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Super-Mod III (Part 2)
By Aragorn
Aragorn and Seth Rex’s underground Recreational Room was filled with all kinds of things to do to pass away the time. There was an Air Hockey table (Which Aragorn himself never used, except for when Seth begged and begged him to), a pool table, a bookcase filled with books and comics of all kinds and genre’s, and a TV with some DVD’s laid on the desk next to it. There was also a computer set up at the far end of the room, which Aragorn was currently sitting at and typing on. There was an ash tray nearby, with a smoking cigarette butt in it. Seth was sitting at the small coffee table and was working on fixing a small gadget while he watched something on the TV. Seth could easily hear Aragorn typing away at the computer and looked over at him.
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be posting on Message Boards,” Seth voiced his disapproval.
Aragorn replied as he continue to type, not even bothering to look away from the computer, “If I can’t have a social life, I may as well have some semblance of a life on the ‘Net. I’ll go crazy if you’re the only person I can to talk to.” Aragorn paused to continue typing for a moment, and then added on, “No offense.”
Seth stood up, putting the gadget down on the table, and walked over to the computer, looking over Aragorn’s shoulder at the screen. After glancing at it for just a second, he let out a big sigh. “Be that as it may, I doubt having ‘Super-Mod’ as your MSN name is a good idea.”
“Nobody actually thinks I’m Super-Mod,” Aragorn explained as he turned his head to stare at his friend. “Outside of Dan’s JP3 Page, Super-Mod is virtually unheard of. I’ve been writing stories about myself and posting them online, and to cover my tracks, I have Super-Mod’s real be named after my middle name and the opposite of my last name.”
“Scott Short?” Aragorn nodded his head, while Seth shook his. That is a terrible idea. Someone may still recognize the name Super-Mod and be able to put the connection together.”
“If anyone catches on, then I’ll simply claim that I’ve heard about Super-Mod and that my stories are fanfics based off the real guy, and nothing more. Relax, you worry way too much.”
Seth walked back to the table, giving up. He knew better then to argue with Aragorn when he had his mind made up. He picked the gadget back up as he continued working on it. “Well all I can say is that in your stories, I better be portrayed as a strong, intelligent side-kick that always gets the chick.”
Aragorn rolled his eyes, but his back was turned to Seth, so Seth didn’t see. “Oh yeah, I can definitely do that.” He continued typing on the computer. Mental note: ignore Seth’s suggestion.
***
In a small doctor’s office of a walk-in clinic, Shiva sat on the black hospital bed while the Doctor bandaged her arm tightly. She had arrived just as the clinic was closing and the doctor decided to squeeze her in before he went home for the night.
“So when can I take the bandage off?” Shiva asked.
“You can loosen or tighten it as you please, but I suggest having it on for the majority of the day, for the next month or so. It may not be broken, but it is badly sprained. The bandage will definitely help with it.” The doctor replied. He had a nametag on that read ‘Evilgrinch’ on it. He continued to wrap the bandage around Shiva’s arm as he spoke again. “Your skin is very cold. Have you been feeling alright?”
“I’ve been feeling a bit sick lately,” Shiva lied, covering her ‘uniqueness’. If the doctor found out, she knew he’d know she was the girl from the news and she’d have to kill him – something she didn’t want to do as he had been so nice to her so far and she liked him for that.
Dr. Evilgrinch placed Shiva’s bandaged arm in a sling and put the sling around her neck. “I can check on that as well if you’d like, since you’re here anyway.”
“That’s ok. It’s just the flu.”
They suddenly heard the sound of Mod sirens approaching from outside and Dr. Evilgrinch turned to look out the window, spotting two Mod cars pulling into the parking lot. “Hmm, I wonder what they could want,” he whispered to himself.
He turned around to finish his appointment with the girl, but when he turned back around, Shiva was already gone. He glanced around the room and spotted some money left on the counter to pay for the bandages and sling.
***
Shiva rushed down a random street, keeping to the dark shadows of the buildings. Combined with the darkness of night, she was pretty well-hid. She ran as fast as she was able to, getting as far away from the clinic as she could. After a few minutes she slowed to a walk and turned down a dark alley, being completely obscured from view from the street as the darkness swallowed her up.
As she made her way through the ally, an older man stepped out in front of her, blocking her path. She turned around to head back the other way, but three other men, of various ages, have blocked her way back. They began laughing and giggling.
“Let me by,” Shiva ordered.
They ignored her and moved in even closer, stepping so close to her that she couldn’t even take a single step. “Oh, we will,” the older man smiled crookedly. “When we’re done with you.” He nodded and one of the others grabbed her by the arms. She tried to fight but the guy had her in a strong grip. One of the others moved in and began going through her pockets.
