//|| //^^\\ || || .|. COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS // || \\ || || --X--------------------------------------------- //====TIME=CAPSULES====== '|` ASH UNIVERSE: TIME CAPSULES #1 // || \\ || || "Conclave, Arise!" // || \\__// || || Copyright 1998 by Dave Van Domelen ___________________________________________________________________________ (From a rough outline by Tony Pi) ___________________________________________________________________________ [Cover shows Triton of the Conclave of Super-Villains standing triumphantly over the bodies of the STRAFE team, while a volcano erupts behind him. Caption reads "Time Runs Out For STRAFE!"] "Hey, Doctor M'Cormack," Kaoru called out across the room. "I think I found a non-commercial disc here." The archaeology professor looked up from her work and scrutinized the open CDROM case Kaoru was holding up. "I believe you're right, Mr. Spinoza. And can you tell me why it's non-commercial?" "Uh, well, it's gold instead of silver. And the printing on the non-readable side looks like amateur typesetting, probably printed out in the CDROM writer," the graduate student replied. M'Cormack nodded. "However, it might simply be from a small company, lower print runs were often done that way. Not that this would be bad... small company or individual, it would still represent a non-majority view of the time, and might cover aspects of life not found in the official record. Load it in and see what it has." Kaoru complied, and a listing of the CDROM's contents came up on the screen. "Looks like movie files, mainly...named and dated, probably important news stories." "Or home movies," M'Cormack added. "Well, maybe..." Kaoru admitted, "but look at this one here. Conclave 12/29/23. Doesn't sound like a home movie to me." Professor M'Cormack shook her head. "No, that definitely refers to the date the first 'supervillain' team of the 21st Century broke into public consciousness. Before that, there had been gangs of criminal superhumans here and there, as well as groups funded by terrorist nations like Khadam, but the Conclave of Super-Villains was the first group to really take up the mantle of the old 20th Century villain teams. Certainly an important psychological turning point, even if it had little impact on superhuman politics or balance of power." "So, we don't need to look at this one?" "No...start it up. It might have some angle on the story worth seeing. If nothing else, the ransom tape itself is something you really should see. Historically, it's not quite up there with the Zapruder Tape or the vids of the destruction of Khadam, but it's an important bit of history." Kaoru nodded and started up the program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [VIDEO] All was black, and silent. A low hissing sound rose out of the silence, slowly tracking from right to left across the stereo "picture." THOOM! Flames burst across the screen as the sound of an explosion reverberated through the speakers, rattling loose objects nearby. With a metallic clank, the letter "C" is imprinted onto the roiling flames, followed by "S" and "V." Fade to flaming letters on a blank screen, reading "The Conclave of Super-Villains (TM)." * * * * [REALITY] Scorch's jaw dropped slightly. "They...trademarked...their...name?" he asked, disbelief dripping from his voice. "How do they expect to defend that in court?" Dan "Grind" Tracey paused the tape and turned to the assembled members of ASH and STRAFE. "Indeed. I noticed that when it was being broadcast. It shows a certain cockiness, which is consistent with Triton's personality. Remember, Triton is after fame, it's his fatal flaw." "And he thinks that the new Conclave will become a hot enough commodity that there might actually be people trying to make money off it," George Sylvester, aka "Channel," added. "Even if he ends up back in jail, he can still try to sue companies that poach the trademark." "I think it's just a lame attempt at humor," the time-displaced Lightfoot noted. "People were a lot more trademark-happy back in the 90s, and it looks like this Triton guy is trying to recreate the look-and-feel of the kinds of groups we used to fight back then." JakZak "Solar Max" Taylor motioned to Grind. "Let's watch the next bit, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves in the analysis." * * * * [VIDEO] The logo faded to a scene of several silhouetted figures in front of bright lights. "Greetings, world!" crowed a confident-sounding voice. The speaker wasn't clear, but seemed to be a man in the center of the group. "We are the new Conclave of Super-Villains! Get used to the name, you'll be hearing it quite a bit in the coming months...and eventually you'll tremble at the mere mention of it. But rather than introduce ourselves to the world with a grandiose world-conquest plot, we've decided to take the personal approach. Specifically, settling some very personal grudges with the 'Heroes' of the world and personally