Posted by ag says ignor the one below! on July 10, 2001 at 11:52:47:
Now, at Tonya Wazooo’s apartment (which also serves as the JBH’s temporary
headquarters until their friend, the Black Pantser can finish building their new
one) people are gathering to surprise Jackie as Jasper (Kid Produce) brings her
back from the hospital. None of this matters to Janeen right now. All she’s paying attention to is
the woman through the trees screaming. Something’s swooping down on her,
attacking her. As the first half of the JBH clear the crooked trees they see a woman in a
torn seventeenth century dress desperately holding her baby by his ankles as
strange, night dark flying man sized creatures pull from the baby’s waist.
The JBH find out that the frightened woman is Mary Shelton, and that she and
her baby boy had just escaped the Nosferatu but they couldn’t get very
far.
Next time: Also, hopefully coming sooner.. *Certain bits of dialogue courtesy from HH**
Previously, in Amazing Tales #33, a mysterious stranger in Off Centre
Park bit the heroine known as Jackie Rabbit. She has been recovering, having
lost a lot of blood. After a week in the hospital she has finally been released.
One of her friends, Tom Pymer, the five inch hero known as Little Guy, thought
he was attacked by Jackie, just before she left out the first story hospital
room window. When he woke at the time that fellow team mate Kid Produce came to
relieve him from his watch, Tom saw Jackie deep asleep in her hospital bed.
He figured it was a dream. Still, he wished his head didn’t hurt so much.
Tonya: “John, did you use ALL the
decorations?”
John: “Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about it!”
Tonya: “John, I
know you used your super speed to decorate the place, but you could’ve at least
gave it a second look! You’ve covered Tom in streamers! Why don’t you put that
video game down and help us get ready? Jackie and Jasper should be arriving any
minute.”
John (who occasionally fights crime as the hero Speedstreak)
unravels little Tom, spinning him into the bowl of trail mix at high speed. He
then speeds around adjusting the streamers on the walls and, a second later, is
back at his ‘Donar Kong’ game, “There! Happy mother?”
Tonya rolls her eyes
and heads towards the kitchen half of the tinny front room.
Plantgirl, the
only one in costume, is commenting on Shelly Hallow’s vegetable tray as the
latter organizes it.
“This is a nice place you have here Tonya,” Carl Hallow
comments, “this is the first time Shelly and I have met with the JBH ‘off
duty’.”
“Well Carl, I’m sorry the Brownstone * was destroyed. I know you and
Shelly had many memories as Pigeonman and Pigeonwoman back in the
forties.”
*The JBH’s HQ was destroyed in Amazing Tales #31.
“I’m learning
that all things change with time. It’s a hard lesson to take, but this is my
third reincarnation, so I guess I’d better get used to it.” Carl
replies.
“Well, I for one will NEVER get used to it. All my friends from the
forties are so old, and they of course think we died in “49.” muses
Shelly.
There’s a knock at the front door followed by a ‘come in’ from Tonya.
It swings open to reveal Scott and Janeen Brunsen.
“SCOTT! JANEEN!”
Scott:
“Hey guys! Cool! Everyone’s here except Jackie and Jasper. Are we almost ready
for them?”
Tonya: “Just about. I’ve got to admit I’m feeling kind of
disappointed though. In the 31st century we use a lot of holograms for this sort
of thing. It seems kind of empty with out them.”
Janeen: “Well, you’ll find
that we do things a little simpler, but from the heart here. The kids are
staying with my parents’ back in LittleSmallville, and they didn’t want to come
to one of our ‘boring’ get togethers.
John: “No problem! The more chips and
pop for us.”
Everyone glares at him.
Plantgirl, looking kind of strange as
the only one in costume, speaks up, “Hey speedboy. Can I play?”
Janeen says,
“Oh, I brought potato salad. I thought that maybe sense this was a social thing,
we’d....”
Reality shifts. Some of the most powerful beings wouldn’t be able to tell,
so you know these lesser humans wouldn’t see it. This is the usual thing when HE
retcons.
MacyMom AKA Janeen, in full costume, says, “Oh, we brought the new
Pigeonman. Scott thought that sense this meeting of the JBH was going to begin
after we welcomed Jackie back into the fold, that he could tell us about who
destroyed our old HQ.”
Scott, in full Amazing Guy costume looks around in
confusion. Everyone, the original Pigeonman, Pigeonwoman, Swift,
PhantomGhostGirl, Little Guy and MacyMom and himself are all in costume. Another
strange thing is the sudden appearance of the new Pigeonman. He’s not a member
of the team and Scott suddenly has these memories of inviting him to come along.
But he has memories of a different way things were as well.
“Ah...... what’s
going on? How did we get into our costumes? How did Pigeonman get here? I’m
confused.”
MacyMom feels his forehead, “More of those strange power
flashbacks?”
AG: “I don’t think so. Professor Hambackon said they should be
slowing down though. Besides, it feels different somehow. Something’s not
right.”
PhantomGhostGirl speaks up after looking out the window, “I’ll tell
you what’s not right, Jackie and Jasper are outside! Swift! Turn out the
lights!”