“You don’t want to do this…” Shiva warned. The man holding her leaned in and licked her face slowly as Shiva closed her eyes tightly, disgusted. A swirling white mist began to form around her and slowly move outwards as it picked up speed. The man grabbing her quickly let go, but only got the beginning of a scream out before he completely froze over into an ice sculpture. It was only about a minute before the entire section of the ally was encased in a slight layer of ice and the group of rapists were nothing but ice sculptures, stuck in shocked poses.
Shiva turned and smashed her fist through the one older man that had stepped out in front of her to begin with, and walked back off down the ally, leaving the others to melt when the sun raised up in the morning.
She exited the ally and emerged onto another street, right across from a hostel. Shiva looked up at it and read the flashing neon sign: ‘Dan’s Young Adults Hostel; Rooms Availible’.
***
Minutes later, Shiva closed the door behind her as she walked into her single room. The place was very sleazy and low-key, with the bed not even having been made since the last person was there. However, it was four walls around her and a roof over her head, which was more then she could ask for, and even more then she was used to lately.
She ignored the horrid state of the room and laid on the bed anyway, exhausted from her busy day. She closed her eyes, but soon the sound of banging and moaning in ecstasy drifted through the walls from the next room over.
Shiva grabbed her pillow and slammed it over the side of her head tightly as she curled up into a ball.
***
A short scrawny man named Hunter2.0 stood on a walking path that traveled all the way around Wireless Pond, and was located just a couple meters from the water. The stars from the night reflected brightly off the still water. On the ground around him were two very large cases, with two more briefcases at his sides in each hand.
A car pulled over to a stop from the side of the nearby street and hunter2.0 turned to face it. Out of the passenger-side door, Dark Element stepped out, smoking on a thick cigar, strong smoke drifting from it and wafting into the air. Vito Hardy watched from the driver’s seat as Dark Element approached Hunter2.0
“Wow, you’re on time,” Hunter2.0 stated with surprise. “Color me surprised. Most simple-minded thugs on this Site can’t keep a meeting if their life depended on it.” He chuckled, but Dark Element kept a straight face.
“I’m not from this God Forsaken Site.” He paused for a second and then decided to get straight to the point. “What are my options?”
Hunter2.0 got a huge smile and laid the briefcases on the ground. He proceeded to open all four cases and turned them around to show the contents to Dark Element. Inside of one of the bigger cases are a group of small components that resembled legs from a camera tripod.
***
The next morning, JPJunkee walked into the Mod station to find it buzzing with activity. People were rushing around, others answering phones or booking caught criminals of all kinds. JPJunkee made his way through the bustling activity and in the direction of his own personal office, when he was approached by his deputy, Carnotaur3, who began to walk with JPJunkee, keeping pace with him.
“The girl that attempted to rob the bank yesterday…”
“Alias Shiva, right?” JPJunkee cut Carnotaur3 off, making sure they were on the same page.
“Yeah,” Carnotaur3 confirmed. “Well early this morning, around 1:30AM, she did indeed stop at a Walk-In Clinic owned by a Doctor Evilgrinch. Apparently our boys in blue arrived just minutes after she had left.”
“And the trail?” JPJunkee asked.
“Early this morning a group of human-like ice sculptures were found in a back ally right outside the main Hostel here in on this Site. Upon investigation, we discovered that she had stayed there the night but left sometime earlier in the morning, before we got there.”
“Any other leads?”
“No sir. The trail’s gone cold and we have no clue where she went after that. However I have no doubt that we’ll pick her up soon enough. We have men keeping an eye out at the bus station and all exits out of town. The only way she’ll be leaving is if she hitchhikes and gets picked up before even leaving town.”
By this point they had reached JPJunkee’s office and they stopped. “Thanks Carnotaur3” JPJunkee complimented him, “And keep up the good work.” Carnotaur3 nodded and turned to go attend to other business. JPJunkee went into his office and closed the door behind himself. He removed his jacket and plopped down in his seat behind his desk, reaching over to his phone to check his messages, which it was indicated that he has some by a blinking red light on his phone, when he was interrupted. The door opened and his secretary walked in.
“What is it, Yvonne?”
“Just want to remind you of your meeting with the Mayor in two hours.”
JPJunkee smiled warmly. “Thank-you. I had forgotten about that.” Yvonne returned the smile and left. Before the door even had a chance to close all the way, it slammed open and Carnotaur3 rushed into the room.
