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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 124: Cooper 40
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Brown 326
Brian had his business suit in time to wear on Friday. Casual Friday not yet having been invented, he fit in better. Someone commented on it, and he explained that he had come here from California where the standards for what to wear to work weren’t as stringent, so he had to buy a suit when he got here.
Saturday morning he took all his clothes to the laundromat, but realized that the clothes that most needed washing--his jeans, T-shirt, and flannel shirt--were also the ones that least needed to be clean. On the other hand, the slacks ought to be dry cleaned, and could go another week as they were, so he wore the slacks with one of the undershirts he had purchased, and washed everything else but the jacket.
He returned in time to see Tommy on her way out with her laundry. He couldn’t fault her--he had always been a bit of an early riser, and that she wanted to sleep in on Saturday wasn’t really a vice.
He took the time to sort through his belongings. At first he thought he should put all the Mister Justice materials in the duffel bag and his personal belongings in the backpack, but then it struck him that carrying around the heavy dartmaker wasn’t particularly sensible. He put it in the bottom of the backpack, along with its supplies. In the duffel he packed the sword, both costumes, and the utility belt with the holster and pistol, plus some extra darts. This left a fair amount of space in the duffel, but he couldn’t really have used a smaller one as the sword wouldn’t have fit.
Work was cutting into his swordsmanship training, but he had reached a new understanding, that he would phone the prison before he came. Swashbuckler chided him for missing lessons, but he simply said that the life of a superhero didn’t always lend itself to regular schedules. He certainly wasn’t up to the standard of his teacher, but he had improved significantly. He made sure to get out there on Saturday afternoon, where he took a few more bruises and bumps but less than he had on earlier lessons.
On Saturday night he decided to do a bit of patrolling. He wasn’t sure what could happen--maybe liquor store or grocery store robberies, but the banks were closed, and the jewelry stores closed early. As he came outside he was surprised to see Tommy approach wearing her deerskin coat and fur hat.
“Isn’t that a bit warm?” he asked.
“A bit,” she said. “But the deerskin protects me to some degree, and with my hair tucked up in the hat I look different enough that I think I can get away with this as my costume. It also has a couple of big pockets, which I find useful.”
She slipped the mask down over her eyes, and said, “I’m ready.”
“Ready?”
“I’m going with you. After all, if I’m going to learn this superhero stuff I’ll need a mentor, and what better sidekick for Justice than Truth?”
He couldn’t argue with that, and anyway he didn’t foresee any serious danger, so he nodded and started walking. He forgot that he was a fast walker, but she caught up quickly. “Where to?” she asked.
“Hadn’t really thought,” he said. “Mostly I explore at random. If I run into something I try to do something, but I think generally just seeing that there’s a superhero wandering the neighborhood causes criminals to hesitate.”
They had walked about five blocks when Cooper stopped, and called out, “William!”
“Justice!” replied the man in lederhosen as he walked toward them.
This was one of those awkward moments. Tommy and Keller had met, but Truth and Tell had not. Would they recognize each other? Somehow he thought Tommy would recognize that Tell was Keller, but she wasn’t wearing the coat when she met him so he probably wouldn’t recognize her. Introductions were appropriate.
“Truth, this is William Tell, Junior, one of the superheroes who helped me get started in this world. William, this is Truth, a new superheroine in town with whom I’ve got a sort of connection and am trying to help.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Truth said.
“Oh, no, the pleasure is mine,” Tell replied.
After a pause, Justice said, “So, what brings you down town?”
“Someone called and said that Blue Ray was seen skulking about down here, and I came to see what he was up to. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him?”
“What does he look like?”
“He dresses in a suit of dark blue with some light blue markings and wears a helmet with goggles and some kind of electronic device on it.”
Tommy suggested, “Like a starlight scope?”
“What’s that?” Tell asked.
“It uses a high-sensitivity video camera to project an image on the inside of goggles so that the user can see in the dark.”
Tell stared for a moment, then said, “That’s brilliant; quite ingenious. It might be something like that. Anyway, he also wears a bracelet on his right wrist that has a glowing blue gem of some sort, from which he can fire a beam of blue light which can do any of several things.”
“For example?” Cooper asked.
“I really should be looking for him.”
“Oh, we’re going with you,” Justice said. “We just want to know what we’re in for.”
“Then we walk and talk,” Tell said.
They resumed walking, but it was a moment before Tell spoke again; Cooper was tempted to prompt him, but decided that patience was the better option. Soon the information came.
“I was hit with it once, and it seemed to sap my strength. I collapsed, and he escaped. I mentioned this to The Eagle, and he said that his experience of being hit with the beam was that he was knocked back, like being punched by Rocky Marciano. It’s also been known to emit a blinding flash, and somehow he is able to use it to fly. It may be able to do other things, but that’s what’s known about it.”
Justice nodded. “Forewarned is forearmed,” he said. “So, where do we think he is, and what is he doing?”
“Yes, those are the questions. My informant put him in this neighborhood, but he was on the move at the time, so we’re guessing. But hopefully we’ll find him.”
As to the old stories that have long been here:
