Outlaws and Origins

by Eric S Kim

  Preston put on the sunglasses. At first, the lenses offered the usual darkened shade meant for a shield against unnecessary sunlight. When he pressed the small button on the left temple, everything in front of him had changed completely. In an instant, the sunglasses presented him with an infrared image. He gazed at his teammates. Their body temperatures were evident in shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. The thermal vision reminded him of the alien antagonist in the Predator films. The only difference would be that the sunglasses conveyed a clearer picture.

  Preston took them off. “I already like it. I’m still surprised that we weren’t able to do this a lot sooner.”

  Han brought him back to reality. “Well, the budget can be quite minimal in the most unexpected times. We’re fortunate to have enough money to bring this to life.”

  “Well, I want it. How much do I owe you?”

  “Money is not an option. They are yours free of charge. Every Blackjack squad will have these by the end of this month.”

  “It feels great to be the first.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Han concentrated on the rest of his inventions on the table. “Now that everyone has a clear view of these new items, I would like to start off with one of these.”

  He picked up a metal boomerang with glowing green lights on the surface.

  “I like to call this the Rapid Ride. It’s a boomerang that can last up to a minute. It’ll return to your hand all by itself because it can detect the lines on the palm of your hand and remember it for the retrieval.”

  Elliott’s eyes had already lit up. “Sounds good.”

  “Would you like to give it try?”

  “Oh, definitely.”

  “Alright, step forward and concentrate on the target.”

  Han pointed at the plastic human dummy situated in front of the manmade hill. The distance between it and the Mystic Lightning employees would be enough for avoiding unneeded injuries.

  Han handed the boomerang to Elliott and said, “What you have to do is get a good grip of this thing and make sure that it detects your fingers and your palm. When you throw it, it’ll strike the target and come back when it’s finished. Make sure you open your palm widely so that it lands right on it.”

  Elliott focused solely on the target while the other Blackjacks stayed in the back and watched him perform. He readied himself by aiming the boomerang at the dummy.

  Han whispered, “Just concentrate. Throw it well.”

  Preston anticipated a good payoff. He waited for Elliott to make his first strike. Elliott slowly brought his arm to his side. He hurled the boomerang in the air. It repeatedly spun around like a top as it flew away from the group and straight for the human dummy. Preston and his teammates didn’t take their eyes off of the new weapon. Han’s two associates kept their pens and their clipboards in their hands. The boomerang produced a loud and exaggerated whirling noise when it spun toward its target.

  The dummy would be the one being sliced apart by the boomerang. But the weapon never even touched it. It missed the dummy by a few inches and soared higher above the ground. In fact, it flew away from the archery range and made the trees surrounding it its next destination. The boomerang reached the trees and struck the branches, cutting most of them off and having them land on the grass. The massacre originated from the trees and not on the dummy.

  The boomerang sliced through even more branches before it took a sharp turn and flew toward Han’s group.

  He shouted, “Get down!”

  Everyone had to crouch down or lay flat on the floor as the boomerang narrowly missed them. It took another turn and made the Blackjacks frantically flee in random directions. Han and his associates tried to grab the boomerang, but it flew so fast that none of them could even touch it. Everyone stayed low on the ground when the boomerang raised itself higher in the air. It took a sharp dive toward the earth and landed hard on the grass.

  Han and one of his associates ran straight for it. They grabbed the boomerang and hurriedly broke open the battery pack. Han disconnected the battery from the boomerang within seconds.

  Everyone, shaken by the abrupt malfunction, was no longer worried. They brought themselves back up from the grass.

  Elliott asked, “I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?”

  Han returned with the deactivated boomerang in his hand. “Apparently not. It seems we may have miscalculated on the wires and made it produce a fatal error.”

  Jerome wiped off small pieces of dirt from his trench coat. “And you found out about this now?”

  Han didn’t take any offense. “We’re at least lucky to have learned a crucial fact about this creation before it’s too late.”

