Issue 9-The Chase

The figure that stood in front of Andy put his hand up.
"I do not wish to fight you," it told, "instead I have come only to warn you."
"Warn me of what? Who made these statues? Where is Courtney?"
"Only one of these questions can I answer." His voice is very deep and throaty, and his skin tone is more of a pink rather than the normal pigment of a human's skin. This creature has two large bat wings, and is consequently shirtless, but is wearing long jeans, rolled up at the end. The also bald creature saw the statue of himself and walked up to it. "I've come to warn you about yourself. I don't know how there are two of you, but there are. He sent me to kill you, Liberator did. But I can see that he has done the same to you as he did to me."
"What do you mean?" asked Andy. The figure was walking around, looking at the various statues.
"He's in charge of it all, all the distribution of abilities, it's all Liberator. He's sick, ranting about some sort of another world in which 'justice does not exist' and 'where people can be properly liberated'.
"You see, I used to be like you were, confused, depressed, and with nowhere to go. I signed up to be in the army, and they put me in a 'special' division. That's where I met him, Liberator. He told me all about his plan, before handing me a pill and demanding I take it. I did, and the next day I woke up with these." He motioned towards his wings. "For some reason, he said I was different. After a few days my skin tone started to turn; he was monitoring me closely and he said that he had never seen a subject behave like this before. I slowly started to develop my other abilities, the breath, the voice, the strength, and the ability to blend into the shadows. Liberator was relishing it, but he said that I had to stop. He told me that I was changing, becoming a monster, and only drugs would suppress it from attacking me further. So, he developed these pills that I take, and in repayment, I do his bidding. He sent me down here to kill you. I'm warning you because I want someone to stop him, even if it means the end of me. Beware, Justice, for you are the only one who can."

...

Shannon now find herself on a landmine in the middle of nowhere and she knew that the person that had kidnapped her in the first place would be back soon. She suddenly heard something behind her and looked back to see that figure who had spoken to her before walking towards her. She tensed up, but knew that she couldn't move. He was still quite a few yards away when she looked down at the landmine. Somehow, she knew exactly how to disable it, and she quickly bent down, removed the proper levers, pushed the right buttons and heard a click. She then took off running.
"No! Don't run!" she heard the figure behind her yell, "We're not done playing. Besides, you will never get past everything!" She had no clue what he meant by that, but she was not looking back. She could see all the spots on them that had landmines, with her recently acquired 'robo-vision'. She could tell where all the traps were that he had set and was able to avoid them, but this quickly slowed her down, and he was able to catch up with her. The figure grabbed her by the arms and spun her around. He hit her on the neck and she collapsed.
"Such a hard one to hold, but oh, so important."

...

"How do you expect us to find the Andy Martin that sounds more like the one I know?" asked Zac. He, Brady, Jeremiah, and Zane had lit a fire and were resting in the cave.
"Maybe we should go out and discuss it over dinner," answered Brady.
"We can't leave," replied Zane, "This is the only safe place. This is, for some reason, the only place that Liberator can't teleport to."
"We have to take the chance," spoke Jeremiah, "We have to try to find Justice and end Liberator's reign. There is no way that Liberator will know exactly where we are or where we are going. But, he have to split up. As a foursome we have no chance at finding Justice. Zac, why don't you come with me, and Brady, you go with Zane." He stopped talking and turned two stones near him into gold. "This will pay for all your expenses." He tossed one to each of them. Brady and Zac exchanged numbers so they could keep in contact with each other as the four prepared to leave. Zane pulled Jeremiah aside.
"Do you think we can trust them? After all, we've just met them."
"We don't have much of a choice. We won't get a better chance at taking down Liberator after what he has done to us. Besides this is just like what you foresaw." He put a hood on that was connected to a heavy jacket worn in order to conceal his all-golden appearance. The two groups set out. Zac and Jeremiah set out first, with Zane looking on with an uncomfortable look on his face. He turned towards Brady.
"Let's go, yellow one."

...

A woman wakes up in what she thinks is her home, remembering nothing from the day before. The last thing she remembered was working as a hosstess two days prior. She gets up and quickly realizes that this is not, in fact, her house. She was frightened, but she started to explore the house that she now found herself in. The didn't feel good, but fortunately she is able to quickly stumble her way into a bathroom. She throws some water on her face, and looks into the mirror. It is then that she notices that her skin has turned blue, and her eyes had turned black.
"What the *&%$?" she yelled as she punched the nearest wall, and it immediatly caught fire. A gas came out of a vent in the wall that knocked out the woman. Liberator looked at the whole incident from the other end of the two-way mirror with a smile on.

