by MlLash
And, oh yes, a time for...EVIL.
But whenever evil floats to the surface like a bloated corpse, the LMB EXPERIENCE is there, man!
Harken then, to these times of yore and the adventures of a band of friends who sought to keep the peace...through acts of war.
*LAST DAYS OF THE LMB EXPERIENCE*
ACID LAD---Able to disorient any foe with his psychdelic illusions!
SUNDOWN---You better take care, or this girl will smother you in darkness!
BOY 54---When his mojo is ON, you're HIS, body & soul!
RHINESTONE COWBOY---He knows what evil lurks on the dirty sidewalks of
Broadway!
ROLLER QUEEN---Hell on skates!
This is a tale of their greatest battle ever. The 60's are long gone, disco is stil the rage. The LMB Experience is unaware that change is on the wind...and that they are about to meet their fate at the hands of the sinister DR. BUTZ.....
Acid Lad dropped another hit. He stared around his dilpidated apartment with disgust, supressing a shudder of revulsion. He continued writing in his journal.
"You would think a hero deserved BETTER than this. No one remembers how WE kept the peace at Woodstock. No one rememebers ANYTHING we do. It's all a joke to the press, to the people...DAMN! It's all falling apart.
"Sundown keeps slipping closer and closer to the dark side. She won't SAY it, but I know she's seeing someone else. And why not? She deserves the BEST...not a loser whose own POWERS make him immune to any kind of herbal escape!!!!
"Boy 54 never has gotten over Platform King leaving him and the LMBE. The stupid kid is worse than EVER. For all I know he's out whoring every NIGHT now. It used to be just when Platform King was on a mission.
"Rhinestone Cowboy has just about gone over the edge since the breakup with Roller Queen. Every time some 2-bit hoodlum is reported dead on the news, II KNOW it's him. He's obsessed.
"Queenie is having a blast in the roller derby, though. She's really lightened up since they split.
"We are the final five LMBE...or ARE we? No mission in WEEKS and I'm depressed as all hell. Good thing I'm going to see Dr. Elmo "BOOTS not BUTTS" Butz today....I got a lot to get off my mind...."
Acid Lad dropped another hit, knowing, like the hundreds before, that it would have no effect. He set his journal aside and prepared for his visit to the shrink....
Sundown's thoughts were an incoherent stream that raged into a flood as she plunged the needle into her vein. No longer able to hide her track marks from Acid Lad, she had kind-of unofficially stopped seeing him. He couldn't feel what she felt from this, he couldn't know that this was a power like no other, a love like no other, he couldn't see her like this, he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he.....
Sundown fell back against the wall and felt no pain when her head smacked the floor. As sweet unconsciousness beckoned, she knew that she HAD to see him. She needed help and she could no longer fight the darkess alone...
All eyes were on the boy. Not one person in the smoke-filled room COULD turn away. He held them ALL in his power as he danced to the pulsating disco beat. If he wanted, he knew that he could have any of them. But he had had NO ONE since Platform King.
This dance floor was his dining room, and the souls kept in sway his dinner. He was a kind of vampire, he knew. Would Platform King have understood?
This was his ONLY means of survival. REAL food would kill him. "SHOULD I HAVE TOLD HIM?!?"
He continued the dance.
He COULD have used his power to KEEP the King with him. He COULD have fed on the King.
He wanted the King to stay with him because he WANTED TO, not because he was made to.
The boy exited the dance floor and then the bar, satiated. As he began the long, lonely walk home, the entrancement of the spectators lifted. They would remember only the most stunning boy they had ever seen, but unable to describe him....they would call him Boy 54....
He'd been walking these streets so long that he knew every crackhead on the dirty sidewalks, every hooker on the street corner. Hustle was the name of their game, and he let them be. The whores were the ONLY thing that took his mind off....Queenie.
The prostitutes only gave TEMPORARY solace...his thoughts were of her at all other times...EXCEPT...
He felt the jab in his back, heard the desperation in the voice..."Gimme yer MONEY, Tex...NOW!"
Rhinestone Cowboy instinctively activated his power-suit. The mugger was blinded by the brilliance emitted and the gun was quickly removed from his hand.
R.C. drug the punk down a dark alleyway. The street people ignored the muggers pleas for help. They knew to stay out of HIS way. Eventually the punk's cries ended. Rhinestone Cowboy exited the alleyway, splattered in blood that was NOT his own.
And again his thoughts turned to her. He ambled on down the sidewalk, praying for the NEXT respite from her memory.....
>>>BASH!<<<
2-Fisted Frieda went down HARD! One more opponent out of the way.
A well-timed body smash into Skatin' Sally sent her tumbling into the path of Wanda Wheels. Both girls crashed on the alley floor.
