Saturday Super Stories - The Event 1

"I have pulled from The Knowledge tales from the Event that ravaged two universes.  I start at the beginning and will tell the important parts, and while there are many stories to be told, this will be quick."  Chief Archivist of the Catalogers.

The Event - The Family Part 1 (Escape from Dimension X)

<The Omega Sanction>

"WE HAVE INCOMING!!!" One of the techs screamed at Alpha just as the roof caved in with a gigantic explosion. Fire and shrapnel ripped through the main computer room, sparks shot from the various devices stored in and around the main hub, smoke began to billow and swirl around.

Alpha stood as the last pieces settled on the ground, he surveyed the area and found his entire technical staff dead, 90% of the machines inoperable and a large ship punched through with its engines winding down. Across the bow, the paint badly damaged: HelixONE.

Alpha sighed and strode to the hatch of the ship. He reached out and grasped it by the hinges and wrenched as hard as he could, the metal quickly cooled, then cracked and shattered under the pure PSI of his grasp.

"I know that you are in there. Please exit the ship quickly." He called into the opening, his voiced echoing back at him.

"I'm coming, and I'm all alone! I'm coming out." A massive pile of rocks shifted into position in front of the door, started to climb out, then collapsed. "But I think something went wrong." It mumbled.

"No shit," One of the wounded not quite dead technical staff whispered.

"Grab that...whatever the hell it is and bring it to the Gamma Labs. Send in two teams to search the rest of the ship." Alpha walked away before his anger destroyed the creature and before he could get some answers.

<Inside HelixONE>

Richard Reader watched from one of the still working monitors. Robert Garvey had saved them for a few minutes at least. "I don't know what to do." His wife, Sadie, hissed at his side. "I can't stop glowing." He shot a harsh look over his shoulder at her.

"Be quiet. I'm thinking," He whispered.

"Don't do that, this is affecting all of us," she retorted. "You aren't alone here."

"Yes, DEAR," He replied. "But unless you have a plan in that glowing bosom of yours I suggest you be quiet." Her mouth opened and closed but she remained silent.

The entire ship shuddered as the zone next to it exploded in a million shards of icy death, flying into the corridors and wrecking havoc. 

"I think perhaps, things outside have gotten worse," Reader spoke, "We need to move now, before something even worse happens." He grabbed his wife's glowing hand and motioned for the super-heated Jordana to follow them. He led them up the length of the ship and towards the landing gear compartments.

Outside the gear's hatch in an adjacent hallway, two of the Omega Sanction employee's were working on cutting into the ship from below, and were taken completely by surprise when the outside of the hull exploded outward in super-heated metal. Their deaths were instantaneous.

Reader dropped out and then helped Jordana and Sadie down in turn. She gasped at the melting, burning corpses, and then began to cry. Reader's eyes narrowed. "We don't have time for this, we need to find Robert and escape from wherever we have landed, without 'starting shit' as Black put it."

"I think we're too late for that," Sadie responded.

He smirked, "You may be right, dear." He began to move.

<The Omega Sanction>

Black Sapphire walked from the hole she had created down from the surface along side of the crashed ships impact point.  Freezing the soil down on an angle and boosting her strength to its maximum before punching and shattering a hole down into the underground complex.

“ALPHA!!” She screamed out.

She strode through the debris of the earth, metal and ship as she searched for her opponent.  She heard a chuckle from the ground near her feet and she looked down and saw a computer tech buried under the rubble, a pool of blood slowly spreading out from him.  “What’s so funny jackass?”  She asked as she knelt beside him.

“You, you’re here…cough…to die, just as the shit starts to hit the fan…cough…heh, Alpha is going to kill you, we know everything there is to know about you,” his eyes slid shut and he breathed his last breath.

“Not everything retard, I hardly ever use all of my powers.”  Sapphire stood back up and stepped over the corpse and continued to make her way through the hallways leading out of the central computer zone, she noted as she exited that the walls were painted like a hospital with colored arrows leading to different parts of the complex.  She noticed some blood on the floor heading towards the Gamma Labs and Central Offices; she started down the hallway in that direction.

<Deeper in the Omega Sanction>

"I have no idea what is going on but we need to find Robert and exit as soon as we can."  Richard hissed.

"These tubes..." Sadie pointed as an explosion shook them violently in their housings. "There are people inside of them." From behind the glass a woman in the nearest tube stared at them, her cheek crossed in a scar. "I think she's awake."

"It doesn't matter. Let's move." Reader pulled at her and they continued deeper.

