12/14/2021 10:30 PM  Untold Tales #4 Maggia and Mad Science Part 4     It took a moment for Thomas Halloway to register what he was looking at - not the barrel of the pistol, he recognized that quite easily - but the golden face on the other end of *his* gun. After a tense moment, the man in the golden mask looked past the Halloway, at the man on fire, before speaking. "That's the Human Torch." The Torch, hand still on the door handle, responded. "Are you a detective, too?" The man in the golden mask laughed, looking back to the Angel, and lowered his gun. "So you're not with them, I take it." "I guess he is." The Angel spoke, lowering his old gun and glancing back towards the Torch, before continuing, nodding towards the third man to join today's events. "Torch, Laughing Mask. Laughing Mask, Human Torch." "And the papers call you 'the Angel'." The Torch wrapped up the introductions, and the Mask spoke again. "We all here about the kidnappings?" The Angel nodded, the Torch spoke up with a simple "Yeah, let's go." Then he shoved the partially-open door open the rest of the way. The room on the other side of the door surprised all three of them - though it seemed oddly familiar to the Torch. Lined along the walls were glass tubes, containing men and women suspended in some kind of liquid. The victims of the disappearances, it seemed obvious. From the back of the small group, the Laughing Mask spoke first. "Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this." ------------------------------------------------ Up ahead, Mike Russo limped on - the distractions having given him enough time to make it deeper into the hidden underground facility. And how glad he was for the distractions - the bullet hole in his leg kept him from moving very fast, and he was losing more blood than he was comfortable with, leaving a red trail behind him. Russo stumbled into the main laboratory, finding the Doctor he had come to warn was already making his preparations to escape. "Doctor, they're coming." He turned towards the doors, gesturing, to let the mad scientist know that the mystery men were right behind him. "We have to get out of---" Then he heard a 'FWUMP', and felt a sting in his back. Turning back towards the man in charge, Mike Russo looked at him in confusion. "What did you do?" "Science often requires sacrifices, Mr. Russo." ------------------------------------------------ The Torch and the Masked Men slowed their chase, though didn't stop, as they investigated the tanks - many, if not all, of the victims appeared to be alive, and they'd have to make sure they stayed that way. The Angel, then, stopped at a control panel. "You two go on ahead, I'm going to see about shutting this down."  Jim Hammond briefly wondered if this was the Angel's area of expertise - but it certainly wasn't his, and if he had to pick, he'd choose him over the cackling madman at least. So the Torch agreed, looking towards the Mask, then nodding towards the doors on the other end. "Let's go." With this latest distraction handled, the two men quickly moved to catch up to escaping gangster, shoving the doors open to find the man and the mad doctor he'd run to. The gangster was doubled over in pain - something was wrong with him, it was clear - and the doctor greeted the two men. "Welcome! I'm afraid I can't stay, but I've made sure to leave you some entertainment." The Doctor reminded Jim of a movie he'd seen - Dracula. The man was pale enough that, in different lighting, he may have been pure white. And even in an entirely different situation, he'd be hard-pressed to think of him as anything but sinister. The doctor shoved Mike Russo towards the two men, though Russo stumbled and collapsed over himself. "What did you do?" The Laughing Mask's question went ignored, despite guns drawn on the villain who was turning to escape. The Torch shot himself towards the Mad Doctor, who slammed his fist into a button on a panel on the wall as he fled - a large steel shudder coming down behind him, cutting off the Torch's chase. The distraction would be short-lived, Jim thought, as he shot flame from both hands, working to melt through the shutter. "Torch!" The Laughing Mask called from behind. "Gonna need you to take a look at this!" Jim turned to see what the fuss was about, and saw the man in the gold mask stepping back away from the criminal on the ground - who was now convulsing on the floor. The sounds coming from the man - cracking, snapping - brought to mind twigs breaking, and even from his spot further away from the scene, Torch was sure he could see the man's limbs stretching in ways that should have seemed impossible. The shutter would have to wait, he supposed. 0 Comments

04/06/2021 12:36 PM  Untold Tales #3 Maggia and Mad Science Part 3 The sounds of a gunfight filled the air - pistols, shotguns, and Tommy guns, lead bullets crashing into steel cars and brick buildings - along with the cackling of a man in the darkness and the cries of the criminals who'd come here thinking they were in for an entirely different fight. "Sh*t, he got Eddie!" In the warehouse, the Torch and the Angel took cover behind the truck parked in the warehouse- and surveyed the situation. They weren't sure who the Mystery Gunman was - though there were some ideas - and it was clear he wasn't being nearly as careful with his aim as the Angel had been. "Friend of yours?" The Torch spoke up to the gunman at his side. The Angel shook his head. "No, but ---" Their conversation ended, cut off mid-thought, as the loud buzz of a safety alarm rang out behind them. Their attention turned