  He set the boomerang back on the table. “So the Rapid Ride was a failure for the wrong reason. There’s no question about it. We’ll send it back to the factory to rework it. But let’s forget about that little mishap and move on to the next item. Wipe that boomerang out of your memory.”

  He picked up what could have been a black motorcycle helmet with a thick visor.

  “I came up with this when I started to remember something from my adolescent years. I took inspiration from those virtual reality headsets that had become popular a long time ago. I call this The Chameleon. It’s a VR Detection System. It can detect hidden traps of every kind. If you can’t spot a landmine or a C4 or even an animal that’s been infected with anthrax, you can use this helmet to find out where it really is.”

  Bryce stepped forward and took off his hat. “Sounds simple enough. I’ll give it a shot.”

  Han handed Bryce the Chameleon and waited for him to put it on his head. His eyes were invisible when shrouded by the visor.

  The Blackjack asked, “Now what?”

  Han had a remote control on his hand. “Now, I will turn on the screen for you.”

  He pressed a button on the remote. “Can you see anything?”

  Bryce’s voice had grown rather muffled because of the helmet. “It’s still nothing but black.”

  Han inspected the remote. “Hmm. It must be the wrong button.”

  He tried a different button on the remote. “How about now?”

  Bryce shrugged his shoulders. “Still nothing.”

  Han didn’t panic as he pressed another button. “How about now?”

  Bryce immediately gave a thumbs-up. “There we go. I can see you now. It’s all blue from my perspective.”

  “That’s good. That’s the right color for the screen. Now, take a look at the target.”

  Bryce followed his instruction. He, as well as everyone else, stared at the undamaged human dummy.

  Han asked, “Do you notice anything unusual about it?”

  “So far, it’s still the same.”

  “Well, see what happens when I make the visor gray.”

  Han pressed a different button on the remote.

  “Do you see it now?”

  Bryce tilted his head slightly to the left. “Uh, nothing’s changed.”

  “That’s odd. You’re supposed to detect a tiny capsule from inside that dummy when the screen is gray.”

  “Sorry, but it’s not there for me.”

  Han brought the remote control closer to his face as he scratched his head. “This is strange. We must have arranged the buttons in the wrong order.”

  He pressed a few more buttons. Bryce’s body twitched.

  “Wait a minute. The entire screen’s changed.”

  Han asked, “What’s happening?”

  “I’m seeing error signs all around. They’re all in different colors. Red, orange, purple, white, brown. It’s all there. Oh, wait. Now, I’m seeing different icons. It’s very glitchy. It’s like the entire visor is messed up or something.”

  Han examined the remote control instead of the helmet. “There must be something that’s triggering the errors.”

  Bryce added, “Uh, now I’m seeing something else. The screen is stretching. I’m seeing ripples on the screen. There are so many
colors and so many error signs right now. And I’ll be honest. They’re making me dizzy.”

  His head slowly moved from left to right as if he was caught in a trance.

  Han cleared his throat. “I’m afraid the errors are a result of a possible overflow of information in the storage drive. The colors you are seeing right now can be the result of a psychedelic experience. But not in a good way.”

  “What the hell do you mean by that?”

  “I mean that you might suffer some kind of sickness. When your eyes are exposed to what’s happening on the screen, it might lead to brain damage.”

  The other Blackjacks turned their heads sharply at the engineer after hearing the news.

  Bryce froze. “Are you saying that I could go crazy because of what I’m seeing on the screen?”

  Han didn’t show any concern. “That is correct. And I think the best thing for you is to take that helmet off. I’ll do that for you.”

  Han reached for the helmet, but Bryce immediately grabbed it and acted in desperation as he tried to pull it off of his head.

  “I don’t want to be braindead! Get this thing off me!”

