Digger Breaks Through!

By Tony Frazier

Whether you came to Tony Frazier's superhero fiction through his short stories in online venues like Baen's Universe, Escape Pod, and Strange Horizons, or whether you've been reading his serialized adventures at www.herogohome.com, you'll find great new discoveries here.

All of the published Digger stories are collected here in one volume, as well as two brand-new Digger adventures and a completely unrelated tale--seven stories in all combining rollicking humor with superpowered adventure.

So step right up, but don't stand too close as Digger Breaks Through!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tony Frazier
• Release date: Jun 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465915016

Tony Frazier

Tony Frazier has published short stories in Jim Baen's Universe and Strange Horizons. He has also worked as a movie reviewer and in military intelligence. He is currently serializing a comic superhero novel titled "Hero Go Home" at www.herogohome.com.

Book preview

DIGGER BREAKS THROUGH!

Published by Tony Frazier at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Anthony Frazier

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Out of His League copyright 2007 Anthony Frazier. Originally published in Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters vs the World, Agog Press, 2007

Astromonkeys! copyright 2006 Anthony Frazier. Originally published in Jim Baen’s Universe, Vol.1 No. 1. www.baensuniverse.com

Double-Secret Weapon copyright 2007 Anthony Frazier. Originally published in Jim Baen’s Universe, Vol. 2, No. 4. www.baensuniverse.com

No Love For the Middleman copyright 2008, Anthony Frazier. Originally published in Strange Horizons, May, 2008. www.strangehorizons.com

Also by Tony Frazier

Death Wave

Coming soon: Hero Go Home

Table of Contents

Introduction

Out of His League

Astromonkeys!

Double-Secret Weapon

No Love For the Middleman

The Depths of Lame

The Anti-Mustard

Hong Kong Rendezvous

INTRODUCTION

This book has been in the making for close to 30 years.

Sometime in the early 80’s, either in late 1982 or early 1983, I was asked to kill Sandra Dobyns. Sandra was also known as Matrix, a superhero character in the Champions role-playing campaign I was part of. She was a difficult character, both for me as a player and for my friend Gary as a game-master. So he offered to let me use her accumulated experience points to build a new character from scratch, if I would be willing to let her die a heroic death.

I agreed and began dreaming up ideas for a new character. I wanted someone with the speed and agility of Spider-Man, but with a flashier offensive power. And my mind kept drifting back to an old Quality character I’d seen in a Justice League alternate dimension adventure. His name was the Human Bomb, and his hands had been coated with a special explosive. Whatever he punched blew up.

I put together my suite of spider-type powers with the explosive punch idea, came up with an origin that gave different mechanisms to all the powers, and Digger was born.

I played him for around two years, until I left college and moved back home. And even afterward, when a new edition of the Champions rules came out, I used Digger as my testbed for building a character under the new system. And with each updated iteration, I continued to develop his story. I planned for years to write something for him to star in (including an aborted screenplay titled Hero Go Home), but never had the confidence to plunge in.

And then one day, as I was beginning to turn serious about trying to write for money, I heard about an anthology seeking stories. Tentatively titled Daikaiju!: Giant Monster Tales, each story was supposed to feature, well, you know. It seemed like a perfect fit for me. Then I realized that the deadline for entry was the next day. I didn’t have time for leisurely contemplation. I had to write a story super-fast.

So I cheated. I plucked a monster out of an unsold screenplay I had written years earlier, and just for laughs, pitted him against Digger, a superhero vastly unsuited for battling giant monsters. The result was Out of His League, the first story I sold, but the last Digger story published (in the follow-up anthology Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters vs. the World, from Agog! Press in Australia).

And though I’ve written a lot more than just funny superheroes, the fact remains that only the Digger stories have sold (plus one story written in the same style featuring a former teammate of Digger’s), and they have all sold. Well, all the ones I’ve bothered to submit for publication, anyway. This anthology contains the first publications of two Digger stories I haven’t attempted to sell anywhere else. I hope you enjoy them.

For those who have purchased this anthology after reading Digger’s serialized adventures in the webnovel, Hero Go Home (www.herogohome.com), be warned: the stories follow a different format. They are all told in first person from Digger’s point of view, they are much smaller in scope, and all begin with the word so. But if you have enjoyed the novel, you’ll find much to enrich the experience here.

Wondering what the deal is with Davey Lopez? It’s in here. Wondering about the mysteriously lame AcroCop Val and Digger keep making fun of? He’s in here. Wondering about that mysterious food court incident that Marissa Fleming’s still mad about? It’s in here. Wondering why Digger was late getting to Yodaville? It’s in here.

