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NEW BOSNIA
Part 6: The Land of Blood and Honey
Catalogue of Universes:
- SW10 (Superhuman World 10) plus variants MW01, MW02, TW03
- LNH (Legion of Net.Heroes / Looniverse) plus variant Tooniverse, incorporating elements of the Charlton Universe
- MV (Marlo Vivo / Super Wizard from Space)
Dramatis Objecta et Personae:
- Scott Stiles, a.k.a. the "Super Savior", from Earth-SW10 ("Superhuman World 10").
- Psychovant the Duck, from Earth-SW10. Last seen in the Turkish Embassy to the Free City of New York; current location unknown.
- The Sultan Hope Springs VII, resident on Earth-TW03 ("Earth-Turkworld").
- Two "Kubrik's Kubes", cosmic artifacts from the "Looniverse" ("Earth-LNH").
- Atomic Rabbit / Atomic Bunny, from the "Charlton Universe" circa 1955, via the LNH Tooniverse.
- Gavrilo the Super Hermit Wizard Monster Bee from Beyond, from the universe of the Super Wizards From Space ("Earth-MV").
- Tor the Monster Bee, originally from Earth-MW01 ("Earth-Tyrmj"). Stung by Gavrilo.
All characters and items are now on Earth-TW03 ("Earth-Turkworld") unless otherwise specified.
What Has Gone Before:
The superhuman former basketball player Scott Stiles, also known as the Super Savior, has led 144,000 religious refugees from his famine-stricken Earth to an alternate Earth whose leading power is Turkey. The Turks were ready for them. They were captured near New York City by the army of this universe's Sultan, Hope Springs VII.
A hermit wizard monster-bee from yet a third universe was sucked along with the refugees. He used his wizard powers to resist capture, stung one man, then saved Scott Stiles and flew away. The stung man became a monster-bee and followed. They hid in a warehouse in Bayonne, New Jersey - known as New Bosnia here.
Mr. Stiles went out exploring, and heard about the True USA - which only goes as far west as Denver. Meanwhile, the bees captured a bunny and a duck - Atomic Bunny and Psychovant the Duck. Those were depowered, though Psychovant could still speak.
The Sultan began planning against the invaders. He has many consultants with many plans to deal with bees. One plan began with an artillery barrage. In the resultant combat, the monster bees and Psychovant the Duck (with powers restored) all broke loose from Scott Stiles' party. With nearly nothing left, Scott hooked up with a True USA agent, and went to a safe house with her.
Then the bunny spoke. He said they should capture two mystic cubes which were held in the Turkish Embassy to New York Free City. Scott and the True USA agent decided to free Scott's army from captivity instead.
Meanwhile, Psychovant freed one mystic cube from the Turkish Embassy.
Previous Episode: New Bosnia Part 5: The Land of Plans and Castles (www.eilertech.com/stories/2011/newbosnia5.txt)
Thursday 26 May 2011
The lady Kurdish agent of the True USA said, "Good news, Mister Super Savior from Beyond. We have passed all checkpoints into the Meadowlands stadium."
"Good. Let's find the Sentinel... Woaah." Scott Stiles shook his head. "Something's wrong."
"Nothing wrong with me, Mister Savior. Time for mission."
They stepped outside their delivery truck, along with a convoy full of American rebels. The rebels spread out. The Kurdish agent said, "You are best to track your Sentinel. Where now for us?"
"Lemme think... Lateran is helping the captors. He'd probably put the Sentinel on display right inside the stadium, just to demotivate everyone else."
"Okay. We check the field."
They peeked out a walkway. The Sentinel was at the other end, draped upon a goalpost. But Monster Bees buzzed all around.
The stadium didn't have a Jumbotron monitor, but it still had a public address system. On it, Lateran spoke. "Bonjour, Monsieur Stiles. As you can see, we have been expecting you." Turkish soldiers throughout the arena aimed rifles at the rebels.
But then a grating loudspeaker voice came down from the sky. "Hey! Vatican Deserter Dude! Private Business Coming Through!" Psychovant the Duck came down, holding a cube which crackled power.
Scott Stiles said, "Duck. Psychovant. We're fighting for liberty here. Have you picked a side?"
The demon duck laughed. "Ha! Depends... Where's yer rabbit??"
Scott was still carrying the sort-of Atomic Bunny in one of his pockets. It popped its head out and said, "Grr!"
"Okaay then." Psychovant smirked. "I got yer Kubrick's Kube here. I bet it'll restore you or destroy you. What you want? Leave me alone Forevermore Amen, or the Rabbit Kicks the Bucket?"
Scott looked down at the rabbit. It once again said, "Grr!"
Psychovant shrugged. "Okaay." Energies emerged from his cube.
Scott said, "No! You don't attack my bunny!" He jumped up to punch Psychovant.
But the duck smacked him aside with one webbed foot. "Hah. Ya seem a bit off today, Super-Schmuck. Been sniffin' that Monster Bee rhododendron honey?"
"Huh? What honey? And what do rhododendrons have to do with anything?"
"Ya idjit. I saw the Monster Bees feed - in a rhododendron garden! Any honey they made after that is poison - 'least for you 'cause yer not a duck! Yeah, you'll prob'ly recover, 'specially if ya just sniffed it."
"... Uh, I get that you're a walking encyclopedia, but how are you reaching all these conclusions?"
"... Huh. Must be the Kube." The cyborg demon duck stashed the cube in a pocket. Then he said, "Anyway, I betcha feel a bit woozy. Especially NOW!" He pulled an impossibly large mallet from another pocket, and in one fluid motion smashed Scott Stiles down hard enough to dent the stands.
