Stormy Weather [comic book time: 6/98], An Audiojack story.

Jerry Hardin (Audiojack) sat down at the desk of Sound & Computer Specialists, & began the interview of the applicant. Another day beginning with hopefully more promise at the sound and electronics company that was just five miles north of Los Angeles proper. It was the company that Jerry Hardin & John Mistletoe had created & managed. It also functioned as a front for Team Audiojack. The basement lab, storage & computer database were hidden within. Both Jerry and John used the building as a residence also. They lived at 2108 Sequoia road.

It was another typical Southern California morning that Jack had hoped would bring adventure & action for his alter ego superhero battlesuit, Audiojack.

“Well, at least the business is doing well and expanding”, thought Jerry.

The applicant’s name was Kevin, & after a short interview & tour, Kevin decided to accept the offer to join the business. He would start as a junior associate with a guarantee to be a full associate in six months. Kevin was a sound technician expert and a student at one of the nearby colleges. He decided to start work that very hour.

“Great! John will set you up. I have to go down below & do some other things”, said Jerry.

Jerry entered the back room of the store & entered the secret basement. The radio was on broadcasting a special report. The downtown Sequoia Bank had just been robbed by the infamous ex-superhero duo of Thunder & Lightning! Jerry immediately pushed the purple button on the phone in the basement, where a purple flash button was connected to John’s watch. Soon, John would “excuse” himself, & report to the basement to operate the computer database console. Audiojack flew downtown to the bank by using the escape tunnel. His face looked like it sported a big, red Mohawk with feathers on a totally red painted face. The armor was shiny silver, with small red “boxes” attached to his sides of his body and shoulders. He had a red flame insignia painted on his chest of his armor. When he flew, it sounded like a trombone was playing out loud.

He flew near the outside of the bank, his armor trumpeting loudly along. His armor did have the ability to go on “silent” mode also. He spotted the costumed couple sharing a kiss down below from his position. About a year ago, a court had ordered the couple to do superhero community service, but after that year, they had returned to crime for some reason. They were carrying two heavily laden pillowcases of money. He tried following them from a safe distance, but his carefulness wasn’t needed, as the woman named Thunder was making plenty of noise as she flew away with her husband. They headed towards a small business complex that was known to be a retreat center and convention park. They landed on a roof of a home, and then descended down a crudely carved roof panel. Audiojack landed a bit away, due to his armor’s flying sound, an approached as stealthily as he could. Near a window, he could hear them talking using his audio equipment built into his armor.

“We have to be on time to meet our fence at the big retreat, honey,” said a man’s voice.

“Yes, darling, & you were great today as you always are at acquiring what society definitely owes us. I love you,” said a husky woman’s voice.

Audiojack reported in to John at the base.

“I have overheard them mention something about a larger retreat center & keeping an appointment, probably today. What can you tell me about nearby targets & locations using the USTVD [United States Tactical Villain Defense] files?” asked Jerry. John’s voice came over the two-way piece in Audiojack’s helmet.

“I’ll get right on it. It will take a few minutes, Jerry”

“Now to see what I can do to retrieve the money without too much of a fight. I have an idea of their powers but I don’t want to hurt them too much, as I have seen worse criminals in the news doing more violent crimes”, thought Audiojack to himself.

The couple was packing their pillows into a crate when they heard metallic footsteps behind them, so they entered the living room & confronted Audiojack as he sat down on a couch. He must have looked wild, as the uniform’s red and silver armor didn’t match the spike-punk red hairline style of the headpiece. His oversize boots and rocket pack seemed out of place in the 60’s style rambler home decorations.

“Morning! Good thing it isn’t raining outside with thunder & lightning or I couldn’t return the loot that you stole”, said Audiojack.

In her deepest southern drawl & a firm voice, Thunder said, “Ahh don’t ahpreciate uninvited biker punhhks with spiked red hairrr breaking & entering into our family home. I will grant you five seconds to exit stage right.”

She had a thick, country accent.

Audiojack tried to negotiate with them saying that the public might be compassionate and sympathetic but that they could not long get away with robbing banks & doing heists in California.

