|
|
Mob Rules, part 11 Saturday, 25-Sep-1999 18:58:26
Chapter Eleven These had been, in Visionary’s opinion, the longest two days in the history of recorded civilization. Maybe time just moved much, much, *much* more slowly for butlers… Visionary sighed and turned away from his (not his) reflection in the window of the communications bunker. He fancied that Hallie's computer screens were watching him curiously. “Well… anyway… that’s the plan” he concluded and waited patiently for a response. There was a pause broken only by the humming fans of her mainframe. “You’ve taken quite a few blows to the head in your day…” she finally answered, “Haven’t you?” It wasn’t exactly the response that he was hoping for, but she hadn’t shot down his idea completely. “Well… um… yes, actually” he admitted, “But you’d be surprised how quickly you get used to them.” The computer almost seemed to sigh. “That’s not what I meant…” she noted dryly. “This is a totally insane idea! Even if things go according to plan—which has never actually happened before, mind you—what happens after the big revelation?” Visionary shrugged. “All hell breaks loose, most likely” he started pacing. “The bottom line is that we’ve run out of time… If Masamune’s theory is right, The Apostate’s been building a following ever since he arrived in the Parodyverse. Now that he’s been found out, whatever plans he had for this cult are going into high gear. It’s now or never.” He stopped pacing and looked to the reflection again. “Jarvis believed that when you have no real idea what you’re up against, the best you can do is to prepare a few surprises of your own. If nothing else, this should be a surprise…” "Everybody knows the truth now" Hallie pointed out gently. "You can stop trying to be Jarvis." Visionary didn't answer. “And what about the Anti-Barbie?” the computer asked, more to the point. “Can she be trusted?” Visionary looked out the window at Masamune, back in her pink suit, who was pacing restlessly in front of the assorted Yakusa members and Legionnaires waiting outside the bunker. “Beyond wanting revenge for her organization… probably not” he admitted. “But that’s a problem for another day.” “You hope” the computer added dryly. Visionary chose to ignore that. "Apparently, the cultists have been infiltrating positions of power around the world." Cheryl explained to her fellow captives, who had all been chained to the wall in the Cult's control room (including the Purple thought bunny, which hung happily upside down by its feet) while the Apostate oversaw the final phases of his current scheme. "If they couldn't turn a leader to their way of thinking, the Apostate used his powers on him to get him to resign and name somebody loyal to his post instead." "I say…" the transformed Yo cut in with a dapper British accent. "Hardly sporting of them, the buggers." "Man, do we gotta get you fixed." Starseed managed with a pathetic wheeze, looking the properly unambiguous Yo up and down. "Quite" Yo agreed. "I find this type of existence rather limiting, I must say. I can't see how you chaps stand it." "Space Ghost uses an impressive variety of methods to make it more bearable" Lisa answered. "Personally, I just stick to sex. It helps to pass the time, at least… and makes a pretty good cardiovascular workout." "Do you know how far along they are in their infiltration schemes?" Jarvis asked intently, cutting through the chatter. Cheryl considered it before answering. "Far enough to have real power, not quite to the point where anyone would be likely to stumble across them" She would have started pacing if not bound to the wall. "The President, for example, is too high profile to risk tampering with… besides, he's unnecessary… for their plan anyway." "Which is?" Tina asked. She had been rather quiet ever since the women's capture, most likely due to the device the cultists had fitted around her forehead. They claimed that projecting a thought while wearing it would trigger explosives in the headband. The threat had obviously left her uneasy. Cheryl glanced up at the Apostate who was watching them intently from his position before the computer monitors. His eyes twinkled with encouragement as he nodded for her to continue. She scowled but did so anyway. "They plan to orchestrate a disaster leading the military to declare Marshall Law… at which point they'll effectively step in an seize control." Lisa cast the villain an amused look. "Is that the best you could come up with? That hackneyed plot?" She laughed. "I think Pinky and the Brain tried that last week." The Apostate said nothing. "What kind of disaster are they planning?" Jarvis asked, not so amused. "A nuclear bomb was smuggled out of the former Soviet Union by the Russian Mafia" she answered. "They're going to blow up Washington DC" Yo let out a low whistle. "I say, that's rather uncalled for, what?" "It wouldn't work anyway" Tina broke in, her brow crinkled in thought, apparently past the fear of accidentally causing her head to implode. "He can't possibly maintain that kind of control over enough people to rule the world… even with psionic amplifiers." The Apostate stood and walked over to a position in front of her. He held out his hand palm up and a little image of the globe appeared above it, spinning slowly. "Tell me, what do you see in my hand?" he asked her. She looked with contempt, then concentrated. Her face suddenly lit up with hope and determination. "Ah-ah-ah" he cautioned her. "Just because you can see through the illusion doesn't mean your headgear isn't working. Feel free to take in all the psionic signals you can get… but send one out, and you'll make a terrible mess of my control room." He leaned in close to her. "Scouring your brains off the walls would be quite a chore." Try as she might, Cheryl couldn't stop from seeing the globe happily spinning in his hand. Suddenly, he