...

Andy was still reeling from the information just given to him from this mysterious creature while still trying to figure out who made the statues.
"How can you prove all this?" he asked the creature.
"I'm afriad I can't. but for right now, you are just going to have to trust me. Here, these will suppress any further mutation of your DNA like what happened to me."
"I'm not taking anything!!" Yelled Andy. "What happened to you won't possibly happen to me." But by the time he was done talking he lifted up his shirt, to see that two more arms had sprouted below where the other ones were.

~Good Luck and Good Eats.

Issue 8-The Stautes

Andy had just seen Courtney Miller drop and was left in front of a melted circle of street. He was still determined to find her, and even Cody, though. Even though he knew it would be a long shot, he jumped down the hole. He found himself in the sewer, although there was an advantage, as there were many random rats to talk with.
"Hey, did you see a girl run through here?" He asked the nearest rat.
"Yeah, she ran in the same direction that you're facing," it replied. Somehow, he didn't know how, but Andy knew that the rat was lying. It was just a gut instinct, but he was sure of it.
"It's not smart to lie to someone who's so much bigger than you, and has four arms."
"Sorry about my son, he's still learning," replied another rat that came up on the scene. She came into the light, and both the mother rat and Andy could now see each other clearly, as there was a seldom-seen light in the sewer. "Wait," suddenly started the rat, "How can you be here?"
"What do you mean?" questioned Andy.
"I think that you need to follow me," replied the mother rat, and Andy began to, while still not forgetting about Courtney.

...

Brady had suddenly found himself and Dr. Moriarty transported to some cave. He looked around to see the creature, the person who had teleported them there, and someone else whose face he could not see.
"What's going on?" Brady quickly asked.
"You fought off the creature's scream-how'd you do it?" question the teleporter.
"Don't listen to them, run, run while you can, Brady!" screamed the doctor. The creature made a physical motion and knocked the doctor unconscious.
"I demand to know what is going on." sternly and solidly said Brady.
"Oh, I see, you are the doctor's first 'patient'," noted the teleporter, "Well well, the old doctor must have mastered the bacteria method after all, perfect. I wish I could study you further, stranger, but I am afraid that you will not like what you see." He then ran at Brady, and pushed him out of the cave, that, as Brady could see as he was falling, was very high up in an unknown mountain. Brady thought he was a goner for sure.

...

"You want proof?" Zane asked Zac, "I will give you proof." He then looked at his watch. "Fly, fly out of the cave."
"Alright," Zac replied and he flew out of the cave.
"Alright, now stay there, Zac, don't move. It won't take long." Zac was hovering just outside the cave. "Ok, now look up." Zac looked up to see someone, with a yellow lab coat on, falling quickly. He flew up and caught the falling stranger, but the impact knocked them both back into Mid Cave. They tumbled into the cave, nearly knocking down Jeremiah in the process. They both got up quickly, as the cave is very large with lots of room.
"How'd you know that he was going to be there?" questioned Zac.
"Where am I? Who are you people?" Questioned Brady.
"You see," began Zane, "The Liberator is not the only one to have seen the future. I was introduced to the same machine as Andy, but I was just granted the ability to 'see' the future, although I didn't turn out to be a crazy serial killer. However, The Liberator found out about my precognitive abilities which is why he stuck me in this body, and under that boat. The last thing I saw before my consciousness was transferred was this man falling. Proof enough?"
"Why didn't Andy just kill you?" asked Zac
"The Liberator is a very complicated individual. I know that he didn't want me dead, that's why he placed me in this indestructable body. He's been to the past, the future, and everywhere in between. He has his own morals; perhaps in his own sick, twisted mind he can't kill me, or perhaps he just wants to watch me suffer, I don't know. What I do know is that right now we do not have enough fire power to take down The Liberator and his entourage."
"That's for sure," chimed in Brady, "He's got some sort of creature, and someone else working with him. This creature is really powerful, and hits hard."
"I can take him," told Zac turning on his force-field.
"No," answered Jeremiah, "To take down The Liberator, there is only one more person we need: four-armed Andy Martin."