“Sir, a family was down by Wireless Pond for a morning picnic when they found a brutalized dead body.”
JPJunkee stood up and grabbed his jacket, putting it back on again as he followed his deputy out of the room at a jogging pace.
***
Deep underground, Aragorn laid in his bed, having a wonderful dream, when he was brought out of that dream and his eyes groggily opened. They suddenly snapped wide awake as loud pounding music vibrated through his wall. He looked over at his dresser and a framed picture of a smiling JP3 Girl slowly crept closer and closer to the edge of the dresser with each couple beats of the music.
He winced at the music as he got up and yawned. He tiredly followed the source of the music from his room, down a narrow hall that turned in an L shape, and to a closed metal door. When he tried to open the door however, he found it locked and it wouldn’t budge. Aragorn knocked on it a few times and waited patiently, tapping his bare foot against the floor. The music suddenly shut off.
“What the hell are you doing in there, Seth?” Aragorn shouted through the door.
“It’s a secret,” Seth’s voice drifted back to him. “But you’ll like it when you see it.”
Just as Aragorn opened his mouth to order Seth to open the door, the music turned back on again, booming loudly and blocking out any sound that Aragorn made when he tried to talk. Frustrated, Aragorn turned and stormed off down the hall.
***
The day’s bright morning sun shone down on JPJunkee and Carnotaur3 as they arrived at Wireless Pond, the crime scene already filled with many Mods in a taped-off area with reporters snooping around just outside of the tape. The reporters rushed the two newly-arrived Mods as they exited their car, and flooded them with a slew of rapid questions. The Mods began pushing their way through the crowd to get to the taped-off area.
“No comment,” JPJunkee kept repeating over and over. He and Carnotaur3 finally passed all the reporters and walked to the other side of the tape, and made their way down the bank to where the body was, and to where a few other Mods were milling about, checking out the area and keeping the reporters back. The body itself was pretty mutilated and drenched in gory blood.
JPJunkee bent down and inspected the body, looking it over, some spots holding his interest better then others. “I can definitely see distinctive knife gashes here,” he said after several minutes of silence. He continued his inspection, this time moving to the face. “Yet there’s a bullet hole right here.” He cranes his neck around and looks back at another Mod. “Did that wound come before or after the knife slashes?”
“We’re still waiting for Forensics to get here for the answer on that, but we suspect it came first,” the Mod answered.
JPJunkee turned back to the body and sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
“Sir?” Carnotaur3 asked, wondering what his boss was thinking.
JPJunkee turned to him. “That would mean that this man was shot first and his body then slashed up afterwards, for pure enjoyment. Which means we’re dealing with a real sicko here. I fear there may be more bodies like this one before the end. Any idea who this man was?”
Carnotaur3 grabbed some paperwork from a nearby Mod and briefly looked it over before answering. “Hunter2.0. He’s a pretty well-known Arms Dealer here, famous among local criminals for his top-of-the-line merchandise. There’s a bunch of life history here too, if you want to read through it.”
“Maybe back at the station.” JPJunkee looked back at the body again, a new train of thought going through his head. “So things are actually better for this Site with this guy dead? Hmm, I think we can add someone to our as-of-right-now very small suspect list.”
“I don’t quite follow you, sir.”
JPJunkee ignored his partner and continued on with his thought. “The Save the Rainforest gala tomorrow night is one of the biggest events in this Site in recent memory. I have no doubt that he’ll be there, at some point, to check up on things.”
“You’re referring to Super-Mod?” Carnotaur3 began to catch on.
“Just because we’re all on the same side, does not mean that he can get away with whatever he wants. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about things, and I’ve been letting him do the wrong way for far too long.” JPJunkee stood up from his crouch. “It’s time to bring him in.”
Carnotaur3 was the last guy who wanted to defend Super-Mod, however it was his job to cover all the angles and make those angles known. “But sir, if this guy was an Arms Dealer, and he was all the way out here, its safe to assume he was selling weapons. Now maybe Super-Mod intervened and kept the weapons for himself. BUT what if whoever he was meeting didn’t have the money to pay for the merchandise, so killed him and then made off with the weapons?”
“Definitely another possibility, and one I like far more. Either way, we need Super-Mod brought in, if only for questioning.”
JPJunkee and Carnotaur3 looked back down at the body for a minute. “Kind of makes you wish we knew his identity, huh?” Carnotaur3 said. “Would certainly make his apprehension a lot easier.”
JPJunkee, knowing full-well of what Nightshade’s identity is, opens his mouth to openly tell his deputy, but then his cell phone rings. He removes it from his jacket pocket and answers it. “Junkee.”
