by MlLash
Only a couple of feet in the alley and he realized he was NOT alone. Somebody was watching him...WANTING him so badly, he began to drink in the desire inadvertantly. He was so starved...in more ways than one...he realized he could feed on a desire this strong all night. He hadn't even had to activate his empathic power! And he was TIRED of being alone...
"Who's there? I feel you. I want to see you...."
He continued the inadvertant drinking of the lust that emanated from the dark alley. There was no way, at THIS point, he could resist it...
"Come out. Let's go to my apartment..."
The shadows moved and writhed, and the form of a man appeared. Boy 54 noticed the well-off appearance right away. A nice-looking middle aged man nearly DROWNING in lust. This man was probably somebody's husband and a father, too...but it mattered not to Boy 54. The man was HIS tonight.
"Come over here. Touch me...."
The stranger approached Boy 54 rapidly. Boy felt the desire from the man almost beating him. He had NEVER felt such a strong surge before...
The stranger backed Boy up against the alley wall. He touched his face, moved his rough hand across his cheeks, and then rested the hand on his neck. Boy 54 did not resist as the stranger pulled him in for a kiss...he was in a state of euphoria that he had denied himself for FAR too long...
So high was Boy 54 from drinking in the astronomically powerful desire of this stranger that it was several minutes before he realized he had been cut...repeatedly. As his eyes opened in full realization, the stranger's hand tightened around his throat. The man used the full weight of his body to keep him pinned on the alley wall as his other hand plunged the knife in again and again.
Boy 54 tried to sieze control of the man's mind, but was unable to prevent the attack. The stranger whispered in his ear as he continued his brutality, "Surprised, Little Boy? You pathetic mind-controlling leherous sodomite! You can't control me...you can't make me WANT YOU more than I already do...DEAD."
Several minutes later, the shadowy man exited the alley, his grisly work accomplished. It had been a MOST satisfying week for him. Most satisfying, indeed.....
Roller Queen sipped her morning coffee (aaah, who was she fooling? She never got up before noon...!) and looked at the newspaper half-interested. A headline caught her eye:
"SECOND LMB EXPERIENCE MEMBER FOUND DEAD IN A WEEK"
She yelped as she spilled coffee on her hand. She sat the cup aside and continued reading....
"The enigmatic LMB Experience member known as Boy 54 was found murdered in an alleyway beside his apartment complex early this morning, police say. Police reports state that he died from multiple stab wounds numbering at least 40, and strangulation. Boy 54, an alleged homosexual, is the second member of the LMB Experience to be found dead in a week. Sunflower, girlfriend of LMBE leader Acid Boy, was found dead in her apartment last week from what was first ruled suicide but later changed to drug overdose. The LMB Experience has proven to be an embarassing blemish on the record of the Justice Society of Message Board posters, and current public opinion favors these former heroes coming out of retirement and forcibly disolving the sex and drug-addled shenanigans perpetrated by the LMB Experience. As of this writing, not one JSMB member has stepped forward..."
Roller Queen wadded up the paper and hurled it across the room. "Bastards can't even get their f#cking NAMES right..."
Her anger quickly gave way to sorrow as the realization that Boy 54 was dead hit home. "Boy..." she wiped a tear from her face. "...I thought YOU would be the one to live forever..."
Acid Lad sat in Dr. Butz' office staring at the old photograph. It was, to the best of his knowledge, the last picure ever taken of the united Justice Society of Message Board Posters. Rumour had it, it was taken just before they disbanded following a witch-hunt by the Un-American Activities Committee in the 50's.
Legends such as The Loser, Lard Knight, the Green Miasma, Ultra-Lass, the Sub-Humanoid, Whip Lash, Doctor Mid-Day and the Lady Patriot were smiling up at him. Even the enigmatic Phantom Ghost, War Rrren and Concillator were there. And Flying Squirrel with Squirrely the Boy Rodent. Scrapper Man and Slugger, the Boy Battler...what in the world had ever become of them?
His thoughts were interrupted by Butz' voice..."Are you going to stare a the photograph all day, Lad, or are you going to talk to me about the recent tragedy?"
Acid Lad thought for just a moment, then replied, "The 'recent tragedy' was beyond my ability to help. Boy 54 had been heading down a dark path for months now...It caught up wih him. I'll miss the kid...but he had been nothing but miserable for a while now..."
Dr. Butz snorted, "You HAVE changed, Lad. You haven't partaken of any drugs in your last 2 visits with me."
"I don't need 'em anymore, Dr. Butz. They won't take away the pain and I don't need the powers anymore. Let someone ELSE try to save the world. Someone the world WANTS...like THESE guys...." Acid Lad waved the picture of the JSMB. He then pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit the picture.
"WHAT are you DOING?"
"I'm saying goodbye to a legacy. I'm saying goodbye to MY failure to live up to it. I'm saying goodbye to YOU, Doctor. And hello to ME."
Acid Lad rose and exited the office. Dr. Butz stared at the picture burning in his ashtray. As the smiles of the gaudily-dressed men, women and boys turned black and fell to ash, he frowned.
"Some doors, once opened, can never be closed, Lad. As you will learn all too soon....."
In the corner of the office the TV flickers to life, a blurred black and white image forms the reporter is saying..............
�We interrupt our scheduled programmes to go live via Telstar satellite to a secret location in England to hear a brief statement from the Green Miasma on behalf of the Justice Society.�
The camera pulls back to reveal a masked man sitting in a warm study...
�Gentleman of the press, thank you for coming here at such short notice. Recent events in America involving the LMB Experience have led to calls for the JSMB to come forward and save the day. I have spoken to my dear friends who have asked me to read to you the following statement.
