they could see even while he was behind the car, and he couldn't take another hit from whatever that weapon was. He could throw the car in the general direction of the van, but he could end up killing someone. He didn't want to try to fight his way out of this, but he didn't seem to have a choice. He had to get away somehow. "Feets don't fail me now," he mumbled, and turned away from the car. He was immediately hit twice again, from each side of him. The shooters were somewhere at ground level this time. The familiar metal bands encircled him, and the vibration beam shook him to his bones. At least this last vibration attack didn't hurt nearly as much as the first. He'd had enough. Pushing his strength to its utmost, he ripped through the bands in one thrust of his arms. The metal went flying away from him into the dark. He turned toward what felt like the west. "Pull," he whispered, and ran forward a few steps and jumped. He almost smashed into the Caddy. He went airborne just in time, but his shins banged against the top of the cab, and then he was somersaulting through the air, flying blind. The smoke thinned in front of him, and then he was coming down. He tucked in mid-air and righted himself. His feet slammed into the hood of a squad car. He was at the edge of the smoke, and it was still night, but at least he could see. He'd been worried that the smoke was somehow attached to his head. The double-rotored helicopter was in the sky to the south of him. The side door was open, and two agents stood inside, one of them holding a rifle, and the other manning a very large gun mounted to the floor of the vehicle. The big gun was swiveling toward him. Stranger flipped off the car as the gun fired. He recognized the high-pitched warble of the vibration weapon. The beam had no color, but it was visible from the way it seemed to warp the air along its path. It struck the spot where Stranger had been standing, and the entire car vibrated. The helicopter turned so that the side door faced Stranger's new location, and the PRIMUS agent with the smaller gun leveled his weapon. Maggie appeared above the smoke, rocketing in on jets of blue energy. Stranger shouted at the top of his lungs at towards the woman. "What is your freakin' problem, lady? I go to check on Red and you fuckin' attack me! You just won't be happy until I'm dead? Why don't you just burn me alive like my father did and get it over with?" "Look, Stranger," Maggie said coolly, congratulating herself on her patience. "The cops are looking for you, now PRIMUS is looking for you with regards to your little episode with Mapes, and quite frankly, I think you could use a bit of psychiatric treatment. Face it, Stranger—you need help, and you're too dangerous to leave running around." "Ms. Thorin," one of the PRIMUS agents radioed to her—it was one of the people in the helicopter. "When you're ready to strike, say 'Mark!' and we'll launch a wide-area net at him. It won't hold him for more than a second, but it should give you one free shot at him." "Erm… okay," Maggie said quietly in the radio, not sure what she could hit Stranger with. She didn't have a lot of options—it would have to be plain brute force. Stranger shook his head. "Yeah, you really have my best interests at heart. Just kill me and be done with it." With that he turned and leaped toward the hospital. "Crisse de tabarnak d'ostifie de calice de ciboire!" Maggie shouted, and rocketed after him. "We're trying to net you not kill you!" She sighed in frustration. She couldn't hit him while he was over all those pedestrians. "Mark, if you've got a shot, but watch the bystanders!" she called out through the radio. Instantly, the gunman in the helicopter fired. A few feet from Stranger, the net exploded from its shell and ensnared the masked man. Maggie took hold of him a moment and veered quickly up and to the west, away from the bystanders. From across the parking lot, Eli watched through the haze of thinning smoke. He supposed that if one had to awaken from madness, it was probably best to awake to madness. Made the transition easier. He wondered what the armored woman planned to do with Stranger now that she had him. He walked through the crowd, people parting around him like fish around a shoal as he attempted to keep an eye on the scene as it unfolded. "Okay, we have him," Maggie said in the radio. "This won't keep him long. Do we have containment ready?" "Get away from him!" Buck shouted. "He'll snap that net like a string!" The dwarf turned to Goo. "Go help Maggie! Stranger's gonna toast her!" Goo rolled itself toward Maggie and Stranger, rapidly closing the distance between itself and the two combatants. "Ma-a-aggie!" Goo yelled. "Toss 'im here on three!" Goo formed itself into a shape that was somewhere between a huge catcher's mitt and an even huger blancmange. "O-o-one! Tw-o-o…!" Stranger couldn't believe what was happening. There was no way that he could get away from all of these jerks. Someone was bound to take him out. Fuck it, he thought. He wasn't going down without a fight. He tensed his muscles and pushed. The cords ripped and fell away from him, and