_ The Academy of Super-Heroes Universe Presents: _ ( ) CONCLAVE OF SUPER-VILLAINS ( ) =-+-= copyright 1998 by Tony Pi (wildfire@lsh.org) =-+-= I #3 - 'And A Partridge In A Pear Tree' I ----------------------------------------------------------------- [The cover shows Triton catching Jen Kleinvogel and Peregryn in a forcefield net, while a distraught Lana Smith looks on from the clutches of Peryton in the background. Triton's lower body is submerged in rough waters. The main title reads: 'TO KILL TWO BIRDS!' The smaller letters read: Guest-Starring PEREGRYN and KLEINVOGEL!] ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNITED WORLD'S MOST WANTED TRITON Derek Radner Gadgeteer & Energy Generation CONFLICTO Eugene Kwan Friction Control & Extrasensory Touch LABYRINTHE Yvan Viau Untrained Mage of Spatial Distortions SULTRY Angeline Croft Weather Control & Temperature Tolerance PERYTON Viktor Von Wright Strength, Endurance, Speed & Flight BURNOUT identity unknown Intangibility & Regeneration REBUS identity unknown Anchor & Advanced Physical Training ----------------------------------------------------------------- 12:04 PM, LAKE PLACID, DEC 27, 2023 The Temple of Apollo exploded in a gigantic fireball as five members of the Conclave of Super-Villains watched. "DAMMIT, BURNOUT!" screamed Triton, bobbing in the water. "I said Kleinvogel was *mine*! I said to *catch* them, not *blast* them, dammit!" All of it was caught on videocam by Conflicto, standing on top of a rocky tower with Peryton, Labyrinthe, and Sultry. In his other hand was Triton's trident. "Ah, you're just jealous because you didn't get to do her in yourself. Though that really blows the kidnapping idea, if our hostages are dead. We recovered your trident, by the way." Sultry simply smiled. "Ah, a delicious bonfire. Burnout really outdid herself this time." Labyrinthe was attending to Peryton's broken wing. "She killed all three of our hostages. That's hardly a success. How's your wing, Pery?" "It'll heal," grumbled Peryton. "We're still not sure if they're all dead." "Survive *that* fireball?" asked Sultry. "Not in my experience, and I've caused a lot of fires." "We can't ransom dead hostages!" complained Triton. "SURE we can," said Labyrinthe with a smirk. "WE know they're dead, but THEY don't know that. We just have to convince the world they're alive." "Hey, brilliant!" said Conflicto. He opened his backpack and rummaged for some snacks. "You know, I like the way you think, Lab. Oreo?" A solitary figure came out of the flames unharmed, since she simply Ghosted through the danger. Triton asked, "So? Are they dead?" Burnout held the amulet in her hand up high. Her voice was calm as she answered. "They never knew what hit them. Peregryn, Kleinvogel and the other girl have been incinerated." There was a brief silence. Trident in one hand and a bag of marshmallows in the other, Conflicto asked, "Hell. Anyone for 'smores?" ONE HOUR EARLIER, ELSEWHERE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK Small hands held a pair of binoculars up to a fourteen year-old's eyes. She found what she was looking for after much concentration: an almost invisible figure was flying above a car driving towards the lodge. She spun her wheelchair away from the window, back to her computer. "Computer," she said, "Print Xmas-1, then full active purge." She hummed the first few bars of a Christmas carol while the printer produced the Christmas card. She smiled. Jen Kleinvogel flew through the air, keeping pace with the station wagon as it plowed through the heavy snow. The snow had been heavy for the past day. C.J. Brown, her colleague in STRAFE, was having a hard time driving up the mountain road to Silky Springs Lodge. Jen landed next to the wagon once C.J. found a parking space at the Lodge. "Thanks for coming along, C.J.," said Jen Kleinvogel. "It would have been faster if I flew myself, but I could never have managed all the presents." "Especially with all this snow. I'm glad to help. Besides, my cousin Rafe works in the kitchen at Silky Springs, and I have dozens of Christmas gifts to drop off on behalf of my family. 