...

Andy was following the mother rat and followed her right into where the sewer opened widened into an encircled area. It was a dead-end, but a very interesting dead-end.
"This is how I know you already," told the rat. In the closed area, stood several stone statues of different people. Andy began to examine the statues closely. He saw a four-armed one and walked over to it to see that it was him, he saw a two-armed one on the ground, looking as if it had been erodded slightly, and noticed that it was also him. He didn't know any of the other people, except that there was a statue of Courtney with hardly a face on it at all.
"Who made these? When did they get here?" inquired Andy.
"I don't know. You are the first of any of them to show up, although, wait no, help!" Andy turned around to face the rat and saw a creature, with large bat wings standing there having just bitten off the head of the rat. It was definitely a human, like Andy, but also like Andy had grown sub-human characteristics.
"You want to throw down? Let's throw down." spoke Andy, gearing up into a fighting stance.

~Good Luck and Good Eats

The Giant's Heroes-Issue 7

Andy had decided to go out and try and find Cody, or Courtney, after seeing the news that their house had burned down and their father and dog had burned down with it. He got in his car, only to find out that it didn't work. He was ticked, but realized that he had the entire animal kingdom at his disposal, so he walked to the nearest pet store.
"Hi," began the receptionist, "What can I help you with?"
"I'm just looking around, thank you though." His two extra arms were hidden beneath his shirt. He walked over to the nearest cat, knowing them to be trustworthy.
"I need some information about a human that I saw on the news. Who do I need to speak with?"
"Try going to the news station and talking with them," answered the receptionist, not understanding that Andy was talking to the cat.
"There's a certain cat, well, kind of, that could give you info on anybody, human or animal," replied the cat, "This cat asks tons of animals from all around about information; it would be equivalent to one of your human 'wise men'. This cat resides in a place called Mid Cave, finding it to be acceptable. Go there, and you will get what you need. The only thing is, only wild animals know where Mid Cave is."
"Thanks," spoke Andy and quickly left to go find a wild animal.

...

"You see," began Jeremiah Midas to Zac, "Andy Martin has taken on a new life as The Liberator. With the power to traverse space and time like it is nothing, there's really not too many limits on what he can do. He started by gaining the ability to teleport across vast distances, although few people really know how. And time and space are brothers, when one is traversed, it isn't long until the other platuea is conquered as well. I know it sounds strange, but he has his own ideals. Sometimes he goes to places, and liberates, and brings peace and prosperity, while other times he wreaks havoc, and kills random innocents. As far as I know, Zane and I have been the only people to oppose is seeminly owned power trip. He knows this, and that's why we're here: it seems to be the one place he can't teleport to. He trapped my friend here in this body, and then in that boat, where you found him. With your added insight, we might be able to finally bring an end to The Liberator's vicious reign of unopposed randomness." Zac was conflicted: Andy had always been a good friend, and this certainly did not sound like the Andy Martin he knew.
"Prove this all," was Zac's only reply.

...

Shannon ran outside where she was being held, to find herself in a desert. There was nothing for she didn't know how far, and no way in sight of reaching anybody. She has seen someone run past her, that she was now able to see was...Amanda Gage? Shannon had no idea how Amanda could run so fast, or how she got there, but then again, she didn't know how she herself was there.
"Hey! Amanda, wait." Shannon found that she could also fun quite fast because of the much increased strength in her leg muscles. But, Amanda was still losing her, and quickly, as Shannon could not keep up with her speed. Shannon was thirsty, but she was in a desert. She quickly looked around and could somehow tell which plants would give her water, and she ran to the nearest one. Before she could reach it, on one step she heard a click. She looked down to see herself standing on a landmine.
"AMANDA!!" she called, but Amanda was already gone.

...

Brady had been sitting, waiting patiently for Dr. Moriarty to wake up. After about an hour, he did.
"Alright," started Brady, "I want to know what the hell is going on, and I want to know now."
"Alright," replied the doctor, "I guess for saving my life, you are entitled to it. I used to be a normal doctor, I had patients and such, nothing out of the ordinary. Until one day, I was taken, forcefully from my home, and forced to ingest a mysterious serum. This serum allowed me to do great things, but it quickly wore off, after about only a week. That's when the people that had forced me to drink it contacted me. They wanted to run some tests, find out why it had worn off of me, but not from that creature that you just saw, he used to be human too. It was three people who contacted me, the creature you just saw, a young man, who did all the talking, and another individual, who never showed his face. My specialty was genetics, and they offered to spare me from the tests that they had planned to put me through, if I could develop an effective serum, or some method at all, for making people, like you, special. No doubt that he'll be here soon now."
"Who?" questioned Brady.
"Him." Brady turned around to see Andy Martin, the one with only two arms. He grabbed Brady and the doctor, and in the next instant nobody was there.

