Spring arrived early for the citizens of Pleasantview. Flocks of people gathered downtown to peruse the shops and enjoy the warm weather.

In one part of town, a small group of men started jumping around wildly and making terrible screeching noises for no apparent reason. As people began to gather around to see what was happening, more and more men started to exhibit the same erratic behavior. It wasn’t long before everyone realized that there was a problem.

At the East Side Community Center, Ebon Huntress was relaxing in one of the facility’s many hot tubs when her personal communicator indicated she was receiving an important call from one of her teammates. She quickly hopped out of the tub and went into the briefing room, where she activated the viewscreen.  The visage of Chromed Avenger appeared before her.

“What seems to be the problem, John?” asked Ebon as she sat down at the table.

“An odd situation has developed downtown,” remarked Chromed. “I am putting the live feed up on your screen now.” Ebon watched as several men climbed on top of cars, chased frightened women, and made a public nuisance of themselves. “Local authorities are trying to contain this as much as they can, but they could probably use some assistance.”

“I’ll get Lazlo to put a team together and see what they can do,” said Ebon. “While we should certainly help the authorities to get the situation under control, we should concentrate our efforts on finding the cause.”

Violet Haze, Captain Crimson, Azure Maiden and Tawny Bimbo arrived downtown and began to assist with crowd control.

“This is very strange,” remarked Tawny. “Their mental thoughts are akin to those of simple primates.”

“So they are as much a danger to themselves as they are to other people,” said Violet. “Maybe they’ll respond to more natural elements. Crimson and Azure, start putting up barricades to contain them.”

Violet watched as Crimson and Azure went into action. After a short time, Violet noticed Crimson didn’t seem to be putting up any more of his flame walls. Quickly tracking him down, he found Crimson acting in the same bizarre fashion as all of the other men in the area. Before Violet could say anything to warn his teammates, he suddenly found himself unable to control his own thoughts or actions.

It was several minutes before Tawny and Azure found the two of them and quickly surmised that they had a new problem on their hands.

“We need to get them back to base,” said Azure. “Tawny, can you control them in this state?”

“It will take all my concentration, but I think I can at least keep them calm enough for you to guide them,” replied Tawny.

Back in the East Side Community Center lab, Emerald began to perform his initial tests on the sedated Violet Haze. Ebon Huntress watched nervously, but maintained a steady composure in front of the others.

“This is highly unusual,” remarked Emerald. “It appears to be the work of a previously unknown virus.”

“Where do you think it came from?” asked Ebon.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to study it further, but every virus leaves a telltale signature. There is something very unusual about this one.”

“What’s that?”

“It seems to be designed to only attack…” Ebon turned to Emerald as his sentence trailed off, seeing him suddenly degenerate into a helpless invalid right before her eyes. Fearing the worst, she quickly ran out of the lab and activated the base’s emergency protocols, effectively sealing off the building. She then proceeded back to the conference room to inform Chromed of the situation.

Ebon Huntress had been waiting nervously for nearly an hour when Chromed Avenger finally appeared on her terminal screen. Since arriving at East Side Community Center, he had been working in isolation in the lab, attempting to decipher Emerald’s findings.

“What have you discovered?” Ebon asked.

“The virus was only designed to attack males,” Chromed reported.

“I had come to the same conclusion. Tell me, John, with the information Emerald discovered, can you devise a cure?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Ebon sat back in her chair, the feeling of defeat nearly overcoming her. She took a few seconds to compose herself before uttering a single word.

“Explain.”

“Although I can process complex equations and formulas, I need a reference to extrapolate from,” informed Chromed. “Kryss left me with no starting point. Without his scientific knowledge, I have no idea where to begin.”

“Are they going to die?” she asked.

“I am uncertain of that as well.” Ebon sat quietly thinking when her terminal indicated another call coming in.

“Hold for a moment, John,” she said, hitting a button on the terminal.

“Ebon Huntress, I am so glad I was able to reach you.” Ebon smiled slightly at the sight of her friend Garanti Tulseir.

“Garanti,” greeted Ebon. “It’s good to see you, though your timing could be better. We’re in the middle of a crisis right now.”

