Patronverse Previews - June

The Amazons: Earth's Saviours or its Potential Destroyers?

Still that doesn't matter, they aren't a team yet, although that's about to change as Onca and neophyte heroine Southern Cross team up against Kool-o-Suchus and his gang

Meanwhile someone is screaming for help but no one can hear her, no one that is but Five-Star. Too bad she hears voices in her head all the time...

The dust covered Fords scythed through the desert towards the compound filled with the rusting hulks of military vehicles and aircraft. Not slowing down for the lightly defended checkpoint, the lead vehicle crashed through the barrier and the unfortunate guard standing behind, the two following cars grinding his body into the dirt as they ran over him. As the dust settled multiple armed men disembarked from the cars, each one clad in desert camouflage fatigues with a Kevlar breastplate slotted over the uniform, and spread out to secure the nearest vehicles.

"Boss we have Blue Diesel present in the tanks of multiple vehicles on site." One of the mercenaries stated as he held a chemical spectrum analyser against the exhaust of a derelict Crusader Tank.

"Team Adder begin siphoning the fuel." A big man dressed in black ballistic armour ordered, as he squeezed out the back of the middle vehicle. "Team Taipan ready the delivery system, Team Constrictor keep the perimeter secure." He added, as he went to the boot of the car and removed a black reinforced canister connected to a fuel hose and long barrelled nozzle. "Snap to it boys, I want us out of here in twenty minutes at the very latest." He hissed, as he slipped the tank onto his back.

"The only place you're going is prison!" A confident strong female voice replied causing the mercenary gang to look up to where the speaker was hovering, her dark skin clad in a leotard emblazoned with the Southern Cross constellation, her feet wrapped in a pair of pointe shoes that, like the necklace wound round her neck gleamed silver under the desert sun.

"Okay lads stop gawping and get back to work!" The Mercenary Boss hissed as he narrowed his eyes behind the helmet he wore. "I've heard of you, you're that city dweller who lucked into some powers, you call yourself Southern Cross or something like that right? Do me a favour, bug out of it so we can finish our work and we'll drop you a cut once we get paid."

"Sorry but I can't do that Mr...?" Southern Cross stated, as she covertly eyed up the six men with assault weapons trained on her. "I'm sorry I didn't get your name."

"It's Kool-o-Suchus, and I'm disappointed that you declined my offer." The mercenary boss sighed as he opened fire with his weapon, a beam of super-cooled steam jetting up towards Southern Cross, her exposed skin blistering as she blocked her face with her arms from the attack. "You refused my warm offer of a partnership, now you going to see what happens to those who give me the cold shoulder!"

Danika and the crew of the Proteus are in deep water...literally

And there not alone, someone seeded the wreck of the King of the Orinoco with killer robots

With time and air running out will anybody reach the surface? Probably, this is an ongoing series after all ?

Darting out of the lower car deck, Danika and Stein swam out towards the depth line, their amphibious rifles held close to them despite the surrounding ocean being devoid of the 'flying wing' drones. Clipping onto the line the pair of divers ascended to the bottom of the nearest segment just as a deep thud rocked the King of the Orinoco, and part of the superstructure collapsed in on itself, crushing the repair and refuel station that had been concealed in the bowls of the ship. For a moment everything was silent, but then multiple spider like maintenance drones came swarming out of the ship and towards the depth line.

Pointing upwards Danika watched as Stein tapped his diving watch before opening fire on the approaching swarm, the dart like rounds slashing through the drones, thick clouds of siphoned petrol and dissolved human fat leaking out of the ones he hit. Despite the damage, those drones that remained intact kept on coming, before climbing up the depth line towards the two fleeing divers. Just as the first few drones reached them Stein pointed upwards and swam up the next marker on the dive line. Pursuing them the drones continued to fall as both divers repelled the scuttling invasion.