“Don’t force me to bring you in to the court system which unjustly treated you hard for a year. You have had your chance to reform, & you didn’t. Give me the money and you can go your own way”, said Audiojack.

The couple laughed.

“Mister, do you know how many times we have heard phony lines & promises from would-be heroes like yourself?”, said the man known as Lightning. “Besides, with our public ID & past humiliation done to my wife & past financial history, we need this lifestyle. It is easier.”

As the battle began, Audiojack tried to duck & dodge lightning bolts & fists, and even thrown furniture by Thunder, & was unable to make sonic attacks. Eventually, Lightning connected with a bolt that shocked Audio through a wall of the home. Audio tried to assess their tactics as he hid the floor hard.

“Unnngh!”, groaned Jerry.

“Listen, Jerry…”, a computerized voice said from the two-way head radio. “I have been watching your battle via the headcam here, & you need some room to move about more effectively. Inside the house are too many projectiles for Thunder. Don’t be afraid to stun them or they will escape. And I have that information for you now, using the database & talking with USTVD [United States Tactical Villain Defense] John relayed the info then said, “HQ out”.

When Jerry recovered himself from the living room’s cold floor, & exited through the porch, he saw the couple with the moneybags & three Death Well agents waiting for him.

“Crimson steel and curses”, complained Jerry.

The villains explained that they had places to go & things to do; so these nice “…gentlemen…” had volunteered to delay him. At that, they suddenly disappeared or “teleported” in thin air. He avoided some of the gunfire from the 3 agents, with some shots bouncing off his armor. Then he used his sonic powers to KO the agents with only a little damage to himself. Onlookers & retreat members had come out of their bungalows to observe the fight & see where all the noise was coming from. They couldn’t help hear the sounds of breaking walls, & gunfire.

Audiojack called HQ & relayed the info about the unconscious Death Well agents to USTVD who explained that the big Land’s End resort nearby the river was a legitimate, private community for rich retirees and corporate executives, but it fronted also for a corporation that was under investigation for illegal mining & money laundering overseas. The company’s name was Carter-Mullering industries. The independent “front” company that owned the retreat was unknown and slippery in the “books”. USTVD said they would help him sneak in, but that even if he didn’t find the Bonnie & Clyde couple, they wanted his help in finding evidence of other sorts.

“They may be planning to rob a bank again or do a heist, because we found some county maps with jewelry stores & shopping malls circled with routes of hours of operation jotted down”, said Commander Yeshell.

The next two days went by tediously which tested Audiojack’s patience. In the daytime, Jerry Hardin & John worked in the store with Kevin helping do the rest of the business. In the late evening, they & USTVD would do surveillance (with Audiojack doing the long distance sound “sweep” and checking for rainless thunder & lightning sounds in the area of Land’s End resort. Jerry Hardin’s girlfriend Elizabeth called the next day. She worked as a traffic and special TV reporter on the Skycam local channel. She usually was “…on the scene in chopper #5 for WKSU”. She called to see how he was and if that date for this Saturday was still on.

“Jerry, I miss you. So I am looking forward to this Saturday for our special rendezvous. How is the business?” asked Elizabeth.

“Its, uh, going well. I have some special things, ah, in the works that I cannot reveal yet, but John and I are doing well in profits. We just hired a new guy, Kevin. Yeah, our date is still on for this Saturday. You know I love you, right?”

“Yes, babe, I know. Say, did you hear on the news about that fracas recently between this new superhero? He wore red and silver armor and battled the infamous Thunder & Lightning. It was something. I wonder who he is?” asked Elizabeth in a singsong tone.

“Gee, Liz, I have no idea who he is” Jerry responded nervously. “But I did hear a little about it on the radio. So Liz, does your newsroom have any new leads on the suspicious activity reported at Land’s End Resort, that is just outside town, near the river?” asked Jerry carefully.

“You know, its funny you mention that. Our investigator reporter Hal & I, had uncovered something about unusual late night boat activity, some weird sightings of whales being spotted near the river at the resorts. Why would whales or some sort of submerged animal be sighted this far inland near a populated wharf?”

