#3 - "Systematic Examination"

"Now this is certainly a switch," I casually remarked.

"Agreed," Jaime responded. "I've found a lightsabre. Now what should I do?"

The link I share with Jaime allows us to do some very remarkable things. Such as conference calls without any equipment on my end or Jaime being able to make hard copies of what I see and hear. But in this particular instance, for one of the few times in our shared existence, we had switched roles. Jaime was controlling the body while I was her disembodied sidekick.

"Head out towards Warehouse #8 and hope that we're in time." Jaime agreed with my instructions and made her way towards the storage area in question. Her movements were awkward as she exited my private quarters, lightsabre in hand. Jaime was unaccustomed to physical movement and it showed. Her gait had an unnatural, creepy quality to it.

My assignment in Los Angeles completed, we were getting ready to return home. I had been relaxing in the Situation Van inside a CII cargo plane at LAX. We'd be taking off within the hour. That's when the alarm went off that we had intruders in Warehouse #8 back on Staten Island. In spite of me sitting in LA, Jaime went to work. She was in essence the main computer for the CII plant and thus monitored plant security as well.

Whoever was breaking in knew what they were doing. Our sensors and scanners were being fried at an alarming rate, making us deaf and blind. Monitor and Security Drones were dropping like flies. Three of my Freedom League teammates were on base at the time of the assault: FIST, Resonator, and the Speedster. Jaime had informed them of the trouble and they had gone to investigate. That was the last we had heard from them.

Jaime's call to the Avengers for assistance went unanswered. That in itself wasn't a big deal. Being the Avengers, New York's premiere hero team, they were often out on assignments. They could easily be off on some other emergency. However, Jaime monitored the news media for such things. It was considered to be a quiet night in the Big Apple.

That's when I remembered the robot body that Jaime sometimes uses when she needs a corporeal form. It had been used recently in rescuing the Huntress. (Editor's Note: Back in Huntress #14)

Transferring into the body, Jaime located one of my lightsabres and we were off to investigate. The robot was nothing special to look at. Jaime used it so infrequently that we never bothered to give it a proper appearance. I got the feeling that she really didn't want to be physically mobile, but did it when needed. It resembled an androgynous mannequin dressed in a red jumpsuit. Thus, Jaime was controlling the robot body while I could observe her actions even though my body was actually in Los Angeles. I just had to relax and close my eyes to put myself in better touch with her.

Alarms and sirens echoed throughout the corridor as we made our way to Warehouse #8. I wondered what our burglars could want in this particular storage area. There were so many different things in there that it was hard to guess one particular target.

Campbell Industries International had their hands in a wide variety of technologies. The old 'jack of all trades, master of none' quote was most accurate when dealing with CII. Naturally, there had been break-ins before. I was sure that there would be more again. We always seemed to have something that somebody wanted.

Reaching the exit, Jaime threw open the door and raced out into the courtyard. Warehouse #8 was a fair distance away near the shipping and receiving area of the plant. Even running it would take several minutes to reach our destination. Anything could have happened there by then.

Jaime rounded a corner and went into a skid. Her equilibrium completely off balance, Jaime fell down and slid to a stop. The whole episode looked really bizarre from my point of view. I knew she was falling and yet I had no physical sensation of it. I didn't have that awkward feeling of teetering on the brink, or the surprise of the sudden impact with the pavement.

"What the heck was that?", Jaime wondered in surprise. She sat up and tried to make sense of the situation.

"There's your answer," I told her. Her optical sensors took a good look at the ground and found the entire area had been covered in ice! "You slipped on the ice and fell on your butt."

"A most unpleasant sensation. Look! There's Speedster!"

Looking off into the distance, I spotted what Jaime had seen. Our yellow and blue clad teammate was laying face down on the ice. He appeared unconscious. "We've got to check on him," I informed Jaime.

"Agreed."

