Mairi Wynn pulled over to the side of the I-70 turnpike.  To the west, a
dark cloud hovered over her destination, roiling ominously yet quietly and
without thunder or lightning.
     She sighed and stepped out of the rental car.  This was as close as she
could get by road...state police had road blocks up beyond the next toll
booth to direct people away from the capital city.  She didn't know the area
very well, so while there were probably some roads not yet covered by the
police, she really didn't want to trust to luck that she'd find one.  Not to
mention, too much police notice was always bad for someone in her line of
work.
     She pulled out her cellphone and punched in a rather long number, then
waited for a dozen or so redirects to connect her to her party.
     "Hello, I'm just outside Topeka.  Yes, it looks as bad in person as on
the news.  Are you positive he's in the city?  Okay, okay.  No, I'm fine with
going in...the extra risk on insertion is countered by the chance to make it
look like he just got caught up in the latest Superguy disaster.  But I'm not
staying in there for long, especially if this is an invasion from
666NASTYNASTYNASTY like everyone thinks it is.  Yeah, I saw Jonesy's press
conference denying it all.  You think I believe him?  Ever?  Right.  I'll be
in touch."
     With one last look towards the horizon, Mairi got back in the car and
trundled it across the median.  There was no traffic coming from Topeka at
this point, after all.  And if her car was never spotted at a barricade,
there'd be less paper trail to worry about.  Just stash it in a parking
garage, or even turn it in at a rental place if she could find one reasonably
close.  Then hoof it into town.
     Mairi didn't look forward to the walk, but it was the best way into the
city given her resources.  And she'd already agreed to the job.  Cursed
professional ethics.


@>-`-,-`-,-`-,`-,-`-,-`-,-`-     \\   //       -'-.-'-.'-.-'-.-'-.-'-.-'-<@
 .|,Coherent Comics Presents      \\ //        #4 - Crepitis Fundus
--X-------------------------     E }X{ ARCHS      copyright 2002 by the
 '|`     A Superguy Tale          // \\        Dvandroid (Dave Van Domelen)
@>-`-,-`-,-`-,`-,-`-,-`-,-`-     //   \\       -'-.-'-.'-.-'-.-'-.-'-.-'-<@


