On U.S. Highway 101 outside Sweet Valley (local time: before dawn)…
"So why are you stopping traffic?"
"It's just a safety check," the Sweet Valley town police officer stated. "We got the warning that there was some 'special' cargo coming through Sweet Valley from the county sheriff's office, so we wanted to make sure it wouldn't cause problems here."
"You don't know what sort of 'special' cargo it is," the federal marshal in charge of the convoy of one heavy cargo truck and several support vehicles mounted with roof-top energy projectors replied. "We want to get our prisoners secured at Vandenburg before noon today. So if you don't mind, I'm sure your superiors will…"
"I'm fully aware of your cargo, Marshal," the officer stated. "Four members of the terrorist group known as the 'Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.'" As the federal officer gaped, the local cop — whose lips had twisted slightly on saying the team's name — then added, "Specifically, Mister Saint-John Allerdyce of Sydney in Australia, Mister Frederick J. Dukes of Lubbock in Texas, Mister Dominikos I. Petrakis of the island of Crete in Greece, and Ms. Irene Adler of Salzburg in Austria. Otherwise known as Pyro, the Blob, Avalanche and Destiny. Recently captured by the Avengers and are to be transported to Vandenburg Air Force Base for eventual transport to a brand new metahuman-control supermax facility somewhere in America for incarceration. We know what's coming through our town, Marshal. We don't want any problems in case the two remaining members of the group — Ms. Raven Darkhölme of unknown place of birth and Miss Anna Marie Raven of Caldecott County in Mississippi, also known as Mystique and Rogue — try to help their friends get out of incarceration."
Silence.
"How the HELL did you learn THAT?!"
"Oh, it was quite easy…when you have connections in the right places. And know about metahumans who live here and love their home town very much," the local officer stated with a knowing smile. "As a matter of fact, one of them might be arriving here in about…"
A whoosh! of air whipping past a human body echoed behind him. "Hi!"
"…right now," the cop said calmly as he gazed behind him. "Sorry to wake you up so early, Ms. Trebuchet. Hope you got at least a good night's sleep."
"I did," the very beautiful blonde teenager with the sky-blue eyes and a very haughty look on her face stated as she landed on the tarmac and walked over. "So we have some very bad people coming through town…or so I heard from Nexus. Who exactly?"
"Four natural-borns who are part of Mystique's group," the cop replied as he tipped his hat to the Shot-put Siren of the South, Trebuchet. "Heading for incarceration after their little fight with the Avengers. The one Ms. Marvel got hurt in."
That made the woman born Amy Sutton — a classmate of the Wakefield twins, best friend to Elizabeth back in junior high school and one of Jessica's best friends these days; she didn't know that the twins themselves were Gifted as Moroboshi Ataru did NOT spill that sort of secret — jolt as her eyes flared with outrage. "Oh, THEM!" she sneered. "Good! Let's hope that power-stealing bitch Rogue is nearby! I'm in the mood for a good fight scene right now! After I pound her into a bleeding mass for what she did to Ms. Marvel, I'll go find Oblivion and get what the stupid little bitch stole from Ms. Marvel sucked right outta her! Let's see how she likes it return!" She then smiled cutely at the gaping marshal. "I'll stay out of the way, Marshal. Don't worry about me…or any of my friends who might show up while you're passing through."
And with that, the teenage girl in the brown-and-grey jumpsuit with the stylised siege engine insignia on her left breast floated up into the air and assumed a crossed-legged sitting position FIVE METRES OFF THE GROUND. As the marshal stared dumbly at this — and the local cops who had come out today to intercept the convoy from Los Angeles all tried not to grin at the friendly attitude the Shot-put Siren was showing — Trebuchet then looked down at them. "Well?! Aren't you going?!" she asked.
The marshal dumbly nodded…
In one of Sweet Valley's richer neighbourhoods…
"Ah! There it is!"
Lila Fowler, the only daughter and heiress of Sweet Valley's second-richest man — a fellow who made his fortune in the dot-com boom of the 1990s, then got out before the boom became a bust to establish one of southern California's most successful investment enterprises — grinned as she pulled out the diamond meson bracelet that had been hiding in one of her dresser drawers in her bedroom for a year since her memories about her true-self and her powers had been suppressed. Thank God no one threw this away! she mused to herself as she fixed the beautiful bracelet — which looked like a real bracelet made of pure diamond up close — onto her left arm, and then concentrated.
