Cosmics: Cliffhanger

Finally, Marty had found him.

After all the searching, it was Unicorn - Dr Dynamo's teammate from the Cosmic Knights - who had provided the answer. Marty had checked the Orlando hospital written on the card Unicorn had passed to him and discovered someone on the patient list with the same name as Dr Dynamo's secret identity. It had been a long shot - surely there were dozens of men called Robert Hammond in the state of Florida alone - but, nevertheless, he'd whizzed northwards to check it out.

He hadn't been expecting to meet an old guy in his 80s.

"Hullo Marty. You found me at last, eh?" the frail old man wheezed, as he lay almost hidden within crisp white sheets on the hospital bed. Wires and tubes were festooned about the man, whilst some sort of monitor beeped occasionally next to the bed.

"Doc? Isthatyou?Itcantbeyou!" Kid Kinetic babbled, excitement and suspicion colouring his lightning quick words. He glared at the man in the bed who, to Marty, looked like he was close to the end of his life.

"Kid, kid. Slow down. *cough* I can't tell what you're saying", the old man stuttered, shuffling a little in an attempt to sit up.

Marty squeezed his eyes shut and, with effort, tried to calm down.

"Sorry. It's just I can't believe it's you Doc. Was this what Entropy did to ya? Turned you into an old man?!" This time Marty spoke at a more normal pace, though his words were still a little rushed.

Finally managing to sit up a little, the old man replied with a sad sort of smile.

"Yeah, it's me - in the flesh. Well, what's left of it. And Entropy was sort of responsible for my predicament but not in the way you think". Dr Dynamo stopped for a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "It's a long story".

Kid Kinetic stood there, tapping his foot, waiting for Dr Dynamo  - also known as Bob Hammond to those few who knew his secret identity - to continue. The old man rolled his eyes and took a rattling deep breath.

"Ok, ok. Just give me a moment, it's been a long time", he replied, closing his eyes.

For a moment, Marty thought his old mentor had fallen asleep. However, a second or two later the man in the bed opened his eyes, nodded, coughed weakly and continued. He spoke slowly, his rasping voice strained and peppered with coughs.

"When the villain you know as Entropy and I fought towards the end of last year, the clash somehow ripped a hole in space-time creating a temporal bridge between now and then..."

Dr Dynamo glanced up at Marty and saw the look of confusion on the teen's face. He sighed.

"During the fight, Entropy's chaotic power threw us both back in time. Back to November 1961. I appeared there first, closely followed by Entropy. Our arrival did something though. *cough* Caused some sort of energy fluctuation that rippled outwards".

Dr Dynamo's cough got the better of him at that moment and he paused to let his wheezing, rasping chest settle before continuing.

"Anyway, when we reappeared in '61, we were both disorientated and not sure where or when we were. All we knew was that we were fighting, trying to stop one another. So we continued to fight. *cough* Eventually I halted his attack, although it took a lot of my power. *cough* But just as I hit Entropy with a electro-bolt that should have rendered him unconscious, Entropy disappeared. Though that wouldn't be the last I saw of him".

Again, the old man's cough resurfaced. He struggled to reach for a glass of water on the bedside table, until Marty zipped around the other side of the bed and handed it to him. Dr Dynamo took a sip from the glass before carrying on.

"*cough* Thanks kid. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Entropy had disappeared again, leaving me there in Miami at the start of the '60s. I soon learned what had happened to me and where, or more importantly when, I was. I also discovered something that really shook me up. *cough* Before my arrival there had never been any other person with cosmic powers. I was the first".

"What do you mean, you were the first?" Kid Kinetic interrupted. "Cosmics have been around for ages!"

"Nah, kid. Read your history books", Dr Dynamo admonished. "Cosmics didn't start appearing until the end of 1961. It was my arrival that started it off, you see? The influx of tachyon particles caused a chrono-atomic reaction that, in turn, released a wave of exotic cosmic rays. *cough* These rays mutated the DNA in some people causing the birth of the Cosmic Age. Entropy and I caused all the cosmic powers".

