Jack Parker
Sabrina Knight-Parker
Capt. Dane Casey
Cmdr. Edward Castillo
Moondancer
Capt. Jack McNeal
Hisham Selim
Cmdr. Sydney Todd-Strange
Slinger
Vanish/Gepetto
Bushkill
Onyx
Deathcry
Prowler
Erebus
Armory
Blind Rage
Clay
Kelvin
Mean Streak
Render
Savannah
Toast
#143
"Breakouts and Wakeups"
Game Date: 10/5/02
The day’s excitement is starting to wind down after the near-death of Dr. Jackal and the race to stop rogue Cassian mages and Mandate from poisoning Seattle’s seas. The heroes are all gathered back at UNCLE HQ, where Dr. Stephen Strange is monitoring Jack’s response to the poison’s antidote in the med bay (or “The Boneyard” as it’s known at UNCLE), using both medical and magical healing tools on him. As Dyna Girl had called Jack’s newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer—trying along with everyone else to frantically discover clues as to where he’d been that morning—and told them that Jack Parker had been poisoned, it’s now time for a little damage control (might be a little obvious having both Dr. Jackal and Jack Parker poisoned at the same time?). Stephen says Jackal can’t risk turning back to Jack Parker for a while, until he’s better healed and they’re sure all the ancient bane is out of his system, so it’s decided it’s best to move him to the Forte base (again, the secret I.D. is tough to keep if Dr. Jackal is hanging around Jack Parker’s house) and let him get back on his feet there. UNCLE will keep the Jackal poisoning under wraps and out of the press, but, to cover the phone call and the fact that Jack Parker will be gone for a while, it’s decided they’ll issue a press release stating that Jack Parker was, in fact, poisoned (as it was him, after all, that Mandate wanted to get rid of…they had no idea he was Dr. Jackal), and for security reasons he’ll be kept in an undisclosed location while he recovers. The press are going to be all over the Parker family for a while, but hey…it’ll surely help with sales of his book.
Meanwhile, over at the ER at Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital, the speedster Vortex is still on a gurney being treated for his wounds. Doctors are taking their usual sweet time getting around to deciding when to send him to surgery, and he’s laying there wondering how long he’s going to be laid up and how he’s going to explain things to Principal Hogan and not lose his teaching job. He’s also wondering if everything’s okay with Nightsable, the very nice (and attractive…he reminds himself with a verbal kick that he does have a girlfriend) heroine who had left to go meet with her Forte teammates at UNCLE for a “little while” and never came back.
Suddenly he gets a visitor, someone who seems to appear out of nowhere, with a friendly smile and easy manner. It’s the Flash. THE Flash, the original, the retired icon. He says he saw Vortex on the TV news, and had been meaning to look him up. Vortex is speechless. The Flash tells him they have to have a talk sometime to discuss some things…things like the Speed Force. Vortex is part of it now. And it’s a very exclusive club (with such members as the two of them, Forte’s now-vegetative Dash, Flash’s daughter, Celerity, of the Justice Squadron, and a handful of villains such as Mean Streak, the villain who just fought members of Forte today and managed to escape). Flash says he’d hang around now, but he’s got a little trip to make to the 30th century that can’t wait. Something about the Vanguardian, a word that means nothing to Vortex. Vortex says that’s okay, looks like he’ll be out of it for a while anyway. Oh, yeah, about that…
Flash puts his hand carefully over Vortex’s bandaged abdomen, and the other on the young man’s shoulder. The two of them seem to vibrate a bit, and perhaps glow a little…and then, to his astonishment, Vortex finds his wounds completely healed. Flash smiles and says that was nothing, he was just sharing some of his speed with him and fast-forwarding the healing. He says Vortex will learn to do it for himself soon enough. There are a lot of thing he’s going to learn. Vortex shakes the legend’s hand and thanks him. The Flash hands him a phone number, and says to give him a call sometime. He tells him his name is Barry. Barry Allen. Vortex introduces himself as Paul Seaborn. Flash says he’ll be seeing him around, and is suddenly gone in a…well, you know. Still stunned by what just happened, but realizing he no longer has to hang around the hospital, Vortex gets up, tells a baffled nurse that he’s feeling much better, and takes off. He jams home and changes into his other (unshredded) costume. He’s already left a voice mail for principal Hogan saying that UNCLE had him tied up in interviews over the school bombing attempt so he wouldn’t be in today, so he figures he might as well head down to UNCLE and find out what’s happening with the Forte people. And see what they found out about the mystery crate that almost got him killed. And get a chance to see Nightsable again…
