Revenge: Act 2: Divide and Conquer - part 3
by BlueBard

Liberty Lad strode into the Freedom Fortress' control room, where El Diablo was on duty. "Hi, Diablo! Are you the only one here?"

"Hola, Nick!" Diablo greeted him. "Yah, everyone else is out on the town saving the city while I'm stuck here minding la casa. Wha'chu doin' back here? Come to take your turn?"

"Oh, I just got tired of working on my own. I was hoping to team up with somebody. Where is everybody else?"

"Ah, let's look on the tactical display, Amigo." Diablo turned to push some buttons on the futuristic control panel. Suddenly, the main display went haywire and the control panel's indicators flashed wildly. "Ay, Caramba! Not again!"

"What's wrong, Diablo?"

"It's this stupid console. Been acting up all day. Mentor looked at it before and couldn't find nothin' wrong, but it's driving me loco!" Diablo banged on the console with his fist, and the displays flickered once and went back to normal. "Eh! It worked this time! Now let me see if I can find everyone for you." Diablo studied the tactical. "Minuteman and Mentor are tryin' to stop a big riot over on the east side. Order's taking care of looters downtown. Ant's there too, clearing wreckage. Eve's keepin' the peace at City Park. Man O' War and Sea Urchin are cleaning up the bad guys down at the riverfront. Bullet's helping to put out fires all over town. Everybody else is spread out lookin' for trouble before it happens."

"Where's AlcheMiss?" Liberty Lad asked.

Diablo looked at him with a sly grin. "You're too young for her, ain'cha mi Amigo?"

Liberty Lad flushed in embarrassment. "It's not like that, Diablo! I was just wondering."

"Jus' checking. That southern she-cat seems to have a whole lotta guys tryin' to keep tabs on her. Anyway, she just got done stoppin' a mugger from makin' off with an ol lady's purse down on Broadway and Fifth. I sent la policia to take him off her hands a minute ago. If you wanna tag along with her, you might catch up to her in time."

"Thanks, Diablo! See you later!"

Liberty Lad, or at least his evil clone, stepped out of the control room and exited the Freedom Fortress through the main entrance. He looked around, then pulled a communicator out of his pouch.

"Come in, Techmaster."

"Techmaster here. Report."

"AlcheMiss is at Broadway and Fifth. I'm going after her now."

"Excellent! We'll be waiting! Techmaster, out."

The Anti-Liberty Lad smiled a nasty grin. "Look out, AlcheMiss! Ready or not, here I come!"

Behind him, unnoticed, the air seemed to shimmer and thicken. The effect faded away as the Anti-Liberty Lad took off at a run.

Over on Broadway...

Sergeant Mahoney shoved the dazed mugger in the back of the squad car, then turned back to AlcheMiss. "Thanks, AlcheMiss! Don't know how we'd be keepin' the peace today if it weren't for Freedom Force!"

"Don' mention it, Offisuh." AlcheMiss blushed a little. She still wasn't used to the gratitude lavished on her every time she did something as a superhero. She was just glad the rest of Freedom Force wasn't around to see her blush. A girl's got to maintain her image. "Ah jus' couldn't let ol tall, dark, and gruesome hurt this dear lady." She turned to the grandmotherly white-haired woman clutching her purse. "How are you holdin' up, Miz Parker?"

"Oh my dear! I'm still shaking terribly! But thanks to you, Dear, I'll be just fine."

Sergeant Mahoney turned to the older woman. "Sorry ‘bout this, Missus Parker, but we'll be needin' you to come down to the station to press charges on this hooligan."

"Certainly, Sergeant! I'm sure it will be safer there at the station than walking the streets! May I ride with you?"

"Sure!" The policeman opened the passenger door for her. "Is there anyone we should call?"

"Well," Mrs. Parker replied, "I'm sure my nephew, Peter, will be very worried. He's such a sensitive boy!"

"We'll call him down at the station, then." He walked around to the driver's side of the squad car and gave AlcheMiss a thumbs-up sign before he got in and drove away.

As AlcheMiss turned to leave, she heard Nick's voice yell, "Wait up!" The Anti-Liberty Lad ran up to her, panting heavily.

"What's wrong, Sugah?" she asked, concerned.

The double rested his palms on his knees, still catching his breath. "I'm glad I caught up with you! El Diablo sent me to find you!"

"What's that firebug want? And why didn't he jus' use the communicator instead of sendin' you runnin' out to get me?"

The clone looked up at her. "Oh! Uh, you know; the main console is on the fritz again. He can't get it working right."