kicking their behinds around the mountain. And we've already started, with a few old schoolmates of mine who I never really liked...." Three pictures, obviously taken from a distance with a digital camera, flashed up on the screen, one after the other. "Howie Henderson, JUUUUNIOR," the voice mocked, "also known as Peregryn of the Academy of Super-Heroes. Jen Kleinvogel of STRAFE...don't even ask me to say what that stands for...a little bird caught in my net. And C.J. Brown, also of STRAFE, who I didn't really know before this, but that just gives us an extra expendable in case we need to make a dramatic and messy demonstration. We're holding all three under security so tight that good wishes can't even get to them, so don't expect us to put them on camera... we're not stupid. "However, we're betting that ASH and STRAFE are that stupid, because we're inviting them to come get their teammates. Of course, it'll be a trap. And just to turn the screws some more, we're even going to tell you who we are and what we can do...and it'll STILL be a trap!" * * * * [REALITY] "Analysis of the figures here shows them to be purely computer generated. There's no enhancement to do on the image to tell who the figures are," Grind noted as he paused the tape again. "I'm sure you all recognize the voice, and it is indeed him, there's no electronic alteration involved. Nor are there signs of any alterations on the later video clips, so I'm not sure quite why the deception here." Drake, the invulnerable member of STRAFE, furrowed his brow. "It might just be another cliche he's trying to drag in...he loves his cliches." "Might also be trying to hide any losses taken," Sal Napier added. The strongman of ASH was generally more perceptive than his usual demeanor would indicate. "If Peregryn or C.J. managed to seriously injure one of their members in the fight, they might want to hide that fact in order to make themselves seem more invincible. Hence the silhouettes." "Yeah, it was a pretty messy fight," Essay noted, tapping a photograph on the table with one of her many tools. "Once Grind figured out the clues, SatIntel showed some serious landscape changes in the area. Wouldn't be surprised if one of 'em got frijado." Grind nodded silently and restarted the tape. * * * * [VIDEO] "As your humble narrator, I suppose I should introduce myself first and get that business out of the way, especially since I'm sure all my old pals have already figured out who I am and know what I can do." A rather well-done animation of an ocean wave swept across the screen, breaking against the right side and freezing in place as a trident sliced upwards through it. "I'm Triton, the first true super-villain of the millennium, accept no substitutes! True, my career was cut a little short while I was still in school [see STRAFE #0 - Ed.], but I've had plenty of time to plan bigger and better things." The scene shifted to a montage of action shots, with Triton in a full suit of high-tech armor, sheathed in a shimmering forcefield. Some set pieces were obviously staged, while others seemed to have been picked up by the same camera that showed pictures of the hostages earlier. "A self-admitted inventor and genius, my talents run towards practical, combat-oriented applications," Triton said in voice-over as his image blasted a stand of snow-covered trees with lightning from a trident. "Much of the Conclave's advanced technology is of my design, designs I worked out in my head while in durance vile, or improvements on my original gear. You'll note no external controls this time, Teller," the image shifted to Triton emerging from a body of water and firing an electrified net into the air. "Plus, I designed the composite body armor suits we all wear...so even if my force field is breached, I'm still bulletproof." Cut to a shot of Triton standing firm as a gun is fired at him from off-screen. He staggers a little as the slugs impact, but no more. "But enough about me...." * * * * [REALITY] "MORE than enough," Jason Teller snapped. "No," Grind admonished. "He wants us going into this angry, too focused on anything *but* figuring out his trap." Sarah tapped at the screen, indicating the bulky wristguards on Triton's armor. "Maybe it wasn't just meant to get Teller angry...maybe he still *does* have external controls, but wants us misdirected? I mean, it didn't really look like it, but still...." Grind shook his head. "I checked the tape frame by frame, as I'm sure you did while you were watching it just now," he said, referring to Sarah's superhuman speed. "He made no motions consistent with physical controls for his apparati. Either he's perfected a cybernetic linkage, or his controls are inside the helmet, either voice-based or chin-toggles." Tony Drake shook his head. "Triton's smart, but he's an asshole. There's no way he's the leader of this group, unless he went and built robots to follow him." Richard Hendrick, the "merely human" leader of STRAFE's regular agents, broke