Yvonne’s voice fills his ear, “Sir, just wanted to remind you of your meeting with the Mayor.”
“Shit. Right. Thank-you, Yvonne.” JPJunkee hung up and put the phone away, and then turned back to Carnotaur3, deciding to take the interruption as a sign and thus deciding not to give away Nightshade’s identity. “Take over here. I have a meeting with the Mayor I need to get to.”
Carnotaur3 nodded and JPJunkee comfortly squeezed his shoulder before walking away back up the hill, towards the blood-thirsty reporters between him and his vehicle.
***
Aragorn loved filling his spare time by working out in his own small personal gym. There were many sizes of hand weights, a treadmill, a machine for abs, a chin-up bar, a mat for push-ups and sit-ups, and an area for bench pressing, with all sizes of weights. Aragorn was currently benchpressing quite a large amount of weights, without any spotter, when Seth walked into the room, covered in grease and oil, walking with a purpose as he passed through on his way to the garage.
“Seth,” Aragorn called out as he passed by him.
“Can’t talk now. Need more tools,” Seth shrugged off Aragorn.
Aragorn strained, but managed to put the weights and bar up on the holdings for it and sit up, using a towel to wipe sweat from his head. “Seth, stop.”
Seth picked up on the importance in Aragorn’s voice and stopped, turning back to face him, just inches from the door to the garage. Aragorn took a big sigh before speaking. “Look, you don’t have to tell me what you’re working on if you don’t want to. We all have secrets, and I understand that. However, there is something I want you to be completely honest with me about.”
“Which is…?”
“Are you planning on leaving?” Aragorn asked.
Seth gasped in surprise. “What are you talking about?” Aragorn gave Seth a ‘look’, which Seth picked up on and hung his head low. “I like you, I really do. You’re the only family I’ve known for a long time and if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead by now. At the very least I’d be homeless. But for the past while I’ve been having second thoughts. I’m not so sure this is the kind of life for me. At least not for my entire life anyway. I’ve been in recent contact with an old cousin that I used to be best friends with when we were kids, and…”
Aragorn decided that now was a good time to cut Seth off. “I know all about it.”
Seth was taken aback. “Huh? How?”
It was no Aragorn’s turn to confess. “Earlier this morning, after I was woken up, I went to use the computer and I stumbled upon some e-mails between the two of you. You know, if you want to use the computer, then you need to remember to fully close out of the Internet when you get off.”
“I’m sorry, Aragorn. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Aragorn said to him. “If you want to lead a different life, then you’re more then welcome to. You’re not a prisoner here.”
Seth sighed with relief. “I must confess, I was dreading this conversation. However, if I decide to leave, it won’t be for awhile yet. There’s a few projects I want to finish up first, and I need some time – a lot of time – to get you set up to be without me and my constant new inventions and fixer-uppers.”
Seth smiles and Aragorn laughed. “How on earth I’ll get by after you’re gone, is beyond me,” Aragorn chuckled.
***
Malcolm was sitting down in his apartment in the abandoned apartment building, watching a hardcore porn movie on his stolen plasma TV. His door was wide open and Vito Hardy walked around the corner and into the room. Malcolm turned to him, pausing the movie.
“Sir, Hunter2.0’s body was found this morning,” Vito Hardy informed Malcolm.
“…And…?” Malcolm failed to see the point in this conversation. They all knew about the death, long before the cops did. Hell, Vito Hardy was even there.
“It’s Dark Element,” Vito Hardy continued. “I feel he’s a liability. He’s messy and the messes he’s leaving behind can easily be linked back to us.”
“Yes, that’s all true,” Malcolm agreed. “But at least he gets the job done,” he suddenly changed tones. “Which is more then I can say for most of the people here. He has never once disappointed an employer. I say that’s a damn good track record.”
Vito Hardy continued to voice his concern. “Pardon my disagreement, sir, but there are other assassins out there that meet that exact same requirement, and they aren’t nearly as sloppy.”
Malcolm threw the TV remote and missed Vito Hardy by mere inches. It smashed against the wall and crumpled to the floor, cracked open. “Sometimes you can be such an idiot, Vito Hardy. We can’t terminate our contract with Dark Element, especially since we haven’t even paid him yet. As it stands, I still have no idea where we’ll get all the money.”
Vito Hardy nodded. “I’m sorry, sir. I was out of line.”
Malcolm stood and walked over to Vito Hardy. He took his hand, as if shaking it, and then pulled him close and put his other arm around Vito Hardy’s back, gangster-hugging him. “We’ve been through a lot together. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even be here today. You can never be out of line with me.”
