Marshal Book 9: We Are Hero

By Harvey O. Minnick Jr.

MARSHAL BOOK 9, is an adult science fiction adventure with a superhero twist and a little humor thrown in. If you can believe in aliens, you can believe in Marshal and his crew of superheroes as they try to protect the Earth from a never ending stream of threats including humans. Life on Earth has never been quite the same after the coming of Marshal.

This is the ninth book in the series but it is written to bring new readers up to speed fast.

I write to entertain, I try to put you in the middle of the action, you will know what is going on, how it feels, sounds like and experience the emotions of the characters.

The book is self censoring for more sensitive readers warning them in advance giving the reader the option to read on and experience all of the blow by blow action or allowing them to read on a little and then skip to the next break to pick up on the action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Oct 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781490784793

Harvey O. Minnick Jr.

I write to entertain. Sometimes the action may become too graphic or intense for more sensitive readers. It is not meant to be rude, crude, or pornographic, but things can and do get intense at times. I am trying to put you, the reader, in the middle of the action, and it should be intense if it is any good. I do give my readers advance warning so they may skip the more graphic action if they so choose. Also, I cannot spell worth a darn. So please excuse me if anything slipped past the proofreaders.

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Copyright 2017 Harvey O. Minnick Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-8478-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-8479-3 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Trafford rev.   09/26/2017

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MARSHAL BOOK 9

WE ARE HERO

CHAPTER ONE                                     IT STARTED AT SENN

CHAPTER TWO                                    A VACATION TO REMEMBER

CHAPTER THREE                                CONTEMPLATE THIS

CHAPTER FOUR                                  COLONEL OTIS, THE LUCKY MAN

CHAPTER FIVE                                    THE LOVE PENTAGON

CHAPTER SIX                                      VEGAS BABY

CHAPTER SEVEN                                OHIO AND POINTS EAST

CHAPTER EIGHT                                 BETWEEN THE LINES

CHAPTER NINE                                    IT’S NOT EASY BEING HERO

CHAPTER TEN                                      ENTER DYNAMO

CHAPTER ELEVEN                              SHE IS NO MORE

CHAPTER TWELVE                             WE ARE HERO

EPILOGUE

ALIEN CRITIQUE

ART By HARVEY O. MINNICK JR.

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES INCLUDE

MARSHAL BOOK 1 THE COMING OF MARSHAL

An alien UFO falls from the sky and all of Earth learns we are not alone. And dauntless becomes the first superhuman.

MARSHAL BOOK 2 SUPERSTAR THE HARBINGER

Space bugs attempt to overthrow mankind and Superstar gets her powers.

MARSHAL BOOK 3 OUT OF THE COLD

The heroes go to rescue missing scientists and are attacked by exploding penguins.

MARSHAL BOOK 4 ROCKET GIRL

Superstar is turned against HERO and helps a teenage girl with stolen alien technology to become a criminal

MARSHAL BOOK 5 THE WATERLOO INCIDENT

Rocket girl frees the alien prisoners which results in zombies in the cornfields.

MARSHAL BOOK 6 FEMME FATALES

Two Chinese super soldiers go amuck and run free in Chicago leading to all sorts of chaos.

MARSHAL BOOK 7 DOCTOR COOLY AND THE LITTLE GREEN MAN

Dr. Cooly falls into a vortex leading to a different time and dimension and has all sorts of adventures.

MARSHAL BOOK 8 EPOCH

Evil aliens come to Earth. They want their ship back and are willing to do anything to get it.

Many thanks to Trena for her help with this book.

FOREWORD

For those not familiar with the Marshal story, Marshal, that’s his name and his job, is an interstellar lawman stranded on Earth. He lost his memory and most of his equipment when the Russians mistook his damaged starship for a doomsday meteor and shot it down.

Marshal is big, blue and incredibly strong. He speaks with a strange speech pattern due to a head injury and broken translator that works intermittently; the closer you are the better the translator works.