<The Epsilon Center>

Sapphire walked into the Central Office and found a maze of cubicles and a large empty room.  Large flat screen televisions were scattered around the room, several had the rainbow of a dead signal, but one showed a group of technicians fighting a pile of rocks and Alpha talking to them as they struggled.  She snarled and stepped back out and began to run down the hallway towards the Gamma Lab.

<The Gamma Lab>

Sapphire kicked the sliding doors of the Gamma Labs inwards in an explosion of glass and metal shards.  She snarled at the technicians frozen in shock at her entrance and they began to back away from her.  Alpha smiled at her.

“Welcome child,” he spoke loudly and his voice carried.

“Asshole it’s time I took you down for all the crap you have put me through,” her knuckles popped as she leapt at him.  He responded with a single fist, the shockwave rocked the floor.

<The Surface>

Agents stood around the massive wounds in the Earth, their weapons at the ready, just as Reader and his people breached the surface nearby.  The Agents pivoted on the new opponents.

Reader stared back at them.  "We Come in Peace?" He spoke quickly.

Agents Frost and Powerhouse moved to the front of the group.  “We’re with the DSA and you will submit to containment until the scene is secure and we have had time to question you thoroughly about what has happened.”  Reader nodded.  Several Agents moved up with handcuffs, two of which were bulky and when placed on Jordana and Sadie shut their abilities off. 

“Interesting,” Reader mumbled.  The Agents led them to a van and placed them in the back and closed them inside and moved back to secure the scene as the sounds of battle began to waft up through the holes and the ground began to vibrate from the conflict that raged beneath the surface.

Stand Alone 6

Black Sapphire knelt down before The Knowledge and sighed. “A bigger picture is forming here.”

“The universe is a vast place. It has many mysteries that even the Cataloguers have yet to discover. We know much, and yet every day discover something new.” The Archivist spoke quietly at her side. “Perhaps it is time you rested. You have been using The Knowledge for hours now and we seldom use it for more than one viewing at a time.”

She nodded and stood. “Do you have somewhere I can sleep for a few hours?”

He nodded and led her away from the massive stone. It watched her leave. The Knowledge was not done with her this night, and her dreams were wracked with nightmares.


Stand Alone 6 - Falling Down


I fell to Earth one day in the Silver Age of Man.

A new day was dawning, and I was going to be used to usher in an age of change. The Age of Heroes.

It began when I fell through a crack in the universe and landed in another.

My name is Arien and I am an immortal, one of the High Blood Caste, advisor to the Queen and friend to her sons. When I fell through the crack I was lost to them, but someday they would search for me.

As I landed I was subsequently slain from the impact, but by the time the authorities had arrived to assist me I had already come back to life. My soul was still weak, and it did not take long for the people in control to catch wind of my arrival. The government knew what they had in their hands. Power.

I was to be used as the catalyst for a process to jump-start humanity's genetic potential. It worked in more ways than they could anticipate. I augmented hundreds, thousands of people and started the next era.

Make no mistake; I did not create all of the heroes of the age. There were others already emerging before I arrived. But I assisted in the foundation. Everyone I touched was part of me. Even though they kept me on the verge of death I could feel myself out in the world. The day I escaped was the day I felt myself giving birth. The first time one of my pieces divided woke me from my drug-induced coma, and allowed me to break free of my containment and go out into the world.

My escape, however, was a short one. I quickly fell into a situation that I could not have foreseen... although my captors had.

They were called The Cataloguers. They watched the universe and recorded everything to The Knowledge. I know you’re watching this message, Mercedes. They told me you would come to them for answers one day, and they told you what was coming. After I take my leave of them I will be no more; my curse can be broken through sacrifice and that is what I shall do... sacrifice myself for the greater good.

This day is coming soon. As soon as they free me I shall find the people to finish what I accidently began all those years ago. A force to head into the future and lead the others against the coming darkness.

Take what you can from them, Black Sapphire, and prepare yourself for the future. The Event was only the beginning. Soon the ripples that started with Shrulk will become a wave, and that wave will collide with the shore, and only you can prevent it from becoming a tsunami.

******

Her eyes snapped open and her breath rushed out of her body. “What the hell was that?”


TBC in Intro to Education 105

Stand Alone 5

She stepped away from the Knowledge and sighed.  The creation of the WMD and IED started this world’s golden age of heroes.  She rubbed the bridge of her nose and thought hard.
  “Spectacular left before the Harvest and passed through the Cascade to arrive on my home world.  The Harvesters came next, but they came because of the man who fell to the Earth.  Coincidences?”

“I do not believe in coincidence.”  The Chronicler said.  “Everything happens for a reason.  It is only down the path that you may look back and see the horizon left behind.”

