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The Silent Jury
Chapter Three: The Test Flight As Robert flies by alone, he speaks to the computer "Langston, find Vanessa and catch up to her". "Radar determines she is due east. I will make the necessary adjustments to increase speed,” he says as Robert feels the armor speeding up. Soon he is going faster than he ever imagined the suit to be capable of. As he speeds up, he quickly gains on her in her lighter suit. As he nears her, he reaches out and tags her. "You're it,” he says as he pulls away and flies off in the opposite direction. "Sorry, but I'm not playing that game. I have different plans,” she says as she heads towards the city skyline in the distance. "What are you doing? Your father strictly forbids you from going into the city. We are supposed to stay out of view,” he says as he pulls up besides her. "Well, I just got a report of a robot going bezerk in the city and I want to see if I can help out" Vanessa says as she zooms off. As they both fly into the city, Robert reluctantly and Vanessa willingly, the quickly find a path of destruction left by the robot. As they fly past the row of overturned and demolished automobiles, they see the robot up ahead. It is not the small robot that one has come to expect from movies like Star Wars, but rather a hulking metal creature that easily measures 20 feet in height. It is humanoid in shape, but is armed with many weapons. Robert asks Langston "Where would something like that come from?" "It is most likely a prototype of the military that escaped from the base which is 25.3 miles south" Langston answers as some probability charts pop up on the visor in front of Robert. There is 92% military, 7.95% creation of independent company, 0.05% product of an alien species. Before Robert can share this knowledge with Vanessa, she flies in to divert its attention from an overturned bus full of people. As she flies over, she radios to Robert "Free the people while I get its attention". As she flies past, the robot's head turns to follow her. She the turns around and flies past the robot again and heads up this time. The robot responds "01111000101110000111100000110110110111001100". Robert quickly heads over to the bus and lifts its back up the right way and tears the door off, so all the passengers can quickly exit. The passengers rally together to carry out the injured ones. As Vanessa flies upwards, the robot turns it gaze to Robert and the bus. It screams out "11001010111101100101001010" and then picks up its right arm and shoots a beam at the bus that instantly blows the bus and the remaining passengers to pieces. Fragments of both the bus and its occupants are scattered over a few block radius. Robert is blown backwards into the front window of a store, with the armor absorbing the majority of the impact. As Robert gets up and shakes it off he asks Langston "What the hell is he saying?" "That is binary code. Since it is a robot, it speaks as a computer would. I can translate for you if you wish" Langston says in his usual cool voice. "Before he has a chance to respond, Vanessa starts in on the radio "What happened down there, are you all right?" she says with great concern in her voice. "Yeah, I am doing fine, but we need to bring that robot down before he kills anymore innocent people" he says as he flies upwards. As Robert reaches about 20 feet from the ground, he barks the following orders "Langston, give him everything we have" as he aims his arms and shoots a volley of missiles at the robot. The missiles hit their target and there is a loud explosion and a cloud of smoke. As the smoke begins to dissipate, a red laser beams through the smoke and locks onto Robert. "Langston, what the hell is that?" he says as the beam is aimed right at him. Before he can hear an answer, he sees some missiles shooting at him. Langston instinctively takes over and makes the armor fly off, away from the missiles. But the missiles prove harder to avoid as they are locked onto a target and will pursue until they reach it. "Homing missiles, he has them locked onto us. I must change my strategy" Langston says as he goes to work. Robert realizes at that moment how lost he would be without the computer guidance system. "Don't you have a force field or something that can stop these missiles?” Robert asks as they continue to out fly the persistent weapons. Vanessa chimes in "While you play tag with those missiles, I am going in for the kill" she says as she flies in to confront the robot. "No, you have no chance” he screams to deaf ears. Vanessa sees that the robot has returned to its party of destruction as it is continuing down Main Street, destroying everything and everyone in its path. She flies in and shoots her hand lasers at the robot, which has his back turned to her. As she flies past it, the robot shoots a beam at her that immobilizes her as she falls to the ground. As she lies there, writhing in pain, the robot picks her up and throws her at a building. Her limp body crashes into the side of the building and she quickly falls to the ground, in a heap of lifeless flesh. Robert on the other hand, is still trying to outrace the missiles as Langston speaks "I have figured out their programming code and will now change the code" he says as Robert's arm aims at them and a strange beam shoots out. As it engulfs the missiles, they quit their pursuit and instead fly off and crash into each other. There is a loud explosion and Robert is tossed about for a few seconds, before Langston can make the necessary adjustments to straighten them out. "What