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Lodestone
" Midway " by Martin Maenza
(with creative input from KC Ryan)
"Do what?" the man in his mid-forties with sandy brown hair asked loudly as he adjusted his sunglasses to block out the mid afternoon glare. The percussion and brass from the marching band's song were making it difficult for him to hear what his slightly overweight and balding host had just asked him.
Theodore Haglund removed the large Cuban cigar from his mouth, leaned in closer and, in his thick Michigan accent, repeated his question a bit louder. "I said, are you and your family enjoying your first visit to our fair city?"
Kyle Harper smiled and nodded. "It was very nice of you and your company to pay for our trip. The construction crew executed my designs quite well." He paused a moment. "However, my wife and I have been to St. Jude before, very recently in fact." Haglund smiled back at him all the while continuing to puff on his cigar. Kyle then glanced at his wristwatch. "And speaking of my wife, I wonder what is keeping her and my daughter."
"Probably making their way through the crowds. Attendance is very high today, which we in the business love. Unlike your Georgia, we have long winters so we must capitalize on the few warm months that we get here." Haglund took another puff on his cigar. "There're a few minutes to go before the ribbon cutting ceremony is to start. I'm sure they'll make it on time."
***
"We need to hurry!" the blonde woman in her mid-forties said as she pulled her teenaged daughter by the hand. "The ribbon cutting ceremony was to start at two sharp. We really shouldn't have tried to fit in a ride on the Rolling Thunder."
Clare Harper hurried along, keeping pace with Beverly as best she could. "You know how much I love that coaster back home! I wanted to see how the two compared." She adjusted the blue denim backpack that she carried over her left shoulder. "I'm sure Daddy won't mind we're late, just as long as we're there before it's over."
Her white wind breaker flapping behind her, Beverly tugged once more and steered them past the park's centerpiece double-decker carousel. She could see the amphitheater to her left just beyond a large group of people. "Honey, you know this park opening was one of the reasons we came on the trip. For that and your college interview on Monday."
"I know, Mom, I know." A lecture was the last thing the blonde teenager wanted to hear, given that her summer vacation had just started. "Look, we made it." Great, now to listen to a dull speech. Hope it's short so we can get back to the exciting stuff.
***
The band finished the final notes of their fanfare just as Theodore Haglund stepped up to the microphone at center stage. Before him, an enormous red ribbon stretched between two short pillars; the pillars symbolically represented the park's entrance archway.
"Thank you, thank you, one and all! And welcome on this historic day!" There was a slight bit of feedback at first which made some in the crowd chuckle.
Haglund continued his speech, undaunted. "This park has a long tradition here in St. Jude, stretching back to before World War II. When it first opened, the Shore Line street cars would take people from the city down to the Crystal Beach area. In both times of prosperity and hardship, the Pleasure Island amusement park welcomed folks: to bring thrills to the soul, smiles to the faces and fun for all ages." Haglund smiled and paused while the crowd applauded.
"When the original owners fell upon economic hardship, the park closed its gates. Soon hungry developers circled like vultures, waiting to gobble up this prime real estate." A few people in the crowd booed at that; Haglund spent many years in public relations and knew how to work a crowd. "The good people of St. Jude rejected this notion, demanding that something be done to save the park that was a vivid part of the city's heritage.
"We at Five Banners Theme Parks Incorporated took notice! We stepped up to the plate, made an offer to the sellers that they simply could not refuse, purchased the property and pledged to breathe new life into this park. Finally that day has arrived!" The crowd erupted in applause and cheers.
Michael Wingreen, a red-haired man in his mid-twenties, crossed the stage and carefully presented Theodore Haglund with a large ceremonial pair of scissors.
Haglund held them up into the June sunshine, posing for a moment while the print media snapped a few dozen photographs, and then proceeded to cut the red ribbon in two. "I officially welcome you all to the grand opening of Five Banners - Pleasure Island, the twenty third theme park in our Five Banners family!" The crowd applauded and cheered once more. Haglund walked to the left to return the scissors to Wingreen.
An electronic fanfare welled up from the loudspeakers. Fog generated by dry ice came from the edges of the stage, and the multicolored lights overhead began to strobe in an erratic pattern that somehow complimented the cacophony of sound.
