The heroes are all in one place. Can serious action be far behind? It might get bumpy from here!

Reckoning -7- THE MONDAY FOLLOWING THE HEROES GIFTINGS.

--------------------WASHINGTON D. C. FBI HQ.----------------

“Well, Smitty,” SFC Joe Roberts addressed his friend who had moved from Delta Force to the civilian FBI HRT. “That's a kick in the ass isn't it?”

Both were of average height and build which helped them disappear into a crowd. However the two were extremely fit although they knew that at their mid-thirties, like professional athletes, their time at the sharp end of the stick was nearing its end.

Special Agent Randy Smith raised a brow. “In what way?”

From his point of view this mission had so holes and fallacies that all the ways it could go wrong were beyond counting. The fact that it stretched even the Patriot Act's do's and don'ts was only the first.

Come with us or be dead.

“Speaking just from a practical stand point,” The career army man made a shooting gesture with his finger. “What are the capabilities of these Bad Boys? What do we need to prepare for, and that's not even taking into account me and the rest of Delta might be on foreign soil where this could be viewed as an execution.”

The FBI man nodded.

“I'm concerned about the legal aspects of this too.” Agent Smith replied. “At the end of the Observer's speech he warned that how we greet these people could determine the fate of the whole frakking planet. Putting a bullet in someone's head isn't generally seen as friendly.”

Sighing he continued. “And I'm very aware of the phasing of that executive order. Are we to use non-violent means and attempt to capture or what? If we do go that way can anything we got, bring whoever it is down?

“I know what you mean, Smitty.” Robert's shook his own head. “From the looks of it we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. I know what I would choose if someone asked me that question?”

The FBI Agent kept the smile from his face. “What's that?”

“Why nothing of course!” SFC Roberts grinned. “I'm a mean, green, killing machine and I'm perfect already!”

They both laughed at the old joke.

“How about this?” Randy suggested. “We task that Zoomie Colonel's Joint Intel shop with an Order of Battle request about the possible capabilities of our objectives. That'll help start a paper trail detailing the nature of our problems. Using that as a guide to help us put this thing in motion should help with the CYA.

The Army Sergeant First Class knew all about Covering-Your-Ass.

“We should try and be ready for the non-violent option, but getting a couple of snipers with the biggest guns we can find would be a good idea too.”

“Seriously,” Randy asked his friend, “What in the hell are we going to do if someone decides he want's to be the Terminator or Superman? Tasers and pepper spray ain't going to do shit, but piss them off.”

“Well,” Joe scratched his balding head. “For one I would hope for Wonder Woman. At least we would get an eye full before she kicked our asses to the moon.”
-------------------------------------------

JANET:

“Great!” I muttered to myself. The new people are here and here I am in filthy, muddy clothes. I'm gonna make a great first impression on them, not to mention the shit I'm gonna catch when Tess, Meagan and Tanisha get a gander at the mess I made of my clothes. Sigh.

Well, nothing for it but to gird my friggin' loins and take the abuse. Besides, my little walkabout wasn't a total waste. I learned about my powers, and how to control them. I'll get better with practice. For now? Well... here goes nothing.

I walked up, opened the door, preparing myself mentally for the laughs.

Tess:

“Oh! Hi Janet.” I said. “This is Elise and Tommi, two more of the gifted ones.” I continued, indicating the two very striking looking women I'd just brought back with me. “But, what in the world happened to you? You're a mess! And you're dripping muddy water all over Tanisha's clean floors!”

“Um... it's a long damn story and I'd really like to get out of these wet clothes and into a warm shower, or bath. Can we save the formal introductions for after that?”

“Well, I guess we probably should.” I responded. “Tanisha is going to flip when she sees the mess you're making. Why don't you just wait here while I get some towels and a mop and a robe for you? I won't be a sec.”

I tessered into the bathroom, grabbed some towels, flashed back to Janet, then tessered into the kitchen for mop and bucket.

“Dry yourself off with these towels, climb into the robe, and then get up to the bathroom, Janet. I'll take care of the mess on the floor, and get your dirty clothes into the laundry room for you.”

“Thanks, Tess. Ladies, if you'll excuse my filthy ass, I'll see you in about an hour or so. We can continue the intros then, okay? Nice to meetcha.” With that, Janet quickly undressed, slipped into the robe after toweling off, and made tracks up the stairs to the bathroom.

JANET
I ran up the stairs, the robe tightly clutched around me, embarrassed as hell at being seen by all those women as a disgustingly muddy mess.