did you do?" he said to Langston in a part relieved/part perplexed voice. "I changed their target coordinates, so to have them instead go after each other, quite clever if you ask me" he says. As they head back to the robot, Robert hears Gadget over the waves "What the hell is going on and where the hell are you?" he screams into Robert's ears. "I am headed back to the city to see how your daughter is doing. She is foolishly trying to take on a renegade robot, over,” he says as he awaits the response. "Get her fool butt back her and on the double. These suits aren't exactly legal you know" he says. As Robert gets back into town, he sees that Vanessa is lying on the ground, in a pile. "Is she still alive?" he asks Langston. "All vital signs are there, but there is some damage, looks to be cracked ribs" he says as the vitals appear on the screen in front of Robert. "Thank heaven she is alive. What the hell does she think she was doing trying to take that robot on alone" he says as he flies past her and continues his pursuit of the renegade robot. It doesn't take long for him to find his adversary as it is now battling with the police who have put up a makeshift barricade. The robot is headed towards them in its slow, methodical manner, with their bullets doing nothing to the hulking behemoth. The robot screams out "11001010111101100101001010" as it raises its arm. "What does that mean Langston, are you able to translate that?" He asks. "He is saying death to the masters" is the translation Langston comes up with. "Can you speak back to him in this robot language?" Robert asks. "What would you like me to say?" he asks. "Ask him why he is attacking the humans?" Robert decides would be a good starting line. Langston screams out a series of ones and zeros and the robot turns around and looks right at them. He then screams out "0001110110110111010101000110". Langston quickly translates it to Robert "He said Flesh bad, metal good". "Great, just great, we have a homicidal robot here that cannot be reasoned with". Before Robert has a chance to say anything else, the robot shoots out another volley of missiles, this time from its chest. Langston moves the armor out of the path of the majority of the missiles, but is caught by a few of them as it sends them flying towards another building. As he crashes into it, he falls down, with glass and rubble falling onto them. The robot heads over to finish the job, when it is suddenly picked up and smashed down. As it hits the ground, it creates a large hole in the ground and crashes through. It soon disappears from site. But then a man flies in and lands in front of Robert. Robert instantly recognizes the man as The Fury, a man who seems to straddle the fence between good and evil. Some feel he is a hero in his battle with the corrupt police department and others feel he is nothing more than a criminal. But he just saved Robert's life, so he is quick to forget any wrongdoings he may be accused of. "You're new on the scene,” he says to Robert as he mentally picks him up. "Yeah, I'm not really a hero" Robert says as he shakes the extended hand. Before they can share any more pleasantries, the robot climbs out of the hole in the ground. "Get the girl and get out of here, I can handle this" he says as he mentally picks up a demolished truck and smashes it into the robot and knocks it back into the hole. With that cue, Robert flies off and gets the still unconscious Vanessa. As he flies off, he hears in his head "You make a great hero, don't give up on it so quickly". He turns only to see the Fury fly down the hole after the robot. With that, he heads back to the lab and the very angered Gadget.
Chapter Four: The Big Decision Later that night, Robert decides to read some more from his father's journal. He cannot get the words from the Fury out of his head and hopes some reading will do the trick. Journal 0005 September 6th 1968-"My retirement from the vigilante business seems to be short-lived. A local merchant, who is nicknamed Charlie, after the movie actor, Charlie Chan, because he is of Asian descent, has been wrongly accused of a murder. Having befriended him, I know he would never do something as vicious as the act that was committed against a competitor's store. Someone had torched another grocery store down the street and tried to make it look like Charlie did it. While most people are not prejudiced against him, some of the local guys, especially some who work with a local mob, have been trying to drive Charlie out of business, with no luck. So they have set him up and now it looks like he going to take the fall, unless someone intervenes on his behalf, someone like me. Journal 0006 September 21st 1968-"I have a lead on the real arsonist. A trip to the crime scene made me uncover some stuff that either the police overlooked or were ignoring. It is a sad fact, but the police department is very corrupt and Charlie wasn't one of the stores that were on their protection list. I need to find someone who isn't in the mob's pocket to get this evidence to light." Journal 0007 September 25th 1968-"After some calls and a few meetings, I finally found an honest cop. The evidence has been brought to light and hopefully now the wheels of justice will get moving. " Journal 0008 October 15th 1968-"As more evidence surfaces, the hunt for the real arsonist begins. All charges against Charlie are dropped and he is a free man." As Robert puts the book down, he decides to do some research. He goes up to his father's office, which is still in the same condition as when he died, including the pile of