Fly Another Day

by Adam Graham

  Now. He hit his maximum speed. Bryerton disappeared behind him. He ran up a vacant stretch of road, transformed into Powerhouse, and took off in mid-stride on his rocketpack.

  I’ve got to remember to tell the comic book writers about that trick.

  Major Speed lay in bed while Karen sat in her chair across from him. On the television screen, another disgusting sexual scene burned his eyes. He shouldn’t be watching this filth, particularly not with a lady around.

  Karen covered her eyes and swallowed. “Let me turn on the news.”

  Thank you, Lord!

  Instead of getting up to go to the television, she picked up a thick, black plastic stick and hit one of its strange, glowing white buttons. The channel changed. A cartoon Pharaoh made demands on someone named Powerhouse, threatening to kill a lawyer.

  He had to get out of here. This Powerhouse could use his help.

  Major Speed struggled, but his arms and legs wouldn’t cooperate. It was no good. He couldn’t move.

  Lord, please help Powerhouse and get me out of here.

  Powerhouse marched onto the bridge of Zolgron’s ship. Rogue eggs slammed into his helmet. “Hey!”

  “That is not crepes!” Zolgron shouted. “You French fast food fiend.”

  A food fight? Seriously? Powerhouse wiped the egg off his helmet. It smeared his vision worse, if possible. Yuck.

  He super-imagined his view out of his helmet totally clean. Zolgron and Captain France were both covered in flour.

  Zolgron cringed. “Powerhouse!”

  Powerhouse planted his fists on his hips. “What’s happened here?”

  “I was just having a philosophical debate on the culinary arts.”

  Captain France wiped the flour off his brow. “Philosophical? Mon ami, zis gray man compared me to Ronald McDonald and Chef Boyardee!”

  Zolgron sneered. “You can’t achieve culinary genius by mass-producing food for a corporate franchise.”

  “If this were another century, I would demand satisfaction.”

  “Don’t let that stop you.” Zolgron hurled an egg at Captain France.

  The egg hit the crest on the front of Captain France’s costume.

  Captain France scowled. “Ca me fait chier! Zis is too much.”

  Sheesh. These guys squabbled worse than his preteens did. Powerhouse extended his hands. “Have you boys forgotten about the army of robots that is rampaging on the city?”

  The grown adults acting like adolescents blinked at him. Captain France hung his head. “I apologize. We’ll settle this once we take care of the infernal Robolawyers.”

  “Until then.” Zolgron petted his spatula like it was an old west gun.

  Even the Avengers had their disagreements, but a food fight? Powerhouse sighed and super-imagined the weapon he’d designed back at full size. It mounted on his arm and stretched from his shoulder to his wrist.

  He held it up. “What do you think, Zolgron?”

  “That depends.” Zolgron narrowed his eyes. “How many city blocks are you planning to take out with that?”

  “Just one Robolawyer.”

  “Think again. With that missile, you’d wipe out a third of the population of Seattle. I’d suggest you lose the missiles and come up with something else.”

  “No can do. I’d be in violation of our equal opportunity policy.”

  “Come again?” Zolgron blinked.

  Powerhouse leaned in closer and whispered, “The laser cannon was James’ idea. The rocket launcher was Derrick’s idea. Do you want me to be found guilty of favoritism by a trial of my kids?”

  “Humans.” Zolgron sighed. “Let me reconfigure it.”

  The weapon shrunk so it only went from the elbow to the wrist and the giant missile divided into eight mini-missiles.

  “Nicely done.” Powerhouse whistled.

  Captain France snorted. “You and your super-imagination. Everything is so easy.”

  “Yeah, but we’d have to work hard to have a French accent like yours.”

  “So?” Captain France blinked and rubbed his head.

  The Powerhouse Cell Phone rang. Powerhouse took the call.

  “This is Chief of Police Stone Bachman. I talked to Admiral Corrigan. If we don’t end this standoff soon, the Navy will launch an all-out assault on the Robolawyers.”

  “What could the Navy do?”

  “They believe their drones can take them out, but there’d be a huge loss of life in that process, not to mention destruction of property. I want to avoid it at all costs.”

