Pieces In Play

Professor Norman Rockwell: Daily log, May 4th;

I have successfully procured the Navy's XEMPC or Experimental Electro-Magnetic Pulse Cannon, an archaic name, no flash, or presence. What a joy it was to see four mighty heroes struggle in vain against my mighty children! They did get two of my destroyers, but the other ten succeeded by there sacrifice, Shadow did order me to make the raid short, too much at stake, many more preparations are required to secure the base. So I didn't have time to relish in my triumph, but patience is a virtue, I'll record my gloating in the speech. Shadow wants me to distract the alliance with a recorded announcement. An easy task, a fun one too.

My analysts of the weapon was disappointing, overly bulky, too inefficient, so I have strewn the components across my lab with the care of a gorilla, I nearly hit Battle Phage with an inductor coil in my dissemblance. In the wonderful chaos Newbton, my oldest penguin-bot stole a vital control chip! I chased the ungrateful mechanical ingrate half the afternoon! I finally caught it and pressed his sleep button, but not before he swallowed the chip, which forced me to operate to retrieve it, to the horror of the other pets who shivered in the corners of the lab. The AIs of my pets are remarkable, even I'm surprised in the brilliance of the realism in the emotions they portray at times. The longer they operate the more complex emotions they simulate, Talon tells me constantly how they "creep him out" I just smile. The monkey-bots are fascinated by Talon, they sit for hours staring at him, mimicking him at times, though they could also be assessing him as a threat. I must remind Talon not to attack them, Shadow won't like his close colleague in pieces, of course, the monkey-bots could only be curious of some aspect of his appearance.

Speaking of our benevolent leader, my impression of the man is that he demands respect, not so much in words, but in presence. Even when he waltzed into my lair to recruit me he oozed respect, and his fighting skill is superb, ever since they faced him in the arena my penguin-bots still fear him, almost irrationally, if such thing can be possible in one of my creations, despite my brilliance I am still far from perfection. An aspect of my frail body of flesh I hope to upgrade one day. Shadow's goals of a better world is near to my own goal of perfection. That's why I follow him I think, and the fun of the journey of course. Anyway, I used the XEMPC parts to upgrade my destroyer's main particle laser and designed my own, far more efficient Electro-Magnetic Pulse Weapon for the base defenses. What a shame, the Navy's far from what they used to be technology-wise, I almost feel sorry for anyone stupid enough to face my children... Almost.

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Apollo stood before the massive, ornate doors of The Hero Alliance Cathedral. There the council debated the fiasco at the Naval shipyard, Apollo stared at the eight-foot-high statues of past heroes and feared he may never see himself remembered in this sacred hall. He lost himself as he followed the clean lines of brushed aluminum, gold plate, and crimson arches of the hall. He admired the skillful placement of lights, that illuminated the statues so that it appeared that their mere presence in massive colored quartz gave the hall it's bright and warm light.

The doors opened with the sound of the heavy lock disengaging and Fist, Sniper, and Sakura exited. Sakura gave Apollo a wary smile as she approached him, "They want to see you now." Apollo gave a deep sigh, "I know," she gave him a forced smile, "You'll be alright Apollo," he put his hand on her shoulder, "I hope so," as he brushed past her Apollo gave his friends a half-smile and entered the cathedral. The clean lines of the hall ended at the door replaced by the medieval style vaulted ceilings and dramatic arches in white stone. In the center was an amphitheater with the six council members perched above a platform with a steel and glass desk and high-back chairs, behind the platform was seating for spectators, which was bare except for several government observers and a few heroes, several he knew but was worried because his known allies were in the minority.

Apollo has observed tribunals before, but never participated in one, so he knew the drill and made his way to the platform, and stood beside his chair as the council stood, "Apollo, you stand before this council today to give your testimony on the events of May 1st, 2025. We will begin." Spoke Council Chairman Prometheus in his usual booming voice, it was obvious the room was wired with hidden microphones and amplified, but he knew from previous experience, that for the chairman, it was not needed. The council members sat and Apollo did also, "Apollo," Council Member Siren spoke in her very feminine tone, "According to your report, you spread a company of marines across the base with yourself, Sakura, and Fist in the rear with Sniper providing support. Is that correct?" Apollo sat straight, "That is correct, with the vague information I had I felt it was prudent to anticipate several angles of approach."

She glanced at her terminal hidden from view by her pedestal seat, "I see," An image appeared on the room's holographic array showing the twelve walkers with there countless escorts of flyers just as they came from afar hill, "As you are aware these are the destroyer walkers that attacked the base, what went through your mind when you saw this sight?" Apollo stared at the six-foot projected image, "I knew I'll most likely fail my mission" the council raised their eyebrows, obviously his answer wasn't what they expected, "And yet you resisted?" said Council Member Argos, he was new to the council, and Apollo suspected he has a lot to prove, "Yes, I had lives to consider, and running away might cause more damage, and more lives to be lost. Considering Cork Screw's history."

