Crossover Earth '98
I had my first adventure last night. If I might say so, I think it came out rather well.
I was out walking on Sepulveda, just enjoying the evening air, and looking in the shops along the boulevard. Suddenly all hell broke loose! I heard shots. I saw laser bolts. I ducked for cover in a nearby doorway.
Looking up, I saw a costumed character in the street. The laser bolts and shots all seemed to be aimed at him, and to be coming from rooftops a bit further down the block. But they never seemed to hit him--instead they bounced off. A couple of lasers struck the engine of an armored truck slowly driving down the street and some hit the windows, and stopped that vehicle cold.
Other vehicles were also stopping as there were at least four autombile accidents within a span of 20 seconds. It was chaos!
The guy in the costume started walking toward the armored car. The driver and the guard jumped out and aimed pistols at him. He just kept walking toward them. I heard one shout, "Stop, or we'll shoot!" The costumed man just laughed.
As he got closer, the guards panicked and fired at him. The bullets just seemed to reflect away from him, and the two guards went down.
Reaching the side of the vehicle, he made some kind of hand signal, and the laser beams from above, all focussed on him again, and bounced off hitting the truck. They were almost like a cutting torch, and the armor began to glow and then melt along a line. Somehow, he was cutting right through that metal as if it was plastic.
I felt a tingling sensation in my leg, almost as if I were getting a mild electrical shock from the tarot deck in my pocket. I fumbled it out, tried to hide my action by crouching low in the doorway and using my body to shield what I was doing. I quickly cut the deck, and the card that appeared was the Four of Pentacles.
The card shows a richly dressed man sitting against a gray wall on a city street. The man is gloating over his money. Huge coins rest beneath both feet, on his chest, and on his head.
I thought for a moment. The image somewhat resembled the one before me. There was an oddly dressed man, up against a gray (armored truck) wall, on a city street at twilight. Even the gray skies matched pretty well. What was missing in life was the four huge coins immobilizing the man. Where could I get four huge coins?
The robber wasn't far from a rear tire. It was large and round, and the wheel had a pattern of five lug nuts, just like the five points of a star. I had an idea.
I focussed my attention on the card and then visualized the four wheels of the armored car as the four coins in the picture. They wanted to be close to the man--as close as they could physically get. Then strange things began to happen. The lug nuts spun off and fell a few feet away. The wheels and their tires jumped off the truck. It fell with a resounding crash, causing the robber to jump back and shout in alarm. I'd shout, too, if forty tons of truck almost fell on my foot. I'd like to see him reflect that.
The scene continued to play out. What takes so long to write down was actually only taking a few seconds to occur. The wheels popped upright, rolled around the truck, and began to converge on the man in the costume. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Before he could take more than a couple of steps, a wheel nudged into him, staggering him. I reckon most people would be staggered if an 80 pound lump of metal and rubber bumped into them.
I think he tried to use his reflection power on the tires. A couple of them wobbled, and the feeling of pressure in my head increased. I hadn't noticed it before, but I was starting to get a headache. I don't think it was the noise, although there was plenty of that with horns blowing and people shouting, but I concentrated on a mental image of four huge coins pressing the man up against the wall.
As these waist-high tires pushed him back against the wall of the armored car, he tried to vault over them and run away, but the third tire bounced lightly into his chest and knocked him down, and the fourth started to roll up toward his head.
The man shouted something I couldn't make out, and two laser beams switched to the tires. He was trying to melt his way free, but this was a terrible mistake, as the rubber of the tires began to smoke and burn. Now the acrid fumes of burning rubber filled the air. I was about 50 feet away, and it almost made me gag. It must have been very intense if the smouldering rubber was in contact with your body. The robber began to cough violently, and abruptly the laser beams cut out.
I heard police sirens. I bet the rooftop gunmen were now doing their best to disappear. I concentrated on reproducing the Four of Pentacles around the robber. The fourth tire rolled up his chest, across his face (that had to hurt!) and balanced on his head. That crushed him.
The final scene showed a man slumped against a gray (truck) wall with two huge wheels pressing up against his legs, one on his chest, and one balanced impossibly on his head. He seemed to be unconscious, or at least in severe distress.
A police car stopped, and two officers ran toward the robber. Lots of other sirens filed the night. S.W.A.T. officers appeared in a helicopter with some ungainly device. I thought I would go deaf from all the noise. And I had the grand daddy of all headaches. By now I figured the regular authorities could handle things.
I put the Four of Pentacles back into the deck and put the deck into my pocket. The four wheels holding the robber sort of slumped and fell over, but by now he was in the custody of the police. Medics had appeared and were dealing with the several injured people spread all over the sidewalk. Not only were the two armored guards down with bullet wounds, but several pedestrians had been hit by reflected bullets or lasers, and there had been the fender bender accidents. I didn't feel too good myself. Yikes! What a headache! I got back to my feet and staggered away.
What did I learn from this?
Well, the papers say the man is a small-time super-villain called Reflection. I can see how he got his name. There is a reward being offered for his capture, but I'm not going to claim it. Who would believe my story anyway?
And, besides, it occurs to me that if Reflection had ever known I was actively opposing him, he could have taken me out with a single bullet or laser beam. My only protection was my anonymity! Yes, I can use my powers to fight crime, but I must do it in total secrecy, or I'm likely to die young. Needless to say, dying young is not in my current career plan. . . .