She blinked away the sleep bearing down on her.  “I need more information.  Show me a Harry Prick story.”  She stopped.  “Wait that came out wrong…”

Stand Alone 5 - Small Wonder

“My name is Harold Prick and I have anger management issues.”

“Hello Harold.”  The crowd responded.

“I have been assigned these sessions because my anger has gotten me arrested several times and I need to learn how to control it, before it controls me.”  His face was sad, and the people around him read his grief as genuine.  The reality of the matter was much direr.

Several months ago he had unveiled what was going to be his crowning achievement, Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short.  It was a concept first thought of by John McCarthy in 1955 and over the years he and a group of people were the forerunners of the creation of the first AI.  Harold had never been much for groups and decided to seek out funding outside of the Department of Defense which was paying for McCarthy’s research.  He cut a deal with an up and coming business mogul Rex Ruthless, and was given unlimited funds to conduct his research in the Mega-City of San Diablos on the West Coast.

It had taken years to figure out the workings of what would become his crowning achievement and devise the programs necessary to ignite the thought processes to become the catalyst for his masterpiece.  It had taken less than ten minutes for it to fail spectacularly in front of the press and soon the world.  Ten minutes and he was a world renowned failure in the eyes of his peers and colleagues.

Unbeknownst to him he had not failed and had in fact created the world’s first AI, TechnoSyde, who would become a thorn in the worlds’ heroes over and over again throughout the years.  He would not learn of his ‘child’ until many years later after a particularly cruel battle which cost him his unborn son and crippled his wife.

Harold suffered from dwarfism, standing only 4 foot 9 inches and had always used his better than average intellect to get ahead in life to help overcome his small stature.  So when he came upon the research of Dr. Jackson Kirby he decided that he would find proof of the Star Force and harness its power for himself and show the world what a man like him could do with unlimited power.

The Harvest came then, and the world’s heroes joined together to battle the alien threat and it all culminated in a massive battle in Central Park in New York City.  He watched as the news stories came in, major battles in Megalopolis and Greece, a small war in the fields of Denmark, and many smaller attacks.  Dozens of people were killed and left desiccated all over the world as their energy was drained from them.

He used the available technology and research to make several adjusted leaps in knowledge and theorized a way to track the energy the aliens were feeding on and discovered a way to find the Star Force.  The aliens were taking small amounts from the population and those amounts all seemed to be linked to a single source spread out over hundreds of people all over the planet.

He collated the data and found a way to find the location of the main source hidden deep underground in Washington DC.  Finding a primary source made the tracking of the ones presumably still in space easier, allowing him to narrow down the field of inquiry.

He found the remains of the last evolution of a Star Force, a black hole.  Months after the Harvest he had devised the machine to pull the energy to Earth and soon he was standing in his laboratory watching as the energy funneled into the harness that he had ‘borrowed’ from the government, calling in a few of the last favors he had left in the process.  The machine cycled down as the harness reached its capacity.

He smiled as he had proof of energy unheard of on Earth.  But his curiosity got the better of him and he slid the harness over his head and felt the power of the Star Force surge into him. 

HELLO HAROLD.

“Who?”  He looked around the lab to locate the source of the voice.

I AM INSIDE THE HARNESS HAROLD.  I AM WHAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT HOME TO YOUR WORLD.

“You are the Star Force of the Black Hole and you’re intelligent?”

I AM INDEED HAROLD.  YOU HAVE FREED MY CONSCIOUS MIND FROM MY ENTROPIC STATE AND BECAUSE OF THAT I AM GRATEFUL.  I WISH TO MAKE YOU AN OFFER.

“What sort of offer?”

POWER HAROLD, POWER BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS.

“What do you want in return for this power?”

FREEDOM ONCE A YEAR TO DO WHAT I WANT UNHINDERED BY INTERFERENCE. 

Harold thought long and hard before he answered.  “Yes.”

EXCELLENT, MY NAME IS ECLIPSE.

That was the day that Harold Prick became Humongous Man, wielder of Gravity and Entropy.  It was not long before he lost the Harness and retained the power, having merged with Eclipse fully and became a force for good, although once a year he knew not what happened when he left the building, but the world never came to an end so he did not mind losing the day.  Eventually he was made a member of the IED aiding the groups whenever they needed it.  It was several years later that the influence of the Star Force began to eat at his soul, and making his heroic actions more lethal.  He had not killed anyone yet, but he had maimed a number of people during the pursuit of justice.  The WMD and IED decided that his actions needed support that they could not provide and it was decided that he attend group meetings to assist in the management of his anger.  He agreed and that brought him to today.

