CHAPTER FOUR
In the spare freezer at the New Auckland Morgue stood six strangely garbed men staring into an open body drawer. Mobius shivered from cold within the freezer. Beside him stood Hopscotch who periodically reached into a nearby trash-can, pulling from it handfuls of old newspapers and other assorted garbage items which he dropped into the open drawer. Behind him stood Bluestreak, Quartz, Skitso and Pinpoint. Absent from their ranks was Thud, who, because of his inconvenient size and weight, had been forced to wait outside. The six stood with a solemn air, looking into the body drawer in which the humming black substance lay. Their mood was only aided by the temperature of the room. "That's... him?" asked Mobius weakly. "You said it was bad but I wasn't expecting... I wasn't expecting this." "Me neither," added Skitso. "I though we'd find Juice here. This is... this is snot." The others shot him dire glances. "Uh, sorry." "What could have done that to him?" asked Pinpoint. "Chess attack?" offered Bluestreak. "They're probably still mad about the neuro-drug ring he helped bust up. Or it could have been the Mastermen!" "I don't think Tachyon could have done this and the other members of the Mastermen certainly didn't have this kind of power." "Some new kind of Chess weaponry, perhaps?" suggested Quartz. "It could be nearly anything!" said Mobius. "Any kind of intense electro-magnetic energy would have done damage to him. He could have been struck by lighting or flew too close to a radio antenna tower or stuck his head in a microwave oven. Or it could have been a deliberate attack, like you suggested." "So basically we don't know anything?" said Pinpoint. "Not until we investigate further," said Hopscotch. He tossed a copy of Coroners Quarterly into the drawer and it was absorbed by the humming blackness. "Bob said that Juice was found on an apartment rooftop in Wellington. They sent some officers over to check out the area but couldn't find anything else. I want some of us to go over and have a look around. Maybe we can find something they didn't." Mobius nodded. "Good idea. Pinpoint and I have an idea of where he was headed when this happened. Finding him in Wellington backs up our theory plenty." "Where do you think he was going?" Mobius looked around suspiciously. "Uh, not aloud. On the link" They collectively nodded. Mobius closed his eyes briefly and then snapped them open. He looked over at Skitso Quartz and Pinpoint. They each felt a small window slide open within their minds as the link took hold. *CONTACT* `THAT'S BETTER,' Mobius thought over the link after their minds had a few moments to adjust. Though no actual words were spoken aloud, they could each hear it clearly in their minds. `NOW ABOUT OUR THEORY...' he began. `LET ME OUT DAMMIT!' screamed an angry voice over the link. `YOU LET THE SHRIMP OUT TWICE ALREADY! I'M STILL STUCK IN HERE!' `SHUT UP!' thought Prodigy. `NO WAY!' came
the angry voice. `SKITS'S PLAYIN' FAVORITES AGAIN! YOU'VE
HAD YOUR TURN. I WANNA PARTY!'
`NOT UNTIL YOU LET
ME OUT!'
