(For suggested music see the bottom of this issue)
 

Damage DCF Issue 1

Drawing by Dave Sutherland
 
 

Part 1: Introductions

May 30,2112 -- 5:45 p.m.
Ross-Tech Labs 36th Floor
Cleveland, Ohio

Finally it was Friday.  Jack liked his job at the lab, but just like everyone else, there were times when he was glad the week was over. Many of his colleagues would continue to work for many more hours, but he wanted to get home to his family.  He'd swing by Marcus's office to say good-bye, and maybe even invite him home for dinner. Since he did most of the cooking Jack was sure Sarah wouldn't mind. For all Marcus's effort, the long hours, the butt-kissing, and yes, even a little back stabbing, his office was no better than Jack's.

Jack had a slightly different philosophy than most. He wasn't adverse to hard work, he actually liked hard work. He liked his job too, mediocre pay and all. Jack was different because, in a world with a stark division between rich and poor, people with mediocre incomes tended to do anything they could to get ahead.  This usually included trying to work longer hours than the next guy. The few middle class families there were in 2112 NorAm did anything they could to get to the next income bracket, while praying they didn't slip into poverty. ***
Ross-Tech Labs
Sub-Basement Level 16

The large metal containment doors to the lab slid open and a thin, white haired, man, wearing a modest business suit entered.  The large, scruffy man in a lab coat who had been working at the science station heard the heavy doors open and took notice as his superior walk in. At the center of the room was a metallic Cylinder, about 6" tall, and 3" across. At the base of the cylinder was a 2" square equipment box flush against the cube.  The interface between the box and the cylinder was seamless.

The technician enjoyed the praise of his boss. Though Duane Smithson was known to deal with failure harshly, he also rewarded success lavishly.  The technician began the initialization sequencer. The surface of the cylinder rippled, and the top of the equipment box melted. Weapons, and other hardware became visible within the box. The equipment floated through the material of the box, integrating itself into the cylinder. The cylinder swelled and began to take on a humanoid form. Equipment from the box emerged on various parts of the "body" that was now forming. Two red eyes emerged in the head, as it took on skeletal shape. The rest of the body took on a robot-like form. When the shape finally stabilized, the red eyes glowed with activity. Both the technician, and his superior smiled.  

Part 2: First Confrontation

Ross-Tech Labs
Parking Complex 2nd Floor

Jack found his car quickly, considering he didn't have a clue where he parked. He never remembered where he parked. The locator he carried didn't helped much, but those things only work on the expensive cars, and some of them even come to you. When Jack wanted to find his car, he had to look for a bright orange shoe-lace. When he married Sarah, five years previously, his car had been traditionally decorated. One of the people who decorated the car had been a gifted chemical engineering graduate student. One of the items she decorated his car with was an bright orange shoelace tied to vehicle's antenna. Five years later, it was still bright orange. He can't begin to imagine what concoction the shoe-lace was treated with. He had images of a chemical spill, a shoe, possibly a sock, and maybe even a foot, the same shade of orange. He joked that it went with his red hair, but his hair was a natural shade of red, not this freakishly bright orange.

Jack was lost in his memories, as he pressed his thumb into the recognition pad of his vehicle. He was so lost in thought, that it wasn't until the last second, that he noticed the reflection in his car window of the large robot bearing down on him.

The robot leapt at Jack covering yards in a single bound. Jack instinctively ducked moments before the robot would have hit him. The creature's momentum carried  it over Jack's head, and through the roof of his vehicle taking it, and the roofs of the next five vehicles with him. Jack was covered in shatter proof glass. Still crouching he noted there was an exit only about two cars away. Jack scrambled for the exit. Energy bolts peppered the vehicles between himself and the robot. Jack made a dive for the door, narrowly escaping an energy bolt. Leaping four stairs at a time, it seemed to take an eternity to reach the ground floor. As he was bolting through the door to the outside, he heard a thud behind him.  Risking a glance over his shoulder he noticed the robot had landed at the center of the stairwell. As he slammed the door behind him, it exploded, flattening him. Before he could stand, the seven foot robot hauled the six foot tall man by his neck until Jack was face to face with the skeletal visage of the robot. The robot processed the information. A query had been made that did not conflict with it's programmed parameters. Actually, responding to queries was part of it's program. It was, after all, a computer. But there was something more, some faint process, whispering to it. No matter though. If that input were vital to some program, it would then probe that data source. For now, it had a query. Ignoring him the robot brought his other arm, tipped with a particle cannon, to bear. Seething with emotion, Jack glared into the robot's eyes. Suddenly as if it were some physical manifestation of his emotions, some sort of beam poured from Jack's eyes. The beam slammed into Metallo's head with both force and heat. The top of it's head was slagged like soft clay struck by a hot bullet. The machine's eyes flew across the street landing charred, but functioning in a gutter.

