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Silent Jury
Issue #9
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter 13
Unexpected Allies
The sound of hustle and bustle can be heard throughout the
labs. All of the scientists are hard at work trying to get their super human
projects going. They have never seen Justin Rage worried before. It was the
nicest, the calmest he has ever been. With most bosses that would be a reason to
celebrate, but with Justin Rage it is a cause for concern. They can tell the
severity of the situation by his expressions. He is usually so good at hiding
his emotions behind a wall of rage. But for him to come down and ask the men for
help and to talk to them instead of at them was a first. None of the men really
liked Justin Rage. He was bossy, demanding and at times dangerous. But he paid
better than any other company and gave them freedom that they would never find
elsewhere. As long as you finished the projects he gave you in a timely manner,
then he did not care what else you did.
In another part of the underground lab, a man sits inside a
glass cage. There is a shine to his skin that is anything but human. He is
curled up in a ball. But his eyes are open as he watches the scientist leave the
room. Once the room is empty, he rises from his fetal position and stands up. As
the light hits his skin, the reflection of the light shows that it is not human
skin that this man has, but rather metal skin. And this is not just any man. He
is larger than your average man, both in height and girth. As the light shines
on his face, you can see that he is The One. He looks different but the
resemblance is there. He knows he has five minutes before the next dose of gas
is pumped into his glass cell. He was able to hold his breath through most of
the last dose and is not groggy like he usually is. Each day he goes through the
same ritual. He waits until the lab is empty and works on his escape. He has
found that the glass is made of some type of material that seems to absorb his
blows. He has tried repeatedly to break the plastic/glass container that houses
him. And each time he came away with no success. But he has found a different
approach. While the container is resistant to his blows, the housing that holds
it in place is not so resilient. It is a normal steel frame that holds this
container in place and it will bend and break. He has been slowly rocking back
and forth in the cage, loosening the frame and making it easier to move the
cage. Tonight he continues the cycle. He runs and slams into one side of the
glass and pushes it. Then he runs and slams into the other side. Each time he
does it, the glass moves a little more. Each time it rocks a little more. He
knows he can do this for five minutes before he needs to hold his breath again.
So he tries to make every minute count and hits with a powerful force. First one
side and then the other. Back and forth he plows like an angered rhino. After a
few times, he hits the right side and feels a give. He has loosened it enough to
almost push it over. It is barely hanging on. So he steps back and slams it
again. This time the container comes loose from its base and falls over. The
impact of the container hitting the ground and the impact of The One hitting it,
causes it to crack. As it hits the ground, a crack forms in what was once
impervious. Once the container stops rolling as it is circular in shape, The One
reoriented himself and finds the crack. He then pounds it over and over, until
the crack is a hole. He then squeezes his fingers into it and rips with all his
strength. One of the advantages to his new steel body is his strength has
increased to super human proportions. While he was always a powerful man, he is
now at a level that is impossible for a normal man. And the container feels the
full impact of this strength as he tears it to pieces. With the container out of
the way, he easily rolls the container over and climbs out the freshly made
hole. As he is finally free, some guards rush into the room. One of the
scientists is standing behind the three guards who come in guns. The One laughs
at them as the bullets bounce off his skin like drops of rain. He then charges
at them, bowling them over like a raging bull. But he does not stop there, he
keeps charging forward as he knocks over one door after another. He keeps going
until he reaches the elevator. Not wanting to wait for it, he rips the doors
open and sees that it is higher up. He then digs his hands into the wall and
starts climbing up. As he reaches the first opening, he smashes the doors down
and lands in a hallway. Not satisfied with being out of the lab, he keeps
pressing on until he reaches the street with a path of destruction left behind.
Smashed walls, knocked over furniture and scared people are left behind as he
reaches the final wall. With a well placed blow of his metal fist, the wall
crumbles like a house of cards. As he steps into the daylight, the pedestrians
on the street run for cover as the debris from the smashed wall fly in all
directions. Pieces of rock and shards of glass hit some of the unfortunate
people. Bones are shattered by the rocks and skin is cut by the glass. Out of
the hole in the wall of the Rage Building, steps The One. The sight of a very
large man made entirely out of metal is enough to make any curious people lose
that curiosity and run for their lives. Once a path is cleared, The One runs
down the street and slowly heads out of town, looking for his former team.
Deacon rushes into Justin Rage's office to find him calmly
sitting at his desk. "I am sure you heard all the noise." Justin continues with
his paperwork as he signs off on a stack of papers. "The One escaped from his
holding cell and is heading out of town." Still no response from Justin. He just
keeps bringing over the next paper, reading it and then stamping the bottom.