Back at UNCLE, Dr. Jackal has convinced Vanguard, Tomarssuk, Lightsedge, Electro Man and Anvil to go on with their interviews with Spielberg and Hanks at the Forte Museum for the upcoming Forte HBO docudrama. The Voice, the Armor Security heartthrob, had already bid the heroes farewell after the fight and rushed over to get to his paying job…guarding the Hollywood icons during their stay in Seattle. His old teammates agree and get on their way, all but Anvil, who needs to check in with his daughter Bree first. Nightsable and Sabrina, along with Dr. Strange, the Mist (Strange’s wife, the Forte founding member who finally made it here from San Francisco in Jack’s time of need) and Anvil head over to the Forte base via a teleport portal from Nightsable. But not before Nightsable is asked to teleport back to Johnny Quest’s plane one more time, the one bound for Guatemala that’s still carrying Max aboard. She’d brought Rainier back at his insistence when they discovered the sarcophagus, and that had driven Max crazy enough, being left behind. But then Max checked in and got word about all the other stuff with Dr. Jackal and insisted on coming back. After all, Nightsable can always teleport them right to the dig site after Johnny’s all set up later.
Max changed into hero garb on the plane, so he’s okay to step out into the middle of UNCLE HQ, where he gives Nightsable a proper big hug and tells her he’s happy her dad is okay. She thanks him, crying a little more, and then tells them all she’ll meet them later, after she’s sure her dad’s all set up and her mom and sisters are okay after this ordeal. Dyna Girl and Tinker tell her to take her time…being with her family at a time like this is more important. Before she goes she gets a hug from Rainier, and gives a big one, unexpectedly, to Moonspider, and thanks their new friend for sneaking into her father’s Questpad, something she was too freaked out to think to do, and probably saving his life. Moonspider assures the girl their family secret is safe with him. With that, she teleports to the base.
And just as she does, Vortex comes walking in (after deciding that running in might get a whole platoon of UNCLE agents to start shooting at him). Moonspider, Dyna and Tinker are shocked and pleased that he’s on his feet so fast. He simply tells them it’s a long story. Rainier and Max, meanwhile, have no idea who he is…and Max hasn’t met Moonspider either. Introductions are made. Vortex sees all the activity going on…and fresh villains being brought in in shackles, and wonders what the hell he missed. The others fill him in.
As they’re talking about this, and about what happened the night before (as Rainier is still hungry for details, and to get back to studying the sarcophagus), yet another hero comes in. Vortex and Moonspider, though not understanding why it’s there, immediately feel the tension.
Moondancer is there, the former Forte member (before the current incarnation’s time) and on-again, off-again stormy romance for Rainier. Chelsea Wildheart first teamed up with the starting Forte 2000 foursome while visiting Seattle, and that’s when she and Rainier had become rather heatedly involved. And when the cycle of come-to-town, sparks-fly, break-up-happens, leave-again began. No one’s seen her in a while. Tinker and Dyna are NOT pleased to see her, caring neither for her penchant for violent acts and rash choices that make Dyna Girl look like Mother Theresa, nor the things she makes Davis (Rainier) go through. And there’s that thing about Moondancer and Tinker actually coming to blows over her treatment of a villain the last time she was in town… Davis is just stunned and simply says “Chelsea”, caught very off-guard by her sudden appearance and the emotions that come with it. There’s an awkward silence between them all, with Moondancer looking uncomfortable and a little embarrassed, and Vortex and Moonspider simply silently shrug at each other. Max is the one who finally breaks the tension (as always) and gives her a hug, which earns dirty looks from the other women.
Max introduces her to Vortex and Moonspider, both of whom recognize her, of course, from her Forte days. Moonspider makes a suave, flirty remark about being pretty sure they’re not related (joking about their similar names), and this brings eye-rolls from Dyna and Tinker. She tells them all she heard about the Dr. Jackal thing through the Forte grapevine and happened to be in the area, so she came as quickly as she could, but the excitement’s already over (which she found out from a radio call to Anvil).
