Tales of the Parodyverse

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Tue Nov 08, 2005 at 06:56:55 pm EST
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It's around 9 am & in the third floor one room apartment that has been rented out to a one Mr. Ben Hermes, the phone rings. The ringing prompts said occupant to get out of bed & answer it. Once, he actually starts to really listen to the ring, he scrambles out of bed faster then normal & over to the phone. The ring is a special ring, a ring that was from the Government.

"Hello?" Ben asks.

"Is this Recruit #2875?" said a female voice on the other end.

"I'm not sure. I might be." Ben said trying to remember the ID number they gave him. He has the number on his ID card, but that's in his wallet which is across the room from him.

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone line, then she said "Let's see.." It sounded like she was looking over something. A few seconds later, she said "Is this Ben Hermes?"

"Yes."

"Ok. This is the FMRC & an emergency meeting has been called. You are to report to our building here in Parrodipolis, in uniform, at 10:30. Do you understand?" She said.

"Yes. But, I'm not sure I can make it."

"I don't care. I have like 20 other C-Class losers to call" she said off handedly.

"What?"

"Nothing." She said in a sing-song manner. Then, she hung up.

Ben also hung up. His mind goes back to those first couple of days "on the job" & he was told that he maybe be called & that it was his responsibility to his country to do all that he could do to follow the orders he was given. Then, Ben remembers that someone asked if that means if they were asked to die, they would have to. There wasn't an answer given which sort of scarred Ben & still does. As his minds races over why the meeting was called, he searches for his Uniform: The grey unitard, made just for him! He finds it, his boots & utility belt. He gets them on & then runs out the door.

Laura, his next door neighbor, heard him leave. She was going to talk to him about what she just saw on the news about the FMRC. But, he was down the stairs before she could ask him anything.

------------------

As he raced down the street, it was at these times that Ben wished he had more then one power: Any time he does any FMRC related activity. At this point, Ben wished he had the power to fly or stop time. Either one of those would be great! Ben gets to the end of his block & races up the flights of stairs to his local elevated train station. This was one time he didn't mind living directly below the Goth Haven elevated train system. Ben checks his watch, he's got 40 minutes before the meeting starts. He checks the schedule, the next train comes in 10 minutes or he can wait an extra 5 minutes & take the express to Parrodipolis. He decides to wait the extra five minutes.

The Express comes, Ben gets on & the train zooms out to Parrodipolis. Ben gets off at the Off-Central Park station. From there, it's a hop, skip & a jump to the local FMRC office. Ben also has an extra 10 minutes to spare.

Once inside the modernly designed office building, Ben is ushered over to one of the large meeting halls. Once inside, Ben's knows this is big: all the different levels of FMRC recruits & agents are there. Sitting up front on the stage are Ben's trainer, G. Matthew Summers along with other trainers. There were other management officials. The one person that Ben didn't think He'd see there was Agent Ruben Holcomb, he almost never comes to here. Most of the time, Ben has just seen him on a screen. One person missing from the stage was the head of FMRC training program for Parrodipolis, General Shamus MacTaggart.

As Ben looks for a seat, he's waved over a few of his fellow C-Classer's. They are also decked out in their uniforms. Most of them are sitting near each other, but the two loner's of the group are elsewhere. Dreama Garner was sitting over by a few of her fellow magically inclined people. Ben has met a few other of them before, The two Dreama tends to hang out with most are Larry Vasser & Shawn Weams. Off in the corner of the auditorium, near the door, was Dr. Roy Hinkley. He might be the oldest recruit of the group. Ben waved to him, but didn't get one back.

In Ben's small group was Oswald Vanderhoosy, Lance Jones, James Milton, Betty Marsh & Morty Jones. Ben sat between Oswald & Betty. As they waited for the meeting to start, they talked about various things. Ben brought up if anyone else was called a C-Class Loser, none had. But, Oswald did notice a few B-Classer laughing & pointing in their general direction earlier.

Then, at exactly 10:30, Agent Holcomb stepped up to the podium. A few stopped talking. Holcomb said nothing, just stood there until the whole group was completely silent.

"Thank you." He said in his deep, almost gravely voice. "Some of you many wonder why your here? Other's may know. This meeting of the Parrodipolis office of the Federal Meta-Human Resource Center was called to say that the best of you have been killed by an off world force."

This comment caused many a side conversation. Then, Ben noticed that the area normally occupied by A-Class was empty.

"With this our founder, Mr. Herbert P. Garrick, has announced that all class training will be increased to fill the void left of those brave men & women of A Class. Also, added into your general training their will be an added emphasis on dealing with other worldly entities, both friend & foe. For most of you this training will be new to you, but to some it may be just a refresher course." Holcomb said.