"Everyone, stay where you are!" a male voice ordered from just off stage. The stage sound system carried the words across the crowd. Suddenly a man in a long lab coat of many garish colors and a hooded mask appeared on the stage right, followed by three burly men -- one in all red, one in all yellow and one in all blue. "The show has barely begun!"
Haglund turned to Wingreen with an inquisitive look. "This part of the production your crew cooked up, Michael?"
The local Irishman who had recently been appointed head of all parks' productions fidgeted slightly. "I believe so, sir," he thought for a moment. "Yes, I did approve some lights and fireworks for the ceremony. This is surely part of it." He frowned slightly. "I didn't know costuming was going to be involved though."
"Allow me to introduce myself," the garishly costumed man said as he took center stage. Despite the full face-covering hood, the crowd could hear him via a transmitter within the hood. His three followers positioned themselves to each side of the man. "I am the preeminent Pyro-Tech, and you, the lucky visitors to this establishment on this day, are about to experience first hand the most explosive display ever!" The man produced a small black device that looked like a flip-phone from the inner folds of his costume. He punched in a few quick numbers on the keypad and thrust the device into the air dramatically. "It's show time!"
From various vantage points across the park, sets of shiny metal rocket launchers sprang into their upright and locked positions. In random order, projectiles shot out from their holding places into the air. The first few reached safe altitudes before exploding, sending colorful sparks downward in stellar patterns. Though thinking it odd to see fireworks in the middle of the day, the people through out the park turned their attention skywards.
***
Cassie Adams smiled as the suspended car neared to top of the loop. The five year old was enjoying her very first Ferris wheel ride with her father.
It very well could have been her last!
A rocket from the next wave of fireworks caught the outer edge of the giant steel wheel as it skimmed by, and its explosion was powerful enough to lurch the bucket car forward. Before her father could react, Cassie slipped beneath the hand bar and fell from the car screaming towards the ground.
Ten feet above the ground, a blonde figure streaked past and caught the little girl mid-fall. "Easy, honey, I have you," said the teenager in a red T-shirt and white shorts. The young woman wore a red mask that covered her eyes and helped conceal her identity. By the time she set the child down, Cassie's tears appeared to have passed, being replaced with a look of glee.
"My baby!" A woman rushed up forward from the crowd and embraced the child. The woman turned back to thank the teenager but she had already taken to the air again.
Good thing I thought to bring at least my mask. Clare Harper chased after another rogue rocket. Fireworks normally aren't supposed to be this low. Something must be going wrong, but I don't have time to look into that now. Using her magnetic blasts, she deflected a pair of rockets away from their crash course with the Flying Swings ride. Protecting the park patrons has to be my first priority. Clare hovered high in the air over the midway as she scanned for where she was needed next.
Suddenly, she heard a loud explosion from behind her. Spinning in the air quickly, she saw a gaunt, elderly man with a thinning white mane of hair floating in the air beside her. He wore a costume of sorts: a silver tunic with floppy sleeves gathered at the cuffs and a high black collar, and a pair of black, tight pants. His boots and the trim on his black billowy cape were the same silver color. The later looked almost too big for him, as if it would swallow him up whole at any time.
When he spoke, it was in a friendly, gentle voice. "I haven't been long in this line of work, young lady," he said calmly, "but I have learned it's generally a good idea to watch your back." As he turned towards her, the sharpness Clare heard in his voice melted from the warmth of the gray eyes that peered out from his black mask. "We haven't met; I'm the Silver Sentinel."
Wow, I remember Mom talking about the Sentinel before, but I didn't think I'd get to meet him. I seem to recall her saying something about a female one too; maybe it's a family thing. "A pleasure," she said. "I'm called Lodestone. You probably wouldn't recognize me without my costume and being that I'm not from around here." She paused for a moment to stop herself from babbling. "Guess they're having some fireworks problems here." Panic-stricken sounds came from the far end of the midway. "C'mon." Lodestone used her magnetic abilities to propel herself in the direction of the screams; she was very surprised to see the man could easily keep pace with her. He's got to be older than grandpa Witter.