“DAMN it!” I muttered to myself. “Of all the damn times to have made a mess of myself, it just had to be when all the rest of the gifted ones were finally gathered together! Ooooohhhh!” I screamed in my embarrassment.

I got the shower temperature set to as hot as I usually use and shucked the robe, stepping into the steaming hot water. Curiously, it didn't seem anywhere near as hot as I thought it should, so I began to shut off the cold water until it was completely off, but the water, although it should have been burning my skin, just felt comfortably warm!

Suddenly, remembering my request to be invulnerable as part of my powers came back into my mind. Thinking about it I also remembered that, although I had punched my fist and arm into the ground earlier, there had been no pain, and there were no bruises! My embarrassment began to fade rapidly as I thought about the rest of what I had asked the Observer for. If he had given me everything I'd asked for, there wasn't much on the earth that could even begin to harm me!

I finished cleaning myself up and, donning the robe again, I rushed into the room that Tanisha had told me I could use. I noticed that someone, probably Tanisha, had put most of my clothes away in the closet and dresser drawers while I was gone. I quickly grabbed some panties, a bra, jeans and a top and sat down in front of a mirrored vanity to try to get my hair in some kind of order. After getting it as good as I could on short notice, I got up and left the room, headed downstairs.

AURA:

I made an excuse and got away from those ladies as fast as I could. I mean, I did need to use the bathroom but that was only part of the reason I left. I didn't know how to act around grown-up women, especially one's as beautiful as those. Not even counting that they were all Gifted by the Buttinsky Alien, too.

Just like me. But not like me. I was a boy, only twelve years old and kind of small and skinny for my age. Then the aliens turned me into something else. A ringer for my Mom, a stripper who had been dead for more than three years.

I hurried down the hallway the one woman had pointed out, I didn't have their names straight yet but I thought of her as Butterfly Lady. I finally found the door to the bathroom and ducked inside. It was a big bathroom even though it didn't have a tub or shower, it had a long counter with two sinks and a huge mirror with lots of light. And the back of the door had a full-length mirror, too.

I wondered how to do my business for a bit, I couldn't get my fingers under the edge of my bikini bottom and then suddenly it just wasn't there and I was naked in front of that big mirror.

Wow.

I must be nearly six feet tall, I thought. Was Mom really that tall and built like this? I wondered.

Quickly, I sat down to do my business, like a girl, but I was a girl now. Or really, a woman, a grown-up woman. The stool was in a kind of cubby where I didn't have to look at those mirrors while I peed. But I knew what I looked like now. Mom had just naturally been beautiful and with a nice figure but when I was small, she had her first breast enhancement surgery and then another right after I started school. I remember she said she wore a 34G bra.

My boobies seemed enormous, each one bigger than could be covered by both of my hands. I was alone and no one could hear me so I cussed about it a bit. "Damn alien," I said.

When I finished, stuff was still damp so I used some tissue to pat things dry. Things were missing down there and it felt so weird; I didn't want to think about it.

I thought about clothes. I tried to picture myself, the old me, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, sneakers and maybe a Lakers ball cap. I stepped out of the cubby and looked in the mirror. No luck.

I was wearing a sort of a onesie made of shiny red fabric that was highcut on the sides and lowcut up top. A set of cat ears sat in the middle of the pile blond hair on my head and I was wearing a red mask, boots and gloves. Red?

Well, it was a new trick for me I guess; at first everything was gold then I managed some black and now red. Maybe I could eventually have those blue jeans. Then I recognized the costume, Mom had worn this catgirl costume to a party at a mansion in Sherman Oaks. I felt behind me, a tail was attached back there. I could see it in the mirror too and I could also see that I was blushing.

I tried to alter the costume a bit, concentrating as hard as I could. It helped to be looking in the mirror. The tail and ears disappeared, the bustline -- was that what it was called? -- grew up to make a collar around my neck but there was still a sort of window in my chest to show off cleavage. Had Mom ever worn anything like this?
The gloves and mask had turned green. I was trying for blue but green would do, I had a red belt like a ribbon tied around my waist, with gold trim. As a costume for a tall busty woman it worked I suppose. The problem was that I was wearing it and I still looked sort of like a stripper playing at being a superhero.

I just noticed that I had earrings, too, small hoops that had several smaller rings dangling from them in a chain.

I sighed.

I debated whether I should go back out to where the women were, the other women, that is, when I remembered that I had seen another door that seemed to lead outside. I tiptoed out of the bathroom, since I was wearing heels I sort of had too. I tried to remember ever seeing Mom wearing flat heeled shoes, I don't think she did and even when barefoot she sort of tiptoed around. Maybe her feet had worn nothing but high heels so long they wouldn't bend right for flats anymore.

