by Adam Graham
“Kids these days don’t listen.” The sheriff lowered his head and ambled to Naomi. “Howdy, ma’am. I’m Plato, the Sheriff of Atlantis, and you are?”
“Justice Woman. What brings you to my city?”
“I heard Powerhouse was gone and his city was vulnerable. I decided to be neighborly.”
Naomi bit her lip. Her husband had gushed at length about Atlanteans who’d converted to Christianity and remodeled their society on the basis of the Andy Griffith Show. “Seattle has me now as well as the Powerhouse Squad.”
“Do any of y’all have a power belt that gives y’all amazing strength and the ability to fly?”
Naomi smiled. If he had such powers, perhaps she had no responsibility.
Plato continued. “Besides, women folk should be kept safe, not forced to do dangerous work. The men of this city must be pretty pitiful, if a woman has to take care of it.”
Oh no, he didn’t go there. Naomi gritted her teeth. Now she had to stay in the fight, for the sake of women everywhere. “If you insist on playing my guardian angel, you may, but I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”
Let the sexist pig stay to watch her wipe the floor with Dr. Stero.
Overseer watched over the metal man in the mines. With Tiny allying himself with Powerhouse, no one would dare attack either of them. Maybe he needed to raise the ante on these fools.
The metal man began to speed up.
Overseer sent a shock of electricity through Powerhouse’s body. “You are going too fast, we must all have enough work.”
Powerhouse collapsed on the ground.
The overseer gasped. What? He had not sent enough electricity through the alien’s body to cause him unconsciousness.
Perhaps the earthman was faking unconsciousness. Overseer grabbed a stick, ran over, and prodded Powerhouse. The metal man was still as a corpse.
Perhaps he’d given the earthman too many shocks too soon. The cost of losing a specimen that had been especially assigned to him would be fatal.
The worker tattooed with 203574 knelt by Powerhouse. “I can feel his blood moving in his neck. He’s only unconscious.”
“Wake him!” Overseer snapped.
The worker shook Powerhouse. “Get up.”
Powerhouse remained still.
Worker said, “He’s not responding.”
“I’m capable of seeing that. We must get him to the Rainbow Men at once.” Overseer swallowed. If Powerhouse didn’t survive, he might forfeit his life without ever getting a name.
“Where am I?” Powerhouse peered around.
The cave consisted of light brown rock. Lamps surrounded a throne. On it sat a beautiful woman with ebony skin, short black hair, and lavender eyes. She wore a pink robe over what resembled black silk pajamas and looked like she was about college age.
She leaned forward. “Hello, Powerhouse. You’re in a pocket dimension that is phased just outside of Paradise’s physical dimension.”
Powerhouse said, “Lady, if you’re talking about that underground mine, you have a funny idea of Paradise.”
“The monsters renamed it Perdition, but whether it is such or Paradise depends on the people running it, Dave.”
Powerhouse felt his mask. “How do you know my name?”
“We know everything about you. We downloaded a copy of your brain with all relevant details. We’ve been formulating what to do and decided to talk to you about how you can help us. That’s what you do, right? Help people?”
“First of all, who are you?”
“I’m Queen Ralaxa, the last surviving mistress of Paradise. I have been banished here to Limbo. The Perdition Empire has enslaved you on my home world. They took it captive four hundred years ago. Then, two billion people lived in a dozen realms. I was a 108, only a child.”
Powerhouse blinked. “Where I come from, that’s really old.”
Ralaxa smiled. “Due to a global flood, right? Our home world has yet to suffer such cataclysm, but our scientists believe one would over time expose us to harmful UV rays that might shorten our life spans to only seventy years. Anyway, where was I? Yes, four hundred years ago, in a single moment of time, our lives changed forever. Let me show you.”
The room melted away.
Powerhouse stood in a meadow full of thick blossoming purple flowers. The trees had blue and green trunks. Birds of every color flitted about. On a distant hill rose a city made of silver and rock, with triangular shaped buildings. Nearby, a four-foot-tall elephant raised its trunk towards the sky.