the uncharacteristic silence he had held since the tape started. "No, he's not the leader. He's the front man. Old trick, put someone loud and flashy out front and let him give orders, but make sure he knows he's just a figurehead and can be replaced. Someone else is actually making the plans for this team, no doubt about it...someone who doesn't want to be shot at. Maybe one of the other members shown on the tape, maybe not." "Well, if I remember the order correctly, we can probably rule out the next two guys," JakZak smirked. * * * * [VIDEO] The image went black again, and then there was a flurry of feathers and the sound of massive wings beating. When the feathers cleared away, there was an icon of a stag's head over a pair of wings. "Peryton, named for one of the many demons which haunt our legends and myths, but he's no fairy tale," Triton said mock-seriously as a man appeared on the screen. The man was well-proportioned and tall, wearing the same style of body armor as Triton's, but with the stag's head symbol on it. "You'll note he's wearing armor...but this is really just for the fashion statement, since when he unleashes his power, well...see for yourselves." Suddenly, the man doubled over in pain. The armor strained to contain him, then burst explosively in several places. Mighty wings unfurled from behind the figure's back, and the helmet shattered into a thousand pieces as great antlers lanced outward and upward. "He goes through more costumes that way. Peryton is our strongman, horned like the Green Knight of legend...will Gawain be able to win this time?" The screen cleared once more, and twin arrows streaked in from both sides, crossing and binding together. Cheesy club dance music with a strong beat and few other redeeming characteristics started to play in the background. "Conflicto is a rising star formerly of the so-called 'culture' that spawned the paragangs. He's hip, he's happening, he's a royal pain in the ass to be around. Especially if he decides to give your ass a coefficient of friction approaching a million." A slender armored figure could be seen in the distance as the view shifted to a stretch of mountain road. Despite the lack of ice on the roadway, the figure was sliding down it as if he were skiing on snow. He then stopped on a dime and gave the camera a thumb's up as the music swelled to a deafening roar. "You'll really wish you could ignore Conflicto...but he won't let you," Triton shouted over the din. * * * * [REALITY] "I managed to get EUROPA to send over Peryton's dossier. Viktor Von Wright, former model and prettyboy, but you can see he's not gonna be on any catwalks any time soon," Hendricks noted. "Paul speaking," Aaron "Contact" Zander said, to indicate that the other mind inhabiting his body was taking control. "Conflicto's got the same powers as a kid named Eugene Kwan from San Francisco, notable supervillain poseur from the club scene there...just a random piece of information I picked up while working the Warden case. Kwan'd been visiting NYC last winter and checking out paragangs, but his power was too weak and they wouldn't take him...saved him an experience at the wrong end of a bundi, anyway." "Doesn't look like his power's too weak now," Sal pointed out. "Conflicto's definitely going to be in a support role, his power's not very good at direct attack. He'll probably not even be visible if he can help it," Grind pointed out. "Until he can be located and neutralized, be very careful about where you step. But what concerns me is Peryton." "That strong?" Channel asked. Grind shook his head. "According to the dossier EUROPA supplied, he doesn't have control over his form...once he first manifested, rather recently I might add, he was stuck that way. So either he's gained a lot of control in a short time, or the Conclave has someone who can help him damp down hiw powers. An anchor, or maybe a psi. Yet another member who's likely to remain in hiding and interfere with us during a fight." "Their tactics may depend on specific pairings," Sal interrupted. "Look at how Triton tried to pick a fight with Teller, and how he's aiming Peryton at me, since my codename is Gawain. And doesn't he set you up with a dance partner, Grind?" "Yes, that's the next member." * * * * [VIDEO] Conflicto vanished and was replaced by a pair of mathematical symbols, a plus and a minus. They shrank down as the camera pulled back, eventually becoming the chest emblem of a somewhat stocky man in the group's distinctive body armor. "Rebus, a riddle wrapped in an enigma, as they say. A puzzle to all who know him, and no one really knows him. A master of the martial arts, skilled detective and criminal mastermind. Is he a mere mortal, or an earth-bound demon? Urban legend or real nightmare? He'll take away everything you hold dear, and then kill you...." Under this monologue, Rebus had moved into a series of practice maneuvers from a dozen or more styles of unarmed combat, then pulled out a