Growing Dangers - part 1
by Bryan

Man-bot paced the celestial clock, he'd not known how long he'd been here. He could have been trapped for months, years or even only a few minutes. Time simply did not exist in the heart of time itself. He was glad though, his energy X laced body was a danger to everyone around him, even those he loved most.

Even though he had no way to leave the clock, those he cared for were safe from him. They could go on saving the world from villains. They didn't have to worry about saving innocents from him. Freedom Force was better without him. Sure, Ted Taylor, better known as Man-bot, was powerful, but he was a risk to the lives of civilians and his team. Here he could live out eternity without harming another soul.

Suddenly, he felt a stirring in the back of his head; it was part of his new Universal Awareness. It warned him of great danger. He focused his mind on the sensation and watched from afar. A great battle broke out on the streets of Patriot City. A threat so great and more powerful than any Man-bot had ever seen. The tide of war slowly goes against the heroes, and if they fall, all hope for humanity is lost. Man-bot, whose heart is that of a pure hero hatches a plan to stop the inevitable...

Patriot City, Five weeks earlier:

John Miller scurried around City University in his usual fashion, only caring about getting to class. As long as he has the chance to gain knowledge, he is happy. The city had been quite lately, no super powered madmen or women running around trying to kill whoever they have a problem with. Unlike most members of Freedom Force, John Miller, known to his team as the Ant, couldn't wait to get back to his studies. He could miss every class and still pass them without worry, but he still wanted to go. Despite his busy double life as a crime fighter and a student, he still graduated top in his class at Liberty High.

He was just about to reach his destination when he saw the worst site in the world: construction -- right in front of the main entrance to the building. Noticing how far the path of caution signs and cones stretched down the street he knew it'd be impossible to go around back in time to still make it to class. Making sure no one was around to see him, he ducked behind some bushes and burrowed into the ground. It was a quick trip, as he didn't have to worry about gunfire, or other projectiles which could kill him, and he'd memorized the floor plans, and came upright inside the stales of one of the restrooms. Dusting himself off briefly, he continued to class.

John was just a little bit late for class, and it irritated him slightly. Luckily the teacher was just starting to hand back test papers. He kind of laughed to himself how easy the last test was. Being a mythology class they had studied gods of nature, and the teacher seemed to concentrate on Pan. Having met Pan personally, John knew the answers almost instinctively. The mad god had almost killed him. He hoped the teacher wouldn't mind his slightly negative essay on his favorite psychotic immortal. John found his friend Jordan Adamson, the only other Entomology major in the University that John knew of. Jordan couldn't be further from John, Jordan was rich, good looking, smart, and athletic. Yet their shared interest in insects bonded them instantly.

"You're late. What happened? Problem with the ant farm?" Jordan inquired. John Miller was never late to class, unless something was wrong.

"Yeah, some got lose." John replied with a slight smile. He wasn't completely lying this time. Microwave was helping Mentor build a new defense shield around Freedom Fortress, and once a prototype was tested, it caused a small scale eruption inside the base, knocking over his ant farm and letting some of the critters loose. The situation was under control quickly, as the Ant can control his namesakes.

"I hate it when that happens." Jordan replied simply. He was about to say something more when Professor Apolliars spoke.

"Some of you may be surprised at the topic we will attack today, as many of you will deny the fact that it's truly mythology. But many public figures are on a mythological scale. When you look at the people we will study today, you will see that they also have mythological attributes. Freedom Force defies science. A man, Order, who can transform into a woman, Law. Where does that exist in nature? A man with the powers of an ant. A woman with god-like powers. This IS mythology and it's happening before our eyes."

John chuckled. He'd really do good on this topic.

Freedom Fortress, Patriot City:

With the lack of villains, Freedom Force was taking time for themselves to go about their everyday lives.

Catherine Larchmont-Price sat in her room and stared blankly into space. It'd been seven months since fighting the Timemaster, since she lost Man-bot. Her radiant red hair covered her tear soaked cheeks. She didn't know if her feelings for Ted were love, but it was something. She missed him greatly, everyone did. She never felt the way she did about him towards anyone else in her whole life. She looked at the only picture she has of him. It is a clipping from a news paper. The tears came faster now.

Merry Mason giggles to herself as she waited outside Nick Craft's bedroom. Having just celebrated her thirteenth birthday, she was the youngest member of the group. Unlike most members of the group she could not resume a normal life. Her encounter with energy X caused her body to mutate, causing her skin to turn blue and scaley. Nick, the second youngest at fifteen, felt bad for her and convinced John Miller, the Ant, to build an image inducer for her. He was going to take her to the mall to try it out today. Nick was in a totally different situation: he got his powers when he was shot by the criminal Pinstripe and the only thing that saved his life was a blood transfusion of Minuteman's blood. All the citizens of Patriot City knew Nick Craft was saved by Freedom Force. However, he wanted to tell his family all about his adventures and he hated the excuses. "I'm studying at the library," being among the many of them. This made his mom very upset when his grades came back. Archni-man never had to worry about grades.