"I can fix that for you," offered Mobius with a slight grin. "And stick me with a headache for the rest of the afternoon? I don't think so. They give me enough of one as it is. You'd better just take me off the link. I don't think I can suppress them enough that they won't interfere." `NO! I WANNA HEAR!' screamed Prodigy over the link. `SORRY.' `MANIAC ALWAYS RUINS IT FOR ALL OF US!' the child's voice whined. Each of the young men felt the mental tightness relieved slightly as Skitso was removed from the link. `AS I WAS SAYING,' began Mobius anew. `WE THINK JUICE MAY HAVE BEEN GOING TO HIS DAD'S HOUSE IN WELLINGTON WHEN WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HIM HAPPENED.' He explained to them then about the price guide and his reasoning behind his assumption. `HE SOMETIMES TAKES A BOX OF COMICS WHEN HE GOES ON LONG TRIPS, AND YOU MAY REMEMBER HE WENT TO HIS GRANDMOTHER'S LAST MONTH.' `THIS MAKES SENSE,' thought Quartz. Hopscotch put a hand to his chin. `IT'S AS GOOD A THEORY AS ANY I'VE HEARD SO FAR. WE OUGHT TO CHECK IT OUT.' `DOES ANYONE KNOW JUICE'S FAMILY?' asked Pinpoint. Blank looks were exchanged among the five. Juice's dad had been over to the group's house a few times, but no one really knew him, as such. They all knew Juice's sister, Alison, however. She had the irritating habit of dropping by whenever the mood struck her. This had led to some minor near misses as far as the various duo identities were concerned. `I'VE BEEN OVER TO HIS HOUSE ONCE,' said Hopscotch. `SO HAS JOHN, I THINK,' thought Bluestreak. `THAT'S GOOD. I'LL TAKE JOHN AND WE'LL GO OVER AND CHECK THINGS OUT.' `DON'T LET ON THAT HE'S MISSING, THOUGH,' said Mobius. `THAT COULD LEAD TO QUESTIONS THAT WE DON'T WANT TO ANSWER.' `AH, C'MON, MOBE,' thought Bluestreak. `IF ANYONE STARTS ASKING QUESTIONS, YOU CAN JUST MENTALLY FIX IT SO THEY DON'T WANT TO ASK ANY MORE OF THEM.' `OR,' thought Pinpoint, `HE COULD MENTALLY FIX IT SO YOU RUN YOUR ASS OFF A SHORT PIER, BILLY!' The two looked at each other fiercely. Hopscotch stepped between them. `NO ONE IS FIXING ANYONE, MENTALLY OR OTHERWISE!' he relayed. `MOBIUS WOULDN'T DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE.' He cast a glance in Mobius' direction but received no confirming eye-contact from him. Instead, Mobius turned away in silence and began walking toward the freezer doors. The five others looked after him for a moment before pausing with a mental twinge as the mind-link was severed completely. "Mobius," called Pinpoint. "Where ya' going?" Mobius stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "To find the rest of Juice," he said in a low voice. He stood looking at them for a moment longer. "You can come if you like." Mobius pulled his cloak close to him and closed the freezer door behind him as he left. The five stood in silence for nearly a minute before anyone spoke. "What the hell did you guys say to him in there?" asked Skitso. "I was just making a joke!" said Bluestreak. "What's the big deal?" Hopscotch shook his head. "I think it may have hit too close to something. I'm not sure I want to know what." He dropped another fistful of garbage into the body drawer. "I have a question," said Quartz. "Who is going to tell Mentor about this?" "That," said Hopscotch,
halting his rummaging in the garbage can, "is a very good question."
Dr. Thadeus Glass pulled his car into the driveway of his home and made certain that he had both put it in park and turned it off before going inside. He'd had a very long day. He still couldn't figure out for the life of him how Dean Standish had managed to talk him into teaching Summer school again. It was not as though there were no other history instructors on the campus. There was, in fact, a small hoard of graduate-students who were chomping at their bits to get a turn at the black-board. (There was, however, a slightly larger hoard of them who collectively wished nothing more than to snag their degrees and quickly make their way to whichever hole-in-the ground university would allow them to spend inordinate amounts of time locked away in some dank library vault, supposedly pouring over tattered old tomes when in actuality they planned to pour over tattered paperback copies of some new John Grisham novel.) Dean Standish, who had been with the university since Dr. Glass began teaching full time in 1973, claimed that Glass was the best instructor in the entire department and that they were gaining new students hand over fist because of his reputation. Despite his claims that tenured professors shouldn't have to work during the Summer months, Dr. Glass had to admit that he had given a really good speech during Freshman orientation. In the end his reservations gave in to his sense of pride at being good at what he did and he had agreed to teach the class. Summer sessions could be messy, but it was a mess he had accepted and was now determined to stand in. The dishes had begun to pile up in the kitchen sink since his wife's departure and Dr. Glass supposed that before long he would have to break down and put them in the dishwasher himself. The living room, he noted, could also stand some picking up. Madlyn would never have allowed things to get this chaotic and she would not look upon him in a joyful manner if she were to find the house in its current state upon her return next month. It shouldn't take too long, though, he thought. It was probably be an hour's worth of work at most. Still, that was an hour which would have to be fit in somewhere between grading papers, preparing lessons, eating dinner, catching up on research and balancing his checkbook. He sighed and stooped to pick up Sunday's newspaper from beside his chair. As he did, his eyes darted automatically to the large digital clock on the living room wall. It's display was blinking on and off with the time 14:54 p.m. He stood up and looked at it again and as he did the number flicked to 14:55 p.m. He