Whatever, I made it back into the hallway and down to the end where a door with smoked diamond panes looked like it must go outside. It did, opening into a walled garden full of roses and little tiny fountains, complete with little ceramic gnomes.

I heard someone talking, like they were coming along the hallway so I stepped outside and then jumped to the top of the brick wall, as easy as if it had been a street curb even though it must have been eight feet tall. I stood there only a moment, my big old boobies bouncing a little, then I jumped away, trying for height and distance. I'm not sure why I did that, just to get away from having to deal with the women in the house. They knew how to be women and I didn't, so I was a little bit scared of them.

I jumped, high over the city, which was really more like a suburb with hills and trees and homes hidden in them but I could see what looked like a city further away. I'd try to fly before and it hadn't worked but I had an idea. I thought of costumes Mom had worn, one of them was of a fairy with wings like a fairy or a dragonfly maybe.

And suddenly, I was flying! I could feel the wings beating on my back. I couldn't stop grinning. I could fly!

I turned toward the city I could see in the distance. Atlanta, hadn't one of the women said? Atlanta was a big city with a baseball and football team. They probably had a club like where Mom used to work. Maybe I could get a job and have, like a secret identity. Or something.

I flew toward Atlanta. I did a few loop-de-loops and such but they made me dizzy so I just tried to fly as fast as I could.

TESS:

I watched poor Janet race for the stairs, then turned my attention to the mess of water and mud she'd left behind. She had to be embarrassed and I felt sorry for her, but I had to get the mess cleaned up before it stained the floors.

“While I get this cleaned up, Meagan, why don't you take Elise up to her room and get her settled in? I'll take Janet's clothes to the laundry room and put them in to soak, then I'll go out and keep an eye on Tommi to make sure she doesn't get herself in any trouble, then I'll bring her back in awhile so we can all sit down and talk a bit before dinner.”

ELISE:

Molly was gorgeous, and so was the redhead, Elise thought as she looked at the svelte, beautiful form with the bright green eyes. Like the rest of them, she was almost too perfect, though Elise had noted that the girl had some minor problems with her heels on the stairs coming down.

“I'm Elise Winters, but I call myself Winter.” She told the redhead then cocked her head and frowned a little. “I take it you weren't a woman before all this started, either?”

A startled deer in the headlights expression was replaced by a wry grin.

“I suppose the part of that statement I should be really concerned about is the 'either.' So you were trans too?” Meagan asked.

“I smell a rat.”

“Yeah. It seems like that pisses off the rest of the world because we're all Americans and women, while a big chunk of The Home of the Free thinks we're perverts who are bound for hell on a fast train. If this gets out the Right will be calling us agents of the Anti Christ.” Said Meagan.

Winter -- Elise she reminded herself that she would have to begin thinking of that name as hers, watched the redhead's reactions with amusement then added. “You were a guy, too. Weren't you?”

Meagan nodded. “I was a cross dresser. When the Observer came to me it was the chance to actually do something about my gender problems.”

“Well at least you had that going for you.” Elise shook her head ruefully. “I had to get measured for a bra, then learn how to put the thing on.”

Meagan smiled with a little chuckle. “Well, you know, the best revenge of all for anything is living well.”

“Oh yeah.” Elise grinned back. “Confound your enemies and all that.”

The redhead giggled while she nodded in agreement. “None of my old stuff, male or female fit me either, but I've got a secret.”

“Oh?” Elise raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. “What would that be?”

Meagan took a pose that looked like Vanna White showing off for the cameras and transformed into Diana Rigg as Emma Peel from the old Avengers series, then into Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman as she lowered her arms.

“Wow.” Elise whispered. “Impressive.”

“Yes,' Meagan smirked, “clothing really isn't a problem for me.”

The pale skinned blonde just shook her head. “I can see why. So okay, you're a shape changer.”

“I always wanted to be anyone I wished to be.” Meagan, back to her own form, shrugged. “Now I can. I got the idea from a book I read.”

She patted the bed and sat down, inviting Elise to join her.

“Well now you can.” Elise nodded. “What else are you able to do?”

“I'm really more of an energy life form now. I can control my own form by translating matter to energy then back again. That also lets me shoot out that energy or use it to make temporary solid forms or forcefields.”

“Nice.” Elise answered.

“Not really.” Meagan grimaced. “If I'd been thinking I should have picked some kind of elemental powers over earth or weather. Considering the coming disasters, stopping a volcano would be easier with that than with my forcefields.”