From his frail form and arms thinner than her own, she really wasn't expecting much from him. After all, this Silver Sentinel hardly looked the way people expected super-heroes to look. Still, something about the way he carried himself, the confidence in his body language, hinted that he was much more powerful than he seemed. Like he could hold his own in a fight. I'll certainly take any help that I can get.
"I was flying past when the fireworks caught my eye," the Silver Sentinel explained. "Figured I'd stop by to see what was doing with the old girl." In his mind, the Sentinel recalled decades past when he would take a date for a walk on the shore while sharing hot-dogs and lemonade for two, and the many evenings dancing to the big bands under the skylight. He nodded toward the renovated Starlight Ballroom, which now housed indoor mini-golf and an arcade, as they soared past. "Spent a lot of nights here when I was your age."
"I understand the place means a lot to folks here. Tradition and all." Lodestone smiled at the older man; she felt surprisingly at ease in his presence. As they swooped past the main marble fountain of two dolphins, the duo encountered more low-flying rockets.
The Silver Sentinel slowed rapidly, his legs swinging down so he was virtually standing in midair. He extended his arm toward one of the rockets, and a shimmering wave of silver force surrounded the errant missile. With an almost imperceptible flick of his wrist, he sent the rocket hurtling skyward so it could explode harmlessly. "Have to admit this new place is clean as a whistle. Nice to see they kept some of the original mariner theme too." He nodded towards the striped lighthouse structure with its marine life iron railings across the way.
Lodestone steered the second rocket skyward using her magnetic repulsion. "The architect wanted to preserve as much original things as possible in the new designs," she stated. "He'll be happy to hear that folks noticed." Her rocket exploded safely in the distance. Then she added quickly, "um, I'm sure people will tell him, I mean."
"When I saw you rescue that little girl, I was hoping you might tell me what was going on." The elder hero frowned slightly. "But from the look on your face, I gather you aren't so sure yourself."
"You're right there. But two of us heroes can get to the bottom of this quicker."
***
"Are you mad? Are you insane?" Kyle Harper exclaimed as he charged towards Pyro-Tech.
The big man in blue turned at Harper's words. Before he could take a step forward, he met jaw-first Harper's right fist. The man in blue crumpled to the stage in pain. The man in red and his counterpart in yellow rushed to flank Harper. The former super-hero struggled as each man pinned an arm out to the side and then back.
"Insane? No!" Pyro-Tech answered. "But mad, yes! As hell!" The man turned towards the official representatives of the park who stood nervously on the stage. "All of this destruction and chaos is on your head Haglund! For it was you who promoted Wingreen here to the position of head of all parks' productions, promoted him instead of someone more experienced and qualified for the job! Me!" Pyro-Tech pulled off the hood and tossed it aside, revealing his true face underneath.
Both men looked at the dark-haired man in amazement. "Terrance Wicks! You're behind this?" Haglund exclaimed. "What do you hope to gain by this stunt?"
"Revenge!" Pyro-Tech said. "Plain and simple! The promotion by all accounts should have been rightfully mine! I've had more years with the company and more years in the business than anyone else on staff. But you suits in corporate passed me over, no doubt because of my age! You figured Wingreen here would fit your image better, the young and hip look of the nineties. Well, now I will show you what age and experience can do! I will have my revenge by destroying this entire park that you have rebuilt!"
As if on cue, a loud and terrible boom came from the upper portion of the Raging Rapids water slide! The explosion shook the entire man-made structure from its very core! People who had been ascending the stairs to take their turn screamed out in shock and scrambled to grab for the railings or one another. Their efforts to stay on their feet were in vain. Large portions of the attraction's molded plastic facade began to crack and break loose, raining down into the pool at the bottom of the slide!
Kyle Harper slammed the heel of his foot down hard on the man in yellow's foot, catching the man off guard. Harper, meanwhile, planted his feet firmly apart and then summoned up all his strength to swing his right arm forward, dragging the man in yellow along with it. Harper continued the forward motion and slammed the man in yellow into his red-clad partner. The scuffle attracted everyone's attention, and Pyro-Tech turned around. "Get the controls!" Harper yelled out.