to its point of origin, causing the Angel to call out "Damn it!" ------------------------------------------------ Mike Russo had been winged by the Angel in the initial shootout - the shot to the leg took him out of the fight for a moment, but he wasn't going to go down quite *that* easy. At least that's what he would tell people later on - in truth, he had just laid on the floor feigning unconsciousness until the unexpected gunfight outside erupted, distracting the two Mystery Men in the room with him. With their backs to him, he'd gotten up, slowly limping across to the back of the warehouse - though once he got about two-thirds to the back wall, he ran-slash-lunged the rest of the way, throwing himself to his destination. He flipped up the cover to the two-way intercom attached to the wall and held down the button as he spoke. "It's the Torch - and, and, the Angel! And some other guy, I think!" There was a pause, and no response, before he tried again. "Come on, you gotta let me in!" A second later, the safety alarm blared - and the floor beneath Mike Russo shifted with a KA-THUNK as the large square shifted, taking the man with it as it traveled downward. ------------------------------------------------ "Damn it!" The Angel was surprised by both the guts of the man who was trying to make his escape, and the fact that there was a secret elevator built into the floor - from the size of it, it looked like they intended to take these crates down at some point, maybe the whole truck. The Angel briefly tried to decide if they should deal with the commotion outside, or chase the man underground - but the Torch made the decision for himself.  The firey figure gave chase, and the Angel followed, both leaving the events outside to the men involved in them. It was just a distraction from what they'd both come here for, anyway. The Torch jumped down the shaft left by the moving floor first, the short fall ending with the 'CLANG' of him landing on the metal panels, followed by a second when the Angel joined him. They found themselves in a hallway, the floor and walls made of metal, bright white lamps lighting the way. The door at the end of the hallway was left partially open in the haste of the man they were following, and as they moved down the hall, they both were under the impression that this wasn't merely an escape route. The Torch grabbed the doorhandle, the heat from his flaming hand not quite enough to damage it at the moment, and as they readied themselves for whatever might be on the other side, another 'CLANG' came from behind them. The Angel whipped around, quick as he could, and aimed his gun.  The first thing he noticed was the pistol in his face. The second was the shiny gold mask he'd pointed his own gun at. 0 Comments

03/28/2021 12:58 PM  Untold Tales #2 Maggia & Mad Science: Part 2   They knew he was coming. Or that *somebody* was coming, anyway. The Angel had planned on sneaking in - but there were a lot more goons here than he'd been expecting, and they were specifically on the lookout. He'd been spotted, a gunfight started, and he'd found himself pinned down behind a stack of crates. Whatever was in them was, thankfully, too important for them to shoot through, but they weren't giving him an opportunity to move, either. Ignoring taunts and curses from the other side of the crates, the Angel checked and reloaded his guns, then glanced up at the skylight. Something caught his eye - at first, he thought it was just a star, but it was too bright for that, then his mind said 'spotlight' but it was too red for that - and he couldn't hear a helicopter. Finally, he settled on 'fireball', but he didn't know what that meant - before realizing it wasn't really any of those things. It was a Torch. The skylight shattered, raining broken glass into the building and onto the people below. Far less confident curses arose from the group of Maggia goons, most spinning around to open fire at the Human Torch - unlike the Angel, he had no need or interest in stealth. The gunfire did little to slow the Torch, and the burning man launched flames back at the gunmen - mainly heating the guns up enough to cause the men to drop them. The Angel, for his part, popped up from behind the crate, pistols at the ready, and used the distraction of the Torch's appearance to open fire himself. The men who didn't drop their guns due to the heat would drop them due to the new holes they suddenly found in their legs. He was careful with his aim - careful as could be, anyway - and did his best to ensure everyone would survive the night. Even if they wouldn't all technically walk away from it. Either one of the two so-called mystery men would have been able to clear the warehouse by themself - between the two of them, it took no time at all. Overall the firefight lasted seconds, leaving a group of wounded men groaning and tending to their various burns and bullet holes. The Angel stepped out from around the crates, reloading his revolvers. The Torch reached out, pointing his fist towards him - the Angel recognized it as the equivalent to holding a gun on him. The Torch spoke. "The Angel, right?" Thomas Halloway nodded, holstering his guns. "Right. And you're the Human Torch." Halloway didn't have to ask - it was hard to mistake him for anyone else. The Torch responded by lowering his arm. While that was being settled, the Angel kicked illegal guns away from their owners, across the room so they had to work a little harder if anyone decided to try to get the jump on them. The two Mystery Men approached each other, but the sound of cars pulling up outside drew their attention - The Torch annoyed by the apparent coincidence, but the Angel wondered if whoever knew he was coming had planned this. The Angel drew his guns again as they listened to the sounds of car doors opening and slamming shut, and voices speaking amongst themselves as the mobsters checked their submachine guns. Then, they heard another voice shouting from somewhere outside. "Nobody move and nobody gets hurt!" The Torch and the Angel gave each other a look, each wondering if the other knew what was going on, as the men outside stopped their approach and looked around in nervous confusion. "On second thought - Go ahead and move!" The two ran towards the door to try to stop whatever was going to happen next, but before they could, laughter erupted out of the darkness. And gunshots. 0 Comments