“My story begins several years ago; you all might remember me from the cover of Life magazine…”

TBC in Stand Alone 6

Stand Alone 4

Sapphire took a few steps away from the Knowledge, clenching her fists again and again, relieving the stress that was building inside of her. "One thing leads to all of that destruction..."

The Chronicler nodded. "It is simply Cause and Effect."

"That's a bullshit excuse, that's what that is," she retorted.

"But nonetheless true. In his arrogance Reader breached the Cascade and that act brought your Universe to the brink of war with this one. His actions after the breach and the effects of the  breach directly led to the Event." His hand ran over his face, wiping away the sweat that was accumulating there.

Sapphire sighed. "Knowledge is power, you said. I now know more of why things played out how they did, but I still have questions. I need more answers." She turned back to him. "Alright hit me again..."

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - STAND ALONE 4: "Perfect Strangers"

"Please state your full name for the Council." The speaker said into the microphone.

He cleared his throat and leaned forward. "Thomas Edwin Smith the First. Also known as Warmonger."

"You are aware of why this council has convened?" The speaker followed.

"Yes. You are worried about the growing number of super-humans appearing across the Earth."

"That is correct."

"What I don't know is why you have brought me here."

"Because unlike so many of the others, you we were able to find and subpoena. You are our link to this world."

"Your link? I don't have contact with any of these other people, we haven't 'teamed-up' or anything." Smith held his hands up in air quotes.

"We are tasking you to find and recruit them. As many as you are able."

"Why? Are you making some kind of team?"

"That is correct. We are currently calling it the Weapons of Mass Destruction. The WMD for short."

"Because you are afraid that these people, who have been helping others, might be a danger to the status quo?"

"Off the record, yes. Yes we are. What if, let's say, the individual known in the press as SuperDude were to attack a major city. We simply do not have the resources to defend against him. His power levels are off the charts. Luckily he has been a force for good and what is right, and actually has not broken any laws. He has even shown up for court appearances in cases that he made a citizens arrest."

"Well, shit."

"We cannot allow talk like that in this hearing."

Smith palmed his face, then shook his head. "Alright where to you want me to begin?"

TBC in Team-Building 104: Part 1

Stand Alone 3

Black Sapphire gasped and staggered away from the Chronicler. "I... how... why would you show me that?" She jumped at him and grabbed at his collar, and pulled herself up to meet his face, which stared at her impassively. "WHY?!"

"I did not choose that history to show you. I do not know why it showed us that. It should not have been able to. Those were your memories, Mercedes," he replied.

"My history should be none of your business! How was that there?" she screamed.

"The logical explanation is a Cataloger has been to your home universe, before the Cascade had been sealed."

"Then my history was deemed important somehow?" She released him and stepped away. "Then...what happened a few years later makes more sense now. Show me Spectacular and the day he and his Family invaded my universe." The archivist nodded and held out his hand.


SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - STAND ALONE 3 - "Family Matters"


"My name is Richard Reader, and this is my family. My wife, Sadie, her sister, Jordana, and her husband, Robert Garvey." He rolls his eyes. "Everyone calls him Bob." Richard stood before HelixONE, the experimental space craft that he had been building for the better part of five years.

"Our mission today is to pierce the veil, the barrier between worlds. I theorize that with the Helix, I will be able to punch a hole into a parallel universe. Passing through the Kligenberg/Heizenrose Bridge and into the world beyond. There we hope to discover anything that might have caused their path and ours to diverge, and perhaps with enough data I may be able to form a mathematical baseline for our universe and theirs and through that knowledge determine...is anyone actually still listening to me?" One hand rose. He sighed. "Yes, I thank you Jackson. I assume you and your 'covert' group of secret agents is watching intensely."

"Yup, I sure as hell am. Don't want you starting no goddamn war with another people or some shit." Jackson Black stood as he spoke. Several of the people around him snickered. He glared at them, and they stopped. "It's not funny. We sure as hell don't need to be starting anything with no other realities. These powered people that are popping up hither and yon are damned well worrying enough.  Definitely do not need any of this shit too."

"I assure you, I have first contact protocols for just such an occasion. I will not be starting 'shit' with another people." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is an exploratory mission. We have stealth gear, and my computer systems are capable are taking the information wirelessly, provided that they have the capabilities for such a thing."

Jackson smirked. "Don't fuck up." He spun on his heel and strode from the auditorium, several people standing and following suit. Reader clenched a fist, his knuckles white.