“I know,” replied Garanti. “I was working with Emerald and hadn’t heard from him in over an hour. Has he fallen victim to the virus?”

“Yes, along with every other male member of the team, and most of the men in Pleasantview, based on the reports I have been getting. Chromed seems unaffected by it. How do you know about the virus?”

“From the analysis Emerald sent to me, it appears to be similar to a virus created by a scientist in Panadona,” Garanti informed.

“Slava,” muttered Ebon under her breath.

“Most likely.”

“Please tell me everything you know.”

“A few weeks after I arrived in Swadur, some of the workers in the processing plants started exhibiting odd behavior…they had regressed almost to a primal state,” said Garanti. “I was having a difficult time trying to figure out the cause when, a few days into the epidemic, I was contacted by a Dr. Caterina Michelina, a scientist working for Prime Minister Slava. She informed me that she had been forced to create the virus and could produce an antidote if I could help her out of the country. We both knew that our conversation had most likely been monitored, but with a special-ops team loyal to President Szabolcs, she was able to escape and get to freedom. Within twenty-four hours, she had cured the workers and we were back on track.”

“Will Dr. Michelina be able to help cure this virus?” Ebon asked.

“She won’t need to,” said Garanti. “The virus should not be deadly, at least as far as I can tell here with my limited equipment and resources. It was really designed to incapacitate, and be reversed later.”

“Probably to reduce any opposition should he choose to invade another country. Knowing Slava, he wouldn’t want to waste any valuable resources that he could exploit later.”

“I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that the virus should be affecting everyone, not just men. This means that someone has tampered with the original work.”

“That’s interesting as well,” remarked Ebon. “Slava apparently has some very capable scientists working for him. So, what’s our next move?”

“Well, I’ll make the same suggestion to you that I was going to make to Emerald,” said Garanti. “I’ll catch the next flight out of Swadur and return to Pleasantview as fast as possible. With your equipment and my familiarity with the virus, I’ll be able to produce a vaccine in just a couple hours after my arrival. I can even feed some basic information to Chromed Avenger so he can start the heavy computations and have them ready for my arrival, which will speed up the cure even more.”

Meanwhile, in the capitol of Panadona, Prime Minister Slava paced nervously in his office. He paused in front of his desk when his secretary buzzed in to inform him his secure call was now connected.

“They’ve already found out,” said Slava anxiously. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours, and they already know I am the one responsible.”

“Relax,” responded the female voice on the intercom. “We knew they would figure out you were behind this. How quickly they found out is of no concern.”

“But the Americans will treat this as an attack on their soil. They will not respond lightly. You promised this would get me one step closer to taking over Swadur, Happy.”

“And it will,” replied Happy Birthday over the intercom. “You just need to stick to the plan and the cover story I prepared for you. And not only will you get the precious country of Swadur you so desperately want, but eventually all of Europe as well.”

“I don’t know about this,” said Slava. “This is the second time I have had a confrontation with Primary Force. Why do I have the feeling it won’t be the last?”

“Because, Prime Minister, it is in their nature to interfere. And they, like us, want to change the world. We will continue to have confrontations with them because we each want to change the world in different ways. But it matters not, since in the end, the world will succumb to our will.”

“This is a dangerous game you are playing, Happy,” remarked Slava. “When you first approached me a year ago about this plan of yours, I completely supported it. Everything has been proceeding as smoothly as you promised. But now that Primary Force has become involved…”

“It would be a shame if the people of Panadona had to elect a new Prime Minister,” remarked Happy coldly. “But a new Prime Minister might be willing to follow instructions. Stick to the plan, Slava. The faithful will have all that they desire and more.”

“Very well, Happy. I will comply, for now.”

Back in Pleasantview, Azure Maiden, Tawny Bimbo, Tangerine Mistress and Choral Blush worked to keep the infected men gathered and confined, for their safety as well as for the protection of others.

Ebon Huntress walked through the streets, stopping to talk and reassure people that the crisis would soon be over. She continued to search for clues that would provide the evidence that she knew she would need to confront Prime Minister Slava with, but despite her best efforts, she could not find any trace of how the virus had entered the city.