'Hey, C.J., since you're going skiing in the Adirondacks, would you mind...?'" said C.J. as she checked the skis on the roof of her car. "Hey, isn't that Henderson? What's he doing here?" "I wasn't aware you knew him at the Academy, C.J." "I didn't, not really. Used to be I'd run into him down in the Core when I was visiting Scorch," answered C.J. "I think he has a fire elemental in his amulet that lets him stand the heat in that place." "YOU AND SCORCH?" "Hey, just because we played strip-'n'-burn poker it doesn't mean our relationship couldn't be purely platonic. There are only a few other pyrokinetics who could play. Too bad Henderson played only once." "I can't see *you* playing strip-'n'-burn poker, much less Howie! You're pulling my leg!" "Hey, only Henderson, Scorch and I know for sure," said C.J. with a wink. "Peregryn!" shouted Jen, using Howard Henderson Jr.'s Academy of Super-Heroes codename. "What a surprise! Did Lana invite you too?" Howard walked towards their car, a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?" Jen asked. "She's gone, Jennifer. So's her child. They disappeared on Christmas Eve," answered Howard. "She ran away again?" asked Jen. "But she wrote she was anxious to have company." Lana Smith had been all but alone in the world since her parents put her and her son into the hands of Silky Springs, tucked away discreetly like a skeleton in a closet. A fifteen year-old daughter with an illegitimate child was a scandal they didn't want to face. Jen pitied the poor girl that she and Howard saved from a pointless suicide. [In Academy #2 - Ed.] "She didn't run away, Jennifer," said Howard. "She and her son were abducted." Elsewhere, hidden in the clouds high above the Adironacks, Rebus sat in the command chair of the Concave of Super-Villain's vast zeppelin headquarters, Skyhaven. Two screens were before him: one set in the loop of an ankh, the other encircled by golden filaments. It was the latter screen that was lit. "Mr. Strings," Rebus asked, "are Peregryn and Kleinvogel in place?" Mr. Strings hummed to himself, a character trait that Rebus despised but latched onto. Rebus did not care what Mr. Strings looked liked today. Mr. Strings used many men to speak through; his mouthpieces were never the same twice. Only the annoying humming told Rebus he was dealing with Mr. Strings. "Peregryn, Kleinvogel, AND a partridge in a pear tree. I don't recognize the third. The clues are ready, and they should be headed for your trap soon," said Mr. Strings. "Thank you." A question lingered on Rebus's mind. How did Mr. Strings know? Rebus did not trust Mr. Strings at all; he liked to keep his enemies close but identifiable, and Mr. Strings was neither. He spoke into a microphone through the fabric of his black facemask. "The birds will soon fly into our net. Are the teams in position?" Triton's voice boomed out of the comm-link. "You bet! Revenge Squad Alpha ready. Remember, Kleinvogel's *mine*." "Yeah, yeah, you called it, stamped it, locked it. You don't have to remind us every other breath, Trite," said Conflicto through the comm-link. "Don't call me Trite!" "YES!" shouted Conflicto. "Told ya he'd say that again, Pery. That's FIVE bucks you owe me now." "Revenge Squad Beta, are you in position?" asked Rebus. "Yuppers. ConflictoCAM's got its bird's-eye view and is rolling! Hey Sultry, mind cutting back the precip? Pery and I gotta fly, and the snow's gonna make it hard to shoot." "Gladly. Making cold, wet weather's like wearing a brassiere that's been soaked and frozen. Or as we Brits say, bloody uncomfortable." "Hell, take off your bra and anything else you want!" answered Conflicto. "How about some sunshine for the camera?" Sultry replied, "Only for you, precious. I thought I'd keep a few clouds for the lightning later. Sultry and Labyrinthe are in place, Rebus." "How hard is it to say 'Revenge Squad Delta'?" muttered Triton. "Some respect for traditional trappings, that's all I ask." "Hey, how long have I got, Lab?" asked Conflicto. "I've got a lusty snowboard here anxious to devirginize that snow!" Labyrinthe replied, "Time enough for a run or two. You might want to leave the slopes in half an hour. That's when I put the finishing touches on the trap." "And remember, Kleinvogel's mine!" "Shut up, Trite!" a storm of voices responded simultaneously. Triton grumbled. The last thing heard through the comm-link was Conflicto screaming, "This footage gonna be wicked! Yeehaaaaaaaw!" C.J., Howard, and Jen walked with the head nurse, Emily Pratchett. C.J. asked, "No one here called the authorities?" "Silky Springs clients benefit from zero scandal. Our own staff is quite competent in handling such a crisis. Our teams are