Suddenly a shadow passed overhead stealing the divers focus away from the drones, as one of the ray like 'flying wings' veered round to get a clean run on its targets. Swimming towards them, the drone almost reached them, only to be blindsided by one of the Proteus's ROVs, the tiny submarines clawed arms pushing the attacking drone down toward the sea bed. Turning their focus back down to the creeping maintenance drones, Stein screamed in pain as one of the spider like crawlers drilled into his leg, the muscle and fat draining from his leg as the drone sucked the chemicals out to refill its internal fuel supply. Dropping down slightly Danika removed the Powerhead from her holster and placed the weapon against the fuel tank and fired, the expanding gas blowing the robot to pieces.

"Go!" Stein ordered as he took the Powerhead from Danika before handing her a few spare amphibious rifle clips. "I can barely move, I'll hold the line as long as I can."

"I'm come back for you." Danika whispered as she ascended the depth line as Stein opened fire with the Powerhead, the drones splattering as they were mowed down by her comrade. Stopping at the next point Danika looked up just in time to see another 'flying wing' soaring towards her, its drill apparatus already churning ready for the kill. Firing a few shots Danika watched as all but one of the rounds bounced off, the on target shot hitting the port control surface sending the drone into a spin, straight into the depth line, the thickened cable tangling in the drill before it and everything attached to it was dragged back down towards the wreck of the King of the Orinoco.

Karl and Marta have a night off. Considering they have been fighting super villains since 1942 they deserve it.

Too bad someone disagrees as they come under siege from...the girl scouts?

Also the mercenary gang hired by the Snake Charmer is closing in

Karl went out to the BMW and slipped into the driver's seat before heading off towards the nearby town to pick up the pizzas he had ordered, passing a green minivan coming the other way. As he left one of the gargoyles perched on the edge of the house shifted and then fired a small projectile at the fleeing car.

"This is Hawker, GPS tracker attached to target vehicle." Hawker buzzed as he watched a black haired girl of eight dressed in a girl scouts uniform got out of the van, followed by her mother dressed in a similar uniform save for a very low cut top and thigh high leather stiletto heeled boots.

"Caracal Alpha reads you, we're in pursuit." A female voice announced as a woman on a motorcycle darted out of the woods on the side of the drive. Dashing down the road, Karl looked in the rear view mirror before spotting the pursuing motorcycle speeding down the forest road. Waving her past, Karl did a double take as he saw her take a pistol out of her holster and opened fire on the car, the bullets slashing through the fuselage of the vehicle. Speeding up Karl watched as the motorcyclist switched to the other side of the road and pulled alongside the driver's side door just as the pair of vehicles came to a fork in the row.

"Goodbye." Karl whispered as he veered right whilst the motorcycle kept going down the left hand road. Focusing back on the road, he swore in his native tongue as he spotted the jack-knifed truck blocking the road, the driver climbing onto the roof of the vehicle, a sniper rifle in her hands. Slamming on the brakes Karl heard a shot ring out followed by a hissing as the front right hand side tyre was punctured, the combination of high speed, bad tyres and braking action sending the BMW into a skid until it slammed into the truck, the driver’s door pinned up against the larger vehicle. Groaning Karl removed his seat belt just as the motorcyclist headed down the road, and the sniper leapt onto the roof of the vehicle.

"Who are you?" Karl groaned as he slipped out of the car, the pair of assassins levelling their weapons at him, their eyes gleaming from behind their cat like masks. "Why are you here?"

"They call us the Caracals." The woman armed with the sniper rifle purred. "Our employer wants you alive, but our superiors have confirmed the kill order on your head. Professor Karl Elise, for your crimes against the People of Israel we sentence you to death!"

Genius Billionaire Philanthropist Gavin Hotchkiss is revealing his new energy source in his home town of Canterbury

That's where Five Star lives, she's looking for a new job and a new home.

It's also where the elite assassin known as the Rhinkalas is, and she has a job to do; namely kill Hotchkiss before he can reveal his secret that'll be the end of the oil industry as we know it.

Colleen stirred the bowl of cereal with a spoon as she sat in the kitchen of soon to be former home, surrounded by boxes. Dropping the spoon she looked around the room, before getting up and walking to the sink, her arrival scaring off a few silverfish that had been loitering near the fruit bin. Picking up a washed bowl Colleen walked back to the table and poured the contents into it, before placing her head on the table.