“Oh, well maybe I have that part covered, at least kind of.” Elise grinned and formed a dove made of ice in her hand. “I seem to be able to do things with cold, and manipulate it. I just pull it out of the air around me if there is any moisture at all.”

“That will be helpful.” Meagan smiled. “I got a little selfish, I'm afraid. But on the other hand if we do have problems with the authorities my shape changing could help a lot. Avoiding trouble when you can is always better than running headlong into it.”

“That it is.” Elise smiled back. “Especially since I'm not exactly the type who can just blend in now.”

Giving her new friend a critical looking over, Meagan said. “Oh I don't know. We could soften that Jadis the White Witch thing with the right clothes.”

“Oh joy, oh joy.” Elise rolled her eyes then grinned. “More clothes. But I'll still look like some albino, except for my eyes. That would be kind of hard to disguise, you know.”

“That's why I said soften.” The redhead countered. “Mind if I show you?”

“Nope, do your worst, or best.”

“Okay, now don't freak out on me.” Meagan warned.

“Hey, I went to a mall to buy girl clothes when this first happened to me. I can take it.”

“Okay.” Meagan became Winter's twin. “You see, by choosing the right colors your paleness won't only be lessened, it would make that light skin work for you instead of screaming 'different'. Then she changed the color of the clothes she was wearing to softer, more subdued colors.

“That does make sense.” Elise nodded, then chuckled. “You could make a fortune as a fashion consultant, you know.”

“Now, bright colors are a real no no because they'll make you look washed out and only make your pale skin more noticeable.”

To emphasize the point she changed the color of her outfit.

“Ohh, ewww.” Elise closed her eyes at sight of the hot pink outfit. “That is hideous on me.”

“Well, I have to agree with that.” Meagan grimaced. Just remember, no bright colors.”

Shifting back to the cute redhead in jeans, tee shirt, and boots, she turned serious.

“I don't suppose the Observer gave you any clues about what we're supposed to do, did he?”

“No.” Elise sighed then shuddered. “But I've had visions about what is going to happen. It isn't pretty.” If we can't save the whole world, I do know that we need to save what we can.”

“We will.” Meagan answered quietly. On the other hand, that doesn't mean we can't do our damnedest to stop it before that becomes necessary.”

“No.” Elise agreed. “It doesn't.

“I did find one very subtle clue. I asked for ID when I changed and got an ID card for Emory University. That card led to Atlanta and Tess, so we are being helped, even if it doesn't seem that way right now.”

“That's comforting, in a way.” The blonde sighed. “But the things I saw... They were terrible!”

Meagan closed her eyes for a second and barely whispered. “That isn't a power I would have asked for, or wanted.”

“I didn't ask for it.” Elise shot back.

“You got powers you didn't ask for?” The redhead looked at her in shock. “Everyone else got what they wanted. Within reason.”

“I just took the Observer's offer.” Elise sighed. “I didn't ask for anything at all.”

Blinking, the redhead was startled. "Now I really do feel selfish with my choices."

"Why?" Elise ran a hand through her pale blonde hair and shrugged. "I would have asked for specific things, too, if I'd been really thinking about it. Just the idea of being young and healthy again was enough for me at the time.

“There's nothing wrong with being who and what you want to be in life. I was dying by inches and just wanted that to stop. I didn't consider other things with that, just that I would have another chance that, maybe this time, I wouldn't ruin.”

Meagan nodded her understanding.

“Now?” Elise shrugged. “I can make things cold, pull moisture out of the air to make ice, but still don't know how much I can do with it. And I get glimpses of things that could be.

“I didn't ask to become a Cassandra!” She was almost crying by that point.

“Well, look at this way.” Meagan soothed. “No one believed Cassandra and Troy fell to the Greeks. No one around here is going to ignore what you see. And that will make a big difference, what you see and what we all do about it.

“I was only fifty, but I felt every one of those years as if they'd been doubled. We've been given new lives, new opportunities. We have a chance here to make a difference, we can make a difference. And we will.”

"I hope so." Elise answered.

“We will.” Meagan assured her friend. “We will.”

“So what kind of skills did you have before?” Meagan asked. “I was in the Army doing Intel work, but have just kind of bummed around from job to job since then.”

“I was a nurse.” Elise answered, glad to be on some topic other than her visions and how they could affect her.

“Sounds like you're going to be our medic then. Looks like I'm going be wearing the Intel hat in this bunch. First off we all need to take everything the Observer transformed, especially yours since you hadn't asked for anything specific so probably got things that creature thought we needed. Then write them down in detail. Maybe a pattern in that will give us a clue or two.” Meagan said. “Even if it does nothing else we still should look to see if there are more hidden clues in any of our stories.”