Powerhouse smiled at the elephant and reached to pet him.
Ralaxa tapped his shoulder. “Pay attention.”
Powerhouse glanced up at her.
Tears moistened her eyes. “I was here when it happened.”
In a snap, a ray hit the city. It exploded into nothingness and the field was wiped away.
The cave again formed around them.
Powerhouse stared at the queen. “Are you a ghost?”
“At first, we feared so, but our scientists have concluded we aren’t. The weapon was designed to remove our civilization from our home dimension without harming the planet. To be clear, the vast majority of our people were killed, including the queens of the other realms, but half a million of us have survived. Here, we’ve not aged a day and we subsist on Limbo’s energy. Where that comes from the scientists cannot say.”
“Cool!”
The queen frowned. “It is miserable to not feel water running over your skin, to not enjoy the salty delight of roasted nuts, to be neither dead nor alive as you understood it all your life.”
“Oh, um, bummer.”
“Indeed, and it gets worse. We’ve witnessed Paradise become King Bel’s military capital. The surface world is mostly populated by mercenaries, a race of amphibious tongue-walkers. Yes, I just said their tongues are key to their movement. They’re of low intelligence, gullible, compliant with Bel, and brutal with everyone else, including each other. King Bel holds captive the Rainbow people, a gentle and caring race of healers. The king also keeps two gigantic beings charged with recording his hideous movies.”
“So this is where Superman IV came from.”
The queen glared. “No, that is not among the many evils Bel has wrought upon my home dimension. Pay attention. Now, underground, King Bel keeps the slaves he brought through a dimensional porthole. I’ve only encountered one decent person among them. She told me Bel had told them, if they’d give him their souls, then he’d give them all the gold they want. My people count gold among the common, non-precious metals, and it’s too soft to be of much use. The fools murdered those who wouldn’t go along with the scheme. On my home planet, as promised, they found gold, but they were soon killed and their genetic material taken.”
Powerhouse yawned, tapping his foot. “Can we skip to the part where I hit something?”
She glared at him. “You live among abominations unfit to live.”
No. Shorty was his friend. “That’s not true.”
“They are created in a lab from modified genetic material. They grow to their adult height in only four years, during which their minds are filled with the limited information they will need for their brutish existence, and they are trained in combat in the simulation. You know what happens to them next. Your overseers must defeat six overseers to achieve the ultimate goal of their perverse culture: they are given a name by that detestable Bel. He then pokes out their right eye.”
Powerhouse gasped. Those poor kids. “That’s awful.”
“We’ve found a way to strike back. The circuitry within the collars makes it possible for us to influence their unconscious minds. We’ve kept them in a state of constant terror through their dreams. They’ve had restless sleep which has hindered their usefulness to Bel.”
Powerhouse gasped. This monster was only further oppressing abused kids. “Are their dreams all like mine?”
“When we saw your power, at first we judged you another abomination unf
it to live and even more dangerous than the rest. We stimulated you brain to attack you with your own greatest fears. We were, to put it mildly, surprised at some of the nightmares you had.”
“Isn’t everyone afraid they’re only a comic book character and will be bought by a mainstream comic company?”
“Perhaps your people are, but we’re not.” Queen Ralaxa shrugged. “You were born naturally and have an actual family. The others are perversions of science. Destroy them all and take every last tongue-walker with them. Spare only the rainbow people and the two giants.”
“No way am I committing genocide.” Powerhouse snarled. “You’re as bad as Bel.”
“How dare you!” Queen Ralaxa leaped down from her throne.
“You’re a bigot who responds to child abuse by hurting the kids more!”
“They’re monsters incapable of any emotion but rage and selfishness.”