     The wind filled the cavern, bearing Sig.Lad up and crushing his opponent
Macarius against the rough wall.  Clearly, the sabre he held was the
legendary weapon of air...and on the off chance it wasn't, it was certainly a
reasonable facsimile.
     He looked at Macarius, who seemed to be saying something, but the words
were drowned out in the roaring winds.  Sig.Lad concentrated, and he felt the
winds slowly die down, lowering him to the cavern floor.  It continued to
glow blue, suffusing the cavern with an icy light now that the winds had
blown out the lamps that Macarius had used.
     "...mercy, please!" the "Dragon of the Eastern Range" shouted over the
suddenly quiet breeze.  The air was not totally still, but it no longer
crushed the man against the wall.  He paused and opened his eyes, realizing
that he could safely do so again.  "The Skysabre has chosen you, sir," he got
down on his knees and groveled.  "Oh, how I have waited for the rightful
owner to return and prove his worth!"
     "And he has a bridge to sell you, too," Kat snarked from the entryway.
"He is SO lying."
     "No, milady! It is the unvarnished truth, I swear!" Macarius protested,
trying to edge around so that Sig.Lad was between him and Kat.
     "Then why the fake dragon, the extortion scheme?" Sig.Lad countered.
     "Ah, that was my clever plan," Macarius stood.  "I am a tinkerer, not a
warrior, as you must have realized yourself.  Any bully could have taken the
Skysabre from me by main force.  But only one who was worthy would be willing
to face a dragon for it!  I regret the necessity of burdening the townsfolk,
but it was part of the illusion."
     Sig.Lad pursed his lips and paused for a moment.  "Where's the scabbard
for this?" he gestured with the Skysabre.
     "Ah, that's one of the lesser, but more useful, powers of the sword.
Simply command it, and the blade vanishes into air.  Then it springs forth
again at your will," he sidled towards Sig.Lad, an ingratiating smile on his
face.  
     Sig.Lad nodded and held out the blade, concentrating on it.  The cloud-
like sliver suddenly vanished, leaving just a lightweight hilt with a large
sapphire at the end where the blade had been.
     Moving faster than the human eye could follow, Macarius whipped a
needle-thin stiletto from his sleeve and threw it at Sig.Lad's eye.
     Fortunately for Sig.Lad, Kat's eyes were a bit faster than human.  As
were her hands.  She caught the projectile mere centimeters from his face.
     Macarius ran for it.
     "Ooof!" he grunted as he bounced back into the cavern.  There was a
clatter of metal from the tunnel, and some cursing in what was clearly Stan's
voice.  Before Macarius could recover, Kat was on him, stripping him down to
the breechclout.  The resulting pile of clothing and equipment almost
instantly caught fire, as hidden vials shattered under Kat's ungentle
treatment.  
     Then his breechclout caught fire too.
     "Who's the screaming flaming guy?" Stan asked as he set down his burden
on the cavern floor.
     "He's Macarius, the builder of our fake dragon," Sig.Lad smirked as he
watched the man desperately trying to put out the fire.  "He seems to like
alchemical fire."
     "He CLAIMS he was guarding the Skysabre," Kat nodded at the hilt Sig.Lad
was carrying.  He summoned the blade and gestured at Macarius.  The flames
were suddenly fanned back to life.
     "Oops," Sig.Lad shrugged.
     "Anyway, he was lying.  He's a smooth talker, but he can't control his
involuntary responses too well," Kat added.
     Macarius finally gave up on modesty and tossed the breechclout into the
pile of flaming clothing and sat in a nook, whimpering.
     "I found the treasure room," Stan pointed at the bundle he'd carried
in.  "Lots of clothes, art, money, and so forth.  He's been a pretty
effective extortionist."  He pulled a robe from the pile and tossed it over
Macarius.  "And some armor, although it's not too impressive," he indicated a
breastplate and greaves in the stack.
     "And I found the larder," Anna entered the cavern, munching on a crusty
loaf of bread.  "Guess I missed all the fun.  So, now what?"
     Sig.Lad stowed the Skysabre.  "Well, let's take advantage of our host's
hospitality and get dressed and provisioned.  Maybe the next reality...
altiverse...will have totally different styles, but at least with some
wardrobe we have flexibility.  Once we're equipped, we can activate the
Tarsus, which is telling me that the Skysabre is indeed what we came here
for."
     "What about naked flaming guy?" Stan jerked his thumb in the direction
of the whimpering cloak.
     "Kill him," Kat shrugged, eliciting a "meep!" from under the cloak.  "I
mean, we can't let him go, he'll just keep running his protection racket."
     Sig.Lad frowned.  "I don't like the idea of killing him if we can avoid
it.  And if we turn him over to the authorities, such as they are, he'll just
get killed by them.  Probably pretty painfully, too."
     "Who are we to dispute local justice?" Anna smiled wickedly for the
benefit of Macarius, who was peeking out from under the cloak.
     "We're Exarchs," Sig.Lad replied.  "We bring our own justice along for
the ride, I'd say.  And that gives me an idea.  Lemme ask the Tarsus...yep,
we can do it."
     "Do what?" Stan asked.
     "Take Mac along and ditch him somewhere," was the reply.  "He'll
probably go back to his larcenous ways, but at least he'll have to work at it
some.  And maybe he'll be convinced to seek honest employment this time."
     Macarius moaned.