Maggie was left holding the white material. Great, August, Maggie thought. Let gravity do my work for me. She let him drop. "Three-ee-ee?" Goo said. Stranger fell into the blancmange/mitt-shaped Goo with a loud splorch. Maggie descended to a hover just above the two of them, ready to provide assistance should Goo have trouble subduing the man. Goo squeezed Stranger with all its might. The man grunted in pain. "Do-o-on't…" Goo said, straining. "…Hu-u-urt… "Ma-a-aggie!" "HURT MAGGIE?" Stranger screamed. "You stupid two-faced bastard, she's the one who just attacked me. All I wanted to do was check on Crossfire and I get attacked by everyone and their brother. Two seconds ago you were happy to help me interrogate those people, but as soon as you step into the light you pin it all on me? You're still gonna help her give me over to those PRIMUS assholes after everything you've heard? Come on and kill me! If you don't, they sure as hell will." "FUCK YOU ALL!" he screamed, and ripped free of Goo's surface. The masked man dropped onto the pavement, and slowly stood up. He was breathing heavily, his great chest heaving in an out. He was on the circle drive that ran past the ER waiting room. To his right, two dozen patients and hospital staffers stood on the drive and grassy berm that separated the drive from the parking lot, illuminated by the light shining through the hospital windows. The nearest bystanders, less then ten feet away from him, were turning and running away, shouting. A line of cops to the south prevented the mob from running onto the parking lot. Six more cops were crouched behind Stranger, their pistols drawn. The cloud of smoke that had hung over the parking lot was now nothing but a slight haze. He could see two PRIMUS agents standing up on the hoods of cars, aiming their high-tech rifles at him. As if that weren't enough weapons pointed in his direction, the huge helicopter hung in the night sky, its side door still open and showing the big mounted gun that had been blasting him. His 'friends,' however, were a bigger danger. The stone man was just over fifty feet away, between Stranger and the van. Further back, the dwarf stood there on his goofy stilts, parking lot lights glinting off a pair of bulky goggles he'd put on. Goo was to his left, Maggie hovering just above it. And directly in front of him, standing in the rubble-strewn hole that Stranger had made in the hospital wall an hour ago, was Acting Silver Avenger Laura Pender, still dressed in the hospital scrubs. At least she didn't have a weapon pointed at him—the BFG she'd been toting around since the robot attack was nowhere to be seen. The only ones left out of the party were Ed and Crossfire, who had their own problems. In short, Stranger thought to himself, he was surrounded like the last chicken at a Somali picnic. "Stra-a-anger," Goo said. "Nobody going to Pri-i-imus. Not you, not va-a-an people. I don't trust Pri-i-imus, either. And I'm Silver Ave-e-enger! "Sta-a-and down. Find other wa-a-ay." Eli could see the man crouched on the ground, screaming out his defiance to all and sundry. The fellow was a tank, that was for sure, but what would happen next? Which way would he jump? Or would he jump at all, maybe he'd simply start lashing out. Too many variables, not enough information. And the Stranger's earlier reaction to Eli had been less than pleasant, to say the least. Still, if Eli could get the man's attention, maybe the others could take him down without hurting him. So with a shrug of granite shoulders, Eli started to trot towards the Stranger. Maggie flew down quietly to hover a foot above the ground, positioning herself so Stranger was between her and Goo, waiting to see what the madman would do. The stone man, moving more quickly than his mass and substance would have suggested, loped toward them, his feet pounding the pavement like sledgehammers. He scraped to a stop just behind Maggie. Stranger, still breathing heavily, said nothing. The hammered steel mask made his face unreadable. Over the radio, the PRIMUS agents exchanged status information in clipped phrases. Four of them, including two in the helicopter, had clear shots at Stranger. F.M. Buck told them to hold, and then the man addressed Maggie. "You mind tellin' me what the hell yer doin', Ms. Thorin?" "Right now?" Maggie said. "I'm really trying to keep Stranger away from the bystanders and in an area where we have a chance control him. In case you haven't noticed, your nets aren't working very well, so if you have a hidden card, I suggest you play it now." "Ma'am, nothin' we've got is going to hold him 'til he's unconscious, and I'd been hoping you would help us with that." "Sorry, Buck", Maggie grumbled, "tried that once before. I need to come up with bigger guns..." "Well, guns is one thing I do have. Boys, one-two on me. Mark." One of the men from the Chinook fired first. The shell struck the ground at Stranger's feet and expanded into a white net that enveloped the man. Half a second later, three sonic guns opened up, the loudest being the mounted gun in the helicopter. All three struck the enshrouded man, and he fell over. |