“It takes one to know one, lady.” Powerhouse wiggled his hands by his ears. “You disgust me. Your problem is King Bel and the Tongue Walkers, but you can’t get at them, so you go up against a bunch of kids who can’t defend themselves from you. Lady, I bet I could recruit more people to follow Christ among those ‘abominable’ slaves than among your ivory tower elites!”
“I’ll have you know that I and my entire family have been Christians ever since the glorious day an interdimensional missionary came to us almost two millennia ago!”
“Really? You could’ve fooled me.”
“How dare you question the sincerity of our faith! Your own conversion is of recent vintage.”
“What you’re doing is evil. You’re supposed to show mercy. Instead you torture people when you could give them dreams that would bring them peace, joy, and make them into better people!”
She grabbed Powerhouse’s armor. “Your dimension is next on his list. They’re planning an invasion of your planet with Mitch Farrow as its agent.”
“Mitch Farrow? The CEO of Dorado Incorporated?”
“Yes. Major Speed disappeared inside of a Dorado Warehouse. You were kidnapped from the same warehouse. Your greatest rival goes by the name the Pharaoh, an obvious homophone of Farrow’s name. There’s an eighty-five percent chance he is Mitch Farrow and selling out your planet. You will be overrun by invaders unless you destroy King Bel, his soldiers, and your fellow slaves. Think of James, Derrick, and Naomi.”
“I am.” Powerhouse swallowed. “And I won’t play. I’m not a killer.”
“Maybe a little more time, and you’ll see things from our perspective.”
The cave disappeared into blackness.
A rainbow-colored being spoke in a foreign language.
His overseer spoke back to him, then turned to Powerhouse. “Ah, you’ve come to consciousness. Come, it is time for you to see your first true cinema.”
“Ah, not so fast, young lady.” Justice Woman ran after a teen girl with stringy green and purple hair, reached into the girl’s purse, and pulled out a CD. “I saw you leave that store with this. You didn’t pay for it.”
She gaped. “Okay, I’ll put it back.”
“No, I’m turning you into the store authorities.”
The girl cursed. “Powerhouse would let me go. He’s nice.”
“Come on.” No brat was going to play her for a fool. She led the girl to a middle-aged man who stood behind the customer service desk. “I caught this young woman shoplifting.”
The manager reddened and glared at the girl. “We’ve talked about this!”
“Yeah.” The girl smirked at Justice Woman. “Sorry, Daddy.”
The manager grimaced. “I’ll take care of this.”
Justice Woman snapped around and stomped out. The nerve of those people. He hadn’t even said, “thank you.” Then again, this was probably pretty embarrassing for him.
She hovered in the air and spotted Plato swaggering through the street. Time to talk with the undersea chauvinist. She caught up with him and landed beside him outside a scuba diving shop.
Plato was dripping wet. “Howdy again, ma’am. I just took a nice swim.”
Naomi thrust out her hand. “While you did that, I stopped half a dozen crimes and turned eight criminals over to the police or to stores that were being robbed. Not bad for a woman.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You think women aren’t good enough to be doing this work.”
“Beg your pardon, but that ain’t it at all. Women are too valuable to be put at risk and should be able to expect men to protect them. I feel sorry for you. I’ve seen all those weak, useless men around, but I don’t blame you.”
“But you think a man could do better than me.”
“Certainly not these sissy city boys, no ma’am.”
Naomi put her hands on her hips. “How many arrests have you made?”
Plato put his hands in his pants pockets. “I haven’t been looking for shoplifters. I’ve been looking for Dr. Stero, violent criminals, and car thieves.”
“So women can capture shoplifters but not supervillains? You know who got Dr. Stero last time? I did.”
Plato whistled. “He’s pretty tough. I could use the help.”
What if she lost it again? Naomi frowned. That was a chance she’d have to take. “I want to be clear on one thing, Atlantean. We’re equal partners. I’m not just your helper.”
“I’d welcome the company, ma’am.” Plato waved around the bustling shopping district. “I got word he was seen around these parts.”