As Scott shook his head, Psychovant kept talking. "And 'bout this Kube. It ain't power, it's knowledge. The rabbit said it brought his whole species up from the animals. I been there too. Whole species just shoudn't oughta go there. How'd it work out for your species, shaved-ape?" He brought his power-cube back out and refocused it.
But then the energies dissipated, and the cube dissolved!
From out Scott's pocket, a man-sized rabbit exploded and stood on two legs - in a costume. Atomic Bunny said, "There's been a cosmic reboot! Out there somewhere! I can feel it! I'M BACK!"
Psychovant said, "oh, yeah. I can feel it too... I'm GONE!" He (err) ducked into a portal and disappeared!
(see Rec.Arts.Comics.Creative: LNH: Just Another Cascade #12 part B! lists.eyrie.org/pipermail/racc/2015-April/014476.html )
Atomic Bunny stood man-sized and erect, in a costume with a cape and a stylized lightning bolt on the tunic. "HA!" He turned to Scott, and grinned. "You. True Friend. Is there anything you'd like me to help you with?"
Scott yelled, "Yes! THE BEES!"
"Glad to help!" Atomic Bunny bolted atomic fire from his hands. Monster Bees started fleeing, toward the east. But one bee flew the other direction - toward Atomic Bunny. The bee was surrounded by a crackling power shield.
Scott Stiles knew this bee. "Gavrilo!" The bee jerked briefly, but Scott knew he could only count on one more command. "Turn off your magic!"
The power shield disappeared.
Atomic Bunny turned back to Scott. "So is that one fair game now?"
"Uh, sort of. Don't kill him, but get him far far away from those other bees!"
"Okay, pal. Time for that bee to hop like a bunny!" Atomic Bunny jumped up, grabbed Gavrilo, whirled him around, and flung him over the western horizon.
Then Scott heard gunfire. He ducked back in the hallway with the Kurdish agent.
Six soldiers charged past the other way. Some were in olive drab fatigues, but most wore khaki camoflage uniforms - and Church of the Super-Savior logos. One of those stayed behind and said, "Are you okay, sir?"
"Woo hoo! It worked! ... But that was awfully easy."
One of the soldiers in olive drab said, "This was even easier than we thought. The prisoners weren't even guarded! Just behind some barred doors and some energy fields. Once the fields went down, we opened the doors real easy."
"But the fields... Must have been Gavrilo!" Scott went back to the door, and looked around. The Turkish soldiers were exchanging fire with True USA and Super Savior forces. The rebellion was on, as former prisoners poured onto the arena.
Atomic Bunny stood with his arms crossed on his chest. "Anything else?"
"Free him!" Scott pointed across the stadium, at the Sentinel draped upon the goalpost.
"Ehh, human, that is no living being."
"Whaat? They killed him??"
"Killed whom? ... No, that is just a decoy. Where I come from, we call them Scarecrows. Enough?"
Scott said, "I know you've probably got places to be. But without our big powered guy, I'll ask one more thing from you before you go. Stop the shooters from the top of the stands, and any tanks you see outside the stadium. We can take the rest."
"Okay!" The Atomic Bunny zipped around the stands, disarming sharpshooters.
Scott shook his head one last time, and looked up toward the sportcasters' stand in the stadium. "And Lateran's probably in there. So that place is my job. I am gonna be ready, right now!" He ran to build up his speed, then jumped toward the stand, section by section.
To Be Continued in New Bosnia Part 7, The Land of Thud and Blunder!
Author's Notes:
This is the first story I've written in conjunction with the new Superhuman World Wiki! To accompany this episode, I've added an entry for the Super Savior. www.eilertech.com/stories/wiki/Super_Savior.htm
For more explanation, I'm going to present some of the Factor Analysis from Ordered Realities here.
(Factor) Yeah, the Turks let their enemies in. At least the one Magic Monster Bee knew when enemies are coming. So they set up a lovely ambush.
(Factor) Monster Bees are still around, and they serve their new queen who in turn serves the Turkish Empire! Probably with the Women's Fast Artillery. The Artillery will be guarding targets either in New York or the Meadowlands - and New York wasn't built for artillery defense from land assault, was it. Scott Stiles only knows the names of two Monster Bees.
(Factor) Atomic Bunny approached the battle site without powers, and Psychovant the Duck approached with extra power from a Kubrick's Kube. But meanwhile in a distant universe, the Legion of Net.Heroes has been (briefly) made Never Was. That means: (1) Kubrick's Kubes have disappeared. (2) Atomic Bunny's been rebooted to his 1950s powers. Psychovant is not going to stick around to see how the battle goes under these new circumstances. And Atomic Bunny at full power can probably repel any number of Monster Bees as long as Psychovant isn't messing with him.
With this Atomic Bunny action, this is now the longest installment of New Bosnia. So I'll save some action for two more episodes.
(signed) Scott Eiler, 28 May 2015.
Gavrilo the Hermit Wizard Monster Bee is a character of Wil Alambre and is used by permission. Kubrik's Kubes were created by Adrian J. McClure. Atomic Bunny / Atomic Rabbit is a 1950s character of Charlton Comics and is now public domain. All other characters in this fiction are copyright 2015, Eiler Technical Enterprises. Psychovant the Duck is now once again available for use within Legion of Net.Heroes stories, unless we'd all like to assume that the whole universe tosses him out if he ever shows his beak there again. They've declared an intent to welcome Atomic Rabbit back, though; he is now available as well. 8{D>
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