...

Andy had set out to find a wild animal. 'Where do you find one in Glendora?' he thought to himself. He bumped into someone, and turned around to say sorry. He then realized that this person was Courtney, but she had a hood covering her face, and she looked rather despondent.
"Courtney, are you ok? I saw the news. Please, I can help you sort things out."
"Andy, just leave. I am going to make them pay now. All of them." He saw something dripping off of her, and the drips destroyed whatever they touched. Then all of a sudden, without ever looking up, a ring of the street below her melted, and she fell through, with Andy looking on.

~Good Luck and Good Eats

The Giant's Heroes-Issue 6

Andy Martin had just walked into a hotel room to find himself pacing across the room.
"Hello, Justice, I won't be here long, don't worry, I just need to find something that I left here." 'Other Andy' was searching under the bed, and all around the room for something.
"Wait, but who?" Andy appeared very confused.
"Oh yes, I suppose that introductions are in order, even though we've met several times, you've even tried to kill me a few times. The name's The Liberator. Now, I have one question for you: animals and werewolves, or statues?"
"Statues, what? What are you talking about, and who are you?" Andy was persistent. 'Other Andy' found something beneath the bed of the motel room.
"Ah," he began, "I knew I hid it somewhere, thank you. And from your answer I know that the answer is werewolves and animals, thank you, Justice. Now, before I make my leave, I suppose that introductions should be in order, even though we've met several times before, or I guess after would be more correct; you've even tried to kill me before. The name's Liberator."
"Andy," replied Andy, shaking Liberator's hand, but suddenly he was gone from the motel room and back at his house.

...

Zac was still getting used to the idea of Jeremiah Midas. Zac was sitting down on the floor of Mid Cave while Jeremiah and Zane were talking.
"Look," started Zac, "I saved you, that's all I had to do. I don't need this, I'm going home."
"Wait, we could use a man of your unique talents, Zac," replied Zane.
"Use me for what?"
"You haven't told him yet?" questioned Jeremiah.
"He said that he knows Andy."
"You know Andy?" asked Jeremiah, "Then you can't go anywhere, at least let me explain what my friend here hasn't."

...

Shannon was struggling to get out of the binds that the strange man, that referred to himself as 'Dreadnaught' had put her in. She felt that she almost could, but just needed a little extra. Suddenly, while looking at the straps that held her, she was able to see the spot on it that was the weakest, and she implemented her strength there. The binds flew off of her. She got up and immediatly looked around for a door, and also immediatly noticed that something was different. She could see almost in robot vision, bieng able to 'see' where the door was, even though it was not in her line of sight. She started to walk towards it, and as she took each step, she could see things differently, being able to see how long the steps were, instantly, as well as the chances that she would slip on each step. She was almost to the door, when she saw someone, or something, run past her at a speed that she was somehow immediately able to calculate was 65mph. She heard the creature, that looked human, say something.
"Hey, wait up!" called Shannon.

...

Dr. Moriarity had lead Brady to a strange test facility within his office with many chemicals and machines that looked, gruseome to say the least to Brady.
"This is where I created you. Well, not you, but the baceria that now race through your body, empowering you to do the things that you do, and changing your eyes to give you very unique vision. It was a very similar strand that I used on your friend, the only difference was that I spiked it up more. I got cocky, assuming it would just make him an even more advanced fighter than you are."
"You mean to tell me that you concoted this, bacteria, in this lab to try and give someone powers, and you just happened to choose me? You sick son of a-" he was interrupted by someone crashing through the glass ceiling. It was nightime, and this creature could easily be said to go 'bump in the night'. The minute the doctor saw the creature Brady noticed how his face filled with fear, and the doctor started to run. The creature unleashed a fearious scream that made Brady cluth his ears and the doctor drop to the ground. It was apparant to Brady that the creature had not noticed him yet, as the creature causaly walked to go pick up the doctor. Brady quickly side stepped to get into the creature's view and jumped at the creature, knocking them both to the ground. Brady punched the creature in the face, but the creature pushed him off, and streaked off into the night, with its large bat wings.
"Whoah," was all that could come to Brady's mouth.