The cheers form the audience were better than ANY drug she had ever tried. They called her name in unison, worshipping her as if she really WERE royalty. And she WAS Roller Derby Royalty. She was the ROLLER QUEEN and now they ALL knew it!
Her thoughts raced, fueled by adreneline.
The LMBE had been treated like a joke for years, even their worthwhile accomplishments made to look ridiculous by the press. But HERE...here, she had respect. Here, she was free from the smothering, obsessive desire of the Cowboy. She was a celebrity!
She hadn't answered a signal from them in weeks and they finally had STOPPED signalling her. But she couldn't help but hope they were doing alright...even the Cowboy.
"QUEENIE QUEENIE QUEENIE QUEENIE" the chant of the audience snapped her back to reality. This derby was over, and once again she had led her team to victory.
Acid Lad focused on the smooth, comforting tone of Dr. Butz' voice.
"So you feel that Sundown has taken up with another gentleman friend?"
"Heh. Yeah, that's..ONE way of putting it." He placed a tablet underneath his tongue.
You DO understand why you are immune to drugs, don't you?"
"No. I just know it started happening a few years ago right before my powers kicked in."
"That is because your body metabalizes the drugs...and turns them into your illusion power."
Acid Lad's eyes grew wide. "Are you saying..."
Dr. Butz finished his sentence: "The more drugs you take, the more powerful you become. You will NEVER feel their effects, but if you were to discontinue their use, your powers would atropy."
Acid Lad seemed to relax, his body sinking further into the chair. "Well, that explains...a lot, actually."
Dr. Butz continued. "Tell me more...about the LMB Experience themselves. You have spoken of Roller Queen, Rhinestone Cowboy and Boy 54 only in passing. I am...pardon the metaphor...DYING to learn more of your feelings for them."
Acid Lad took a deep breath. "Well, Doc, let me tell ya....."
Sundown's trembling hand reached for the phone on her nightstand. Just a few inches more...
She fell back to the floor, without the strength to try again. Her incoherent thoughts bounced to and fro and kept returning to the dealer she had bought this heroin from. She had never seen him before. She knew better than to do that, but she was desperate at the time...Too well-dressed. He had been too well dressed. What dealer had she ever seen dressed like that?
And he had called her by name...
Not even the press could get her name right... "Sunflower...Sun Girl..."
She would have laughed if she had the strength.
But HE had called her Sundown...
GOD! He had been TOO well dressed and she had NEVER felt like this before.
In desperation, she again attempted to lift herself from the floor, to reach for the phone. She wanted to call Acid Lad...one last time.
She again fell to the floor. As darkness closed in, her ocean of thoughts became a simple stream..."I'm dying a junkie I'm dying a junkie I'm dying a junkie I'm dying...."
Boy 54 entered his tiny apartment. It only seemed SMALLER with the King gone. He should have been honest. He knew some of the others thought the worst when he went out "clubbing"---what else COULD they think?---and the rumours had finally forced the King to leave him.
Boy 54 exhaled a weary sigh of realization. "I am a vampire that feeds not on blood but on lust. Which is really more evil?"
He threw himself apon his mattress and stared at the neon shining through his window, waiting for its unearthly glow to lull him to sleep.
The ring of the telephone sent jolts of shock, excitement and fear through him....was it the King? He picked up and said "Hello?" hesitantly.
"Boy..."
It was Rhinestone Cowboy. he hadn't seen or heard from him in days. Boy 54 had always felt uneasy around the Cowboy. Most people, both male and female, fed him a constant low-level stream of lust, even when his power was "turned off". Not the Cowboy, not even once. The sound of his voice on the phone made Boy 54 very afraid for reasons he just couldn't comprehend. This man had been a trusted teammate of his for years...
"Rhinestone? What...what's wrong?"
R.C. breathed heavily on the other end, then said "I'm going to kill Roller Queen."
Boy 54 was more than taken aback. "You don't mean it, Cowboy!"
"I've killed every night for 2 weeks straight, Boy. Don't tell ME I don't mean it."
Silence for a moment, and then R.C. continued, "Do you know what she left me with, Boy? A subway token and a dollar stuck inside my shoe. I can't stop thinking about her!!"
"I miss Platform King too, Cowboy. But I wish him WELL, not dead!"
"I'm...lonely, Boy...." his voice cracked with tears and for the first time ever, Boy 54 could identify with Rhinestone Cowboy.
"Where are you, Cowboy?"
"A pay phone down the street from her pad."
Boy's heart suddenly raced. "For God's sake, just STAY there! I'm on my way. Let's...let's get some coffee or something."
"I'm waiting."
Boy 54 slammed down the phone and raced out the door, knowing full well he couldn't drink coffee but fearful for the Cowboy and Queenie. He ran as if his inner demons had been thrust suddenly outside, chasing him......