Jack was even more surprised than his attacker. He watched, almost amused, as the eyes rolled down the gutter like two reddish black marbles.  Metallo released Jack, dropping him to the ground. It turned around, and began to clumsily lurch after it's misplaced eyes. Jack noticed the damage he had caused to it's head was already beginning to "heal". Jack wasn't going to wait around for the monster to get a second chance, and ran for the hole in the parking garage where the door had been.  He quickly found his car still mostly in one piece, minus most of  it's roof. Metallo was busy putting his eyes back in his reformed head as Jack's vehicle sped past him.

***
Ross-Tech Labs
Sub-Basement Level 16
 

The technician stared at Mr. Smithson, not knowing how to respond to his boss's rhetorical question. The technician shrugged. He was afraid that if his boss stopped wondering about Ordway, he'd get mad at him about the failure of his robot. The technician beamed. Yes, he did do a good job with the robot. What a boss, it was unheard of to give credit where credit was due. The technician smiled. He wouldn't let Mr. Smithson down. Though the robot was about as shock resistant as possible he already had some ideas of how to make him a bit more heat resistant. The technician, like everybody, couldn't help but like Mr. Smithson. Duane Smithson could see the admiration his employee felt for him. Of course this was not unusual. Everybody liked him....EVERYBODY. People he was having killed liked him. Most powerful men achieve their position through fear. Meta-human charisma was Duane Smithson's method. In this case, that damn meta-gene seemed to be working dependably for him.
 

Part 3: The Conspiracy

705 Knollwood Drive Unit 12-C
Cleveland Ohio

Jack jumped out of his vehicle and ran into his house noticing, as he did, that the door was unlocked.

His wife and daughter were nowhere to be found. At least there were no signs of any kind of break in. It was in his third trip through the living room that he noticed something odd about his house.  Amazing he didn't notice it before. His brain must have just shut down.  How could he not have noticed that things were missing. Specifically Sarah and Lori's things were missing. ALL of Sarah and Lori's things were missing. There weren't even any pictures of them left. No sign of forced entry, just a house with absolutely no evidence that Sarah Ordway, or Lori Ordway had ever lived there, or lived at all for that matter.

Jack began to worry even more. He searched frantically for any sign of his wife or daughter. In his room There was only one dresser. In Lori's room, instead of a child's bed, stood a guest bed.  He started to tear through page after page of photo albums. Still there was no physical evidence that he ever had a family.  Jack dropped to his knees. They had been taken from him. The two things more important than his own life, had been utterly and completely ripped from him. Suddenly Jack sat bolt upright.  He reached for his wallet, and began to rummage through it.  There he found the only photo he every carried. He had never carried any of his girlfriend's pictures. Even when he got married, he never carried his wife's photo. It wasn't until Lori was born that he began to carry a photo in his wallet. It was a picture of Sarah holding Lori, both asleep in the lazy-boy. There in his wallet was the only evidence of his family's existence. Jack finally felt his panic loosen a little. He even began to laugh.

That's when his living room wall exploded. Jack was knocked back, clutching the precious photo, but he was somehow unharmed. In front of him stood the monster that had started all this insanity. This time Jack felt no fear, only anger.  

Part 4: Round II

Jack launched himself into the monster. The impact knocked them both back through the impromptu entrance the robot made in wall of Jack's apartment.  They both struck the ground making a crater in the  street below. The robot was beneath Jack, and helped cushion some the impact of the twelve story fall.

 Jack Ordway was no fool.. The optic blast he struck the robot with pretty much established his meta-human status. In his scramble to get home he alread discovered several of his other powers. He discovered his speed as he rushed back to his car. He tested his strength by clearing wreckage from it. None of the abilities were one the level of say, a Superman, but clean living and vitamins couldn't account for his abilities either. As for testing his invulnerability, well O.K. maybe he did take the occasional calculated risk.

Metallo threw Jack away and he was once again rocketed into the air. This time he landed on the roof of a parked car, crushing the passenger cab.