Wingreen instinctively dove onto Pyro-Tech's back from behind, knocking the black device from the costumed man's left hand. "You fools!" the man in his fifties spat as he pushed the young Irishman off of him. "That will do you little good! It took me weeks but I managed to use my accessibility to all areas of the park to conceal the explosives. That device was only needed to start the sequence of events! Nothing can stop the destruction of this park's major attractions!"
"You'll pay for every life lost and person injured, you twisted bastard!" Kyle Harper vowed.
"I doubt that!" Pyro-Tech responded. "For you see, in order to make my revenge complete, I had to ensure that Haglund and Wingreen would die as well! And that, I planned to oversee myself!" With that, the man flung off his garishly colored lab coat, revealing an explosive device strapped to his torso. "We're all going out with a great big bang!" The red LCD counter on the device counted down with less than five minutes to go!
***
The Twin Terrors roller coaster was a signature attraction at many of the Five Banners theme parks. The ride design included two sets of cars both starting from the same platform but traveling in opposite directions on their tracks. After varied twists, turns and bumps, the two coasters would meet up again at the giant main loop, where they spiraled past one another in opposite directions before finally returning to their point of origin. The one here at St. Jude bordered the midway on the north side, overlooking the lakefront beach.
Today the Twin Terrors coaster's name was about to take on a new meaning!
Just as the two sets of cars, filled with thrill-seeking riders, crested the pinnacles of their initial hills, a number of explosions occurred along the tracks near of the giant loop. Portions of the track were deliberately torn apart by the blast. The results would cause a fatal derailment of both sets of cars as each completed the giant loop.
At first, the riders' screams were that of the usual coaster excitement. Very quickly, they began to realize this run was out of the ordinary as two masked flying heroes approached the cars.
Lodestone turned to her partner. "First out of control fireworks! Now explosions! This can't be accidental!"
"Agreed! First, we stop the cars!" Silver Sentinel stated.
Lodestone used her magnetic powers to latch onto the last of one of the speeding cars, at first to allow herself to keep pace with them. The jerking motion startled her as it quickly dragged her along behind; she was then able to get closer to the cars after a second or two. Whew! If it'd reach its top speed of fifty miles an hour, I don't think I ever would have been able to catch the car.
At first, Lodestone tried to use her magnetic powers to create a drag on the last car, hoping she could counter the forward motion like a set of brakes. Ugh, this isn't ... working! Mom would know .. .the proper physics to counter this! But ... I don't! Her facial expression showed the strain as she realized she was having little success. If I'm not careful, I'll end up ... tearing these cars apart. She concluded that would be just as fatal to the people in the cars as would the coaster derailing.
If I can't slow it down before hand, maybe I can do something where the track is damaged. Lodestone launched herself beneath the various supports of the track, taking a shortcut to where the cars would eventually arrive -- the giant loop.
The Silver Sentinel too thought he would be able to stop the other set of cars before it reached its deadly destination. Whereas Lodestone attempted to slow hers from behind, the elderly hero took the head-on approach.
Flying directly in front of the lead car, the Silver Sentinel grabbed hold and pushed back against it. He tried to ignore the screams of the riders just a few feet in front of his face as, ever so slightly, the cars began to slow. Then his hands blazed with shimmering silver light, enveloping the front portion of the car. His plan was to counter the forward motion of the cars with increasing resistance of his own.
Kee-rist! We're runnin' outta track and time here! The Silver Sentinel glanced over his shoulder and could see that the giant loop loomed on the horizon. The energy from his hands intensified, causing the cars to lose their momentum even more quickly. As sweat began to form on his brow, he could feel that the speed was changing. "Easy now, easy." Forty, then thirty, then twenty miles an hour. If he could just slow it enough, the set of cars wouldn't have enough power to climb the entire loop. "C'mon, dang you!"
As his cars were about to enter their portion of the loop, the Silver Sentinel could see Lodestone hovering over her track's loop exit. She's young, younger than the previous Sentinel when she got killed.
2 The Sentinel's cars began their ascent with a halfhearted effort. His silver energy pulsed against the cars once more as final insurance before he abandoned them entirely to Mother Nature's gravity. Whatever her powers are, she needs my help now!