"You know I'll miss a lot of things about living with you when you leave," A voice stated as the door to the downstairs bedroom opened and a handsome dark skinned man dressed in a 'Wacky Crab' T-Shirt and jeans walked into the room, "but you playing with your food is definitely not one. Not only is it messy, but recently it's started attracting the silverfish onto the table." He added as he aimed a slap at one of the aforementioned silverfish lapping at a spot of milk spilled on the table, only for the insect to escape.

"Morning Tom." Colleen grumbled as she lifted her head slightly before placing it back on the table.

"I see job hunting and apartment buying are going well." Tom sighed as he took the bowl of cereal from Colleen and started eating the contents. "You know I can put a word in for you to my boss. You did save his garage from that Recon Droid a few months ago, he wouldn’t even have to know that you're Five-Star. And even if he said no there's always those souvenir people making a pretty penny off your image. I mean you're entitled to that money surely?"

"Sure, because anybody is going to believe I'm Five-Star." Colleen moaned, as a silverfish crawled past her, before scurrying under the table. "Speaking of work, shouldn't you be there by now?" She asked, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Nah the boss wants me to go to the Hotchkiss thing happening at the University today. He's anxious to see what this revelation is, and what it'll mean for his business." Tom told her as he put the spoon down. "You can be my plus one if you want, think about it, screaming crowds, world changing science and most of all..." He stopped as he slapped a darting silverfish, before rubbing the dead insect onto the table, "...no Monique to bother you and no silverfish to annoy me, seriously where are these things coming from?"

"Anything’s better than here I guess." Colleen groaned as she stared at the bowl of cereal. "Let me finish breakfast and I'll be there." She added, before sliding the bowl of cereal back over to her before grimacing as a silverfish scuttled out over the lip onto the table. "On second thoughts let's just leave now."

The Ghost faces off against Breakdown and his Chop-Shop

Honestly though her time would be better spent hunting down the San Fran Psycho (or whoever is behind that mask) before he strikes again.

Then again it may already be too late!

Ifan walked into Sami’s lab and watched her as she flipped through the images of emoji’s in the online gallery on the computer, each one displaying a scar across his cheek, and while many of them were similar to the slab of wall sitting on the light table in the middle of the room, none seemed to be an exact match to the orientation of the crime scene smiley faces' scar.

"No luck yet then?" Ifan asked as Sammi spun round on her swivel chair, her pink hair flopping all over the place as she turned.

"Some, but it doesn't help. I'm certain that this scarface emoji is a custom unregistered form." Sammi told him, before handing him a printout. "As such I have facial recognition software looking in the new images gallery for a match, just to see if our killer uploads it onto the registry. The good news is that the image itself was applied using red spray paint, not blood. Doctor Fisher has already taken a sample to trace to analyse what kind and determine its availability to the general public."

"What does that have to do with this guy?" Ifan asked as he looked at the DVLA photograph tacked to the sheet of paper. "Is this Michael Lincoln a suspect?"

"No, but he did order three custom scratch cards from Blue Cactus Gaming, they're the company based down in Arizona who make these cards. A day after taking delivery of the scratchers Michael was blinded at work." Sammi explained as she brought up a more recent photo of Michael, his eye sockets empty. "He worked at a prison Ifan, some super-max facility down in Texas. He went to break up two inmates fighting and ended up losing his eyes."

"It's a theory on how the scratch card got here." Ifan replied as he looked at the scratch card still sitting in the evidence bag. "First panel is an ambulance which seems too much like a coincidence considering where we found it. Do you have any idea what the other two squares are concealing?"

"I didn't but the helpful people at Blue Cactus did." Sammi replied. "They are a fire truck and a police cruiser. If it's more than a coincidence that he targeted a hospital when he revealed the ambulance..."

"It means he's coming for us." Ifan stated grimly. "Let's just hope we're ready for him."