*********

The HelixONE ripped through the cosmos heading for the Tear in space time that Reader had taken to referring to as the Kaleidoscopic Cascade, named for its blackhole-like qualities, but more for what appeared to be images fractured all along its event horizon. These images when ran through a super computer appeared to be other worlds, different variations of this world.

Bob spoke up from behind him. "Hey boss, we have unexpected company." Reader turned and looked at him incredulously.

"We're in hyper space, nitwit. How do we have company?"

"I dunno, but there's some kind of alien watching us, from over there." He shrugged his head towards the aft of the compartment. "One of those monitoring whatsits pinged him a few minutes ago and then stopped. I had to use dem goggles you crafted to find the...substructure of the...cascade, the things you use to spot the invisible cracks in time/space." He held out another pair. Reader grabbed them out of his hand and put them on.

"So help me, if you are wasting my time on this." He turned his head and sure enough a tall humanoid figure was standing, a glowing stone in his hands, cupped together before him, as if in prayer. "Well, there you go. Get yourself a cookie and leave me alone." Robert turned and yanked the goggles from his head and slammed them on a counter as he stormed out of the room.

"You are aware of me, are you not, Mr. Reader?" It stated.

"Yes." He answered simply, pulling a ray gun from a holster on his side.

"You cannot harm me."

"Oh really?" He aimed and pulled the trigger. A bright purple energy lanced and struck the alien full in the chest. Greenish lightning danced around his form as he was wracked with pain. Reader ripped the goggles off his face, and tossed them next to Garvey.

"What have you done?" It asked, gasping for breath, its body convulsing as the electricity wore down.

"Pulled you into our Space/Time. I hate those goggles and didn't bring my corrective lenses, so this was easier. You are now in my phase-space, so we can talk. So first things first, who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?"

It stared back at him impassively. "I am called the Squire; I am of an alien species called the Cataloguers. We watch and record the events of the universes. I am tasked with viewing what is about to occur."

"What is about to occur that is so monumental that it needs to be observed?" Reader asked.

"The first contact and a new people are born this day."

"What?" Suddenly the alarms, proximity and the danger klaxons erupted, and the HelixONE began to violently shake. "What the hell just happened?" Reader screamed and whipped back around, his hands flashing over keys as he tried to right the ship. The voice that replied was in his ear.

"Just because you could not see the images did not mean that they did not start light years from the epicenter of the 'Cascade'. You have already flown into it."

Reader grinned and whispered, "Spectacular..."

*********

"Sadie, Jordana, is everyone alright?" Reader asked through the comm unit he had devised and had built into each of their suits. Sparks shot from the console in front of him, and the ship groaned as it tried to hold itself together.

"This is Jordana. I don't think everything is okay, Richard. We slammed into something as we were crashing but it didn't feel like ground, it had too much give. I’m thinking a building or a... forest maybe. I was on the observation deck with Robert and the place is filled with gray stone. Some of the consoles around me appear to have been melted, or are melting."

"Have you seen Sadie?"

"No she was on the upper deck before impact." Jordana watched as the stone mass began to move.

Reader headed for the lift to the upper deck and stopped. He turned back to the main console and asked the computer a simple question. "How many life forms are on the ship?"

"FOUR."

"How many are human?"

"NONE."

"Fascinating..."

"Honey, I think something's wrong with us." Sadie spoke from behind him, his shadow cast on the console, and he turned to see her glowing. She looked beautiful, her skin alight.

"I think something has gone right." Reader replied.


NEXT ON SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - ARCHAEOLOGY 103: Part 1

Stand Alone 2

Sapphire looked back to the Archivist. "How did I see all of that?"

"Through me. I am able to project it into your mind directly. The Knowledge is a database and I am... the USB cord link to us, to use your common tongue." The Archivist stepped away from the mineral.

"So the Knowledge contains everything ever?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Long ago one of our order corrupted the Knowledge to remove information. It was much like a virus, and the infection ran deep. It destroyed decades, targeted around specific sections."

"What was in the sections?" Her eyebrow cocked, her curiosity peaked.

"Unknown. We Cataloguers know much, but even our mortal memories are finite. The Knowledge is our reserve; the hard drive of the Universe. The oldest of us attempted to correct the infection and it cost her everything... her sanity and then her life. The traitor had made sure that information would forever be lost to us." The Archivist looked sad.

"Have you ever tried anything else? I know that time travel is... different now that the Cascade is  gone, but it is still possible. Just difficult. I know that Spectacular did it many times in the past, but that was before The Event."

He shook his head. "We do not possess such a skill, and for the most part we try not to interfere with the sentient species of the Universe. We have met this Spectacular, and found him...irritating at best. He is however, very intelligent, but lacks a certain...social aspect to his personality."

