Silent Jury
Issue #3
by Tom Zjaba

Chapter Five: First Mission
The next few weeks are spent in training.  Both individually and as a team.  Robert has a renewed interest and quickly takes the role of squad leader.  During the day, they train in the simulation room for hours at a time.  When the others tire, Robert then trains by himself.  During one of his sessions, he comes out and finds Connie waiting with a towel and a glass of iced tea.  "You work too hard, take a break,” she says as she hands the glass to him.  Before he takes it, he unfastens his helmet and takes it off and places it down on a table.  He then grabs the glass and drinks down the cool, refreshing beverage.  "Thanks, that really hit the spot,” he says as he smiles at her.  As he sets the glass down, he sees Vanessa walking in the room, also with a glass.  But she looks at him and says, "Oh, I see you are already taken care of."  She then walks out of the room in a hurry.  Robert thinks nothing of it, as he is too tired to notice the slight tinge of disappointment in her voice.  Before Robert has time to get out of his armor, Gadget comes running into the room "Quick, everyone suit up.  We have a crisis downtown and it looks like a job for The Silent Jury."  He then smiles and says, "I always wanted to say that!  Much better than Silent Jury Assemble."  The four of them quickly get into uniform and Gadget and Charlie give them a quick briefing "Here is the situation.  There are some heavily armed men robbing the Memorial Bank.  And I mean heavily armed, so take caution."  With that the four of them fly off.  Gadget then looks at Charlie and says, "This would be a good time to try out our Mobile Command Center, don't you think?"  "I do believe it would, you never know if the kids will need a little assistance,” he says and they walk out of the room.

Soon the four of them are flying into North Harbor, with Robert leading and the two girls right behind him and The One heading off the rear.  As they near the bank, they see what looks like a war zone.  There are police hiding behind cars and a huge armored truck blocking the entrance of the bank.  There are two men standing behind the truck, one with a very large machine gun and the other with a rocket launcher.  One police car looks to have been shot by a rocket as it is overturned, destroyed and engulfed in flames.  Two other police cars are next to it and the cops are out and shooting at the truck.  Robert announces to the others "One, you go directly at the truck, girls I want you to find another way into the bank and give me an assessment of how many are inside and if there are any hostages.  I am going to attack from above and with that he flies up into the sky.  The girls then fly off, one to the right and one to the left.  The One flies down and lands in front of the truck and between them and the police.  As he lands he begins to walk up slowly towards the truck.  "What the hell is that?" one of the men says to the other.  "Whom cares, just shoot it,” the other one says as he loads the rocket launcher.  The guy with the machine-gun lets loose a volley of bullets that hit their target.  The One is stunned for a second, but only for a second.  He then makes his way forward towards them.  "Bullets just bounce off him, you better get that launcher loaded and quick,” he says to his partner who has just finished loading it and is now aiming it.  As The One gets closer, he shoots it right into him.  It knocks him over.  "Bull’s-eye!  That took care of him.,” he shouts.  But after a few seconds, the suit of armor gets up and starts walking towards them again "Son of a...what does it take to bring him down?"  The one with the rocket launcher says as he begins to worry.  The other one grabs a walkie-talkie and says, "Boss, we have a problem here, over."  A voice comes back "I gave you enough firepower to take out the police, now shut up.  We almost have this vault open, out."  "But it isn’t the cops, it is some guy in a suit of armor and even the rocket launcher isn’t stopping him, over."  He says in vain hope that the boss has something up his sleeve because the guy is almost upon then.  "Then run him over, you idiots!" he screams.  Suddenly both of them get down and get into the truck.  But before they have a chance to start it, the driver's door is ripped off the hinges and a very large and very powerful arm pulls him out and throws him.  The other guy tries to get out of the truck, but suddenly finds it being lifted and he falls out the other side and hits his head on the pavement.  Then the truck is gently dropped back.  The One begins to move around the truck as the guy gets up and runs off.  But before he can get anywhere, he runs right into Robert and is knocked cold.  Robert then says to the One "Two down".  He then hears the Vanessa say, "There are four inside and no hostages, I repeat, no hostages."  He looks at The One and says, "Let's go in, we have some butt to kick."  With that, the two of them enter the bank.

