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: Metal Fire stands frozen in the same position as the end of Issue #5 but she's no longer in Mussmoth's office. She's in a small dimly lit room with stone walls.
So Far:
Kimberly Roberts' Father created the Human Integration Form, a high powered battlesuit constructed from a substance called Living Metal, it was designed to merge with a live subject to create an advanced human being. Kim was tricked by her Father into using the suit in order to have her merge with it.
Now:
General Mussmoth's Office:
"With all due respect sir," said Sergeant Jakobssen, "I don't like catering to these Unexpected people."
"Jakobssen!," barked General Mussmoth, "do you really think I give rat's patoot what you like?"
"But sir, I . . ." Jackobssen started.
"I know you think it was unwise of me to give them access to the deep underground train level of the Pentagon," Mussmoth interrupted, " Well, you're not here to think boy! I've got them down there for a reason. I need to keep them close, but completely hidden. No one ever goes down there."
"I'm sorry sir, but those trains are continuously powered, can't they just break into one and leave whenever they want?" asked Jakobssen.
"All those trains are point to point, Sergeant," replied Mussmoth, "if they jump on one, we'll know where they're going."
Mussmoth pulled a fresh Cuban cigar from his humidor, bit off the end and lit it up.
"The little arrangement I made with these whackos has really turned sweet. I still can't believe that I-Form thing," said Mussmoth, "it's fantastic."
Eight Miles below the Pentagon, the train level:
Kim awoke in a small room carved from stone. She tried to move, but she was still frozen in place. The psionic field disrupter, the small beige box her Father had activated to immobilize her, was sitting on the ground a few feet away.
"I can't believe this is happening," Kim thought, "my whole life has been a lie. My own Father deceived me . . . turned me into some unnatural abomination . . . and killed my Mother attempting the same thing with her."
A wave of grief deeper than Kim had ever felt washed over her. She thought of her poor Mother trapped inside a suit that was killing her.
"I hope she went fast," Kim thought, "please God, let her have gone quickly."
Kim thought about what her Father had said just before she'd blacked out. He said it wasn't certain she'd survive the merging with the I-Form, stressing that she needed him as much as his crazy cult needed her to be the first member of their super race.
"They're just waiting to see if this kills me," thought Kim, "to see if I can control the I-Form and survive the merge. Kim Roberts, bred to be a human guinea pig by her insane Father."
Kim wept.
"Sir, do you think it's possible that these whackos are correct?" asked Sergeant Jakobssen, "That there really is a impending war between Heaven and Hell? I mean . . . they did get that I-Form thing to work."
"Yes, Jakobssen I do," replied General Mussmoth, "and I'm the Easter Bunny!"
"Sir, I . . ." said Jakobssen.
"What kind of idiot are you Sergeant?" roared Mussmoth, "You never heard of a mad genius'? That's what this Roberts guy is."
"Bwoop Beep," went the intercom and then Priscilla's voice came over the speaker, "General?"
"Yes," replied Mussmoth.
"The deposit from The Unexpected was just confirmed, sir," said Priscilla.
"Thank you . . . Sergeant?" Mussmoth said turning back to Jakobssen.
"Yes sir," he replied.
"Get a team together, now," said Mussmoth, "take the high speed elevator down to the train level. Take the girl and her Father alive and get rid of Hamilton and his lackeys."
"Yes sir!" replied Jakobssen, as a smile crept across his face.
"That I-Form tech will soon be mine," said Mussmoth.
"Concentrate on your breathing," Kim told herself, "try to stay calm so you can think."
After a few minutes of relaxed breathing . . . "Wait a minute," she thought, "I'm breathing fine. I can still inhale and exhale through the suit. And the temperature . . . the suit is still keeping me regulated to normal body temperature. The merge must be working correctly, I still have some functions even with the signal that's blocking my control of the suit. Maybe that psionic field disrupter only effects certain wavelengths. What if I can . . . concentrate Kim, concentrate."
Nearby in the large center room of the train level:
"This food is great," said Mr. Hamilton, "but I wish these chairs were more comfortable. How long do we have to let the girl steam before we take off?"
"A while," replied Dr. Roberts, "she'll have to be completely broken before she'll submit to us. She has a very strong will, it may be a long process. I need to let her think about the desperation of her situation for a few hours before I talk to her again and we move her to Dr. Anabali's place. We might as well start the breaking process here."
Roberts stood and walked over to the mini-bar to pour another Scotch.