already conducting a search for her." Jen responded angrily, "Your staff couldn't handle her escape last year...thank God she called me. What makes you think you can handle an abduction?" "We would have more to go on if Tyra wasn't so...scared," said Pratchett, her permasmile never wavering. "She knows something, but the little dear is too afraid to talk. She said she could only feel comfortable talking to Lana's friends. She's convinced you can protect her from danger." Howard asked, "Who is Tyra?" "Tyra Dumont's a tragic case. She'll spend her life in a sub-zero room, what with her legs. She has a room next to Lana's...she was the only one Lana would talk to in the Lodge, and vice versa. She has a grudge against the world, that girl," said Pratchett with a sigh. "You can see her later. Maybe she'll take to friends of Lana." Pratchett led them to Lana's room. "Most times we kept the baby in the west wing, with all the other pre-K's. But since it was Christmas, we let her spend more time with the baby. Nothing in her room has been disturbed, save the way they busted in." C.J. studied the scorch marks on the door, where the lock had been. "Do you often lock your patients in?" "No. We let our patients roam free in the Lodge. Another high selling point. No point in locking Lana in anyways, since she'd just Ghost right through the walls. What with the holidays, we had less guards than usual, is all." C.J. nodded. "Then she locked the door herself. It looks like an energy discharge burnt through the lock." Jen bent down and examined the floor. "A wheelchair was in here, judging by the marks on the floor. Must be this Tyra you mentioned. No signs of a struggle, but then I wouldn't expect a Ghoster to have much problem evading physical conflict. I don't see any clues that might point us in the direction of the kidnappers. Maybe she just took her kid and ran from her kidnappers. Perhaps Tyra can tell us more." Tyra Dumont's room was cold. Fogless glass windows covered one wall, overlooking the road leading down the mountain. A computer desk had been set up close to the windows, complete with the latest computer and printer models. Tyra was sitting in her wheelchair by the computer, a blanket covering some sort of apparatus draped over her legs. She turned her wheelchair towards them as Nurse Pratchett, Jen, Howard and C.J. entered. "Hi Tyra, I'm Jen. This is Howard and C.J. We're Lana's friends, and we really want to help her and her son. Do you know anything about how she disappeared?" Tyra looked up at her visitors and smiled. "You're Kleinvogel and Peregryn! Lana talked about you and Howard a lot. She said you two saved her from suicide at the Academy. She often wished she could have stayed at the Academy, you know? Maybe even join STRAFE, or ASH. I don't think she's ever talked about you, though, C.J." She looked at Pratchett, and said, "Thank you, Nurse Pratchett. I'd like to talk to them alone." Nurse Pratchett nodded and exited the room. "She said you two would come." Howard nodded. "She wrote to me, asking me to spend a day here with her. She said she was lonely, since her parents refused to visit." "She was my only friend here," said Tyra wistfully. "Yes, I heard the blast two nights ago. I was so scared! I shouted for the guard, but he didn't come. I shouted for Lana but she didn't come through the wall like she always does. So I *had* to go next door and see if she was okay! I found only this." Tyra took a Christmas card from under her blanket and handed it to Jen. The front of the card showed Rudolph and Santa Claus on the roof of a house, skis and snowboard on their feet, respectively. Jen opened the card. The card began to play the melody to 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Jen's face turned white once she read what was in the card. "Oh no. Triton's back. And this time, he's brought friends." Howard raised an eyebrow. "I thought Derek Radner was still in prison." Jen shook her head. "He broke out of prison during the PROC fiasco in July. STRAFE hasn't had any luck tracking him down since. This is a personal attack, Howie. He must have found out about how I saved Lana, and wants to use her to get to me. To get to all of us who caught him." C.J. looked at the card. "I love this song. Nice trident symbol. Triton, at the top of the list. They should have at least signed it, not printed it out. I wonder who