pistol-style crossbow and pointed it at the camera. He fired the bolt, and the image went blank. "Seems he's camera-shy...what a grind, eh?" * * * * [REALITY] "THAT is the man to watch," JakZak stabbed his finger at the screen. "There's no way he's just an ubermensch type like Grind is...no offense, Dan." "None taken," Grind nodded. "If there's an anchor or telepath in the group, Rebus is probably him. Likewise, if the true leader is active on the front lines, Rebus is a likely candidate, if only because we know nothing about him," "Still, it's possible he's actually Triton's sidekick," Lightfoot interjected. Everyone looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. "No, seriously. You guys said Triton loved leaving clever clues at the scene of his crimes, right?" he looked to the STRAFE contingent. "Well, a rebus is a kind of puzzle, Triton may have decided to shift that part of his M.O. over onto a sidekick and concentrate more on the gadgeteering side. Then build this guy WAY up, so we think he's incredibly dangerous and important. So when we pulp Rebus with excessive force, we've wasted our time and given Triton a free shot at us." Hendricks nodded. "We didn't see Rebus do anything that a halfway- competent soldier couldn't do, he might be a decoy. Still, prepare for the worst, he could have any sort of power that they don't want to show us, or which wouldn't look impressive on film." "Triton definitely saved the flashy powers for last, I'll give him that," Scorch quipped. * * * * [VIDEO] Flames once again rippled across the screen, then resolved into a flame-motif chest-emblem which moved and flickered as if it were an animated hologram. The wearer was slender and definitely female, but hardly what one might call voluptuous. She looked more like a girl than a woman, in fact. "Burnout is a hot little number, if a little young for my tastes. A real heartbreaker, but she's not going to be hurt in return. Yeah, she'll tear your heart out and toss it on the ground...literally!" Burnout took a grenade from her belt and pushed it into a tree as if the tree trunk were made from foam. She withdrew her hand. The tree exploded in a shower of splinters and flames, with Burnout unfazed by the carnage around her. "When Burnout decides she wants you dead, you don't stand a ghost of a chance," Triton cackled. * * * * [REALITY] "Wait...isn't that...?" Essay started. Grind somberly nodded his head. "A young ghoster made it likely, and the fact that evidence from the backgrounds here narrowed the location down to northern New York Sector made it a near lock. Burnout is most likely Lana Smith, formerly of the Academy. Jen was out to visit her at the Silky Springs psychiatric facility when she and the others were captured by the Conclave shortly after sending a call in to us at STRAFE." "Just a second, Lana wouldn't have turned evil so quickly," Sal protested. "She was incredibly traumatized by Carlos's death, but she didn't show any signs of a reaction outside suicidal tendencies. Nothing on her chart indicated redirection of her anger into external modes...and she has a child to care for, too." "That's corroborated by the records at Silky Springs, the last place our missing friends were sighted. There's some evidence Miss Smith was kidnapped as well, and if she joined the Conclave this would be further evidence of a psi in their ranks, to subvert her," Grind hypothesized. "However, her son was also taken, so they could be holding that over her head. It's impossible to tell from this short clip if Lana is just playing along because of a threat, or if she's switched sides." "Our next contestant is also in the files EUROPA sent over, but there's no evidence she ever had more than paranormal-level powers...certainly not the high supernatural ranking she's evidencing here," Hendricks said, restarting the tape. * * * * [VIDEO] The camera zoomed in on a bit of flame from the burning tree, then pulled back out, the bright spot having become a sun disc on the chest of another woman, this one definitely more...womanly. Her every movement screamed "sex." "Sultry is as Sultry does, and what Sultry does is control the weather. She prefers to turn up the heat," Triton leered as the snow around Sultry melted in seconds, "but she can also give you the cold shoulder if she doesn't like you," he added as the snow built back up at remarkable speeds. "Mind you, she doesn't exactly need her powers to heat me up, if you know what I'm saying," Triton chuckled to himself. "Here's looking at you, kid." The screen went blank again, and was bisected by a grey line. Then another line intersected the first, forming a T. Then the camera pulled back to reveal a small section of a maze. Further back, an immense labyrinth. The screen tilted so that the maze could be seen stretching off into the horizon, and then zoomed back further to show that the maze was part of an insignia. "Labyrinthe is French-Canadian, if you couldn't tell by the way he insists we