The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back (2 page)

Kid got up from behind his desk and left his
room within The Playground. As he walked out of his room and across
the hall to Main Computer Lab 1 – he found Gears and Roller
working. They sat at their computers and barely noticed Kid walk by
as they bickered back and forth about some patch for their Linux
based server. He exited out the other far door that lead to the
Research Rooms of The Playground.

Kid turned left as he entered the hallway
from MCL1 and headed for the room that was formally Conference Room
1. Over the past few weeks, The Playground received a small
makeover.

With the conference rooms barely being used,
Kid came up with the idea of changing the rooms. Instead of a few
empty spaces that no one really used – Kid made them into a
research room and a gadget development room.

Main Research Room 1 became a communications
hub. It was to be the eyes and ears of The Playground to the
outside world. Newsfeeds would be studied, surveillance feeds could
be tapped into, and Gears tracking devices could be followed.

To accommodate all this, LCD Screens were put
up on all four walls. The screens ranged in sizes – from smaller 24
inch screens, to larger 44 inch screens. There was a half dozen of
these screens around the room. It was slick.

The walls were painted a metallic black to
make easier viewing of the screens. The window facing the hallway
was also blacked out, and the door leading into the room was void
of any cracks that would allow light through.

The furniture in the room consisted of big,
over sized chairs that the team members could relax in while
collecting data. Everything in the room was controlled by one
universal remote.

The next room down the hall was Development
Room 1. DR1 was a staging area for new gadgets and other devices
used by SOCKs members.

The room was modified a little bit from the
days of being a conference room in that all the furniture was
stripped out and used in other various parts of The Playground. The
room was painted bright silver and a matching table was brought
into the room. Being a place for development, hundreds of tools
were on the walls and large shelving units were placed around the
room.

Both rooms were funded by Charlie Thompson –
the former mayor of Elmcrest and a loyal fried of Kid Combat’s. The
reclusive man helped out Kid Combat from a distance as he owned and
operated Spring Road Toys. Only Kid Combat and Samantha knew he
helped SOCKs, the others members were left in the dark.

Kid walked in DR1 and saw Samantha working at
the table. He noticed she had welded two pieces of metal together
and was trying to get them to connect back into the device she was
making.

Samantha was hard at work on the new SOCKs
gadget – Speeders. Speeders were to be used in the winter time to
help the members of Kid Combat’s secret organization to navigate
thr
o
ugh Maple Forest. Without many clear
trails, the Speeders would help the kids move around the
forest.

The original blueprints and technical specs
were in early development by Roller and Gears. They didn't know
much, but they did know the Speeders would be two-man crafts made
out of metal. They would look similar to snowmobiles, but would be
smaller and have a bit of a SOCK’s flare to them.

“Need any help?” Kid said, offering his
assistant to Samantha.

“I can do it myself,” Samantha answered back
with a bit of struggle in her voice. She never looked up at Kid and
continued to try with all her might to turn the pieces together.
Kid noticed her fighting a losing battle, and moved in behind
her.

“Let me,” he said, putting a hand on her
shoulder, expecting her to move.

“I said
I can do it myself!
” Samantha
snapped back in anger, finally looking back at Kid. Kid threw up
his arms in a hurry and took a step back – not saying a word.

Samantha went back to her struggles. With a
few more grunts and a lot more elbow grease, the pieces finally
fell into place. Samantha stood straight up, took a deep breath,
and turned around to Kid.

“See,” she said, clapping her hands, “piece
of cake.”

“Riiight,” Kid said back with a smirk. “Now
that that’s done – when can I expect the preliminary specs to be
done?”

“Soon,” Samantha said turning back to her
work. She picked up the two pieces she just welded together and
turned back towards Kid. “I’ll make sure this is working properly
today, we’ll go from there. Shouldn’t be more than a week.”

“Hurry, Sam,” Kid replied. “Winter’s
approaching faster than you think. We need to get the Speeders
ready so we can get through Maple Forest.”