clenched his fist and the image popped, like a child's soap bubble. "Please pay close attention" the horned man whispered to Tina. "There's something I want you to understand." He strode back to the center of the room and gestured to one of the guards. "Brother Caddick, come here please and give me your side arm." Without hesitation, the cultist did as he was told, a curious yet hopeful look on his face. "Brother Caddick, our lord, the exalted Parody Master, has charged me with the task of sending one of his most pure of faith children to his side" the Apostate explained reverently, checking the clip of the weapon, reinserting it and handing it, fully cocked, back to the man. "Fortune has favored you, by bringing you to our fold. You have stood as a shining example to your fellow brothers. For your loyal service, I have chosen you above all others for this honor. Our Master calls you… hear his summons." A look of ecstasy dawned on the man's face in place of confusion. With a trembling hand he raised the weapon. Cheryl quickly turned away as the shot rang out, deafeningly loud in the underground room. She opened her eyes to look at Tina, who had gone pale with shock, and desperately tried to ignore the limp form in the center of the floor that hovered on her peripheral vision. "You never used you power…." Tina said quietly as the horned leader came to stand before her once more. "He *chose* to kill himself…" The man leaned his polished steel mask in towards her face. "He chose to believe, as they all have" he answered. "He wanted to believe that he was something special. There are millions more like him… the disillusioned, desperately searching for something to believe in." His eyes glittered beneath the mask. "Now, telepath, you are truly beginning to understand the weaknesses of the human mind… this need to believe. Throughout history, it's never been stronger than in times of hardship and fear. The sheep will believe anything then, be willing to commit the most unthinkable atrocities…" He actually let out a chuckle. "My neighbor's a witch, and put a hex on my crops… My English professor is a communist, out to subvert the country…" He paced before the assembled Legionnaires. "All my problems are the fault of the Jews, the Catholics, the Muslims, the Blacks, the Whites, the Government…" Cheryl shuddered as he passed her. "When that bomb destroys the Capital, it will destroy the routine, daily lives of everyone in the modern world. Fear and paranoia over what comes next will sweep like fire across the globe as a war of total annihilation looms in everyone's collective conscious. Society will be reduced to nothing more than a mob." He turned and walked past them again. "If I take a hungry, scared, average man then, and give him some promises… some promise for a return to his safe, dull, monotonous existence. If I give the desperate something to believe in…" He stopped in front of Tina and looked down on her with contempt. "… then tell me again that it wouldn't work." "You know…" Zebulon was saying to Masamune in a slightly drunken voice, "I'm told expanding your horizons can a wonderful experience… Do you have any idea how erotic the backs of your legs are?" The mob boss rolled her eyes and turned an irritated look to Visionary as he exited the bunker. "Are we ready yet?" He nodded. "Just about" he answered, then turned towards NTU, who was trying to shut up his drugged lab assistant before Masamune did so permanently. "Is everyone good to go?" "Yeah" the inventor answered. "Provided we know where we're going. Are you sure you understand how to do this?" "I think so" Visionary answered hurriedly. In truth, NTU's technical explanation had been way over his head. He had never been one to let ignorance stop him before, however. He grasped the pendant in his hand and squeezed it, feeling it calling to him (not him). "Could you… just… Just make sure this gets back to Lisa, alright?" he said finally. NTU nodded. "For what it's worth… you made a pretty good Jarvis. Aside from starting a war with the wrong people, that is. And, ah, almost getting us all killed." He cocked his head thoughtfully. "I wonder if Jarvis picked up any of your personality…" "Let's hope not" spiffy muttered, just loud enough to be heard. "One Visionary is quite enough." Visionary turned and answered "Not this time", drawing a slight smile from Masamune and confused looks from everyone else. "Well," he sighed, "here goes…" For the last time, Visionary used the Jarvis Cosmic. "You're forgetting one thing" Jarvis spat defiantly as the Apostate returned to his preparations. "Please…" the villain said in a bored voice, not even bothering to look up from his computer screen. "Do enlighten me." "Visionary's still out there with most of the Lair Legion" the butler said smugly, "and he's immune to your little mind tricks." The Apostate raised his head and looked at the captured Legionnaire. "So?" "He's one of the best and brightest in the Legion" Jarvis answered, subtly kicking Starseed's shin when he opened his mouth to comment. "He'll fight you… and he'll win." "Really?" the horned man replied, sounding surprised. "And here I though that the man…" he typed some commands into the keyboard, and the wall monitor sprung to life displaying Jarvis's Legion logbook entries. He highlighted one in particular and quoted: "has no powers, skills or even, apparently, common sense…" He shook his head sadly. "Doesn't say much for the rest of your organization, does it?" Jarvis ignored the barb. "It doesn't matter. The fact remains that he's the one man who can bring this whole plan falling down around your ears, and you haven't managed to neutralize him yet." He was rewarded with a glint in his adversary's eyes… he was getting to him. "As long as Visionary's out there, you'll never be secure." Suddenly, Jarvis felt an odd wrenching and the world exploded