__ COHERENT COMICS UNINC. PRESENTS / / //| // // // /^^| /^| /^^| / / / / //||// //==// ._-' | | ._-' /__/ Legion of Net.Heroes 2024 #2 / / // |// // // /___ |_/ /___ / "Time Out Of Joint" / /______________________________________ copyright 1999 by /________________________________________/ Tony Pi original concept by Dave Van Domelen development by Austin George Loomis further development by Tony Pi (wildfire@lsh.org) copyright 1999 by Tony Pi [cover shows a young Aaron Zander dying at the hands of the Template Killer, as the disembodied faces of Netwalker and Dervish look on in horror.] Codename Identity Power --------------------------------------------------- NETWALKER Nate Walker Internet Telepathy DERVISH Alaric Muhammed Enhanced Strength 'AJ' Jackson and Reflexes BOOMER Michael Hodgson Gadgeteer LURKER Tabitha Pierce Telepathy, Psionic 'Tawny' Adams Invisibility --------------------------------------------------- LAST ISSUE: The Academy computer systems were invaded by an unknown threat. Netwalker and Dervish discovered that Cassandra Murphy, a victim of the burnout killings, had predicted her own death and sent fragments of her soul into the Net. The fragments, now enhanced in power, were now converging to rebuild Cassandra. However, Boomer had fallen in love with the Cassandra AI, and inadvertently got caught in the emerging gestalt. He believed he was Derek Radner at the Academy in 2016, losing his sense of self. Netwalker and Dervish were forced enter the same program and confront the Cassandra AI, before they and Boomer lost their identities forever. However, they also lost track of who they were, and one of them is the Burnout Killer, now stalking Cassandra.... ============================================================================= PROLOGUE Excerpt from 'Triton: Memoirs of a Super-Villain' It is death that transforms love into Great Love, for history remembers tragedy best. By those standards, I will be remembered as the most romantic, tragic figure of the twenty-first century, for twice have I lost Great Loves of my life. The 'deaths' of both women changed me, and in turn I changed the world for them. I think it was the death of my first love, Cassandra Murphy, that made me realize how the shepherds of society also slaughter their lambs. When Cassandra died of burnout, I suspected foul play, and sought proof in secrecy. There was enough to feed my suspicions, but nothing concrete. Though I did not fathom the true depth of their conspiracy at the time, I knew Cassandra died their sacrificial lamb for an unsavory agenda. I knew two things: I did not intend to be next, and I would avenge her death. She died alone April Fool's Day, 2016, a cosmic prank against which I still hold a grudge. The irony of it all struck me: Cassandra could see the future, but the future failed her. Thus, I looked to the past for salvation. It was Challenger's Conclave of Super-Villains and his dreams of Haven that inspired me. I saw where society failed: there were no wolves, super- villains to cull the weak. No Haven for the wolves that sometimes eat sheep, and sometimes eat shepherds. I had to rebuild hope in this Age. I had to rebuild the dream of Haven, find it beneath the waves. Only then could I give my departed Cassandra the world I always promised her. And thus was my super-villain career launched: I would be a living example for all those that wished to run with the wolves. Who could know what might have been, had she lived? * * * * [12:25, April 1st, 2016] Cassandra Murphy knew she had exactly five minutes before her death. She sat at her computer, her fingers flying across the keys. There was a part of her inside the circuits, that part of her which was her power, her mind, her soul. That part, she intended to outlive the rest. Her ability to see into the future had never been this strong before. Maybe it was the the threat of death that sharpened her precognitive senses. She knew exactly when Popper was going to teleport inside her room, and absorb her memories and power. She also knew she could not risk letting Popper steal too much; that was why she stored almost all of her ability and knowledge of the future inside the Palladium program. She left a bare minimum of precognitive ability and memories to misguide her assassin. She had to hack the rest of Derek's discarded alpha-series odyssei to pick apart the Palladium, so that it would not rebuild again until eight years after her death. All she had to do was press the ESC key and what was really the her essence would be fractured into a dozen pieces and flung across the Net. Her decision not to tell Derek still haunted her. It was best that she didn't say goodbye. She knew how her death would affect Derek, she anguished over her choice. There was a knock on the door. Cassandra froze. She was not expecting *anyone*. Hadn't she "seen" every second of her last hour alive in excruciating detail? Wasn't she fated to play out the pattern that plagued her every time she closed her eyes? "Cassandra?" It was Aaron Zander's voice. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" She shouldn't answer. She should finish scripting her own death. Popper wasn't due for another four minutes, and there was three minutes worth of coding. She couldn't afford a distraction. The fate of Earth was in the balance, after all. She could not doubt her vision; she had to die exactly in a certain manner, or it was all for naught. Ignore it, she told herself. It wasn't in the script so it couldn't happen. She forged onward, despite more knocking. There was a barely audible *pop* behind her, three minutes ahead of schedule. "I couldn't bear waiting another second, sweet thing," whispered Popper, his right arm around her neck. He licked her ear. Cassandra screamed. That wasn't in the script, either. * * * * [12:26, April 1st, 2016] Aaron heard Cassandra's scream, and felt a burst of intense fear emanating from her. He reacted immediately and instinctively. Grabbing the handle, he summoned up his mind-over-matter power to boost his strength, pulling the locked door open. He saw Cassandra in Popper's clutches, desperately reaching for her keyboard, but without success. Without hesitation, Aaron sprang towards Popper and Cassandra, grabbing Popper by the arm, squeezing hard. Popper growled and let go of Cassandra. Wrestling his arm out of Aaron's grasp, he struck his foe with the back of his hand. The blow packed the strength of five men; Aaron was flung half-way across the room. He was not braced for it. Never in Aaron's memory had Sean been so strong! Disoriented, Cassandra scrambled for the computer, slamming her hand across the keyboard, desperate to hit as many keys as she could. She was too close to Popper. "Get out, Cass!" shouted Aaron. "This was supposed to be a quiet, private lunch," said Popper disapprovingly. "Screaming was *not* on the menu." With nonchalance, he vanished and reappeared behind Aaron, and with a leap knocked Aaron to the floor. He pinned the young psi to the ground. "I guess I'll have to settle for the chef's surprise." Aaron struggled, but Popper was as strong as he. Don't panic, Aaron told himself. You are in total control. You have to be. Focus! "HEY!" Derek Radner appeared in the doorway. He let the roses fall from his hand as he dashed into the room towards Cassandra. "CASSIE?!" Thanks a lot! thought Aaron. "Help," he managed. "Now everyone wants to dine here. Let's eat out," said Popper through gritted teeth. He glanced at Derek shielding the crying Cassandra. "But I'll be back for seconds and thirds." In the blink of an eye, Popper and Aaron had disappeared without a trace. * * * * [12:28, April 1st, 2016] Derek cradled Cassandra in his arms, trying to calm her down. "Shhhhh. I'm here. He's not going to hurt you. I won't let him." Cassandra kept shivering, and shook her head vehemently. "N-no, no! Nothing's gone aright, I wasn't done, I wasn't. I was supposed to die but not, not like this. Now Palladium's broke and it din't take but half..." "You're not going to die. We need to get security." His nightmare had a face now. The vanishing man, the porter of Hell. Sean 'Popper' St. James. "You don't know, you can't know. I have to die or everyone else will," said Cassandra hysterically, staring with wild eyes into his. "I saw him come after me. I could have stopped him. All I had to do was tell someone. But I can't. I asked Palladium what might happen if I lived and what might happen if I died and it told me that in all futures where I lived the world would be destroyed but if I died the world had a chance." "Breathe, Cassie." He helped her up. "Come on." She couldn't stop babbling. "I knew I had to be brave and do right and face it but it also said if I died you'd never get over it and blame everyone and do evil, and I didn't want to make you hurt people. Please please stay good, Radish, please. Promise me." "I cannot, will not, ever do evil. My heart is too full of love for you." The elevator doors opened, and the students waiting for the lift were staring at them. Derek gave Cassandra a deep, deep kiss. He didn't care if the whole world saw. * * * * [12:29, April 1st, 2016] Popper was angry: angry that his meal had been interrupted, angry that his secret wouldn't be a secret for long. He chose to teleport to one of the unoccupied prison cells that awaited renovation into an Academy dorm. It was at least seven levels down, and no one ever came here. Still pinning Aaron down with his legs and arms, he hissed, "I could have had years in this place, and no one would have caught on." He released Aaron's left arm to grab Aaron's face, in preparation to drain the life out of him. Aaron tried to strike him with his elbow, but Popper simply teleported up five feet and fell hard onto Aaron. Aaron grunted. "Does it hurt?" teased Popper. He did it again. "Or did that hurt? Or this..." As Popper teleported up, Aaron rolled away suddenly with great speed and flipped himself back onto his feet behind the cell's toilet. Popper landed onto bare floor, slightly annoyed. "No pain." Aaron