Brandy Holmes, a member of the Illinois National Guard, found the remains of the crashed ship and Marshal’s apparently dead body. Not wanting the government to cover it up like they did at Roswell, Brandy took the body to the news media.

Marshal was revived and other aliens were also recovered and revived. The soldiers that help in the recovery of Marshal’s body started to die off from an unknown form of radiation poisoning. Brandy was the last to survive and upon discovering this, Marshal used his uniform jacket to revive her. Brandy was being slowly dissolved and the molecules that made up her body were beginning to fall apart. The nanobots in Marshal’s jacket used the only viable cell structure they knew to reconstruct her body, giving her incredible superhuman strength and endurance.

The other aliens turned out to be criminals being transported to a prison. When this was discovered, the aliens escaped and it fell to Marshal to help the humans recapture them. He was assisted by Earth’s first superhero, Brandy Holmes, calling herself Dauntless.

The remains of Marshal’s ship were too deeply imbedded beneath the planet’s surface and too big to be moved, so the Air Force built the Ground Zero Complex over the crash sight and continued to study the remaining alien technology. The nearby secret research lab in the Truman College campus was converted into the new HQ for the Heroic Emergency Response Organization under the offices of the United Nations. The 5th Special Group of the US Army was attached to provide the necessary support and placed under the command of Major General Solo.

The ship’s cryo unit was also used as a containment center for the recaptured aliens. A worker unwittingly released an alien bug known as the Harbinger, an interstellar parasite that attaches itself to another being transforming the host body to conform to the needs of the hive. Heather Carter was being transformed into a drone when she was rescued by Marshal, and he once again used his jacket to stabilize her. The reaction between the nanobots and alien chemistry in her bloodstream gave her amazing speed; making her Earth’s second truly superhuman superhero, Superstar.

The heroes were called upon to provide heroic responses to several emergencies as they came up over the passage of time. Some aliens escaped, and alien technology was stolen and misused, leading to disastrous outcomes.

One dying alien gave his mind over matter powers to Dr. Beverly Cooly as she tried to save his life. She developed amazing mental abilities and became the fourth super hero, Super Doc.

Colonel Otis is working with her, trying to help her master her new powers.

While Marshal is still having trouble communicating and understanding life on this strange alien world. Superstar is enjoying being the center of attention, while Dauntless and the others struggle to adjust to the unwanted changes to their lives.

MaCos Ex, a multi-jointed alien with the face and table manners of a pig was also revived from the ship crash and is helping the humans reengineer the remains of Marshal’s ship and equipment.

For more information on all things alien, see the ALIEN CRITIQUE at the back of this book.

IMPORTANT NOTE

The book is self censoring.

Parts of the story may be too intense for more sensitive readers. Not rude crude or pornographic but too intense for some and that’s OK. The reader is informed when approaching a section containing violence or sexual content and advised how far ahead to skip and not miss out on the plot or action. You are encouraged to skim through the text until you reach the break in the action.

Not intended for younger readers.

CHAPTER ONE

IT STARTED AT SENN

The call for help came in at 08:32 AM. Colonel Otis had the alert team and most of the heroes gathered on the rooftop helipad by 08:40, preparing to make a jump.

Brandy Holmes, known to the world as Dauntless, stood back with her hands placed upon her hips, a look of disbelief on her face. The twenty degree air temperature caused her breath to form great clouds of steam, only adding to her enraged appearance. Even though she was the strongest human being on the planet and Earth’s first superhero, she was also a young woman riddled with self-doubt and jealousy. And the object of her jealousy was Heather Carter, known as Superstar.

Heather was a drop-dead beauty who relished being the center of everyone’s attention and wasn’t opposed to using her feminine charms to get what she wanted. At this point in time it looked to Brandy as if she had her sights set on Marshal. Dauntless was more than a little put off and actively protested. I can’t believe you’re sending her to go with Marshal. She’s never jumped with him. I’ve made several flights with him. I should be the one going in with him.

