Revenge: Act 2: Divide and Conquer - part 2
by BlueBard

In the previous episode...

"Well, well," mocked Pinstripe, "looky what we got here! Liberty Loser! Glad ya could drop in, kid! I got a score I been itchin' to settle with youse and da rest of Freedom Force."

"How'd you get out of jail, you crook?"

Pinstripe jerked a thumb back at the tall man in the shadows behind him. "My new partner here busted me out. Say hello ta Techmaster!"

"Uh, uh. I think I'll say goodbye!" Liberty Lad turned, only to see another pair of pasty white humanoids step into the mouth of the alley. He looked up and saw four more rise up above him on either side. "On second thought, maybe I'll stick around awhile."

Pinstripe chuckled. "You ain't goin' nowheres, kid. I'd fill ya full o' holes, but we got plans for ya!"

"Yeah? You and what army, Fatso?" The voice came from one of the humanoids.

Pinstripe's eyes narrowed. "Cute, kid. I gotta take ya alive, but I'm gonna make sure it hurts!"

"For Liberty!" Nick cried. He threw his ready stun grenade toward Pinstripe. It detonated at the feet of the humanoids standing next to the mutant mobster, which were unfazed by the blast. Pinstripe reeled, but a forcefield flickered around the tall man behind him.

Techmaster stepped forward out of the shadows. He was dressed in a grey jumpsuit with dozens of pockets. Frizzy white hair stuck out from under what looked like an aviator's leather cap. Thick goggles covered his eyes and a gloved hand held a strange looking gun. "Get the boy, my androids!" the man cried out in a strangely accented voice.

The humanoids moved in on Liberty Lad with great speed. The android in front reached out for him, but Nick nimbly dodged away from its grasp and swung with a hard left hook. Thud! Nick felt like he was punching a rubber tire; his fist rebounded harmlessly off the android's skin. The other androids jumped into the alley from the rooftops.

A tingling on the back of his neck warned him to duck. A pasty white fist swung over his head from behind and connected with the android in front, which staggered back. Nick lashed out with a powerful kick, sending the android behind him sailing through the air to collide with another android.

"Hey, Techmaster! These things aren't made in America, are they?" he taunted as he dodged another android. "Looks like you need to go back to the ol' drawing board!" Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Pinstripe recover from the effects of the stun grenade and start to charge into the fray.

Nick vaulted over an android's head, tumbling in midair, and landed in the mouth of the alley. He reached into his pouch, pulled out another grenade, and lobbed it into the midst of the pack of humanoids. It exploded in a furious blast of energy, ripping through the artificial men and scattering them. One of the flying androids bounced wildly off Techmaster's forcefield, flailing its limbs and trailing oily smoke. Pinstripe howled in pain and slapped at his suit, which had begun to smolder from the force of the explosion.

"Now don't you boys go anywhere! I'll be back with the rest of Freedom Force to come and play real soon!"

"Not so fast, stripling!" cried Techmaster as he raised his shiny gun. A ray of white light flashed out of the barrel and struck Liberty Lad in the back as he turned to run. Nick felt as if every nerve in his body were on fire, and he collapsed to the ground in agony.

"No!" he cried weakly. "Can't... give..." His limbs grew cold and the whole world seemed to turn to grey as he slumped into unconsciousness. Pinstripe ran over to Nick's prostrate form and drew back his foot to kick him in the head.

"No, Pinstripe!" shouted Techmaster. "I need him undamaged!"

Pinstripe held back, and whirled around to face Techmaster. "I owe ya one, Partner, but Pinstripe don't take orders from nobody," he growled.

Techmaster pursed his lips. "I am sorry," he began in a contrite tone. "I did not mean to offend. I merely wished to preserve the boy. The process will not work perfectly if he is damaged, and he is of no use to us dead."

"You just shot him!"

Techmaster holstered his gun and shrugged. "That beam was designed specifically to disable, not to do permanent harm. If it makes you feel better, it was not painless."