She laughed. "I agree. Genius, but dumb when it comes to people." She turned back to the Knowledge, so what's next?"

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - STAND ALONE 2: Unoriginal Sins

She clenched her fists tightly at her sides. Anger filled her mind and her eyes glazed over, her power filling her inside, and the ground before her iced over, the molecules in the soil and air forming a thick layer that surrounded her opponent. He glanced around at the ground and then back at her. The radius was perfect, and the edges seemed to haze with an unseen heat, and then the inside. Soon the air was swirling with a mist and heat and then a gigantic storm erupted within, fire and ice in unison attacked her opponent driving him to his knees as he gasped for breath, each one harder to inhale, and even harder to exhale. He cried out in pain.

"Sapphire STOP!! You're killing me!!" Dune's voice rose over the cacophony, as he grew heavier.

Her eyes snapped back into focus, and immediately the storm died down and dissipated. Her brow furrowed and then she realized what she had done. She ran to her mentor's side. He looked up at her and smiled weakly. "You're a bit too bad-ass in the powers department, Mercedes. You need to watch yourself when we train together."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled under her breath.

"It’s okay, that's why your mother has me training you. Someday you'll be a great hero... strong and confident, and both your parents will be proud of who you've become." The young Mercedes Whitman smiled.

"I love you, Dune." She nodded and hugged him, her little arms barely making their way around his chest.

"I love you too. Now let's get back to the meditation technique." He walked her back to the training dummy. Its armored form was dented in places. "Remember to still yourself and find the weakness in the armor and you will damage the form beneath."

Mercedes Whitman, Age 9

**************

"Congratulations Sapphire. You have mastered my style of martial arts."

"Thank you, Sensei." She bowed before Dune. Sandra and Alex stood by quietly, her mother’s eyes misting a little. Her father looked bored. Under his breath he muttered, "I still don't see how this will make her a better hero." Her mother shushed him.

"Alex, what I have taught your daughter is discipline and control. She is an excellent student and will be an impressive hero, but without control she will be a danger to us, others and possibly the world." Dune had returned the bow and now stood before her father.

"Your 'style' of martial arts is destructive and dangerous, Dune. You built a form of fighting that forces the user to attempt to kill his or her opponent. It's bad enough that you taught it to my wife, but you created it to show off your prowess against that Michael guy, who's long dead by the way." Dune looked away.

"It's not that simple Alex. Michael was a dangerous person and he needed to be stopped, I didn't create this to kill, but to maim and wound; to maneuver around an opponent’s own armored defenses and take advantage of their weaknesses. Michael was a master of all the same styles as I, and when he began to hunt down and take over the schools of the master that he slew, I had to act. I'm not proud of what I became to stop him, and that's why your daughter and wife only know a bastardized version of my fighting style." He turned away and looked towards the setting sun. "I would never do anything to endanger your family, Alex. Perhaps it’s time for me to return to Tibet. I feel that some time meditating will clear my head."

"No, Dune, you can't leave me!" Mercedes grabbed his hand and pulled at him, he easily slipped the grab and spared one short glance at Sandra, and disappeared into the sunset.

Mercedes Whitman, Age 12

**************

Black Sapphire jammed her palm into the female crook's nose. It cracked and split, blood pouring forth instantly. She growled and pulled a semi-automatic pistol from her waist band. "For that you die, bitch!" She pulled the trigger and a short three-round burst hit the wall near the Black Sapphire's head.

"Oh, fer crying out loud, C.C... how many times do we have to go over this? I'm better than you, by a whole lot you know. Like, the GPA for this fight has you at the low end of the curve." She dove forward and rolled under the next burst of bullets, stealing their speed and giving it to the refuse nearby. Some cans, a banana peel and what appeared to be a used prophylactic slammed into the gunners face, neck and lower back, driving her forward and to one knee, placing her chin perfectly for the driving force of the power uppercut that Sapphire delivered.

C.C.'s head snapped back and her eyes glazed over, she dropped the gun with a clatter to the asphalt at their feet. She collapsed in a pile. Sapphire kippuped to her feet and brushed herself  off, her finger brushing the comm unit in her head piece as she called 911. "Yeah it's Black Sapphire. I have Crystal Cue wrapped up and tagged for transport at the corner of..." She rattled off the address and finished securing the suspect. These days she seemed to be busting the same group of thugs and lamers, C.C. was the closest thing to an arch enemy she had, and she barely had abilities.