Col. Otis finished making a call and redirected his attention to Dauntless saying, Lieutenant,… um make that Dauntless, have you ever made a successful quiet landing with him?

Defensively she replied, Every mission we have been on was successful.

That’s not what I asked. Have you ever landed successfully with him?

Well, there was that time we came down in the water.

So the answer is no. Superstar’s speed may be the deciding factor in this. If anything needs to be broken, Marshal is more than up to it.

A broad toothy smile came to Heather’s face as she flashed Marshal a look of anticipation, her beautiful brown eyes positively sparkling with enthusiasm. She turned and playfully embraced Marshal saying, I’ll cover your butt.

Confused as usual, he looked the ravishing blond in the eye saying, I was unaware that I was exposed in any way.

Break it up! No Parcheesi, the colonel admonished.

Marshal eased her away and produced a D ring like those used in rope rappelling or mountaineering and spun her around. He tugged her closer holding her by her utility belt with a jerk. She stumbled closer and smiled as he snapped the D ring around her belt. She looked over her shoulder and asked, What do I have to do?

Marshal gave the D ring a tug jostling her a bit as he replied. Do not impair the movement of my arms, and vector me to our final destination. It is of utmost importance to try to keep your body and legs off to my side during landing.

As Superstar reached behind her to check the D ring Marshal added, If we maintain physical contact my personal force field will also protect you.

Dauntless stepped up and gave the zipper on Superstar’s uniform a quick pull, closing it up so that her impressive cleavage was no longer exposed. Here let me help you with that. You probably won’t need that force field as they’re only gang members but we wouldn’t want you catching cold. Superstar just looked on shocked and confused by Dauntless’ sudden action.

The rattle of a garage door opening broke the relative quiet of the college campus and was followed by the whine of turbo jet engines as they spooled up to speed. The colonel peered over the edge of the roof and saw several students gathering to see the Jetson Air Car slowly slide out of the ground level hangar. As the noise level grew into a roar the air car started to ascend straight up alongside the thirteen-story building.

The colonel backed away from the edge of the building and looked around. Someone was missing. The identity of the missing hero registered on his face and he barked out, Sergeant Stephens, go to the Med Wing and get Doctor Cooly out here on the double. The newly promoted sergeant jumped and dashed to the nearby stairwell door.

Major Reynolds came over to the colonel and asked, Are you sure about this? They didn’t ask for our help, We only monitored the police call for the SWAT team and we don’t have authorization from the secretary.

Todd, when street gang members attack a high school it’s an emergency and that is what we do, respond to emergencies, besides, we’re closer than the SWAT team is. We can be in and out before they get there.

The roar got even louder as the air car climbed up over head. The gathered troopers in their white HERO uniforms spread out making room as the air car slid over and lightly touched down on the helipad.

The Jetson Air Car looked like a cross between an open-top four seat sports car and an open-wheel Indy racecar with the wheels replaced with thrust vectoring turbojet impellers. Col. Otis motioned to the pilot to get out saying, Barbara, I’m taking this one. You get the other cars ready and follow as fast as you can. He turned to the others saying, Marshal, Superstar Bolzer, get in. Dauntless wait for the Doc and bring the rest with you. You’re in charge of the ground entry team. Any questions? He didn’t give her time to ask any. Good, see you there.

The colonel climbed in, buckled up, and took control of the air car. The engines howled and kicked up quite a bit of cold air as the car swung around and swooped down off the rooftop heading across the sprawling city below. Dauntless and CW3 Barbara watched the small air car as it headed north. She gave the chief a jab to his shoulder, saying, Come on Buster, race you down to the motor pool.

As the air car streaked over the two and three-story buildings that made up the residential community below, Specialist 4th class (Sp4) Bolzer who was riding shotgun nervously asked, Sir, do you know where we’re going? You never set the coordinates into the GPS.