She then admits she was in the area for a reason. She explains that she went on a recent vision quest that took her on a spiritual inner journey, forcing her to confront herself, and her destiny, and learn a few things. It had a profound effect on her and she came out, she says, a changed person. And she’s trying to make some things right. Talking to the surprised Tinker and Dyna Girl, she apologizes for their last encounter (Dyna Girl was visiting Seattle at the time and hanging out with the Forte team, though she hadn’t become a member yet). And for anything else she’s done to treat them with any disrespect, and hopes to somehow make it up to them. Not quite sure what to say—and, as always, not wanting to say anything negative to her around Rainier—they simply say thanks. With that she finally turns to Rainier and says hi. To which he says hi back. She asks if she can talk to him for a moment, and they leave for another room to speak privately. The others are left to quietly discuss what just happened. Tinker says strange as it sounds, she did seem kind of different. Dyna suggests, without much kindness, that just because she went off somewhere and took too much peyote and had an Oprah moment doesn’t mean that she’s not a psychotic bitch anymore, one that’s playing games with Davis’s head again. Tinker has to agree that’s probably true. Vortex and Moonspider can’t help but ask what the story is, and Dyna Girl is happy to explain it all.
Captain Dane Casey, Forte’s UNCLE liaison, comes over and wants to introduce himself to Vortex, since they didn’t get a chance to meet the night before. He’s got a few questions for both him and Moonspider about the events of the previous night, and since they’re both there, now seems like a good time. They follow him back to his office. Max excuses himself to go check out this sarcophagus everyone’s so jazzed about. Tinker reminds him no touching. Left alone, Tink and Dyna talk more about Moondancer, but also about the two new heroes that are hanging out with them. Mostly about how deeply gorgeous Vortex is, but also about Moonspider’s backside. On the Vortex subject, Dyna talks again about the sparks between him and Samantha. Lucy is a little nervous on the subject…she wants things to work out for Sam and Seahawk. Holly agrees, and knows Jared is going through a lot with his son and all, but Samantha’s dealing with a lot too. She really got her heart broken when he left. Maybe she needs someone less complicated without ex-wife issues.
Before they can discuss it further, they hear a commotion and some raised voices coming from the lobby and decide to check it out. They find four Egyptian men in suits there, talking heatedly with Commander Edward Castillo, who’s flanked by a couple of intimidating agents who aren’t taking kindly to their boss being yelled at. Castillo is trying to calm the four men in suits down. Tinker and Dyna Girl get pulled into the conversation. Turns out the men are from the Anuket Import/Export Group, the company that Moonspider (and later UNCLE) discovered was the one waiting for the crate that contained the sarcophagus. The big dockworkers strike had kept their cargo on its ship out in the Sound, and Anuket was one of several companies that were filing legal action to get to their cargo. They were the only company, though, filing suit over just one crate.
The seeming leader of these men, who introduces himself as Hisham Selim, apologizes for their agitation, but had found out the property they’ve been trying to retrieve for quite some time is now inside this UNCLE building, and they need to take possession of it. He introduces his business partners as well—Salah Abul Naga, Issa Nazif, and Sadiki Fahy—and says he’s sure they can clear this all up amicably. Once he’s calmed down, he’s actually quite polite and charming. But he’s very clear that they need to take their merchandise. Dyna Girl asks what it is they want with some ancient coffin, and Hisham looks like he’s near a heart attack as he says, “You’ve opened it?!” Castillo quickly breaks in and assures them the crate has been opened, not the sarcophagus. Tinker adds that they have a noted archeologist on site who’s making sure the item isn’t disturbed, but Hisham and his men are quite agitated again and insisting they be allowed to go in and get it at once. During this conversation, a breeze seems to blow briefly through the lobby, and Dyna Girl notices this, but doesn’t give it much thought.
Meanwhile, Rainier and Moondancer are in a meeting room, where Rainier has turned back into Davis Alexander. Chelsea apologizes for just dropping in on him out of the blue like this. She knows they didn’t end on the best of terms last time, and he agrees with this. She says she’s sorry for this, and for all the rough times they’ve been through. She’s given him—and them—a lot of thought, and she lets him know he’s a very important part of her life, and worthy of much better treatment than she’s given him. She says she’s not walking in here with any expectations, all things considered, but she hopes that they can try to start over, take things slow, and maybe see what happens. He’s hesitant, having been hurt, and she says she understands. She just hopes he’s willing to give her one more chance, and at least to have some place in his life, whatever that may be.