"You sure, doc? Really?! Wow, that'ssoawesome". Kid Kinetic zipped around the bed, his arms waving in the air as he went. Dr Dynamo simply took another sip of water and sighed.

"Yeah, well. Whatever it was, there was nothing I could do about it. I was stuck in the '60s with no way back. *cough* So I had to live my life as best I could. First, I helped the fledgling cosmics come to terms with their new, and sometimes bizarre, abilities. Then later, I helped set up the first iteration of the Cosmic Knights. All the while I had to get a job, find somewhere to live, and try to adjust to being fifty years in the past".

"So that's it? That's why you're so old?" Marty stopped zooming around and actually stood still for a moment, a look of astonishment on his face.

"It is, kid, yeah", Dr Dynamo rasped. "But there's more and this is important, Marty. Y'see, like I said earlier, that wasn't the last we saw of Entropy. Around 12 years later in 1973, he reappeared in Miami. *cough* He was bigger this time, about twice the size of a regular person, and his chaos energy had mutated him. He went rampaging through downtown Miami causing lots of weird things to happen and, unfortunately killed a couple of people - including the Arachnid's girlfriend. Eventually we stopped him but he went and disappeared on us again *cough*".

He took another glug of water to help his cough and then put the glass back down on the nearby table, his boney hands shaking as he did. When he spoke again, Marty noticed that his mentor seemed somewhat more agitated; worry and concern was etched across his grey, wrinkled face.

"He reappeared in 1986 and, again, his arrival caused a crisis", Dr Dynamo continued. "This time he'd grown even taller; he was now around 50 feet in height, perhaps more. And, he was meaner and more powerful. Like before, a bunch of us tried to stop him but all that happened was that he vanished again. Though not before we'd all caused a lot of damage and quite a few deaths".

Dr Dynamo paused thinking for a moment back to those darker days.

"That event led the way for the Cosmic Powers Registration Act. The government had seen how much damage cosmics could do and so wanted to curtail, or at least control, our actions. Although in hindsight it seemed somewhat harsh, I could understand why they did it. They feared us and what we could do. That's when I retired for good *cough, cough*".

The old man shook his head and slumped a little in his bed. He turned his steel blue eyes away from the past and stared towards Kid Kinetic.

"You know of the last time he reappeared", Dr Dynamo finally stated, somewhat enigmatically.

"What do you mean? A couple of years ago when he broke out of the Cube!?" Marty asked, puzzled, trying to look away from the other man's cold gaze.

"No, kid. I mean back in 1999. Of course, then everyone called him Monstro..." Dr Dynamo explained, his voice trailing off into another fit of coughing.

"What the...?!?" Marty exclaimed. He'd heard of Monstro - everyone had heard of Monstro. He'd been the biggest threat cosmics had ever faced. And here was his mentor saying Entropy and Monstro were one and the same. "Monstro was Entropy!? Entropy is Monstro? How the...? Are you serious?"

"Deadly serious, kid" Dr Dynamo replied, his voice low. "The latest time Entropy reappeared, he was so powerful and so crazy that he caused the wholesale destruction of Miami. *cough* Millenia was built in it's place with help from the cosmics, like the Professor. But that won't help next time. Each time Entropy reappears, he gets exponentially larger and more powerful. Next time... *cough* well, he'll cause the destruction of most of America, I'm sure of it. Tens of millions will die!"

Dr Dynamo lifted his frail hand and suddenly gripped Kid Kinetic's arm. Although the retired cosmic hero was old and weak, Marty could feel the tingle of electricity from the fingers that dug into his arm. Dr Dynamo glared at his sidekick, his eyes wide and his voice shaking with fear.

"I've been doing the calculations, kid, analysing when he arrived the last three times. If I'm right, I reckon we've only got a couple of months. Kid, you've got to warn the Knights. Tell them to build up their strength and prepare".