We can’t miss it. It’s the last high school in Chicago before you hit the suburbs and it’s only a mile and a half north of HQ. Besides, there’s a news chopper circling it. He pointed ahead to the TV news and traffic chopper that had picked up the story and was already circling the scene.

The Nicholas Senn High School is in the center of Senn Park nestled among the tree-lined residential streets of two and three-story homes and apartment buildings. The great gray concrete and glass building of three stories could not be mistaken for anything other than a school. With its pillared front, hundreds of windows, and classical architecture, the building dominated the triangularly shaped park. The air car circled around and Col. Otis pointed out the irregularly shaped building out to his passengers. That’s it!

The great urban high school with its classical columns and architecture had a park with trees and winding sidewalks to its front, and to the rear was the athletic department’s playing fields. Traffic around the school had been cut off and the two smaller residential streets were quickly filling with a fleet of police cars and emergency vehicles with their lights flashing. Hundreds of students could be seen milling about on the frozen ball field and park to the west of the school.

Superstar asked, I see they got some of the students out, but how did the fire department get here before we did?

The colonel answered as he worked the controls to bring the craft down. There’s a fire station just a block away on Clark street."

They dropped down staying well above the roof of the school and circled around a couple of times, scouting out the situation. All activity on the ground came to a halt with the sight of a flying car circling the scene. Flying cars had only been made publicly known a couple of weeks earlier and were still a cause of public wonder and frequent fender benders.

The roof of the school building was a maze of air ducts, ventilation fans and glass panels covered with a layer of snow and ice. Superstar leaned over the edge of the car to get a better looks and reported, There’s not much room for us to land on the roof.

The otherwise relatively flat roof had a peak over the front columns giving the fourth floor a band room of unusual size. This seemed the most likely place to gain entry undetected.

Superstar and Marshal stood up in the back seat as the air car came to a hover several hundred feet over the school. Marshal pulled Superstar close to him and fastened the D ring on the back of her belt to his and gave her a shake to test it.

She pressed the back of her body against his; he felt solid and cool like a brick wall. She found this reassuring. She asked,What should I do with my arms?

Marshal pushed her long blonde hair out of his face saying, Reach behind you and grasp my belt.

Stay in contact. We’ll be ready to come in when you give us the word, Col. Otis said as he noticed the other three air cars approaching from the south.

Marshal spread out his arms, holding the ends of his cape. It transformed into a set of glider wings and he stepped off the air car. Heather’s voice could be heard screaming, OHMYGOD! as they started to fall. After falling for a second the wings filled with air and they started sailing about like a vulture riding the thermals, slowly circling and descending down toward the rooftop.

The cold morning air blew Heather’s long golden hair into Marshal’s face causing him to spit out lockets of her hair and causing him difficulty in seeing where they were flying. Superstar was hanging below Marshal and her toe caught on a strap holding one of the round silver ventilation ducts on the roof causing them to flip over and crash face-first into the ice-covered roof over the band room.

They hit with the force of a battering ram and crashed through the roof, shattering it, coming to a sudden stop in a heap of debris, wooden chairs, and band instruments. Daylight and bits and pieces of building supplies came falling down on the tangled mass of superheroes.

After a few seconds things stopped falling and the dust started to clear. The pile of debris started to move and Marshal was the first to sit up with the bell of a french horn crushed around the top of his head. With one hand he yanked the demolished instrument off of his head and tossed it away. What a conk!

Still in a daze, the massive Aurorean jumped up to his feet. Superstar, who was still clipped to his belt was just hanging there, out cold. The room was filled with chairs and music stands. As he looked around it became obvious that they were surrounded by fifty or more students of the band. Some wore military-looking uniforms while others didn’t. The students looked on in terror and confusion.

After clearing his head Marshal unclipped Superstar from his belt and she slowly slid down to the hard wood floor. We have got to work on that landing technique, he said before he realized she wasn’t conscious. He gave Superstar a gentle shake, rousing her out of her daze, asking, Are you functional? Noticing the worried looks on the student’s faces, he stepped forward, saying, Be not alarmed. We are HERO here to rescue you from your assailants.