Rebus, Burnout, Labyrinthe, Sultry, Peryton and Conflicto are. Triton's a gadgeteer, isn't he?" There were two nods. "I can guess at some of the others' powers, but for others, no clue whatsoever. What's a peryton?" Automatically, Howard responded. "A mythological creature with a stag's head and legs, mounted by a pair of bird wings. Its shadow is reputed to be that of a man's." The song repeated again. "The card's the clue," said Jen. "Derek can't resist leaving a clue to taunt us. That's his M.O., though he might plant a false clue like last time. What do you think this message means?" "The clue is in the song," said C.J. "FIVE GOLDEN RINGS. I thought it was funny that the song started there. Same when it repeats." "Five golden rings. The Olympics. Isn't Lake Placid around here?" asked Howard. "The picture on the front suggests the Winter Games." "And Lake Placid would fit in with Triton's water motif," added Jen. "Olympic Mountain at Lake Placid? Wow, great slopes. Too bad Hephaestus turned it into a volcano during the Godmarket, to spite Apollo. Luckily it's still dormant," said C.J. "Let's go! It's only an hour's drive from here, I think. There is an abandoned temple on the slopes." "Shouldn't we call for backup?" asked Jen. "It'll be seven against three, as is. This is a blatant trap if I ever saw one." C.J. dropped the Christmas card on the ground and crushed it with the heel of her boot. "Geez, call me paranoid, but you're right. If I were Triton, I'd rig that chip in the Christmas card to do more than just play music. I'd plant a bug or signalling device in it. We should call for backup, but they might not get there on time," explained C.J. "Maybe the three of us should go and reconnoiter ASAP. At least we can act if Triton decides to push up his schedule." "I'll call STRAFE," said Jen. "C.J., go warm up the car." C.J. gave Jen a stare of disbelief. "Come on, Kleinvogel, you've got to be joking. I *control* fire. I can warm up a car in two seconds flat. Howie here can call up the elements and melt all the snow and ice." "Go, you two. I'll join you shortly," said Howard. "I'd like to talk to Tyra for a while." The other two nodded, and scrambled out of the room. Howard looked over Tyra carefully. "Tyra, what happened to your legs? Why is it so cold in here?" Tyra snorted. "You want to see?" She pulled off the blanket. Underneath, there was a machine covering her legs. Glass panels in the machine allowed Howard to see that her legs were made of ice. "This is why there will never be able to run, ever again." "How did it happen?" asked Howard. "You should go," said Tyra. Her hands tightened on her wheelchair. "You're just asking because you pity me." "No, tell me. I might be able to help. To reverse what happened to you," answered Howard. A look of astonishment appeared on Tyra's face. "Heal me? But the doctors said that not even Anchors could permanently fix my lower body. I'm stuck like this forever." "If I know how it happened, I might be able to find a way to reverse the enchantment without harming you." "If only!" snorted Tyra. "This world hasn't been fair to me. Why should I have hope now?" She sighed. "All right. It was my sister's fault. When Grandma died, Jessa took care of me. We spent all our money burying Grandma. Jessa decided that the only way she could support the both of us was to run away, and we ended up in New York. She began to run with a paragang, sniffing out Universal Donors so that she could support us. Until the gang war. "Three years ago. I got caught in the middle of a paragang war. The Cyanide Blues had a bitch called Cockatrice who wanted to ice my sister. Literally. Jessa dodged the blast, but I got caught in the backwash of power. Cockatrice fled when my sister's gang showed up. If it had been summer, I'd be dead." "How can your sister afford Silky Springs?" "She quit the paragang fast, against their wishes. She found a new line of work, one that protected us against the paragang and paid well enough to stash me here." Tyra looked at Howard hopefully. "Could you really heal me, Peregryn?" "Perhaps. It is unusual that a transmutation effect could remain so stable for so long, away from its origin. I need to find Cockatrice first and confirm a few hypotheses about her powers. I'll also have to examine your condition more closely," said Howard. "Couldn't you heal me now?" "Patience. First, I must help Jen and C.J. find Lana." "No, please