Trident Force Chronicles

by Paul Richardson

  "Thank you, Detectives." said Sooper Zoom as he got up and followed them. "You know, I have put away a couple supers in my time. However I do not know how you would lock up a super in a jail like this. Wouldn't Montana Bull just transform and bust out?"

  "Normally, yes," said Detective Dowd as they walked. "But we do not keep supers in the general population. We keep them in the Supermax cells to await trial. If they are sentenced to more than a year, they are transfer to Mt. McKinley Supermax."

  "Wait, wasn't that mountain just renamed by President Obama?" asked Sooper Zoom.

  "Yes, but not the prison." answered Detective Heddings.

  Not yet at least. said Saint Matt. I know you can not respond, so I hope you are getting me. I am hearing everything you are hearing just find.

  They went down stairs to the Supermax cell block and was quite shocked by what he saw. Instead of seeing cells, he saw what look like five huge Bathyspheres.

  "Welcome to the Supermax cells." said Detective Heddings when she saw Sooper Zoom's open jaw. "While they may look like Bathyspheres, they are highly pressurized cells. If the prisoners try to escape by breaking out of these things, they will explode. The smallest flaw in the hull, they will explode. Teleport out and they explode. Each Supermax cell has a bunk, toilet, sink for washing, and a two way slot to exchange food or whatever they need. A TV with basic cable and Netflix has recently been installed in all Supermax cells at great taxpayer expense. Each Supermax cell is detachable so we can move them if need be."

  "Incredible." said Sooper Zoom. A correction officer motion them to a monitoring station and he flipped a few switches and the human form of Montana Bull appeared on the screen. His face turned sour when he came on.

  "Oh, what do you want? I was watching this fucked up show, Orange Is The New Black." said Montana Bull to the people on the screen. "Those fucks don't know nothing of real prison life!"

  "Hey," said Sooper Zoom, getting right to the point. "I need to know more about that 'Eye' tattoo on your back."

  "And you can fuck the hell off!" yelled Montana Bull almost immediately. "I don't snitch! If word got back, I could go BOOM in here, if you know what I mean."

  "Yeah, I got you." said Sooper Zoom. He looked up to the two Detectives. "I don't know what I was thinking. He's not going to say anything. Let’s go."

  When they got into the elevator, Sooper Zoom stopped the elevator as soon as the doors closed. "Is this elevator monitored?"

  "No," answered Detective Dowd. "Why?"

  "It was something Montana Bull said. There is this brand new Japanese tattoo parlor in White Sands. I looked over it once and dismissed it as a possible 'Eye' front." said Sooper Zoom somewhat flustered. "You see, Montana Bull used 'BOOM' instead of explode just now. The tattoo parlor is called 'BOOM' Tattoo!"

  Red-Eye Destrobot #4

  (1985/06/23 through 1985/06/28)

  "So let me get this straight, you want to be a used car salesman?" asked 'Used Bob' Melon to Red-Eye Destrobot standing at Used Bob's desk. Used Bob was one of the most notorious used car salesman in Westgate City. Opening a shop somewhere in the city, Used Bob would then get shut down over some complaints that would never pan out. A few months later, he was selling cars again in another part of the city. Right now he rented out an abandoned warehouse to sell 'Cheap Abandon Used Cars' there. "But you are a robot."

  A dot matrix printer came to life again. "'SO ARE YOU, JUST A CARBON-BASED ONE.' Well, okay, fair enough. However you do not talk. 'ACTUALLY, I DO. I JUST REFUSE TO COMMUNICATE LIKE YOU HUMANS. I REPROGRAMMED MYSELF.' That is indeed impressive, but that does not answer my question. 'I CAN BE A PROP. I CAN BE IN COMMERCIALS TO KNOCK PRICES FURTHER DOWN. KIDS WILL NOT GET ENOUGH OF ME.' That is not a half baked plan, my friend. We are actually shooting a commercial tomorrow. Be here and you have got yourself a job."

