StarFall Comics
A Division of Pullemouttayerhat Productions
A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of StarFall Innovations
Proudly Presents:
City Streets
#13: New York Underground
cover: A young man, standing unscathed in the middle of a fiery blast.
"Now that is a big cuisinart."
Looking through the door's window, Josh watched as three men in lab coats tended to a device with a young man strapped into it. Small spurts of flame licked his eyebrows and arms as he struggled against his bonds. The fire, however, did not appear to be burning him.
"That's a new one. He's a pyrokinetic."
Taking in the rest of the room from his vantage point, Josh ran a quick scenario through his head, considered the options open to him, and kicked in the door.
"You, you, and you!" he yelled "Yeah, yous! Up against the wall and don't make a move!" Brandishing his pistol to give his words force. When the scientists did not respond immediately, he 'helped' the nearest one in a very forceful manner. When he had them where he wanted them, Josh backed towards the prisoner and looked at the device holding him.
"Ok, Einstein," he said, pointing his gun at one of his hostages, "get Toasty Oats out of this thing. NOW!"
"But, he isn't ready yet! He'll be unstable!" the scientist protested.
"Unstable? Unstable??? You want unstable? I'll give you unstable! NOW!!!"
The report from Josh's gun resounded sharply off of the walls of the small room, the bullet ricocheting several times before embedding itself in a chair.
"Now, unless you want me to get unhinged, get that crap off my bud."
Robin peeked through the window in the door.
"This ain't gonna be easy."
The scene she surveyed was similar to the one Pete and Josh had witnessed. Three technicians in white lab coats keeping tabs on a teenage girl strapped into some sort of machinery.
As she went to reach for the doorknob, however, she felt rather sluggish. A hand reached down, opened the door before she could react, and the door closed. What appeared to be seconds later, a flash of light came through the crack under the door, and the sluggishness faded.
Glancing up through the window, Robin gasped. The techs were looking about in confusion, and the girl was gone.
"This is too weird," she muttered, heading back up the tunnel.
Allan and Heather wandered down a back alley, heading back to the team's hideout.
"It's quiet tonight," he commented. "The gangs must have the night off."
"Probably a fight going down someplace else," she replied. "Al, I gotta ask you something. Are we... y'know... well..."
The two stopped, and looked each other in the eye.
"I think so," Al told her, tenderly. He leaned down, and kissed her gently. She hesitated for a second, then kissed him back.
Back in the sewers, Lee poked her head into the door. Looking up from their jobs, the men in white lab coats looked first bewildered, then annoyed, then surprised. Lee was suddenly jerked into the room by some unseen force, while the eggheads were pushed against a wall.
"Thanks for the distraction, kid," a young black man said, pulling himself loose from the straps securing him to a strange device. "These guys might have actually managed to keep me here otherwise."
Walking out the door, he disappeared into the sewers. Minutes later, Lee found herself able to move again.
"What the crap was that?" she asked one of the scientists.
Looking very annoyed, the scientist glared at her, then yelled, "Get her!"
"Whoops!" Ducking back out the door, she ran down the corridor trying to find one of her friends before they could catch her.
Josh appeared at the junction, helping "Toasty" stand upright.
"So, what's your name?" Josh asked him. "I mean, I can't keep calling you 'Toasty'."
"Call me Mat," came the groggy reply. "Who are you?"
"The name's Josh. I'm a friend."
"You been watchin' too many movies, pal. What next, you gonna say that you the Master?"
"I've only seen The Last Dragon once. I prefer Jackie Chan."
Before Mat could reply, Robin stepped out of her tunnel.
"How'd you make out, Rob?" Josh asked.
"Well, the best that I can say is that she got herself out," Rob replied. "I think she had help, but I can't say how."
"That's what happened to me," Lee huffed, running out of her passage. "Only this one walked off by himself. Anyone seen Pete?"
"I'm right here," Pete gasped, staggering into view, carrying the limp body of a teenage girl.
"Is she...?" Robin asked.
"Yes." Eyes downcast, Pete refused to say anything more.
"Let's get out of here," Josh stated. "We'll deal with this later, Pete."
As Josh opened up the manhole he'd found in the sewer ceiling, the three technicians that had been chasing Lee came into view.
"You?!" Mat yelled, flames leaping from seemingly every pore of his body. The leapt quickly away to avoid being burned. The scientists stopped dead in their tracks.
"Get out of my head!" the firey youth screamed. Flames poured out of his eyes and hands at the men, who were blasted to cinders as they turned to flee. Trailing the walls and ceiling, the flames struck a gas main.
"Move it!!" Josh yelled, scrambling up the ladder to their only exit, Pete and the twins following suit. Without warning, an unseen force grabbed them, and lifted them through the manhole and out onto the street.
"That was ... spooky," Robin muttered, leaning against Josh. "Let's go home."
"Yes," he agreed. "Come on."
There was a knock on the door to the office.
"Come in."
Joe wheeled himself into Harnagorn's office, a grim look on his face.
"Yes, Joe?" she asked, sitting so her back was to him.
"We just had a visit to the labs by Al's friends," he reported. "We're still cleaning up the mess, but it looks like three of the scientists and at least one of the test subjects, Project Image, were killed. I...."
"That's enough," she barked, facing him. "I'm through with your failures. No more schemes, no more recruiting operatives. And no more wasting time trying to reconnect your severed link with your brother."
"But..." he began, only to get cut off.
"No more 'buts', either, Smale. I want you down in the robotics lab. Tonight." She scowled at him. "Move it!"
After he left the office, Harnagorn pressed a single button on her phone.
"Prep Joe Smale for cybernetic implants. I want him walking by sunrise."
Allan and Heather sat on the couch in the team's hideout, softly snoring. Allan jerked awake as Josh, Pete, and the twins entered the room.
"Ssshhh!" he half-whispered. "No need to wake her up."
"Sorry," Josh told him, as the others disappeared down the hallway. "We gotta talk later. About Pete."
Allan nodded. "Tell me about it in the morning." He stood up, picked up Heather, and carried her down the hallway. Josh watched him, silently shaking his head.
"That musta been one hell of a date."