"Should I send someone after him?" This time, he looks up from his stack of
papers and says "I know he is gone. I expected this to happen. It is all part of
my plan." Deacon is confused. They put allot of time and money into getting him
to their side and now Justin is just letting him walk away. And at a time when
he needs all the muscle he can get. Justin can see the confused look on his face
and decides to explain his reasoning. "Ever since his transformation, The One
has been angered. He feels betrayed. He would not make a good soldier in our
army. But he can be useful to us in a different way." Deacon is more confused
now. He does not understand how The One can be useful to them when he is gone.
"I am not following you. How can he be useful to us if he is gone?" Justin
smiles as he stands up and looks him directly in the eyes "He felt betrayed by
us and we could not count on him here. But by leaving, he will go back to The
Silent Jury and when they come to battle Doctor Warlock and The Fallen One, he
will give them a more formidable team." The light goes on in his head, but as
soon as Deacon understands that answer, he has another question. "How do you
know the team will accept him back? He betrayed them." Justin turns away and
laughs "Because they are soft hearted and weak. When they see how he has been
changed and hear how much he suffered, they will feel pity for him and accept
him back in the team. That is why heroes are always weaker then villains, they
let their emotions control them." Deacon then understands and he laughs with
Justin Rage. The two of them are soon laughing out loud in a dark, sinister
laugh. The rest of the people in the building that are in earshot, are puzzled.
Their building just sustained damage and these two are laughing like hyenas.
Robert is the first to see the news story about the metal man
rampaging down Main Street in North Harbor. He is stunned as he sees what looks
like a large metal man just stomping down the street. He runs out of the room
and gets Connie and Vanessa. "You have to see this." he says as he pulls the
ladies into the control room. As they watch the monitor, they see the same
thing. "What the hell is that?" Vanessa asks as she watches the screen. At
first, the camera is far away. But then a different camera zooms in on the man
and a shocked look comes over Connie's face. "Robert and Vanessa are also
shocked but they are not sure. They look at each other and then they both look
at Connie. "Is that..." Robert asks Connie. "Yes, its The One." she says as she
covers her mouth in shock. Tears roll down her face as she sees the pain and
anger in his face. Even though he did betray them, she was very close to him. He
was her bodyguard for many years and was a trusted friend of the family. His
betrayal hit hard, but seeing the cost of his betrayal hits even harder. Gone is
the man she knew, replaced by a monster. A large metal monster who only looks
like the man who once accompanied her everywhere. "We have to go to him." she
says as she rushes to get her suit. "But he betrayed us, shouldn't we talk to
your father first?" Robert asks as he rushes after her. "There is no time. We
need to stop him from hurting innocent people and find out what happened to
him." She then grabs her armor and starts putting it on. Robert also dresses as
he is not letting her go alone. Vanessa soon joins them as she never misses a
chance to put on her armor. Within minutes the three of them are suited up and
flying off to confront The One.
The sound of screams can be heard down Main Street as The One
continues down the middle of the street. Cars are skidding to a halt and trying
to turn around as they see this behemoth lumbering down the street. Any cars
that are in his way are pushed aside with ease. There is a trail of damage that
is easy to follow. The number of damaged cars is growing by the minute and even
a few traffic poles have joined the wreckage. The police have arrived on the
scene but have no idea how to deal with this. The police have road blocked Main
Street and have slowed the incoming traffic in hopes of limiting the injuries. A
few brave policemen have tried confronting him, only to meet a force that is
both powerful and bulletproof. Realizing there is nothing they can do, the swat
team has been called in. It is time to hand it over to specialists. The
helicopter that flies overhead is the first of the so called specialists to
arrive. This is the eye in the sky and will monitor his progress. Up ahead, the
SWAT team is readying some tear gas grenades to see what effect that will have
on him. As he nears the barricade they have hastily constructed, they launch the
first volley of grenades. Shot out, the grenades land in front of him and soon
they are releasing the tear gas. Realizing what it is, he closes his eyes and
covers his mouth as he keeps walking. As he walks through the gas, he finds that
while the gas is irritating, it is not overwhelming. His eyes sting a little and
he is coughing some as he cannot keep the gas out, but it does not halt his
progress. With Plan A behind them, the swat team readies Plan B. Two men move up
with what looks like bazookas. They aim them at The One and fire. Out shoots
weighted nets and within seconds, he is covered in thick nets. At first they
tangle him up and he struggles to get a grip on the nets, which have weights
attached to them. But once he gets a grip on the netting, he easily tears it
apart and with little effort, he pulls the net off him and throws it to the
ground. He then steps over it and continues on. The men are getting nervous now
as he is within a hundred feet of them. Before he can do any harm to the SWAT
team, he is hit by a few missiles and is knocked back a step. The men turn and
look to see The Silent Jury flying in to save the day. "Just what we need, more
super powered jerks." the police captain says as he imagines all the property
damage that is to come. The city is still cleaning up the mess from the Silent
Jury's last encounter with Psyclone. While the missiles stun The One for a brief
moment, he quickly recovers from it. He tries to signal them to halt by holding
up his hand, but Vanessa flies in and tries out the repel field. As she flies
close to him, she turns it on and the force of it sends The One flying. Even his
great mass cannot stand up to this powerful weapon and he finds himself
airborne. The force sends him flying for a few hundred feet until he hits one of
the many cars left on the street and smashes into it. The car takes the brunt of
the impact and halts his progress. He does knock the car over and demolishes it,
but he stops moving. He slowly pulls himself up from the wreckage and back to
his feet. As Vanessa flies in for another attack, Connie yells "Wait." At the
last second, Vanessa stops her charge and pulls up. Robert also stops as they
see The One lift his hands over his head as if he was surrendering. "What is he
doing?" Robert asks as he is unsure what is happening. "It is probably a trap.