“Yeah, I know,” Samantha said in a huff,
“Don’t worry, Kid – I don’t want to trek through the snow this year
any more than you do.”

“Great. Have we gotten anywhere with the
mechanics?”

“Not yet,” Samantha said, putting some items
away. “Gears and Roller said there shouldn’t be any issues,
though.”

“Yeah, that’s what I kept hearing about the
PCAV’s,” Kid said back. He referred to the Pepper Creek
Acceleration Vehicles. Two man water crafts that were to be used on
Pepper Creek to make it easier to navigate throughout Elmcrest. The
project became a headache for the members of SOCKs and was
eventually scrapped.

“I know,” Samantha answered back. “What did
Gears and Roller decided to do with those?”

Kid walked up to the table in the room. He
muddled through a bunch of the pieces that were on the table. “Meh.
Mechanical difficulties are forcing them to shut down the project
for now. They just feel it’s too much effort to get it going. They
would have to spend every day, all day on it for months to get them
working right. We just don’t have the man power for that. Not if we
are going to get the Speeders ready for the cold.”

“What about the tunnel Mr. Thompson’s men
were supposed to dig for us – leading to Pepper Creek?” Sam
asked.

“That’s scrapped too. For now. That reminds
me, I have to call him,” Kid said snapping his fingers.

“Uh huh,” Samantha said, “what else is going
on around here?”

“I was doing some reading online. Seems our
friend Jones is set to make a comeback to Elmcrest.”

“I heard that too. Isn’t there some big
parade tomorrow or something for him?”

“Probably,” Kid said. “Will this town ever
learn?”

“Probably not,” Sam returned. “They are too
blinded by their own greed. They don’t see what it’s doing to the
kids. Nor do they care by the looks of it.”

There was a silence in the room for a few
moments. Samantha finally broke it.

“So, we going tomorrow?”

“Where?” Kid asked.

“To the parade, silly,” Samantha
answered.

“I guess we have to, Sam…”

Chapter Three:

The Return of Jones

10:00AM

Elmcrest used to love a good parade - back in
happier, simpler times. The town would have many throughout the
year. It seemed the town could not go more than a month with out
celebrating something.

All the usual parades were held. May and July
would bring out big festivals for celebrating Memorial Day and the
Forth of July. They were award winning parades. People from towns
and states far away would come out to see the parade, eat good
food, and watch a spectacular fireworks show.

March saw big crowds for St. Patrick’s Day.
Everyone that came would wear green and drink green punch and eat
green pies. The parade was the largest of the year and would go on
for hours. Bands would play, people would sing, and children would
enjoy the huge carnival.

Elmcrest would also have some unusual
parades, just for their town. In June, it was the Pet Parade.
Children of the town would take to Main Street and walk their pets
– of any kind – down the street. You would see dogs and cats.
Lizards and bunnies. Even snakes and spiders were walked down the
street in cages. After the parade, there would be a big picnic in
town and all the towns people would discuss and share their pets
with each other.

Elmcrest, in the olden days, ran first-rate
parades and used any excuse to have one. The biggest excuse was the
kids of the town loved the parades. But, that was all in the past.
Ever since Jones came to power, people came focused on money and
power – and the parades stopped.

Today, the tradition returned. But, instead
of celebrating a national holiday, or spending some time with their
families, the people of Elmcrest held a parade to celebrate the
return of their favorite citizen – Phillip Arthur Jones.

In true Jones fashion, it was big, expensive,
and all about himself. Down the entire main street, people from all
over town lined the sidewalks. They stood three, four, even five
deep and waited for the parade to start.

Big red banners, with the Jones Industries
logo, hung from light poles, sides of buildings, and were even
being waved around in miniature by the people in the crowd.

Clowns were sent out by the dozen into the
crowds to entertain the people with their antics and make balloon
animals for the kids.

Every food you can imagine was found on a
stick, and the beverages flowed out from men pushing carts around.
Music blared through the speaker system that was set up years ago
for each parade that came through Elmcrest.