papers. Robert decides to check his father's computer to see if there is an address book or something. There is no Rolodex in site. After some searching, he finds a list of names, addresses and phone numbers. As he searches through all the names, he finds what he is looking for. At least he thinks it is what he is looking for. There is a name that he doesn't recognize, but definitely a Japanese name. In parenthesis, is the name "Charlie". Robert writes down the phone number, which is long distance and decides to give it a call. As he calls, someone speaking Japanese greets him at the other line. As he struggles to communicate with the woman, he is finally transferred over to someone who speaks English. "I am looking for Mr. Kurasawa" he struggles to say. "I am sorry, but Mr. Kurasawa is busy in meetings. Can I take a message?" she says in a very clear voice. "Just tell Charlie, I mean Mr. Kurasawa that Robert Vanderpool called from United States. Thank you.,” he said as he hung up. How could he be so stupid to say Charlie? That wasn't his real name, just an ethnic joke. He tried to block it out of his mind as he headed to bed. The next day, he decided to head back to the lab, to see how Vanessa was doing. As he arrived, he found that she was moving about, with some bandages around her waist, but even the cracked ribs didn't seem to dampen her spirits. "Back for some more?" she said while cracking a smile. "Guess I am just a glutton for punishment" he replied, while trying to stop himself from smiling. It was hard as her smile was quite infectious and he began to wonder if he came back for the suit or for her? He cannot help but wonder if she really liked him or if she just had a flirtatious personality? Before he could wonder anymore, she came up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she whispered in his ear "Thanks for saving my life yesterday". Now he was really confused. Before he had a chance to think this out, Gadget came into the room. "Robert, good to see you! Would you like to view the film of yesterday's battle?" he asks. "Film? Was it on the news or something?" he asks bewildered. "No, your suit is equipped with a video recorder, so we can tape your battles and see what you are doing right and what needs improvement. It also allows me to see how the suit handles in real life situations and what modifications can be done to improve it,” he says as he catches his breath. Robert notices that when he gets excited about something, he tends to talk very fast and without pausing for breaths. "Sure, lets see how my first attempt went". With that they all go into the viewing room and watch the battle. After the movie, Gadget leads Robert out of the room and takes him to the suit. "After watching the tape, I went to work on some modifications to improve the suit" he says in a hurried breath. Robert now knows what he was so excited about. Like a kid who gets a new bike for his birthday and wants to show everyone on the block, Gadget is really excited about the suit. Robert now knew it would break his heart if he backed out now. "First off, I integrated a few parts, making for quicker time in putting the suit on and taking it off. We should be able to slice a few minutes off the time, not the optimal time, but it is a step in the right direction." As he showed Robert how the legs and feet were now one piece, same with the hands and arms, Robert asks "What can you tell me about Charlie?" Gadget freezes in mid sentence and looks up at Robert. "Gee, I haven't seen Charlie in years, why do you ask?" he replies. Before Robert can say anything, Gadget continues "We still do communicate, mostly through emails, but I haven't seen him in years." "I was reading the journal and father mentioned him. Was he one of the Silent Jury?" Robert asks. "Yeah, he was one of the original members along with your father and myself. But he was only an acting member for a few years before he headed back to his homeland" Gadget answers. Robert thinks for a few minutes and then asks, "Is he still a part of this?" "Well, not directly.... I mean, yeah, he is part of it, but not as much as your father or I was,” he says as he tries to think about what he says before he says it. Robert senses this and realizes that he isn't going to get too much information out of Gadget, at least not yet. So he decides that he will have to get more involved before Gadget will confide in him. A few hours later, Robert finds himself in the suit again, only this time they are in a subbasement, where he finds a training room. As he looks around, he sees what looks like an obstacle course. Over the mike, he hears Gadget say "I want you to fly through those hoops first, then to crash through that brick wall and then get through those lasers and touch the target at the other end. The goal is to not get hit and to do it as fast as possible. Robert studies the course and makes mental notes of it. Then he says to Langston "Let's hit it, Langston" and they fly through it. After Robert is done, Gadget answers "3 minutes and 32 seconds, not very good. Let me reset it and see if you can lower your time". Robert gives it another try, this time getting it just under 3 minutes. They keep at this and other tests through most of the day. Later that evening, Robert heads home and crashes into bed. The day has been quite full and he needs a good night sleep. He doesn't even bother to read the journal. In the morning, he hears a knock on his door. He gets up and puts on something decent and heads to answer the door. Guessing it is Vanessa, even though nighttime is more her style, he opens