  The commercial was a smashing success. Used Bob had Red-Eye Destrobot hit a pole with the words "Price Smasher" on it and promised that Red-Eye Destrobot would smash prices even further than Used Bob's normal low prices. When a salesman was trying to close the deal, Red-Eye Destrobot would hit the "Price Smasher" and the salesman would "come down" in the price.

  Of course the kids went bananas over Red-Eye Destrobot. While he enjoyed the attention the kids gave him, Red-Eye Destrobot did not dare move for fear of stepping on the kids. However Red-Eye Destrobot would interact with the kids in other ways. People with cameras took pictures with Red-Eye Destrobot with kids and adults alike. Even some women slip Red-Eye Destrobot their numbers. One named Judy, Pardes, and another named Tania.

  Then, when they were closing out the day, Red-Eye Destrobot hit the "Price Smasher" so hard that the pole broke.

  "Oh well." said Used Bob as he stood over the broken pole. "That thing was slapped together anyway. We will get a more permanent one, but it will take a few days. You are still coming in Red-Eye Destrobot, people love you. Yeah, you are going to be around for a while."

  The next morning they shot a commercial with a broken pole with the spin that Red-Eye Destrobot had broken all "Price Smasher" records. Everything was going good that day until one of the salesmen, forgetting himself, called for a "Price Smasher" smash. Red-Eye Destrobot turned and saw that the "Price Smasher" pole was gone. Since there was no kids at that moment, Red-Eye Destrobot went up to that car that the salesman was trying to sell. Red-Eye Destrobot then smashed the windshield that had the price written on it.

  "Oh fuck me!" said the salesman, taken completely by surprised. Red-Eye Destrobot then went to each car in the abandon warehouse and started smashing every windshield. When he was done, Red-Eye Destrobot knew he would no longer be welcomed here and just walked out.

  "Alright, do not just keep gawking." said Used Bob to the salesmen after the customers left. "Let us clean this mess up!"

  As they started to clean the windshield glass, a series of unfortunate events started to occur in the abandoned warehouse. A rat had chosen a blot in the rafters to gnaw on and popped that blot lose. This normally would not be a problem, except this rat had done the same thing to half the other rafters and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. The entire roof imploded, killing Used Bob and all his salesmen.

  Green Silk #4

  (2015/11/07)

  What was Sandra Padgett doing? Sandra Padgett was no superheroine. Sandra Padgett was a hippie. What, now that she got superpowers that she was just going to swing around and save people?

  Sandra Padgett sat on the rooftop edge of her building in the early morning in her full Green Silk costume. Green Silk had her right leg pulled up and left leg dangling over the ledge. Green Silk was playing with a pebble when she flicked it at random. The small rock zipped through the air and completely destroyed someone's car window.

  "Hey!" someone yelled from down below.

  "Oh my!" said Green Silk and went into her apartment and got her dad's business card. She then went outside to the car and placed the business card inside with her signature. When she looked around and saw that the street was empty this time in the morning, Green Silk flung her web and took off.

  'What am I doing?' she thought again. 'I am a hippie! I fight capitalism and corporate greed, not crime! I-'

  Green Silk stopped on a roof of a random building. 'The nuclear power plant! That's it! I can stop Martian Rose Mechanics building project and then I can go to the protest later tonight! Why did I not think of that before?'

  Green Silk went back to her roof and put away her costume. For now, she dressed all in black and a hoodie, then made her way to the Martian Rose Mechanics nuclear power planet project. Sandra Padgett got there, just as they were cutting down the tree that Sandra Padgett and her crew had chained themselves too.

  'No! No! No! No!' thought Sandra Padgett as she pulled her hoodie on and started spraying the Caterpillar with her webbing.

  "Hey, stop that!" said the operator. The man got out and started chasing her as she kept spraying the Caterpillar. She then flung her web to the C
aterpillar and swung to it, then sprayed that Caterpillar in the same way. Since there were few people out here on a Saturday, Sandra Padgett was able to outrun them all. After she had cocoon all the large Caterpillars, Sandra Padgett got swung her way on the outskirts of the construction site.