Ben noticed that when he mention the group as a whole, his head is turned towards C Class & below. But, when he mentions people who may know something or have something extra, he faces B Class.

"I know Mr. Garrick & General MacTaggart would have liked to be here but they are currently indisposed in Washington D.C. with the President."

Agent Holcomb went on to say few more vague things & then dismissed he the group. He & the senior members of the FMRC left the auditorium for somewhere else. The B-Classer's were lead out the room by their trainer. Everyone else just filled out & into the hallway.

------------------

A few minutes later...

"I wonder what that was all about." James asked.

"Duh! Class A is dead & were all being bumped up." Betty said.

"But, wouldn't Agent Holcomb have said that?" Lance asked.

Changing topics, James said: "What do you think killed Class A? I bet it was the Yurt."

"Why?" Morty asked.

"He already freaked out once over a Sandwich & now he's getting back at the Government."

Betty then slapped James in the back of the head. "No, Dipwad. We already covered the Yurt & He wouldn't kill over a Sandwich. Plus, Agent Holcomb said it was an off world threat that killed them, Yurt is from this planet. Weren't you listening?"

"No. Not really." James said as rubbed the back of his head.

"You were starring at the girl from Class B, weren't you?" Ben asked suggestively.

"Which Girl?" Betty asked. Then, thought for a moment & said: "Is it the slutty one?"

"Which slutty one?" Oswald asked. He knew of four!

"We don't know her name. None of the B Classer ever talk to us. But, she the blond one with all the suggestive cut out's in her costume." James said.

"Oh, yeah. That one. She's hot." Oswald said.

"Getting back on Topic.." Betty said. "Which outer space baddie do you think took out the Top Tier?" She asked as she pulled her FMRC manual from her backpack.

Looking over Betty's shoulder, Lance says "The Skree could have done it."

"No. This was an assassination. So, I'm going with the Z'Sox on this one." Morty said.

"How do you know it was an assassination? It could have been one of the Apuffilipians. They are always looking for a fight." Betty said.

"True. I stand corrected." Morty said.

------------------

Elsewhere, Dr. Roy Hinkley was watching his fellow Class member chatter on about who took out Class A & finds it that to be a waste of time. Dr. Hinkley feels that with Class A gone, he is now one more step closer to getting the attention he so rightly deserves. Seeing as their was letting else to do that day, Hinkley flies off back to home to perfect a new weapon for his armor.

Also during the mass confusion of the FMRC trainee's in the hallway, Miss Garner, Mister's Vesser & Weams found a corner to preform a spell that would take them to their Crypt. They have many things to get ready for their Master's return & much like Hinkley they find the speculation stupid because all that won't matter after the full moon. They disappear in a puff of smoke.

------------------

"Ok. We've ruled out most of the space aliens. What about the Cosmic Beings?" Betty asked. "On my way in, I saw a few people setting up Anti-Dimensional Rift generators."

"It could be a plot from the Parody Master?" Lance said.

"No. He's dead or something like that." Betty replied.

"No, Betty. He, according to some reports, just doesn't have a body. So, he is still a threat." G. Matthew Summers said. He's is C-Class's trainer.

"Is he the off world threat they were hinting, too?" Betty asked.

"I don't know. You know about as much as I do. I'm not a senior Staff member, so much of what goes on here at the FMRC is unknown to me & you." Mr. Summers says with a small smile.

"So, what do they want us to do now? I saw B-Class being lead off somewhere?" Ben asked.

"Go home. I was told that all the new training will start tomorrow. At 9 am. So, I'd get lots of rest because from what I was looking over earlier, it's going to tough."

So, the group said by to their trainer & wondered off. Mr. Summers thinks back to his days as a young, impressionable Super Hero & from what he's seen the FMRC want to do, he's scared for the kids. He doesn't want to see them end up like his teammates.

------------------

After leaving his teammates, Ben has to find a Bathroom: He needs to pee. Ben guesses to keep with the modern look of the building, they don't label any of the rooms. He thinks he remembers the Bathroom being the third door on the right down this hallway. Ben opens the door & walks in. It's not a bathroom, it's a conference room. The lights are on low & Ben turns around to walk out but the door is locked for some reason. He hears people coming, so Ben goes Semi-Transparent & stands in a corner where the shadows should help hide him some more.

The people who came in were Agent Holcomb & the other senior staff. Holcomb turns on a video screen. It's split down the center. One half is Herbert Garrick & the other half is General MacTaggart. The background suggests their still at the White House.

"So, did they buy it?" Garrick asked.

"Yes, sir." Holcomb said. "No one asked any questions."

"Of Course they didn't." Was Garrick reply. He was also laughing a bit.

"Do we have the footage of what happened?" MacTaggart asked.