Her nude body — she had just got out of the shower when the message from Nexus came through her personal computer relaying information about the federal government's move of four natural-born metahuman terrorists through Sweet Valley in an early morning transfer to nearby Vandenburg — was soon covered in unwinding meson-charged cloth that formed into a white Yizibajohei-pattern jumpsuit decorated in a wild, dazzling display of primary colours in explosive icons that declared her to be the Living Atomic Reaction, Cyclotron. As the transformed Lila took a deep breath and then moved to gaze at herself in the floor-length mirror, she then smiled as she tossed her head of wavy brown hair around. Damn! I look sexy! she mused to herself as she took a modeller's pose, fluttering her dark brown eyes. If only Jessica could see me now!
Like her classmate Amy Sutton, Lila Fowler had no idea who else had gained Gifts from the Great Crystal of Power thanks to Moroboshi Ataru.
Which was a good thing, really.
After all, who better to trust such an incredible secret like THAT to than a man who normally lived on another PLANET with his adopted sister?
Thus, no metahuman heel on Earth could trace him down and hurt the poor boy.
Or did they…?
Frowning, Cyclotron marched over to sit in front of her computer. She tapped controls that brought up the special communications programming that she had gained second-hand from the Academician — the previous native-born Yizibajohei man who had given Ataru the ability to travel from that planet to Earth and back when he started his quest to get pretty girls Gifts, not the current incarnation…whoever she was! — so she could keep in contact with the Mistress of Information, the Nexus. Once the program was linked up and working, the wealthy débutante began typing away:
FROM: Cyclotron
TO: Nexus
QUESTION: Is there an investigation as to what happened to Ataru?
She sat back in her chair, her finger absently flicking on her personal stereo system, thus allowing the haunting music of the group Two Steps From Hell to calm her before she would head out and look in on the movement of Mystique's friends through her home town on their way to a well-deserved period of hard time somewhere in the country. A moment later, the response chimed in, which made Cyclotron blink:
FROM: Nexus
TO: Cyclotron
ANSWER: Investigation already underway. Three potential suspect groups:
1) Rogues in the Special Committee on Alien Activities, AKA the Men in Black
2) Supporters of Thomas M. Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, rogue British wand-magical who seeks to overthrow the local magical government; opponent of the Cosmic Mage Guild.
3) Dire Wraiths, discovered to be on Earth by Ataru, Rampage, Wildflower, Carcajou, Terra, Shadow Weaver, the Azuma Gang, the X-Men and the New Teen Titans in the fight scene at the mountain base of the H.I.V.E. group in Colorado yesterday.
That third statement made the transformed Lila blink. She knew of Rampage; what the girl had done off the coast of Indonesia four years ago had made worldwide news. She knew of Wildflower; that was Ataru's childhood friend Miyake Shinobu, the second girl to get a Gift after Kasuga Ayumu, who was now part of the Azuma Gang as Infinity. And Terra was also known to her; a mercenary and assassin who had recently gone totally face and joined the Titans. And while she only knew of Miyake Shinobu, Kasuga Ayumu and Tara Markova, she also knew that Rampage — whoever she was — was said to hold close feelings for Ataru.
Who could she be? Cyclotron asked herself before typing:
FROM: Cyclotron
TO: Nexus
NEW QUESTION: Any sign of the Brotherhood's missing members?
The answer came soon enough, which made the human thermonuclear reactor gape:
FROM: Nexus
TO: Cyclotron
ANSWER: No confirmed sighting of Mystique or Rogue. Trebuchet is on-scene and escorting the captured members through Sweet Valley. Go say 'hi' to her!
A winking smiley-face emoticon followed that statement.
"I'll be damned!" Cyclotron breathed out…
New York, the Baxter Building (local time: after breakfast)…
"What is it, Stretch?! Galactus came down on Yancy Street or somethin'?!"
Reed Richards grinned as he reached over — and for the man called Mister Fantastic, reaching really meant REACHING! — to key a control on a console three metres to his left; he and his friend were in one of the scientist's laboratories at the tall building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 42nd Street just west of Grand Central Terminal. "Well, you wanted to know if Amy showed up again in public as Trebuchet, Ben," he said as he pointed to the screen before him. "There she is."