Don't anyone go near him." Vanessa says as she floats above him, waiting to see
his next move. "I think he is giving up." Connie says as she lands within fifty
feet of him. "Get back Connie, there's no telling what he will do." Robert says.
There is genuine concern in his voice as he fears for her safety. "Just trust
me." she says as she begins walking up to him. The One continues to keep his
hands in the air as she nears him. Once she is within ten feet of him, she asks
"What did they do to you?" He slowly lowers his arms and looks at her. A sad
look comes over his face as he says "I am so sorry." She looks into his eyes and
sees a side of The One she has never seen. He has always been cold and serious.
But for the first time, he looks hurt and sad. She runs up to him and gives him
a big hug. He brings his arms down and hugs her back. Tears roll down her face
as she is reunited with her former bodyguard and best friend. "I forgive you."
she says as she continues to hug him. Robert and Vanessa soon fly over to her.
They do not know what to do. They came to fight him and here they are making up
with him. Robert is unsure what to do now. Should they bring him back to the
headquarters? Can they trust him? He gets on the radio and calls back to
headquarters. "Gadget, we have a situation and we need your help." After a few
seconds of silence, they hear back "Where are you guys and why is the armor
gone?" Robert swallows hard as he knows they should have let Gadget and the
others know before they left. But they really wanted to do something on their
own. They wanted to show their value without having Daniel bail them out. It was
wrong and they know it, but they cannot think about that now. "We saw that The
One was destroying Main Street and went to stop him. But he has changed and now
he is apologizing to Connie." There is a good thirty seconds of dead air. Robert
knows that they are using satellites to go see the situation. Suddenly a
different voice comes over their headsets. This time it is Charlie. "Bring him
back to HQ and we will deal with the situation from there." Robert does not know
what to think. He then looks at Vanessa and says "Lets carry him back." Vanessa
looks at him and says "Are you kidding? Have you any idea how heavy he must be?"
Before she can say anything else, Daniel teleports into the middle of them and
says "I will bring him back. Fly back immediately." With that he walks up to The
One and they both teleport back. The police chief is now walking over to talk to
them. Robert looks at the others and says "I think it is time to go." With that,
they all fly back to the headquarters. The police chief is waving his fist at
them and yelling "Who's gonna pay for all this damage?"
Justin Rage and Deacon are sitting in his office when the
scientists come in. Three of them are present and they look worried. "I know
with the events that happened earlier, some important research may have been
damaged or destroyed." He looks at all of them as they nod in agreement. "But I
have to ask you, what kind of timetable do we have on the super human project?"
The men all look at each other. After a few seconds of nervous glances, one of
the scientists speaks up. "With all that has happened of late and the shortness
of time that we have invested..." Justin stands up and yells "Just give me a
date." The scientist who was speaking steps back and says "Three weeks at the
earliest." He sits back down and says "That is not good enough." One of the
other scientists speaks up "What you are asking takes time." Justin looks up at
him and says "I am out of time." The men all look at each other as Justin stares
down at the desk. There is a minute of tense silence before Justin speaks. "Men,
you are all fired. Please leave immediately." They all look at each other in
shock. Justin then turns to Deacon and says "Please see that they are
immediately escorted from the building." Deacon then stands up and pulls out a
cell phone and pushes a button on the side. "Can I get some muscle up to Mr.