  “How long can you hold them off?”

  “Maybe until after the Pharaoh kills McCall.”

  Powerhouse swallowed. “Okay, we’ll move as quickly as we can.”

  “The city’s counting on you, Powerhouse.”

  “With God’s help, I won’t let you down. Powerhouse out.” Powerhouse hung up.

  Captain France stared, his lips parted. “You say ‘out’ at ze end of a phone call?”

  Duh. “It was too important a call to end with a boring goodbye.” He glanced at Zolgron. “My attorney is being held hostage. The Robolawyers will execute him tomorrow at noon unless I can rescue him. If McCall dies, the Navy will send their battle drones in, and Seattle will be caught in the grip of a robot war.”

  Captain France staggered back. “Hundreds of Robolawyers are throughout ze city. We can’t defeat zem all. Do zey have some weakness?”

  “Of course not!” Zolgron glared. “They are precision instruments originally designed by my planet’s finest scientists.”

  Would he lay off with the childish pride already? Powerhouse cleared his throat. “They may have one weakness: Denny Crane.”

  “Excuse me?” Zolgron glared.

  “Naomi—I mean a citizen I know well said, when she watched Boston Legal with the Robolawyer around, it trembled whenever it heard the name ‘Denny Crane’ spoken.”

  “Of course!” Zolgron laughed. “Underneath all those weapons, it’s still a legal device. I know exactly how to defeat them.”

  About time. Powerhouse grinned. “What’s your plan?”

  “Go into the soccer stadium, rescue McCall, and keep the Robolawyers at bay for twenty minutes. The Pharaoh will bring all of his machines in to kill you. Once that’s done, I will destroy them all in an instant, and you’ll have to make a quick escape.”

  Captain France grunted. “How will you do zis?”

  “With legal aid.” Zolgron grinned. “I want to make sure Powerhouse stays alive, so I’ll help your initial entrance with a nice distraction.”

  Definitely needed. Powerhouse dusted off his costume. “Tomorrow, we shall make ready and defeat the bionic, baneful barristers!”

  Zolgron and Captain France stared and in unison gave their battle cry:

  “Huh?”

  Chapter 11

  The Fall of the Robolawyers

  Naomi jogged in her gray running shorts. The scenery rushed by in an unrecognizable blur. Her stopwatch went off. Naomi took a breath, slowed, and glanced around. She was standing near a flowing waterfall as three purple gondola cars traveled across the falls.

  Where was she? She stared at a sign. “Riverfront Park? Bryerton doesn’t have a Riverfront Park.”

  A gray tabby cat purred as it licked at a spilled mint ice cream cone.

  Naomi laughed. “Kitty, I don’t suppose you can tell me where I am?”

  The cat glanced up at her. “You’re in Spokane near Riverfront Park. In exchange for this information, I’d like to rub against your leg.”

  “I guess that’s only fair.” Wait. Naomi’s jaw dropped. “You’re a cat.”

  The cat rubbed against Naomi’s leg. “Of course I am. Do you think a dog could tell you what city you were in by its human name?”

  Apparently, these powers made her Mrs. Doolittle. “I’m in Spokane?”

  That was nearly 300 miles. Guess she couldn’t run around for half an hour while not thinking about where she was going or how fast when she
had these powers.

  After letting the cat rub against her for a minute, Naomi dashed west and jogged home.

  Half an hour later, she ran up to her front door and unlocked it. She collapsed on the couch and turned on the television.

  On the Generic News Network, music began to play and a voice-over spoke over footage of yesterday’s fight between Powerhouse and the Robolawyers. “The hour has come for the battle of all-time. On one hand, Earth’s greatest human Powerhouse, a man who has been rebuilding Seattle. He faces off against the Robolawyers, mankind’s latest convenience gone bad. The robotic humanoids are armed to the teeth and their collective power provides Powerhouse his greatest challenge. In a moment, GNN will bring you its full coverage of the epic Powerhouse v. the Robolawyers: Battle to Death.”