...

"Ah, finally, home at last," spoke Andy to himself. He sat down on his couch and flipped on the television and the news popped up. He began to tune it out as he went into the kitchen to get something to eat. He began to listen to a story that looked interesting, and somehow he thought that it showed something familiar to him.
"Horror struck to today," told the reporter "as one father was brutally murdered in Monrovia, California." Andy turned up the television. "The father, who lived on Evergreen Street was found dead this afternoon when firefighters responded to a call about a possible fire at the house. The house was burned down and the father was found dead. The kids are nowhere to be found at this time. If you have any information about the whereabouts of the murderer of the kids, please call this hotline at the bottom of your screens." Andy then realized why it looked familiar: that was Cody's house.

~Good Luck and Good Eats

The Giant's Heroes-Issue 5

Andy was getting ready to leave what was undeniably the strangest city he had ever visited. After being shown the way back home by his animal friends, he decided that he would leave. He was just saying goodbye to the cat that saved his life before he left.
"Look, thanks, for everything." spoke Andy to the cat, still sitting next to the girl, "If there is anything you ever need, you can feel free to come and find me somehow. Are you all going to be ok with these werewolves still here?"
"Yes, Andy, we will be fine. We live in the surrounding woods, and the werewolves constantly come over the border and torment us. Now, thanks to you, we have proved our mettle. So, thank you, Andy. I just have one favor to ask you: wherever you go and whatever you do in life, teach other humans the ability to communicate with us, like you have."
"I will certainly try," responded Andy, "What's with the kid?" he motioned towards the girl.
"She didn't turn last night. We want to see what is different about her than everyone else. You see, this village used to have many, many visitors, and then one day a very strange man came. He was acting very strange and at night at saw him performing some strange ritual. In the morning he was nowhere to be found, but ever since then everybody turns at night, and nobody that was here at the same time as that man cannot leave. We want to know why this one does not turn." Andy nodded and hopped on a horse that offered to give Andy a ride to the nearest 'normal' city, and Andy bolted away.

...

Zac and Zane had made it to this 'Mid Cave', which looked like it is only accessible to flyers or people who are very good at mountain climbing. Zac landed and put down Zane, still waiting for more information, but what Zac saw amazed him.
"Is this a golden statue of a man? Why don't you sell it; it has to be worth millions, at least." Before him sat a golden statue of a man sitting on a chair. The man was rather large, and the statue had to weigh hundreds of pounds.
"Boy, I should take offense at being called a statue!" a bumbly voice roared from the statue. A golden man got up from the chair and walked over to Zane, however slowly. "Zane, old boy, nice to see you again." The older man spoke very slowly.
"Let me introduce you to Zac, Zac Cartwright. Zac, meet the reason that this place is called the MiD Cave, Jeremiah Midas."
"Midas, as in King Midas?" Zac questioned.
"An ancestor of mine," responded Jeremiah, "Much obliged to make your aquaintance."

...

Shannon finally awoke after being asleep for sometime. She tried to get up, but was unable to because, as she quickly discovered, she was strapped down. A young man, just a few years older than her, loomed above her. He had a mask on his face and no shirt on. There was a large scar on his chest that seemed a little like the letter 'd'. Shannon struggled to get out of the constraints on her, but quickly realized that this figure's eyes were fixed upon her.
"No need to struggle, dearest, we're going to have a good time, just you wait. Dreadnaught is going to fix you up nice like." He then turned and left her, alone.

...

At night a mysterious figure walks into a restaurant that is open 24 hours.
"How many?" The hostess asks. The man immediatly punches her in the face, knocking her to the ground. He then picks up her body, and flies out the roof, and away into the night, still holding the inncoent hostess.

...

Andy was finally in a normal city, and was able to find a Motel6 to rest at for the night. After a long night of fighting werewolves, and a long day of talking with various animals. He walked into the Motel6, literally dead tired.
"Please, a room for the night." He gave the employee some money that the animals had given him that they had taken off of the werewolves. The man took the money and handed Andy a room key. Turning the key, he opened the door and came face-to-face with himself.

~Good Luck and Good Eats