               *              *              *              *

     "I thought we were supposed to come out someplace where no one would
notice us!" Stan shouted as the five new arrivals ran for cover behind some
boulders.  All around them were the crack of gunfire and the actinic flare of
lightning bolts as two forces clashed, pitting magic versus technology.
     "Well, I doubt anyone noticed our arrival," Sig.Lad replied.  "Too busy
shooting at each other, I think."
     "Whew, gotta love the stink of black powder," Stan commented.  "Where
does the Tarsus say we are?"
     "429THELANDS, whatever that means.  Looks like a mix of magic and
science here," Sig.Lad noted, "somewhat like our experience in Macarius's
home."
     For his part, Macarius just whimpered.  He was dressed now, but he had
none of his gimmicks and gadgets on him.  Then he dared a peek around the
rock, ducking back just before a lightning bolt struck it.  "Fulminating
rods!  They have fulminating rods!" he quailed.  But there was a hint of envy
and covetousness in his voice as well.
     "And they saw you," Anna kicked Macarius.  "Dumbass."
     "I guess we just picked sides," Sig.Lad sighed.  "Time to impress some
allies-to-be!" 
     With that, the Skysabre flared to life and Sig.Lad jumped out from
behind the rock.  But he misjudged his own abilities and soared high into the
air, landing well behind the trio of armored figures that were advancing on
the rock.
     "Hey, pug-uglies!" Anna shouted, stepping out and brandishing her
spear.  The troops were too seasoned to fall for a distraction like that,
however, and two turned to face Sig.Lad, unleashing bolts of lightning from
their fulminating rods while the third kept an eye on Anna to ensure she was
only a distraction.
     Sig.Lad's defensive maneuver was clumsy at best, given that he was still
recovering from his over-long jump, but it was enough.  The bolts seemed to
seek out the blade of Skysabre, and the clouds within it now flashed with
lightning of their own.
     And then the arrowhead, thrown like a grenade, dropped in the midst of
the three armored figures.  It burst into a mass of sticky cheez tendrils,
binding each man to his companions.  A quick slice of the Skysabre destroyed
two of the fulminating rods, and Kat leapt forward to disarm the third.
     "Didja have to cut up those weapons?" Stan sighed.  "I was looking
forward to having SOMETHING to shoot with."
     "Here," Kat flipped him the captured rod.
     "Macarius is gone," Anna observed.
     "Well, we intended to dump him here anyway," Sig.Lad shrugged as he put
the Skysabre away and looked over the cheez-entangled enemies.  "He knows
some magic and some technology, so he should be able to find a place here.
Assuming he doesn't get killed in the warzone, of course, but he seems pretty
good at weaseling out of things."  He felt a little guilty about it, but he
knew there were bigger problems ahead.  Especially now that the shooting
seemed to have stopped.
     "Ho, strangers!" called out a rather short man who waddled towards them.
In fact, he seemed to be a dwarf straight out of rec.books.tolkien.  Except,
instead of an axe, he was carrying what looked for all the world like a
medieval minigun, rotary barrels and all.  "I see you put paid to these Muan
scum, good job!  Which warlord are you with?"
     "None," Sig.Lad replied, honestly.  "We're newly arrived in this area,
on a quest for a magical weapon."
     The dwarf chuckled.  "You and half the mercs in our army.  A major Mu
armory was blown up a couple years ago...BIG explosion, you bet...and
scattered magic weapons from here to Scirocco.  Don't have much use for magic
myself, but I suppose if you can't handle a rifle, it's better'n nothing."
     "Magic will destroy your feeble tinkerings, dwarf," one of the entangled
men snarled.
     The dwarf's gun roared as it spun, and the man erupted in a fountain of
gore.  "Yeah, yeah, sure," he chuckled as it spun down.  The other two men
were missing significant parts of their anatomy as well, and were screaming
in pain.  Kat was the only other person present not to be taken aback by
this.  
     "Come on," the dwarf shouldered his minigun and turned back the way he
came.  "That was just a scouting probe.  There should be time for lunch and
an ale or two before they send in the main force."

     WILL THERE BY TIME FOR LUNCH?

     WILL ANY OF THE EXARCHS FEEL LIKE EATING IT?

     ARE THEY JOINING THE RIGHT SIDE?

     *IS* THERE A RIGHT SIDE?

     Answers to some of these questions, and more, on the next...Superguy!

=============================================================================

Author's Notes:

     I don't generally explain any of the references, but here's a couple
that no one's going to be able to get unless one of a half dozen people is
reading this.
     Macarius was inspired by a character of the same name played by a friend
in a D&D campaign we were both in a while back.  He was a Wizard/Sorceror/
Fighter who was a Rogue by trade, if not by character class.  He never
actually set up a fake dragon to extort from villagers, but it's the sort of
thing he might have tried.  Macarius's player also ran a D&D game that I
played in, and he introduced a pair of swords in it that I used as the basis
for the look of Skysabre (but not the powers).  }->