“Why would he hide here? There are too many people in this area.” She bit her lip. “There’s a lot of vacant commercial real estate. He could be hiding in an abandoned store.”
“That’s a good idea. Let’s check out these shops.”
They strode down the street. They came across signs for an old baseball card shop. Plato gazed in the window. “Looks pretty vacant.”
Naomi honed in with her superhearing. “No one’s inside.” She glanced across the street and listened. “That abandoned shop is empty, too. Let’s fly over to another block.”
She turned on her hover boots, and they zipped a block forward. Naomi spotted an abandoned flower shop and listened. “There are people in there. Sounds like a family.”
Plato tried the door. “It’s locked.”
“Let me try.” Naomi touched the knob. “It’s unlocked.”
It turned for her.
They strode into the shop and ambled to the back room. A woman, a man, and a little boy and a little girl were hidden behind some drawers.
The woman screamed, “Carlo, quick we’ve got to go!”
Naomi pulled her gun. “Hold it, what’s going on?”
The woman said, “We got kicked out of our apartment and didn’t have any other place to go but here. The owners aren’t using it.”
Naomi frowned. “Probably haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe it’s bank owned and you’re destroying the resale value in the foreclosure sale.”
“Ma’am.” Plato touched her gun hand. “Maybe we ought to worry about them later. I don’t think they’re part of Dr. Stero’s gang.”
“Oh yeah.” She holstered her weapon. The situation had brought out her inner mortgage banker. “Go to a shelter.”
They exited the shop and ambled down the street. A restaurant had decor that looked like Kentucky Fried Chicken, but none of the signage. She listened.
Dr. Stero’s voice came. “I shall dispatch the Powerhouse Squad in total.”
Justice Woman pointed. “He’s here.”
“Let’s go around back.” Plato jogged off.
“Wait!” She got ahead of him and pressed her hands out. “That’s what he’s expecting. Let’s go through the front.”
“But what if he’s thinking we’re going to think that he thinks that and—”
“Fine! You go around back, but I’m going through the front.” Naomi opened the door to the restaurant and crept along the wall. “Costume, change to match the white walls.”
She moved back towards the kitchen.
Plato cried out. “What in the seven seas is this?”
So that Atlantean he-man was in trouble, and it was up to her to bail him out. Oh, the irony. “Costume, change back to normal.”
She dashed through the door into a metal enclosure. It shut behind her, and a chain wrapped around her leg. The Sheriff’s leg was similarly shackled.
Dr. Stero’s voice echoed. “You fools, the brilliant Dr. Stero put traps at both ends! Now, you are both at my mercy, and I have no mercy! Try to break through the steel walls, and you’ll set off an explosion that will destroy six city blocks.” He cackled. “At last, I’m avenged for my humiliation, Justice Woman. And now I’ll take my leave, before you get desperate.”
Gas flooded into the room.
“Will you be poisoned and suffocate or will you blow up? That’s the last choice you’ll make in this life.”
Chapter 23
Justice Woman and the Death Trap
So she’d decided to play hero, and now she’d leave her boys orphans. Justice Woman AKA Naomi Johnson closed her eyes. Likely, it’d just be their dad the boys would miss, and that was her fault, too.
She slapped her forehead. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your head in the game. “I need a gas mask.” She retrieved it from Justice Woman’s utility pouch and pulled out a gas mask and put it on. “And one with ocean water in the tank.” She tossed that one to Sheriff Plato of Atlantis.
He gaped at her as he put it on.
“Now, I need an extra heavy pair of wire cutters.” She reached into her pouch, pulled out the wire cutters, and cut her chains and Plato’s.
Justice Woman scanned the wall. “There’s a section in the middle that’s thin enough for us to get out, but Dr. Stero did set explosives. If we hit hard enough to break through, we’ll set off the explosives in the rest of the wall.”
“Then how are we going to get out?”
What could she use to cut a hole in the hall without hitting the explosive parts? She snapped her fingers. “I’ll weld it. I’ll need my mask and my torch.”