Gingerly, Jaime got to her feet once more. This time she was prepared for the slippery surface. By bending her metallic toes down Jaime was able to use her feet like claws creating toeholds for herself in the ice. Cautiously, we made our way to Speedster's side. Speedster was the resident expert in chemistry. Everyone in the Freedom League is an expert in something and that was his niche.

"He's still breathing," Jaime relayed to me in a relieved voice. "Looks like he took quite a spill. Lots of bumps and bruises. There's a nasty lump on his forehead. It could be a concussion."

"Most likely he hit the ice patch and skidded out of control," I offered. "Probably knocked himself out in the process. Or he had outside assistance."

"What should I do? Keep going or get Speedster to the infirmary?"

I pondered that point for a few seconds. If we kept going we may still catch the intruders before they got away with whatever they were after. But if Speedster did have a concussion, then it was imperative to get him to the medical center. I quickly realized that we didn't have a choice in the matter.

I wasn't that eager for Jaime to get involved in a fight anyway. She knew everything I did about fighting, but she had no practical experience in that area. I know that she's just a glorified computer program, but Jaime is still a part of me. I could no more lose her than you would want to lose a limb.

"Let's get him to the infirmary. Just in case it is a concussion or something much worse."

Picking up Speedster, Jaime gingerly made her way off the ice and heading back the way we had come. Fortunately, we came across one of the few actual human security guards we have. The Freedom League acts as the primarily plant security force. We in turn are augmented by the Monitor and Security Drones that Jaime controls. Because of this, we have a much smaller security force then you would normally expect at an installation of this size. Depositing Speedster with them, we turned back around and continued forward.

"It's awfully quiet," Jaime noted. "They might be gone by now."

"It's possible. But we won't know until we get there and investigate. Get a move on."

Jaime did her best, but this was not an ideal situation for her. Crossing the ice was an agonizingly slow process. I probably would have just slid across it myself or used my lightsabre to swing over, but I'm used to such physical deeds. I could sense her growing frustration.

"You're doing fine," I told her in an attempt to encourage her and keep her spirits up. "Just remember that things are not always as easy as they look when you complain about me being sloppy."

"Point taken," Jaime answered in an annoyed voice.

Finally, we reached the far end of the ice patch and turned another corner. More ice loomed ominously before us. Warehouse #8 wasn't that far off now. What immediately caught our attention was a large object covered in ice. There appeared to be someone trapped inside it! Looks like we found one of our other teammates.

At first we couldn't make out who was caught inside the block of ice as we approached. Logically, it had to be either FIST or Resonator. Both wore armor causing them appear larger in size and thus making it unlikely that it would be one of the other security guards. It could have been either one of them. That was until the block of ice began to shake and vibrate!

"It's Resonator," we both said at the same time. Being of the same mind we tend to do that a lot. My fellow Freedom Leaguer was using sound to shake himself free. Sonics was Resonator's niche in the Freedom League. The telltale shrill that accompanied his powers was a dead give away. The noise made nails on a blackboard sound good by comparison. Cracks began to form in the block and rapidly expanded. Huge chunks fell away to reveal the Resonator.

To be perfectly blunt, the armor Resonator wears is not pretty. Of course he built it to be functional and not make Blackwell's best dressed heroes list. Although, he did make the worst dressed list at least once.

Imagine the Pillsbury Doughboy in armor and you'll have a good idea of what Resonator looks like. The suit is large and bulky. Definitely not form fitting armor. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was plain metallic gray in color. No sense of color or style. The bulky armor completely covered Resonator with the exception of a clear faceplate that showed his eyes.

Resonator was the first recruit of the Freedom League. He came to us by way of Los Angeles where he had been a member of the Guardians. He voted against the Guardian's joining forces with the Avengers, but was overruled. Instead of sticking around, he resigned. Sheryl Campbell learned about him and offered him a spot on the Freedom League and a job at CII.

Resonator broke away a few remaining chunks of ice as Jaime was approaching.