  An anchorman in a suit came on. “Thank you to Ted Dawson from the Generic Sports Network for providing this voice-over.”

  “It’s my husband life that is at stake! Not some game.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

  The doorbell rang. She wiped her face, raced to the door, and opened it.

  Carmela stood outside. “Hey, girl! Can I come in?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Naomi stepped back out of Carmela’s way.

  Carmela stood beside her, her brow creased. “I was worried about you. I called and didn’t get any answer. Where were you?”

  “Um.” Naomi hunched her shoulders. “Spokane.”

  “Right. I take it you don’t want to talk about it.” Carmela blew her nose. “Where are the kids?”

  “I made them go to school. They don’t need to deal with this craziness.”

  “You don’t need to either.” Carmela jogged to the couch, picked up the remote, and turned off the TV. “All this build up won’t help you any.”

  “Hey, I need to know what happens.”

  “No, what we need to do is pray, like people all over the city are doing.” Carmela eyed Naomi and sniffed. “And you’ll feel better after a bath.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Naomi’s cheeks warmed. “I’d better do that.”

  “You look like you’ve been working out. What’d you run, a hundred miles?”

  Naomi laughed. “Closer to six.”

  Six hundred that was.

  Powerhouse stood inside a garage while holding the Powerhouse Cell Phone to his ear. “Chief, did you get the area around the stadium cleared?”

  “Yeah. It was hard, but we’ve got no reporters and no bystanders."

  “Good. Can you get your men back at least a block?”

  The chief sighed. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “Very sure. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt either. We’ll have helicopters waiting just in case.”

  If Zolgron’s plan failed, the helicopters wouldn’t do any good. “Thank you, Chief, but I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ll talk to you afterwards. Goodbye.”

  A mechanic in a pair of gray coveralls raced over to Powerhouse. “It’s about twenty til noon. You’ll be going soon?”

  Captain France emerged from the men’s room. “Are we ready yet?”

  Why did this have to be like a ride to the Grand Canyon with James and Derrick? Powerhouse grimaced. “One second.” He bowed his head. “God, please give us the strength and wisdom we need to rescue Mr. McCall and keep us safe.” And give my Naomi peace. “In Jesus’ name, amen.”

  “Okay, let’s go.” Powerhouse led Captain France to a bulky green tarp and flung it off the sedan-sized, orange hovercraft with a square cannon on the front that lead to an ammunition tank on the back of the Firebug.

  The mechanic whistled. “Sweet ride. Can’t say much for the color.”

  Powerhouse smiled. “Color won’t matter.”

  “What is zis craft?” Captain France asked.

  “It’s a Nabothian Firebug, fire-loving aliens’ idea of a sports car. I’ve modified it so it can seat four. It can stand up to five thousand degrees heat.”

  “Are you going to a fire?” the mechanic asked.

  “The less you know, the better.” Powerhouse climbed in the Firebug with Captain France and waved to the mechanic. “Please open the garage door, citizen.”

  “Okay.” The mechanic pressed a button.

  Powerhouse turned on the Firebug’s cloaking device. He zoomed it through the vacant streets of Seattle and over the gate at the soccer stadium.

  Captain France leaned back the passenger seat. “Ah, zis is ze way to travel, non?”

  “Is our secret weapon armed?”

  “But of course.”

  They zoomed above the bleachers into the stadium. They hovered near the edge of the playing field.

  Three hundred Robolawyers stood beside soccer balls like a firing squad with Brent McCall tied to the soccer goal nearest them.

  The voice of the Pharaoh came over the loud speaker. “Powerhouse is one of those heroes who will dramatically not show up until the last minute.”

  Powerhouse grabbed a transmitter from the dashboard and his voice came out from a loud speaker. “Not quite, Pharaoh. I’m here now.”

  “Where are you?” The Robolawyers whirled around in circles.

  “The weapon is ready.” Captain France rubbed his hands together.

  “Fire.” Powerhouse turned off the cloaking device.

  Captain France pressed a button on his utility belt. Three hundred long-winded legal briefs flew from the square shaped cannon on the front of the bug and into the air and landed in front of the Robolawyers.