Ben Grimm blinked…and then he looked at the screen. "Well, I'll be damned!" the strongest of the Fantastic Four declared as a smile crossed his rock-like face. "Lil' Amy Sutton?! She's back in her old home town, right? Some place in California…?"
"Sweet Valley. Nice name for a nice town…which is being forced to endure not-so-nice people being transported through their town en route to Vandenburg."
"Who?" the Thing growled.
"Four members of the current incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants."
A smirk. "Reed, if Amy ever heard you say the 'M' word, she'd wash your mouth out with soap. Remember what she did to those Friends of Humanity idiots two years ago?!"
Reed laughed; THAT had been one of the funniest things that had happened thanks to young Amy Sutton, a Californian by birth who had been forced to move to New York City with her parents when she was in junior high school. Along the way, Amy — like a whole host of other people across the planet, almost all to the end young girls — got the chance to travel to a different PLANET named Yiziba where she gained metahuman powers. A basic FISS-type metahuman with power close to Wonder Woman in scale, Amy — as the Trebuchet — was especially gifted with strong arms that gave her the ability to literally THROW things at hypersonic speeds through the air; hence, her battle-name. She even had the power to throw something at near HYPERLUMINAL speeds when she was in deep space, as she demonstrated two years ago when she had literally pitched the SILVER SURFER through Galactus' entrapment barrier around Earth to allow him to fly free!
Remembering THAT had left even the normally loquacious Mister Fantastic speechless!
And now…
"I wonder if Amy's disappearance as Trebuchet has something to do with Moroboshi Ataru," the leader of the Fantastic Four then mused.
"Huh?" the man born Benjamin Grimm eloquently demanded.
"Amy stopped going out to fight criminals as Trebuchet about three months prior to the Tag Race in Tomobiki between young Moroboshi Ataru and his would-be 'wife,'" Reed stated. "That was sometime before her family moved back to California. We knew who she was; she was honest with us when she helped us deal with Blastaar after she gained her powers. While I certainly never bothered to keep an eye on her since she seemed to be settling down to a normal life as she started going to high school, that she's back in costume NOW — the day AFTER a whole group of what I believe are Yizibajohei appeared in Tomobiki to help drive off the Oni — does strike me as very peculiar."
"Reed, what are ya sayin'?!" Ben demanded. "Someone made Amy FORGET what she was?!"
"I think so. I believe it would be to the best interests of many that we investigate this," Reed stated as he stood up. "Care for a trip to California?"
Ben blinked, and then he smirked. "Got nothin' better ta do!"
"Let's get the others."
Both headed out of the room…
Avengers Mansion…
"Oh, my stars and garters! Another of Ataru's friends, I believe! And it's young Miss Trebuchet; she was living in New York last I heard! What's she doing in California?!"
"What interests you, friend Beast?"
Hearing the pompous voice of a certain Asgardian thunder god, Henry McCoy — who had just returned to the mansion due south of Central Park a couple hours ago — turned as Thor Odinson came into the room. "Look who I just discovered, my friend."
He pointed to the screen. The blond, blue-eyed Asgardian warrior prince turned to look…before a delighted grin crossed his face. "'Tis the Young Lady Trebuchet! The brave and powerful young girl who fought the vile Blastaar and befriended the noble Benjamin Grimm and his friends! Where is this picture being taken, friend Beast?!"
"In California, not too far from Vandenburg," Beast replied. "They're transporting the four captured members of Mystique's team from Los Angeles through a small town named Sweet Valley now to eventually see them transported into incarceration after what happened to poor Carol." That made Thor scowl; what Rogue had done to Ms. Marvel had been horrible beyond belief. No one had ANY idea how long it would take for the former Air Force officer and CIA operative to recover. "The spy satellite just picked up Miss Trebuchet — whom I now believe might be one of young Mister Moroboshi's many lady friends who took a trip to the planet Yiziba to gain metahuman 'gifts' — moving to escort the convoy through the town. I dare say Miss Trebuchet…"
"Lives in such a pleasantly-named valley in the noble state of California," Thor finished. "Why would you suspect that the good lady is a friend of the Moroboshi lad?"
"That she DISAPPEARED from public view about the time young Ataru's memories were altered and he was made to fight Lum in the Tag Race."