“Hmmm, that’s interesting, Elizabeth. Thanks for the info. Say babe, I have to go. Honey, please be careful if you are going anywhere near there for the next few days, okay? Promise me you won’t be too cocky in that nifty powered helicopter of yours!”

“Oh Jerry!. You always are worried about me flying around in that thing. I am a professional journalist. And my military helicopter dad has taught me how to fly helicopters. My Japanese mom also worries about me. She had hoped I would get into a more traditional field. But what I REALLY would like is to do a one –on- one interview with our newest superhero!”

She sounded like as if she was asking a question. Jerry started to get suspicious.

“You know Jerry; they say he uses the power of sound. But nobody knows anything about him.”

Again, she ended the sentence as if she was asking a question.

“Anyway, I have to go now. See ya, love ya!”, said Elizabeth.

“Bye my sweet!” replied Jerry, as she laughed and hung up the phone.

Two more days had passed by (Friday now), with only a bit of suspicious activity being spotted at the resort’s docks. Jerry and the USTVD continued their nighttime surveillance. They still hadn’t found any specific building at the Land’s End Resort where Death Well agents or a fence operation might be. They needed a better idea. Saturday morning, Kevin mentioned that he used to do computer hacking & was very good at it. John & Jerry took a chance.

“Kevin, how do you feel about superheroes & bringing criminals to justice?”, asked Jerry.

“Well, it would be great to fight crime, but I have never been asked to help & I’d like to assist some ‘supes. But how would I prove my trust to them? Why do you ask anyway?” Kevin said.

They decided to tell Kevin what they were doing & brought him into their circle. He was excited yet cautious and serious. Kevin took an oath of secrecy and then proceeded to show them how to do a computer hack search using their database & the Internet of the Land’s End resort. In about two hours, they had hacked into a computer database of a company called Stormy Weather. Kevin told them they only had a small window of time before the watchdog system of the company closed their “back door”. But they soon were copying dates, times, files and found locations of key buildings in Land’s End Resort & three other smuggling/fence warehouses in other parts of California, linked with Stormy Weather.

“Wow”, exclaimed Kevin, “they sure have an extended operation. There have to be some powerful people behind all this.”

Jerry and John forwarded the information to the FBI and to the government crime fighting organization called the USTVD. Now USTVD could make the raid they wanted to & sneak into the Stormy Weather warehouse complex, near warehouse #6 near the docks. It also meant that Audiojack could make a midnight call now.



New scene:

Audiojack had a rendezvous that evening with some USTVD agents & discussed his plan. He would fly in & create a diversion (small fire) at a nearby storage facility that would allow a fire company (with some disguised USTVD agents) to enter and sniff around the warehouse for stolen money & evidence. Jerry (Audiojack) even brought a camera along which he put into a small sack on his belt. But first, Jerry called his girlfriend to cancel the big date.

“Damn, I hope I don’t lose her. This is the third time in about three months I have missed a date out of the last eight times.”

Elizabeth answered the call at her posh, fifth floor pad. “Hiya babe. I am almost ready to go and –“

“Wait, Liz. I am sorry honey, but an emergency came up and I have to work here in the office late at night. Plus I have a repair and delivery to make at the resort, of all places. Can we reschedule?” asked Jerry.

“Hmmph. You’re lucky you are my number one guy, mister. On the other hand, if I see ya at the resort from my helicopter, I will say hello. I am going to spend a bit of free time patrolling the waters of the resort this evening with our cameraman using the ‘copter. Maybe we will see a night whale” answered Elizabeth.

“I have to go, sugar. Be careful at the resort. Perhaps I will see you there”, although Jerry hoped she wouldn’t look too carefully. Audiojack would be there as well.

John commented that in the future, he would have trouble with his lover if he didn’t share his secret.

“Either break it off, or bring her in”, John wisely said.