kicked the toilet bowl. The punt ripped the procelain throne out of the floor and into the air, aimed precisely at Popper. Popper called up one of his victims' superspeed with a mere thought and sidestepped the improvised missile. The toilet smashed against the wall. "Let's put that to the test," Popper snarled. He grew long, sharp claws and shortened his legs for power. "You're no match for me." He leapt at Aaron, who deftly dodged out of his way... ...only Popper teleported and reversed his trajectory, catching Aaron unaware from another angle. Aaron was cut deep on his left side by the surprise attack, and fell to one knee. "I tire of this," said Popper, retracting his claws. "The real Sean might have been impressed by your resilience and legendary self-control, but not me." He teleported behind Aaron and grabbed his face with one hand. "Time to die." Cackling energy arced between them as Popper St. James sucked life and will out of Aaron Zander. Aaron's body collapsed, lifeless. Popper was feeling the familiar rush from sapping his victim's identity and power, and it made him giddy. Too giddy to realize his mistake. Even as Aaron's body died, his memories and power lived on as a copy inside the template assassin. Any other victim would have been cannibalized as a tame source of data and superpower. But Aaron's power was mind over matter: sheer force of will, and the stubborn refusal to believe he was dead, overrode the Template Killer's control of his body. Instinctively, Aaron's power allowed his sense of self to overwrite his killer's core identity, making victim of the assassin. A fluid shapeshift molded Aaron's features out of the supple flesh. In Popper's place now stood the new, improved Aaron, staring down at his own, perfect corpse. "Cogito, ergo sum," breathed Aaron. I think, therefore I am. * * * * [00:56, April 1st, 2024] When AJ 'Dervish' Jackson's persona program, Aaron Zander, was absorbed into the template assassin, he also switched perspective. The shift into the Khadamite's body was jarring enough to let AJ regain some sense of self. However, Aaron's persona was still dominant, and he could not exert control over this new body either. He was as helpless as the other victim personae trapped inside the Burnout Killer. He counted seven other submerged personae besides himself. Sean St. James, the first victim and cover identity. The core template assassin personality, distinct from Sean. The first four burnouts: Bill Keyes, Heidi Wessman, M'Kembe Simonson, Bob Mulroy. And Nate Walker. --Nate! Are you in control?-- ++I've got my own thoughts back, if that's what you mean. That was a ride and a half,++ Netwalker answered back. ++I wasn't able to override this persona program.++ He did the submerged-persona-in-a-gestalting-Net- Dimension-program equivalent of a shudder. ++All this felt so real. I killed Mr. Zander. You. How can we know everything there is to know about our hosts? Persona programs aren't meant to be so comprehensive.++ --Cassandra's gestalt must be nearing completion. Maybe her power of prophecy is so strong now that it fills in the details. We must get Boomer out, now.-- ++Maybe if we both concentrate, we can get Aaron/Popper to go to Cassandra. Seemed to have worked when we immersed.++ --Let's do it.-- * * * * [12:40, April 1st, 2016] Aaron risked a teleport back into Cassandra's room. He appeared in the midst of a security team led by Frank Napier, the Academy personal combat instructor. In the doorway, Derek stood comforting Cassandra. Several weapons were immediately trained on Aaron. Surprise crossed Mr. Napier's face. Evidently, they were expecting Popper, not Aaron. "Aaron...Popper...whoever you are. Surrender," Mr. Napier demanded. "What's going on?!" Aaron raised his hands slowly. He glanced at Cassandra, and their eyes locked. "It's...complicated," he admitted. * * * * [00:59, April 1st, 2024] There was a moment of recognition between Cassandra and the two riders inside Aaron, an instant that forged a mental link among them outside the subjective timeline. ++Cassandra! Please, you must let us out of this program. All of us, including Boomer. Otherwise the four of us are going to get very, very, VERY close to each other,++ pleaded Nate. ==I don't know where I exist anymore. Am I alive here? Or just a program there?== asked Cassandra. ==Why can't I stay here, with Derek?== --You are there *and* here, as are we. Everything we feel or do here feels as real as out there. Reality is not for us to question.-- AJ suggested. ==But here, I can be with Derek again. I am alive. He'll be a part of me, forever.== --Here, Derek Radner is also Boomer,-- AJ deduced. The fit was natural: Derek was a programmer and gadgeteer like Boomer, and in love with Cassandra. It was a perfect match...except for the supervillain Triton part. --You'll kill his body if you don't let him go. Only you can save him, and us. And ultimately, yourself.-- ++We'll help you find a way to be here again,++ promised Nate. ++Please, there isn't time.++ ==I'll hold you to that promise, Netwalker.