  Han and his associates gathered around Bryce and tried to help him take off the helmet. The Blackjack’s panicky movements didn’t stop them from being careful as they loosened the straps. When they had finished, Bryce pulled the helmet away from his head and threw it down on the grass. He jumped backwards with a dazed look on his face. Preston and Elliott checked on him as Han and his associates dealt with the task of finding out what went wrong with the Chameleon.

  Bryce tried to stand up straight. “So do you think I’m going to be okay?”

  The engineers whispered amongst each other.

  Preston held three fingers in front of Bryce. “How many fingers am I holding?”

  With widened eyes, Bryce kept his focus primarily on regaining his mental health. He counted Preston’s fingers and said the right amount.

  Preston patted him on the shoulder. “I think you’ll be fine, man. You’re strong. You’re not the type that could die right away.”

  Bryce rubbed his eyes. “If I’m a victim of their ignorance, then I’d rather die right away.”

  Han set the helmet aside and said, “You’re a very lucky man. The error only lasted for less than a minute. That’s not nearly enough for you to get brain damage. Usually, it would take at least thirty minutes or so.”

  “Well, I’m glad that you’re telling me this now.”

  Elliott surveyed the other items on the table. “Two of these weapons are complete duds. There’s got to be something good here. I mean, the sunglasses are an automatic winner. But what else is there besides that?”

  Sabrina pointed at something. “Hey, maybe they made it big with this one.”

  She picked up a metal orb the size of a baseball. A small red light flashed on the surface. She threw it up in the air and caught it with her hand.

  “What do you call this one?”

  Han replied, “I call it the Special Surprise.”

  Sabrina threw the ball up high with one hand and caught it in her other hand. “What does it do, anyway? Act like a baseball and just hit the enemies on the head to knock them unconscious?”

  “Actually, it just sprays you with a sleep aerosol when the red light stops flashing.”

  The red light on the metal orb did stop. A thin white steam sprayed out of the ball and reached Sabrina’s face. Her eyes rolled back as her body fell to the floor. She was now unconscious. It all happened in just two seconds. The orb rolled out of her hand and onto the grass.

  Han picked it up. “Great. Now it’s empty. We’ll have to refill it a little later.”

  Jerome and Rebecca crouched down and tried to wake Sabrina up.

  Bryce asked, “Wait, how the hell does that thing even work? You throw it at the enemy and it sprays them just like that?”

  Han handed the orb to an associate. “It was supposed to do many other things. But she wouldn’t let it work its magic. It would have been a fantastic display. It had lasers among other things.

  The other associate opened up a small bottle of smelling salts and waved it in front of Sabrina’s nose. She immediately sat up from the ground.

  “And the Dodgers win the World Series!”

  Jerome and Rebecca brought her up when she asked, “So what happened?”

  Jerome told her, “Just another item to add on our no-go list.”

  Bryce sighed. “I’m really starting to lose confidence.”

  Han tried to reassure him of their reputation. “Don’t give up just yet. We still have rifles and grenades to look forward to.”

  Preston picked up one of the rifles. “This one is already getting my attention.”

  It was a very particular design, one that did not have the features made famous by many assault rifles. It had a cylinder-shaped magazine and five small barrels attached to a much bigger one.

  He showed the rifle to Han and asked, “What do you call this?”

  Han’s eyes lit up. “Oh, now this one is my favorite. This is one of the reasons why I wanted Squad A-X-9 to volunteer. Because they would be the first to get their hands on this. I call it the Snapshot UPR. UPR stands for Ultra Plasma Rifle.”

  Preston raised his eyebrows. “Plasma?”

  “That’s right. This rifle doesn’t rely on gunpowder, but on pure plasma. This is the absolute weapon of the future.”

  The other Blackjacks had gathered around the engineer. He showed them the Snapshot UPR with a prideful demeanor. His grin was a symptom of his optimistic behavior. The Blackjacks touched the new rifle with eager hands.

  Rebecca asked, “How does it work?”