"Tell them... Entropy, Monstro, whatever you want to call him... is returning and he's going to destroy us all!"

Cosmics: Dynamic Daydreams and Missing Mentors

Kid Kinetic still couldn't find Dr Dynamo. Any clues to his whereabouts didn't seem to make sense. It was so frustrating. But then again, life in his normal, slowed-down guise was frustrating. He wanted to run, wanted to feel the excitement that came with hurtling along the ground at a hundred miles an hour. Instead, right now, he was stuck in class listening to a boring lecture whilst daydreaming about one of his first training sessions with Dr Dynamo…

…

"No kid", called out Doctor Dynamo, one of America's finest superheroes, "you've got to time your punch right. Accelerate up, pull back your fist and, just a moment before you think you're going to hit, swing. No earlier!"

The blurred figure of Kid Kinetic, also known as Marty MacNeil when not in costume, zipped from the other side of the abandoned warehouse and, in the blink of an eye, was standing next to Dr Dynamo rubbing his injured right fist.

"ButitfeelslikeI'mswingingtoolate", explained Marty, speaking so fast that the words all ran into one.

"Slow down, kid", admonished Dr Dynamo, "That's your problem; sometimes you're too quick".

Marty saw Dr Dynamo sigh and then, with a crack of lightning, launch himself across the warehouse. Dr Dynamo was about to pick up the mannequin they'd been using for target practice when Marty suddenly zipped past, a blur of colour, and picked it up himself.

"Letmegetthatforyou", uttered Marty as he placed the dummy on the stand. Dr Dynamo shook his head but Marty didn't notice. He was too busy rushing around the room. He zipped off, turned on a dime and then rushed back, trying once more to land a decent supersonic punch on the dummy.

…

Kid Kinetic realised that he'd been lucky to find a mentor like Dr Dynamo. When his cosmic powers had surfaced nearly a year ago, it had taken him by surprise.

Up until then, Marty had only dreamed of moving fast. He'd always loved watching motor racing on TV, jet fighters at air shows and sprinters at sporting events but he'd always been slow and steady.

Suddenly he found himself running as quick as a car and not being able to stop. His cosmic abilities had been so hard to control at first - the energy just wanted him to move quicker and quicker. It was exhilarating but also a little scary and not very practical.

Thankfully, Dr Dynamo had been nearby and, after they'd managed to get him to slow down, the good Doctor had trained him in the use of his abilities. Together they had fought crime, stopping those who wanted to harm or cause fear in others. He'd been the sidekick to one of the greatest heroes who had ever lived (at least in Marty's view).

That was then though. Now he was no longer a sidekick because just a while back, Dr Dynamo disappeared. No one seems to know where he's gone or what's happened to him. One day he was fighting Entropy and then suddenly he was gone. Maybe Entropy's chaos effect had sent Dr Dynamo somewhere? But no one has seen Entropy since that day either, so Marty can't ask him. It was all so frustrating.

But perhaps, wondered Marty as his teacher waffled on at the front of class, he could get a lead to his mentor's whereabouts from the Cosmic Knights?

Cosmics: Biff! Wham! Pow!

*POW*

Kid Kinetic's supersonic punch hit the thin, long-nosed clown in the stomach, doubling up the costumed thug. The second clown, this one with bulging muscles and a long plank of sturdy wood, stepped up and swung his weapon. But Kid Kinetic was a blur and had already moved. The wooden plank hit the first clown to the ground, his large feet and nose sticking up into the air.

*SLAP*

A third, white-faced clown aimed an eerily-coloured custard pie at Kid Kinetic. Laughing wildly, the clown let the pie fly.

"You shouldn't play with your food, bozo", called out Kid Kinetic.

The blurred outline of Kid Kinetic simply sidestepped out of the way of the pie. The custard pie hit the second clown who, despite his size and strength, immediately slumped to the floor snoring. The pie must've been filled with some sort of sleeping custard, thought Kid Kinetic as he approached the third clown.