Jasper and Jackie enter to be suddenly assaulted with a loud
“Welcome home!”
Swift turns back on the light, revealing everybody with
stupid grins on their faces.
“Oh! Wish they’d turn off that stupid light!”
Jackie Roberts thinks to herself. She’s wearing shades to protect her sensitive
eyes from light. Her condition should clear up in a few days. At least that’s
what the doctors believe.
After a few brief greetings from her teammates, she
and the rest are surprised to find the Hooded Hood standing beside them.
The
Hood explains to them about a world called Transvalonia, and of it’s assault and
capture by the Hero Feeders. Apparently this world had its share of heroes until
the Feeders ate the most powerful, and enslaved the rest. In fact, the whole
planet has become one big breeder ranch.
Of course the assembled heroes were
mortified at all of this, yet still weary of anything the Cowled crime-czar
would have to say.
Things heated up at that point....
“Whilst we have been
speaking I have transported your headquarters there.” The Hooded Hood
explained.
Again they were shocked. AG, the golden age Pigeonman and
PhantomGhostGirl all realized they were foolish to let him distract them. They
would have to be more careful next time.
But for now it appeared they would
have to make a plan.
The master of retcons continued, “I thought that as
heroes you would be more than willing to strive to save Transvalonia from its
horrible fate, but as I said you have a choice. This shimmering rectangle is a
portal back to Earth. It will activate and transport you there in an instant;
but only if all of you who are still alive are in physical contact at the time
and all consent to return.”
PhantomGhostGirl (who has recovered from a
strange stomach cramp that left as soon as it had come) thought about all of
this and asked, “So we could get back right now?” After all, her apartment and
all of her belongings were there with them. It would be nice to get it back in
one piece.
The Hooded Hood replies, “If that is your collective wish, yes, or
you could remain and investigate that screaming.”
A woman can be heard
outside, in shear terror, “No! My baby! Don’t take my baby!”
Some heroes want
to bolt out the door on instinct, others are more wary it might be another
trick.
“What’s going on, Hood?” Amazing Guy demanded. He had had enough.
The Cowled crime-czar had gone.
“No! Please! Don’t!”
“Aw, crap,”
sighed Kid Produce, looking at the door.
“There’s no crap about it! We can’t
let anyone get hurt here!” MacyMom demands as she strides towards the sound of
the horrified woman.
“Wait! This just seems like a trap. Maybe we should..”
Amazing Guy starts.
“Wait? WAIT? No. I’m going.” She retorts with irritation.
She opens the door to reveal the strange, dark mountains all around them.
The
surroundings look like an old black and white Universal monster movie. Scary
trees swave in the strange sounding wind. They give off dark, haunting shadows
as they move almost like living creatures.
The pale, silent moons shine down,
giving a glowing ghost like feel to the land.
It appears PhantomGhostGirl’s
apartment is all that has been transported. The rest of the building (which, it
should be mentioned, is also ManMan’s apartment building as well) was not
transported. The third floor hallway that SHOULD be just outside of the door is
gone, as is the fourth floor and the bottom two floors. The other apartments on
Tonya’s third floor are gone too. Only her apartment has been transported here.
MacyMom (Janeen), Pigeonwoman, Kid Produce and Jackie Rabbit
are charging head long into the wicked woods without a plan while Amazing Guy,
both Pigeonmen, Swift, Little Guy and PhantomGhostGirl stare in shock at the
bold decision MM has made.
“Uh, alright. Lets go.” AG says as he leads the
others out.
“STOP IT!” an enraged MacyMom yells as she sprays milk from her fingertips
at the two creatures. It hits their shadowy forms with no effect.
Pigeonwoman
flies behind one of the creatures in the air and runs it through with her iron
Mesopotamian spear.
The creature squirms in pain, ripping the spear out and
attacking the archeologist/super hero in rage.
Kid Produce throws his carrots
at the creature griping the baby. It lets go of one side to deflect the
vegiweapons. Swift causes further distraction as he hits the creature repeatedly
on the head, then zooms away to prevent getting hurt himself.
The other
creature tears towards Pigeonwoman it gets a sharp scratch from her husband’s
bone talons that he has strapped to his wrist. It screeches at both the
Pigeonheroes when the third Pigeon (being the Thonggarians policeman serving on
Earth) smashes it in the head with his mace.
The screaming woman has her baby
cuddled up within her arms while PhantomGhostGirl stands guard over them.
The
nocturnal creature charges again only to have a near by tree limb reach out to
bar the way.
Plantgirl smiles as she continues to control it.
“Alright.
Enough of this!” Amazing Guy shouts as he focuses on the solid light plasma
energy that he calls his power.
He creates a big green birdcage and traps
both creatures in it. At first they’re confused, but then they sense the energy
signature. The unmistakable quantum power of a Captain Marble, yet its also
much, much more. They attack the cage like wild hungry dogs.
This causes
Little Guy, whose on AG’s shoulder, to wet his pants.
In seconds they’ve
already absorbed most of the energy cage. MacyMom forms a thick shield of Gouda
cheese over their “bodies” but they break it with no effort at all. She realizes
she has no way to help her husband as they close in on both Scott and
Tom.
