[ BBSA ]

 Truth, Justice and the American Way (I) 
 Episode: B6  By: Sabre_Edge  Date: 2/12/01  URL: 2326/24971 

The fabric of space-time tore apart, casting the immediate area in a hue of blue light and a rush of displaced wind. The flailing forms of three individuals spilled out to the alley pavement.

[ Vortex ]

"OOOHHH SH...!", Brand S yelled as he skidded across the concrete surface, coming to a halting stop, courtesy of a large dumpster.

HunterD gingerly unwrapped himself from around a light pole. "Hey... S (ugh)... next time we tell you (ouch) there is 30 seconds left to slide... DON'T ...and I repeat DON'T ....go chasing a chick in a mini skirt!"

Brand S peeled his face off the rusted metal. "It's all worth it...ow...I got it on tape AND made it just in time." He raised up his camcorder for emphasis. His face dropped quickly, registering shock. "Ah CRAP!" S watched as the tape permanently unraveled from the plastic and metal hunk that 'used' to be a camcorder.

"I told you not to waste our money on that piece of junk," TemporalFlux groaned as he slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head where a trash can decided to attach itself only seconds earlier.

"We had the spare cash for once, so I used it. Besides, how many worlds do YOU think will accept dollar bills with the face of Oprah Winfrey on them?!"

TF just shook his head as he awkwardly rose to his feet, groaning.

Hunter readjusted the sword on his back, "Hey TF, how much time do we got on this world?"

TF pulled the timer out of his pocket, grateful that he had the foresight to use a sturdier material on his creation than was used on S's little toy. "Well... it looks like we have about 2 days till we slide again. Let's get out of this al..."

"HE'S GOT A GUN!!!" A shrill scream pierced the air, interrupting TF in mid-sentence.

"It sounded like it ...that way!" Hunter exclaimed, voicing what the others thought. His arm was pointing down the alley toward the street, but his wrist was turned to the left as he pointed his finger.

The three Sliders ran out of the alley, only to skid to a stop at the edge of the street. Traffic had come to a stand still and a large crowd of people had gathered a safe distance from the front of the First National Bank & Trust. All eyes were frozen on the glass doors of the building. Hunter, S, and TF cautiously watched the silhouettes through the windows as the Sliders moved closer to the ever-growing group of people.

The crowd let out a collective yell as the bank doors were violently kicked open. Three ski-masked men hustled throgh the exit, holding automatic weapons in their hands and moneybags slung over their shoulders. The lead assailant eyed the crowd, squeezing off several rounds of ammunition from his weapon into the air. The onlookers fell to the ground with blood curdling screeches as those rounds harmlessly penetrated the top of the adjacent building's wall.

"We landed in the middle of World War III!" S shouted over the panicked screams, ducking down with his companions.

The three gunmen dashed toward a waiting Humvee that bellowed exhaust from its running engine. The driver of the vehicle revved his ride, anxiously wanting to leave the scene. One of the thieves leaped over a coin-op newspaper dispenser on his way to his escape... he never landed on the other side. From out of nowhere came a crackling force beam of energy tearing through the air, slamming the gunmen in the chest, propelling his body back through the glass doors - shattering them with an ear splitting crash!

As if on cue, the crowd erupted simultaneously, "IT'S THE MIGHTY MASKING POWER MONKEES!"

Out of the air swooped four armored individuals. Their form-fitting metallic silver and black uniforms shone brightly as they landed to the ground, fists neatly placed on hips in a classic pose. Thick cords snaked from the small accessories at the small of their backs and connected to the back of their helmets and other assorted places on their suits.

"Whoa! Super heroes! Guys, check it out!" Hunter pointed excitedly.

S really wished at that moment that his camcorder was in one piece.

A woman next to TF fainted with a loud gasp at the sight of the new arrivals.

Each of the MMPM wore a separate color on their boots, knees, gloves, and belts. Their identity was hidden beneath what looked like a solid one piece silver helmet with a rounded, reflective face plate that seemed to remind TF of the once great Cobra Commander's silver mask back home on TV.

Two Super Heroes, one marked with the Blue and the other with Orange trim, moved with lightning speed to the sides of the Humvee. One squatted at the front while the other grasped powerfully the rear bumper, the metal twisting in his crushing grip. The arms and legs of both men flashed with energy as they quickly hefted the Humvee over their heads. The driver of the vehicle could only futilely spin the wheels in mid air.

"Holy crap! Did you see that?!" S blinked his eyes in disbelief. He vainly tried using the camcorder to tape the action... he only succeeded in spitting out more tape. TF could only nod with his mouth agape.

A young kid next to Hunter yelled out, "DieselMickeyDolenz and SolarMichaelNesmith lifted that Hummer like it was a Tonka truck!!"

The Super Hero with the green trim and "E" on the front of his belt was upon the second gunman in a flash. He gripped the barrel of the man's rifle and sent a shocking pulse down the metal, sending the would-be criminal to the ground in convulsions.

The kid pounded excitedly on Hunter's arm, "ElectricPeterTork just floored that scuzz!!"

The lead gunman panicked and fired widely at the one with the red accessories. The rounds harmlessly bounced off a purple pulsing shield that instantaneously appeared in front of the hero.

The boy yelped in Hunter's ear as he watched the red Super Hero stand with fists on hips unshaken as the bullets splashed against his force field. "AtomicDaveyJones is so COOL!" Hunter growled and gave the boy a shove; the kid couldn't care less, he was so excited by the event taking place.

The automatic weapon emptied its magazine and harmlessly clicked in the thief's hands. ADJ took his right fist from off his hip and leveled it at the man. The gunmen's eyes grew wide under his ski mask as a flash of energy shot out from ADJ's fist and blasted him full in the chest. His body crashed through the other glass door... landing next to his accomplice in a pool of broken glass.

A few moments later, EPT held a squirming driver by the collar in one hand and a still mildly convulsing thief over his shoulder. SMN had picked the limp bodies out of the glass and held them tucked under each arm. DMD stood upon the now over turned Humvee with the three bags of loot slung over his metal shoulder. The apparent leader of the group, ADJ, turned to face the crowd.

"Good citizens of this fair city..." a slightly electronically enhanced voice addressed the crowd, "Never fear, crime has no hold here on the hearts of the people."

TF groaned to his buddies under his breath, "Ugh, that has got to be the corniest line I've ever heard!"

The address continued from ADJ when TF noticed someone near him not sharing in the same jubilation as the rest of the crowd. The man, about TF's age, only snarled beneath his shades while repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists as ADJ pompously went on about how safe the city is now. He heard the man snarl low to himself, "yeah right... no crime... smegging liars..." Curious, TF quietly moved to stand side by side next to the man.

"Hey buddy, you don't seem to be enjoying the 'show' like the rest of these people."

The man cocked a sideways look over to TF, then raised his hand to stop TF from continuing the conversation. He pointed to the overturned Humvee. The man whispered, "Watch Diesel."

TF looked over to the wreck of a vehicle... where DMD previously stood was now vacant! Flux had to scan quickly to see the tail end of the customized armored man slip off into an alley. The man spoke low, "See? This whole city is so enamored with having their very own super heroes that they are blind to crap like this! "

"Just last week these Mighty Masking Power Monkees 'saved' a jewelry store from being robbed by some other armed gang. The 'confiscated' goods have not shown back up yet..." The man snarled, "The bank'll never see that cash again. Stupid public won't believe it either." The man mimicked a naïve voice, "Oooh ooourrr heerooes are so busy saving the city they haven't had time to return the property yet... Yeah right!"

TF took this all in, then noticed S elbowing him in the arm, "Dude! They're leaving! This was so cool!"

The excited onlookers watched unmovingly as the heroes streaked off on their way to the local jail. The flash bulbs of a dozen Japanese tourists were evidently being overworked to the point of exploding.

Eventually, calm finally returned to the milling crowd as they continued about the rest of their day (stepping around the wreck of a vehicle and carefully sidestepping the glass shards). They were sprouting huge grins, thinking how jealous their friends were going to be when they heard about this.

"Man, that was awesome. I'm glad we slid in when we did," Hunter spoke while looking up at the spot where the MMPM last appeared.

TF looked back over at the mysterious man who he was talking to, to say something, but he was gone. TF looked across the street and saw the man running in the direction the MMPM just went in... the man seemed to be checking his forearm every few steps before vanishing around a corner.

He shook his head, "What?"

"I said, I'm glad we have 2 more days here. I hope we will be here long enough to see them again," S restated.

"Yeah, we should go get a hotel room." Hunter suggested. "I hope they take Oprah money."

"I'm going to the library," S announced after they finished the room service breakfast.

Both TF and Hunter's mouths dropped open.

"You don't even know what the inside of a library looks like, why would you want to go there?!" a shocked Hunter exclaimed.