  Han gave the details with glee. “Well, it’s quite simple. You will be able to take a screenshot of your enemy, and the rifle will be able to remember the entire body. Pull the trigger, and the shots will follow the enemy and strike them dead. That’s why it’s called the Snapshot. You take pictures before you open fire. You can point your weapon at any direction, and the plasma will still follow the target. Here, let me show you.”

  He took the Snapshot UPR and aimed it at the human dummy.

  The rifle included a screen below the barrels. He took a photo of the dummy.

  “Plasma will shoot out of these five barrels one at a time. Let me demonstrate.”

  He pulled the trigger once, and a bright ball of blue plasma shot out one of the barrels. It reached the human dummy and exploded on contact. The human dummy sustained damage for the first time. Its right arm had been punctured.

  Han pointed the rifle at a random direction. “Even as I do this, the plasma will still find its target.”

  He opened fire again. Several more balls of plasma flew out of the five barrels and made a sharp turn toward the target. The rifle produced the rhythmic sound of a popping bassline when the plasma shots made their exits. Every one of them had hit the dummy, causing small explosions all around it.

  Han concluded it with, “Science lives on.”

  Oswald whistled as he applauded the demonstration.

  Sabrina rubbed her palms together. “I’ll be the first to take that off your hands and hang it on my wall.”

  Everyone complimented the engineer for his creativity. Han had no objection to his ego inflating. Like a performer for a play, he took a bow in front of the Blackjacks.

  “This is why they hired me in the first place.”

  Elliott asked, “Are there going to be other weapons that are just like this one?”

  “That is yet to be determined. We have many of them still in the testing phase, but I can assure you that they will be brought to your doors as soon as they are finished and approved.”

  Preston was proud to be a participant. “I’m really hoping for that.”

  The engineer turned around and picked up something else from the table. “Let’s continue, shall we? The next weapon is an interesting one.”

  He showed the Blackjacks a flat disk with seven
sharp blades all around the edges. Five holes in the center acted as a way to carry the disc without injuries.

  “You’re going to have to be careful with this one. This is just like the boomerang, only this time, retrieving it will take some more precision.”

  Jerome had realized the severity of their situation. “Wait, so you want us to throw that and grab it again when it comes back?”

  “That’s right. It includes a built-in computer chip, so it’ll remember the spot where it has to return to. Keep in mind that the blades on this disk are very dangerous. They will slice through the enemy’s flesh. They’ll even cut through the bones. In order to avoid any accidents, you will have to rely on correct timing and quick reflexes. If you don’t, then you’ll have to say goodbye to your fingers, or your hand…or maybe your entire arm…and perhaps one-half of your body.”

  Han activated the disk by pressing a button in the center. Several red lights flashed across the disk. The blades grew longer, producing a loud sheathing noise during their extension.

  “Also, if it can’t identify your fingerprints at any time, then it’ll self-destruct. You better let it go in time, or else you’ll get caught in the explosion and make an absolute mess of yourself. Medics will be in touch, though lawsuits will not be permitted as is stated in your original contracts. So who would like to go first?”

  None of the Blackjacks raised their hands. Nor did they take a step forward.

  Instead, Bryce began to step back as he said with apprehension, “You know, I just realized that we have to go back to Garden Grove right now. Our captain is waiting for us to refuel our SUV. A full gas tank is very important.”

  Han looked perplexed. “I don’t understand. Are you not interested in blades?

  Rebecca’s little laugh was obviously counterfeit. “Uh, we’d love to have one, but we can’t disappoint Lionel at a time like this. Gas matters. Everyone understands that, right?”

  Jerome became the first to walk away. “Thank you for the demonstrations, Mr. Han. We’ll take good care of these sunglasses. Oh, and the plasma rifle. The LSD, or whatever it’s called. Now it’s time for us to search for those pesky Nevinoth Dragons again. Sorry to cut things short, but a job is a job. See you later. Bye.”