the door, only to see three people he has never encountered before. There stands an aged, but very dignified looking Japanese man in a very expensive suit. Accompanying him is a very large Sumo looking man and a very attractive young lady, who appears to be about Robert's age. Before Robert has a chance to ask any questions, the man says, "Hello Robert, I received your call" as he holds out his hand. "You're Charlie?" he asks. "That is a name I have not heard in a long time, but yes, I am Charlie, may we come in?" he says. "Yeah, sure, where are my manners. Come on in" he says as they walk past him. The girl sits down first, then the man and the sumo looking guy just stands behind them. Robert glances at him as he gives a very cold stare at him, which chills him to the bone. "Don't let him worry you, he is merely here as my bodyguard. A man can never been too careful" he says as folds his hands. "Let me extend my condolences on the passing of your father. I do apologize for not being able to attend the services.,” he says with sincerity in his voice. "Yeah, ummm...thanks." he awkwardly says, not knowing how to respond to that. "So tell me, Robert, what brings you to call me?" Charlie’s inquires. "Well, I was just expecting you to call me back, not make a trip all the way from Japan, but here you are" he says. "Anyways, I recently learned about my father's other life and was hoping that you could shed some light onto it for me" he said. "What other life are you talking about?" he inquires with a look of surprise. "The one you shared with him, as members of the Silent Jury" Robert blurts out. "So you now know of our legacy. It must have come as quite a surprise to you" he asks Robert. "That's an understatement,” he said with a smirk. The girl looks right at him with an almost shy smile. She bats her eye lasses in a very seductive way. She then looks down. "Please excuse my rudeness, this is my daughter Connie and this large man likes to simply be called The One" Charlie says as he points to each one. They both bow their head and Robert returns the gesture. "One, may I ask the meaning of your name?" Robert asks. The massive man turns and looks right at him. He then speaks in a very deep and imposing voice "It is the One and when you have earned the right, I will then reveal the origin of my name." He then looked away. Robert got a chill down his back. "Please excuse my bodyguard, he takes some time to get accustomed to. But he is the best at what he does" Charlie says. Then he adds, "Would you be so kind to take me to visit Gadget, the passage of time since we saw each other is too great." "Want me to call him and have him come over here" Robert asks, not sure if he should reveal the headquarters to Charlie. "Dear boy, I am quite aware of all that is going on. Who do you think provides Gadget with most of his electronics? Equipment that sophisticated is not available at the local Radio Shack.” he says with a confidence as he stands up. They then head out the door and into the waiting limo. As they are driving along, Robert makes a suggestion "Please excuse me, but don't you think by bringing a car like this into a neighborhood like the one we are headed to, will not only draw attention, but also send the wrong signal?" Charlie thinks for a moment and then picks up the phone and says "Please take us to the nearest rental car company." Before long, they are driving in two nice cars, but much less conspicuous. As they arrive to the building, they slowly walk up to the door. Robert looks around to make sure that they aren't being watched. While they are not breaking any laws, the last thing he wants is people thinking they are running a drug ring or something. He opens the door and they all head in. Once inside, Robert quickly heads over to the janitor's closet and knocks on the door. Not knowing the combination, he hopes that Gadget is here. After a few moments, the door opens and the see the back of Gadget as he is running down the stairs. "I have been working all night on some modifications to both yours and Vanessa's armor, come look" he says, completely oblivious to the others who are walking behind Robert. As they reach the bottom of the stairs, Gadget goes into the room and the sound of stuff being moved can be heard. As he emerges, with part of the armor in hand, he finally realizes that Robert is not alone. As he looks up and sees Charlie, he drops the armor on the floor and runs over and hugs him "It has been too long, way too long" he says as tears well up in his eyes. Charlie returns the hug and answers back "It is so good to see you my friend." After they exchange pleasantries, Charlie turns to his daughter and bodyguard and says, "I want you to meet my daughter, Connie." Gadget grabs her hand and shakes it with both hands. "I still remember when you were just a little girl, my how you have grown and so pretty." She blushes and thanks him for the compliment. Charlie then turns to his bodyguard and says, "You remember The One?" Gadget shakes his hand and says, "You have grown too, only in width and not height." The One just looks forward and ignores the comment. After all the greetings are done, Charlie says something that completely stuns Robert. Charlie looks at Gadget and says, "How are my suits coming along?" With his jaw wide open, Robert looks at Gadget and asks "His suits?" Robert just smiles and walks away as he says to Charlie "Nearly finished, just a few modifications. Come try them on." As they walk into another room, Gadget pulls down a curtain, like a game show hostess and reveals two more suits of