say his name, and he's a real wild guy. A wild mage, in fact. He does things to space and time that would make Tymythy Twystyd run screaming for Decartes." The armored man gestured, and a single tree became dozens, all reflected back off the spacewarps around the original. "And there's more! By making passageways where there were none, he can not only increase the distance between two points to nearly infinity, he can reduce it to zero. Take a dormant volcano, for instance, and open a door between the old magma reservoir and the surface!" Suddenly, lava was flowing from the top of the mountain off in the distance behind Labyrinthe. The flow increased into a geyser, as the mage reached further down into the earth, to where the pressure was greater. "So come to the party, heroes! We even haven our own lava lamp!" With that, the flaming CSV logo reappeared and the tape ended. * * * * [REALITY] "As you can see from SatIntel, Mount Placid is now spewing lava. Since this wasn't a natural process, it didn't show up on seismographs, so we had to deduce the location from other clues, but the pictures confirm it," Grind pointed to the photographs Essay was poring over. JakZak stood. "Okay, people. It's a trap. They have wild and unpredictable powers and I have no doubt they haven't told us the entire story, so expect them to use abilities not shown in this tape. And while we outnumber their stated membership, they have the advantage of home court and our friends as hostages...allies if they have a telepath who can affect loyalties. Anyone want to back out? No? Then let's get cracking...." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaoru watched the last of the movie file play, then snorted in annoyance. "Just the same tape that's in the public records. No new insights, nothing. Waste of time." Professor M'Cormack shook her head. "Not a total waste of time...we know that there's nothing more to do with this file. Remember, you have to move a lot of dirt aside to get at the potsherds, and you have to wade through a lot of this sort of records to get at the juicy stuff." She pulled the CDROM out of the computer and pocketed it. "Your assignment for tomorrow is to use the official sources to try and figure out what the heroes of ASH and STRAFE were thinking as they watched this tape. We only really know by their actions, but there's a number of things you can deduce from that. Once you're done, we can check the rest of this disk and see if there's any information to corroborate your guesses...." ============================================================================= Next Issue: Well, that could very well be up to you! Meanwhile, check out Conclave of Super-Villains #4 for the next part of the story seen here! ============================================================================= Author's Notes: There's one apparent typo in this story which is not a typo, but I'm not going to say what it is. }-> In case the introductions given in the story itself weren't clear enough for new readers, here's the rosters of ASH (Academy of Super-Heroes) and STRAFE (Superhuman Tactical Resources and Affiliated Field Experts). The Conclave's roster should be reasonably clear for obvious reasons. ASH: Solar Max (JakZak Taylor, leader), Meteor (Sarah Grant-Taylor), Gawain (Sal Napier), Scorch (he changed his name to that), Channel (George Sylvester), Contact (Aaron Zander and Paul Mahler), Essay (Sara Ana "Essay" Rodriguez), Peregryn (Howard Henderson Jr.), Lightfoot (Tom Dodson, member of the 1990s incarnation of the team). STRAFE: Dan "Grind" Tracey (co-leader), Richard Hendricks (co-leader), Tony Drake, Jason William Teller, Jen Kleinvogel, C.J. Brown, assorted other agents and normals not featured in this issue. As stated in #0, the intent of Time Capsules is to run a sort of anthology series for the ASH Universe, give a place for short story ideas which might not fit into a regular title for whatever reason. The story here is something of an exception, the plot originally being planned for CSV #4, but shifted here because Tony's schedule hasn't been letting him write much. What's going to be in #2? Well, I don't know yet. I'd rather not write it myself, since that would defeat the purpose of an anthology. But there's a lot of people out there who have at one time or another expressed some interest in playing with the ASH Universe, but who either didn't have the time to write a regular series, or who said they felt intimidated by the existing writers and backstory. Well, Time Capsules stories don't need to tie into continuity (so long as they don't contradict it), they can be rather short one-shots. I might even run two or three shorts in one issue if I get a lot of interest in doing shorter pieces (100-150 lines). Mind you, this is not a promise to print all submissions. I still reserve the right to say no to a story or to a writer. But there's a lot more writers out there in RACC-land who I'd say yes to than I'd say no to.