Apollo answered with stern confidence, but he was met with cool gazes. Argos brought up another image of the tank company burning in the field, "Did you consider these lives?" his tone was cold giving emphasis to the morbid picture, 'He wants to destroy me.' Apollo thought as he took a deep breath, "They were not under my command, and my comm record will show I attempted to warn them off. They refused to listen, and foolishly followed their orders, with fatal consequences." Apollo made a point of his own, but an Army observer behind him wasn't amused. Argos picked up on that, "Yet you knew they will die, and did nothing to protect them!" 'Dirty bastard playing politics like that,' Apollo thought, but he held his tongue, "I couldn't help them in time, and even if I could've been there before they fired, there were thousands of Flyer drones. No hero could've stopped that many." Argos gave a subtle smile, "But you could have saved a few." 'Bastard,' he held his gaze on Argos, if only he had laser vision, "Perhaps one if I was extremely lucky" Argos pushed the point, "But there was a chance, ill be it a slim one, correct?" Apollo stared sternly into Argos' cocky smirk, "A very slim one, yes."

Siren, tired of Argos' obvious play at Army sympathy, cleared the main holo display, "Enough, the interference by the Army is not the point of this investigation. It is clear that Apollo did what he could under the circumstances, what is the purpose of this hearing is to compile the facts to see the truth, and how to prevent such incidents in the future." Argos relented and sat back in his plush chair. Prometheus brought a video summarizing the attack on the holo-display, the approach of the walkers, the tanks exploding, Fist facing the full force of a particle laser beam to protect the EMP, Apollo destroying a walker, and so on. "What is disturbing to me is how organized and precise the assault was," Prometheus boomed, "Tactics clearly far out of character for Cork Screw, and not to mention his video release," the video changed to Cork Screw's video announcement, "This video was broadcasted globally, an ability he has never shown in his past skirmishes with the alliance." The room was deathly quiet for a moment, Prometheus' booming voice echoed throughout the large hall. Apollo felt relieved, it seems most of the council recognized the hopeless situation he faced that day.

The hearing continued for several hours as the council picked apart every detail and decision of that day, but Argos pushed another point regarding Apollo's obsession with the missing villains, and the possibility of them joining forces. Argos spun it as a conspiracy theory, which Apollo was unable to protest, he did his best to defuse Argos' attacks on his character, but any outright protest would've weakened his position further, and Apollo vowed he would give the cocky bastard as little ammunition as he possibly could. When it was over Apollo exited the cathedral exhausted, Sakura woke from napping on the bench outside the doors, "Apollo! How did it go?" she asked a little worried, he just toke a deep breath, "Fine, I had to fight Council Member Argos all the way, but I'm still in good standing with the elder members." She lit up with the news, "That's great! The others returned to the dorms already, you hungry?" Apollo gave a genuine smile, "Starving" they walked together down the massive hall and toward the mess hall.

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Shadow sat on his "throne" the over-stuffed chair atop a two-foot riser in the command room, and equipped with a ten-inch multi-touch display on a mechanical arm, giving him whatever information he needs. The cigarette tip glowed bright orange as Shadow studied his personal display. NEO-G sat at the master terminal with headphones on as she bobbed her head to her music, her dark brown shoulder-length hair swaying in rhythm, and her fingers dancing across her top-of-the-line back-lit gaming keyboard. Junk food wrappers and energy drinks littered across the console. It bothered Shadow a little bit to have the trash around, she agreed to clean the COMM-Room as her weekly chore, but he wasn't concerned with something so petty at the moment. With the last bit of defense weaponry completed, the base was fully operational, and it is time to start the most critical phase of his master plan, and the details need to be perfectly placed and orchestrated to work when the time is right.

A news broadcast plays in a window on the giant curved screen, "... Just moments ago The Hero Alliance released a bulletin, it calls for a worldwide manhunt for the infamous mad scientist, Cork Screw. This is in response to a devastating attack by the villain on Pensacola Naval Base last month, killing more than three dozen people, and stealing the Navy's experimental Rail-Gun despite the combined force of a trio of the Alliance's best heroes. The Hero Alliance refused to comment on the situation beyond the press release. This is the first defeat the Hero Alliance has faced in its twenty-year history, and many are losing faith in the government-sponsored organization, and this amounts to another devastating P-R hit to the Alliance, as many heroes registered under the organization fight bitter legal battles with citizens and businesses over property damage and personal injuries inflicted while battling villains world-wide. Leaving many wondering, is The Hero Alliance crumbling? And can they really keep us safe?"