set the paper down. The roll top desk in his upstairs study was unlocked and its cover slid open smoothly. There on the desk was a telephone, the kind with the built-in answering machine. Its LED screen also blinked 14:55 p.m. He pressed the button marked playback and heard from the speaker three ascending tones followed by a female voice that said "We're sorry. The number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please dial again." He sighed loudly, his fingers finally finding the incoming tape button. He pressed it and the LED screen instantly changed to a non-blinking 1:26 p.m. MSG, as the incoming message tape began to play. "Mentor, this is Joe," a tired voice said from the machine. "We need to get in touch with you Ay-Sap. We've, found Juice. Or, part of him anyway... He's, uh...he's... Things don't look good." The message reached the end and the machine beeped several times. Dr. Glass sat heavily into his swivel chair and his time-worn face went pale. His fears had been realized. Before now, he had thought that his student, Eric, might have been kidnapped or had perhaps just left without telling anyone. But if they'd found him. Part of him anyway... He picked up the receiver
and began to dial.
It was 4:21 p.m. when Billy Moody's Caprice Classic pulled to a halt in front of 917 Burton Street, Wellington, Virginia. The building located there was a narrow, three story townhouse, similar to most of the buildings along Burton Street. Each building contained three apartments, one for each floor, as well as roof space for gardening or yoga or whatever their occupants deemed necessary. The neighborhood had once had the sort of atmosphere that was eagerly sought after by discerning citizens with eyes and hearts that yearned for the flavor of old Brooklyn antiquities, and pocketbooks that leaned toward three story townhouse apartments. The neighborhood still had that very atmosphere, it was just no longer sought after, now that the fad had passed. But most of those who had flocked here had stayed on. They went about their daily lives, devoting time to family and friends and buying antiques like madmen on the weekends. And since the city's antiques district on Vendiver Street intersected with Burton, many of the area residents thought it quite fortunate. The merchants of Vendiver Street were not only thankful for the presence of such maddened antiques buyers but also for the fact that the street was in close proximity to the city junkyard that supplied so much of their merchandise in the first place. In the car sat three male college students. Two of them were arguing. "No, you explain it to him again!" said Skitso. "I'm tired of telling him and he doesn't believe me anyway!" "Why's he going to believe me over you?" said Sujay. "Because for some reason, I have yet to understand, he thinks you know what you're talking about." "No! I've already explained it to him." "He wasn't listening. You know how small his attention span is." "I don't want to talk to..." But before Sujay could finish speaking, James "Majik" Martin vanished into thin air and was replaced in existence by Prodigy's form. The child looked up at Sujay expectantly, his arms folded over his duffel bag. "Oh, geez!" said Billy from the driver's seat. Sujay rubbed his temples. He could feel the headache beginning already. "Okay! Fine! I'll tell you again, but it's just the same thing that Skitso told you in the first place. And if you don't listen to me this time," Sujay said, leaning toward Prodigy and flaring his eyes, "I'll fry your synapses!" "So tell! I'm listening!" "It's like this, Prodigy. Again, 5thMatter is a very unstable substance. Juice believed that 5thMatter was so unstable that it would break down unless it firmly established in one primary form." "That's what Skitso said." Sujay paused and took a breath. "I know that, Prodigy," he said irritatedly. "But that doesn't make any sense!" "Wow! We've finally found something that genius boy doesn't understand!" said Billy. Prodigy ignored this and continued. "No sense at all. Cause Juice could change into Eric. That's two forms! Not one! Two! More if you consider that he could transform into Eric wearing any kind of clothing he wanted to. I mean, he walked around the house in a tux half the time. Or at Christmas that time when..." "Hold it!" snapped Sujay. "Okay, maybe I should have made something a little bit clearer. The defined form of Eric's 5thMatter body was Juice. You're right, Juice could take the form of Eric. But we think that shape-shifting is probably a property of 5thMatter. Only, Juice could never shape-shift into any other form but Eric's. It was just one of his abilities and because it took up so much power to sustain the human form he couldn't fly or throw globs or anything else non-human while in Eric form. Do you understand?" Prodigy nodded vigorously. "Good. The point is, 5thMatter has to have some sort of controlling force that can govern its shape. In this case, that force was Juice's mind. It controlled what shape of the 5thMatter's natural energy shell and could alter that into Eric's form. If he didn't have that controlling force, the 5thMatter would become unstable and disperse into gas. That's why his energy globs never last very long after he throws them." "Oh, I see," said Prodigy. "His mind was in control." "Yeeees!!" said Billy from the front. "Now, can we shut him up and get to searching, or are we just going to sit here till the sun goes down?" "I agree. We might be here for a while and we should make use of the light." "Great!" said Prodigy, rummaging in his gadget bag. "This will be the perfect opportunity to test out my new and vastly improved 5thMatter detector!" He pulled the bright green hand-link from the bag and held it high for all to marvel at. "Oh, so now it detects every microwave on the east coast, eh?" "Shut up Billy! It'll work just fine! We'll find the rest of Juice!" "Sure."