"You will remember that The Justice Society was forced to disband by Senator McCarthy, many years ago. It now seems ironic, in the extreme, that those very forces of fear and mistrust that hounded the Society out of existence should now call on the JSMB to save them. Let me state categorically that when the JSMB disbanded itself the baton was passed on to a new, younger group of heroes, the LMBE, it is to them that you should now turn in your hour of need.
"It saddens me to say that �War Rrren and the Queen of Diamonds they�re gone. The Conciliator was ripped apart, Candi and Ames left powerless as plain old mortals. The Lard Knight has suffered a heart attack. The Loser, the Beagle Twins and Whip Lash suffer from extreme old age. Like all the rest of us. I wanted to do more, we all did. But left at this age..........my reactions aren�t swift enough, sure enough, I�m finished as The Green Miasma�.
The camera returns to the studio where a shocked reporter continue�s.
�So ladies and gentlemen there you have it. The torch held with nobility and honour by the first generation has been passed. We ask for no applause, no words of congratulations, Let the silence scream respect.�
We now return you to our scheduled programming.
Rhinestone Cowboy was even MORE furious than usual. He had watched the telecast from the sidewalk outside YuWanna TV.
"The dumbasses don't even realize the LMB is ALREADY finished. WE did their work FOR them...or, at least, Acid Lad did..."
R.C. was startled by a familiar voice calling out behind him.
"Talking to yourself, honey-britches?"
He continued walking and didn't acknowledge Roller Queen.
"That sure was s#itty what you did last week, walking out on Acid...on ALL of us...it was s#itty and mean."
He continued to walk even though she had skated up alongside him, keeping pace with him.
"You f#cking ignorant redneck! You think you're made of stone. Don't need nobody anymore, huh? Well, don't be F#CKING calling me when they come after YOU!"
R.C. came to a dead stop. He turned to Roller Queen, targeting her with an exaggerated sneer. "They WHO, exactly?"
"Got your attention, huh?"
"Not really, just wanna know who THEY are. Who do you think has balls enough to come after ME? Hell, woman, I've beaten werewolves. I've faced down men THREE times my size. Now go on home. You and me are kaput, the LMB is kaput. Just...leave me alone." He resumed walking at a quick pace.
Roller Queen called out to him, "We're TARGETS, R.C.! Sundown and Boy 54 WEREN'T the first! I've been doing research..."
"REEEEEEEEEE-search", he called back mockingly, "What, did you get a diploma from Roller Derby College?" He continued on, shaking his head and laughing.
Roller Queen held her head down in defeat. He was too hurt to listen to her. She was stupid to come to him first. Acid would listen to what she had to say...he HAD to, if he valued his life.....
Roller Queen couldn't believe her eyes when she entered Acid Lad's apartment. "What do you think you're doing, Acid?"
"Packing. I'm leaving the city, Queenie. Decided I wanna see what country living is all about."
"Have you flipped your f#cking lid, Acid? You're just running away..."
"Queenie, you have your Derby. Rhinestone has his obsessions. What do I have? What has this city ever done for me? Not a thing. I'm leaving, no matter WHAT you say..."
"Don't bet on it..." She reached in her equipment bag and pulled out a pile of papers. "Check these out first." She threw the papers on his ragged bed.
Intrigued, Acid Lad sat on the bed and began rummaging through the papers.
He almost instantly regretted it. "Jesus H. Christ!"
"Keep looking. It gets worse."
"My..GOD..."
"I don't think there's any way we can deny it, Acid...we're f#cking worm-food if we split up..."
Acid Lad put down the papers. "What about Rhinestone? Have you told him?"
"The ignorant hick wouldn't even LISTEN. He wouldn't give me a chance..."
"Well, we know he's out there somewhere right now. I think we'd better go find him."
Rhinestone Cowboy was PRAYING some punk would try to mug him. He wanted nothing more than to spot some guy trying to jack a car. ANYTHING to get his mind off of....
Hell, what did she MEAN, "targets"? Of course they were targets. Targets for every single criminal they had ever put down. Not that HE had to worry about any of the ones since Queenie left him...he had made very sure of THAT.
Damn, it was as if world peace had happened or something. He hadn't spotted a SINGLE misdeed tonight. Not even a wino peeing on the sidewalk.
What was the deal, anyway? People walking their dogs, joggers running unafraid, dressed up city slickers taking a stroll....
"Hello, Rhinestone Cowboy."
R.C. was unprepared for that. The city slicker spoke to him. NO ONE ever spoke to him but the whores...and the criminals.
"Howdy."
"Slow night for you tonight, eh?"
R.C. immedietely went on the defensive. "And what would you be MEANING by that, fella?"
"You know very well what I mean by that." The man swung at Rhinestone. The punch connected and the Cowboy hit the pavement.
R.C. spit out blood...and a tooth. He began to rise and said, "Mister, I wanna THANK you...you just made my NIGHT..."
A second punch lifted him an inch off the ground. He landed hard and knocked the breath out of him. He had never---NEVER---been hit so hard.
Through blurry eyes he saw the man advancing on him. He activated his power suit, planning to catch his breath while the guy was blinded. The brilliance had no apparent effect on his attacker, but it served to illuminate him. Rhinestone gasped.
"I...I KNOW you..."
The man picked Rhinestone up by the collar of his shirt. "You only THINK you do, imbicile..." A backhanded swing of the attacker's large fist sent the Cowboy crashing to the pavement again. He tried to fight the blackness...he couldn't pass out...he would be helpless...
His vision went dark and the last thing he saw was the maniacal grin of the madman reaching for him again.....