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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 217: Cooper 69
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 151
With Tommy and Vashti vanishing into the darkness to go after the Blackmasks, and Derek headed for the hangar, Brian--Mister Justice--was thinking that he needed to get to the computer. Derek would be better with the computer, but Derek had the experience with space ships, so the computer fell to him.
He had been removing the last of the dog collars, surrounded by grateful guard dogs, when suddenly there was a sound that could only be an alarm. He looked across the open field and saw in shadowy form a mass of people shambling toward them.
Considering it, he realized, and said, “Those will be those Shamblers created and controlled by Sewer Savage.”
“They don’t look tough,” Tell said. “We should be able to take them.”
Brian shook his head.
“The problem,” he said, “is that they’re ordinary people enslaved by Sewer Savage’s slime. They do whatever he tells them.” He thought about that for a moment.
“So, what do we do?” The Eagle asked.
An idea struck him.
“I think I can take control of the Shamblers--they follow the instructions of the loudest voice, and although it’s tiring I can make my voice very loud. Meanwhile, Sewer Savage must be close enough that they can hear his orders. I’ll take the Shamblers away, you deal with their master. Agreed?”
The other three assented, and Brian drew his sword to call on its power of enhancing his voice. “Go to the river and wash off,” he yelled, and his voice sounded loud, but he thought perhaps he could do better. “Sing with me,” and he put the power into his already strong tenor voice, “Oh, brother let’s go down, Go down to the river to pray, in the good old way.” As he continued singing, the Shamblers started moving en masse toward the river, singing as they did, and their own voices reinforced the impulse to go down to the river. It was the weirdest choir he had ever led. Brian thought it perhaps funny that he was encouraging them to wash and pray; Sewer Savage snarled in dismay, but it only served to help the others find him. As Mister Justice escorted the slow-moving shamblers to the river, their master was defending himself against the combined efforts of three experienced superheroes.
It took at least twenty minutes to get the slow-moving people to the water, but once there they were quickly relieved of the slime, and were revived from the seeming daze that had controlled them. Some wept; some sang praise to God; some came over to thank Mister Justice for rescuing them. He told them to help each other get clean, and then find their way back to the city to find shelter.
Then he headed for the computer building.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