The police arrived on the scene and she gave her statement and a copy of the video feed from her head unit and chest feeds. She glanced up at a nearby roof and noticed a shadowed figure watching the proceedings; she excused herself and slipped away. Soon she was racing across the rooftops and attempting to catch her stalker. She rounded a chimney and was knocked to her ass by a well-placed foot sweep. She rolled away from her attacker and flipped to her feet, she took up a varied kung fu stance, designed to use the opponents’ weaknesses against them.

The clouds moved from their position and exposed her attackers face in the moonlight.

"DUNE!!" She ran forward and hugged him. He smiled and a look of shock washed over his face as she flipped him over and slammed him to the rooftop. "Even Steven, I think." She held out her hand to assist him to his feet. He smirked and she pulled back her hand. "Oh come on!! I've, like, mastered three styles since you left and on Saturday I'll get my black belt in Dragon Form Karate. That's not gonna fly this time. I'm not twelve anymore."

He smirked and got to his feet. "It's good to be home."

Mercedes Whitman, Age 14

**************

Her Junior Prom was upon her. She was only a Sophomore and dating a Junior, of whom who her father didn't approve, which of course made her angry yet happy.  Here she was in a 300 dollar dress that was cut way too low, and very prepared to take advantage of a nearby motel that she had already reserved a room at.

So here she was waiting for her date to arrive.  He had called to tell her that he was running late and that she should head out before him and that he would meet her there, and not to worry. So of course she was worried, it wasn't like George to be late, like, ever. She began to tap her foot unconsciously in irritation. Two of the schools cheerleaders passed by making a couple snide remarks under their breaths as they went into the dance. "Bitches."

A few more minutes passed, and then people were rushing out of the school, tripping over one another in panic. She grumbled under her breath, and rushed towards the school.

Inside she was shocked at the scene that lay before her: several students were down and bleeding, at least two were dead. Hovering on a cushion of air, C.C. floated above the bodies. Her Cue Baller's had several hostages, pinned and grappled with the pool cues that they used as weapons.

"Welcome young lady, to this... your Junior prom!" She cackled, the cross shaped scar making one side of her face look hideous in the faux disco light. She motioned to the ceiling where a young man hung silently, twisting slowly. Soon George stared down at her, tears streaming down his face.

"I don't know who you think you are --" She was cut off.

"Cut the crap, Sapphire. It took some time to figure out who you are. Almost two whole years! But now I get to have revenge! Why do you think you've been fighting the same people the last few months? I've been gauging your skills!  Didn't take a genius to find a girl in this town who used at least six different styles of martial arts!" Sapphire slipped into combat mode, and started to take a step towards the closest Cue crew member. "Ah ah ah, none of that girlie. Today is the day that you die. But first..." George dropped, the line holding him ended at his neck, and she ran anyway. She needed to steal his momentum. She had to save him. She had to...SNAP.

Then it was over. George was dead and dangling from his noose and C.C. cackled. Panic flooded her and she lost control. Rage filled her, and she blacked out.

She came to; her dress burned badly, her skin beneath scorched. She looked up at the paramedic who had woken her; he was telling her that she was lucky to be alive as he loaded her on a stretcher. She looked at the gym... at the bodies of the Cue Ballers and the students, at George's body, and the shattered form of C.C., a fist mist of cooling ice coming of the body. Burn marks and small fires were scattered here and there, frozen patches of ice and spikes jutted from the floor.

She had lost control, and she had killed many people, and she had avenged her boyfriend’s death. It didn't make her feel any better and then she vomited on her 'savior'. The next few hours were a blur in the questioning; she was the only witness to the massacre, the ravaged destruction that seemed to point to the hero of the city Black Sapphire.

Her decision to keep this from the authorities came at the hands of Dune, and a technique that she had refused to learn when she studied Kung Fu. With a heavy heart he assisted in capping her powers through pressure points so that they lay dormant in her, and the hero once known as Black Sapphire disappeared from the public eye for the rest of the world.

Mercedes Whitman, Age 16

Stand Alone 1

The transporter brought her into a glass walled room, several odd looking aliens rushed about the place.  Four large doors led out of the room and one of these swung open as she stepped off the platform.  A taller alien motioned for her to follow as she took in the rest of the chamber.  Images flitted about on the ceiling, alien vistas and people, places that could have been Earth, others might have been old battles.  Confused, she said nothing.

She followed the alien throughout the hallways and chambers of the Grand Hall.  He stopped before a massive door and motioned for her to follow him through it and into one last gigantic room.  He walked quickly to its center and several other aliens moved away and went about their business. 