03/09/2021 07:14 PM  Untold Tales: Maggia & Mad Science Part 1 Maggia & Mad Science: Part 1   The black car sped through the city streets, police hot on their tail. The backseat of the car was full of ill-gotten laboratory equipment, the source of the trouble the two men in the front found themselves in now. "Turn here and then into the alley right around!" The man in the passenger seat yelled, turning around to try to keep an eye on the car behind him. The sudden turn knocked him hard into the car door, and he cursed, then again when the car made another sharp turn almost immediately. "Dammit, Johnny!" the man in the passenger seat yelled, though the reply shut him down "What?! You told me to!" The police car following them didn't make the second turn - speeding past the alley they'd found themselves in. The man in the passenger seat cheered, looking behind them to find the way clear. "Johnny, I think we did it, I think we lost---" BANG BANG The car's front tires exploded, forcing to a sudden, screeching halt, and rocking both men into the dashboard - well, Johnny mostly got the steering wheel. "What the hell was that?!" Then the passenger shouted, and Johnny righted himself, then gazed out the window with a look of defeat. "Well, Bobby, we're out of the frying pan, at least." Bobby's attention turned to the front, too, and replied the only way he could think. "Awe, man!" Some feet away, in front of the car, stood the Human Torch. After a moment, he moved towards the car, leaving a rapidly-extinguishing trail of fire behind him. Johnny hurriedly opened the driver's side door - and threw his gun out onto the ground. Bobby reacted, dumbfounded. "What are you doing?!" "I was hired to steal some beakers, I'm not fighting the Human Torch!" Johnny thought the logic was sound, and he carefully got out of the car, hands in the air. Bobby stayed put, though had silently given up on any idea of putting up a fight himself. A fireball hit the ground at Johnny's feet - a warning shot - and Johnny jumped. The Torch spoke, "Mind telling me where you're going in such a hurry?" Bobby leaned over towards the driver's side, but before he could tell his partner not to say anything, Johnny spilled the beans. "We were told to take it all to a warehouse at the docks and deliver them to somebody!" Bobby groaned, slumping back in the car's passenger seat, and the Torch followed up. "Deliver it to who?" Johnny shook his head. "I don't know - they just said 'the Doctor" The Torch stepped past Johnny, eyeing Bobby in the car for a moment before turning his attention to the backseat - checking on what, exactly, was being delivered. As he did, police cars turned into the alley, finally catching up with the two thieves. The Torch glanced towards the patrol cars, gave a short nod, then turned to Johnny. "Well, you boys have a nice night." Then the Torch shot up into the sky like a rocket, scorching Johnny's jacket and leaving the two men to the police. ------------------------------- In a bar across town, the Angel stood among a mess of broken furniture and injured men - the ones who weren't unconscious were groaning, tending to dislocated joints and broken bones. The only other man standing was the bartender, his hands in the air but otherwise defiant. "I already told the cops I don't know what you're talking about." The Angel stepped on-and-over one of the men on the floor, planting a foot on the goon's back and producing a pained groan as the vigilante-slash-detective stepped towards the bar. "Do I look like a cop? Is it the cape?" Behind him, one of the injured gangsters struggled to his feet, making a stumbling escape and slamming into the door on his way out. The Angel turned in reaction to the noise, but opted to let the escape happen - he didn't plan on being here long enough for it to be a problem, anyway. The distraction gave the bartender an opening, and he reached under the counter to grab his shotgun. Before he could get a good aim, the Angel whipped his cape around as he turned, distracting the would-be gunman long enough to draw his own gun and bring it level to the bartender's face. "Just tell me why Manfredi is snatching people off the street and where he's taking them." The bartender dropped the shotgun and put his hands back in the air. "He's having them taken to the docks - I don't know why!" The Angel believed him - and it was good enough information for now. He holstered his gun, but before the bartender could let out a sigh of relief, the caped detective reached across the bar and grabbed his tie, yanking him down to smash his face into the counter.  He had places to be, and didn't need to worry about turning his back on a man with a shotgun.   0 Comments

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