"Smeg off! I know what it looks like!" S gave Hunter a shove, "'Sides I'm starting a new hobby, I want to see how each of my doubles are doing on the worlds we go to."

Rubbing his left temple thoughtfully, TF directed, "K, meet us back here in a couple hours... We'll go look for some supplies and spare parts for the timer. I hope we can push these Oprah bucks on some unsuspecting sap..."

 Truth, Justice and the American Way (II) 
 Episode: B6  By: Sabre_Edge  Date: 2/13/01  URL: 2326/24979 

Hunter jumped up from the couch in their hotel suite, "Where is he?! It's been over 3 hours. S wouldn't be in a library for 3 minutes, let alone 3 friggin' hours!"

"Maybe he hacked through the library's Net Nanny..." TF said smirking, tweaking the timer and carefully replacing the batteries.

"I bet he got to see more of those Mighty Masking Power Monkees! Lucky dog. Come on, we can't let S have all the fun! He'll be bragging about this for the next 5 slides!"

Hunter grabbed TF by the shirt and pulled him out the door.




S slumped back in the hard chair as he rubbed his temples. He had spent over 2 hours searching this world's version of the Internet in the city library. He slammed his fist down on the desk, "14.4k modems SUCK!"

S heard the librarian "sshh" him for the umpteenth time. "Old bag..."

His eyes grew blurry waiting for the webpage to finally load, "Wait a minute... this looks interesting..." S's grin widened.

"SIR! We installed the family filters for a reason!" the old librarian rose to her feet.

"Battle axe..." S closed down the browser to Pandora's Place of Pleasure, and maximized the second one, "Hey hey hey!"

S scanned the article quickly as he saw his name appear. He read out loud to himself:

"Student Announced Missing From University of Clarksville Campus. After an intense search that lasted 72 hours, honor student and awarded physicist, Brand_S, has been classified as a missing person. This is tragic as the young genius was reportedly near completion on a mini fission generator. The authorities have not speculated why the young man would have left his research so close to completion, but the rumor around the campus is that Brand_S was taking his generator into the private sector. In news related to the department, professor of physics and department chair, EustiSlider, has officially announced that he is taking time off indefinitely from teaching and researching. It is theorized that the disappearance of his protégé has worn heavily on the educator. EustiSlider leaves his celebrated prototype Anti-Gravity machine mothballed in his absence."

S sat back in the chair with a sigh, "Man, my double is a freakin' Doogie Howser! He is inventing fission generators and probably has a ton of cash from that deal..." S seethed with envy, "...at least I got COOLER HAIR!"

S ignored the librarian's enraged glares and punched the print screen button. He tore the sheet off the printer and headed out of the building.

"That'll cost you 25 cents."

"Shove it you old bat."




"Would you SHUT UP about how great those MMPM are?!" TF asked, growing increasingly annoyed with Hunter.

Hunter ignored him and swung his sword around as they walked toward the library. "They just swooped in and took out the trash. I wonder if they'd let me join. I'm good with a sword ya know."

TF rolled his eyes, "We aren't going to be here long enough to find out."

As they crossed over to the other side of the street to avoid the construction site of a high rise building, Hunter was about to spout the virtues of the MMPM once again, but he was cut short.

"LOOK OUT!!" A frantic voice called from the construction heights.

TF and Hunter looked up and across the street to see a steel I-beam hang perilously from a straining metal cable. With a snap, the beam started its rapid decent to the street below. The two sliders could only watch as they saw a car turn the corner and sped down the street toward them. Their eyes grew wide as they realized that in two seconds the car was going to be crushed by the falling steel of death!

The Sliders both flinched at the same time hearing the screams of terror from the driver and the screeching of rubber on asphalt, shutting their eyes to the horror. And then...

Nothing.

"Wha?" TF opened his eyes and looked over to the spot the pulverized car should be mangled. Before he could say anything...

"YES!" Hunter jumped in the air pumping his fist.

The I-beam was hovering mere inches over the now stopped car. Supporting the I-beam was a green trimmed member of the Mighty Masking Power Monkees, one ElectricPeterTork!

The driver of the car fell with a flurry out of the car, babbling profusely. "Thank you thank you thank you thank THANK YOU!"

"No problem, good citizen..." the armored individual called from beneath his helmet, "this heroic act will cost you $10,000 in surcharges."

"Wha.. wha.. What? I.. I.. have to pay?!"

"You think these kind of services come for free?!" the enhanced voice laughed from behind his reflective faceplate. "I accept cash and most major charge cards."

"I .. I.. I don't have that kind of money!"

"Well in that case..." EPT let the I-beam tumble from his hands.

CRASH!

Hunter froze in mid celebration.

"NOOOOO! My Sassmobile!" The man fell to the ground, horrified that his car now cradled the steel beam like a hot-dog bun.

TF and Hunter ran towards the super hero.

"WHAT KIND OF HERO ARE YOU?!!" Hunter bellowed as he charged the armored individual, yanking his sword off his back.

EPT turned his attention to the advancing sliders. Hunter closed on the imposing foe. EPT threw his head and arms back then swung them forward with an angered roar and crackling energized force. All TF could do was dive to the side as electricity arced from EPT's palms and found its target... Hunter's conductive metal sword. Hunter shouted in extreme pain as the electricity ran through his body.

Sprawled along the ground, TF saw Hunter's body crumple as thin wisps of smoke curled up from his hands, the sword clattered on the asphalt. EPT rose to a straight posture and turned his attention to the second slider. He stomped powerfully crunching car metal and rubble under his boots. TF scrambled backwards on hands and feet, looking around quickly for something to defend himself with. He wrapped his hand around a rock and hurled it at the approaching enemy. The rock harmlessly bounced off a violet personal energy shield that instantaneously appeared and disappeared as EPT continued his advance unfazed.

TF turned his head away as EPT pointed his glowing fist in his direction. He saw a metallic gleam and thought his life was over.

EPT yelled, clutching his helmet and falling to his knee. TF opened his eyes and noticed a new man crouching next to him, poised to strike at the Power Monkee again. TF immediately recognized the man from the crowd earlier, sans sunglasses. One 10-inch blade extended from a device on each of the man's forearms.

The crouching man narrowed his eyes as EPT rose and snarled, "You are so dead, Sabre_Edge."

 Truth, Justice and the American Way (III) 
 Episode: B6  By: Sabre_Edge  Date: 2/14/01  URL: 2326/24994 

"You should have stayed away worm," EPT yelled at the man crouching near the prone TF.

"I've been waiting for this payback for a long time Tork," Sabre_Edge growled, his muscles readying to spring.

"If only you had the cash back then SE, you wouldn't be looking your own death in the face right now." EPT cracked his neck.

Sabre Edge's eyes grew hot and red. "Shut up freak," he snarled through clenched teeth at the swaggering enemy.

"All it would have taken was a little bit of money and she would still be here with you... but instead, you have her last dying screams to keep you warm at night..." EPT mocked from behind his dented face plate. Lowering his voice, he ground salt in the old wound, "I hear burning alive is the most painful way to die."

SE roared and leaped at the man, flashing steel tearing the air. EPT ducked and fired a beam of energy from his fist that caught SE's shoulder in mid-air and spun him off course. SE's right blade was only able to find contact along EPT's upper arm, sparking harmless across the armor. He twisted and landed with a thud on his side. EPT advanced quickly on his opponent.

Hunter forced himself to rise to one knee; the pain of the previous electric shook his body. He slowly crawled toward his sword, clenching his teeth tightly.

ElectricPeterTork raised his foot and stomped down at SE's head. SE quickly rolled to the side as the crushing boot shot gravel and cement in all directions, narrowly missing its target. SE swung a leg sweep at the back of EPT's ankles, taking the armored man off his feet. EPT landed with a loud crash as his back hit the pavement.

SE scrambled to his feet rising next to the fallen body and raised his bladed arms in the air. He struck down at the Power Monkee but EPT caught SE at the wrists and with a boot to the stomach flipped him over into the air. SE landed squarely on his back with a painful groan.

Hunter grimaced and tried blocking out the pain. He reached over and wrapped his hands around the handle of his sword. He almost blacked out as a new wave of sharp pain shot up his arms from his burned palms.

SE was able to struggle to his feet at the same as the heavier EPT was righting himself. He rushed the MMPM member stabbing and slashing at the man. EPT's heavily armored forearms and elbows met each blade thrust with a ringing clang parrying away the blows. His heavy gauntlets shoved into SE's chest and with a rush of energy from his palms, sent the smaller man flying backwards, ...but not before the edges of SE's blades were able to sever the cables that ran to the gloves.

HunterD shoved the pain to the back of his mind and concentrated on getting to his feet as he clutched the sword in his burning hands. He watched SE land on his back 25 feet from where EPT stood. Hunter gathered everything he could and charged the "superhero".