don't go! I've been like this for so long...." "I promise. And I don't break promises. Goodbye, Tyra. I will be back." "Come back alive," whispered Tyra, as Howard left. 11:50 AM, LAKE PLACID "I'm not your private ski-lift, Conflicto, just remember that," said Peryton. He kept his eyes closed. "Tell me which way to fly." "I think they're coming," said Conflicto. He zoomed in with his camera. "There's a guy and a girl driving along the highway towards the Forge. Get ready, everyone!" he said, through the comm-link. Peryton, of course, did not see the nearly-invisible Kleinvogel flying straight at him. Neither did Conflicto, who had his camera focused on the car below. Jen Kleinvogel's agrav sheath gave her partial invisibility, but in this case she didn't need it. She had to even the odds if she were to rescue Lana. She slammed into Peryton's left wing at great velocity. "GRRRRRWLL!" His wing crippled by the impact, Peryton began to plummet. Conflicto fell out of his grasp. "HEY!" shouted Conflicto, still clinging to his camera. "HELP!" At this height, there was a good chance that their fall could kill them, thought Jen. She was betting that Peryton would survive the crash, but the kid with the camera probably would not. She had no idea what his powers were. She doubled back, grabbing Conflicto by the collar. She extended her agrav field to envelop Conflicto. "You're hanging with the wrong crowd, kid. Tell me where Lana Smith and her child are, or I may be forced to drop you." Conflicto wasted no time poking his camera into her face. "You know, theoretically, I could slip right out of your grasp and take my chances. I could probably bounce off the slope without harm if I reduce friction to zero. I'd just squirt aside. Smile, please." "Theoretically I could drop you in the theoretically dormant volcano." "Enh, good point. Okay, they're at the Temple. Though I'd worry about your friends in the car first, unless they 'lava' good fight." Hearing this, Jen dragged Conflicto behind her as she flew down towards the car. She couldn't let her friends down. Conflicto let the film continue to roll. Sultry and Labyrinthe stood on a tower of rock that Labyrinthe had pulled out of the ground. Sultry waved a hand, and the thunderclouds above began to rumble. She could feel electric tingles crawling on her skin, and it made her giggle. She summoned a lightning bolt and sent it down towards the car. The bolt narrowly missed the car, striking at the ground behind it. C.J. swerved, and then stepped on the accelerator. "That was close. You see them on that tower there, Peregryn? Can you incapacitate them?" "I'm calling up a spell to collapse that tower and trap them in a cage of stone," said Peregryn. He extended his senses into the earth, seeking the help of elementals of stone. He did not like what he found. "Someone's been riddling the slopes with underground tunnels," he said. Almost on cue, Labyrinthe unleashed his trap. He had spent a couple of hours earlier digging the maze of tunnels just beneath the surface of the slopes of the volcano. He had been holding the magma back, but now he opened the floodgates, and forced the magma flow through the underground network with his magic. The heat from the magma began to melt the heavy snowcover that Sultry created last night, almost immediately. The ski valley was about to become a torrent of meltwater and ice, and the station wagon was about to be caught in it. Sultry was about to conjure another lightning bolt when she heard the shout: "HEADS UP, GUYS!" Conflicto was tossed into both Labyrinthe and Sultry by Kleinvogel, pushing all three over the edge. The three managed to grab onto the edge of the tower by their finger tips. Kleinvogel then flew towards the station wagon, which was stuck in mud. Peregryn and C.J. were out of their cars and waiting for her on the roof. The danger of a mudslide was plainly evident. "You called for a taxi?" quipped Kleinvogel. She grabbed both Peregryn and C.J.'s hands, and extended her agrav sheath over them. They lifted into the air just as the station wagon was washed away by mud. "No, a limo," snapped back C.J. "Four down, three to go?" Kleinvogel nodded. "Triton's still the most dangerous. Lana's in the Temple. Howie, could you dig a few trenches to divert the flood?" "I'm on it," said Peregryn calmly. Conflicto was hanging on with only one hand. He was still clinging to his videocam, and