StarFall Comics
In Association with El Queso Productions
Proudly Presents:
Metal Fire
#5: Assault on the Pentagon, Part 4: And The Walls Come Tumbling Down
cover: In the foreground Dr. Roberts smiles like the cat that swallowed the canary. The background: images of him playing with Kim as a toddler, building the I-Form, family picnics, etc.
So Far:
Kimberly Roberts' Father created a battlesuit called the Human-I-Form. Kim had to use the I-Form to protect her Father from the U.S. Air Force's efforts to obtain it. When Kim's Father was kidnaped, she went to the Pentagon to find him.
Now:
"Dad?" Kim asked. She released her grip on General Mussmoth as she stared at the man on the leather couch that had spoken to her. The man looked like her Father, but he like he was dressed for a costume party. He was wearing a black suit with expensive looking shoes and his hair was slicked back. Kim suddenly thought he looked like a poor man's Jack Nicholson.
"It's me Kimmy," her Father spoke, "I know you must be confused . . . but soon you'll see things more clearly than you ever have."
"Are . . . are you okay?" Kim asked her Father.
"Oh, I'm much better than okay Kimberly," he replied, "much better. Let's take a look at you."
Dr. Roberts got up from the couch and walked over to Kim. Kim had expected to find her Father locked up somewhere, she'd bust in, they'd hug and escape. Kim felt like she was in some weird dream as he sauntered toward her. Eyeing her up and down. Looking like some reject from a mob film. No sign of love in his eyes. He circled around her and then stood before her, face to face.
"What's wrong with you, Dad?" she asked, "What did they do to you?"
"They haven't done anything," he replied as he reached out to touch the I-Form's face, "but oh, what you've done for me." He ran his hand along her jawline as a broad smile spread above his own.
"Well," spoke the other man in black on the couch, "how is it?"
Dr. Robert's turned towards the man. "It's perfect, " he said and turned back, smiling an unfamiliar smile at Kim that made her feel very uneasy. "It's perfect," he repeated.
Suddenly, General Mussmoth popped up beside Dr. Roberts. He took a good hard look at Kim's left shoulder and knee. "Son of a . . . " he muttered. Then he looked at Kim, eye to optic.
"Kid, the last time someone picked me up by the lapels, I put a bullet between their eyes," he bellowed, "but seeing as how you can take two direct 40 caliber hits (issue #3 - .ed) and not even have the dents two days later, I think I'll save my ammo. Har, har har!"
"I'll be damned," the General said turning to address Mr. Hamilton on the couch, "I knew you people were crazy but I guess you're crazy like a fox. Har, har, har!" Mussmoth walked back behind his desk, settled into his highback leather chair and lit up a cigar.
"What is going on here?" asked Kim.
"Come on over and have a seat Kim," replied Dr. Roberts as he walked back to the couch, "It's a long story."
Kim looked back at Mussmoth. He grinned at her like a roman spectator waiting for the lions to be released. She headed over towards the couch and sat down in a wing-back chair on the right. Her Father, the other man and the door were on her right and Mussmoth was on her left. Her back was to a wall. It felt like she was being cornered.
"Let's begin in Boston," said Dr. Roberts.
MIT, May 22, 1969
"Look, Jerome you're one of the best robotics students I've ever had, but I can't keep letting you use the lab. You're not a student any more, you've received your Doctorate young man. It's time to leave school. If you want to continue doing pure research, you're going to have to get a grant from someone," said Professor Thompson.
"Please Professor," a young Jerome Roberts replied, "you don't understand how close I am."
"Out, Dr. Roberts," spoke Thompson, "Out into the world with you."
Later that same evening, in an apartment on Tate Street . . .
"Hey gloomy roomy, ya wanna go down to the Sticky Nickel with me?" asked Lee Bradshaw as he stuck his head inside of his roommate's doorway, "You know, beer, music, girls . . . you remember girls right? Soft creatures, smell nice, giggle a lot?"
"Shutup, Bradshaw," snapped Jerome Roberts, "I've got too much work to be bothered by a pest like you."
"Ya know something, Cheerful?," replied Lee, "I didn't mind when I got a roommate that was obsessed with his Doctoral thesis. The place was always quiet when I needed to study. You weren't even here most of the time. I saw you more at school than I did at home."
Lee walked into Jerome's room and said, "Look man, you got your doctorate and you're still obsessed. How many sheepskins does that make for you anyway? I've heard that you've already got doctorates in Physics and Chemistry and some kind of parapsychology degree. It's rumored that you started college at the age of 14! Of course, I didn't hear it from you. The only thing I ever hear from you is, 'Shutup, Bradshaw'. Listen JR, I'm telling you, it's time to stop looking at the world through a microscope and start looking at women through the bottom of pint glass!"
"Who are you," asked Roberts, "my Mother?"