EPT turned and glared at the rushing Hunter. "You want some more of this, huh?! Come and get it, deep fried!" EPT thrust his fists at the injured warrior. Sparks erupted from the writhing cables that hung at EPT's elbows. "What?!"

HunterD used that moment to bring his heavy sword down at an angle, hitting EPT in the left side of the head. "AAAAAAH!!" Hunter yelled out as the excruciating pain shot up his hands. EPT fell to the ground, his faceplate hung loosely. Hunter dropped the sword and hugged his burning hands to his chest.

SabreEdge opened his eyes and heard the yell. He raised his head and looked over to see Hunter doubled over and EPT stirring on the ground. SE turned his head to find the swordsman's companion, but he was gone.

EPT amazingly struggled to his feet. His now bare face stared hot eyes at the grimacing man who had dropped him. He raised his heavy fists, poised to come crashing down on the wounded man who, for the moment, seemed to be paying him no attention.

Hunter's eyes flashed open, "Sexual Chocolate?!"

EPT froze in shock, stunned to hear his real name for the first time what seemed to be an eternity. "Nobody knows who I am!" EPT howled, "How do you know my name?!"

The Power Monkee was unable to receive a response because at that moment TemporalFlux decided to slammed the man in the middle of his equipped back with a sledgehammer from the construction site. EPT was flung forward from the force of the blow as sparks showered TF and the surrounding area.

Badly beaten and damaged, EPT violently rose into the air. His antigrav unit roared angrily as it struggled to keep the defeated man hovering. "Now you've done it...", he growled through his teeth, "...You just went and bought the Mighty Masking Power Monkee premium plan of pain." His armor shook and rattled as the flying unit screamed. EPT awkwardly tore through the air, billowing smoke as he escaped behind the cityscape.

Hunter fell to his knees groaning as TF tossed the hammer to the side, "Where do these guys get their lines?!" He surveyed the aftermath. "Man, 1 of 3 standing is not good odds guys..."




Brand S walked down the steps of the library, ignoring The Ancient One's constant shrieks and screams for neglecting to pay for the printer copy. As S stepped onto the sidewalk, a fleet of kids on shiny new scooters bore down on him. "Watch out!" S hopped back barely avoiding the stampede with a curse. He grabbed the last kid by the back of his collar and yanked him off his wheels. "You and your little Sesame Street Angels almost trampled me over with your fad of the month toy!"

The little kid wiggled in his grasp, "Lemme go! Lemme go! I'm gonna miss them!"

S, not too patient with little brats to begin with, shook the kid by the shirt, "Gonna miss who, you little spaz?"

"The Mighty Masking Power Monkees! That's who! Duh!" the struggling kid spat back. "They are at City Hall right now!" The little kid wiggled out of his shirt, grabbed his scooter and started riding off, but not before S could grab a notepad and pen from the kid's back pocket.

"Sweet, I'm snagging some autographs." He took off jogging in the direction naked boy and the mini-hellions rode off in. S could hear the commotion get louder and louder as he neared the city hall. When he rounded the corner he froze in his tracks.

"What the?!" S was in awe of the chaotic circus that was before him. Around the City Hall building were news vans, cameramen, screaming crowds, and anxious reports giving live reports. The police were having a difficult time keeping eager fans from pouring over the temporary barricades.

Quickly made, brightly colored poster board signs dotted the excited mass of people. S took noticed of a few immediately: "MMPM are #1!", "I Love You AtomicDaveyJones!", "Solar will you marry ME?", One with a big bullseye "Blast here Diesel!", One with a big arrow pointing down "I'm the 5th Power Monkee!", a trio of shirtless, fat, and hairy hillbillies each held a letter that spelled E-P-T, and one individual that held a bottle in a brown paper bag in one hand and a sign in his other that simply stated his condition at the time: "iM @#&%'n WasTEd!!!"

Thinking he recognized one, S squeezed through the crowd. "Space, is that you?!" The dude gave him a blank stare, smiled, and took a shot from the bottle, dribbling booze down both sides of his mouth, "...uh, nevermind."

S continued to fight through the press and the fans, slipping to the front. He was disappointed to find that the Power Monkees weren't outside but within the building already. "Screw this... I'm getting in to see them." He made his way through the crowd, slowly making his way to the side of the building where the people had thinned because of the poor view of the City Hall steps.

S saw his opening. It was a window on the ground floor and it was only 30 feet from his position. Also to his advantage was a fairly high row of hedges. S began to slide underneath the police barrier but quickly stood up as a cop came along. He quickly ran through a few excuses to use as The Man approached his position. Insanity? Ignorance? Twinkie Defense? PMS?

S had his opening line ready when the cop shoved his baton into the chest of the shirtless hippie standing next to him. "No no no, Sunshine... Moonbeam... Rainbow... whatever your name is. We had enough of your antics at the last football game."

"We need to shed our coverings, man. We need to be free!" The hippie spoke in a haze. "Stop conforming and go with your natural self."

S quickly jumped to the side as the hippie disrobed down to only one strategically placed smiling sunflower, which S silently thanked God for.

Sunshine-Moonbeam-Rainbow-Blossom-Sprinkles-Of-Love quickly hopped the barricade and ran passed the cop. He was met with an equal number of cheers and shouts of horror as he ran across the lawn in front of all the people.

"Man, that is the first time I'm happy to see a skinny middle-aged naked white guy," S admitted to himself as he slid under the barrier and ran to the hedges. All the cops in the immediate area chased the streaker... none of them to willing to make the first tackle.

During the distraction S slid open the window and dove inside. He quietly made his way down the hall, heading for the back of the building. As he came near a pair of doors that stood ajar, he heard familiar electronically enhanced voices. S crept up near the doors and ducked down behind a planter that stood near the door. He could glimpse ADJ, DMD, and SMN inside the office.

"...Mayor, we have been in this city now for some time..." ADJ paced back and forth in front of the mayor's desk, "You now owe us big time. Your city is free of crime, tourism is way up, and you have merchandisers out there making a killing on maps, t-shirts, and postcards. We want a large chunk, or things won't be so... peaceful. The pricetag is $100,000,000 annually as the base, plus percentages."

Mayor vortex62 stammered in disbelief as he gripped the arms of his chair, "But... but... but... you are supposed to help us! You... you... you are the good guys!"

ADJ turned and slammed his fists down on the desk and leaned in on the mayor. "There is no good or bad! There are those that get paid and those that pay! Guess which one you are right now."

"But...but... my City CANNOT afford what you're asking! We just don't have that kind of money. You ask TOO MUCH!"

Unconvinced, DMD picked up the large globe in the office and smashed it to pieces between his crushing palms, "You better find a way."

S tossed down his notepad and pen in disgust, "Those sons of..." S was interrupted by a crash in the office. He opened the door a little wider and saw the mayor hanging from Solar's hands by the lapels.

"Give us the city bank codes now!"

"I...I...I can't! That will bankrupt us!" The mayor croaked, face red.

ADJ threw back his fist and shattered the desk with an energized blow. "A pity Mayor... I was starting to kinda like this place."

"City Hall?"

"The City."

SMN tossed the mayor to the floor. The three rocketed out of the office, one ramming right through the door, another through the ceiling, raining debris down on the fallen mayor, the third disintegrating the window as he flew through.

The three "heroes" hovered in air above the now frenzied crowd. The MMPM gave their best superhero waves before vanishing into the air.

S carefully stepped over the trashed door and hopped into the office. He looked over at the unconscious mayor then up through the hole in the ceiling.

"Man... this is going to suck..."

 Truth, Justice and the American Way (IV) 
 Episode: B6  By: Sabre_Edge  Date: 2/15/01  URL: 2326/25018 

S crashed through the door to the sliders' hotel room in a flurry, "Guys! Guys! Guys! You'll never..." S stopped short, nodding towards the bed "Uh... who's the new guy?" Sabre_Edge groaned as he sat up on the bed, rubbing his head with his hand.

TemporalFlux looked up from wrapping Hunter's hands with white gauze and ointment, "And where have you been? Convenient you missed the group thrashing."

"Hunter man! What happened to your hands?!" S exclaimed as he saw the makeshift mummy gloves.

Hunter snarled, looking out the window. TF elaborated, "It looks like one of your superheroes decided Hunter needed to find out what a lightning rod felt like." Hunter grimaced a little as TF started another layer of gauze wrap.

"Ouch dude, that looks painful," S said cringing.

"IT IS!" Hunter roared.

S stepped back holding his hands up, "Easy there big dog, just sympathizing, geez." He looked over at SE pointing with his thumb, "so, again, who is this guy?"

"S meet Sabre_Edge, Sabre meet Brand_S. Sabre here seems to be the only one who knows what is going on, but I'd hold off on the questions for a bit," TF intoned, not taking his eyes off his task of tucking the ends of Hunter's wraps in.