armor, one very small and lithe and the other is monstrous in size. "Who are those for?" Robert asks, as he fears that he already knows the answer. "The small one is for Connie and the other one is obviously for The One,” he says as he beams with pride. If there is one thing that is sure to bring a smile to Gadget's face, it is his armor. Each piece is both unique in design and carefully tailored for the unique wearer. He tries to design them to fit the body type and the unique skills of the individual wearer. One look at Connie's armor shows that much like Vanessa's it is designed for speed and not hand-to-hand combat. But The One's armor is very bulky and full of armaments. It looks like the blending of a tank and a suit of armor that a knight would wear. One look tells you that it will not go quickly, but it can pretty much stop any attack. One thing Robert does notice that that the basic color scheme of blue and black are pretty much the same on all four suits of armor. The females do have so red-racing stripes to emphasize the speed while Robert's and The One has more black. This brings Robert to ask, "Are we some kind of super team or something?" With this statement, everyone laughs, even The One, which in itself is a rare sight. Once the laughter subsides, Charlie’s looks at Robert and says, "Obviously, Gadget has not told you much. We are looking to revive The Silent Jury." "You are what? Are you nuts? Why would you want to do that?" he asks in a very stunned voice. "Look around the city and tell me that there is not a need for heroes? Even better, look around the world and tell me there is no need. In case you have not read a paper, murder is up, robbery is up and the streets are not safe. The government is corrupt and organized crime is running rampant. If we are to ever make the streets safe again, then we must take the situation into our own hands. The government has proven incapable of controlling the situation." Charlie says as he stops to catch his breath. "So you think by sticking some people, some very untrained people into suits of armor, that this will fix the situation?" Robert responds in a raised voice. "What is the alternative, to sit back and watch the situation deteriorate? We are partly responsible for the shape of this city and it time for us to fix It.,” he says as he grows closer to Robert. They are now only a few feet apart and Robert asks in a very serious tone "How are we responsible for the state of this city, please tell me that?" Charlie takes a step closer and is now nearly face to face with Robert when he says "If you have been reading the journal, you know that when your father acquitted me, he received help from a police officer. That officer was moved up the ranks because of his work on that very case and moved his way into police commissioner and eventually mayor of the city. That police officer, who we helped to jumpstart his career is none other than Justin Rage, the most corrupt politician this city has ever known." Robert stops to think about what was just said and then comes back "So because a good cop goes bad, you feel it is your duty to take him down?" "I feel that we allowed a corrupt individual to get into a position of power and it is now up to us to remove him from it. He is tyrannizing this city and its citizens and we need to put a stop to this. So are you with us or against us?" he asks Robert. "I thought the whole wearing the suit was good for kicks, but I for one have no interest in going to war with my own city. What proof do you have that he is corrupt? Sure there are rumors, but every politician has those." he screams back as he can feel his blood begin to boil. Once he finishes, Gadget goes over to his desk and pulls out an envelope. He walks over and hands it to Robert "I didn't want to show you this, because I wanted you to decide whether or not to be part of this on your own." Robert looks at the envelope that says "Classified" in red letters and opens it. As he looks over the contents, he quickly realizes that it is a report on his father's accident, his supposed accident. There are pictures of the vehicle and police records of it. There is also a copy of a memo that was sent from Justin Rage to the officers that were investigating the case that says "Make sure it shows up as an accident, nothing more". There is also a cassette tape in the envelope. Robert looks at Gadget, with tears starting to well in his eyes and asks, "You have something I can listen to this on?" Gadget just points to the other room. Robert solemnly walks over to the room and shuts the door. Inside the room, he puts the tape into a tape deck and hits play. On it he hears the all too familiar voice of Justin Rage who appears to be talking over a telephone. He hears the following conversation: Justin Rage-"Is
Vanderpool taken care of?" That was all on the tape. Robert took the tape out and set it in his shirt pocket. He then put down his head and cried. After a few moments, he felt someone hugging him and he turned to see Connie. She looked at him and pulled him in. While he didn't know her, he needed the warmth and compassion of another human being and accepted the offer. They soon hugged and he let out a good cry, the first one since his father had died. It was so much easier to accept when it was an accident. As they embraced, Vanessa came downstairs and walked in and saw the scene. A small glint of jealousy could be seen in her eyes as she walked out of the room. Robert was completely unaware of her presence. Silent Jury © 2006 Tom Zjaba
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