* * *

Audiojack had entered the warehouse with no problem. He took many pictures while furtively sneaking around the high catwalks of the buildings. Using his communication radio devices, he kept one step ahead of the few Death Well guards that were patrolling around. When the fire in the other building began, most of the guards and crooked employees tried to rescue the crates & boxes in the storage, because Stormy Weather, Inc. had stashed some files there. The bad guys wanted to get as much of those items out before the Firemen & their water hoses created more damage. After the fire, the Land’s End Resort would not be able to stop inspectors from checking the buildings out for safety codes without raising further suspicion.

But the firemen were smart & had been warned about this possibility beforehand. When they arrived with the USTVD agents, they purposely used their hoses to knock down some warehouse workers & cause damage to some of the structures & crates in the buildings. With the evidence materializing in the open from smashed crates & boxes lying around, the USTVD agents could make their arrests & the resort management would have to allow a huge detailed search via warrants the following day.

While all this was happening, Audiojack entered a building near the river’s edge. He uncovered a secret stairwell in Stormy Weather’s warehouse #6 that led to a small storage room that was below the waterline. Waterproof & watertight rubber encased crates and boxes, which were strewn around. They had dates on them. One of them was the date of the Sequoia Bank robbery. He heard a snap behind him.

“Well, I knew YOU would be here. I have been tracking you for days. Surprised? Eh, don’t be. I was contracted out to kill you, & to finish off Thunder & Lightning because of their incompetence in getting USTVD involved”, said the armored man who looked like a motorcycle police officer without any insignia or symbols.

“I, too, have armor just like yours.”

“Not just like mine, pal, but then what would a hired thug with simple body armor know anyway”, replied Audiojack.

The armored motorcycle assassin & Audiojack fought using energy, gunfire pellets and beams in the enclosed storage room. Eventually, the gadgets & tactics of the assassin & the limited movement left Audiojack hurting. He was about to use a bomb & attach it to Audiojack, but then Audiojack managed to recover from being stunned just at that moment. He quickly aimed his full power sound beam on a nearby-weakened wall.

CRAAACK!

It created a puncture in the wall, which let the river’s water smashing right on through the room!

“What do you think you are doing fool?!, cried the armored agent. “You will get us all killed! The doors of this storage building are set to secure closed when water floods the room. That is how we secretly unload the stash here onto a min-sub!”

“Thanks for the secret info, Death Bungler. But, actually, you see I wanted to test an old theory of mine. They say that sound travels faster & stronger under water. Lets find out”, said Audiojack.

He then pushed his strength & made a last minute grab onto “Death Bungler”’s leg, & when the room became more full, (which happened in an alarmingly fast ten seconds!) he used his sound energy blast directly onto the evil man’s chest armor area at point blank range, while underwater. Off course, this sort of stunned Jerry a bit also. An ugly, weird sounding CRRRUNNCH, followed by an echoing, garbled CRAAACKKKK!, came from agent’s armor. His eyes opened wide through his faceplate, and his life support helmet & chest armor actually disintegrated and shattered! Jerry then used his remaining strength while going a bit deaf, by kicking his legs and using the assasin’s weight as leverage, to push away up to the surface. Many holes now were forming all around the building and a new “roof” had been created. Audiojack exited out that way. When he finally floated up onto a beach, he was exhausted. After breathing hard for several minutes, he got up & checked his armor. His audio equipment was damaged as its natural ability to absorb & reduce sonic sound inside his armor, had been tested to its maximum capacity, & failed. However, he could still fly, & use his commlink to contact HQ, but he had to catch his breath again.

He heard the sound of a helicopter flying low overhead. He looked up and saw a man and woman with wide, staring eyes looking at him with astonished expressions on their faces. They had a camera pointed right at him and then at the remains of the damaged rear of warehouse #6. Just then, the helicopter made a desperate quick barrel roll that dodged two huge lightning bolts that missed them by inches, and almost hit Audiojack on the beach!

He was moving slowly, due to the waterlogged battlesuit. It was never meant for water. He saw Thunder & Lightning enter into a small roofed boat, 50 feet away from him. He managed to use a bit of his remaining fuel & landed on board the boat. He saw outside the main cabin, lying on the floor two huge pillowcases of money and jewelry. He grabbed the bags & flew off to the nearby shore. He was just landing there; when two more bolts flew past his ass.