S leaned in on the man who was sitting up with his head down and wrists resting on his raised knees. "Looks like you got a whoopin' too."

SE raised his fist off his knee and pointed to the roof. The arm blade sprung from its housing on his forearm and snapped into place inches in front of S's face, sending him staggering back. "I thought the other guy told you to shut up," he growled low, fighting a headache.

"Not exactly." S surveyed the room of "ER" extras, "One guy did this to all of you?"

SE looked up at him, none too happy, "That 'one guy' was ElectricPeterTork, one of four Mighty Masking Power Monkees, your 'heroes,' and he would have opened a can on you too."

"Ha! You only faced one? I faced three!" S shot back with a large grin, then his face fell, "...and they ain't my heroes anymore..."

"What?! And you are still walking? What kinda skills do you possess?...aside from your mouth," SE inquired hurriedly.

"I think you named them all Sabre," TF said with a smirk as S gave him a dirty look. "S, where did you 'face' the other Power Monkees at?"

"I cornered them at the mayor's office in City Hall...," S started in with his story.

"Shut up S," Hunter interrupted wearily.

"Okay okay okay, I went to the office to spy on them," S decided a half-truth wouldn't hurt.

"You were looking for autographs," TF said smirked, knowingly.

"Man, why don't you just announce what color the rocket ships are on my drawers too?!"

"GAH!" SE yelled impatiently, "What were the MMPM doing at Tex's office?"

"Easy tiger...dang," S got all defensive. "It looked like they were shaking down the mayor for protection money."

"So how much they get?" TF sighed.

"Nuthin'... the mayor wouldn't cave so they trashed his office and said something about messing the city up too. I'm glad we are sliding off this world tomorrow."

SE slid off the bed and onto his feet, "What? Destroy the city?!" Slower, he repeated, "....Sliding OFF this world?"

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya. See I invented this device that allows us to travel from dimension to dimension. We call it Sliding. It's real..." TF said nonchalantly.

"Uh... whatever," interrupted S, gathering his things. "I gotta get out of here. They were heading northeast right, back to their headquarters?""

"Yeah, northeast... I guess," S said falling into a stuffed chair.

"You are going back to fight them, aren't you," Hunter said rising up to get his sword. "I owe EPT a little payback... 'sides, when we get back home I can tell Sexual Chocolate I kicked his double's ass!"

"Yo D! Have you gone stupid? One of them beat three of you like Iron Mike on a good day and you want to go back for more?" S propped his feet up on the coffee table, "Man, kick back and relax. We have one day left, then we're outta here tomorrow."

SE glared back at S, "You won't last that long. The Power Monkees have a mobile weapons platform that's capable of disintegrating the city in an instant... they are probably powering it up as we speak. I need to strike now before it's fully charged and hovered into position."

"And you know this because...?" S said, hesitantly.

"Because I've been inside and seen it." SE went to the door and looked to the others, "You guys coming?"

"You know it!" Hunter secured his sword.

TF scratched his chin, "Hovering weapons platform... that means ... advanced antigrav... which could lead to a way to get our timer working right... which means home. I'm definitely in." TF pocketed the timer.

S sighed and jumped up out of the chair and headed for the door, "Well I guess I gotta go and protect you sorry sacks. 'Sides, this town needs a real superhero anyway. Yo Sabre dude, you got any spare weapons for me?"

SE flipped him what looked like an energy pistol.

S caught it with an ear to ear grin, "Sweeeet."




SE pulled the SUV off the side of the deserted highway and drove it into the underbrush.

"We are stopping here?" Hunter asked, concerned. "I don't see a fortress or headquarters or anything."

SE hopped out of his door as the others followed suit, "On the other side of the ridge." He hurried to the back and threw open the back door as the others piled out.

TF climbed up the rocky embankment and peered over the side. He called back in a hushed whisper, "Looks like a 3 story facility, chainlink fences, no guards... I don't see a weapon anywhere."

SE dug through the equipment in the back, "It's there man, it's there."

"Why don't they just blast away from the safety of their HQ?" S asked while picking through some of the strange items.

"Don't touch that," SE said pulling an instrument out of S's hands. "The weapon has to be brought pass the outlying hills to be effective."

TF slid back down the slope, brushing himself off as he got to the bottom. He looked down at the timer to find that only a little more than hour and a half remained until the slide. "Why haven't the Power Monkees threatened the populace with the weapon earlier? Why keep it hidden till now?"

"Well, for one, the MMPM love executing the façade of superheroes while all along they rob the people blind: admiration, power, fame, and money. They must have gotten tired of playing hero and just want the money now."

"Or they are afraid the truth is coming out and they want to cash out quick," TF theorized.

"The weapons platform is also very experimental. I don't think it has ever really been tested." SE pulled a large device out of the back of the SUV.

"Maybe the city is the test," Hunter spoke solemnly. "Why extort a city when you can extort a whole country."

SE carefully set the device in Hunter's hands. "What is this?" Hunter looked up and down the object, it appeared to be some type of rifle but it had what looked like a battery stuck to it.

"It's a homemade energy rifle... be careful, I haven't been able to work out all the teensy kinks just yet."

"Uh... no thanks. I don't need this, I have my sword."

"And I remember how well that worked for you last time..." SE pointed out.

"It's ok, I got that covered this time," Hunter reflexively flexed his bandaged hands.

"Dude! I'll take that, you can have the pistol," S took the rifle out of Hunter's hands and thrust the pistol in before Hunter could answer.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry, forgot about the barbequed hands."

S pointed the rifle up in the air and whirled around looking through the scope. "So I just point this at 'em and pull the trigger to blast 'em, right?"

SE closed up the back up the SUV and handed TF a similar pistol like the one Hunter was holding. He answered S, "It's not going to be that simple. They have developed personal energy shield devices that protect them from just about everything. They would be totally invincible if it weren't for the fact that the shields consume just about all their power supply. The shield can't be on if they are doing any heavy lifting, flying, or anything else that requires power."

TF stored his pistol in the back waistband of his jeans, "So we got to catch them in the middle of something if our shots are going to be any good." As SE nodded, the others also nodded in understanding.

"So how do you know so much about these guys and their toys?" S said, clicking the safety on and off on his new toy.

SE was silent for a minute as he led them through the brush and around the rocky embankment. He finally spoke, "Because I was almost one of them."

"One of them!?" Hunter skidded to a halt. "How?!"

"What?" S sputtered while TF was temporarily shocked silent.

"At one time, SexualChocolate, one Prof. EustiSlider, and I collaborated, and invented an antigravity device. The potential of such a device is enormous ... or horrendous." SE trailed off, grimacing as the bad memories took over.

"Then it went bad. I quit, or was forced out ...according to who you believe. ADJ and SMN joined ... a few months later, the Mighty Masking Power Monkees were superheroes, a nice little cover for ripping off the city."

SE shook his head to clear it, going back to lead them through the brush. They made their way towards a section of the chain link fence that bumped up against the scratchy shrubbery.

"I heard EPT saying something about some woman being burned or something," Hunter recalled.

SE stood stock still, with an intense look in his eyes. He ground out, in little less than a shout, "My house was burned. My copy of the device plans destroyed! My wife was trapped inside! They laughed as they arrived to watch it all burn, hearing her screams, demanding 100 grand cash to rescue her... I couldn't save her, but they could've ...and didn't!" He clinched his fists tight, causing his forearm blades to shoot out into position.

His upper body heaved up and down as he breathed heavily, trying to maintain, "This time... they will pay..."

The three sliders gave him room, not wanting to be anywhere close if the guy exploded in a rage. Quickly SE collected himself and unclenched his fists. The two blades both slid back into the devices he wore on the tops of his arms.

They all took a collective breath then turned their attention to the fence.

Hunter drew his sword and clenched his teeth through the obvious pain. He swung down with the large blade and cut a whole through chain link.

The others quickly hurried through the breach and ran across the compound's ground. They came to a stop against the building's wall. SE slid up next to a window and slammed his elbow through it with a crash.

"You don't have any fancy quiet glass cutting thingies?" S said as he brushed glass carefully off the sill.

SE climbed up, "Uh... no?"

TF, then Hunter, climbed through the window. "Figures..." S mumbled, "...he has energy weapons and helps invent antigravity but doesn't have a glass cutter..."

As SE growled, S tried a different tactic, to both sympathize with SE and because he was extremely curious, "Was it arson?"

SE spoke lowly, knowing what S wanted to know, "The cops said they couldn't determine the cause... they couldn't imagine their 'heroes' doing something like that." SE turned again to the window, " Now let's go."

The trespassers collected in what looked like a hallway. TF looked up and down the corridor, "Now to find that weapon."

The entire building started rumbling and shaking violently. "What the F...!" S was drowned out by the noise as they all braced against the walls.