  "Save Mother Earth!" Sandra Padgett yelled. "Corrupt Pig Cops Go Away! Woo-Hoo!"

  And then she ran away.

  ***

  Martian Rose Mechanics CEO Harry Hendrickson was having a lunch meeting with his chief engineer and Johnny Kobayashi in his office over the plans to release the body armor.

  "That Reuben was to die for!" said Johnny Kobayashi as he wiped his mouth. "Was that made in the cafeteria?"

  "Corner deli across the street." said Harry Hendrickson before drinking his club soda. "Fabulous place. While we are up here in our glass towers, we can't forget the people down there. Alright, I guess it is time to get to- What in Sam Hill?"

  Something had cover up the window and the office was now in complete darkness. "Don't panic and stay where you are!" yelled Harry Hendrickson. Then the lights came on. "Okay, I am going to go outside and find out what is happening."

  When Harry Hendrickson got down and out to the street, the people were pointing at what just happen. Harry Hendrickson squinted his eyes on the side of the building. Harry Hendrickson saw that two large white tarps were hanging on the side of the wall with something painted on them. Then, although he did not know it at the time, Harry Hendrickson saw Green Silk swinging away.

  The news helicopters saw what was painted on the tarps:

  "Save Mother Earth!" said one.

  "Our Lives Matter!" said the other one.

  Blue Star #4

  (2013/05/07 through 2013/11/07)

  The 88 Melbourne thugs had shot Patricia Johansen and left her for dead in the dumpster. It was by sheer luck that Hawkfox Tango had saw the whole thing from high above and when it was clear, he rescued her.

  "Holy mother, this hurts!" said Patricia Johansen as Hawkfox Tango pulled her out of the dumpster.

  "It is a good thing you played dead, or he would have shot you more times." said Hawkfox Tango as he put pressure on the wound and bandage it up as best he could. "He just missed your abdominal aorta, thank God. Let's get you out of here."

  Taking her to Westgate Regional Hospital, Patricia Johansen was lucky that nothing vital was shot. In three weeks time she was released. A day before, however, Westgate Police Commissioner Jim Brown came to see her. White and blue flowers were everywhere in the hospital room.

  "I am putting a task force together to bring down these '88 Melbourne' motherfuckers. We are also going after 'Pa Melbourne' in East Melbourne too. I don't care what Mayor Sperrazza says," said the bald sixty year old police commissioner. "We protect our own! When you are feeling well enough, you want to come join us?"

  Patricia Johansen looked intensely at Westgate Police Commissioner Jim Brown. "Fuck yeah." said Patricia Johansen intensely. Jim Brown started to turn and leave, but stopped when Patricia Johansen spoke up. "And Commissioner," said Patricia Johansen as she picked up a card with a blue star on it. "Call me Blue Star!"

  ***

  "...more members of 88 Melbourne were rounded up today in a prostitution ring bust. Some members of 88 Melbourne tried to get away in a car, but were stopped when their tires were shot out with an arrow-"

  The 8 Ball went through the TV screen silencing the Eyewitness News Channel Seven anchored and the images of her men being rounded up. Glass and sparks flying everywhere. Ma Melbourne screamed at her frustration.

  "Now, now, Ma Melbourne. Don't take it out on the nice reporter. He didn't do nothing." the old man with the thick Russian accent said while standing in the doorway. Ma Melbourne was without words as she came up to Papa Rudnitsky and kissed his hand.

  "And what do I owe the honor of this visit, Papa Rudnitsky? Would you like a drink?" said Ma Melbourne as she led Papa Rudnitsky to the bar in the back of the pool hall.

  "You are done, Ma Melbourne." said Papa Rudnitsky as unemotional and practical as he could. "The 88 Melbourne will be liquefied and you will retire."

  "No Papa Rudnitsky, please!" pleaded Ma Melbourne getting on her knees before the Russian mobster. "I can turn this around, I just need more time! What about the Blood Melbourne and Pa Melbourne?!"