He quickly turned around, shouting “Your Death Well friends have set you up because you led me to this resort. It’s the truth! You are in danger! There is probably a bomb onboard!”

But it was too late. A huge flash & explosion rocked the ship. Sections of the ship spun high into the air & fell onto the river.

“I guess they didn’t make it”, thought Jerry. He returned to the pillow sack on the beach. He then heard a low peal of thunder….

Instinct made him drop to the ground & roll. A big boulder just missed his head by a few inches. He saw the infamous couple glaring at him from 15 feet away.

“We thank you for the warning & saving my wife’s life, but I don’t appreciate the theft. You have destroyed our relationship with our supplier and fence, and I will take that pillow back!”, screamed Lightning.

“Man, you can go to hell, crummy bank robber of simple people’s money!” yelled Audiojack. “I am done feeling sorry for your greed! By now, you have stolen well enough money to get by in life, & it’s just about greed & commitments to the underworld that you are living for now. You are now a lightning hood!”

“Ya can’t talk to mah husband like that!” screamed Thunder.

And at that, they attacked him.

“Jerry…” said John at the HQ, trying to contact the hero, using the commlink in Audiojack’s helmet radio, “…their attacks seem to be less powerful than before. Now would be an excellent time to test your special sound NND attacks. By the way, where were you?”

But the hero could not hear because the commlink had been damaged. “Huh, I hear some crackling but I can’t understand what John is saying. I guess I better use my other powers that my armor has. Perhaps its time to use my NND special sound attacks, as it is the only power working right now at full power, according to my sensors” Jerry said aloud to himself.

“Sucker, I don’t know whom you are talking to, but you just lied to him,” mocked Lightning, shaking his head. “You are just about out of any throttling ability forever” mocked Lightning.

A bolt hit Audio in the stomach and knocked him back about 12 feet into the grass above the sandy bank. Then, Audiojack used his NND pure sound attack on Thunder which KO’ed her into the shallow water near the beach. She hit the ground with a thud.

“Its working” thought Jerry. “My special reserve battery for my lethal pure sound attack is affecting them!”

He then dodged another bolt, and delivered a coup de grace uppercut of solid sound shaped into a “cone” to the husband’s chin and the villain known as Lightning fell back 9 feet onto the beach with a bloody chin. Unfortunately, his wife recovered and saw the desperate act of self-defense.

“YOU DIRTY #!*@…, IF you hahve harmed ma lover, Ah’ll beat the sound out of you!!”, screamed the furious, supermodel-dressed lady of Thunder.

She successfully made a move through, and dented Audiojack armor in the left side, and tore a small gash into Jerry’s side.

“Owwwhhhsshshhh!”

Then a minute later, Jerry just threw his pure sound attack into an area blast of 10 feet in diameter, partially panicking and fighting fanatically. This attack proved too much for her, & she fainted onto the beach within two yards away from her husband. His attacks had sounded like a huge, sonic boom!! Again, the helicopter had been watching the battle from a safe distance, but still, Jerry could see that the helicopter had lost its front glass shield!

“Yeah, baby, I am on TV and am a hero now!,” he said tiredly, to no one in particular.

But then he fell down exhausted onto the beach. He could hear the couple recovering, and they flew away when the authorities started reaching the beach.

“I remember reading from a Spiderman comic book somewhere when I was young, that the hero there said something about ‘where much power is given, much responsibility is expected’,” whispered Jerry to himself.

Three days later, he was resting in bed recovering at home, with Kevin and John sitting nearby. Jerry was retelling the difficult battle he had with the enemy armored motorcycle assasin.

“So, how did I do?” asked Jerry.

“Wow, you had to think fast there, in that underwater storage room,” exclaimed Kevin.

“Yes, that’s true” said Jerry, as he leaned forward a bit. With intense eyes and waving arms he described a dramatic tale of fighting underwater, avoiding gun blasts, flames, and bullets.