The building seemed to lift off the ground like an elevator. They looked out the broken window to see plaster and brick fall down to the ground below. The building's "disguise" fell away, revealing the MMPM HQ's true form.

Hunter yelled over the din, "I think we found the weapon..."

 Truth, Justice and the American Way (V) 
 Episode: B6  By: Sabre_Edge  Date: 2/16/01  URL: 2326/25033 

The four infiltrators gingerly pushed themselves away from the hallway walls as the rumbling slowly subsided to steady vibration and low hum. S ran to the window and looked out. "Whoa! We are like 40 feet in the air and floating!"

"Looks like this whole thing is the Power Monkees weapon platform," TF said as he met S at the window and stuck his head out. He pulled back inside and turned to SE, "Uh... do you know what this flying structure *actually* does to attack?"

"Well... uh... no... I only worked on anti-gravity before I was kicked out," SE admitted.

"So we don't even know what we are looking for?" Hunter asked with a touch of irritation.

"Ok, so the best idea is to split up and try to disarm whatever this is from within," TF began setting things in motion. "I'm going to head to the Antigrav generator and see if I can't shut it down before it gets close enough to the city."

"Fine, you do that," Hunter called drawing his sword, "I'm heading to wherever they steer this thing..."

"The helm," TF corrected.

"The helm...," Hunter said with a growl, "If I can turn it away, that'll buy time."

"Alright, I'm going to get to the top of this thing and see if I can find and disable the weapon... whatever it is," SE added. "If just one of us can get the job done, that just may be enough to save the populace..." He paused as he reflexively clenched his fists, "Be careful, there are four Power Monkees somewhere inside here."

"Great, well while you guys do that I'm going to be looking for the self destruct button," S said with determination.

"The what?!" Hunter asked alarmed.

"Yeah! I've seen enough movies and read enough comic books to know that something of this size ALWAYS has a self destruct button."

S ignored the rolling eyes and pushed up his sleeves, "So let's get moving!"




Hunter silently slid along the walls of metal hallways, angling to the front of the ship. He figured the control room would be to the top and front of the vehicle. At corridor intersections he would quickly snapped his head over to the side for a peek. He was very surprised to find that every hallway he had come across was empty.

He quietly spoke to himself before sprinting across this open section of pathway, "The MMPM have got to be around here somewhere, this thing can't fly itself can it?"

He froze as he heard what sound like a metallic clink. He peered down the way he came, yanking free his laser pistol, but couldn't see anything.

He hesitated for a few more moments with the barrel of his gun pointing down the dark hallway, then shook his head, *You're just nervous and hearing things. This whole thing is making a racquet.* Hunter chastised himself and put the weapon back away before slinking off along the walls again.




S had made his way into what appeared to be the kitchen of the attack craft. He looked around slowly and took it all in.

"If I were a self-destruct button, where would I hide? In the refrigerator!" He hurried over to the appliance and threw open the door. He spied a sandwich on a plate and set his energy rifle down, leaning against the open icebox. He snatched up the sandwich and bit into it hungrily. He munched on the bite of ham and cheese as he pushed bottles of ketchup, mustard, mayo and other condiments around. After a minute, he swallowed hard and let out a breath of disappointment. He stood up and took another big bite before closing the refrigerator's door.

"Maybe it's in the john," S theorized as he turned, sweeping up the barrel of his weapon in one hand and stealthily crept out.




SE let out a grunt as he hauled himself up the third set of ladders that he had come across. "Ugh, there has got to be an elevator around here somewhere," he groaned eyeing the next ladder across the landing. He reluctantly took a hold of the metal rung and with a roll of his eyes began hauling himself up to *another* floor.




TF followed the source of the humming. He figured the antigravity generator had to be near the bottom of the craft. He paused near a square hole in the floor and took out the timer. *Only 20 minutes left before the slide, better hurry* He pocketed the timer back into his clothing and stared down to the metal floor below. He lay down prone on the floor and stuck his head down in to get a better view. *No Power Monkees here* He crawled back up to his feet, checked his pistol one more time in his belt and began descending the ladder.

He landed with a subdued thud on the metallic flooring and crouched down. Flux took a moment to look around the new room, adjusting to the now near deafening, constant hum of his new location. He slowly let himself relax a little and rose up straight. He whistled softly to himself over the loud vibrations as he spotted a large device on the other side of the floor. "Bingo"




Hunter pulled himself up a ladder and quickly surveyed the new area of the ship. The area he was in was now slightly curved at the ceiling. He looked to his left and to his right to see exterior windows showing the pinkish-orange sky of the setting sun. Behind him lay another darkened corridor like he had seen about a dozen times on his way here. He turned away from that direction not wanting another trip down those types of halls. He read the sign to the door that stood just in front of him, A smile parted his lips. The stenciled printing read only one word:

HELM.

Pressing his back up against the wall beside the door, he pulled his blaster back out of its holdster. He brought the blaster up to next to his ear and reached over with his free hand to touch the doors access button. With a whoosh, the metal door slid into the wall he was leaning against. Hunter quickly spun to the opening and pointed his gun straight ahead, no one, to the left side, no one, to right side, no one. His brow scrunched in disbelief as he eased a little. Twice he started to go into the room and stopped, looking up and down for booby traps. He across the smaller room and saw a control panel and a swivel chair that was faced toward him.

"I guess this thing really does fly itself." Hunter closed the door after stepping inside. "Now to disable the auto pilot and steer this thing away from the city," he said outloud to himself as he sat and turned in the seat to face the windshield. His fingers began clicking across the control board.




"Come out, come out wherever you aarree," S's lowered voice echoed in the bathroom. He chewed and swallowed the last bite of sandwich as he opened the cabinet over the sink. "Crap," he closed the mirrored door hard, "the self-destruct button has to be around here somewhere!"

He set the rifle on the bathroom tile as he got down on his hands and knees. He craned his neck behind the toilet, straining to see the bottom of the tank.. "Smeg! I would have bet money they would have hid it there!" S scrambled to his feet, dusting off his clothes.

S swept up his weapon and started hurrying out the door, "Alright, next stop: the bedrooms." He almost made it out of the bathroom without posing with the rifle in the mirror... almost.




"It's about time!" SE grabbed the circular valve wheel that hung from the ceiling hatch above him. He wrapped his other arm around the top rung of the iron ladder and took a deep breath. With a small grunt he got the wheel moving and opened the hatch. He shoved the cylindrical metal plate up and back on its hinges. Dusk light poured into the vehicle, gleaming against the hard metallic interior walls. His muscles tensed one last time to pull him off the ladder and onto the craft's roof. He paused a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light, his legs constantly shifting slightly to keep his balance on top of the craft.

The roof was about 40 yards long, 20 yards wide, and littered with concrete and brick debris that occasionally shook off with the vibrations and plummeted to the ground below. The hatch was positioned near the back third of the hovering weapon platform

Sabre's eyes focused on a structure near the front of the ship. It looked like a mess of hastily connected cables, odd shaped rods, and one large cone that was aimed horizontally.

His chesire-cat grin of discovery fell in a split second as his vision focused on something that lay past the weapon structure. "Oh #$@%! The city!" The edges of the city had just crept into view from around the hills. The citizens' residential lights were just beginning to wink on in the unsuspecting metropolis.

SE sprinted the distance to the conical weapon. "Some kind of beam weapon, huh? Easy enough to turn into scrap metal!" SE raised a cocked arm up and produced a steel blade with a clenching of his fist. His second hand held fast to the largest cable in the chaotic mess. He growled, preparing to severe the cord, "This cobra's about to be defanged."




TemporalFlux ran his hand up and along the sleek surface that housed the antigrav generator, feeling the constant vibrations moving through his hand and up his arm. "Man, what a beauty." He slowly took in every detail, marveling how close the design was to that of sliding technology. "I have GOT to remember this!" TF left the machine to climb the couple steps to the control panel that lay just to the side of the machine, but not before letting his hand linger on the marvelous equipment.

"What is this?!" TF said in surprise as the light from the digital readouts illuminated his face. He quickly started thinking aloud to himself, "There are energy fluctuations charging in storage cells but they aren't for propulsion." His fingers traced the readouts, following it up to the top of the board.

"Here," he tapped the glass screen, "This must be the projecting device on top of this ship." He touched a few keys and brought up a diagnostics screen. "This looks like the data for my sliding machine back home! What is going on here?! Something...," he tapped the screen rapidly, "something... is wrong. These numbers are off, way off. It's like they want to create a huge slide wave... but the setup is all wrong." He shook his head, "This will only decimate everything in its path." A light of insight flared to life in his mind. It was short lived however, as TF felt a powerful hand grasp violently the back of his shirt at the collar and throw him from the console platform!

