Fire and Ice, Part 4
Entering the aline craft buried in the ice, Surge, Iron Hand and Phanuel discover 6 stasis chambers, each holding a humanoid alive life form, alive but unmoving.
Jinx, the evil sorceress of the Fearsome Five, stands in front of a large monitor displaying a map of North and South America.
"Y'know," she says with a sneer,"If it weren't for what I can do, we'd just be called 'The Five'."
The room comes alive as a control console in the craft animates and tries to sandwich Iron Hand, with no effect. The Reliance responds with equal force, but Surge's lightinging and Iron Hand's energy blasts pass through Jinx without effect. Even stranger, Phanuels magical blast swerves completely away from Jinx, instead striking one of the aliens in stasis.
A moment later, the door to the craft closes, triggering Phanuel's cluastrophobia. She has little time to be concerned, however, as the wind picks up in the chamber and pulls all oxegyn from the half-angel's lungs, immediately rendering her unconscious.
Through strength ogf will or possibly an act of God, Phanuel quickly recovers and is back on her feet. COntinued bolasts from Iron Hand and Surge produce no helpful results, but suddenly all three heroes become aware that they have been fooled by an illusion! Jinx threw one of the aline bodies out of its stasis chamber and placed an illusion of herself over it, while she took refuge in the stasis chamber, attacking the Reliance from safety. At least from physical threats. The "stray magic blast" had apparantly founds its mark. Phanuel summoned nearly all of her power to inflict divine fear on an obviously powerful mystic. Although it only made Jinx pause for a moment, one moment was enough for Surge to aim his next bolt of lightining between the evil magic user's eyes.
In the aftermath, the team uses the location displayed on the large screen to find the possible destination of Dr. Svoboda. They call Hal Langsford, place Gizmo in the craft with Jinx (Shimmer had mysteriously vanished) and soon depart for the Canadian Klondike Mountains.
When they arrive, they meet another pilot for STAR Labs who explains that he brought Dr. Svoboda here. The helpful pilot uses a tracking device to send the team on a course following the strange doctor. In just a few minutes, they arrive at another aline craft. This one looks much smaller, woth no visible means of propulsion.
Just inside the open hatch, Irton Hand is scanned by an alien device, which then tranlsates an large warning sign inside the door to English. "Prisoner Transport. Do Not Enter."
Despite warnings and concern expressed by Phanuel and Surge, Iron Hand's need to explore the unknown has predetermined his course of action. He braves the small corridors of the craft, weaving back and forth. Security lasers and electrified doors pose not problem for the metal man and he soon finds the innermost chamber. Inside are a large pod with wires and conduits of all sorts connected to it. Above it, a transparent cube swirling with unknown energies.
Iron Hand regroups and reports his findings to the team. While Surge leaves his communicator with Phanuel, the mysterious winged girl opts to remain outside in the open air until her presence is required in the cramped environment of the space craft.
With Iron Hand in the lead, he and Surge systematically explore the rest of the craft, destroying various traps along the way. Eventually, they come across Dr. Svoboda. The eccentric doctor tries to reason with the two heroes, asking them to destroy the creature that, by the sound of things, has just broken free from the pod in the center of the craft.
Tired of being fooled with, the Reliance takes a stand, with Phanuel now on the scene, against the strange STAR employee. But before they can force any actions or words, from Svoboda, his demeanor changes, along with his appearance, morphing into what must be his true form: Psi-mon, master of the mind!
Casually, the leader of the Fearsome Five takes control of Phanuel, turning her divine fear upon her team-mates. Terrified, both men begin to panic and look for a way out.
They recover soon enough, as Psimon releases his hold on Phanuel. And not a moment too soon. The alien prisoner being transported in the vessel come lumbering onto the scene, looking ready for a fight. The Reliance doesn't make him wait.
Magic blasts, lightning bolts and fists of steel spin through the air. The creature and Surge seems to share a moment of mutual defiance regarding each opther's attacks. But in the end, the creature is pummeled into the wall behind him, rendering him unconscious and neutralize any threat he posed to earth.
Relaxed applause intrudes on the suddenly quiet aftermath and the voice of Psi-mon rings in everyone's mind.
"Bravo. I had hoped that one of you would wear the other out, making my job easier. But I can see you're more formidabl;e than I thought, and this endeavor has sudden;y become much less profitable." After these words, Psi-mon is gone. Even a search for life by Phanuel reveals nothing.
The team can't help but feel frustrated that only two of the Fearsome Five have been captured to face justice. Yet they know the battle they fight is a never ending one. And another day will provide new opportunities.
Psi-mon's abandoned journal reveals that he had discovered both crafts some time ago. The ship under the ARC facility contained 6 alien policemen inside. Their job was to escort their prisoner to a containment facility. During an emergency crash landing, the prisoner transport was ejected from the main craft. Psi-mon, as Svoboda, found the polic ship and, discover the officers in stasis, took advantage of the situation, experimenting on them. He discovered that their genetic make-up could create a catalyst for the human meta-gene effect. However, the results were unstable, leading him to seek out the other craft, in hopes that the other aline life form might contain something useful that would solve Psi-mon's problem.
What Psi-mon's endgame was, the Reliance can't know. But he seemed content to abandon his efforts... for now.
EPILOGUE
Back at HQ, the front door has been repaired with a "Thank You" note from the Coast City Star Labs.
While the team was gone, Coast City suffered a major attack from off-world. Clearly cosmic level in nature. They see the details reported all over the news. Something about a "Sinestro Corps". An antithesis to the Green Lantern Corps. The GL's defended Coast City and all of the planet and the citizens did their parts to rally around them. The citizens' tangible support in a time of terror is like nothing seen in any city across the world.
Overnight, Coast City has been nick-named "The City Without Fear". Suddenly, everyone wants to live here and real estate business is booming. In just a few days, an endless caravan of cars will no doubt begin streaming into the city as it is re-populated with unprecidented speed. The University is also being re-launched mid-semester due to poular demand with a modified credit system until the rest of the semester is complete.
The HQ phone is overloaded with messages from local and national news stations in Coast City wanting interviews with Phanuel("or 'Candice' if she prefers") and the rest of The Reliance. Also there is a message on Iron Hand's personal line. His WayneTech team reports that the prototype armor models are finished and ready for demonstration to Amanda Waller of the Belle Reve Metahuman Incarceration facility. She'd like to see a demo before the end of this week.
The Reliance has an opportunity now to catch their breath, train and develop their abilities, and prepare for whatever fate brings tomorrow.
Next... "The Doomsday Program, Part 1!"
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