The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back (4 page)

“What do we do now, Kid?” was the first words
spoken by Rocket. The rest of the members SOCKs turned and looked
at Kid.

“There’s nothing we can do now,” he said,
“not until we hear his press conference and know what he has
planned.”

Chapter Six

Lincoln Under Siege

1:00 PM

Lincoln Elementary had never looked like this
before. The small, modest school on the south side of town usually
blended into the shadows and was hardly talked about. It was never
featured in any of the papers, nor was it ever on the evening news.
The two story brick building was ignored for the better part of
fifty years.

Today, Lincoln was the epicenter of a media
storm.

The news conference was scheduled to start at
one o’clock sharp, but in true Jones fashion, he made his people
wait just a bit longer for him to make his grand entrance.

The usual Jones propaganda was covering
Lincoln Elementary. Banners for Jones Industries blanketed the
small school, covering up most of its windows. Flags were on poles
and lined the entire playground. A stage was erected over night and
a podium and PA system with speakers throughout the schools grounds
were constructed.

By the time the news conference was to start,
Lincoln’s grounds were covered by thousands of people. New
reporters, their cars, vans, and cargo were seen all throughout the
parking lots.

Parents brought their children in
anticipation of what might be happening at their school. Business
men and women came to see Jones speak and to possibly learn
something more from the man they followed.

As Kid Combat walked deeper into the crowd,
he felt sick. He looked around and the more logos for Jones
Industries that he saw on his schools property, the worse he felt.
He wasn’t the only one.

“This is horrible,” Samantha said as she
walked behind Kid and fought through the crowd.

“Dude, this is totally bogus,” Wedge answered
from behind Samantha. “Jones at
our
school. It ain’t right,
man. It’s just not right.”

The group of friends continued into the mass.
As they walked, Kid was able to pick up on different conversations
going on around him. As he walked past a group of businessmen, they
analyzed what the profit margins would be for Jones and his
company. A few women past them were discussing how this would
affect them. Another group discussed how the school looked with all
the Jones Industries banners around it.

Kid overheard a lot of conversations as he
weeded his way through the crowd – not one of those conversations
was focused on the children of the town.

Kid finally stopped at a spot about thirty
feet away from the main stage. “This seems like a good spot,” he
said to his crew. They all stopped behind Kid, and started to look
around.

There still was no sign of Jones. No one
really knew for sure if he was scheduled to make an appearance or
not, but Jones never did miss a chance to speak in public. No one
also really knew what to expect from this conference.

It was fifteen minutes passed the scheduled
start time and a small murmur was going through the crowd.
Anxiously, they waited for what Jones had in store for them
next.

Artificial smoke, powered by a machine,
started pouring out along the stage. It laid a condensed three foot
high batch of smoke down, engulfing the stage. At the same time,
music started to play and it was apparent the press conference had
started.

As the music blared, and the smoke continued
to flow, a well dressed woman emerged from behind all of it. As she
walked up the three steps to the top of the platform, others
followed. All of them wearing a very similar outfit. The women wore
a light khaki color dress that went down to their knees. It had a
flipped collar on it and a V-neck. Just below the right shoulder
was a black path that had the letters “J I” running down them
diagonally. They wore black shoes, a black belt, and they all had
their hair up in a pony tail.

The men were dressed almost like the women.
Instead of the dress, they wore a short sleeve button down shirt
with a collar and white buttons. The primary color was the same as
the dress. They also wore the same Jones Industries logo just below
their right shoulder. Black shoes and a black belt were also worn
by the men following the lone lady.

The men and women filled a single file line
along the back of the stage, as one woman made it up to the podium.
She waited a few seconds, tapped the microphone and spoke.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My
name is Shirley Kerr. I come here today representing Phillip Arthur
Jones, Jones Industries, and the Elmcrest Board of Education. As
you may have heard last night on the news report that was released,
the Elmcrest BoE has reached an agreement with Jones Industries to
help bail out the school systems during this tough economic time.
Not only has Mr. Jones and his company donated hundreds of
thousands of dollars to help save the schools, Jones has agreed to
become the principal contractor on all renovations that are planned
for Elmcrest schools – at a discounted rate I may add.”

Shirley was interrupted by a round of
applause. She waited for a few moments, accepted the accolades, and
continued.

“Thank you. As Jones Industries has been so
generous, and since they are far better suited at this sort of
thing, the Elmcrest Board of Education has allowed Jones to become
the principal voice in all school matters.”

Another interruption brought on a pause.
“What does that mean?” Samantha asked out loud to anyone who would
answer. No one did.

“With that said,” the lady continued,
“Jones’s first order of business is to create a unified front
across all of Elmcrest’s schools. With that, he has created this
uniform. The uniform I and the models back here are wearing will be
worn by all teachers, principals, and workers at
all
Elmcrest schools.”

Shirley stopped for a minute, stepped out
from behind the podium and modeled the new uniform style for the
crowd to see. The reactions that came from the crowd were mostly
positive. Most not working at the schools in Elmcrest, the patrons
in the crowd would be effected very little by the changes. Shirley
did a few turns, walked a few feet, then returned back to the
podium.

“Huh? The teachers have to wear those?”
Samantha said with a questioning look on her face. “Maybe we’ll get
out of this, eh Kid?”

“Doubtful.”

“And here, is what the kids will be wearing,”
Shirley said as she returned.

“See,” Kid said.

From behind her came a group of kids walking
up the stairs of the stage – each wearing the new Jones uniforms.
They were the same ones the adults on the stage were wearing.

The girls started the processions and had the
same dresses, belts, and shoes as the adults before them did. The
girls walked in a straight line and up to the front of the stage –
all with huge smiles across their faces.