"Are you okay?" The query momentarily startled Resonator who hadn't noticed our presence yet. Jaime had to take a moment to explain who she was. It wasn't often she was seen in her robot body.

"I was ambushed," Resonator explained in a disgusted tone. He was a proud man, arrogant some would say. He took set backs, any set back, very hard. Resonator was the kind of man who had to work for everything he got. Nothing had come easy for him. "Someone zapped me with electricity and that temporarily knocked my systems offline. When I woke up I was on, or rather in, ice. Any sign of FIST or Speedster?"

We relayed what happened to Speedster as we continued on towards Warehouse #8. I imagine that we must have presented an odd site. A robot walking side by side with a man in armor. Both gingerly trying to cross this ice without falling on their rear. Resonator had a dislike of heights and had never given his sonic armor flight capabilities. "As for FIST, your guess is as good as mine."

"He flew on ahead of me," Resonator told Jaime. "You know how he hates to wait for anyone."

That I knew very well. FIST was one of the original Freedom Leaguers along with Microwave, Speedster, Radiance, and I. He had a very tragic origin. His body had been badly burned in a robbery. By most accounts he should have died but somehow survived on sheer will.

Many folks think that FIST is just a man in armor. That's where they're wrong. You can't separate the man from the suit. The FIST armor is in essence a mobile life support system holding the shattered remains of what had once been a man. Our teammate is a very angry man. Can't say that I blame him. His particular niche is medicine. Before his accident he had been a brilliant, caring doctor.

Warehouse #8 finally came into view. One of the large overhead doors had been violently ripped open. Of course, the ice had to reach all the way to the warehouse itself. That was damn annoying, but it did a fantastic job on slowing down anyone coming to stop the robbers. The phrase fiendishly clever came to mind.

"All clear," Resonator advised. Since sonics was his thing, a sonar unit had been incorporated into his armor. It had been running ever since he had freed himself. I would have hated to get caught in another ambush.

We stepped through the opening and entered the warehouse itself. It was a large, rectangular building that held nearly a dozen storage bays. Fortunately the overhead lights were still working. Whoever fried the security system was skilled enough to target only those particular circuits. That just meant that the thieves needed lights to see by. Fortunately, the inside of the warehouse was free of ice.

Cautiously we walked down the main bay looking for trouble. All was quiet. Too quiet. Either the robbers had already gotten away or they were laying in wait. Had I physically been there I know I would have been tense. I could feel that Jaime was nervous. She was out of her element here and was far more accustomed to being my backseat driver them being in control.

"Over there!", Jaime announced. She pointed several bays away where we could see a column of smoke rise towards the roof. "Fire!"

Both Jaime and Resonator broke into a sprint towards the source of the smoke. I really wish I had been there to see this. Jaime running in her machine-like, unnatural gait and Resonator in his ungraceful armor. It must have been hilarious!

Entering the bay, we could see several crates were burning. The overhead sprinklers had been activated by the heat and rained down water. Upon reaching the burning crates, Resonator and Jaime dragged them out into the center of the bay, well away from any other flammables. The fire had been minor and was easily controlled.

But that still didn't tell us where FIST was. Perhaps he came across the robbers and was still giving them chase? He did have jet boots in his armor, giving FIST airborne capabilities. Certainly the ice we had encountered was no serious obstacle to him.

"I'm picking up something over there." Resonator pointed towards the far end of the bay and behind several large crates. "It's moving."

Stealth was not an option at this point. Resonator's armor was noisy even when he wasn't firing a sonic blast. Jaime's metallic feet clicked loudly on the concrete floor. Whoever was hiding back there knew we were coming. Activating the lightsabre, Jaime and Resonator stepped around the crate to confront--

"FIST!", Resonator exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing there?"

Our armored colleague was crouched in a corner. He gave me the impression of being a frightened little boy who was hiding. From what, I didn't know.

"Are you all right?", Jaime vocalized. "Has your armor been damaged?"