Plus an extra Digger tale completely unrelated to the novel, as well as a kick-ass non-Digger superhero adventure featuring an angel and an ape (absolutely not inspired by the vintage DC series Angel and the Ape).

Enjoy.

The first Digger story written, in which a second-string hero must find a way to defeat a first-string monster. It previously appeared in the Australian anthology Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters vs. the World. This is its first publication with American spellings. When I received my review copy, I was surprised to see that the editors, Robert Hood and Robin Pen, had rewritten my final line. Their version works better, though, so that’s the version that appears here. Thanks, guys.

Out of His League

So just what do you plan to do about this? Jill asked.

I plan to have another beer, I answered.

I guess this wasn’t what she wanted to hear, because all she could do for a moment was drop her jaw and make this stunned uh sound. Well, not really an uh, but I can’t spell the exact sound she made. Maybe I could with one of those foreign alphabets with sounds you don’t find in English, but then you probably wouldn’t be able to read it.

She finally found her voice and said, But you’re a superhero.

I’m not that super. Look at that thing, I said, waving toward the TV behind the bar. On the screen, a gigantic Thing stood amid burning wreckage downtown, somewhere near the riverfront. It looked like a cross between a beetle and a man. It was basically humanoid--two arms, two legs, one head--but it was mostly covered by chitinous armored plates, with leathery skin visible between. As we watched, a National Guard tank fired a shell at the creature’s chest. The armor plates moved suddenly, drawing together to form an almost seamless shield over its front torso. After the shell burst harmlessly on the armor, the plates drew back to their former positions.

The news reports put it at anywhere from 60 to 80 feet tall, they weren’t sure. After all, it wasn’t as if they could just ask it to stand against the Empire State Building and make a pencil mark at the top of its head. I wished they could, because that would mean it was in New York City instead of my home town, causing me problems with my favorite bartender.

You know what would happen if I tried to fight that thing? I continued. "You ever see Bambi Meets Godzilla?"

Jill shook her head at me. Do you ever get off your couch and go outside?

It’s a recliner. Besides, I’m kinda’ retired. Now how about that beer?

You’re cut off, Jill said, taking my mug. And if you’re retired, then why do you still wear the costume?

She had me there.

Okay, fine, I’ll see what I can do, I said, dropping off my barstool. But it’s not going to be much. I’m more a team player than a solo guy.

We’ve seen how well that worked out, she said. I’ll get your tab.

No, you’ll hold it till I get back, I said. It’s the least you can do for sending me off to my death.

***

So you’re offering to do what, exactly? Hit him with your laser beams? Colonel Fox couldn’t stop looking nervously at my hands.

I couldn’t blame him, really. If I was stuck next to some dude with big, metal energy blasters grafted to his hands and forearms, I wouldn’t be too trusting either. They were the real reason I still wore the costume, even though I hadn’t actively fought crime in years; the Driller Beam Generators don’t exactly go well with jeans. There was no way I could just blend in like some guys.

I took a deep breath. I’d spent twenty minutes talking my way into the National Guard command post, and now it looked like I’d be spending another twenty trying to convince them I could help. Hell, I hadn’t even convinced myself of that, yet.

I’m not really sure what I can do, Colonel, I said. This thing’s a little out of my weight class, but I’d like to help any way I can.

Major Bronson, sitting next to the colonel, asked, How, specifically, do you think you can help, Mister, uh…

Digger. His name’s Digger, said Captain Craun from over by the map. Craun had been introduced to me as the S-2. Bronson was the S-3. I had no idea what that meant. You used to work with the GoDS out of L.A., didn’t you?

Used to.

Well, where are they? asked Colonel Fox. Can we get the rest of them here?

They all died, I answered.

But you survived, Craun said.

I shrugged and said, I do that.

"So what exactly do you do? Major Bronson asked. Other than surviving, I mean."

I’m pretty fast, kinda’ strong, I said.

How strong?

I could pick up a car, but I can’t throw it, I said. Well, maybe a Mini Cooper or something, but that probably wouldn't help. I can see in the dark and climb walls like a bug. I use these to dig tunnels. I held up one hand to show off the Driller Beam Generator.

Can you dig a pit? Trap him? asked Captain Craun.

Screw that, said Colonel Fox. "Can you dig through him?"

If the tanks couldn’t penetrate his armor, I doubt I can, I said. And I’d be working days to dig a pit that big.

So you can’t stop it? Major Bronson asked. I shook my