His head cleared the ringing it endured from the rough landing in time to hear the assailant speak. "I don't know what all that crap was about 'slide waves'," ADJ yelled over the generators hum as he leapt down the small flight of stairs, "but you did sound like you pretty well figured out what our weapon does."

TF fumbled for the gun at the back of his jeans, managing to dislodge it; but before he could squeeze off a shot, Atomic kicked his hand, sending the energy pistol rebounding off the generator with a reverberating clank. TF took a quick inhale of air as ADJ aimed a glowing fist at his face.

The entire ship shook violently at the exact moment the energy blast fired, causing ADJ to miss just inches from TF's head, penetrating the steel flooring. ADJ's featureless reflective face plate snapped to look up past the ceiling, "What the...?!"




Hunter feverishly banged on the controls in front of his seat at the helm. "Respond, you piece of junk! Respond!" He slammed his fists into the displays, then growled loudly. "Forget this!" Hunter pushed his seat back and began to rise to draw his sword, "That's it, I'm just going to cut the SMEGGING THING OPEN!"

Before he could come to his feet, two hands shot out from around the sides of the chair and violently pulled him crashing back into the seat! The hands locked together across his chest and squeezed tightly, crushing his body in a vice-like grip of flesh and leather. Hunter grimaced in pain as he futilely fought against the tightening bear hug. Hunter shut his eyes tight and gathered himself for one big counter.

"AAAAHHHH!" Hunter brought up his legs and thrust them out, sending him, the attacker and the chair backwards. The kick hit the Autopilot Disengage and the flight controls, causing the ship to change course. Hunter, the Power Monkee, and the chair went crashing backwards, sliding across the control room floor.




S stood in the hallway outside the sleeping quarters as the ship reacted to Hunter's kick. S braced himself with one hand on the wall, "Well someone is doing something right!"
He pushed himself off from the wall and grabbed the rifle up in his hands. "Time to find that button."

He entered the nearest bedroom and swept the barrel of the weapon from one side of the room and back again very quickly. Satisfied it was clear, S went over to a counter near the bed. He cleared the top off of the junk that was strewn about, looking for that elusive 'big-red-button'.

His eye caught a strange object that rested on a small table all alone. He picked up the curved faceplate and studied it briefly, "Someone forgot to get all dressed up for company." He absently tossed the silver mask over his shoulder, hearing an odd clink when there was supposed to be a clunk. S's eyebrow raised, "uh oh".

S gripped the rifle and spun in a blur, "Eat THIS!" Rapid bursts of energy flew from the barrel of the gun as the orange trimmed Power Monkee dove for cover. Chunks of wood, metal, smoke, energy, and pillow feathers filled the air as S strafed the room, tracking the MMPM. "Yeah! YEAH! Bring it on!" S yelled out at Solar. The gun began to grow very warm in S's hands. Sparks began to crackle at the end of the barrel as the gun started sputtering harmlessly, "aaahh maaann..."




Through squinted eyes, SE took aim at the power cable. With a shout he thrust his arm blade down. All at once, a metallic tendril shot out over his right shoulder and wrapped around his descending fist, catching it in mid flight. "AAH!" The blade stopped just short of its target, hovering and shaking with muscled tension. SE snapped his head around to see what was waiting at the other end of the flexible, thick 'rope'.

"Ah ah aahh. That isn't a toy!" DieselMickeyDolenz taunted as he held in his grip the source end of the tendril. "Grraah!" DMD yanked back, sending SE flying through the air to slam on the roof of the hover ship, finally skidding to a stop at the feet of the blue trimmed Power Monkee.

DMD released his grip on the metal cord, the tendril recoiled back into the device that hung snug under his forearm. "Now bug, you die!" DMD reached down with both hands and gripped SE by the front of his shirt. With one quick motion, he spun with the body in his hands and threw him forward, flying past the weapon device. SE had only a split second to shut his eyes before slamming into the top of the craft's forward cockpit.




Hunter was the first to scramble to his feet. He was alarmed to find that his attacker was EPT, sans the anonymous faceplate. He kicked the overturned chair at the rising Tork. The chair struck the armored man in the ribs as he was down on all fours. Hunter quickly launched himself on the back of the green trimmed villain with a vengeance. EPT sprung to his feet, sending the added weight into the control panel. Hunter's back slammed into a large display, shattering the instrument. Tork bared down on him, pressing his hands into his throat, bending Hunter backwards. D winced in pain, fighting to breathe. Blackness began to close at the periphery of Hunter's vision.

All the sudden a body slammed with a loud thud against the thick plate glass above their heads. EPT snapped his head up in surprise to see SE's body create small spider webs of cracks in the windshield. Hunter took advantage of the lapse in concentration and connected with a hard right cross to EPT's eye. The Power Monkee staggered back, holding his face.

Hunter pushed himself off the panel and drew his sword, taking a fighting stance. EPT's laugh echoed in the helm room as he quickly recovered and saw the smaller man waiting for him, "Didn't you learn last time, boy, not to come at me with a sword?"

Hunter clenched his jaw in remembrance of the previous electrocution, but held his ground firmly with his sword held out in front of him. EPT's fist began crackling with blue-white sparking energy, "One bucket of extra crispy comin' up!"

An arcing beam of high voltage shot out from the fist and ripped the air. Hunter squeezed his eyes shut and snapped his head to the side. In a split second, the electricity had run down the length of the blade, hit the hilt, then surprisingly shot back up the length of the sword and exploded back at EPT.

The Power Monkee's unshielded eyes sprung open wide in surprise and horror as the energy burst crashed back into his arm. The equipment on his arm exploded outward with the unexpected force. "AAHH!" EPT clutched his smoking, metal twisted arm to his chest. "How... how..." EPT stuttered in disbelief.

Hunter let go of the sword's handle with his left hand, smirking at the doubled over Monkee, "A little rubber tubing on the handle does wonders."




AtomicDaveyJones' looked back down on his trapped prey, "I'll finish whatever is going up there after I..." The words didn't finish coming out of his mouth before he realized Flux had scurried away during the confusion.

TF crouched low behind the humming generator. The pistol was only a few feet away, but out in the open.

"You cannot hide from me!" ADJ yelled out angrily. Atomic rose slowly into the air to claim an advantageous perspective as his personal antigravity unit kicked in. The red Power Monkee slowly hovered in a wide arc, scanning the entirety of the engine room.

TF readied himself to run out into the open to grab the weapon, ADJ would see him at any moment. Atomic's fist began charging, prepared to strike whenever the pest came into his few, his head just inches from scrapping the ceiling of the room. Out of the corner of his eye, TF saw a red boot and bolted like a bat out of Hades. He dove and rolled snatching up the gun in one motion as an energy blast exploded where he had been a split-second before.

Seeing the object that his prey had just grabbed, ADJ cut his unit immediately and fell the 20 feet to the ground with a loud boom. TF popped up from his new position and snapped off two shots. The bright red spears of energy splattered off the violet energy shield that instantaneously appeared around his target's head and body. TF groaned as he dropped quickly back down behind the metal cabinet, "Smart, he knew to cut his power to the flying machine."

Atomic seethed smoldering fire beneath his armor and faceplate. "No one shoots at *me* and lives!" He whirled and took a hold of a heavy metal container of spare parts. "DIE!" ADJ's suit glowed with energy as he turned and hurled the storage box in a high arc.

TF sprung from his position as he saw the incoming makeshift bomb take flight, shooting wildly as he sprinted. A deafening crash echoed as the container slammed hard just where he was previously squatting, sending parts and metal pieces flying in all directions.

A lucky shot from Flux's weapon caught Atomic in the shoulder, spinning him around and off his feet. *Close! Caught 'em while his shields were down.*, TF thought as he ran to a rack of displays he could take shelter behind. ADJ snarled in a rage and pounded the floor with his fist as he quickly came to his feet.

TF grabbed a fire extinguisher and quickly came up with a plan. The Power Monkee advanced rapidly on the slider. Flux tucked the red canister under his arm and stepped out from behind the screens with his pistol aimed at the approaching terror. ADJ ignored the shots that absorbed into his shield, his prey was right in front of him and this time he was going to be nothing more than a splatter on the ground!

TF froze as ADJ backhanded the sizzling weapon out of his hand, but recovered quickly. He grabbed the extinguisher in both hands and swung it towards the Power Monkee's helmet. Atomic reached up and caught the canister mere inches from colliding with his head.

TF let go of it and squeezed hard on the nozzle lever. A huge plume of white CO2 shot out into ADJ's face. Atomic staggered back wiping blindly at his cold, clouded view plate as TF disappeared into the cloud. Flux leaped up the couple of stairs that led to the controls and frantically began adjusting the controls.

ADJ's faceplate cleared up and he scanned quickly for the slider. He quickly snapped an arm up, pointing a glowing fist at the back of TF... but froze.