Pinstripe relaxed and smiled a hard, cold smile. "Yeah. That'll do."

Techmaster hand-signaled the remaining androids to pick up Liberty Lad and the inert bodies of the destroyed androids. "We must leave here before we are discovered and return to our hideout with the boy. Freedom Force must not guess that anything has happened to him for our plan to succeed." Techmaster smiled nastily.

"Soon Freedom Force will fall... thanks to Liberty Lad!"

Nick slowly became aware of a tingling sensation in his arms and legs. He began to open his eyes, then shut them against a painful brilliance of light. He tried to wiggle his fingers and toes, and felt only a numb twitching in response. Slowly, he reopened his eyes little by little and allowed them to adjust to sight again.

He was in a room, lying at an angle on some sort of table. He was surrounded by gleaming contraptions pieced together from some strange technology. The room had peeling paint and cracked plaster on the walls. Harsh white lights illuminated everything. He was dimly aware of something holding his arms and legs, but as of yet he couldn't quite lift his head far enough to see.

"Wha himme," he slurred.

A tall blurry figure stepped into view. "Ah! Very good! You are awakening from the effects of my agonizer ray right on schedule!"

"Techmaster," Nick groaned.

"You remembered. Then there will be no need for me to reintroduce myself. Rest there, boy. I need you to start recovering some of your strength before I begin."

A huge form stepped into view. "How much longer's dis gonna take? I'm really lookin' forward to makin' mincemeat outta dem heroes."

Nick recognized it as Pinstripe's voice, and managed to focus on the gangster's purple face. "Ugh! What a face to wake up to! C'mon, zap me again so I don't have to look at his ugly mug!"

Pinstripe growled menacingly and stepped forward. "Don't push yer luck, Loser. Won't be nothin' stoppin' me from takin' youse apart once Techmaster's done with ya."

Nick began straining at the restraints holding him down to the metallic table, to no effect. Panic welled up inside of him, but he managed to keep it under control for the moment. "What are you gonna to do me?"

Techmaster waved his arms about him to indicate the futuristic machinery. "Behold! My Simulatron Machine! It is said that every person has a double somewhere. In your case, I am about to create one!"

"You're nuts!" Nick remembered the androids he fought against. "You're going to try to disguise one of your androids as me? It won't work!"

Techmaster nodded approvingly, as if he were a teacher and Nick were a prized student. "Not quite, but an excellent guess. I assume that the advanced technology of the Freedom Fortress would easily detect a mechanical forgery, even one as clever as my own creations. I suppose even if I were to somehow bestow your likeness on another human being, that would be discovered as well. But what if I were to duplicate you... right down to the cellular level?"

"You're crazy! That's not possible!"

"No," Techmaster shook his head, "you are wrong. It is quite possible. In laboratory conditions, your DNA could be painfully reconstructed and slowly coaxed to grow into an exact physical replica of yourself. A clone, if you will. It would normally take me many years and many attempts to accomplish such a feat, in which case your usefulness to our scheme would be moot. However, we have a... silent partner."

Techmaster walked over to another machine that was covered by a dropcloth. He whipped the dropcloth away from the machine with a flourish to reveal a familiar purple-garbed figure.

"DejaVu!" Nick exclaimed. The villain was strapped into the machine, with a cloth gag tied around his mouth. DejaVu was awake and struggling, but couldn't be plainly heard through the gag.

"The one and the same," confirmed Techmaster. "The Simulatron Machine harnesses DejaVu's unique powers to do in a few moments what it would take a lifetime to achieve! Sadly, he proved uncooperative to my plans and needed to be persuaded. With my machine channeling his power, I should able to create a near-perfect replica with enough of your own memories to be convincing and totally subservient to my will!"

"Should be able to?"

Techmaster sighed. "Surely you can appreciate that I don't have a very large pool of Energy-X enhanced test subjects to draw from. You will be the first. If the attempt fails, we will recalibrate and try again. I don't believe the process will hurt you in any way, but if it does there are other subjects to choose from."