Our sudden appearance must have shaken FIST back to reality. Seemingly realizing what he was doing, FIST stood up and tried to appear more at ease but did not succeed.

"I'm fine," he gruffly announced as he walked passed us. "Caught me off guard is all."

"Who ambushed you?", Resonator wanted to know. "I never saw my attackers."

"Don't know. I was blind-sided as well," was FIST's answer. He kept right on walking and didn't look back. "You guys finish up here. I've got things to do."

"He's got things to do," Resonator said incredulously to Jaime as FIST departed. "What the hell does that mean? He can't just shirk off his responsibilities like this!"

"Apparently he can," I mentally noted to Jaime. "The fire must've shook him. He's been deathly afraid of it since his accident." Not that I blame him in the least. The only thing that made sense was that he was confronted by the fire and his fears surfaced. That would explain why he was hiding like that. FIST is normally fearless as he feels he doesn't have much to lose anymore. Except when it comes to fire.

A quick search revealed that the robbers were long gone. Now came the tedious task of figuring out what they took. Then we could search for reasons why. We would begin systematic examination of what little evidence there was to try and determine the facts in the case. They would be needed for our report to the police, for our claim to the insurance company, and especially to satisfy our boss, Sheryl Campbell.

An hour later I was airborne in the CII Cargo Plane. With all the excitement completed back at Warehouse #8, Jaime had stored her robot body and returned to the main computer. I began my journey home as we reviewed what little we did know about the situation.

"Speedster does have a concussion," Jaime reported telepathically. "FIST says he'll be out of action for a few days."

"I bet he feels mortally embarrassed to have been injured on something so mundane as ice."

"True, but we usually don't get much ice this late in April. They've completed an examination of the warehouse and found only one thing to be missing," Jaime relayed to me. "The Energy Amplification Array. You know, that five million dollar dud we got stuck with?"

I remembered it well. The EAA was a device that basically focused energy into a stronger, more coherent stream. Ideally, it would have been used to ease energy demands for high powered machinery. The device itself wasn't a weapon, although it could be converted into one with a great deal of work. So much work in fact, that it was easier to just build such a weapon from scratch than adapt the EAA.

No, whoever took it didn't want it as a weapon. Even worse, the Array was faulty. There was a tiny flaw in the focusing element that caused a back flow of power. It was like having a crack in a mirror. When you looked at it, you'd see a second, distorted image. In short, the device didn't focus properly rendering it pretty much useless for our applications.

The Array was stored away after we found the flaw. It would have to be shipped back to the manufacturer for repairs. But someone stole it before it could be returned. The question that loomed before us now was why. How did they learn about the array and where it was stored? For what purpose did they want this device? Good questions with no answers as of yet.

"Let's review what we do know," I suggested to Jaime. "Perhaps we'll be able to make some sense of this with deductive reasoning."

"Okay. Well, we do know that we are dealing with someone with ice powers."

"Or ice generating devices," I added. "As well as someone with electrical powers and someone else who is super strong."

"Super strong?", Jaime parroted. "How do you know that?"

"Simple. The overhead door was ripped open, remember? I didn't see any signs of ice or electricity being used to do that. Plus someone had to carry away the array. It's far too heavy for even a dozen men to carry. I didn't see any fresh tire tracks in the warehouse. So, it had to be carried out somehow. Brute force seems like the logical choice."

"Super strength is one of the most common powers around. I doubt we'll be able to figure out who committed the robbery from that angle."

"Agreed. Who do you have on file as having ice based powers?", I requested of Jaime. "There can't be that many Jack Frost's out there and in the New York area."

"I currently have a dozen ice/cold entries in my villain database."

"Let's have them." Through the systematic process of elimination, we should be able to figure out the most likely suspects in our robbery. This was one of the reasons that Jaime kept track of all the superbeings that she could. It made finding out who did what all the easier.

"Blizzard King."

"Who?" Figures she'd start out with someone that I wasn't familiar with.