Moonspider and Vortex are in Dane’s office, talking about the raid last night. Being the resident expert in supers, he has plenty of questions about each of them, too, as they’re the new guys in town. As they’re talking, Vortex senses something, and looks back toward the door. Dane asks him what’s wrong. Vortex doesn’t answer, but then says he’ll be right back. He darts off at super-speed, appearing only as a blue blur to them.
He makes a run around the whole interior of the building, finally ending up down in the detention wing. He finds two agents out cold at the door, and the door slightly ajar. He grabs one of their radios, and quickly talks into it, saying it’s Vortex, and whoever’s listening needs to lock down the building right now and get to the detention wing. He steps through the door and finds the cell doors all open. And the villain Mean Streak standing at one of the cells, beckoning someone to come out. He spots Vortex, and the pair don’t move for a moment. Then Mean Streak rushes him at super-speed, and Vortex rushes forward to meet him. The two grapple and fight at near invisible speeds as the villains for the previous night’s events—and this morning’s—come rushing out, free of their bonds and inhibitors.
Dane hears the call on his radio and he and Moonspider pause for just a moment to stare at it. Then Dane grabs his weapon and starts yelling orders into his radio and Moonspider gets up and darts toward the detention area.
Castillo hears Dane’s call and quickly starts barking orders of his own, and Tinker and Dyna Girl race back into the building. Tinker yells into her Forte radio for Max and Rainier to meet them at detention. Agents are already racing along behind them.
In the three seconds he and Vortex have been fighting, Mean Streak has realized he’s losing the edge, and he takes off down the hall instead. Vortex realizes he’s the only one who can stop the speedster so he stays on him, trusting the others to clean up the rest of the mess. They race through the building and both make it out the front doors just as a huge armored door slams down behind them, sealing the building. The chase is on across Seattle.
Moonspider makes it to detention, only to find himself face to face with a cadre of escaping villains. Taking a second to soak up the irony that several of them will probably end up clients of his, he rushes into combat, facing Blind Rage, Armory, Toast, Render, Kelvin, Slinger, Bushkill, Onyx, Prowler, Deathcry and Erebus. The only good news is that some of them are without their gear—Armory, Slinger, Bushkill and Deathcry. The bad news is that Armory and Bushkill are highly advanced hand-to-hand fighters who can do just fine without their gear…and Blind Rage, who had no gear to start with, can as well. And then there are the ones with powers, who now have them back without the inhibitors. He knows he’s not going to last long. But he starts taking on Blind Rage and Armory at once anyway.
Render comes around the corner and is met dead-on by Dyna Girl, who slugs him and sends him flying back. He hits a wall and pulls himself up, smiling as he wipes blood from his lip, and says he’s been looking forward to a rematch. Annoyed enough with the masochistic blowhard from earlier in the day, she’s more than willing to give him one. As they start slugging it out, more villains run past them, and Tinker is faced with Kelvin, Onyx and Erebus. Kelvin barely misses her with an ice blast (the “cold” side of his hot and cold powers) and Onyx grows to twice his size and starts swinging at her with his diamond-hard fists. Erebus rushes past the fight and keeps running.
Mean Streak is leading Vortex on a mad chase all over downtown, and newspapers are flying in a wake behind them (and skirts are blowing up all over the place). Vortex realizes this guy is pretty much his match in speed, something he’s not used to dealing with (in weird way he’s almost digging it). They streak in and out of alleys and between traffic. Mean Streak starts trying to throw him off by causing distractions. He runs up the side of an office building and dismantles a window washer rig, causing the workers to plummet toward the screaming crowd below. Vortex snatches them up before they hit the crowd and stands them safely up, then takes off and is on the villain again. Mean Streak then neatly deposits a bunch of pedestrians right in front of oncoming traffic, where again Vortex does the big save in the nick of time, and the race is on again. Mean Streak runs through Pike Place Market and stops at a vendor selling painted Seattle plates, and starts hurling them faster than bullets at Vortex, who can’t just dodge them but has to snatch them up or smash them to keep the crowd from getting hurt. One lucky one catches him in the chest, and the impact sends him flying back through a tie-die tee shirt booth. Mean Steak races off with this window of opportunity upon him.