Back at the East Side Community Center, Ebon sat down to relax in front of the terminal in her room. Waiting a few minutes to catch her breath, she brought up Chromed Avenger on the screen.

“How are our patients doing, John?” she asked.

“They remain sedated,” he replied.

“I am afraid there is not,” replied Chromed Avenger. “Even with the data I have been collating, I cannot tell you how the virus arrived or even how it is spreading from one person to the next.”

“And the progress on the cure?” Ebon asked.

Ebon Huntress woke up late the next morning after a restless night of sleep. She would not have woken up at all if not for her computer terminal beeping to inform her that Garanti had arrived and was on the premises. After a quick shower, she quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to get an update on the situation.

Walking into the lab, Ebon spotted Garanti already fast at work on one of the lab computers. Chromed Avenger was leaning over her shoulder but turned to greet Ebon once he noticed that she had entered the room.

“What’s our current status?” Ebon asked.

“Nearly complete,” said Chromed. “Garanti should have our initial batch ready within the hour. We will test it on our teammates first.”

“I wish we didn’t have to test it on anyone.”

“Computer simulations are just that; simulations. And I know from personal experience, theory and practice are sometimes not the same. Garanti has developed a cure once before. This test is just a formal precaution.”

“What’s that?” asked Ebon.

“Figuring out how to deploy the vaccine,” said Garanti.

“Interesting,” said Chromed. “I had presumed that we would be making injections to all that are infected.”

“The problem is, this is an airborne virus. And although the vaccine would cure anyone that is already infected, the virus has an unusually long lifespan. Even longer than the one I had to deal with originally. Anyone not vaccinated would become infected instantly just by walking downtown, and that’s not taking the wind patterns into account.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Ebon.

“I’ll need a little more time,” started Garanti. “And once Emerald is back in action, I think we can manufacture a counter-virus. We’ll just need some way to get it into the air, and spread over a large area.”

“I can arrange that,” said Chromed. “All I will need to know is approximately how much area we’ll need to cover.”

“I’ll let you know once I have the rest of your team vaccinated.”

Thirty minutes later, Garanti injected Emerald with the first dose of the vaccine. Within minutes Emerald had recovered and began helping Garanti revive the rest of his teammates. A couple of hours later, they started producing the counter-virus and informed Chromed Avenger of the maximum area they would need to cover. With that knowledge in hand, Chromed spoke with his military contacts and started having them modify planes to deploy the counter-virus over the city.  Life in Pleasantview soon returned to normal.

Later that evening, Ebon Huntress sat alone in the conference room discussing the events with Senator Oldie; a conversation that was not going the way she had hoped.

“I sympathize with you, Ebon,” said Oldie. “Clearly Prime Minister Slava is behind this. It’s just that we have no proof.”

“And Dr. Michelina isn’t enough?” asked Ebon.

“As I said, it’s her word against his. Prime Minister Slava swears he knew nothing about her experiments, and when he found out about them, he was going to have her arrested. But she fled the country before he could apprehend her. He has plenty of official documentation to back up his claims.”

“And of course, she has none. Very well, Senator, I know your hands are tied in this matter, but from now on I will be keeping a very close eye on his activities.”

“You’re not leaving already, are you?” Ebon asked as Garanti was walking out the main entrance.

“Well, it’s been weeks since I’ve seen my flower shop,” replied Garanti. “I know Emerald has been checking up on it for me, and that the shop has been running smoothly, but it’s my home.”

“How would you like a new home?” Ebon asked as she pulled out a box from behind her back and handed it to Garanti. She carefully opened the box only to have her jaw nearly hit the floor upon seeing its contents.

“Ebon, is this…what I think it is?”

“A Primary Force uniform, should you chose to accept this as an invitation to join. Garanti, you have proven to be a valuable asset time and time again, not only to us, but to the rest of the world as well. We would be honored if you would join our ranks.”

“Yes! I would be honored as well.”

So concludes the twenty-first chapter of Primary Force. Stay tuned for Chapter 22: To The Benefit Of The Bands