Silent Jury
Issue #17
by Tom Zjaba

Chapter 21
Ruined Plans

    Inside the luxurious hotel, Robert and Vanessa are putting away their clothes. Despite her protests, Robert suggested on each of them having their own room. He rented out a suite where the bedrooms both are joined to a large living room, but they are still separate. Each bedroom has a king sized bed and its own Jacuzzi. There is a fireplace, full wet bar, leather furniture in the living room as well as a very large, flat panel television. Vanessa still cannot believe how big the room is. She is used to her father who when they went on one of their rare trips, would rent out a tiny hotel room with two twin beds and not much else. And the trips always involved going to a science or inventors convention of some type. But this place is as big as her house. She can very easily get used to this kind of pampering.

    As Robert puts the last of his stuff away, he turns around to see Vanessa standing in the doorway. She is wearing her bathing suit, which looks as sexy on her as he imagined. While he saw it after she shopped, it was just a yellow and black bathing suit. But now it is accenting her natural curves and doing a wonderful job of it. She smiles at him as she says "Well, do you like it?" She then slowly twirls, so he can see it from all angles. He looks at how it barely covers her body. "It looks great...ummm you look great in it." He says as he is a little tongue tied. This is the first time that he has not seen her in armor or fully dressed. He knew she had a nice body, but he did not realize how nice. Her small breasts look so much bigger in this bikini top that pushes them together to create cleavage. And her legs are shapelier than he remembered them. And he did not remember her having such a shapely behind. While small, it has a nice heart shape to it. "I didn't realize what a nice body you have, with all the armor you are usually wearing." She rolls her eyes as she says "I am guessing that is a compliment. But we are on vacation, so I want no talk of work." He laughs as she says that. "So it is work now? I thought work was something you are paid for?" She crosses her arms and gives him a dirty look. "Now I said no talk about work or whatever you want to call it. We have been through allot these past few weeks and I just want to relax and be pampered." Robert then grabs a pamphlet that is on a desk in his room and reads through it. "They have all kinds of massages here, if you want to be pampered." He then goes to hand it to her, but she obviously does not want it. "You are not going to make this easy, are you?" she says. "Most men would have been all over me by now, but you act like I'm your little sister or something." Robert is stunned. While he does want to grab her and make love to her for hours, he still has conflicted feelings. He does not know the proper etiquette for dating in super hero groups. And what if Connie comes back? How will their relationship affect the team?

    Realizing that she will have to make the first move, Vanessa reaches around her back and unhooks her bikini top. She then slowly pulls it off, exposing her firm, young breasts. She then places the bikini top on his head and kisses him on the lips. It is a quick but passionate kiss. After a few seconds, she pulls away and grabs his hand and says "Let's go into the hot tub and see if we can really get that water steaming?" Completely stunned, Robert just follows along as they head over to the hot tub.

    Laying on the floor in a large room, The One is looking at Connie, who is trying to feed him soup. There are a half dozen mattresses underneath him, not that he needs it. In his metal form, he does not have much feeling. It makes little difference if he lays on mattresses or the concrete floor. But Connie insisted that he lay down and rest and eat some soup. "Connie, I am not sick. I do not need soup." he says as she tries to make him eat the hot soup. "You were dead a few hours ago, let me take care of you." she says as she does what she can to help him. He tries to argue with her, but she is insistent. Realizing that he will not win this battle, he relents and lets her feed him like a big metal baby.

    Her father walks behind her and says "Connie, we need to run some tests on him. You have to let him get up." Connie turns to him and says "Father, he just came back from the dead, he needs his rest." Realizing it is his chance to get up from her doting, he rolls away from her and rises to his feet. "I am fine." he says as he struggles a little. Charlie then motions to him and says "We need to run some tests to determine what happened and if there is any permanent damage." The One nods in agreement and follows him. Connie watches as they leave and yells out "I will keep your soup warm."

    Looking around at his old hideout, Doctor Warlock is impressed with how updated it is. He goes into the command room and looks at the various television and computer screens. It is all so alien to him. When he left, computers were giant contraptions that did very little. He never had any need for them back then and he is not so sure he has any need for them now. But what he does know is that he wants to return to dimension where he came from and bring back The Fallen One, if possible. As much as he hated to do his bidding, he realizes that his power is not great enough to rule the world and he needs some serious power. At least until he gains control of the world, then he can backstab him and send him back to his dimension.

    As he looks around the control room, he realizes that while this equipment may be confusing to him, it is probably of some use. He knows that he needs to get someone who can help him utilize it. Someone from this time, who is familiar with computers. Thinking, he decides to bring back the villains he created and see if they can assist him in his quest for world domination. He then waves his arms and closes his eyes. He mumbles a spell and light shoots from his hands. The light begins to twirl like a twister, only it is not destructive in nature. Instead, it pulls up the villains, one by one. The first one to pop out is The Miner. He magically appears as he steps out of the twister. "Where am I?" he asks as he was in police custody one minute and the next, he is walking out into a strange place. "I have need for your assistance." Doctor Warlock says as he greets him.