Tinker has nearly gotten baked by Kelvin and has tossed a flour grenade at him. Powder explodes right in front of his face, and the skinny villain is blinded and chokes on it. Onyx is back on her and throwing frightening punches, and she’s dodging for her life, knowing if one lands it could be the end of her. She dodges one particularly nasty one by bending her knees and falling all the way back (ala Keanu in the Matrix). On her back, she’s looking up at Onyx, preparing to roll as he’s about to stomp on her, when the jeweled villain is suddenly knocked back by a huge energy blast to his chest. He staggers back a few steps, and Lucy leans her head back and looks behind her. There she sees (upside down in her view) Captain Jack McNeal, head of UNCLE Seattle’s STRIKE team, packing an enormous weapon that looks like an oversized energy shotgun. Stone-faced, he keeps walking forward, cocks the thing again, and fires. Onyx stumbles back a few more steps. McNeal fires again. After a couple of more shots, Onyx hits the wall and falls down…not out, but at least stunned for a moment. Now standing right above Lucy, McNeal looks down and says, “So I guess diamonds AREN’T a girl’s best friend?”. He offers his hand to her, and, at a bit of loss for words, she takes it and lets him pull her up. She whips out her “personal fog” device and stands next to him as he recocks his gun, and they prepare to face the rising Onyx. Luckily, Rainier comes running by and says, “I got it, I got it, sorry” to them, and jumps on Onyx. The white-faced Kelvin has just gotten his eyes cleared up and looks very angry, and is frosting up one of his hands while flaming up the other. Suddenly a group of mystical arrows come zipping by Lucy and McNeal and nail the villain to the wall by his costume. The pair look back and see Moondancer there. She defers to Lucy, saying “You go ahead. I’m done.” Lucy pulls out two of her “taser bees” from a pouch and flings them. The two mini buzzing robots fly toward him, spiraling around each other along the way, and stick into his shoulders, sending twin electrical charges that cause him to spasm and drool before he slumps into unconsciousness.
Dyna is still duking it out with Render, trading powerful blows. He gets his hands around her throat and starts choking her, and asks in the middle of it (while he’s clearly enjoying doing it a little too much), “You like it rough, baby?” She answers by bringing her knee up, with her full strength, into his crotch. He loses all his breath and his eyes bulge out. So she does it four more times, very quickly. He’s doubled over and barely conscious, making a kind of squeaking sound, and, getting her breath back, Holly grabs the back of his hair, yanks him back up straight, and says “That answer your question?”. Then she rams his head into the wall hard enough to make a dent in the armor, and he falls into a heap, out cold.
Moonspider is facing off against Armory, Blind Rage and Bushkill (the Aussie who got taken out of last night’s fight very early). Slinger seems to have run through another door and disappeared, and Prowler has run off where the other villains went. All three of them have years of martial training and are frightfully good. He dodges and counters, getting in shots where he can, taking a few, too. Finally he gets an opening and leaps up with his hands on either of Blind Rage’s shoulders and kicks out, nailing both Armory and Bushkill in their faces, sending them flying back. Landing behind Rage, he spins with a leg sweep, but the former commando leaps expertly above it, despite his lack of sight. It’s one-on-one with them for a few seconds before Moonspider does a back flip double kick to the villain’s head that knocks him cold. The other two villains try to recover, but he’s on them, going back and forth, hitting and kicking, taking on one and then the other. He finally kicks Armory, then Bushkill, into oblivion. Spinning around to see if anyone else is on him, he finds two fairly awed UNCLE agents standing in the door, watching. They look at each other, and then back to him, and respectfully applaud. Moonspider quickly checks the other cells, where he finds Vanish (his client that escaped Pocantico Point while possessed by Gepetto (see Forte 2000 #140)) sitting on the bunk of his cell. He holds up his hands in peace and says he’s not part of this. He’s just trying to make it to his parole hearing. Little does he know he’s actually saying that to his lawyer.
Dyna Girl and Rainier are taking on Onyx, and fighting hard to take the monster down. Dyna is currently on his back, her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around his shoulders and pinning his arms, yelling for Rainier to hit him harder. Rainier is landing punches, and Dyna is questioning his manhood loudly, screaming for him to stop screwing around and hit the guy. Rainier starts raining massive punches across the villain’s face.