"You're a lunatic, Techmaster! You won't get away with this! Freedom Force will find out and stop you!" Across the room, DejaVu nodded vigorously and gargled something through his gag.

Techmaster walked over to DejaVu and regarded him coldly. "Ah! Speaking of lunatics, I suppose you'd like to say something?" Techmaster turned toward Nick. "His incessant gibbering became quite annoying during my initial calibrations, so I had him gagged." Techmaster reached over and removed the cloth from DejaVu's mouth. "Well? Am I a lunatic? It takes one to know one, after all."

DejaVu smacked his dry mouth and spoke in his weirdly modulated voice. "Yes! Crazy you are! Most demented by far! Your evil scheme, I can't condone... It's DejaVu who ought to clone!"

"Pfft!" Techmaster snapped his fingers and waved his hand in dismissal. "You are a loose cannon, mutant. No control. Piddling away your gift by robbing banks and blowing up the city. I have focused and refined it, and I will use it to destroy Freedom Force." Techmaster gestured toward one of his androids. "Initiate the cloning sequence."

The android began pulling levers and pushing buttons. The telltale purple glow of Energy-X enveloped the malevolent madman strapped into the machine.

"No! No! No!" howled DejaVu. "You're stealing my thunder! I'll get you for this; you'll be six feet under!"

The uncanny energies were drained away from DejaVu into the machine. A loud humming noise changed into a crackling cacophony as a strange iridescent glow washed over Nick. He felt like thousands of spiders were crawling all over his skin, inside his stomach, and into his brain. It was highly unpleasant, but not painful. Abruptly, the glow retreated back into the machine. Nick watched helplessly as the shimmering energy filled a cylindrical chamber directly across from him. Slowly, a familiar figure began to emerge as the energy coalesced into matter.

"Looky, looky," DejaVu giggled, "You've got a double! Looks like Liberty Lad's causing some trouble!"

The double stepped out of the cloning chamber. "For Liberty!" the clone cried out in a harsh, mocking tone. Nick beheld a face he'd only seen in a mirror or in a photograph before. It had his brown hair, his eyes, and his mischievous grin. It walked like he walked, and sounded just like him except for the tone of voice.

Techmaster handed the clone Nick's bag of grenades. "This will complete the ensemble. Clone, here are your instructions: You are to seek out the AlcheMiss and lead her back here into our trap by any possible subterfuge. She is our next target, and vital to our plans. You must avoid contact with Mentor; his mental telepathy will reveal your true nature. Conserve your energy; you must return here before your energy wears out."

"Sure thing, Master! Liberty Lad is ready for duty!" The duplicate Liberty Lad saluted and skipped out the door.

Pinstripe turned to his partner in crime. "How come you sent ‘im to get that dame? I thought we was gonna sucker in Minuteman!"

"One clone at a time, my friend," he replied. "You'll get your chance at Minuteman soon enough. I need to remove AlcheMiss first, or the plan is in jeopardy."

"You been pretty tight about the ‘Plan', Techmaster. I don't trust mugs what keeps secrets from Pinstripe, and you been holdin' yer cards close to yer chest since we started this. I know why I've got an itch to bring down Freedom Force; what's your angle?"

Nick listened intently. Somehow he had to escape and warn the rest of Freedom Force.

"It is simple; power has arrived on this world and power brings rewards. Those Freedom Fools have power, but waste it. You have power, and use it to gain more. My power is based on the things I can create, but that requires resources. You have resources. I am merely allying myself with power; if you are successful, I will be successful."

"I like da way you think, Techmaster!" grinned the crime boss. "What gives with the dame, though?"

"Merely removing a potential obstacle, Pinstripe. Her powers are unpredictable and could turn the tide against us. We will therefore capture and clone her and use those powers to our own advantage. Soon I will deliver to you the power to crush Freedom Force once and for all... at the head of an army of android minions!"

To Be Continued...