*Good, he doesn't want to risk hitting the controls. Now if only I can just finish this before...* "AAH!" A metal coil wrapped tightly around his ankle. TF grasped the iron hand rail that ran alongside the control panel as ADJ began reeling him in. *Just... one... more... button...*

 Truth, Justice and the American Way (VI) 
 Episode: B6  By: Sabre_Edge  Date: 2/17/01  URL: 2326/25044 

S tossed the smoldering rifle to the ground, "Worthless piece of... WHOA!" He ducked as a return volley of rapid blasts came back at him. S, hunkered down behind a chest of drawers. His eyes scanned around the bedroom, looking for a way out. He called out to his adversary, "Dude, you got more mirrors in your room than even me!"

"When you look as good as I do," a suprisingly familiar voice yelled back, "it comes with the territory."

S cocked an eyebrow, trying to place the voice, he knew he had heard it somewhere before. The cocky Power Monkee stepped out from behind his shelter of an overturned bed to advance. S looked out around the side of the dresser and his mouth dropped. "Its my frillin' double!"

SMN froze in mid step. He shook his head in disbelief, "I don't know how you look like me, but you are going to leave leaky chunks all the same." His fists began glowing, charging to blow apart the imposter.

S jumped up and grabbed a big round mirror off the wall. He spun without looking, thrusting the mirror out with outstretched arms. The beam of light shot out, hit the mirror directly and rebounding at the Alt-S. The blast caught SMN square in the chest and sent him flying backwards as small explosions ignited on his arms from the feedback. His body landed flat on his back with a hard bang and lay motionless.

S dropped the smoking mirror, "ouch! Hot!" S slowly walked up on the unmoving double. Small wisps of smoke rose from the laying man's chest and arms.

S bent over the downed Power Monkee and flipped him the double bird to his unconscious face, "ha ha HA! Who's the genius now!"

A lightning-quick hand shot up and grabbed S by the throat as two furious eyes snapped open, "Screw...you." Solar climbed to his feet while choking S. S let a right and left cross fly, battering his double's face. SMN released his hold and staggered back from the pummeling. He shook his head quickly to recover, the sides of his face throbbing. Solar quickly reached out and grabbed his double by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Now you've done it!"

Solar took off running, heading to ram S through the plate glass window across the room. S's arms flailed reaching for anything to grab onto to save himself. He finally tangled his fingers in his evil doubles hair. With a hard yank, he pulled on Solar's hair, "YEOWCH! Watch the doo!" Solar's momentum was carried in the direction of the yank and he turned with it. The two S's went crashing through a closet door, disappearing into its dark recesses.

S opened his eyes to find himself laying on his back in the dark, a heavy weight pinned his legs down. Something bright, red and shiny at the corner of his eye caught his attention, "The Button!" S reached out for it, his fingertips could just graze the plastic casing. He kicked and shoved at the thing that weighed him down, needing just a couple of inches.

"No you don't!" Solar pushed himself up off of the slider and grabbed him by the elbow, pulling his arm back. "Dumb luck you found it. I installed it here in case of emergency because I thought no one would even think to look for it in a bedroom closet! Atomic doesn't know I have it, but every weapon like this just needs one! Why didn't you just look in the control room or some other place?!"

S struggled against his double, "because that is where...grrrr...*I* would have put it." Solar yanked S to his feet and gathered him up in a bone-crunching squeeze. "I'm going to squeeze the life out of you! There is only room for one S on this planet!" S grimaced in pain as the power-enhanced arms continued their vice like constriction. S reached, looking for something, anything. "Why keep struggling? I'm stronger than you, I'm faster than you, I'm smarter than you!"

S laced his fists' fingers together and slammed down repeatedly on Solar's head, "Be (whack) cause (whack) I (whack) have (whack) some (whack) thing (whack) you (whack) don't!" S swung his leg back then let fly one vicious kick to the groin, "No problem fighting dirty!"

Solar dropped to his knees, moaning as he grabbed his crotch. S windmilled his fist around in fast circles, then laid a haymaker across Solar's jaw. The Alt-S crumpled to fall on his face. S slapped the button hard, "I have cooler hair too!"




Sabre was brought back to his senses as warning claxons blared again and again in the ship beneath him. He carefully pushed up off the windshield glass, not wanting to fall through. He got back to standing on the ships solid roof. "What did that voice say?! Self-destruct? I don't frellin' believe it... that crazy S guy must've found the trigger."

SE's amazement was short lived as he saw DMD step out from around the weapon. He brushed glass off his shoulder and called out to the blue Power Monkee, "Looks like your plan is blown, Diesel!"

"Maybe, but you won't live long enough to find out." DMD reached up and removed his mask, tossing it to the ground, "I want you to know who is going to kill you!" the now unaided voice yelled back.

"Eusti!"

"'Could have had it all, man. You could have been one of us...You just didn't have the cajones for it."

Diesel held the back of his fist up to SE. A flame ignited from it, waving violently in the wind. "Remember this?", he yelled back over the rushing air, "It was very helpful in burning down your house!"

SE's face grew hot and his muscles began to shake. "YOU killed her!"

"Aaahh, I didn't mean to... It was just an accident," DMD taunted back. "But it worked out so well." A jet of flame launched from the arm causing SE to hit the deck. "HAHAHA! This thing just happens to have a life of its own sometimes." SE rolled as another hot blast blackened the metal he was on.

"AAAAA!" SE was up in a blur of motion and running with blades extended at Diesel. DMD released another tongue of flame to stop the advancement. Sabre leaped into the air and flew through the top of the wall of fire. DMD was able to get an armored arm up to block the striking blade as SE crashed into him. Both bodies fell hard to roof, but they were back up in less than a second. SE swung a blade at Diesel's head. Diesel parried off the blow and swung a fist at Sabre's skull. SE ducked the punch and thrust his left arm at DMD's torso. With surprising agility, DMD spun away from the attack and planted a fist in the middle of SE's back. SE groaned but rolled with the shot to absorb some of the blow.

Diesel leapt straight up into the air. His antigravity equipment kept his body levitating in the air. Glowing fists pointed down at SE. Sabre jumped back to avoid the blast that cratered the ground in front of him. SE's dodge caused him to come perilously close the edge of the side. He swung his arms in quick circles to keep himself balanced on the roof. A huge grin came across DMD's face, "End of the line for you, hero!" A beam of hot energy struck out at SE. Sabre dived forward to land on his chest, feeling the heated ionized air rush past his head.

SE reached down and quick-drew his gun he kept stashed behind his back. He fired off a snap shot that caught the hovering Diesel in mid air.

The blast from the weapon sent DMD's momentum off the side of the ship, his flight unit sputtering as he dropped out of view. SE got up from lying down on the roof, blowing the wisp of smoke that came off the battery core. He twirled the weapon by the trigger guard and pretended to holster it, "One Monkee down, one mass destruction weapon to go."

SE quickly ran across the roof, searching again for the power cable to sever. A painful roaring sound of an engine broke his concentration. He turned quickly but it was too late. Diesel rocketed a crushing uppercut to his stomach, lifting SE 12 feet into the air before letting him drop to the top of the craft with a resounding crash.

The Power Monkee cut his engines and landed heavily on the roof. He stormed over to the fallen warrior and kicked him in the gut as he tried to rise. SE slumped back to the ground. He grabbed SE by the back of his shirt and dragged the unconscious body across the smooth metal to the charging energy weapon.

DMD lifted up his beaten opponent and pressed his body against the parabolic dish that was soon to direct the energy burst's path. "I'm going to love watching your body blast apart just before the city vaporizes!" Diesel secured SE's wrists and ankles with coils of the weapons own cables. He turned to step back when he realized he forgot something, "These little butter knives aren't going to save you this time." He grabbed and yanked off the blade equipment from his forearms, laughing.




Hunter charged at the injured Tork as the blaring warning alarms wailed throughout the control room, holding his sword behind his head. EPT grabbed the overturned chair and met the blow. The sword cleaved half way down the middle of the furniture's leather and stuffing before lodging itself into the metal support column. EPT snapped the chair quickly to the side and disarmed Hunter. Pain shot through Hunter's injured hands as the sword was jerked from his grasp.

"You can't beat me, no matter how hard you try!" Tork grinned. "Tell ya what, I'll give you a choice." EPT hit a large button that was installed on the control panel behind him. The cockpit's cracked glass above his head flew off with a roar while a piston plate shot up harmlessly where the control seat previously was attached to. "You can either jump out and feel what it's like to fly before you die... Orrr... I crush your head like a grape right now!"

Hunter pulled out the pistol and pointed it at the laughing maniac. EPT's cackling halted, while a smile appeared on Hunter's lips. He gave the trigger a squeeze. Hunter's smile was short lived, however, replaced by a disappointed scowl. Tork's hyena laugh returned as rippling rings of violet originated from where the beam struck the invisible shield.