Samantha, not one for dresses, started to
panic. “I’m not wearing a dress to school everyday! Uh-uh. No way.
No how!” Her voice was higher than usual and you can tell she was
in a state of fluster. It would only get worse for the young girl.
The girls on the stage whipped out a baseball cap, and put it on
their heads.

“I’m definitely not wearing that!” Sam said,
grabbing onto Kid’s arm. She pulled him into her. Kid turned, and
looked at a startled Samantha. “Im dropping out of school. You here
me? I’m dropping out of school!”

“Relax, Sam. It’ll be OK. Just breath,” Kid
said. In the trying moments, he tried to push a smile out. He had
never seen Samantha this worked up.

After the girls came out, the boys then
followed. The boys wore the same uniform as the men, but were
wearing shorts. They already wore their caps and walked in and
stood next to the girls.

“Ugh,” was all Wedge was able to say. His
brother, Rocket, was worse. Becoming frantic from his own panic,
Rocket started spouting out almost as much nonsense as Samantha did
earlier.

“He’s gone too far. He can’t do this. I can’t
do this. How are we suppose to go to school wearing Jones uniforms?
It’s crazy. He’s our enemy!” Rocket blubbered.

“Would everyone relax,
please
,” Kid
finally said. “It’s just a ploy to get us to do something
irrational. Nothing will come of this. Too many people will need to
approve this. There is no
way
this can take place.” Kid
finished. He stood there hoping he convinced his friends.

The fashion show was about over. The kids
made their final laps around the stage and one by one disappeared
down the back stairs. The applause, which was minimal, died down,
and Shirley was left alone on stage again.

“I would like to thank-you all for coming
today. We are confident that with the help of Jones Industries, the
financial situation of the Elmcrest schools will be turned around
and will flourish once again – just like the rest of our town. We
do have another announcement today, and for that I present you with
– Phillip Arthur Jones…” Shirley stopped, turned half way and
raised her arm out in the direction of the stairs.

“Uh oh,” Wedge said.

“What could that mean?” Rocket let out.

“I don’t know,” Kid responded.

“How much worse can this get?” Samantha
exclaimed.

There was a few seconds of pause as the lady
continued to point towards the empty stairs. Then, Jones started to
ascend up the stairs. As he became more visible to the crowd, a
round of applause started to build throughout them. Jones finished
the few stair climb, and walked very slowly and direct towards the
podium. He never acknowledged the crowd and stood waiting patiently
behind the podium. Within a few seconds, the crowd quieted and
waited for Jones to speak.

“I would like to thank Ms. Kerr for that fine
presentation of the Jones Uniforms. It is imperative that we change
the thinking and state of the Elmcrest schools. They, after all,
house this town’s future. I am confident that with my help, the
situation that plagues our fine school system right now can be
reversed and I will personally guarantee that no school will be
closed and each will get my personal attention.”

Another round of applause. None of which came
from the five members of SOCKs. Kid read between the lines to
realize what Jones was doing. This had little to do with helping
out a school district. Or bailing out a town. It was about finding
out who Kid Combat was. Jones continued.

“One last thing. The city has also granted
Jones Industries with the exclusive rights to update the parks
around this town,” Jones started. He then paused, on purpose, for a
few seconds and scanned the crowd. “This includes the likes of
Plunkett, Butterfield, and Pioneer Parks. As well as Maple Forest.
All will be updated and modernized –
as I see fit
.”

“How could that be?” a young reporter yelled
out from the crowd. The mob turned and faced the young man. Jones
stood at the podium, annoyed at the interruption. “Maple Forest was
protected from any type of demolition work for the next ten years,”
he finished. The crowd turned its attention back to Jones. He stood
there, grasping the podium, and glared out at the boy with a
sinister stare.

“My boy, first of all, never interrupt me
again,” Jones said deeply. “Second, I have met with your City
Council on this matter. The key word in that phrase was
demolition
. We have no intention of touching any part of
Maple Forest, nor do we plan on tearing down any trees. Our main
concern is building adequate parks for the town's children – with
state of the art equipment and exercise facilities. All of which
will be owned and operated by a division of Jones Industries.”

The hook was baited. And Jones knew it. He
knew that Kid Combat would be in the crowd. He knew that the
thought of Jones stepping foot on any part of Maple Forest would
force Kid into action. Jones would wait now for Kid to make his
mistake.

The five members of SOCKs stood and watched
Jones speak. Kid Combat made no move.

“I don’t understand how he can do this,”
Rocket said. “We were protected. This isn’t right,” Rocket turned
to Kid Combat. Kid was just standing there, taking it all in.
Rocket became anxious and nervous that his leader was so quiet.
Rocket nudged Kid. He turned and starred at Rocket. “Say
something,” Rocket asked of him.

“He has the money. He can do what he wants,
apparently,” Kid said back. He looked back up at the news
conference. Jones stood there answering the reporter’s questions on
what the plan was for the parks, and how this could help the city
and the school districts.

“The problems are all tied together. To
improve the quality of care and attention the students bring to
their studies, you must first start with outside the school. The
renovations will be done quickly and will improve the schools. You
shall see,” Jones finished. More questions were brought his way,
but he put his arms up and backed away from the podium.

“I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen, this
conference is over. I or Ms. Kerr will give you more details when
they become available. Thank you for coming.”

And with that, Jones was gone – leaving the
townspeople to make up their own minds about what just happened.
Most walked away without a care. Parents throughout the crowd
seemed to walk away with a feeling of hope and unity. Teachers had
mixed opinions and there were talks of petitions and protests
against the uniforms.

The largest objections came from the
children. They cried, they screamed, and they objected to the
announcement. Most felt like they were losing their individualism
and not being allowed to wear what they want. Others didn’t like
the colors, the hat, or the shoes. Most of their objections felt on
the deaf ears of their parents as they only cared about
leaving.