== The scenery around them blurred, and Nate found himself back in the Net with AJ and Boomer. Cassandra was still floating in the eye of the storm, and the banshee merged completely into her. The data vortex suddenly disappeared, leaving just Cassandra Murphy. "Cassandra?!" shouted Boomer, rushing to her side. The sixteen year-old girl smiled meekly. "I'm back." She kissed Boomer. * * * * [01:02, April 1st, 2024] Tawny was waiting for them when they woke up. "Hi guys. Did I miss anything interesting?" "Aside from true love, foul death and resurrection?" Nate replied innocently. "Naw, you didn't miss much." * * * * Epilogue [14:30, April 1st, 2024] Dr. Van Domelen had called the clique known as the "Legion of Net.Heroes" into his office for debriefing. Peregryn was also there, as a mystical consultant, having just arrived from Mexico City. Boomer brought CTR's portable unit along with him, as well as the temporary storage unit for Cassandra that he'd wired together from an assortment of devices. They related the story as well as they could remember. "So Cassandra's soul was rebuilt," explained Nate. "The AI that we originally found in the Academy files became the root for the reconstruction. Except for a body, she's a complete individual. I'd say she has the same status as Doublecross, with the added bonus of a soul. Once the odyssei finished building her, they conflated the parts of her that were eating up all the available memory in the Academy systems, and everything was restored. We barely escaped in time." AJ concurred, nodding. "Strange...when I was Aaron, I thought and felt like Aaron. I knew everything about him. I was him in every way. But when we emerged, my retention of the events eroded almost immediately. It was like waking up from a dream: you know the details while you're dreaming, but only remember the vague events upon waking." "Peregryn? What do you make of this?" asked Dr. Van Domelen. "I think for the most part their conjectures are correct: Cassandra Murphy's a gestalt. A unique kind...one does not normally gestalt with parts of oneself that have grown into wholes. Thus, she does possess enormous power, but it is stored inside her shell, the layer that is the original Cassandra Murphy." Tawny shook her head. "Whoa. That went way over my head. Could you explain that in a nutshell?" "A nutshell is the right analogy. Cassandra Murphy, as she exists right now, is an autonomous net presence. She is the nutshell around a source of tremendous power and information about the future, but she does not have access to it directly. It might even be the case that she now carries a pocket reality within her. A subnet dimension, if you will." ==I can feel the Palladium inside me,== agreed Cassandra. ==A whole world, an entire history waiting to be discovered. But I had expected to relive our timeline precisely. Mike, Nate and AJ changed that history. My predictions are useless now, aren't they? I didn't die, and Aaron ended up in Popper's body.== "To be expected," said Dr. Van Domelen. "The Observer's Paradox: observation interferes with the process being observed." "Great," joked Nate. "We have access to the most powerful predictive talent of the current Age, and she can't even predict the right timeline." "What is to become of Cassandra, sir?" asked Boomer. Dr. Van Domelen sighed. "Indeed. What are we to do?" He stroked his nearly-white beard. "Is there any precedent on net intelligences? Aside from insane ones like Doublecross, that is? Until we find out, I think Cassandra should stay in the care of the...Legion of Net.Heroes," he barely suppressed a smirk. "Even though she cannot predict our future, what she knows about the other timeline might be information we can use. I, for one, am intrigued and worried by Cassandra's original prediction that caused her to choose death. How could her choice to live lead to Earth's destruction in the other timelines? Maybe we can learn of a threat that needs to be dealt with in our time as well. Thus, I charge you with the project of finding a way to tap into that alternate timeline again. For extra credit, of course." Dr. Van Domelen allowed himself a smile. "If there's a way, Professor, the Legion of Net.Heroes will find a way," said Nate with confidence. "*Especially* for extra credit!" =========================================================================== Next Issue: Another romp into the alternate timeline! =========================================================================== Author's Notes: Derek Radner's one of my favourite characters in the ASH continuity, and I couldn't resist the chance to delve deeper into the "why" of his rise to supervillainy. The excerpt from his memoirs, of course, is written sometime in the ASH future; for more excerpts from his autobiography, read Time Capsules #2. Credits: CTR (DVD/AGL), Boomer (DVD/AGL), Lurker (DVD/AGL), AJ (DVD/AGL), Netwalker (DVD/AGL), Cassandra Murphy (DVD), Popper St. James (DVD), Derek Radner (Marc), Doublecross (DVD), Solar Max (DVD)