The students stood back in shock and awe. Marshal standing before them made quite a impression with his white uniform jacket, bulging muscles, and flowing red cape. The wings used to descend had reverted back to his cape when he let go of the control points in the edge of the cape.

A short Asian girl rushed up and embraced Marshal, taking him by surprise. She buried her face against his chest and started crying. Marshal tried to comfort her, saying, There there, I will protect you little one.

She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes asking, But what about the others?

I will protect them as well.

But they don’t speak Chinese. They won’t understand, she tearfully protested.

They will understand. Look, the big blue Aurorean paused and wiped the tears away from her cheeks. I am not speaking Chinese. You only hear it as Chinese. Look at this sparkly diamond on my collar. It is my universal translator. It takes what I say and changes it into brain waves for you to understand. Everyone close enough to me will understand what I say.

Satisfied, the little girl flashed him an embarrassed smile and returned to her friends. Superstar came to and just sat there in amongst the shattered furniture, murmuring, We could’ve used that force field of yours.

No we could not. It would have interfered with the function of the cape.

One of the students announced, Hey! You’re Marshal!

That is correct. Is there a person in authority present?

An elderly man stepped forward in dismay. The band leader began to stutter, You, you crashed through my roof!

Yes, It was unintentional.

You crashed through my roof!

Yes, it is most unfortunate.

You crashed through the roof!

Yes, I explained that already. If I have to repeat everything we will be delayed from the performance of our duty.

But you crashed through my ceiling.

Marshal looked around, asking, Is there anyone else in authority here I may ascertain the situation from?

A Latina girl holding a flute stepped forward saying, Something happened and the school’s under lockdown. We were told to barricade the doors and wait. What’s going on?

Marshal helped Superstar up and she responded, Gang members with guns have moved in and possibly taken over the school. We’re here to protect you and capture the gang members.

The students gathered around the heroes as Marshal took out two strange devices from his utility belt. He held up the first one, a small dark ball, and squeezed it between his fingers. Dragonfly-like wings uncurled from around the ball, revealing a silver ball the size of a marble. The wings started to flap and the hunter drone just hovered there in midair, greeted by oo’s and ah’s by the students.

The second device, the hub device, was quickly manipulated into the command unit for the hunter tracker. As Marshal moved towards the door in the corner, Superstar questioned the students. Have you heard or seen anything?

No, but we’re in the band room. It’s pretty much sound proof, was the reply.

Superstar activated her comm link. HERO Two, we’re in the band room and everything is OK. We’re getting ready to go in.

Col. Otis’ voice came back saying, Be advised, Dauntless and team HERO are advancing to a position close to the northern entrance. According to the principal, gang members have moved into the cafeteria and shots have been fired.

How do you know they are gang members and not just some nut case with a gun? Superstar asked.

Superstar could hear the colonel ask the question and a woman’s voice replied, Because they had hoodies on, and hoodies are against the dress code at Senn.

Superstar paused and glanced at the students huddled around her. They nodded in agreement. How many students are there?

Again the principal’s voice could be heard over the comm link. I managed to evacuate the south side of the school, but the Naval Academy and the ROTC are in the north wing of the building. And I couldn’t get to them to warn them to get out.

The colonel was stunned to hear this. What’s that about a Naval Academy?

We share our building with the Richover Navy Academy.

What’s that?

It’s one of four schools set up to promote leadership and citizenship and JNROTC. They have about 900 cadets.

How many students are we talking about?

Senn has about six thousand students with almost four hundred being in the Army ROTC program and another nine hundred in the Naval ROTC program.

The colonel stepped back, looking thunderstruck. That explains all of the uniforms I saw. Do you think the ROTC could be the target of a terrorist attack?