"Which one of these tunnels do we take to the train your boys prepared?" he asked.
"The North tunnel," replied Hamilton, "the one to the left when you're facing the elevators."
"Breaking into the conductor's controls on an electric train is no Herculean task, why did you have all the muscle sent in?" asked Roberts, "You expecting trouble?"
"Just being cautious," replied Hamilton, "besides, it's only six guys with Uzis. It's better to be on the safe side in case some MPs ever wander down here that don't know Mussmoth has set us up here. Plus . . ."
"You trailed off, Hamilton," said Roberts, "plus what?"
"Well, just in case your daughter gets out of your control," replied Hamilton.
"Don't worry, she won't," snapped Roberts, "Not that six Uzis would be much help if she did."
"No offense intended, Dr. Roberts," said Hamilton, "I just like to keep my bases covered. I'm really very impressed with your work, believe me . . . and so are the upper mucky-mucks."
"I know," replied Roberts, "I've spent so many years on this. To see it coming together so marvelously at last . . ."
"Hey Boss!" yelled one of Hamilton's men interrupting Dr. Roberts.
"Yeah Lou," replied Hamilton.
"I just got a signal from that bug we put in the high speed elevator!" Lou said excitedly, "There's a small hit team on the way down here - Mussmoth's men!"
"Ha!" laughed Hamilton, "a double-cross. Stan, you and Pete move the girl onto the train. The rest of you guys setup in the mouth of the North tunnel and wait for me to signal you to come to the train. Roberts? You come with me. Let's get rolling!"
"Change of plans, Stan and Pete," said a female voice from the doorway to the small store room adjacent to the South Tunnel, "The girl is moving just fine on her own."
Kim raised her palms toward the group of men and fired a plasma blast.
Inside the high speed elevator:
"Take out everyone but the Metal girl and the science geek," Sergeant Jakobssen informed his team of seven highly armed men.
"Sir, which one is the science geek?" asked one of the men.
"The one that looks like a dime store Jack Nicholson," replied Jakobssen.
After a few moments one of the men spoke up, "Sir, I helped escort some of these people down there and . . .well . . . they all kinda look like dime store Nicholsons," he said.
Sergeant Jakobssen thought about this and finally replied, "I'll uh . . . I'll point him out."
"Great," someone muttered.
"What was that?!" Jakobssen demanded.
WHOOM! A blast was heard in the near distance as the elevator neared the train level.
"No, what was that?!" asked one of the men.
The elevator slowed to prepare for the stop as Jakobssen reached for his radio.
"We need reinforcements down here now!" he shouted into the handheld.
Jakobssen's team looked at each other uneasily as the elevator came to a stop.
Roberts, Hamilton, and his men all dove out of the way as Kim fired the plasma blast in their direction. As the blast slammed into the stone wall behind them Kim rushed in and grabbed Hamilton before any of them could recover their wits.
"Your plans are being changed too, sweetheart," Kim growled at Hamilton. Then she threw him into the wall her blast had just hit.
Dr. Roberts rolled out of the area toward the North tunnel entrance as Hamilton's men whipped out their Uzis and opened fire on Kim.
Kim turned and faced the men firing at her. She stood there with her hands on her hips as the barrage of bullets ricocheted off her. The men stopped firing and they heard Kim laughing at them.
She was just getting ready to say something incredibly sarcastic when another barrage of shots came, but this time it was Hamilton's men who were being targeted. Seven highly armed men rushed out of the elevator and continued to fire at Hamilton's group. Hamilton's men scattered, turning over the table for cover, diving behind the mini bar, crouching behind chairs and began to return fire.
Kim stood her ground and watched the bloody show as Hamilton's men and the military team began to take each other out. More of Hamilton's guys seemed to be going down. Every few seconds a bullet would whiz past her or ricochet off a wall only to then ricochet off of her as well. Kim noticed that no one fired directly at her. Then Kim saw that an eighth man had slipped out of the elevator . . . Sergeant Jakobssen.
"Well, well, well, with the exception of your boss, the gang's all here!" Kim shouted toward Jakobssen.
Kim's shout was lost in the cracking sound of gunfire, then she suddenly thought about what she'd just said. She turned and looked around for Hamilton and her Father, they were nowhere to be seen.
Roberts and Hamilton ran as fast as they could down the North tunnel to get to the train. Between gasps for breath, Hamilton asked, "Do you have another shutdown device? The girl must come with us!"