With quick produce stocking reflexes that only a trained grocery clerk
could comply to, Kid Produce pulls out a batch of garlic, and throws it into the
faces of the dark threats.
IIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
They fly with
wings of night, escaping the
heroes.
-
-
Silence
Thoughts...
Janeen: “I... I couldn’t help
Scott. What kind of hero am I?”
Tom: “USELESS! That’s all I’m good for!
Laughs! Grandpa would be let down...”
Jackie: “I just stood there. Why
couldn’t I fight them? And...and why did I get the urge to....j..join
them?”
The silence is broken up as Scott speaks. Ever the optimist, yet
totally unaware of what’s going on in the others heads, “Well! I guess these
hero feeders really DO think themselves as vampires. Produce, keep more garlic
handy while were here. PGG, how’s the lady?”
PGG looks the bruised and torn
woman over and says to her, “You ok miss?”
The woman can hardly bring herself
to speak, but she does, “Y..yes. Thank you. Thank y..yo. *sob!*”
MacyMom
pushes aside her self worries and hugs the lady, “Hey, hey! It’s ok. We’re here
to help you!”
“Hey guys and gals, hate to break up this tender moment, but
can we get out of this clearing? Those things give me the creeps.!” Swift
complains.
AG: “Of course! First though, we need to take a vote. The Hood
gave us a way back.” They look thoughtfully back at PGG’s apartment only to see
the portal shimmering there. Now their temporary headquarters is gone as well.
If they stay, they will need to find shelter somewhere. “Crap. Well people? Go
home or stay?”
MacyMom: “I’m sorry I ran off like that, but I couldn’t just
let this woman get hurt. I still cant. I think we need to stay.”
Jackie:
“I..I agree. Stay.”
Kid Produce: “We can’t leave these poor people.
Stay.”
Swift: “It’s not our fight. I say go.”
Pigeonman1: “I don’t like
it. I believe it’s a trap, but I vote stay.”
Pigeonwoman: “Stay. Of
course!”
PGG: “Go. My trained instincts scream it’s a trap. We can take this
woman and her baby with us.”
LittleGuy, shaking in fear: “Me? Well,..go. This
place is to much!”
Plantgirl: “John’s right. Not our prob.
Go.”
Pigeonman2: We cannot save these people! We must track down the Hood and
make him pay! Go! Of course go!”
Back to Amazing Guy: “Well, I can’t just go
home with these people in danger. Yes, it’s a trap. And something inside me,
this cosmic sense I’ve been developing lately, warns that something’s very, very
wrong. But we need to save these people. The Hero Feeders are bad, and extremely
tough. I vote stay, but I’m keeping my senses peeled on this one.”
“You’ve
doomed us all!” the Thonggarians policeman protests, “No wonder I haven’t joined
your group! Now I will waste my time protecting these fools
when..”
PhantomGhostGirl slugs him. “Ok, where to now AG?”
The woman,
finally regaining her composure, says, “I believe I can help.”
Amazing Guy had explained who they were and that they would help any way
they could.
Now Mary had led them to a secret cave all adorned with garlic
and strange symbols on the outside.
“What are those?” Kid Produce
asks.
“They give me the creeps.” Jackie observed.
“They are religious
symbols of our faith. It keeps the Nosferatu away.” Mary explained.
That
brought all kinds of questions into Jackie’s mind, like why she felt so repelled
by these things.
Soon they found themselves in what appeared to be a rebel
camp.
Natives of this planet were all busy, doing what ever they do to keep
their people alive.
A proud, rugged looking man approached them.
“May I
introduce the leader of our rebellion, Brad Stroker.” Mary
introduced.
“Hello! The Countess knew of your arrival. I’m the leader here.
Some consider me somewhat of a zealot but all I want is to free my world. I
understand you’re here to help us?”
AG replies, “Yes! We’re the JBH, from the
planet called Earth..”
“Earth?” interrupts a woman in her forties. She has a
thick Transelvanian accent, “That is where I’m from. A little village in
Transelvainia. I am the Countess Elizabeth Dracu. You sound like you’re from
America? Yet you dress so different from the men and women of the 14th
century.”
“14th century? Mam, we’re from the 21st century! How long have you
been here?” Swift asks.
“Only a short time. A…. acquaintance of mine sent be
here. Far away from my young boy.” The Countess explained, all the while staring
at Jackie in a way that made her feel both uncomfortable and deeply
welcomed.
Brad brings things back to him, “Well, let me introduce you to my
best people…” He motions to four other people, “The man with the long side burns
is Chen Lonny Jr. but when the moon is full he’s called Wolfbite. Calvin Rains
here can turn invisible and Henry Starsmore is our weapons specialist. Finally
we have our resident Night Feeder exterminator, Flabluka Van Hellsing.”
Brad
users everyone to the war room, “Now, sence your all here, we can now finally
take back our world. I have an assault plan that with your help we might just
pull off!”
The JBH and the Revolutionaries fight the Nosferatu! One of our
cast sacrifices everything! MacyMom makes a resolve. Amazing Guy learns the
truth! The coming of Galactivac!
Some time next week!
Jack Rabbit #11. Jacks lost in space!