Jack crawled from the wreckage. Doing so was harder than he thought. He wasn't sure exactly which ones, but he knew he must have broken some bones. The robot on the other hand stood over him unscathed. His right arm took the shape of a particle cannon. Jack noticed the liquid metal make-up of this monster earlier, and correctly guessed nano-technology was involved. This time, he noticed several of the weapons components were static equipment that flowed into place. Jack also remembered when he blasted it's head that the eyes didn't "melt" like the rest of the head. The robot hesitated, almost as if it were processing the question. Jack didn't give it time to answer. His optic blast struck the particle cannon. Metallo's arm exploded and globs of the nano-material from the robots arm were scattered about the street. The robot began to lumber backwards form the force of the explosion.  Jack pressed his advantage, and blasted the robots head. This time the impact seemed to cave the head in, but didn't cause the level of damage he had earlier. He continued to blast the upper torso of the robot, trying to find more static equipment to destroy. The robot finally fell backwards. It's surface began to ripple, as if were having trouble keeping it's form.  Jack was trying to decide what to do next. He didn't want to destroy the robot. Doing so would destroy his only possible lead.

Jack's thoughts were interuped by a piece of colored paper blowing down the street. Actually it wasn't a piece of paper. It was a photograph, THE photograph. The only evidence he had of his wife and daughter was about to blow into an air pollution treatment vent.

The picture was too far away for him to reach it in time, but he could not lose it. In desperation he stretched out his hand. Suddenly he, realized it had stopped moving. He also realized he could feel the photo. He didn't feel it in his hand, but he could feel it's shape and textures in his mind. Slowly, gently he began to pull on the photo. It began to come to him, finally resting in his outreached hand. He carefully put it in his wallet, and put his wallet away. He was able to enjoy some relief for a good three seconds before a large fist of liquid metal struck him in the back like a sledge hammer.

Jack doubled over in pain. Before he could regain his composure, the robot back handed him sending Jack reeling backwards by half a dozen car lengths. The robot approached Jack. Utilizing the same telekinetic force he rescued the photograph with. Jack unleashed a volley of mental blows at his attacker. He could feel each blow make contact with the liquid metal body, but the small dents they caused were only temporary.

Jack continued to strike the robot hard and fast, but as fast as he could damage it, the robot would repair itself. A third fist shot from Metallo's chest and struck Jack in the face. He felt the cartilage in his nose give way, and warm fluid cover his face. The robot struck Jack again, this time sending him backwards through the wall of a building. Laying on his back Jack noticed he was in the Central Utility Building for his block. The industrial hazards alone in the building made it a dangerous place to be, rampaging indestructible robots added nothing positive to the safety level.  Jack felt Metallo's hand grab his neck. He was pulled up again, and was smashed, face first into a wall. Metallo continued to batter Jack's head into the wall. On fourth trip, Jack put up his hands, and stopped himself. He backhanded the Robot has hard has he could, and they both stumbled backwards. Jack grabbed a nearby section of pipe, causing torrents of water to gush to the floor as he ripped it out. He began to strike the robot with the makeshift club. Metallo caught the pipe in mid-swing.  He once again caught Jack by the neck. Without a word, the robot attempted to choke the life out of Jack. Just before he was about to lose consciousness, Jack noticed, just within arm reach, several high voltage cables hanging from the ceiling. Jack reached out for one, and pulled it free. As quickly as he could he jammed the sparking cable into Metallo. The room went black, and Jack felt a powerful jolt, as the robot released him. Jack crawled away as the high voltage conduit pumped electricity into his attacker. Metallo's surface rippled. The nano-machines began to show the toll that the raw electricity was talking on them. Slowly Metallo reached out  and grabbed the cable. He pulled on it, yanking the cable free of the ceiling, and breaking contact with it's source.  The emergency lights finally flickered to life. Through his swollen eyes, Jack could see an Metallo lumbering towards him.  Jack himself was completely spent. He was tired and hurt. His eyes were almost completely swollen shut, and he was sure he couldn't use his optic blasts even if he had the energy. He couldn't stand, much lest engage this creature hand to hand. Metallo continued to close the distance between them. Though near it's limit itself, it appeared Metallo would be able to outlast his target. Jack was desperate. His new powers had kept him alive this long, but if he was going to survive, he'd need something else. Not knowing what effect it might have, Jack began to concentrate on the robot.  Jack could feel something very faintly within the robot. Even though he knew little about ESP, Jack realized that he was sensing a mind. It was very faint, almost primordial. Even if the mind had been well developed he doubted he could have read the actual thoughts, whatever ESP he had was on a level even lower than his physical abilities. With the will power that a Green Lantern would envy, Jack pushed out with his mind at this primitive consciousness. The robot stopped dead, it's red eyes flickering. Jack felt a new pain behind his eyes as the mental feedback of his little trick hit him. He was energized by this information. Now he had another lead, and could put this "thing" away. He focused on the cables he used earlier. Jack rose to his feet as quickly as his battered body allowed, and grabbed two of the cables. Straining with his telekinesis, he mentally grabbed a third cable, and at the same time brought all three high voltage sources into contact with Metallo. There was a deafening crack of lightning, and Metallo glowed white with electricity. Jack was thrown clear from the spectacle. He shielded his eyes, as enough power to feed a city block pumped into the robot. When the power died, and the glare subsided, Jack saw a metal cylinder standing where Metallo had been. Taking long painful seconds, Jack pulled himself to his feet. He limped to the cylinder and touched it. It felt no different than a piece of steel. He stumbled out of the hole in the building, noticing a dented metal sign from inside. It took him a moment to realize the shape imprinted on the sign was his face. The sign read:
Safety is All of Our Responsibility!
Knollwood Utilities Has Operated:
120 Days
Since The Last Workplace Injury