Nearby, Tinker and Moondancer are facing a growling Prowler, who’s sizing them up. A call comes through on McNeal’s radio, telling him he’s needed out front. Tinker tells him to go, that they’ve got this. He hesitates and runs off. Tinker and Moondancer approach Prowler, the villainess who nearly gutted Vortex, shoulder to shoulder, and Moondancer pulls out her mystic spear and wields it. Prowler charges, and the heroines dodge and engage her. She’s deadly fast and vicious. Her claws swipe at them. Tinker throws an entangle bolo at her but it misses. Moondancer spins her spear around and gets in a couple of blows. Then she feints with a half-stab, causing the villainess to avoid her, and Tinker gets in a nasty round kick. Moondancer avoids (for a change) using the business end of her spear and whacks the catgirl across the head a couple of times with the other end. Enraged, she leaps on Moondancer and knocks her to the ground, sitting on her and slashing at her face with her claws. Tinker leaps over her and grabs her and flips her, throwing her at the wall. Then Tinker whips out a glue bomb and slings it at her, and the device blows, gumming her up in the stuff and sticking her to the wall (eeew, sticky fur). Prowler screams and bellows, but a couple of Tinker’s bees take the rest of the fight out of her. Tinker offers Moondancer a hand and helps her up, while Dyna and Rainier take Onyx down. He collapses, falling back on Dyna. Pinned beneath him and panting, she looks up at Rainier and asks him what took him so long.
Out front, McNeal, the STRIKE team, Dane, Castillo and a host of other UNCLE agents are taking on Deathcry and Toast. Deathcry is easily taken down with stunning energy beams, as without her armor she’s just a pissed-off engineer. Toast is another story, and the deadly electrical villainess is blasting at agents and taking their blasts, and a number of agents are already down.
Erebus, meanwhile, has avoided the melees and is headed right for the holding room that has the sarcophagus in it. He steps in and Max is waiting in front of it…as Rainier had radioed him and told him not to leave the artifact. Max tells the mystical villain (whom Max has never seen before) to not even think about it and to give himself up, there’s no way out of the building. He calls Max a young fool, and says nothing can contain him, and nothing can stop him from taking possession of the artifact. Max tells him Mandate isn’t getting their hands on it (whatever it is) and Erebus laughs and says he never had any intention of turning it over to them, that he was only working with them to get close to it and take it for himself. Even now, he says, he can feel the power surging from it, and he’ll be taking that power for himself. Max says all he’s going to be taking is a long nap.
With that, Erebus is on him, letting loose with an eldritch blast that sends Max flying back against the wall. Shaking it off, Max rises up and flies at the villain, knocking him back into the other wall. They grapple, and the fact that Max can hurt him makes him quite angry (he doesn’t have the armor now that his spooky costume provided him the night before). He touches Max’s chest and something like black lightning crackles all over the hero and causes him great pain. The villain then raises his hand and Max rises off the ground and is sent flying back, and dark forces pin him to the wall, where the lightning keeps pouring over him. Erebus floats a couple of feet above the ground and keeps up his assault, telling Max he’s about to learn a final lesson about toying with things he doesn’t understand.
Elsewhere downtown, Mean Streak is racing between traffic and planning his getaway, not knowing if his jailbreak for his teammates worked out or not. He considers running back and finding out and lending a hand, but decides its best to look out for himself. As he’s running across an intersection, Vortex rockets by and nails him with a devastating punch as he passes, and Mean Streak’s momentum sends him tumbling painfully down the street, over a hill, and down to the waterfront, where he lands in the cold waters of the Sound. Vortex is there in a moment, snatching him up and yanking him from the water and dropping him on the dock.
Holding the front of his costume and leaning over him, Vortex asks if he’s ready to quit now. Dazed and breathing heavily, the villain pants and doesn’t put up a fight. He simply says, “So you’re the new one”. The new one? New to the brotherhood of speed, Streak says. He’d been told there was a new player. He asks if Vortex has been “inside” yet. Vortex isn’t sure what he’s talking about. Mean Streak says Vortex has a lot to learn. There’s a war coming, and Vortex had better think hard about which side he’s on. What war? With who? Mean Streak smiles and says he’ll find out soon enough, and before he does, he’d better learn a few more tricks. Such as…
Mean Streak vibrates at super-speed beneath Vortex and passes right through the dock. Vortex dashes to the side and looks under, but the villain has obviously gone aquatic. The hero races out across the water, running on top of it, looking all over (the guy’s got to come up sometime), but soon realizes Mean Streak could be anywhere, and is gone.