Malcolm patted Vito Hardy on the back and then stepped away from him. Vito Hardy nodded his head again, turned, and walked out.
***
JPJunkee paced back and forth in the waiting room of Site Hall. There were plastic seats sticking out from the wall, with a desk stacked with magazines, but JPJunkee chose to pace around instead. Suddenly a door opened and the receptionist peeked her head into the room. “The Mayor will see you now.”
She opened the door wider as JPJunkee nodded and followed her out of the room, down the hall, and into a conference room with a very large table filling up most of the room. The receptionist turned and walked out, closing the door and leaving JPJunkee along in the new room.
A few seconds later the door opened again and Mayor Dan Finklestien walked in. “JPJunkee!” He greeted with joy. “Great to see you again!”
“The feeling’s mutual,” JPJunkee smiled and the two firmly shook hands.
Dan continued, “I want to personally congratulate you. In the two years that you’ve been Chief of the Mods, you’ve cleaned this Site up more then the entire generation before you, put together.”
JPJunkee couldn’t help but smile at the huge compliment. “Thank-you, sir, but I can’t take all the responsibility. My Mod force has had just as much to do with that, as I have. And lets not forget Agent Rick Arnold of the Admins who gave me this position.”
“Of course, of course,” Dan continued to smile. “A joint effort, and a well-done one at that.”
“As much as I’m loving being complimented so much,” JPJunkee said, “I doubt that that’s why you called me here.”
Dan chuckled. “Not one to beat around the bush.” He nervously turned around and closed the door, and then faced JPJunkee once more. “What I am about to tell you, only a very select few know. Or at least, so I thought. I contemplated on bringing you in on this earlier, but feared that you would be turned away from the ‘Hocus Pocus crap’ of it. However, I’ve recently looked at some of your previous Mod reports and now believe that you just may take it seriously. I’ve decided that things can go much better if you knew everything and could then act accordingly.”
Dan paused to lick his dry lips. “What is it, Mayor?” JPJunkee asked, interest piped.
“Have you ever heard of The Eye of SGD?” Dan asked.
JPJunkee thought for a minute. “Can’t say that I have. It doesn’t ring any bells.”
Dan explained, “It’s a green jewel that supposedly possesses the powers of a flooder God named SGD. Legend has it that he almost wiped out all of the Internet a few centuries ago, until a powerful sorcerer, name unknown, stripped him of his power and contained it in a small green jewel. Now that he was mortal, he was easily defeated. If you look into that jewel, they say, you can see eons of power just waiting to be unleashed. However, shortly after it was created, all records of it ceased. Nobody knew what happened to it and it was lost to the expanse of time.
“That is, until a petty street thug from this Site, Carna, turned up in the morgue. This was about a year or two before you became Chief. He was wearing a golden medallion with a green jewel in the center. This jewel, it was mesmerizing to look at. You could easily loose yourself in it. You’d stare into it for what seemed to be only a few seconds, but in actuality, entire minutes had passed. Around the edge of this medallion was written ‘the Eye of SGD is held as prisoner in this cage.’. The language it was written in though, was an old, nearly-forgotten language and it had taken forever to find someone that would be able to translate it, but with enough time, money, and resources, we did find someone.
“My associates and I were still skeptics at this time, even after the translation, but the translator, who was an expert on the SGD legend, told us that due to the power contained inside of that jewel, it is near invincible. To test to see if it was truly the real deal, he slammed a sledge hammer over it, full-force, and it wasn’t even scratched. Not one mark! Mr. Carna probably didn’t even realize what he had when he possessed it, and its still a complete mystery as to how he got a hold of it in the first place.”
JPJunkee stared off into space as he re-ran everything through his head. He then moved his eyes and stared at the mayor. “I…” he fumbled for words. “That story is fantastical. Although I am willing to keep an open mind. I’ve seen my fair share of fantastical things during this job, so I guess all things are possible.’
“The section of the bank that that girl was trying to get into, that section was housing the Eye of SGD,” Dan continued his explanation. “My associates and I decided that it was too powerful of an item to have out in the open, and so we hid it away in there. The real vault, the one with all the bank’s money, is located in a completely different section of the bank. She was after the Eye! That, I have no doubt about.”
JPJunkee understood the purpose of the meeting now. “I’ll tighten security in that area. I’ll put only my most trusted men there.”
Dan shook JPJunkee’s hand again. “Thank-you. Thank-you so much.”
5/18/2006 9:55:27 AM
(Updated: 5/18/2006 10:03:12 AM)
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