"Well ah'll call him now and give him a piece of mah mind for treatin' you like an errand boy instead of comin' his own self."

"No! Uh, there isn't time! Just before the console went on the blink again, the computers detected some weird extradimensional disturbance a couple of blocks north of Third Street. You've gotta get over there on the double and check it out!"

"Peaches and Cream!" she exclaimed. "What's next? Anybody else on the way theah, Sugah?"

"No, they're scattered all over trying to get things back to normal again."

"Wish we had the Freedom Flyer, Nicky. Ah'm gettin' tired of hoofin' all over town in these heels!"

"Um. I could carry you."

AlcheMiss grinned at him. "Ah'm a little old to be swept off mah feet by a teenager, Pumpkin, even a heartthrob like you." She sighed. "Ah guess we'll see if we can hail us a cab. You got any fare money in that little ol pouch, Nicky?"

"Nope."

"Oh, well. Ah guess ah can give ‘em the ol ‘come-hither' look; it hasn't failed to stop a man dead in his tracks yet, it ought to stop a cabbie." She glanced at Liberty Lad's double. "Close yoah mouth, Nicky," she drawled, "you're startin' to drool. Ah sweah, you men are all alike!"

Minuteman stood on top of the Freedom Flyer, speaking to the now quiet mob in a commanding voice. "Citizens! Look around you! Do you see the broken glass? The dented cars? The bruises? These were not caused by some ruthless villains. No. These are the result of you, yourselves, letting your anger get the best of you!" The crowd murmured, and the hero held up his hands for their attention.

"I know earlier today it was not your fault. The enemies of this great land turned your emotions against you. But when the threat was ended you continued to riot, disturbing the peace and ignoring the rule of law!

"Freedom Force, and many of you, risked their lives today to help people and to end the violence. I commend those brave individuals who made a difference today. Most of them had no superhuman abilities, but they did have heroic courage and compassion for others. It's people like that who show what America is made of! I urge you all to go home, and think about that.

"One more thing, Friends. If you were involved in vandalism today, be a worthy citizen of this great country: Pitch in to clean things up and make things right. As the greatest man who ever lived once said, ‘Go, and sin no more.'"

As the crowd began to disperse, many hanging their heads in shame, Minuteman dropped down to the ground. Mentor laid a hand on his shoulder. "My Friend, that was truly an inspirational speech. You truly give me hope that humanity will someday rise above evil. I must confess that I had not been very encouraged earlier."

"I couldn't have done it without you, Chum!" Minuteman smiled. "You calmed down some of the worst hotheads, and that made a big difference!"

"Thank you. It was somewhat tiring. I was forced to drop our telepathic link in order to bring an end to the crowd's hostility. I wonder how the rest of Freedom Force is faring?"

"That's all right, Mentor! We've still got our communicators. Get your strength back. We'll need it to face down whatever the Dominion throws at us next! Let's get back to the Freedom Fortress!"

Nick's double stepped out of the cab in front of the old warehouse. "This is the place, AlcheMiss!"

"Funny," she frowned in concentration as she climbed out of the back seat. "Ah'm not sensin' any extradimensional disturbance at all. You sure this is the right place, Sugah? Maybe the computer was wrong. Y'all did say it was still havin' a glitch."

"Yeah, I'm sure! We should check it out, just in case it left something behind."

"Alright, Pumpkin, we'll do this yoah way." She leaned in to the dark-haired cab driver. "Thanks for the lift, Alex. Ah do appreciate it."

"Don't mention it, AlcheMiss! It was a real pleasure to help out. You sure you don't want me to stick around and wait for you?"

"No, Sugah. We'll probably be lookin' around for a little bit. Besides, if somethin' were to happen it's best you weren't in the line of fire. Here's a little tip." She leaned in and gave the driver a kiss on the cheek. "That's foah bein' a real gentleman!"

"Wow! Louie's never gonna believe this!" The pair watched as the cab drove away.

"This way!" the clone beckoned. He stepped up to a padlocked door, grabbed the lock, and twisted hard. The lock broke.

"Nicky! That's breakin' and enterin'!"

"Well? How else are we supposed to get in?"

"You and ah are gonna have us a looong talk later, young man. Ah suppose we might as well check it out. Ladies first!" AlcheMiss stepped inside gingerly. "It's awful dark in heah. Let me make us some light." She gestured briefly and an eldritch glow sprang from her hands.