Jack reached down and removed the "1" and the "2" from the sign. He was not surprised at all, that the entire block was without power.  Stunned residents timidly came toward the battle zone. A teenager he recognized from the neighborhood approached Jack.

Jack looked at himself in a puddle that had pooled from the water coming out of the utility building. He did look pretty bad. He was also very cold. It was a cold day for May. His clothes were tattered, and the fact that he was drenched in water and blood made matters worse. Jack looked the boy over. He was wearing a Justice League shirt, and an old dark gray trench coat with several pins on it. The pins represented many of the, better known, twen-cen super-heroes. He had a familiar "S" shield, A black bat in a yellow oval, the double "W" symbol of Wonder Woman, the symbol of the Green Lanterns, the planetary symbol of Mars, a uniquely stylized A, and white circle with a lightning bolt. The kid noticed his shivering neighbor looking at the coat. Jack thought about his what had happened to his life this afternoon. This morning, he was a normal man with a job he liked, and a wife and daughter he loved. In the span of an hour, he manifested some very abnormal abilities, and the job he liked had taken his wife and daughter from him, and tried to have him killed.  

Epilog 1:

Ross-Tech Labs
Sub-Basement Level 16

Duane Smitshon sat on a chair next to the technician at a monitor station, having just watched the battle.

Of course the technician had no way of knowing how wrong he was. Duane Smithson's charm stemed not from his management style but from his meta-gene.  The technician froze. The technician lowered is head in shame. He understood what Mr. Smithson had to do. He didn't hold it against him. Mr. Smithson was a leader of men, and as such had to maintain discipline. He had failed his boss, and he had to suffer the consequences. Duane Smithson could barely holding back a grin. THIS was the part he loved. The technician rose and walked to the door. Willingly going to his doom. At the science station, Duane began to look over some of the data the robot had collected. He looked around at the personal items scattered around the science station. He noticed a coffee mug. It was apparently from a popular Holo-Vid of about a year ago. He noticed a photo, of the technician with several people about the same age. They all appeared to be in the woods, a vacation photo, no doubt. He saw an umbrella next to the desk. It had rained yesterday, the technician probably left it here by accident. Mr.  Smithson read a birthday card, with a very suggestive note from someone named Karen. Apparently this technician had turned thirty last week.

Epilog 2:

705 Knollwood Drive
Cleveland Ohio
 

Jack stood at the base of his apartment building looking up. Telekinetically he reached out for the building. He grabbed on, and mentally began to pull himself along the building. Telekinetic flight was one power he had not used when fighting Metallo II. It seemed to have limitations. He didn't think he could get very far away from the building. He was limited to pushing or pulling himself along objects. It would be pretty handy getting him around the city quickly.

He reached the hole in his apartment, and he pulled himself inside.  He walked to his bedroom, and remembered where Lori's bassinet had been until she was old enough for her crib. Now there was a double bed where there had been a queen.  In his closet, there was plenty of room in it now that only his clothes were there. He took off the overcoat and changed out of the tattered clothing he was wearing. He put the overcoat back on. Though he had plenty of his own coats, something about this one seemed appropriate. He walked to Lori's room. Where a crib had been there was now a guest bed. It was kind of ironic, they had just decided it was time for Lori to go from a crib to a big bed, and they planned to pick one out that weekend.

He left the bedroom and walked to the living room. He saw the milk stain on the arm of the couch was missing. He briefly wondered how they got it out. He and Sarah had had tried to get the stain out for a month before they gave up. He looked back one last time. There was nothing here for him anymore, and Jack knew he was wasting time. He had to hurry and get to the lab. He could hear sirens in the distance.

*** End of Issue 1

Coming in issue 2: We make some enemies and some friends

Suggested Music for this issue:
    Introductions: Villains by The Verve Pipe
    The Conspiracy: Red Rain by Peter Gabriel
    Round II: Adore by The Smashing Pumpkins
    Epilog 2: Here comes the Flood by Peter Gabriel