*SNORE*

"The name's Bonzo, kid", replied the third clown, picking up another catnap custard pie from a nearby table.

However, the clown never had a chance to throw his second slumber pie. Kid Kinetic had run up to the clown and clapped his hands together next to the clown's head. The spectacular speed of the clap caused a mini-sonic boom, which knocked the clown off his feet and onto the ground.

*BOOM*

A moment later the custard pie dropped from the air and onto the clown's head. The clown, already seeing stars from the sonic-boom clap, fell into a deep, dreamy sleep.

"Night, night sleepy head", chuckled Kid Kinetic. He smiled, looked around and ran to the door of the warehouse.

A moment earlier the Clown King had left by this door leaving Kid Kinetic to tackle the remains of his Clown Gang. It had taken Kid Kinetic a few days to track down the Prince of Pranks and his crazy gang. He'd searched around much of Millenia, speeding down the streets and around buildings, looking in every nook and cranny much quicker than the local police could. Although he hadn't had much time to search as he would have liked - his school work had kept him busy. Still, it was amazing what Kid Kinetic could do in very little time.

It had been at school that Marty MacNeil, the secret identity of Kid Kinetic, got his lead. He'd overheard some other kids talking about the circus coming to town. Apparently, they'd seen some clowns in a multicoloured car near the outskirts just the day before and hence jumped to their conclusion. Marty knew better.

That evening, Marty donned his red and white uniform and went clown searching as the teen speedster Kid Kinetic. He quickly found the area the other boys had seen the clowns and, within minutes, found a newly renovated warehouse. Sneaking inside, he'd discovered the lair of Clown King and his gang, dressed to look like a circus ring. However, before he could stop the Clown King, his henchmen had rushed him allowing their master to escape through the warehouse's backdoor.

Having defeated most of the Clown King's thugs, Kid Kinetic ran to the door and opened it. Luckily, Kid Kinetic was moving so fast that the blue bucket balanced over the door missed him and emptied it's liquid contents onto the floor. The ground sizzled but Kid Kinetic did not stop to investigate further. He sprinted after the Clown King.

The King of Clowns, still many yards away from his clown car, could hear Kid Kinetic rushing up behind him. He turned around, laughing and giggling, whilst pulling what looked like a rubber chicken from out of his large, multicoloured coat.

"Ha ha!", laughed the Clown King. "Well if it isn't... tee hee... Doctor Dynamo's... ho ho... speeding sidekick. Fancy meeting you here. Ha ha ha. Will you be the Auguste to my... tee hee... White Face?".

Kid Kinetic slid to a halt and watched the Clown King.

"Give it up, Clown of Crime", Kid Kinetic shouted. "There's nowhere to hide. I've called the cops and they'll be here any minute. Plus, you're all out of bumbling buffoons".

The Clown King chuckled and almost fell over his big, long feet. Recovering, he pretended to wipe his eyes with a frilly hankerchief, whilst holding up the rubber chicken in his other hand.

"Ha ha! You do amuse me, Kid Coconut. Still, I know something you don't. Nyah, nyah!", he sang whilst hopping from one foot to the next. "You see... tee hee... I still have a gag or two up my sleeve. And you shall not escape the horror that is the... chicken of doom!".

The Clown King threw the rubber chicken at Kid Kinetic, who prompty dodged the pathetic poultry. However, as the chicken hit the ground there was a loud explosion and a dark purple noxious gas filled the air.

"Nice try, King of Nothing", replied Kid Kinetic, instantly moving to get away from the cloud. "But your gurgling gas cloud isn't going to stop me. All I have to do is whiz my arms around so fast that I create a funneling whirlwind to blow the mist away".

And Kid Kinetic did just that, rotating his arms at the shoulder to form a tornado to blow the miasma back at the Clown King.

"Curses!", yelled the clown, backing away as his laughter began to die away. "Still, ha! I shall escape to plan a gag for another day".

