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ENTRY # : |
24 |
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TITLE : |
MALL MANIA |
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ARC : |
N/A |
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ENTERED BY : |
Hazardman |
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DATE RANGE : |
December 24th, 2000 |
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HEROES : |
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VILLAINS : |
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PEOPLE : |
Buddy Baker,
Ellen Baker,
Cliff Baker,
Maxine Baker,
Sam Gerard,
Dolores Gerard,
Orion
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OTHERS : |
A-Street,
Damage Inc.,
D'Kai,
The MegaMall
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ENTRY : |
This was a weird one. It was Christmas Eve and I was relaxing at home with
my family (and P'Reseiho, who I had impulsively invited over - I gave him the quick alias of
'Buzz Ripley' and explained away his eccentricities as due to his being Australian in a moment
of clear stupidity) when my niece freaked out. She had been watching an inspid A-Street
Christmas Special, being broadcast live from the MegaMall, when that band was summarily
replaced by another.
Myself, I couldn't see what the fuss was. One bunch of talentless hacks was replaced with
another. So what? It semed to matter to Maxine, though, and certainly Damage Incorporated's
brand of so-called 'music' was louder and less ignorable than the boy band's had been. And I
wasn't keen on letting villains prosper by their acts, however the discomfort of A-Street may
have benefitted humanity.
Anyway, I was trying to explain things to Perseus and phone the rest of the group to let them
know what was up without 'outing' myself in front of the folks when the page came in that the
Knights of the Coast were being called to the scene. My brother-in-law Buddy helped cover our
exit as Perseus and I took off for the scene. (I don't know how I'd be able to live this
double-life without his assistance.)
(While enroute to the Mall, I did broach the subject with P'Reseiho of why he was assisting us
in this manner rather than heading off to stay with his kinsman Orion. He claimed to have
'toe' to us for our having helped save his Chandra. I'm not familiar with that term,
but it appears to be some sort of debt of honor, the latter being very important to his people.)
We were the last to arrive at the scene of the Mall, and found the place completely mobbed
with screaming A-Street groupies (I'm so glad my sister forbade my niece to go), cops,
last-minute shoppers and the like. There wasn't a hope in hell of being able to get in to
where the concert was this way. Luckily, P'Reseiho has some sort of anti-gravity implants,
and was able to run right up the wall so we could meet up with the others on the roof of
the mall.
I thought we were going to plan out an assault, but as usual, our tactics were about the
"scream and leap" level. I did get to see a different side of Phoenix though when he dropped
to the stage and bantered with the lead supervillain singer for a few seconds before attacking.
Apparently his meds were working.
Yadda, yadda, yadda, the preliminaries were over and the fighting began, in front of a full
crowd. The Damage Inc guys were pretty tough, and favored getting right close and personal.
They were all pretty nastily armed as well. Luckily, I could take what they had to dish out.
I can't say much stood out about that fight. Phoenix was wading around smacking everything in
sight, as usual, and I saw Oberon loosing a few of his "manna bolts". I think I caught sight
of Perseus using the cover of the shadows to attack their electricity-chucker. I didn't, of
course, see Cipher, but occasionally one of the bad guys would freeze for a second or so, so I
knew she was active. As for myself, I traded being a punching bag for their oversized drummer
to being the ginsu display for the metal chick, but nothing too serious.
When the dust settled, we had knocked most of them out. The metal chick got away, mainly
because she was way faster than a person made out of metal has any right to be.
In the aftermath of the battle, we learned that these were amongst the guys released during
the Stronghold breakout. They surely weren't the primary targets,
though.
There isn't much other news on that front. We've learned that a sonic device was used to carve
through the walls and effect the escape, which was the detail that sent the hounds down on
Doc Stewart, but little else. We haven't even got a full list of the escapees yet, and the
cops aren't being the most forthcoming because of our 'association' with the suspect, who
remains in jail.
The whole things strikes me as a set-up. There are any number of sonic villains around (for
instance Discord of Damage Inc), yet they immediately came down on Victor. Lawrence has
sicced a fleet of lawyers onto the case so we hope that he can be free before the New Year.
Certainly I have no doubts about Doc Stewart's innocence.
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WRAPUP : |
Another success for the group, at a critical time. While this helps our
self-esteem, it does little to help the Stewart situation.
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