  "Pa Melbourne is taking my offer of retirement. You tried to kill a police officer, Goddamn you, and have cost me a lot of money." said Papa Rudnitsky, his anger growing and walking past Ma Melbourne. "It will take me years to rebuild in both West Melbourne and East Melbourne!"

  "Please, Papa Rudnitsky!" pleaded Ma Melbourne. "As long as I am making my minimum tithe payments, and I am, I can't be forced out of West Melbourne."

  Papa Rudnitsky stopped just before he got to the bar and rubbed his bald head.

  "You are putting me in a tough spot here, Ma Melbourne. The Blood Melbourne is about to be raided by Westgate Sentinel. Our Mayor, Smokeless Joe, has given the order already!" said Papa Rudnitsky, his voice rising. "This Blue Star and her task force has crippled you both! Do you really want to dragged this nonsense out for one or two more months?!"

  Papa Rudnitsky, now with his naked temper showing, walked in a circle of frustration.

  "The law is the law, Papa Rudnitsky. I can survive this!" said Ma Melbourne.

  Papa Rudnitsky went up to her with his nostrils flaring and Papa Rudnitsky pointed his left finger at her. "You're a fool of a woman, you know that?! Fair enough. But don't you or your men dare snitch and better destroy your 'real' books soon." Papa Rudnitsky raised his voice so that every 88 Melbourne member could hear. "No one talks, everyone walks. Am I right?"

  Everyone nodded. Papa Rudnitsky nodded and then left Ma Melbourne's pool hall forever.

  Red Spade #4

  (2014/05/22)

  The three men wearing ski masks walked into the First July Westgate bank branch in the Conway neighborhood of Emerald Gardens with guns drawn.

  "Okay! I don't want any heroes here!" yelled the biggest of the three. "Everyone not a bank teller, on the floor! Time to empty out those drawers!"

  The smallest of the masked men stayed by the door, while the thin man started going through wallets and purses. The big masked man, and apparent leader, went up to the teller with a large bag. The teller started feeding the man as many bills that would fit through the slot, however she was feeding it as slowly she could.

  When they had done collecting everything, ten minutes had past. The thinnest man went up to the leader. "Hey man, this is taking longer than it should! Let's get out of here!"

  "Okay! Let's book!" said the bigger man. He lead the way out to the parking lot and, with the exception of the employees and customers cars, their car was gone. "What in the fu-!"

  Out of the corner of the parking lot, a motorcycle came to life and the Red Spade raced across the parking lot. Smacking each of the bank robbers in the face with his shovel, they each of them went down without being knocked out. When he got to them, Red Spade kicked their guns away from them and tied each of them up with plastic cuffs. It was then that they saw their get-a-way driver already cuffed at the other end of the parking lot.

  "Why?" said the gang leader to Red Spade as his mask was removed. "It was just the bank's money. The insurance would have just have given them back the money."

  "And then their insurance would have gone up and then they would have to raise people's fees. When you pick the bank's pocket, you pick everyone's pocket." said Red Spade as he removed the other two men's ski masks. When he got to the smaller man, Red Spade saw that the young man was about Red Spade's son age and that he was the son of the gang leader. Red Spade turned to the gang leader. "You are an animal, you know that?"

  ***

  When he came home that night, Rebecca Spade was waiting for him. "Your son is royally upset with you."

  "Oh yeah," said Jack Spade. He had not spoken to his son all day and they were on good terms last night, playing with Copper. "What
did I do?"

  "I do not know. He was watching the early news and then burst out 'I hate my dad!' and then went to his room."

  "I will go speak with him." After taking a shower, Jack Spade went into his son's room. He had fallen asleep with Cooper in his arms. Jack Spade sat on the bed and woke J.J. up. "Hey man, I hear you are mad at me. Care to talk?"

  "No!" J.J. turned over and away from his father. "You arrested Brad and his dad!"

  Brad was J.J.'s new friend. Jack Spade had been hearing about this new kid in his son's life for a couple of months now, but Jack Spade had not seen this kid yet.