Rage's office immediately. The scientists are stunned by this and just turn and
walk out. Deacon walks next to them and within seconds, he is joined by a half
dozen large and dangerous looking men.
When Robert and the girls arrive at the headquarters, they
are greeted by Gadget. He has a pissed off look on his face. "Just because I
don't wear the armor anymore does not mean I am not part of the team." Robert is
the first to speak "We are sorry. You are right, we should have let you know."
Connie quickly jumps in "It is my fault. I was the one that was in a hurry to
go. They were only following me." Charlie walks up and says "I am very
disappointed in you." She bows her head in shame. Before they can say anything
else, a message from Mr. Smith comes over their walkies. "Come to the control
room and hurry." Everyone runs for the control room as fast as they can. When
they get there, Mr. Smith is watching the monitors. He looks a them and says
"Looks like our timetable has been moved up." When they all start looking at the
monitors, which are all tuned to the same thing, they see The Fallen One, Dr.
Warlock and a half dozen other villains flying towards The Rage Building. Gadget
turns to Mr. Smith and asks "How long before we are finished with the dimension
machine?" He looks back and says "Six hours at least." Daniel then turns to them
and says "Then get working on it. I will lead the others to battle and hopefully
we can buy you some time." Gadget then jumps in "Wait a second, these may help.
It seemed like a waste of time but they may help out." He then runs in another
room and comes back with two tanks that have hoses coming off them that end in
what looks like large gloves. "What are these?" Robert asks as he hands one to
Robert and one to Vanessa. "These will allow you to shoot out blasts of ice.
They will keep going until you run out of water in the tanks. They both quickly
put them on and look at the gloves. "How do they work?" Vanessa asks. "There is
a hose that comes out of the palm that shoots the ice. The trigger is between
the thumb and pointer finger." He then lifts his fingers to show them. "Just tap
your thumb up against the pointer finger and you will feel the trigger." Connie
looks at Charlie who lets her know with his glance that he did not know anything
about this. Gadget notices the look and turns to her and says "I am sorry, but I
was not able to construct one in time for you." She smiles and says "I
understand." They then start walking out of the room, when The One walks in. "I
want to go with you." he says. They all turn around surprised. No one knows what
to say, but Connie speaks up and says "We can use all the help we can get." They
all agree and welcome him back to the team. Daniel then says "We are going to
need more help. I am going to cast a summon spell that will send a signal to all
heroes in hope that they come. Daniel then stops and mumbles some words and a
circle of smoke appears in front of him. There is a mirror in the middle of the
circle of smoke and he looks into it and speaks "Heroes of Earth. A grave danger
has befallen us and we are sending this message seeking your aid. A collection
of super powered beings are in Harbor City, being led by a demon who seeks to
conquer the world. Please help us." Once he finishes with it, the reflection in
the mirror that has been silent, repeats the message back to him. He then whisks
his hand and the mirror disappears into a puff of smoke. He turns to the group
and says "Let's hope we get some response." He then has them all come together
close around him and he casts a teleport spell and five of them disappear in a
cloud of smoke. Gadget then makes a sign of the cross as the three of them go
back to work.
Deacon rushes into Justin Rage's office to find him packing a
suitcase. "Sir, they are coming." He keeps packing as he says "I know." Deacon
then walks over to him and asks "What is the plan?" Justin turns to him and says
"I have a helicopter waiting for me on the roof. I plan on being on it in a few
minutes." Deacon knew he had something planned but he thought it would involve
them staying and fighting. "So you are just leaving this all behind? What about
me?" Justin returns to his packing as he says "You can come with me or stay here
and die. The choice is yours." Deacon is stunned by the statement. He is unsure
if he should go or stay. "Where are you going?" Justin looks at him one more
time as he puts more money into the briefcase. "I am headed to Switzerland to my
bank account and then to a private island I bought years ago." Deacon wonders if
he should leave with Justin. He has been his right hand man for a long time and
he always took care of him. But with him gone, he could possibly take over. But
once The Fallen One and Doctor Warlock are done, what will be left to take over?
He then says "I am going to stay." He then turns and leaves the room. Justin
laughs and says "It's your funeral." He then grabs the suitcase, along with
another one and rushes to his elevator. He jumps in and heads to the roof. On
the roof is a helicopter waiting for him. He takes his briefcases and throws
them in helicopter. He then jumps in and they fly off. Deacon watches him from
the office window. He then pulls out his phone and hits the button on the side.
"Men, Justin is gone. Time for us to grab what we can and head out."
Silent Jury © 2006 Tom Zjaba
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