Right after the group had left the headquarters, Gadget and Charlie left in a very souped up van.  As Gadget is driving, Charlie is monitoring the group on multiple cameras in the back area.  "This is some vehicle you have here.  It is good to see our money is being spent wisely.,” he says as he watches the team in action.  They drive off towards the city.  As they are out of site, a person emerges from behind a tree by the school and talks into a cell phone "The diversion worked, the nest is empty."  At the other end of the phone line is Justin Rage who says "Good, time to shut these guys down, for good."  He then hangs up the phone and waits a second and then picks it back up and makes a call.  After a few seconds someone answers and he says "The diversion worked, get your men down there and fast.  Time is of the essence."  

Back at the bank, Robert and The One have entered the bank.  It is empty except for the sound of drilling in the back.  As they walk in, they see the girls are already there.  "Wait, don't try to take them by yourself.  Try to lure them out here, where we can take them in force." he says trying to keep the situation in control.  Vanessa says, "Going in, will lure them out." and she flies into the back room.  "Shouldn't I follow her?" Connie asks.  "No, get into position, when they come out we want to hit them fast and hard." he says.  After a few seconds, she comes flying out of the back room and three men come chasing after her.  As they run into the room, they are quickly seeing The One standing before them.  Before they have a chance to attack, Robert and Connie who make short work of them ambush them.  Then Vanessa flies in and takes care of the last one.  "Good work team, lets get them tied up and leave the rest to the police" he says as they finish up.  As they make their way out the door, the Police greet them.  "Officer, they are all tied up and ready to go" Robert says as he and the others make their way out.  "Well, thanks, I guess" the cop says as the rest of the police force move in and apprehend the men.  As Robert and the gang walk out, reporters stream in and start asking questions.  One of them asks, "Who are you guys?"  Robert looks at them and points to the symbol on his armor, which shows the Lady Liberty with a gag on.  He then says, "We are the New Silent Jury".  With that, they fly off as the reporters yell out more questions and take photos.

As they fly back to headquarters, they come in the back entrance.  As they come up the corridor, they enter the main room only to see Gadget on his knees with his head in his hands.  Charlie is standing next to him, with his hand on his shoulder, trying to console him.  As they look around the room, they see that it is empty.  Totally and completely empty.  Every bit of equipment, every last piece of paper, even the furniture is gone.  Someone came and cleared out everything.  Robert feels anger inside of him as he slams his fist into the wall and puts a hole in it.  Gadget just keeps mumbling, "It's gone, and all my work is gone."  Charlie looks over at the group and says, "Obviously, Justin Rage knows about us and is intent on stopping us.  But this is only a setback, we will strike back and hard" he says as the others come over to console Gadget.  

Chapter Six: The Betrayal
At a sky rise in North Harbor, Justin Rage sits at a very large, almost ridiculously large desk.  Around him are framed pictures and newspaper clippings, showing the different accomplishments of his life.  There is a picture of him shaking hands with the last two presidents, at a ribbon cutting ceremony with the first lady for a new hospital and even him throwing out the first pitch for the Major League Baseball Team.  He is patiently looking at the door, knowing he has a visitor coming.  As the door opens, he rises from his chair to greet the visitor.  Inside walks a man in a very expensive suit.  He has a large walking cane with the face of a wolf on the handle.  There are also carvings of wolves down the base of the cane.  The man is middle aged and has the smile of a snake.  As he walks in, Justin Rage motions for him to sit down.  "Were there any problems?" Justin asks in a very cold voice.  "Nah, everything went as planned.  When ya send Jimmy "The Wolf", ya gets results." he says with an air of confidence.  "Were there any witnesses?" he asks in the same cold, unfeeling voice.  "Nah boss, we um, made sure of it.  Everything went smooth, like silk, yeah smooth as silk,” Jimmy says as he smiles, showing his gold teeth.  "What about the equipment, where is it now?" Justin asks.  "We's got it at the warehouse, ya know da one.  Whatcha want us ta do with it?" he inquires.  Justin then moves stands up leans over the desk and gazes right into his eyes "I want you to rent a boat and take that stuff far out to sea and dump it.  All of it.  Is that understood.?” he growls in a very deep and very menacing voice.  "Whydah wanna go and do dat fer?  We wents ta great troubles to get dat stuff and ya just wanna dump it.  Why?" he asks as he is very puzzled.  Justin Rage walks around his desk and pulls the man up from his chair.  Justin has a good foot in height on him and at least 50 pounds.  As he pulls the man up to him, he whispers "This is between the two of us and noone else, understood."  "Yeah, sure boss.  My lips are sealed" Jimmy says as he makes the motion like he is zipping his lips.  "The reason I am dumping all the stuff is because I SAID SO and it is none of your damn business why, understood,” he says as he pushes him back down.  "Ya don't havta get all rough wit me.  No problem, I will dump it like you want" he says as he gets up and walks out the room.  As he leaves, Justin gets on his speaker phone and says "Janet, send in Deacon, now.  And make sure that Jimmy gets his money."  A voice comes through, "Right away."  He then moves back to his chair and sits down.  As he does, Jack Deacon walks into the room.  "You wanted to see me?" he asks as he approaches the desk.  "Yeah, I want you to send some men to follow Jimmy "The Wolf" and make sure he dumps that equipment, all of the equipment.  That stuff could be dangerous in the hands of an idiot.,” he says as taps his fingers on the desk.  "If you don't mind my asking, why are you dumping all that equipment?" Jack says in a bit of a nervous voice.  "Since you are my right hand man, I can tell you.  You see I already have all that technology had it for a while.  But if I just showed up with it one day, then Gadget would know that I have an inside source, a traitor, if you will."  He says as the swivels his chair. He then adds "But I cannot allow that.  So I had Jimmy steal all the equipment, so he would think that is where I got it.  This way I can keep this so called Silent Jury in check.  With the Fury causing me problems, the last thing I need is a two fronted battle."   "Jack looks at him with admiration.  He now knows how clever a man his boss and what a formidable force he can be.  "I don't mean to be so nosy, but who is the traitor, if you don't mind me asking?" he asks with hesitation.  "Some things, Deacon, are better kept quiet.  The less you know, the better you are." he says as he turns him chair around, so his back faces Jack.