Phase 1 is complete, now the most delicate Phase 2 begins. Years ago while I was preparing to begin my master plan, I took over a failing technology company, I revitalized the organization and attracted the best-of-the-best programmers and hardware engineers, now it controls 45% of its industry. Of course, no one outside of industry insiders knows that my company's motherboards, chips, and embedded OSs run everything from PCs to DVRs to Car Navigation Systems. My point in all this is that I have ample funds to set up and embed my underlings into the political arena. You will be surprised how little you need to buy all but the most zealous politician. War Eagle's underground network reaches nearly every level in law enforcement and politics, and now I'll use those contacts to put my people into the forefront of power.

My first embed is the rather stunning Tania Hill, Battle Phage's top trainee, she's quite literally killer. I have been coaching her for the last few weeks now on the details of the plan. California has been struggling for the last twenty years to stay in the black, the state also has many resources and a large influence in the senate due to its large population base. Tania will run for Governor under a Tea Party banner and WILL win because I will fix things and get the results she'll promise. Some would say, just fix the election it's the fast route, but any doubt of legitimacy would jeopardize further advancement up the political ranks. Her running mates are typical, opportunist politicians, and will find a loss is not as bad as it seems. In fact, it'll be very comfortable indeed, of course once under control they will serve my purposes or a rather nasty scandal will surface.

This Phase will probably be the most difficult for me, I despise dirty politicians, and bedding with them will be trying indeed. Some might think that contradictory, to use the very methods they use to get my ends, a thief can be trusted to be a thief, but politicians play both sides and betray at a drop of a hat. That is why I must put trusted people in the most powerful positions by any means

necessary, and play the game till I can tear it down. So I wait for that day and bear the burden.

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Apollo sat on the overstuffed couch in the common area watching TV, it's been six months since the Naval Base attack and not so much as a rumor in the manhunt for Cork Screw. The TV News anchor came on, "In political news, rising star Tania Hill's campaign reaches record popularity in her race for Governor in California. Tania's policy calls for reduced spending, stiffer border protections, and a freeze on tax rates. As well as shifting subsidies to businesses that need them the most. What is also remarkable is her refusal of special interest funding, and even going as far as making her complete campaign finance records available to the public. Promising similar transparency on a state level when elected, back to the studio." Apollo was strangely distrusting of this Tania Hill, she seemed to good to be true, but he stretched and put the thought out of his mind, for now, more

important matters that need to be done. He rose and trudged to the computer console where a facial recognition search was processing, the targets of the search are his missing villains. Faces flash by as the images from traffic, pedestrian protection, and even private security cameras scan crowds and customers worldwide. In the hours during the search so far, only three possible, and blurry hits showed up. It's baffling, how could four of the most infamous villains vanish from the face of the earth, they didn't leave earth either, NORAD Space Force Command confirmed that.

So where could they be? The hiss of the door disrupted his line of thought, he turned to see Argos strolling toward him, "Councilman Argos, what an honor sir."

Apollo said as he stood straight and gave a slight, and respectful bow, Argos responded in kind, "I'm flattered, but I only inquire of the results of your search Apollo." Argos peered at the large wrap-around screen of the console as Apollo brought up the three possibles, "Of course sir, so far we got three possible leads," He expanded the first image, "The first was a 65% possible for War Eagle in Juno Alaska about a month ago from a traffic camera," The second image expanded,

"The second lead was a 56% possible for Battle Phage in Phoenix Arizona from a gun store security camera about a week ago," the third image expanded, "and the most promising, a Surf-Cam in Los Angeles caught what appeared to be the silhouette of one of Cork Screw's Destroyer Walkers moving up the coast under the surf just six hours after the Naval base attack." Apollo finished, Argos raised an eyebrow, "Intriguing, have you talked to any witnesses to this silhouette?"

"Not yet sir, but I was waiting for the search to finish before I did anything in case more leads show up." Argos gave a nod, "Very well Apollo, keep the council informed." as he turned Apollo called to him, "Councilman, may I ask you a question?" Argo turned with a neutral expression on his face, "Of course." Apollo took a breath, "When I was before the council six months ago, why did you say what you did?" He paused, "You mean, why did I attack you?" Apollo nodded slightly, "Well I guess you deserve an explanation. I did what I did because the Joint Chief of Staff threatened to pull his resources from the Hero Alliance. We need both governmental, and military support to function unhindered around the world. So as the old saying goes, it's not personal, it's politics. So I had to put on a show-of-force to keep our access to those military satellites your using right now."

Apollo looked mildly shocked, "I had no idea." Argos gave a smile, "I like you Apollo, you remind me of how I was before politics and the council. It's sad really, to stay alive we have to appear to turn on one another." Argos added with an almost sad look, then he turned and walked out the doors, leaving Apollo to continue his work.