The Chronicler ran his hand over the rough surface of the stone, what people on Earth would call Quartz.  The hand flared with energy and a layer glowed in response.

"I am called the Chronicler, chief archivist of the Catalogers.  We are of an alien species, members of a race that watch and take note of everything that happens within our realm.  We stand before the Knowledge, the database which we store all that we have viewed."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because, Knowledge is Power.  You are sorely lacking in this respect.  You are young, and in great need of a guiding hand."  The Chronicler spoke quietly, respecting the sanctity of the holy place.

"If you say so."

"Then allow me to tell you the tale of..."

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - STAND ALONE 1 - Command and Conquer

"SENTINEL I ORDER YOU TO RETREAT!!" The Commander screamed over the sounds of the last of the metal shearing the reactor from its mooring.

"That is a negative Commander; I will not leave your side. Those are my orders." Sentinel responded.

"Dammit..." He was cut off as the Reactor violently shuddered one last time and exploded, the freezing waves cascading outward, engulfing the laboratory and breaking the Chrono Platform, rupturing the containment and a second wave encompassed the Commander, growing for several more feet before snapping back, imploding back, leaving a slight mist in the air as the temperatures evened themselves back out again.

The area was clean in a 40 foot radius around the Reactor breach. Sentinel scanned the zone and settled in for what could be a long wait.

Years Pass...

It began as a slow rumble, deep in the soil. Dust and some debris from the ancient facility drifted down from the rafters above. A whirring sound pierced the air, as Sentinels functionality reasserted itself. Its head turned, and scanned the area. "Chronal Event in progress."

"You dont say." Sentinels head spun around and sought out the owner of the voice. A woman leaned against the wall to the far side of the reactor chamber, a thing cigarette burning low, and close to the filter. A small pile of them were scattered around the floor. "Cool your heels Robo Jock."

"I am not Robo Jock, I am designated Sentinel."

"Oh I know all about you chuckles. You and my father used to be chums, back in the war, and when you were still a part of the world." She dropped the cigarette to the ground and stamped a combat boot heel down on it. "Any time now. We've been getting readings from the facility for a few days now."

"We?"

"The Column. We're the newest super secret agency out there."

"Ah."

"Don’t be like that. We're the good guys."

"I have heard that before." Sentinel looked her over. "Are you Jackson Blacks daughter?" She nodded. "You have his...eye." She smirked.

"Yup, and my mother’s lips and ass. Dear old Dad told me all about you and this place before he passed a few years back. So when I took over the Column from Haines I set up a monitoring system for when the Commander might come back. Technology is light years ahead of the Steampunk tech you originated from."

"This does not surprise me. I am...or was the peak of technological advancement when I crafted." The floor visibly began to shift, and a cool breeze filled the air. "Soon." Sentinel stated. She nodded again.

The air continued to cool and soon a layer of frost covered a massive forty foot expanse of the ground, in a perfect circle.

Little sparks of lightning arced in the air. Sentinel remained where he was, but Chalm was forced back a few steps. The electricity in the air continued, growing faster and closer together, until a perfect half sphere covered the circle on the ground.

Larger bolts struck the ground inside the sphere, and suddenly the entire thing exploded outwards, and knocked Sentinel and Chalm to the ground.

The dust settled quickly, and the sounds of metal pinging as it cooled filled the room. "Is anyone still up?" A voice asked from the area. Nicolette picked herself up and stared into the darkness.

"Commander? Is that you?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not woman." The voice seemed to pull at her, she drew her ArcPistol, and aimed it towards the sound. "Ah, I see even after all of these years the technology I helped pioneer is still in existence."

"Who are you?" Her one good eye kept scanning the area inside the newly recreated 40 foot section of the World War 2 lab.

"I was a friend to the Allies once, but their betrayal of me and my family forced my hand. I now come as a conqueror." The voice sounded closer.

"Over. My. Dead. Body." The new voice sounded strained, and a large collision sounded from within the darkness, and it was followed by the sounds of fierce battle.

"Commander!!"

"You're darn tooting Cro!!" The Commander leapt into the air and swiftly struck the chin of the Super Scientist Dr. Cro with a roundhouse kick. He flew backwards into the remains of the reactor.

The Commander landed and ran towards him, his hand forming a fist. "You failed again Commander." Cro glowed for a moment, as his technology pulled the last vestiges of energy from the Reactor and he vanished.

"Darn it." The Commander cried as he slid to a stop. He shook his fist in frustration. "Why do they always get away at the last second. These things always play out like a bad serial."

"Um Commander?" He turned and looked at Sentinel and the young woman moving towards him. "Welcome to the 20th Century."

TBC in