Max is pinned several feet about the ground and writhing in pain at Erebus’s onslaught, when suddenly the villain is blown out of the sky by an energy blast. He hits the floor, and, released, Max does as well. Trying to recover, Erebus looks up, and sees Hisham Selim there, along with his three partners, all wielding UNCLE blasters (taken from fallen agents). And they seem to be no strangers to using guns. Hisham fearlessly tells the villain that he’ll not touch the reliquary, and that his plans, whatever they may be, have come to an end. Erebus calls them fools, rants, etc., and floats up and prepares to fight them, and the four Egyptians start firing. He takes some of their shots, deflects others, deals out some more blasts, one of which sends Sadiki flying. Max then jumps him and fights him again as the remaining “businessmen” lay on fire when they can, and Hisham jumps in and starts expertly punching him when Max is knocked back for a moment. With a couple more blasts to stun the villain, Max is able to leap in and finish him off for good.
In the lobby, Slinger is alone and is trying desperately to figure out how to open the door and get free. He hears someone say “ahem” and turns around. There stand Dyna Girl, Tinker, Rainier, Moondancer, Moonspider, Dane, Castillo, McNeal, and about twenty UNCLE agents, all of them leveling their guns at him, having taken out Toast when the heroes intervened. Dyna Girl asks him, “Did you take that interest inventory thing in high school, and did it suggest you take up an exciting career in being a complete f***ing moron?” Cursing, Slinger puts his hands behind his head, and agents take him into custody. As they do, there’s a knock at the front door. Dane checks the monitor at the reception desk, and it’s Vortex waiting outside. They open the door and let him in, but shut it behind him until final containment is verified. Castillo is calling for medics to check out the fallen agents. One agent in particular is patting the other agents on the back and saying great job, that they really nailed those evil bastards, didn’t they? UNCLE rocks! A couple of them look at him and ask who the hell he is. Everyone turns to him then, and he looks around nervously. Realizing he’s caught, he sighs, and Clay transforms back into himself and puts his hands up. He’s taken into custody, too.
Remembering the sarcophagus, the heroes rush to the room, only to find Max picking Erebus up off the ground…and the Egyptians there? With guns? Agents brandish their own guns and tell the civilians to drop them, but Max quickly tells them its okay, they helped him take the villain down. Hisham raises a hand and sets the gun down, as does Issa (Salah had already put his down and is helping the wounded Sadiki up), and he tells UNCLE that they are no threat. They simply had to protect their property, and keep the evil man from killing Max. As McNeal and his team get the unconscious villain back to detention, Hisham explains he doesn’t know who Erebus is, or what happened here today, but that he and his men need to take the item and go…it’s obviously not safe here. Castillo tells him it’s not going anywhere, that it’s evidence, and he wants to know who the hell these guys are and what’s in the box. Rainier jumps in with less intimidating and more archeological questions, desperate to know more about it. The Egyptians, meanwhile, are getting agitated again and insisting the government has no right to withhold their property, that they have a legal right to retrieve it and be on their way.
Suddenly, there’s a piercing noise, and the top of the sarcophagus breaks its seal. Weird light pours out of it, and a sound like a desert storm. Wind from nowhere begins to blow hair and capes throughout the room. Max swears quickly to Rainier that he didn’t touch it. UNCLE agents raise their guns, causing Hisham and his men the grab theirs again and point them at the agents frantically and tell them to lower their weapons now. The lid begins to rise on ancient hinges as the frenzied, shouting standoff continues.
The lid raises all the way up, and suddenly the noise, the wind, and the light all stop at once. Tinker tells everyone (the agents) to get back, and she and the other heroes line up and prepare for whatever’s coming. Moondancer pulls an arrowhead from her magical pouch.
A figure sits up in the sarcophagus, and everyone looks at it, perplexed. The figure seems to be about a twelve year-old boy. He’s bald but for a long, black tail growing from the back of his head, and he’s dressed in ornamental robes. He looks around at everyone and blinks, taking in the scene.
The Egyptians drop their guns and fall prostrate, bowing down in front of the sarcophagus. Hisham reverently says, “Mighty Horus, we, your servants, have held strong for this day. The brotherhood has kept the precepts and awaited your return. We serve you, Mighty Horus, and await your command.”
The boy looks down at them and nods, coming out of his confusion. He then looks up and back around at everyone, and seems…excited? He looks at his surroundings with marveling, fiercely intelligent eyes, and his face brightens into a boyish smile. Suddenly he comes fully back to reality and looks down at his followers and speaks.
“Is it time?” he asks, urgently. “Has my brother returned? Is the Jackal here?”
Uh…