"No," said Lee, "I'm just a very laid back guy with the most uptight roommate in Boston. I admit I've teased you about it, but jeez man, you're so obsessed. Working on some project you won't talk about, not even to Professor Thompson. Half the chemicals in this bedroom are probably illegal to have in a household. Lighten up man, come out with my friends and me. Start living your life."
"Are you finished?" asked Roberts.
"Yeah, I am," replied Lee, "but I won't give up on ya man. I'm gonna see you act like a real human boy Pinocchio if it's the last thing I do! Ha ha!" Lee left the apartment.
"Hippie freak, " Roberts muttered and turned back to his microscope.
Five minutes later there was a knock at the door . . .
"Probably, forgot his damn keys again," muttered Roberts.
The knocking came again . . .
"Alright, alright already," yelled Roberts. He got up and strode to the front door, throwing it open angrily. "Bradshaw, you . . . " he started.
"Good evening, Dr. Roberts," said a man dressed in black, wearing dark sunglasses, "My name is Lovelace and I'm here about your research."
"What, uh," Roberts replied, "What research?"
"We know all about your research, Doctor," said Lovelace, "and we want to help."
Mussmoth's Office, now . . .
"I won't go into the details of it now," said Dr. Roberts, "but suffice to say that my meeting with Mr. Lovelace was the single most enlightening experience of my life. He proved to me something that I thought I could never believe as a man of science. He proved to me the existence of God."
"What?" asked Kim, "We're sitting a mile under the Pentagon so you can tell me about a visit you had from a Jehovah's Witness in 1969?"
"No," Dr. Roberts replied, "This had nothing to do with religion. Mr. Lovelace proved to me that our world is inter-dimensionally bi-polar. There is a side of light and an opposing side of darkness. They feed off of each other. One unable to exist without the other. Their struggle for control has been going on for eons."
"So," said Kim, "this Lovelace guy made you believe in God and the Devil."
"Simply put, yes," replied Dr. Roberts, "The two sides in the battle for domination of our world use religion as a weapon. Understand this Kim, they use us. The human populace of earth are pawns in their inter-dimension al game of chess. We are their fools, their puppets. Their is no right or wrong side both are equally evil in their exploitation of humanity. The side of light is the same as the side of darkness, do you understand?"
"Why would they use us?" asked Kim.
"To keep us down," Dr. Roberts replied, "they see us as a threat. They realize that man is the first species to develop that could evolve to a level matching or surpassing their own in power. That's why their battle is escalating. They will have their final battle . . . Armageddon, Ragnarock, call it what you will . . . before we reach the point where we, as a species, would be able to enter the battle too."
"This still sounds very cultish to me," said Kim.
"It's not," said Dr. Roberts, "it's cold hard fact. Mr. Lovelace was a member of an organization that realized the situation our race was in long ago and had been working ever since to do something about it. I've been a member since that night in '69. I'm a member of The Unexpected."
"The Unexpected is an ancient organization, Ms. Roberts," Mr. Hamilton broke in, "My name is Hamilton. I'm the head of . . . a family business, but more importantly I'm a member of The Unexpected."
"Dad, are you telling me you're a member of a criminal organization?" asked Kim.
"No," replied Dr. Roberts, "Don't be fooled by Mr. Hamilton's line of work. Members have a wide variety of careers, from CEO's of multi-billion dollar conglomerates to High School janitors. We actively seek out agents from all walks of life, for it is life itself that we're trying to protect, Kim."
"The two opposing forces of the universe see our race developing into a potential rival, " said Hamilton, "The Unexpected exists to quicken the evolution of our species, so we can enter the final battle between light and dark and fight for our own kind."
"Armageddon will come before we've had the chance to evolve to the level of a third force of balance in the universe," said Dr. Roberts, "That's why the work we do is so important. We intend to free mankind from it's enslavement to the forces of heaven and hell."
Kim sat in stunned silence for a moment. "This is insane," she finally said, "This isn't happening."
"Kimmy," Dr. Roberts said, "It's not insane and it most definitely is happening. My entire adult life's been spent trying to create a technologically advanced human in order to save our species from extinction at the hands of our oppressors."
"You were being funded by the U.S. Air Force," said Kim, "Are you telling me the entire Air Force are members of The Unexpected?"
"No, of course not," Mr. Hamilton answered, "We act clandestinely in all matters. Every project we have going worldwide is hidden behind another group or purpose. We worked out an arrangement with General Mussmoth for some 'non-congressional' funding in exchange for the appearance that the Air Force was funding your Father's project for the U.S. military."
"I could never tell you when you were growing up Kimberly," said Dr. Roberts, "I couldn't tell you until you were a part of it."
"What do you mean, a part of it?" asked Kim.
"The I-Form Kim," replied Dr. Roberts, "The I-Form is my life long project and now you're a part of it."
"Well, I got some news for you," Kim snapped in frustrated confusion, "there's something wrong with your life long project. I'm stuck inside this thing!"