Merry decided she did not want to wait on Nick any longer and opened the door to his room. She quickly changed her mind when she heard his shower running and decided to turn around. She was too late however: Nick walked out of the shower clad in only a towel.

Both of them blushing, Merry ran out of the room and waited in the hallway. When he emerged, she apologized, still embarrassed. She liked him a little bit, but she didn't want to let him know that. They agreed to put it behind them and enjoy the mall.

Patriot Mall:

Merry enjoyed her time at the mall; she'd had a hard time with her physical mutation, but now she did not have to worry about such a thing. Right now, however, she was starting to get annoyed. Nick was spending to much time at the comic book stand.

"How much longer are you going to read those things? You already have nine of 'em!" Merry asked.

"So what? I enjoy the super heroes," He replied without looking up from the latest Captain United States issue.

Leaning in very close and lowering her voice to be barely audible she replied, "You're a superhero yourself. You don't need the comics anymore. It's your life."

"We all need a break from our lives every now and then," he rebutted simply. "'Sides, it's research. Never know when some freak models himself after one of these baddies." He continued, finally looking up.

"Whatever."

"Hey," he said, "it's my brother and sister." He decided to not bother them. If they saw him and wanted to speak they'd do it.

Alex and Sarah Craft were just finishing a day of shopping when they spied the old comic book store. They were both expecting to see their brother, Nick. Only nine months ago they'd complain about their little brother hanging out at the shop too much and wasting precious time. Now, they would love to have him with them: he was famous being saved by Freedom Force. Being born only five minutes apart, Alex and Sarah are extremely close. Alex broke the silence.

"It's almost as if I can hear his voice."

"That's because he's right over there, dummy."

"Yeah, I see him. Silly me."

Alex looked towards a girl standing with him who seemed vaguely familiar. He waved towards his brother. Nick waved back.

Suddenly, the world seemed to shake at their feet. Looking again at his brother, he saw that he and the girl were gone.

Chaos broke out. The main entrance to the mall imploded and glass, steel, concrete, and asbestos flew. In stepped a very dark figure wearing nothing but black, the only accent to his costume was an even blacker trenchcoat. A coat as black as his heart. The only color was his brown hair. Even his eyes were black, and cold, extremely cold. His voice was the most bone chilling sound ever heard to the shoppers in the mall.

"Nobody move!" The cold voice barked. "If anyone moves, period, they die."

As if to emphasize the point, he scanned the room and saw a mother picking up her scared baby. "I SAID DON'T MOVE!" his voice bellowed through out the area.

With his mind he stole the child from the arms of its mother. Floating above her, the woman desperately reached for her baby. Just to prove he was serious about killing anyone who moved, he sent the child flying through the air.

It looked like the end. The child would die the instant impact occurred with the wall.

Suddenly, like an angel, a blue scaled figure caught the baby in mid flight. It was Sea Urchin of Freedom Force.

After returning the child to the frantic mother, the hero flew to meet this new villainous face.

"Who are you?" Sea Urchin demanded of the foul heartless man before her.

"Leave me, Freedom Force, this has nothing to do with you. I merely seek revenge." came his reply.

"When you use children as a tool for evil, you make it our business," a new, angry voice declared.

The rest of Freedom Force was here. Man O War flew closer to the villain and sent a lightning bolt hurling towards his chest. The bolt was deflected, but no one worried. They'd expected that. Taking his cue Liberty Lad jumped from the third story and planted his kick perfectly. The foe flew back into a burrow of the Ant. Quickly covering up the villain in the hole, the team took their positions. Microwave and Mentor helped innocents out of the mall while the others prepared to attack the felon. All the members were there. Minuteman, Alchemiss, Eve, Law & Order (in the form of Law), El Diablo, Bullet, Blackbird among the already mentioned. Waiting for the telekinetic troublemaker seemed to take forever. Suddenly the members of Freedom Force sailed through the air and scattered throughout the mall.

All except for Liberty Lad. The monster had sensed something in him when his kick connected, and he intended to exploit that. Liberty Lad prepared to attack, but somehow the fiend now controlled his body. His head turned to see his brother and sister cowering. Suddenly they soared like Freedom Force and slammed into a store for weird collectibles. Liberty Lad did not see the twin canisters his siblings slammed into and broke, soaking them in energy X. Then, before he could think, Liberty Lad soared through the air as well.

"You can call me, Malguard," the mad man said. "It'll be the last name you ever hear," he added before disappearing.

To be continued...