After several minutes of wandering around the interior of the building and arguing, the three of them finally managed to locate a narrow staircase on the third floor landing that lead to the roof. The roof was exactly as Crenshaw had described it. Its pebbly surface was indeed pocked with small craters where the 5thMatter blobs had apparently been. Otherwise it was much like any other, flat roof of a townhouse apartment, complete with ventilation pipes, air intakes and what feebly passed for a roof garden. "Well, let's get busy," said Sujay. "Billy, you take a quick look around, if you get my drift. Prodigy, you do whatever it is you think will be effective." "What about you?" whined Prodigy. "I'm just going to sit here and think," he smiled. "He always gets the easy jobs!" said Billy with a grin just before vanishing in a blur of blue and gray. The stairwell door would have slammed behind him had he needed to open it in the first place. Prodigy began fiddling with the knobs and switches on the hand-link unit itself. It had quite a few more controls than its previous version. Presently it began to make pinging sounds as he swept its sensors over bits of the roof area. "Any luck?" Sujay asked.
"No need to get defensive. I just asked a question. Does it work or not?" "I don't know. Either it doesn't work at all or there just isn't any 5thMatter here." "At least it stopped picking up microwaves." "No, it's detecting three of them. One on each floor of this building. There are also four television sets, three refrigerators, one computer system, two stereo hi-fi sets and a potato-clock-radio." Prodigy frowned. "No 5thMatter. And no you can't come out!" "Excuse me?" "Not you! No! I'm not letting you out! You always ruin everything. I'm trying to work here and you want to ruin it!" "Oh, no. Not again!" "Shut up!" screamed Prodigy, his appearance flickered. "Hey! You can't do that! I'm out now, not you!" Prodigy vanished and only for an instant, something tall and leather-clad appeared in his place. Prodigy popped through it though and was once again standing on the roof holding his hand-link. His face began contorting with strain and he fell over on the ground before losing whatever internal struggle was going on. He vanished for the final time and was replaced by the leather man once again. Maniac stood on the roof and inhaled deeply the city-air. A broad grin spread across his face and he flipped his hover-board from under his arm and dropped it into a floating position three inches above the pebbly roof surface. "Damn, it's good to be out!" he said. Maniac was nearly three feet taller than Prodigy and resembled your typical, nineteen year-old, punk kid. "Nice day, huh?" he said, his leather jacket squeaking as he ran a hand up to make sure that his stylish, sloped hair was firmly in its proper place. Sujay sighed and turned away. He wasn't especially fond of Maniac. But then, who was? Nearly everyone who had the fortune to meet Maniac quickly reached the conclusion that they could probably have lived without meeting him with no ill-effects. While not actually a bad fellow as such, Maniac did have the annoying habit of doing only what he wanted to do and very little else. This consisted mostly of cursing loudly, being horrendously obnoxious and skating around the city on his hover board, looking for a fight, which, because of his behavior, he usually had no trouble in finding. His anti-social nature, however, was not conducive to team play—which was just another reason why few people liked him. The only member of Avatar who genuinely enjoyed Maniac's company was Pinpoint, which surprised no one. They were alike in many ways. Maniac jumped onto his hover-board and balanced himself on it. "I think I'll see who's out and about in the city. There's probably enough time to knock over some Chess hideaway or two, before supper." He glanced slyly around. However, before he could act upon whatever intentions he may have had, his head snapped back as though struck and he vanished in a cloud of profanity. "Can't get even a moment's peace without him hyping out," said Skitso, popping back into reality. A blur zipped through the stairwell door and stopped, settling in the form of Billy Moody. "Hey! Look at this!" Billy held up a bagged and backing boarded copy of Avatar #3. His other hand grasped the smallish, white lid of a comic box. The word