“The lightning man & his superwoman were really tough” Jerry continued. “According to John’s court records and criminal research on the super couple, it would seem that they had conned themselves into thinking they deserved the life they had chose. But to be fair, the justice system & authorities had been hard on them & a bit compassionless to them about their debts.

“Part of me really felt sorry for them, but they reaped what they sowed. Now, they have to watch their backs with the mob, scorned enemies & this Death Well organization”, finished Jerry.

Jerry leaned back on his pillow & was deep in reflection. John scratched the back of his own head & had a wistful expression on his face when he next spoke.

“That is some adventure. I did repair your commlink. But, sometimes I wish I could actually be present there with ya” replied John. “But I am more of a background man with computers & analysis rather than one who loves to fight & get in there.”

Kevin interjected, “Yeah, but remember guys. Being a hero is serious business. You may one day have to decide if you want to give up your life for a cause or an innocent victim in order to save the day. “

Jerry turned to Kevin & John with a serious look.

“I have given a lot of thought to that,” Jerry said. “I don’t mind dying for the small guy and saving lives, but I don’t know if I could do it for the government or a corporation’s interests. Those kinds of people are a waste of effort because they don’t improve society, won’t become more moral, and they don’t even care about people unless there is a profit involved. This is for fighting crime and stopping violent, mad supervillains where police & the government can’t intercede quickly enough. It’s not like in the comic books. Some villains use powers & schemes that place a lot of civilians in danger.”

“Not all corporations are as bad as that”, interjected Kevin, “…but more are becoming that way. We would not even be here if it wasn’t because of the good aspects of Capitalism and Free Enterprise”, Kevin wisely added.

“Civilization cannot survive without a good spiritual code of beliefs” Jerry said.

“Wow, that’s deep” replied Kevin.

They were all silent for a minute.

They then talked about the armor’s performance.

“There are some kinks to work out, Jerry” said John. You reacted slowly in some circumstances.”

“Uh-hum. Well, it needs repair now. I will have to spend some time this week, in between our real job responsibilities, to do repair and tweaking. My armor was damaged by water, & I have to check the wiring & see if I can improve the computer interface with the sonic weapons & defenses” replied Jerry.

“By the way, Kevin, how do you like being onboard so far?”

“Its great man, but a serious responsibility”, said Kevin.

There was a knock on the door.

“Okay fans” said John, “that would be Elizabeth, Jerry’s girlfriend. Let’s give our hero some privacy.”

Elizabeth came upstairs & talked to Jerry alone. He told her about his adventure at the Resort.

“I was on a job for sound tech work at the Resort complex. I heard loud sounds around the complex. I saw a battle between the white and red metallic guy and a woman and man. They were a super powered couple. I got injured when some explosions happened. I fell into the water when the building I was in collapsed and I found myself injured and on an embankment. That is all I can remember about how I may have received these injuries”, he finished.

“Where are you hurt, baby?” she fussed over him. She touched him on the arm. She & Jerry kissed a while.

She also asked him if he saw any of the fight between the hero & another armored villain & some agents.

“I only caught glimpses of that. There was a lot of running around after the fire broke out”, he replied. His client with Resort security ushered him out when the warehouse fire started.

“That’s when I got the injury. I got hurt by flying debris & fell near my truck with all the people panicking & running around. I hear they made a big mess of the docks near the river”, Jerry lied.

“And I saw the battle from my helicopter TV camera. I had a big story that night, live on our local news channel!” said Elizabeth. But then she frowned.

“Jerry, there is something though I don’t understand, that doesn’t make sense. You know, I don’t remember seeing your truck anywhere. Is there something you are not telling me?” she asked. “And I don’t like you getting hurt like this. You have to be careful and more alert next time”, she said as she kissed his forehead.

“No, I don’t think so, babe” Jerry lied again.

Jerry thought to himself, “Lord I have to be careful. I really care for her and don’t want her to be hurt by my secret. How will I explain to her about why I kept my secret? If I tell her, she might leak it out accidentally and endanger herself to any future enemies and villains I may have. My enemies might hurt her when they find out who I really am. This secret life has a lot of responsibilities and ramifications.