So much for zooming on ahead to try and solve the problem here. The rails had been completely demolished by the explosives, leaving a gap in the tracks impossible to repair in such a short time. Even magnetizing the main loop isn't helping. Lodestone had poured a ton of energy into the steel tracks but it did little to slow the speeding cars. Not at all the kind of impression she wanted to make around another hero, in his own city even. She watched as the Silver Sentinel and his cars approached the loop on the other tracks, and it was obvious he knew what he was doing. His cars began to slowly climb their loop only to falter and then start to slide back whence they came. The people in those cars began to cheer as their ride of terror had ended.
"Lodestone!" the elder hero called, snapping her out of her daze. "A little help please!" She blinked and saw that the Silver Sentinel had left his own slowing cars to take on hers as they were entering the loop at full speed. As he had done with his own, he positioned himself at the front of the cars and was using his silver energy to try to slow them too. Unfortunately, it appeared to be too little too late; the cars had a date with a gapping hole in the track.
"What can I do?" she asked, ready to act.
The Silver Sentinel strained as his energy pushed against the speeding cars. "Bend the tracks out and down! Then do whatever you can!"
The young heroine realized what he had in mind and quickly did as instructed, using her magnetic powers to bend the track of her loop back, down and outward. With the short amount time and track she had to work with, Lodestone was only able to create a forty-five degree turn by the time the Sentinel and the cars were upon her. She flew out of the way just as they raced past, latching onto the metal cars with her magnetism. Swinging out to the back, she anchored herself to the last car and projected her magnetism through the entire set of cars. Please, God, let this work!
In his short career as the Silver Sentinel, this stunt easily topped his list of risky actions! Without the time to safely slow the train, his only option seemed to be to set the cards down with, he hoped, minimal injuries. That youngster did her part by bending the track... now it's up to me!
The speeding cars came off the loop and down the bent portion of the track. Instead of crashing into the base supports below the coaster, the set of cars leapt into the air. The perilous ride for the thirty passengers was not over yet!
The silver force energy and the Sentinel's own flight guided the first car like the nose of jet airplane. From behind, Lodestone used her magnetism to keep the remaining cars in a straight line. Together, the two heroes kept the cars on as a steady of a course as possible. In the end, the Silver Sentinel had the responsibility of the landing.
People scurried around the beach in a panic as the cars hurtled off the track and in that direction. Abandoning their picnics and beach blankets, everyone cleared way as the Sentinel guided the cars downward. The bottom front portion of the first car contacted the ground, kicking up sand through the air. A trench quickly formed as they cut a swath across the beach.
Good girl, keeping them straight in line! The Silver Sentinel could feel the pull of her power adding to his own; together they were slowing the cars. He started to praise her aloud only to receive a mouthful of sand. He spat, then closed his mouth and eyes tightly, focusing completely on the task at hand! Got to keep it together!
Soon not only sand but water sprayed his thin, angular face. They ran out of beach, passing through where the tide rolled in. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise! The wet sand offered more resistance to the moving object; in a few seconds, the forward momentum was exhausted. The back few of the roller coaster cars splashed down in three feet deep water.
Relieved, the white-knuckled passengers began to thank their saviors. And from out in the water where a flotilla of boats were anchored came cheers and horn honking as well.
"Take a rest, Sentinel! You've earned it." Lodestone called to him. "I'll get these folks back to dry land." It took little effort for her magnetism to tow the set of cars back to the sandy beach. She then assisted folks as they climbed out of the runaway coaster.
The Silver Sentinel lifted himself out of the water and brushed off his face. As he flew towards Lodestone, he could see the teenager smiling with relief. The young had a way of bouncing back quickly. "Pretty good thinking there, Lodestone - bending the track towards the beach."
The heroine blushed slightly. "I would never have been able to do this without your help, sir." She brushed the sand off the front of her T-shirt and shorts.
The Silver Sentinel smiled back at her. Kind of nice to work with a polite, well-mannered young lady with some decent clothes on for a change. Her parents would be proud of her, if they even knew she did this in her free time. "Heh - we make a pretty good team, you and me." A crowd began to gather around the heroes as they took to the air once more. "That might not be the last of it - we may still be needed. You up to a quick circle 'round the park?"