"Aw screw it," Hunter took a quick breath and ran at EPT. Tork didn't recover from this hysteria in time to stop the attack. Hunter tackled him around the middle and slammed him up against the displays. Sparks erupted from the bank and the ship shuddered. The force of the two bodies pressed against the throttle of the ship. The craft jerked into high gear and raced toward the city limits.




"I told that fool NOT to install that self-destruct device!" Atomic roared as he pulled on the coil wrapped around TF's leg. Flux held tight to the railing, struggling against the Power Monkee's strength. TF didn't hear what ADJ was wailing about, all he knew was that he needed to flip that switch!

The ship lurched forward as it accelerated to top speed. Both combatants were thrown backwards by the inertia. TF recovered quickly from the crash and felt the tendril go slack. He scrambled to his feet and flipped the switch. The central antigravity generator audibly changed it's humming to a new quicker rhythm.

"Yes! It's working!"

Two hands grabbed his shoulders in mid-celebration throwing him down the stairs. "Get away from that! I need to fire the weapon before the ship flies past the whole $%&* city." ADJ stood in front of the control panel, but didn't touch anything.

TF could sense the bewilderment beneath the expressionless metal facemask but said nothing as he slowly got up off the floor. "I don't know what you have against that city, but thanks for starting the weapon up fool," Atomic said while standing back to watch his weapon ready itself to fire.

All the sudden ADJ's antigravity pack at the back of his waist began bleeping and flashing wildly. "Huh?! What is going on?!" ADJ tried looking over his shoulder to see what was happening.

"I made a couple changes to your equipment settings," TF smirked as he folded his arms proudly. "Antigravity isn't that far off from sliding. Just a few degrees here, a couple settings there, and now you are inside one big Slide machine."

ADJ reached back to his belt, trying to stop the flight unit from acting so strangely.

"But a sliding machine is no good without one of these," TF produced his timer. "Don't worry about wanting mine, you've got one all to your self. 'Cept yours isn't quite so functional..."

As if on cue, ADJ's unit emitted two crackling bolts. A yellow-orange swirling vortex sprung to life between TF and the Power Monkee. ADJ's hands clamped down on the guardrail fighting the unseen, powerful pull of the portal.

TF picked up his gun, leveled it at Atomic and squeezed off one shot.

"NO!" The guardrail broke apart with the well-placed blast as ADJ tumbled into the awaiting vortex.




"Man, I wish I had a camera," S said as he adjusted his pose in the mirror. He changed his stance yet again to try a modest vanquisher's pose with one foot on the unconscious Solar. "It's not every day you kicked your double's a...What the h...!" S jumped back as Solar's equipment started beeping and flashing chaotically. "Crap! He's got a last-chance bomb on him! This guy has seen 'Predator' as many times as I have!"

S was almost out of the room when the vortex opened up near the slumped over Solar. S could only watch as feathers and papers began flying around the room. SMN's body started sliding along the ground with the gravity pull, then disappeared as it entered into the wormhole's entrance.

S blinked as the room grew quiet and dark again. "That was cool..." He snapped out of the semi-trance when the female voice reminded him that the ship only had 5 minutes left till detonation. "Gotta find TF and leave this piece of junk."




EPT shoved Hunter off of him with a hard stiff arm thrust. He quickly grabbed at the throttle control, "We are flying to fast, we are going to overshoot the target!" Tork pulled back on the control stick but it was fused to the panel. He spun around, kicked the rising Hunter, and planted his feet to try and pry the control from off the equipment. He grasped it with both hands, arching his body backwards he pulled.

The room came back into Hunter's view, although not all the stars seemed eager to clear up but the blaring alarms still wanted to be front and center of his attention. He could see EPT yanking on throttle control and the sound of creaking and bending metal alerted him that he was starting to be successful.

Hunter dragged himself across the floor, angling for the direction stick near Tork's leg.

"Almost... got... it..." Tork narrated the situation to himself. EPT's concentration broke when two things happened. First his antigravity unit at his back began vibrating and shaking, and Hunter's hand flashed out of the corner of his eye.

"NO!" EPT reached a hand out to stop Hunter... but not in time. Hunter slapped the ejection button and the piston plate in the floor where Tork was standing shot upwards. Hunter's eyes followed the rocketing Monkee upwards through the open canopy and into the wild blue yonder. What appeared like an orange halo opened around Tork and sucked him up, leaving no trace.




DMD stormed forward to the very front of the speeding craft. "We just overshot the city! What is Tork doing?!" He was about to look down into the broken cockpit canopy when a voice surprised him from behind.

"Being beat," a pained, straggled voice answered the rhetorical question.

"Glad you decided to wake up, sleeping beauty. I wanted you to be conscious when that weapon you are strapped to goes off! It looks like it'll miss the city, but at least it'll splatter your guts across the countryside." DMD turned to SE gloating fiendishly.

SE struggled against the cable bonds but didn't have the strength or the energy to fight for very long. The weapon began to glow as the dish SE was strapped to began vibrating.

"Get ready to meet your beloved!" DMD yelled over the roar of the super weapon. From out of nowhere a body shot up from the cockpit pitching Diesel forward on his face. He watched from the roof as EPT disappeared in a flash of orange.

DMD felt his antigravity unit begin to act erratically. He jumped up and fumbled at the controls. "You ain't getting me like they did to Tork!" He hit the quick release and threw the unit off the side of the ship. It disappeared in a flash of orange-yellow light.

"That was sure dumb, you idiot. Now you aren't leaving this ship alive," SE labored through the pain to insult DMD.

DMD socked SE in the middle of his shoulder blades. "First I watch you splatter, then I'll jump out into the ocean," DMD pointed out to the coastline as it sped out underneath them.




"Where is Hunter?" TF yelled at S as they collided into each other in the corridor.

"I thought he was in the control room, somebody sure is making this thing shake!"

"It wouldn't be because you found that self-destruct button now, would it?"

"I told you I'd find it didn't I!"

"We gotta move, there's only a few second differential between when we slide and when this place goes off!"

"Convenient?"

"Very!"




The door to the control room slid open.

"Hunter! Man, you look like a wreck!" S called out.

"We got to get topside so we can slide out of here. This place is going to blow five seconds BEFORE our slide." TF informed Hunter.

"Before?! You told me after!"

"Oops?"

Hunter pulled himself up, "Grab the chair... we'll climb out."

The three Sliders worked together pushing and pulling each other onto the roof above the control room, using the propped chair as a boost.

"Now that were out, what about that SE guy? We can't just leave him...ULP!" A hand closed around S's throat from behind.

"You can't leave yet! The show is about to begin!" TF and Hunter looked with horror at the surviving Power Monkee, then over DMD's shoulder to see SE hanging from cables, tied to the charged weapon.

DMD turned as beams of maroon light began emitting from the dish, so obsessed with watching his enemy die. TF and Hunter glanced at each other then ran head long, charging into the Power Monkee. DMD lost his hold on S and slammed into SE and the dish. He turned around to face his attackers as the reddish glow shone out around him. "Smegging worms! I will kill y... ACK!"

SE snarled as he held DMD's neck with his arm and binding, using the last bit of energy in him to hold his adversary against him.

The three Sliders leapt in all directions as a powerful wave of reddish energy exploded out from the weapon, expanding quickly as it shot off across the water.

S blinked away the light after a moment, "Whoa! It vaporized them!"

"No, it slid them."

Hunter was stunned, "You mean the whole purpose of this thing was to create a slide wave?"

"Well... it wasn't supposed to till I perfected it down in the generator room. I guess once they figured they could do damage with it, they didn't see a need to tweaked just a little to actually do something smart with it."

"Speaking of sliding... we need to move our arse now!" S brought them back to reality.

The three ran to the side of ship. "JUMP!" The roof of the ship erupted upward with a roar just as their feet left the deck. Explosions rang out throughout the craft, spouts of flame erupting through the metal skin.

They could feel the scorching heat on their necks as they plummeted to the water below.

"Activate the timer!" yelled Hunter.

"3... 2... 1..." TF punched the button on the timer.




S, Hunter, and Flux relaxed on lounge chairs, sipping drinks with umbrellas in them.

"Who knew that our Oprah bucks would work on the very next world," Hunter sighed as he looked up at the clear sky through his shades. He turned to TF who was paying the resort waiter for the drinks, "What do you think happened to those Mighty Masking Power Monkees? Ya know, the other three."

TF folded his wallet and sat back down, "I'm not that sure... maybe they slid, maybe they died in the unstable wormholes. I guess it'll be one of those Logan mysteries."

Hunter was going to say more but a yell from S interrupted him.

"Hey! I just wanted to know your sign!" S called to the bikini-clad girls as they walked away upset. He looked over to his two buddies from the tiki bar he was at, "Man, I wish I had my video camera..."




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