"Yes. We do. I'll send it over to you." Holcomb said & then pressed a few buttons.

The Screen split again. On the right were small screens of Garrick & MacTaggart. The rest of the screen was taken up of Security Camera Footage. Ben recognized the format from work.

"Gentlemen, the camera in Class A's sequestered barracks take's a screenshot every ten seconds. This is the footage from when the call was made to the time the intruders left." Holcomb said.

"Who made the call?" a staff member asked. Ben didn't know who they were named.

"I did. Who else would have?" Garrick barked.

Holcomb started the footage. The slideshow went by, their was no sound but you could imagine what it sounded like. The Agents were sleeping, an alarm went off, people scrambling out of bed & getting dressed.

Ben noticed they all wore similar uniforms, it was very militaristic.

The footage switch to another camera, it followed the A Class Agents down a hallway & into another room where they got their orders from Garrick directly. The Agents left that room & where about to leave on the mission when They came in. They burst through a wall.

Holcomb stopped the footage. "Intel has found out that this people are called Avawarriors. They are red-and-black armored genetically modified combat knights. The Weapon seen hear slicing through Agent #496 is called an Avaswords. The blade is unlike anything we've seen. It's width is about a molecule thick."

"Hmm. Is the Avawarrior's equipment better the Technopolitian equipment we have?" Mactaggart asked.

"Yes. About four times as better as demonstrated here." Holcomb said as he started the footage back up & the Avawarriors killed four more agents.

"Why weren't these men & women better prepared?" asked a senior member.

"They were prepared. We trained them in all known forms of combat, both Terrain & Off World types." MacTaggart said.

Ben's never been trained in any off world types!

"As we view the rest of the battle, it wouldn't have mattered what we trained them in. The Avawarrior's armor protected the wearer from anything we threw at them & when I mean throw, I mean throw." Holcomb said as a Male turned in a massive rock creature & started to rip items off & out of the walls. He then threw then at the Avawarriors. It did nothing & once close, they broken the man's neck.

"How many were their?" someone asked.

"They outnumbered the Agents 10 to 1. Also, they moved in formation: A group broke in at the front, another at the sides & one at that the back. They then worked out, killing any & all personal they found."

"Even non A Classers?"

"Yes. We lost 150 support staffers & the entire A Class." Holcomb said as the carnage went on. "It only took them five minutes to take down the entire group. A group we had been training for three years."

Ben found that number odd. The Parrodipolis location had only been open for little over a year & half. Why did Garrick bus in Agents to this location?

"Did they take anything?"

"No. They killed & then left."

"To where?"

"We don't know. All security systems, besides the cameras, were down for an hour."

"They wanted us to see them kill our men."

"Yes. That is the currently excepted theory."

"Why didn't we know the security systems were out?" Garrick barked.

"Shortly before, the security systems went down. We lost contact with the base. Once we got back in contact, we found out what happened."

"That was not to happen! We installed all that Technopolitian crap my buildings & for what? Nothing! We still got broken into. We might as well have left the door wide open for them." Garrick barked.

Ben couldn't take it anymore, He wanted to leave & not just because he needed to pee. The door Holcomb & friends entered in through was still open: so Ben ran for it. He made it & once in the hallway, he kept on run.

"What was that?" a senior member asked.

"Nothing." Holcomb said with some suspicion as he walked over, looked out in hallway & then closed the door. He then when back to presentation.

------------------

Ben made his way outside & was now opaque. He then threw up into one of the bushes outside. But, amazingly enough: he had not wet himself, yet. After he was sure, he didn't have anything left: Ben sat down on the FMRC's front steps. His mind was reeling with what he had just seen. He knew he wasn't to have seen that footage. His mind goes into a series of questions he's not sure he has answers to: "Why was the A Class training so different then his own? Will he be sent to a barracks so the FMRC can keep track of him night & day? Will he be sent to his death? Will his Friends? Does Mr. Summers know this? Does he tell anyone what he saw? Does he quit the FMRC? Can he quit the FMRC? What the heck is he going to do now?"

Just then a hand is place on Ben's right shoulder & he almost jumps out of his skin. He turns around & it's just Mr. Summers.

"Are you ok? I saw you upchucking in the bushes a few minutes ago." Mr. Summers asked. It sounded like he cared, but Ben wasn't sure.

"Yeah. I must of ate some that didn't agree with me."

"Ok. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Mr. Summers asked.

Ben almost told him what he had just seen, but said "No. I'm ok."

"Ok. See you tomorrow, Ben!" Mr. Summers said as he waved & walked off.

"yeah.. Tomorrow." Ben says almost to himself. His mind goes back to what he was told on this first day at the FMRC: Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, don't screw it up!

THE END (for now).


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