"Sounds good to me," Lodestone said.
As they left the beach area and returned to the park proper, a young man called out to them, waving his arms to get their attention. "Sentinel! Hey, Sentinel!"
The heroes looked down to see where the call was coming from. "What is it, son?"
The young man caught his breath then said, "You better hurry to the amphitheater -- some guy's got a bomb!"
***
The red LCD counter clicked down to forty two seconds.
"Give me the bomb now!" Kyle Harper roared as he placed his left hand firmly on Pyro-Tech's shoulder and yanked on the straps that held the explosive to the man's torso. The leather snapped under the strain, and the device fell away. Kyle snatched it mid-air.
Pyro-Tech screamed out, mostly in frustration and anger as Kyle Harper pushed him away. "Damn you! You've ruined everything!"
Most of the people had fled from the near stage portion of the amphitheater when the bomb was first revealed. Fighting against the flow, Beverly Harper managed to make her way to the orchestra pit. "Kyle, get rid of it!" she called out to her husband.
The brown haired man glanced for a second at the device. In his younger days, as Steel, he would have considered smothering the explosion with his own body. But that was not an option today. His only option would be to toss it as high into the air as possible, hoping it would explode before reaching the ground.
A familiar female voice called from above. "Mr. Harper, up here!" Kyle looked to see his daughter and an elderly costumed hero approaching fast from the north.
Gripping the device like a football, Kyle Harper cocked his arm back. "Lodestone, get rid of it fast!" He let the bomb fly with all his might, hurling it up and towards the path his daughter was taking.
The bomb accelerated as it went, guided higher into the air by unseen forces. Lodestone concentrated on the object, at first intercepting it as it flew and then continuing to slingshot it through the air as fast as she could.
Higher and higher it flew, out past one of the peaks of the Twin Terrors coaster and the beach just beyond it. As the explosive device arced out thousands of feet above the lake, it's red LCD counter reached zero. It detonated in the air in a loud, fiery ball of flames.
Kyle Harper had kept his eye on the bomb the entire time and breathed a sigh of relief when it was no longer a threat. Then he snapped around, realizing he had forgotten all about the man responsible. "Stop him! Stop that man!"
But Pyro-Tech had capitalized on the distraction and was about to reach the wings of the stage. That was until he ran face first into the chest of the Silver Sentinel.
"You've got a lot to answer to, mister!" the elderly hero stated as he grabbed hold of the man's garishly colored costume. The hero flew effortlessly across the stage with Pyro-Tech in tow, dropping him down to the park security that already had the three henchmen in custody. He then touched down next to Kyle Harper.
Theodore Haglund fumbled to light his cigar while approaching the local hero. "The Silver Sentinel! You've saved the day for us all!" He took a puff to calm his nerves. Kyle and the Sentinel both looked at him disapprovingly. "And, of course, Mr. Harper here did his part as well."
"I did have some help, a lot in fact." The Silver Sentinel looked around in the air curiously. "Say, did anyone see where Lodestone went to?"
"She rocketed off right after the bomb; maybe she had someplace else to be," Beverly Harper explained as she climbed the left steps of the stage. She carried with her a blue denim backpack. "You know how girls today can be."
Following behind was her daughter Clare, quickly zipping up a white wind breaker jacket to conceal her red T-shirt.
Kyle Harper joined his family as they crossed the stage. "Mr. Haglund, this is my wife and daughter." Pleasantries were exchanged.
The Silver Sentinel looked suspiciously at the teenager, looking her over from head to toe. Obviously, she was avoiding eye contact with him. "Hmm, I didn't get to tell Lodestone I appreciated her help."
"I bet she knows," Beverly said.
The Silver Sentinel smiled. "She should be real proud of what she did here today. It's nice to see youngsters who care about helpin' others."
Still keeping her gaze averted, Clare Harper couldn't hide a slight smile.
1
For details on that, you'll have to read an upcoming St. Jude adventure!
- the Editor
2
As told to us in the first St. Jude story. -
the Editor