into a dizzying array of colors. He felt as though he were falling while still securely chained to the wall, and his mind gave a jarring lurch to the left. Finally, the world reassembled itself out of the colors and he found himself lying flat on his back in the middle of a huddle of Legionnaires and Yakuza members. "Jarvis?" NTU asked, checking him with a scanner. "Is that you?" Jarvis opened his hand and let Lisa's pendant fall from his grasp as he realized what had happened. He looked up at NTU. "Aw…. crap." Brother Bartek moaned softly from his cot in the Chapter House's infirmary. How had that… that… *woman* moved so quickly? (It didn't register on him that she had successfully cured him of the habit of using stronger language to refer to her.) Surprisingly, although he was sure that he hated the Legionnaire woman, he wasn't as angry as he felt he should be. The Cult's doctor warned that the… damage… done to him with the letter opener would effect the hormone levels in his body, possibly resulting in psychological as well as the obvious physical effects. Then again, perhaps his current lack of anger was simply a result of lots and lots of painkillers. "Brother Bartek…." A voice echoed through the empty room. "Who… who's there?" the cultist asked, fighting through the haze of drugs. An evil chuckled danced in his mind. "Your god, apparently. Feel free to bow and genuflect. I admit, my visitation must come as a surprise to you." the voice said, "After all, your religious sect and false prophet came as a genuine surprise to me…" "So nice of you to come" the Apostate practically purred, having deduced Visionary's true identity. That was unfortunate… the Legionnaires' plans had counted on him taking a while to figure it out. Still, it was good to be back in his own body where he belonged, and even better to see Cheryl. Though she was chained to a wall in some war room, she still looked stunningly beautiful to him. He forced his attention back to the villain at hand and went with plan B… Stall 'im. "So we meet again…" he said in his most confident sounding voice, which wasn't all that confident at the moment. "Um… for the first time, that is." Their previous meeting had been erased when Yo stopped it from ever happening. He could feel a headache coming on just thinking about that… it would be best to forge ahead. "So… uh… what's up?" "Your time" the Apostate answered simply. "Brother Ashe… shoot him." "Wait!… um…." Visionary was beginning to wish he had prepared a speech for this moment… stalling was much harder than it had first seemed. "Don't… don't you want to tell me your evil plans first?" "We've already been through that" Lisa whispered helpfully. "Oh" he answered, disappointed. "Was it any good?" "It was… graphic" she answered, casting a covert glance to Tina who was staring at an odd stain on the floor with a clenched jaw. "Um… okay." Visionary replied, not knowing what else to say. Brother Ashe raised his sidearm to the Legionnaire's temple. "And here I thought you were more than a simple coward" Cheryl said with a voice full of contempt. "If you have access to our files, you know about Yo's report on your obsession with replacing Visionary." The Apostate froze on his way back to his monitors. She smiled and continued. "Are you so afraid of being unable to measure up to him that, even chained to a wall, he represents a threat?" Damn, Visionary thought, she's good. No wonder I love her. The Apostate turned around and Brother Ashe, after taking one look at him, retreated to a safe distance. "Afraid of being unable to measure up?" the villain hissed in repressed fury. "While I built up a power base reaching into every level of government and major organization in the world, what has he done? While I broke down the barriers of time itself to pursue you and reshape the entire world, what has he accomplished? The man is a talentless waste… a sin against creation. He had the life I deserved, and he squandered it! Your own leader proclaimed him a useless screw-up--more harm than good! And you ask me if I'm afraid to measure up?" He stood glaring into Visionary's eyes with absolute hatred. "The ability to breathe alone makes any creature his equal!" Visionary had hoped that stalling wouldn't be quite this insulting, but he was pretty sure it was preferable to being shot in the head. The Apostate walked over to Brother Ashe and snatched the weapon out of his hand, then turned back to Cheryl. "I am not extinguishing a threat" he snarled, raising the gun barrel between Visionary's eyes, "I'm simply separating the chaff. He had his chance to do something… anything… in this world." He cocked the gun. "It's time to dispose of the old and useless and make way for the new." Visionary flinched as a thunderous sound echoed through the room. Carefully, he opened his eyes to find that a gleaming figure in gold and green armor had crashed through the cement ceiling of the chamber, scattering dust and debris everywhere. He sighed in relief as the Apostate whirled to face this intruder. It was about friggin' time. "Sorry about that" the armored female form said, waving the cloud of masonry dust out of her way. "I just couldn't pass up a cue like that, and I wanted to make a suitably dramatic entrance." She looked up at the hole in the ceiling. "You guys should consider putting in a skylight for just such occasions… that would have been much more appropriate, in hindsight." The Apostate regarded her carefully, especially the green diamond on her chest. "And who, or what, are you?" he finally asked. "Hmmm? Oh, right… how silly of me" She gave him an extravagant bow. "Visionary's the official name" she answered, a trifle smugly. Everyone in the room just stared at her. "Well…" she added, "Visionary II, actually, for those of you keeping count." Visionary |
|
Copyright © Looksmart, Ltd. 1997-1999.
All rights reserved.