  A gray alien symbol flashed on the scoreboard.

  The Robolawyers all squealed like children offered candy, abandoned the soccer balls, ran to the legal briefs, and began to speed-read through them.

  Powerhouse dove from the Firebug, landed by a goal post, and untied McCall.

  McCall panted. “Thank God you got here. I was about to become the world’s most wounded goalie.”

  Powerhouse snatched up McCall, dashed across the stadium, and leapt into the stands. He shoved McCall into the Firebug. “Stay here.”

  McCall extended his hands. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Powerhouse closed the door and leapt back on to the field. The Robolawyers had just finished the last page of the arguments.

  They said in unison, “Based on legal precedents—”

  Powerhouse built up speed and ran around the Robolawyers.

  “—the decision of the appellate court—”

  Powerhouse’s supersonic speed created wind.

  “—should be affirmed.”

  The wind turned into a mini-tornado. It tossed the Robolawyers about and then strewn them across the stadium, with a few flying out of the park entirely. Many sparked and some split into pieces.

  Powerhouse stopped and glanced around. One Robolawyer was still standing. It took aim at him with its energy cannon.

  Oh no, it wasn’t going to take him that easily.

  Powerhouse fired a mini-missile.

  The Robolawyer exploded.

  Powerhouse scanned the playing field. The broken parts of the Robolawyers thrown everywhere made the stadium look like his backyard after the boys had tried to re-enact the ultimate superhero battle when James was six.

  The Nabothian Firebug remained exactly where it’d been with no signs of wear.

  Powerhouse pumped his arm in the air. “Yes!”

  The Pharaoh slammed down his fist on his executive desk. That was it. He had to stop doing stereotypical supervillain stuff. No more silly games that only gave the enemy time to come up with a strategy to defeat him.

  This was a full out war.

  He picked up his cell phone. “Fournier, get every Robolawyer down there! Now!”

  Woo-hoo! Naomi jumped up and down like the Seahawks had won the Superbowl. She hugged Carmela. “He did it! He beat the Robolawyers.”

  Carmela smiled. “Prayer answered.” Carmela glanced at the TV. Her smile faded and her brow knit. “We may be premature.
Take a look.”

  On the TV, Robolawyers filled the air as thick as a swarm of flies.

  Naomi swallowed. “Oh no, they’re headed for the stadium.”

  Powerhouse ran toward the Firebug. Captain France jumped out and glanced to the sky. “Mon ami, zey are coming just as Zolgron predicted.”

  “We just have to hold them off.”

  “It shall be a pleasure.” Captain France ran up into the stands.

  A Robolawyer emerged over the back wall of the upper most level of seating. Captain France leapt into the air, landed on the Robolawyer’s back, and ripped off its head like it was a doll. Captain France jumped off it and landed in the stadium seats.

  The decapitated Robolawyer crashed onto the field in flames.

  Another Robolawyer approached in the stands. Captain France threw its compatriots’ head at it. The velocity knocked it down onto the playing field. Powerhouse fired his energy cannon.

  The Robolawyer exploded into flames.

  Six more of them headed for Captain France. He pulled loose a row of seats and swung the row at the approaching Robolawyers like a baseball bat. They flew up into the atmosphere and crashed back to Earth, burning up.

  There had to be something for him to do. Powerhouse whirled. Several Robolawyers were plodding up the players’ tunnel. Powerhouse fired mini-missiles at the approaching robots. They exploded.

  Robots streamed in from every direction and every possible entrance.

  Captain France shouted, “We are surrounded!”

  This kind of cool would be more fun when it was just a comic book.

  Powerhouse jumped into the stands and hid behind a chair. He fired the energy cannon at the Robolawyers coming out of the players’ tunnel.

  Clank, clank.

  Streaming into the stadium like players on game day, the Robolawyers marched towards him, firing laser cannons.

  Powerhouse turned on his rocketpack and soared into the air.

  The Robolawyers turned their cannons on to a rapid setting.

  Powerhouse darted back and forth, right and left to dodge the deadly beams. He leapt near the Firebug and took cover behind a seat.