"Leader of the British villain group the Four Winds," Jaime explained.

"I doubt he's our man. The Four Winds haven't ventured this far from England before. Who's next?"

"Cold Warrior."

"From Russia? I'd also be surprised if it was him. Why not trim your list to those with ice powers normally associated with North America?", I instructed.

"As you wish. Cryotron."

"Now there's a good possibility!" Cryotron was the leader of the villain band the Corrupters of All. Supposedly, they were a gang of villains exiled on Earth from another dimension. "In fact, they fit our profile perfectly!"

"You're right," Jaime added excitedly. "Bruiser is super strong and Sergeant Supreme has electrical powers. Gaussian's magnetic powers would have played havoc with FIST and Resonator's armor. I think we found our villains!"

"Its a very good possibility. Perhaps Cryotron thinks the EAA can be somehow used to get them back home. However, let's just not automatically assume that it was the Corrupters. They were involved in the fighting with the Crimson Claw back in Los Angeles after all."

"That was a week ago, Jess," Jaime informed me. "More than enough time for them to travel cross country."

"True, but I'd rather consider all the options before making a decision one way or the other. They may fit the profile, but it still leaves several unanswered questions. Such as how they even heard about the Array, let alone where to find it."

"Very well," Jaime sighed. "Fire & Ice is our next popsicle."

"He too fits the bill nicely, considering the fire in Warehouse #8. Do you have any further data on him?"

"He was also involved with the Claw's contest. As was our next candidate, Freon."

"Let's keep moving down the list then," I told Jaime. Neither Fire & Ice or Freon were considered to be high-tech villains. Of course, they could have been hired to do the job. That made much more sense.

"Next is Frost of the Destroyers."

"We captured him a few months back. He should still be in Ryker's Island." (Editor's Note: Back in Avengers #6)

"Right you are," Jaime answered. "Frostburn."

"That's another new one on me. Who is he?"

"A Nest Commander for VIPER in Miami. Or so I am told."

"I think we can safely rule him out," I concluded. VIPER Nest leaders typically didn't travel far from their home base. There had been territorial clashes in the past among VIPER Nest Leaders. No, they tend to concentrate on their own turfs.

"That leaves us with three other possibilities: Icestorm, Icicle, and Thermax."

"Hmmm... Icestorm is part of Catastrophe, is he not? This doesn't sound like their style. Not enough mayhem and mindless destruction. I thought Icicle was currently in Los Angeles?"

"Yes, she has been spotted there recently," Jaime informed me. "Thermax is local, however. And he would account for fire as well as the self-proclaimed 'Master of Temperature'. According to the Avengers, he was working for the Morbanes Lord Evil and Lady Darkness."

"They were captured when the DEMON Base was raided." (Editor's Note: Back in Avengers #12-13) I missed that particular party and had heard about it second hand. FIST, Brute, Speedster, and Microwave were the ones having the fun on that day.

"But Thermax was never accounted for," Jaime countered.

"Very true. It still looks like the Corrupters of All are our best bet. Now let's go over what you have on electrical criminals..."

A run down on the list of Electrical villains didn't shed any further light on the situation. Other than Sergeant Supreme, the only other likely candidate was Thunderbolt and he was locked up in Ryker's Island. Jaime sent out a plethora of Monitors to closely examine the crime scene and look for additional clues. Nothing useful was found. The Corrupters were looking more and more likely as our thieves.

I'd check out the crime scene tomorrow. I would also place a call to the Avengers letting them know what had transpired. They might be able to offer some insight into this situation. Some clue that I overlooked. There was nothing else I could do for the time being, so I laid down and tried to get a few hours sleep in before we arrived in New York. For now, I could use some rest.

I was just starting to nod off when Jaime interrupted me telepathically. "I've got some bad news, Jess. The Corrupters of All were spotted in Portland just a few hours ago. They can't be our thieves."

Well, that was just great. Our theory had just been blown right out of the water. We were no closer to solving this than when we had started...