"No Kim," said Dr. Roberts, "there's nothing wrong with the I-Form. In fact, it couldn't be better."
"Did you never ask what the 'I' stood for, Kim?" asked Hamilton with cheshire grin.
"What?" Kim asked.
"When Mr. Lovelace recruited me in 1969," replied Dr. Roberts, "I had been chosen because of my private research into combining the chemical makeup of metals with psionic energy in an effort to create an advanced molecular robot. What I wound up creating years later for The Unexpected was something that I call Living Metal."
"Your Father is a true genius, child," said Mr. Hamilton, "He didn't just create a new technology. He created a new life-form! Some believe that your Father's Living Metal is actually alive!"
"Which is all well and good but the next step," Dr. Roberts continued, "was to apply this new technology to the goal of our organization . . . to create a new super powered breed of humans. To advance our species through technological means. That's when I started work on the Human-I-Form . . . a Human Integration Form. I set about building an advanced battlesuit that would make the wearer more powerful than any human creature. The trick was to make the suit and all of it's components from my Living Metal, and then have the suit merge itself with a living human to create a super-human."
"Merge itself?!" Kim exclaimed, "What are you saying?!"
"I'm saying that you're not stuck inside the I-Form," Dr. Roberts replied, "You and the I-Form are merging into one."
"No!" Kim cried, "This can't be true!"
"I know it's a shock, Kim," said Roberts, "but I couldn't tell you any sooner. You see, I think Mr. Hamilton is a bit over-zealous when he says my Living Metal is truly alive. That's still not been proven. What we do know is that it's controlled by psionic force with it's primary response being to human emotions. In order to insure that you bonded with the I-Form, it was necessary to create an emotional need for you to use the suit. That's why we asked General Mussmoth to threaten my life and fake my kidnaping. It created an intense emotional need for you to use and thus bond with the suit."
"Genius! And it's really working this time," Mr. Hamilton chimed in.
"Yes, if only I'd known about the emotional bonding factor last time," said Dr. Roberts.
"Wait . . . wait," Kim managed to say through her intense shock, "What last time are you talking about? I only wore the suit a few times and . . ."
"Not everyone is able merge with the Living Metal Kim," Dr. Roberts interrupted, "only a very select few have the correct DNA structure that makes it possible. You have that rare DNA strand . . . as did your Mother."
"Mom?" whispered Kim, "You used this on Mom?"
"Yes," replied Roberts, "but as I said, I had yet to factor in the emotional response of the subject effecting the bonding with the Living Metal when it was tested on her."
"But . . . buh," Kim stammered on the verge of becoming hysterical, "the . . . the car crash . . . the Jeep . . ."
"It's time you knew the truth, Kim," said Dr. Roberts, "there was no accident with the Jeep. Your Mother was my first attempt at merging the I-Form with a human . . . and the experiment failed."
Kim sat in stunned silence. Her Father continued talking, saying something about the metal failing to bond correctly, blah , blah, blah, but Kim just couldn't hear him anymore. She had tunnel vision and felt as if she was going to pass out. Then she began to feel the heat. The same white hot anger she had felt when battling those four thugs in Tijuana. (issue #3 again -ed.)
She looked at her Father, a stranger to her now. His mouth was still opening and closing but she couldn't hear a sound. He'd just taken her entire life away from her. Everything she'd ever believed was a lie.
"How could I have been so blind?" Kim asked herself.
"You killed Mom," she found herself saying to him before she even thought of it.
"That's one way to look at it," replied Dr. Roberts, "I see what happened as an unfortunate necessity. As your Mother was so fond of saying, 'You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.'"
"You unspeakably hideous man," Kim said while rising from her chair, "you killed my Mother and turned me into a metal freak!"
Kim pointed her palms directly at her Father.
"Any last words?" asked an enraged Kim.
"Let me show you something Kimmy," replied Roberts as he reached into the breast pocket of his suit jacket.
Roberts pulled a small beige box with a single button on it from his pocket. He pressed the button. Kim fired a plasma blast . . . nothing happened. She tried to grab her Father . . . she couldn't move.
"Can you still hear me Kim?" Roberts asked, "I hope so. This is a psionic field disrupter, another of my inventions. I'm going to keep this close to you for a while so you'll have some time to think. You need the time dear, I know you're shocked by what you've learnt today, but I urge you to consider your future, Kim. You're doing great so far, but it's not 100% certain that you'll survive the merge with the I-Form. You need me. You need me to insure your survival. And we need you. We need you to be the first of our race of new humans. We fully intend to defeat both Heaven and Hell and you're the key to our doing so. You should feel honored to be the first of your kind . . . our world's true saviours."
Kim could hear her Father talking, she just couldn't move. She stained with every ounce of energy she had to move, but it felt like she was trying to push an ocean liner across a desert. The tunnel vision returned . . . and deepened. Kim blacked out.