It was quite the scene. And in the center of
it all, was Jones.

Kid Combat, Samantha, and the rest of the
SOCKs group pushed, wiggled, and fought through the crowds. They
made their way down Main Street and looked for a good vantage point
to watch the parade – even though each one of these kids loathed
being here. Not a one wanted to see Jones return to Elmcrest.

“Man, it sure has been a quiet few weeks
without Jones around. I guess that’ll all be in the past now, eh?”
Wedge said – scarfing down some cotton candy.

“Yeah. Summer of fun is just about over. In
more ways then one,” Rocket said. He referred to the fact summer
vacation, itself, was almost over. In just a few weeks, the kids
would be back at Lincoln Elementary.

The boys and Samantha made it to the corner
of Main and First and settled up on a small clearing right near the
bike path that ran through town. They stood there in a small semi
circle, with Roller situated in his wheelchair in front of them. It
wasn’t more than five minutes before the parade started.

The parade was more of a spectacle than Kid
Combat imagined it would be. It started from his left with a
fireworks show – in mid day. The loud, thunderous booms let
everyone know for miles around that the parade was starting. Then,
the music came. A piercingly strong orchestra played through the
speakers in town. The music was fast, quick, and inspiring. It was
so loud, though, that some of the onlookers covered their ears to
muffle the sound.

The first act that proceeded down the street
was the gymnasts. Tumblers, both male and female, did flips, turns,
and other tricks as they made their way down the street. Not too
far behind them, were the jugglers. Ten of them, some working in
teams, juggled various objects. Balls, bowling pins, and large
handkerchiefs were thrown up in the air in pairs, caught, and
thrown back up by the performers. One man was even brave enough to
juggle small poles – about two feet long – whose ends were on fire.
The crowed looked on in amazement as he passed by. They applauded
him the loudest.

After him, the clowns reassembled from
walking in the crowds, to walking down the street. They carried a
bunch of items in their hands and threw them out to the crowd. From
small foam footballs, to balloons – each item was stamped with the
Jones Industries logo.

Right behind the clowns, the cavalcade of
cars which included Jones came. Side by side, two police cars, in
pristine condition, slowly rolled down the street. Their police
lights were on and flashed as they continued down. Every once in a
while their sirens would go off, giving the town another cheap
thrill.

Next, were the fire trucks. Hook and Ladder
Company 31 took to the streets in their bright red fire trucks.
First was the smaller of the trucks, known as the “pumper truck.”
Named for the pump on the truck that increased the pressure of the
water in the hose so the water could shoot out further, the small
red truck rolled on by. With its sirens going off every once and
awhile, and the firemen waving to the crowd, it was a hit with the
crowd.

Next up were a set of ladder trucks. The red
and white trucks rolled down the street, side by side, and had
their ladders slightly up and extended. Firemen stood at the end of
the ladders and waved to the crowd.

The town loved the parade. As they watched
the different parts go by, they hooted, hollered and cheered
loudly. Kid Combat and the members of the SOCKs group just stood
there, silent, not making a noise. Kid would turn to Samantha every
once and awhile and shake his head in anguish. Kid loved a good
parade, but in this case – he found it sickening.

As the fire trucks rolled by Kid Combat, he
noticed that nothing followed them. He looked down Main Street to
where the parade started, and saw nothing there. Finally, after the
fire trucks were about two blocks away, out came the star of the
parade.

Flanked by jet black SUV’s with tinted
windows you couldn’t see in, Jones emerged on a parade float. The
black SUV’s lumbered down the road at a snail’s pace – leading the
way for Jones.

Jones’s float was all black. It was hard for
Kid to figure out what it was made out of, but looked to be shiny
pieces of plastic all intricately placed and put together. The
float was massive in size – way more than it needed to be.

On top of the float, Kid noticed, were small
gray tubes sticking out about a foot. There were about 10 of these
pipes on each side of the float. He wondered what they were for,
and that’s when the confetti started shooting out of them.