Later that night, at the warehouse on the dock, Jimmy "The Wolf" and his gang are sitting around checking out the equipment.  Some of the guys are trying to figure out how stuff works.  One of them asks Jimmy "So ya gonna dump dis stuff like Rage said ta?"  "What, are ya touched in da head?  This here will make me a player, a big time player and I can kick that sorry excuse out of office and take over dis here city, dig." he says as he tries to put some of the armor on.  

Above, on top of the building sit two men with surveillance equipment.  They are listening in on Jimmy's speech.  They then send the transmission to Justin Rage, who is listening to it at his home.  Suddenly, he gets up and picks up the phone.  He dials a number and then as someone answers, he says "Deacon, I want you to get Psyclone ready and send him to the warehouse.  We have some traitors to deal with."  "Right away" the voice says over the other line as he hangs up.  As Deacon hangs up, he walks down the hall and takes the elevator down to a basement level.  As he gets out, he sees some of the scientists and doctors walking around.  He walks up to one of them and says "I need Psyclone for a job."  The doctor just motions for one of the guards to escort him.  They walk down a long hall and stop at a door.  The door is solid metal, with no way to look in.  As they unlock the door, the guard slowly opens it "You don't wanna knock over his legos or he goes nuts."  As they open it, there is a crazed look man with wild, blond hair, levitating in the air and taking stacks of legos that he is moving with his mind and placing them on a building he is making.  All around the very large room are sculptures made of legos.  Famous landmarks, animals, all kind of designs.  Deacon swallows hard and then walks over and begins kicking down his lego building.  Pieces fly everywhere and he turns and looks right at Deacon and says "Who did this to my building?"  His eyes are full of rage and drool is dripping from his mouth.  Deacon then holds up a picture of Jimmy "The Wolf" and says, "He did it.  Jimmy "The Wolf" did it."  Then Psyclone looks at him and says "Then he must die!" and he flies out of the room.  As he does, Deacon walks out and stops the guard.  He asks him "Every time I come down here, I get the creeps." The guard looks at him and says "You and I both, that man is a pure psycho.  If we didn't have the logos to sedate him, he would probably level this whole building.  Can you imagine having the ability to destroy an entire city, but the mind of a five year old?"  "Enough to keep you up at nights.  Here is a few hundred, go buy him some more logos" Deacon says as he walks back to the elevator.

At the dock, Jimmy and his men are putting on suits and fooling around with stuff, when suddenly a hole is smashed into the side of the building.  Pieces of wood fly everywhere as Psyclone levitates into the room.  He looks down at the stunned group and screams, "You smashed my Legos!  I am going to kill you!"  "What the...." Jimmy screams as he reaches for his gun.  The men also pull out their pistols and begin to shoot at him.  Psyclone just floats there and laughs as he stops each bullet before it hits him.  He then flies right at them.  Outside the building, the two men who were doing surveillance work are listening as they hear the screams.  They begin to walk away, with smiles on their faces.  At home, Justin Rage listens and is smiling.  