mine was written on the lid. "I found these by the dumpster in the alley. Do you think they're his?" Sujay removed the comic from its polypropylene sheath, managing to tear the scotch tape on its lip in the process, and examined its interior first page. "Yup," he said, shaking his head with slight disapproval. "This is Juice's handiwork, all right! Anything else?" "Nope. Just a couple of aluminum cans, was all." "Majik, do you think Prodigy's detector was on the up and up?" "How should I know? He builds things that work and he builds things that don't. I just created him. I don't explain him." "Then why don't you send him back out?" said Billy. "Because I don't want
any of them out. If one comes out then the others whine about it.
The only one that keeps quiet is Bruiser and even he's been complaining
recently that I need to read more Tolstoy.
"Well ask him then." "Fine. Just a sec..." Majik stopped talking and his eyes glanced upward. "Prodigy says it works fine but that it has a very short range. He says he's going to work on a new model combining the best parts of both designs." "Oh," said Billy, rolling his eyes. "That's just friggin' wonderful!" "Hold on... Prodigy has a question." Sujay shot a finger in Majik's direction. "If he wants me to explain 5thMatter again then tell him to forget it! I've told him twice already and he can just figure it out for himself now!" "He says it's not about 5thMatter..." "Then what?" "He says it's about Juice." "What about him?" "Well, his mind was the controlling force that kept his body together, right?" "Yes. I believe that's what we explained earlier." "Well, Prod wants to know where Juice's mind is now that his body has turned to uh... goo." A blank look passed
over Sujay's face. It shortly became a melancholic expression.
"I.. I don't know."
Upon leaving the building, they very nearly collided with three children, who were rolling a large wooden barrel down the sidewalk at a break-neck speed. One of the children stuck his tongue out at them and sneered. Another of the children, a little girl, told the three civilian heroes to watch where they were going before shaking her finger at them. As the children continued their hurried trek down the sidewalk, Prodigy popped into existence and loudly suggested to them that they should look into the possibilities found in the process of becoming an adult. Billy rolled his eyes.
"Would you just say grow up like a normal person?"
The door opened and standing beyond it was a young lady, aged fifteen years. Her sandy blond hair was pulled back into a short pony-tail that, when accompanied by her long and apathetic expression, made her appear years older than she actually was. However, when she saw the two men standing at the door, her face brightened immensely and a smile came to her lips. "Joe! Hey! How's it going?" She jumped out the door and hugged him. "Hey Al," Joe Evans smiled warmly, returning her hug. "Things are going oddly. Very oddly." "Where's Eric?" "Err, He's... around. That's actually why we're here." "Well come inside and sit down." The interior of the Fritzius household was not dissimilar from that of the group's home. A great bookshelf spanned the entire south wall of the living room and was stuffed overflowing with books and papers. Its counter-top was stacked high with magazines, and other periodicals devoted to the study of science as well as a liberal amount of junk-mail. A lone gray table stood beside it, its surface covered in much the same way as the counter-top. And the collection of paper extended its reign to the surrounding floor with its ancient, faded yellow-orange carpet. "Uh, you've met Alison, right John?" "Yeah, I met her when Eric was moving out and we've seen each other when she drops by." "Yeah." "Where's your dad?" "He's still in Tennessee, visiting the big flame! Love interest, that is." Joe smiled slightly. "Maybe that's for the best." "Why? What's up?" "Uh...I'm not sure how to put this. I guess I need to ask you something first." "Shoot." Joe was thoughtful for a moment. "How much," he finally said, "do you know about your brother?" Alison gave him a funny look and arched one of her eyebrows. "A lot, I'd say. I did grow up with him and all." "Did he ever talk to you about any of his, uh, hobbies?" asked John. "I guess that would depend on exactly what hobbies you're talking about. Computers? Comics? Writing?" "No. I