"Oh no you don't!", replied Kid Kinetic and he rushed up to the Clown King. The Clown King laughed half-heartedly and squirted a stream of green liquid from the fake flower in his lapel. Having seen this trick before, Kid Kinetic dodged the acidic spray. Then, grabbing a nearby length of steel cable, Kid Kinetic ran around and around the Clown King, wrapping the wire round and round the rotund clown. A moment later, the clown was held fast, entangled in the wire.

Moving away, Kid Kinetic watched as the purple cloud drifted over the struggling form of the Clown King. The villain coughed a couple of times and then fell to the ground knocked out.

Admiring his handiwork, Kid Kinetic beamed. "Well, that wraps things up", he chuckled happily.

Hearing the wail of police sirens, Kid Kinetic looked up from the sleeping clown and smiled. The police would be here shortly to ensure the Clown Gang was put behind bars. But Kid Kinetic couldn't wait. He had to get back home. His mom would be wondering where he was and he had homework to do.

And after that, he still had to search for the missing Dr Dynamo!

Cosmics: Kid Kinetic

 (story from the Millenia Herald, 17th December, 2010)

Kid Crimefighter Clocks Clown King

Yesterday, at approximately 8pm, Millenia's speeding hero Kid Kinetic, sidekick of the respected crimefighter Dr Dynamo, stopped a raid at the downtown Bank Of America. The raid was conducted by the Clown King, a gadget wielding villian well known to the local authorities, and four other unknown associates dressed in clown outfits. Kid Kinetic, one of the city's newest costumed cosmics, arrived whilst the Clown King held up the bank.

Ms Beth Monroe, 31, one of the assistant banker tellers at the scene was somewhat shaken by the attack. "The Clown King and his men had burst in just as we were closing for the day. One of the bank's guards approached the gang and told them to stop. But the Clown King just laughed and threw what looked like a shiny Christmas bauble at the guard. The bauble exploded, knocking the guard out and showered the place with paper streamers. The other clowns then rounded everyone up, brandishing large candy canes as clubs. The Clown King just kept on laughing the whole time. It was terrible".

The arrival of Kid Kinetic was also something of a shock to many in the bank. Bill Williams, 40, a customer at the bank and one of those held hostage, was the first to see him. "There was a sudden breeze in the room and then that Kinetic kid appeared out of nowhere. He was this blurred blue and red figure. He told the Clown creep to stop. When one of the other clowns pointed his piece at him there was a sudden flurry of activity and next thing you know, the clowns' weapons were in a pile at the kid's feet. The kid was smiling the whole time".

Apparently, so witnesses describe, Kid Kinetic subdued three of the Clown King's associates before the ringleader himself confronted him. Details at that point are a little vague but Mr Williams had this to say. "The kid had punched the Clown King a couple of times. At least, I think he did - he was moving so fast it was difficult to see. Anyway, the kid told the clown to give up and come peacefully but the guy just laughed. He then pointed one of those joke plastic flower squirters at the kid and a stream of sizzling liquid hit him in the face. The kid dropped to the floor holding his face. I think the liquid might've been acid or something".

Police officials state that the Clown King and one of his associates left the bank soon after the attack and that both the police and Kid Kinetic were unable to stop him. Due to the cosmic hero's timely intervention, three of the Clown King's thugs have been taken into custody.

Deputy Chief Frank Fernandez of Millenia's Police Department stated "Thankfully Kid Kinetic was in the area and managed to stop the Clown King's gang before anyone was seriously hurt or any money was taken". The police are still searching for the whereabout of the so-called Prince of Pranks.

This is the second bank robbery that Kid Kinetic has prevented in the last month. Again, during yesterday's struggle, there was no sign of the cosmic sidekick's mentor and member of the Cosmic Knights, Dr Dynamo. It has now been nearly two months since the dynamic defender was last seen fighting the notorious Entropy. Unfortunately, Kid Kinetic was unavailable to comment on yesterday's attempted bank robbery and Dr Dynamo's absence.