Thor gaped. "WHAT?! Who would dare HARM such a fair and kind damsel as she?!"
"That's what we've been ordered to find out."
Both men turned. "Cap?" Beast asked as the leader of the Avengers walked in.
Steven Rogers — in the uniform of Captain America — nodded to the former X-Man. "I just got word from the White House. They got told that Miss Trebuchet VOLUNTEERED herself to help guard the convoy taking the four members of Mystique's team through Sweet Valley to Vandenburg. She's known to the local police department. And…" He then smirked at Beast. "This will interest you, Hank…"
"What?" the blue-furred scientist asked.
"The Sweet Valley town council, two years ago, passed an ordinance forbidding the use of the words 'mutant' or 'mutate' when it came to metahumans in official government work of any sort, even from county, state or federal agents," the Captain announced. "The marshal in charge of the movement of Mystique's friends was warned he would be fined if he used the term to describe his prisoners in the open in the town limits."
"I would assume the proper terms permitted in the good town of Sweet Valley are 'naturally-gifted metahumans' and 'fate-gifted metahumans,'" the Beast noted.
The Captain gaped. "How'd you know THAT?!"
A chuckle. "You just proved to me that Miss Trebuchet is one of Mister Moroboshi's friends. And believe it or not, it would now not surprise me that she is a peer and possible friend of the Academician, her sister Rampage and Lightmage. They come from a small town in California not far from Los Angeles, though they hadn't confirmed the town's actual name. A fair wager that such is Sweet Valley."
"But young Ataru always sought young lasses to take to the Great Forge of the Seekers to be given Gifts, friend Beast," Thor objected. "Lightmage is a young lad."
"There was one man Ataru directly helped; he's the Warlock, the leader of the Cosmic Mage Guild," Beast reported. "And one other male he wanted to help but only took a Gift not several hours ago; he's now Mustang. But there are other agents from Yiziba active in seeking out people to gain their own Gifts. One of them helped Lightmage gain his powers." He then smirked. "Shall I summon our friends, Captain?"
"Do it," the Star-Spangled Soldier ordered…
Back in Sweet Valley, at the Shady Lady Inn…
"FUCK!"
"Hey! Take it easy with the shot glasses, Betsy!"
That earned the bartender a blistering look from the tomboyish woman standing at the bar. The Shady Lady, the local dive in the poorer part of the Valley, had closed some hours before, but the woman born Betsy Martin hadn't left after final call had been made. Since she was a regular here — atop being the elder daughter of one of the more notorious residents of the Valley — the bar owner hadn't chased her out after he closed down for the evening. There had been SOMETHING wrong with the girl…
…but the man nearby couldn't begin to guess what it was.
And perhaps that was for the best.
Taking a deep breath, Betsy reached into her jeans to pull out a wad of cash to place on the bar before she moved to leave. "Thanks," she said.
"You okay?" the bar owner asked.
A sigh. "I will be," she said. "See you soon."
And with that, she walked out of the Shady Lady; fortunately for her, the locked door could be opened from the inside if necessary and she didn't need to be escorted out. Not that she needed any sort of help leaving; now that the elder Martin daughter had regained her memories of a young man from Japan named Moroboshi Ataru — as well as her own Gift, which gave her the powers of the Sculptor of the Atom, Cimasa, one of the members of the so-called Young Guns — she couldn't get herself drunk as she once could before a fateful meeting three years ago had totally altered not her life but that of her beloved kid sister Tricia (who now lived as the Mistress of Plagues and another member of the Young Guns, Tzaraath), who was out of town with her boyfriend Steven Wakefield at this time. And hopefully remembering things like I can now, Betsy mused…
…before her ears picked up the sounds of multiple car and truck engines echoing in near-unison from Highway 101 to the south of her. As she turned to look, her brown eyes locked on the small convoy of trucks — including one massive transport which definitely was something that normally never travelled on the highways of America — now being escorted into the urban part of the Valley by the local police.
"What on Earth…?" Betsy demanded, wondering what was going on…
…and then her eye caught movement in the air over the big truck, which made her look up…and then gape on seeing the girl in the brown Yizibajohei-pattern jumpsuit floating cross-legged along with the rest of the convoy down the highway!