mean, more along the lines of his personal life on a day to day basis." "I'm not sure what you mean," she said slowly. "His personal life... interests, activities..." "Fetishes," offered John. Joe shot him a look of death. "Never mind. This is all a bit too complicated and really isn't that important." "No, hold on," said Alison. "I see where you're going with this. What you're really asking me," she said with a grin, "is if I know that he's Juice?" Joe's jaw hit his chest with a thunk. An equally hollow sound came from John's direction a moment later. "Uh..." "Don't have a fit. I know all about it." If boggling minds made a sound it would have been heard loudly at that moment. "I know about him, just like I know that you're Hopscotch and that you," she said, casting a glance in John's direction, "are probably Bluestreak." "No," said John. Joe held up a nervous hand. "Wait a second! Wait just a damn second! He told you about us too?" "No. He didn't even tell me about him." "Then how did you know?" "I guessed." She looked back at John. "Mobius?" "No." Joe's expression registered disbelief in the extreme. "You guessed?" "Well, not exactly. Him I figured out pretty quickly. It's kind of hard not to notice when your brother turns into a six and a half foot tall energy man after walking close to the microwave." She smiled knowingly at them. "I did guess about you guys, though." She gave John another casual look. "You don't have enough hair to be Pinpoint. Quartz?" "Thank you very much," he said dripping with sarcasm. "And, no." Joe was still trying to piece it together. "So you know and he knew you knew... I mean, he knew that you knew that he was... I mean..." "Uh, yes. I think." She looked momentarily confused. "Yes. He knew. We talked about it and he told me what he knew about the whole thing, which wasn't much. But he'd always been fascinated with super-heroes and now he could become one. He felt he would be good at it." "Yeah," said Joe in a low voice. "He was." Alison's mouth halted in mid-word. She looked at Joe suspiciously. "Was?" "That's uh, why we're here. He disappeared four days ago..." "He hasn't been turned to stone again, has he?" "No. Not quite. We have found...part of him." Alison's eyes went glassy. Her mouth moved to speak but nothing came out. "He's not dead, at least, we don't think so," said John. "We found part of him, a portion of his 5thMatter, and he's still very much alive and it seems to be stable as long as he's being fed." "Where...is he?" "At the coroner's office for now. We left Quartz there to watch him and make sure he gets enough to eat." Alison seemed to shake off her daze somewhat. "Yeah. He...he lost some of his...matter after that battle with that flame-guy last year." "Inferno. Yes." "And he grew that back in a week. He ate a lot then, too." "That's what we were thinking." "What...Who caused this?" "We don't know for sure. Our guess at the moment is that he was caught in the storm last week." "Oh, shit! I told him not to fly! Dammit!" "So he had been here?" "Yeah. He came by to get a box of comics he left here when we went to Grandma's last month. He said something about owning gold. I told him that there were thunderstorm warnings on TV and that he should take the bus home. But, he wouldn't. He said `I'll be fine, I'm Juice: The Energy guy!' God damn it!" Joe reached out and hugged her to him. "It'll be okay," he said. "Yeah. It's always okay. It always works out in the end. I don't know what I'm going to tell dad about any of this—I had to do some serious bullshitting when Eric was gone for a month last year. I didn't believe him when came back and said he'd been turned to stone. I don't know what I'll say now." "Don't say anything until you have to. Your dad won't notice for a while. If he says anything about it, just tell him that Eric came by while he was away. If he tries calling us we'll say he's not there, or that he went to see Robert in Texas. Just act like nothing's wrong." "Yeah. Would it be okay if I saw him. Eric, I mean." Hopscotch sighed. "It's probably best if you didn't for now. We're trying to find the best possible place to keep him and we have a friend who is looking into that for us. We won't know for another day or two. After that, we'll see about it." "Let me know if anything changes." "You'll be the first."
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