A new wave of concern swept over Superstar as she looked over the gathered students. She hadn’t taken notice that several of the students were wearing smart looking uniforms consisting of a dress blue jacket with light blue pants, gray shirt and a black beret tucked under the shoulder epaulet. The rows of ribbons and brightly polished badges should have been a dead giveaway. A quick glance at the shoulder patches sealed the deal. We’ve got to get you out of here.

The tangled pile of chairs posed no barrier to Marshal who cleared the barricade with the swipe of one hand. He opened the door a little and allowed the hunter tracker to pass through and begin its mission. He was able to watch its progress on the hub device as it flew down the narrow fire escape like metal stairway down to the third floor landing where the orchestra room entrance was. There was no sign of life. From here, the stairway widened and became a more typical school stairway down.

The colonel’s voice came over the comm link. This is Hero Two, the gunman’s last known position was in the cafeteria. They are between you and the ROTC facilities, which is on the northern side of the building, and may be their target. Get as many students out of there as you can.

Roger that, was Superstar’s reply.

After a brief conference with Marshal, Superstar returned to the frightened students. OK, here’s the plan. Marshal says the third and second floors are clear, so I want you cadets to go from room to room, and get everybody out, and exit the building going out on the west side of the building.

A cadet asked, But, what about the first floor?

I’m going to go ahead of you and make sure the coast is clear while Marshal heads east. He wont let anything get past him.

The flute player asked, What about the rest of us?

Go with them.

Which way is west?

A cadet master sergeant spoke up saying, That’s the Peterson, Clark Street side of the park.

Outside in Thorndale, the small residential street that passed along the northern side of the school, two police officers were huddled behind their police car blocking the street. A fire engine was parked at the other end of the block much closer to the school’s northwest corner and the ball field. One of the officers turned around to rest his back against the car and was stunned by what he saw.

A very attractive and athletic-looking young woman dressed in skin-tight white jacket, dark-blue pants, and hero boots was sneaking up hiding behind the row of parked cars. Several similarly dressed armed men followed her.

When she arrived at their position she crouched down next to the officers. The confused look on the officer’s face caused her to explain, We’re HERO. We’re here to help storm the building.

The other officer turned around. You’re Dauntless.

That’s right.

They never told us.

And now I’m telling you. She gave the comm link on her chest a tap to activate it. This is Dauntless with team HERO. We are in position.

The colonel replied, We are still moving into position. Can you see or hear anything?

She peeked over the car before answering, No, everything is quiet. She turned to the police officer and asked, Where is the cafeteria from here?

Uh let’s see,… It’s in the central part of the school on the north side. Not this wing, but close on the first floor.

Inside, a white and golden blur streaked from room to room, up and down the wide open empty hallway. Superstar stopped when she came to the stairway at the end of the hall. She activated her comm link saying, I’ve swept this side of the third floor and I’m going to the second floor before going over to the other side. How does it look? After pausing to wait for a reply that never came it occurred to her. Damn it! What’s the matter with me? I know he can’t understand any transmitted communications. She raced back to the center of the building and found Marshal on the second floor landing using the hub device to follow the hunter tracker’s progress. Find anything?

He gave her a look. The top two floors appear to be clear. There is no sound emanating from them. There is sound on the first floor and I am striving to investigate and learn its source.

Good. You do that. I’ll sweep the top two floors before coming back. If you find anything call me and I’ll come-a-runin’.

Superstar disappeared back up the steps and in a few seconds students led by cadets started coming down the stairs. Marshal waved for them to follow. Be quiet and exit the building at your first opportunity and move to safety. He led them down the stairs to the main foyer.

Students started trickling out the door into the cold winter air. The colonel called out over the comm link, What’s going on?

Superstar replied, Sorry, we’re letting the students out as we come to them.

Try giving us a heads up next time.

The trickle of students fleeing the building turned into a stream but the cold winter air stopped their progress and they started milling about. Dauntless and the HERO troopers with her rushed over and led them to shelter in the nearby homes.

Marshal had moved beyond the front door down the main hallway and had his back pressed against the door to the office. He was intently working the controls on the hub device when