"Holy cow…!" Betsy gasped before she moved somewhere private to get changed into her battle uniform; fortunately for the elder Martin sister, she had always worn her transformation bracelet around her wrist even if she had been made to forget what it could actually do. Better go see what's going on here! she mused to herself…
"Trebuchet!"
Hearing that familiar-sounding voice, Trebuchet jolted before she looked up…and then she gaped on seeing the familiar costume. "Cyclotron?!" she demanded…
…and then her eyes locked on the other woman's face.
"LILA?!"
"AMY?!"
Stunned silence fell over the scene…and then Cyclotron laughed as she flew over to warmly embrace her classmate, sorority sister and sometime rival at being Jessica Wakefield's best friend. "ATARU GOT YOU, TOO?!" both then chimed together before they laughed and enjoyed another embrace before they parted, thus allowing Cyclotron to assume a sitting position beside Trebuchet. As they continued to sit-fly along Highway 101 into the urban part of Sweet Valley, the two freshmen girls at Sweet Valley High School moved to catch up on important things. "When did this happen to you?!" the transformed Lila Fowler asked as she gazed on the transformed Amy Sutton.
"When I was in New York City about three years ago," the Shot-put Siren answered. "It was when Blastaar came out of his own dimension to be a stupid heel and the Fantastic Four had to fight him. Ataru saved me when the dork blasted at a bus, then took me right then and there to the Cave of the Future. I became this, then went back and gave old Fur-Face the beating of a lifetime…and I was all of THIRTEEN at the time!" As the Living Atomic Reaction laughed in delight, the former best friend of Elizabeth Wakefield added, "I also helped the Silver Surfer get off the planet finally."
"One of your deep-space tosses, I take it?"
"Naturally!"
Cyclotron then remembered something. "You broke through a barrier GALACTUS set up?!"
"Wasn't difficult!" Trebuchet declared. "Norrin's body was hardened to something like pure adamantium by Infinity's pal! He could survive it!"
More laughter. "Did anyone see it?" the wealthy débutante then asked.
"The Fantastic Four were there." The former New Yorker then snickered.
"What?"
"Oh, I just remembered Professor Richards' reaction to what I did."
"Oh? Do tell, please!"
"I made him shut up for ten minutes."
Cyclotron then blinked. "There's a significance?"
"According to his brother-in-law, yes."
"How so?"
"Well, given that Professor Richards loves to talk in geek-speak all the time, that I SHUT HIM UP for TEN MINUTES was manna from Heaven to Johnny Storm!"
Both girls laughed…
In the police car at the end of the convoy…
"So who's Trebuchet's friend?" one officer asked.
"Don't recognise her. But she's gotta be local. Look at the way they're gabbing!"
"Like Rampage and the Academician? Lightmage, too?"
The first cop nodded; he had seen CNN. "Probably."
A whistle. "Damn! We got us our own Justice League in town!"
"Is that a good thing?"
The other cop blinked. "I hope so."
Inside the large truck holding down four members of the newest incarnation of the Brotherhood, the lone female of the prisoners was distraught.
I hope Raven and Anna Marie come soon! the woman born Irene Alder mused. Being frozen like this and trapped like this is SO discomforting…!
In the driver's cabin…
"WHAT?!"
The driver blinked as he gazed on the shocked marshal in the shotgun seat. "Something wrong, Marshal?" the soldier — he was part of the 11th Armoured Cavalry Regiment's special team that was often called on to deal with metahuman problems — asked.
The older law enforcement officer blinked. "Yes, Director. We'll keep an eye out for them," he then said into his encrypted cell phone before he hung up. "The Avengers and the Fantastic Four are coming here now. Seems Trebuchet is attracting official and unofficial attention from Washington and people want to know what's going on."
"Is she a mu-…?" The younger man caught himself; he had remembered what the local cops had said about saying the "M" word in Sweet Valley. "Er, naturally gifted?"
"Don't know. But a girl responding to that name actually fought one of the aliens the Fantastic Four deal with from time to time three years ago. In New York City!"
A blink. "Then what the hell is she doing he-…?!"
Suddenly, the whole truck seemed to pitch over to one side!
The sudden crash! of a very large object on the ground below made Trebuchet and Cyclotron jolt before they spun around and looked down…
…just as the former's blue eyes locked on a familiar figure in dark green.
"ROGUE!" the transformed Amy Sutton screamed out as we…
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(Posted Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:40)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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