"No," replied Roberts, "Wait for me on the train . . . she'll come after me . . . I can convince her to come with us."
"You shattered everything your daughter ever believed in man, what could you possibly say that would make her come with us?" asked Hamilton.
"I have a trump card," replied Roberts, "the situation with her Mother . . . she'll want to know what happened."
"If she doesn't come, we need to get you to Dr. Anabali's place anyway," said Hamilton, "he can help you start on a new subject."
"It won't be necessary," replied Roberts, "I can control this. I'm not going to see my life's work take three steps back now."
Whoooossssshhhhhh! A long low whooshing noise could be heard coming down the tunnel behind them just as they reached the underground train platform.
"That's her," said Roberts, "get on the train and wait for us. I'll take care of her."
Back in the center room of the train level, Sergeant Jakobssen had Hamilton's last surviving flunky dead to rights.
"Any last words, greaseball?" Jakobssen asked the man.
"You don't know what you're doing," the man replied, "the future of our race is riding on the girl. You must understand!"
"I understand this," said Jakobssen as he pulled the trigger.
The elevator doors opened and the reinforcements rushed in.
"Did you guys bring the .40 cal and the flame thrower?" asked Jakobssen, "Good. Let's get going. They went down the North tunnel."
Jerome Roberts stood on the train platform and listened to the sound of his daughter as she flew down the tunnel toward him. He felt very proud and smug. Both of his greatest creations merged into the first of a new breed of humanity. The fruition of his life's work, a success.
The whooshing noise that had gradually been getting louder, abruptly stopped. He could feel eyes upon him. Kim stepped out of the darkness of the tunnel and slowly walked toward him.
"Very good Kimmy," he called out, "You did it! You took control, the merge will fully integrate. It will take some time to complete, but it's going to work now."
Kim didn't speak she just continued to walk toward her Father.
"Kim," he continued, " I know you're very angry at me. You have every right to be, but I need for you to know something . . . I love you. I may not have loved you Mother, it's true. The marriage was arranged by The Unexpected to aid in my research for many reasons, your Mother's DNA, the land she owned in California . . . but you are my only child Kim. I do love you."
Kim continued to walk toward him in silence.
"You must come to Philadelphia on the train with me Kim," Roberts said, "I need to run some tests on you . . . make sure you're okay."
Kim got closer and her Father began to back away from her. Fear started to seep into his smugness. She was too quiet.
"Wait, Kim, I uh . . . " continued Roberts as he walked backward, "I have something I need to tell you about your Mother. Please . . . get on the train with me. There's something you need to know . . . about what happened . . .uh . . .with your Mother."
The train suddenly pulled out of the station, leaving Kim and her Father alone on the platform.
"That idiot!" thought Dr. Roberts, "What does he think he's doing?"
"Kimmy, I . . ." he started.
"There is no Kimmy," Kim hissed as the pair continued to walk toward the platform, "What am I? Do I look like your Kimmy? Do I look like a human?"
"You look so beautiful Kim," he replied, "You're so much better than human."
"What is it you wanted to tell me about my Mother?" she asked, "Did you want to tell me every detail of how you killed her? Well, I don't think I'm up for it . . . DADDY! I'M HAVING KIND OF A BAD DAY!" Kim was yelling now.
"No Kim wait," he replied, "there's something important that you, AGH!" Jerome Roberts had walked backwards off the train platform and fallen down into the tracks.
Kim saw a blue light glowing from where her Father had just fallen. She rushed to the edge and saw her Father convulsing on the tracks third rail. She hesitated a moment, and then jumped down and used a small plasma blast to knock him free of the high voltage track. Kim was moving towards her Father to see if he was still alive when she heard the sound of many running feet coming down the tunnel.
"The train's gone, sir," she heard a voice saying.
Kim continued to look at her Father's body, she was in no mood to fight now. Her anger was gone, replaced by a feeling of exhaustion. The men were nearly on the platform now.
WHOOSH! Kim took off down the track tunnel in the opposite direction the train had gone.
A little later:
"The girl flew away?!" General Mussmoth yelled into the phone.
"Yes sir, apparently they were unable to control her," replied Sergeant Jakobssen.
"Well, apparently you were too! What about Dr. Roberts?" asked Mussmoth.
"We got him sir," replied Jakobssen, "but he's been injured. He was nearly electrocuted before we arrived. He's in a coma and badly burned."
"Get him to one the secure wards right away!" yelled Mussmoth as he slammed down the phone, "Damn!"