continued to film the heroes. "You know, Conflicto, it won't kill you to let go of that camera and hoist yourself up," complained Sultry, who was starting to lose her grip. "I might even give you a kiss." "No, it won't kill me, but Triton might, if I don't catch his 'moment of triumph' on film. He's bribing me with Australia, once we conquer the world." "Australia? You'd be lucky to get Antarctica, junior," said Sultry. "I'm partial to Africa myself." Labyrinthe just sighed and focused on carving some footholds with his mind. The mud had given way to torrents of water. Kleinvogel was feeling tired from all her exertions. The Temple was not too far away, and Peregryn had carved several channels to divert the mud and water. But as they passed over the rushing water, a forcefield net was fired out of the murky water, and it tangled all three heroes. Kleinvogel tried to struggle against it, to no avail: the other end was anchored to a force projector in the armoured glove of Triton, who was rising out of the water. Triton flipped up his faceplate so his captives could see him gloat eye to eye. "Look what I caught today: two squabs and an extra hen. Ah, another benefit of being able to power your own inventions. And look! No big red buttons for Teller to push on the outside. How does it feel to be trapped, Jen? To lose your freedom?" He twirled the golden trident in his hand. "To be helpless in the face of your enemy?" "Stall him," whispered Peregryn. He began to mutter an incantation. "Come on, Derek. You are an idiot. You know our backup's coming any minute now," said Kleinvogel. "That's what you get, for leaving stupid clues everywhere. You get caught." Jen could see Labyrinthe, Conflicto, and Sultry now on the rock tower, helping Peryton climb up to join them. Conflicto waved at her from behind his videocam. Labyrinthe was moving the entire tower towards the Temple. "Who are your friends? Fellow jailbirds?" Triton laughed. "They are your doom. We'll be long gone before Grind gets anywhere near here...." He started gasping for air as Peregryn's vacuum spell kicked in, leaving him without any oxygen. He dropped his trident and grasped at his throat, trying to lock his faceplate down. Unfortunately, he blacked out just as the faceplate locked. Once he lost consciousness, the power he was supplying to the force field generator was cut, freeing the three in his net. Triton fell back into the water. Kleinvogel landed inside the abandoned Temple with C.J. and Peregryn. Five of the ten columns were shattered, and but the other five pillars were placed strategically enough to hold up the marble roof. Lana Smith sat on the stone altar in the very center, whistling a Christmas tune to herself. There were a lot of empty bags of junk food where she sat. She smiled as she caught sight of Kleinvogel and Peregryn. "Jen! Howie! You've come to save me. They've got my baby!" She raced up to Peregryn, phasing through some of the fallen debris. Lana hugged Peregryn tight, and whispered something into his ear. With one hand, she secretly grasped the fire-protection amulet around Peregryn's neck, and Ghosted it off Peregryn's neck by extending her aura. One minute later, Lana Smith, aka Burnout, detonated the firebombs that she had planted throughout the debris in the Temple with the trigger in her pocket. She ignored the falling roof and the flames; she Ghosted through them without harm. She held Peregryn's amulet in one hand, and walked out of the inferno to confront the others. "So? Are they dead?" Tyra had thought over the inevitable question carefully the last hour. She knew she had to let Peregryn escape, so that he could fulfill his promise to her, restore her legs to her. Then Tyra would not have to live by proxy through others as Mr. Strings anymore. Besides, she had picked up an extra puppet now...one that was a lot closer to Peregryn. Tyra forced Lana to hold the amulet up high, and bade Lana to speak the words she chose. "They never knew what hit them. Peregryn, Kleinvogel and the other girl have been incinerated," Tyra lied. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT ISSUE: 'Smores and more in Conclave of Super-Villains #4...the Conclave of Super-Villains put together a ransom video for their hostages. Not an easy task, when the hostages are presumed dead by the villains, and they want to convince the world that Peregryn and Kleinvogel are alive!