Back at Robert's house, the six of them sit around a table and talk.  Actually everyone, but The One are sitting.  He is standing in the corner, by himself.  He does not care to sit down, nor does he desire to participate in this discussion.  He is a bodyguard and no matter how much they try to make him a part of the team, he desires to be a loner.  

The others are talking about the next plan of action.  Gadget starts by saying "We need a new headquarters, somewhere that Justin Rage will not find."  Charlie adds, "How did he find out about the last place?  I thought you were careful to not attract attention to it?"  Gadget gets an angered look on his face and waits a second before talking.  He doesn't want his anger to get the better of him.  After he counts to five, he says, "We knew there would be risks in putting on armor and fighting.  Maybe they give out a frequency that can be traced.  Maybe he just had us followed, who knows.  The man has connections and it is not hard for him to trace it back to us."  Suddenly, Vanessa speaks up "I know you all want to know how he figured you out, but we have a much bigger problem here.  The ARMOR.  Has anyone stopped to think that we may be battling people in the exact same armor we are wearing?  I don't know about you, but that scares me to death."  Connie then chimes in "Or possibly better versions of the armor.  If this Mr. Rage has all the connections you speak of, what would stop him from building better armor?"  "Better armor nothing; what scares me is that we could be facing an army of them.  With his financial resources and his men, we could be up to our neck in armor wearing criminals." Robert adds to the conversation.

As they all sit and think about that, Gadget stands up and smiles.  "The armor is the least of our worries.  I anticipated something like this happening and took steps to prevent it.  The computers of the systems have a string of extra code imbedded into them.,” he says as he beams.  Charlie looks at him and says "So, what is this line of code and how will it keep Justin Rage from building the armor?"  "As much as I trust you all, I don't want to play my hand until I have to, so it will remain my little secret." he says as he crosses his arms and smiles like the Cheshire cat.  Charlie does not accept that answer and continues to pry "So you are telling me that you have a back door of sorts that can stop this armor?"  Gadget just smiles and says "All in good time, my friend."  With the sense of relief, they all sit back down and relax.

As Robert looks around the room, he notices that The One is missing.  "Has anyone seen the big guy?" Robert asks.  Charlie gets up and yells for him.  He then makes his way outside and when he does, he notices that his limo is gone.  "Where could he have gone?" Charlie asks as the others join him in the driveway.  "He has gone to Justin Rage,” says Gadget.  "How do you know?" asks Charlie, fearing that Gadget may be right.  "I don't, but he didn't leave until after I spoke of the line of code." Gadget replies.  "But if he does go there and tell Justin Rage about the line of code, then your trump card is no good, correct?" Charlie asks.  "If the line of code was the only safety mechanism, then we would be in trouble.  But it is just one secret I have and soon Justin Rage will find this out." Gadget says as he walks back into the house.

Meanwhile at Justin Rage's sky rise, The One shows up.  "Boss, I bring you urgent news.,” he says as he stands in his traditional stoic pose.  "Did they see you leave?" Justin asks with a very irritated voice.  "They have learned of my absence by now. " he says without flinching.  "Then you better have some earth shattering news as you just cost me my only inside source." Justin Rage says as he stands up and glares at the immense Sumo.  "It is of great importance or I would not have blown my cover.,” he says.  "Then for God's sake, tell me what it is?" Justin Rage says as he pushes a button on his desk.  "There is a line of code in the computer of the armor that will disable them.  Only Gadget knows about it and won't tell the others anything else." The One says.  "Did Gadget say if this is the only safety mechanism installed in the armor?" Justin Rage says as the door opens and some men in armor walk into the room.  "No, he didn't. " The One says with a bit of fear in his voice.  Justin Rage walks up to him and waves for the men to come in the room.  As Justin Rage gets in front of him he screams, "Do you think that a man as brilliant as Gadget would only have one trap to protect his invention?"   Suddenly the stoic look disappears as he realizes the folly in his actions.  He does not answer Justin Rage in fear that he will anger him more, but Justin asks again "Well, do you?  Answer me, dammit."   Before The One has time to answer him or to take another course of action, he finds his arms pinned to his side by two armored men and dragged off.  "I want him taught a lesson." Justin Rage screams as they pull the massive man away.  The One tries to break free, but finds it impossible.  As he is dragged away, he screams "What about my reward?  You promised me a reward.” he screams as he is pulled down the hall.  Justin Rage shuts the door and smiles as he says to himself "You'll get your reward, you can be sure of it."  

 Silent Jury © 2006 Tom Zjaba

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