[Mkguild] Return to the Island part 5

[cokane8116 at aol.com]

    Getting there was not half the fun. Notevery city had the well-developed teleport system that New York, Boston orParagon city had. The closest military teleport was at the Maine Air Nationalguard base in Bangor. The civilian one was into the basement of theHeadquarters of the Bangor police.    Their arrival at the base was expected butthere was still a half dozen soldiers there waiting for them. With weapons atthe ready. They had even built 2 sandbagged emplacements next to it. And thetrio of supers found themselves covered by two heavy machine guns and anantitank rocket launcher.    Misha had to give the correct password noless than 3 times before the Lieutenant was satisfied.    “Welcome to Bangor,” he said.  *******************     The official base of operations for theSuper Group the Sea Watch was not exactly overwhelming. It consisted of a nicebut weather-beaten, old, wood shingled house. It was located close to the waterand had an equally weathered dock and boat house next to it. The large,rambling, three-story building was still solid but was showing its years. Alarge, battered gazebo hinted that in the past this place had been some wealthyfamily’s summer home.    A powerboat was tied to the dock. The hullhad holes punched into it in several places and the windshield was shattered. Athin stream of smoke slowly rose from the engine compartment and it was listingto port. This was all on a small island owned by Nor’easter himself and wasonly accessible by boat or plane.    Trickshot was standing by the front door,Her full body suit that had been clean was now ripped, burned and covered withmud. The bright green and blue stripes were only lightly visible through themud, ash and scorch marks. The weapon in her hands was a full five feet longand had to weigh at least 90 pounds but she cradled it with ease.    “My name is Trickshot,” she said slowly.“You are?”    “I’m Misha and this is Strela and Stealth,”he said pointing to his two companions.    “Glad to see you!” She smiled. “Come oninside!”    “What is that monstrosity she is totting?”Misha asked silently. “I’ve never seen a weapon like it.”    “2cm and has to be handmade,” Strelaanswered.    “The Army called. They want theirhowitzer back!” The nanites joked. “20mm with heavy recoil dampener andits gyroscopically stabilized.”    “I’m impressed!” Stealth said.    The rest of the team was in the living room.A large but comfortable couch occupied one side with tables and chairsscattered all about. A large screen TV sat on the wall opposite the couch. Therest of the Sea Watch was there mostly resting in the seats and couch in theroom.    Silvermane was already there and he hadbrought along some supplies. One hundred pounds worth of medicine, first aidgear, extra arrows and a small patch kit for the boat.    “Silvermane!” Strela said cheerfully. “I’mglad to see you again!”    “You certainly did come equipped,”Misha said as he looked at the gear Silvermane had brought. “It is good to seeyou again.”    Silvermane smiled. “Always glad to help. Letme introduce you to everyone.”    There was a few moments of name swapping andhand shaking all around.    “Who’s in charge?” Misha asked.    “I guess that’s me,” Bob said after amoment.    Misha nodded. “What happened?”    “I’m not sure,” Bob admitted. “We’ve foughtthe Wolves before and always did well.”    “Not this time,” Orca added.    “They had 3 more people than before,”Moonshine said. “New people.”    “Where did she get them?”    Misha shrugged.    “Hired help perhaps?” Strela added.    “The problem was Steel Horn,” Orcacommented.    “What is Steel Horn?” Strela asked.    Orca pondered for a moment. “He . . .  it looked like a metallic minotaur. Just likein the old myths.”    “You get any pictures of him?” Stealthasked.    Bob shook his head. “Was too busy trying notto get killed.”    Orca brought out a pen and notepad andstarted to draw. “He was over six feet tall and was completely covered in ashiny, silvery metal skin.”    “He looks to be about the same size asMolot,” Strela commented. “The old Soviet robot.”    “A suit or a robot?”    We’re not sure but I do not see how theycould squeeze a human into that.”    “Agreed,” Moonshine added. “Just not enoughroom.”    “I didn’t see any seams or hatches,” Orcasaid. “It was all one seamless metal skin.”    “Where is the ship now?”    “We can’t track it but the ship isn’t goingfar. The bridge was pretty badly damaged including the helm.”    The interior of the house was a large,rambling thing with halls running off in different directions leading to ascore of rooms of varying shapes and sizes.    Going past the dining room and up a windingstair took them to a hallway. Near the stairs was a large room with a baywindow overlooking Penobscot bay. Paper maps were tacked to the walls. Onemonitor was playing a large, live screen map of the Coast Guard Traffic controlplot. It plotted every ship in the bay. Another was showing the local news. Twocomputers rested in one corner.    In the center of the room was a large tablethat was covered with an equally large marine map of the whole bay andtributaries.    From his backpack Misha pulled out a smallbox and handed it to Bob. “I’ve got enough for the whole group. They’re communicators.”   Bob opened the box and found six smallearpieces. They looked like the ear buds used for listening to music byBluetooth. “Just stick them in your ear and speak normally.”  **************     In good weather it was a twenty-minuteflight by fast plane to where the ship was. But the weather soon went fromcloudy to a raging rainstorm with the wind gusting to over fifty miles perhour. Intermixed with the rain was ice making the rain sting when it hit theirfaces. The closest they could get to the ship was 10 miles away.    “Where is the ship?” Misha asked.    “We’re not sure. Radar is being jammed andIR is useless in weather this bad,” came the reply. “And no aircraft can getanywhere near the area.”    “Where is this weather coming from?” Bobasked. “It can’t be natural,”    “It’s not my doing,” Nor’easter said. “AndI’ve never seen Maelstrom do a storm this strong.”    Finally they had to turn around and maketheir way back.  ******************************
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