From out of the shadows, faceless humanoids emerged menacingly from behind boxes and crates. "What on earth are you?" she cried. Then, suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and restrained by strong, white-sleeved arms. "Nicky! What do you think you're doin'? Let me go!"

Another form stepped out of the shadows. "I do not think so, AlcheMiss. This Liberty Lad is totally obedient to my commands!" the man gloated.

"And who might you be?" she demanded indignantly.

"I am the Techmaster, and you are now my prisoner!"

"Oh, yeah? Heels, don't fail me now!" AlcheMiss ground her high-heeled boot into the double's foot as hard as she could. Anti-Liberty Lad howled in pain and let go. She spun about and stunned him with a mystically-enhanced slap. The androids rushed her, and with a sweep of her hand a mighty wind hurled them up to slam into the old warehouse's rafters and drop to the hard concrete floor. A few of them didn't get back up.

She turned back around to deal with the fake Liberty Lad, but was shocked to see him dissolve in a mist of purple. Before she could recover from the shock, two of the faceless minions rushed up with inhuman speed and grabbed her arms. "What's goin' on?" she cried out. "What have you done with Liberty Lad?"

Techmaster grimaced. "You'll see him soon enough, witch. The double's energy matrix must have been more unstable than I thought. I'll have to try to correct that when I duplicate you. Androids, take her to the lab and secure her. Make sure she can't move her hands."

"Unhand me, you cheap action figures!" AlcheMiss struggled defiantly as the androids dragged her off.

Techmaster lifted a communicator up to his mouth. "Pinstripe, this is Techmaster. The woman has been taken. You may proceed with the attack."

"Dis is Pinstripe. I read ya loud and clear. It's payback time!"

With a smug grin, Techmaster turned to follow his androids to the lab. Behind him, a faint light flickered in the darkness and seemed to drift after him into the depths of the abandoned warehouse. Had the villain turned around, he might have noticed a faint shimmering. Oblivious to the eerie phenomenon behind him, Techmaster laughed triumphantly and walked on to examine his latest prize.

Mentor closed the access panel underneath the controls with a sharp click. "Perplexing. I can find nothing wrong with any of the systems." Mentor got to his feet and turned to El Diablo. "You say that the controls kept malfunctioning all afternoon?"

"Si. It was drivin' me loco. Hasn't happened again since Nick was here, though."

"Where is he now?" asked Minuteman.

"Said he got tired of running solo. Went out to team up with AlcheMiss."

Suddenly, there was a flash of silver and Bullet stood among the heroes. "Hey, y'all! Ah think we're finally startin' to get this mess under control! The fine firefighters of Patriot City have got all the fires out... with a little help from yours truly. The city's as peaceful as a sleepin' baby."

"Too peaceful," remarked Mentor. "I fear what evil plot the Dominion is hatching. It would have been a perfect opportunity to strike while we were divided and occupied with restoring order to the city. The fact that they did not leads me to conclude they are preparing for something else."

"Well, we're still divided," declared Minuteman. "Time to recall as much of the team as we can and regroup. Mentor, can you re-establish the telepathic link?"

Before the alien could respond, a shrill alarm sounded from the massive control panel.

"Madre di Dios!" exclaimed El Diablo. "Not another glitch!"

"No!" cried Mentor. "Not another malfunction! Freedom Force is under attack!" Mentor manipulated the tactical display, shifting to an image of the downtown area. "Order and Ant are facing a massive attack by strange humanoid creatures!" The display shifted to the park. "Eve and Blackbird are also beset by these creatures!" The display shifted again to the waterfront. "And Man O' War and Sea Urchin are under attack as well!" Suddenly the tactical display flashed an urgent warning. "Perimeter alert! The Freedom Fortress is under siege!"

"Let's go, team! To Victory!" came Minuteman's battle cry. The heroes sprang into action and burst out through the emergency exit to confront their attackers.

A swarm of the pasty-skinned humanoids emerged from several large black sedans and advanced upon the fearless foursome. The ranks of the humanoids parted as a massive figure pushed his way to the forefront. "Me an' da boys are here to crash yer little party, Gents!" crowed Pinstripe. "Permanently!"

"Oh, yeah?" Diablo retorted. "Guess what? You got here just in time for the fireworks!" Diablo cut loose with a hot jet of fire right at the crime lord. The heroes were amazed as a nimbus of energy surrounded Pinstripe and absorbed the blast harmlessly.

Pinstripe laughed. "I come prepared for you, wiseguy. A little gift from my partner ta keep you jerks from blastin' me with energy. Now Pinstripe is invincible!"

To Be Continued in Act 3...