    The next person to step out of the twister is The Myth. His large size seems to grow out of the swirling rays of light. He is also stunned and shocked. Not only by the teleportation, but also how he went from prison fatigues to his uniform. He is quickly joined by The Abstract Artist, who is also speechless, though that is his usual state. Quickly following them is the Duellist and the Foreman. Doctor Warlock looks around and says "We have one more person for this party."

    Deacon and The army of Mobs now have the attention of the various mob heads. "As you can see, I not only have the knowledge but also the muscle to control this city." The mobsters and gang members grumble to themselves but they are fearful of this new power. They hate Deacon and want to see him fail, but right now they are willing to wait for their opportunity.

    As Deacon prepares to issue his first orders as head of all the crime syndicates in the city, something strange happens. A twister of light appears in the room, scaring all the mob heads. Deacon does not see it at first, but when he sees the men all get up and start running, he turns to see it. Before he can do anything, he sees it suck in The Mob. First, all the Mobs come together into one person again, completely against his will. Then he is sucked into the twister and like that, he is gone. As Deacon turns around, he sees that the mobsters have stopped running and now are looking at Deacon. With his advantage gone, he knows he is in trouble. "Let's see how tough you are without your muscle." one of the mobsters yells at Deacon as he pulls out a pistol. Realizing that he is doomed, Deacon runs for his life, as the mobster's bullet sails past his head. He is lucky enough to make it out a door without being shot, but he knows that he better get lost and in a hurry. He is going to have every mobster and gang member looking for him. As he rushes outside into the daylight, he squints from the brightness of the sun and looks for his escape. He sees a bus that is getting ready to take off. He runs as fast as he can to make it. Right as the door is closing, he dives in, stopping it from closing. He looks up at the bewildered driver and says "We need to leave as fast as possible." The driver reaches out and helps him up as he looks at the scared look on Deacon's face. "What's wrong? You got a hellhound on your trail?" the driver asks as Deacon fumbles for bus fare. Not finding anything smaller than a twenty, he shoves it in the fare box and says "Keep the change." He then ducks down and tries to stay hidden. The other passengers look at him odd. The bus drives off without any problems and soon, he emerges and looks back, waiting to see men with guns chasing after the bus. But there is nothing. Not a single person is coming. Not sure what is going on, he decides to sit down and take a breath.

    Unknown to Deacon, the reason he was not chased is because a mob war has broken out. With Justin Rage and now Deacon out of the way, every mob head has decided to take control of the city. The uneasy truce that has existed for the past five years, under Justin Rage, is now gone. And in its place is the beginning of what will be one of the bloodiest wars this city or any American city has ever seen.

Having made it through the night, Justin Rage sits by the dying fire and keeps his eyes peeled. He tries to scan over the jungle, in search of any of the creatures he heard the night before. He reaches for a piece of wood and tosses it on the fire. He figures as long as the fire is going, he is safe. But he cannot battle fatigue much longer. He feels his body get tired. His eyes grow heavy as he fights the sleep. But it is a losing battle as he slowly succumbs to sleep. He begins to nod off and catches himself. But each time, he nods longer before he finally awakes. Then he nods off and stays asleep.

As he slumps over in front of the fire, there is movement in the jungle all around him. Creatures move towards the treeline to get a better view. But none are brave enough to emerge from the safety of the jungle. After a good ten minutes, one of them decides that he is fast asleep and he steps out from the trees. Out of the jungle, comes what looks like a walking wild boar. The creature has a head like a wild boar with a large snout, a pair of fearsome tusks and short bristle hair. But he is bipedal and his body form is very humanoid. His mannerisms are very animal-like as he sniffs the air for danger and then moves his small ears around, listening for any unusual sounds. When he is convinced that it is safe, he steps towards the fire. As he gets within range of it, he stops to look at Justin, who is oblivious to what is happening around him.

Slowly, other creatures emerge from the shadows. A panther like man, a bull-like man and one that looks like a hyena all walk out and slowly make their way towards the fire. Each one takes slow, cautious steps, fearing that the human may wake up at any moment. But as they near, their courage gets stronger.

The boar creature walks up to the fire and puts his hands out. He feels the heat and likes it. It has been a long time since fire has been on this island. With the high amount of rain and the high amount of moisture, the island does not dry out and is not subject to fires from lightning. The creatures know of fire and have been told about it from generation to generation, but it is just something from the old world. But here it is, right in front of them and not just in a story. The boar turns to the others and says in a deep voice "Fah-err." The others move closer to see this magical fire. Soon, they are all standing around it, warming their hands. They all look at each other and say "Fah-err."

The excitement of the moment makes the creatures forget that there is someone sleeping behind them. Their noise makes Justin stir and he slowly lifts his head. As he wipes the sleep from his eyes, he looks up and sees the creatures standing around the fire. At first, he is shocked. What are these creatures and why are they huddled around his fire. He prepares to scream, when he stops himself. Instead, he decides to observe their actions. Maybe these creatures are not dangerous as they appear. Maybe they can help him get off this island. He already has one bargaining chip, fire.

Silent Jury © 2006-2008 Tom Zjaba