“Yeah.” Elise agreed. “We need to find out first, what all of us can do, then figure out what we all need to do. Then do what we can to get there from here.”

“Yes, we do." Meagan sighed again, beginning to feel like a teapot on the boil. "Tess seems pretty young, but Janet seems to be, like us, older before she got Gifted. I don't know about Molly."

"She was young." Elise answered. "I don't know how young, but she was a kid, for God's sake. I can tell from her actions and reactions to things."

"You mean to tell me the Observer transformed a kid into a sex symbol?" Meagan sounded outraged. That hit every one of her protective buttons.

"Seems like it." Elise sighed. "I know I want to keep her out of trouble already and I just met her."

"Crap!" Meagan cursed. "I was worried about her not having any life experiences to contribute. Not this. Do you know anything about her powers?"

"She changes outfits every few minutes, and said she could fly." Elise shrugged. "Not much else right now."

"Well, I know Janet is the super strong, tough type and Tess, as you know, does the teleporting thing. Me, I'm the fire support, able to also provide protection. You, with your ice powers, seem like support too." Meagan tried to work things out. "Maybe we can keep Molly out of the dangerous stuff since she flies."

"Maybe." Elise nodded thoughtfully. "But I can already tell you that Molly is kind of headstrong about things."

"Just great!" Meagan closed her eyes again. "There they go! I must hasten after them for I am their leader!"

“I don't think it's that bad.” Elise smiled. “Though she was ready to go find the Mayans to help her figure all this out."

“ Hmmm... she didn't know the Mayan's aren't around any more?" Meagan was wondering just how bad this was.

“It is isn't that bad, Meagan. She knows that." Elise chuckled. “She's a smart kid and I think was street smart, too. When I mentioned that, she looked at like I was an idiot and answered, 'Yeah, but they left things behind. Buildings and stuff!' so she isn't so out there that she doesn't understand things."

"Well, she's got a point there." Meagan acknowledged. "They did leave whole cities, as well as descendants in the area. Now I don't know how useful that will be, but considering what we have right now I guess it couldn't hurt. At the worst it's a South American vacation."

"Mexico and Central American." Elise absently answered, then blushed. "Oops. Sorry, I read a lot."

"No problem," Meagan smiles, "I stand corrected. Not that with Tess playing Mr. Scott would that be a problem. Beam me up!"

"Oh, please." Elise shuddered. "I just about threw up last time, and the time before that I found us doing eighty miles an hour in a gravel parking lot. Now that was entertaining, let me tell you!”

"She did that?" Meagan asked, "Really? The vertigo I got from her tesseract had me weaving around like a drunk.”

"She did." Elise nodded. "I just slammed on the brakes, turned the wheel, closed my eyes and hoped for the best.

"I feel like throwing up when I travel with her." Elise got an almost indignant expression on her face at that admission. "And I NEVER throw up. I really hate throwing up."

"And yes, I kind of got that too. Having a lot more control of myself helps, but it still wasn't pleasant." Meagan admits.

"You know building all of us into a team is going to be a real trick."

"Yup." Elise agreed. "Seems like all of us have things that will compliment what the others can do though, so that's a plus."

“Like I told you earlier I can use energy to matter and back.” Meagan said. “I can make temporary forms kinda like your ice sculptures.” She forms a globe with energy crackling inside like a plasma ball.

“However, if I mix and match my powers I can make these things which are like grenades and extends the range of my offensive powers.”

The globe of energy sank back into Meagan's hand.

"Whoa." Elise widened her eyes. "I'm definitely feeling underpowered here."

"I don't know." Meagan gently poked her. "The human body has a lot of water in it. So do a lot of other things. I don't have to tell you it doesn't take much to cause hydrothermal damage to things.

“That's not counting on you being able to plug things with your ice. I don't know how useful that'll be against an earthquake or volcano, but we have no idea as to what the threat is.”

"Point taken." Elise shuddered when she thought about what Meagan had just told her. "But I don't want to hurt, or kill anyone. I've been a caregiver most of my life. Doing something like would go against every thing I've ever been or hope to be.

"Though I may have to do that just to give people some measure of comfort in the future." She added grimly. Freezing to death is uncomfortable at first, but not for long. Oh God.”

Meagan hugged Elise. "I hope it doesn't come to that too. There is so much anger and meanness in the world, it doesn't need any more. Like I said before, best to avoid and out smart the trouble.”

“On another subject.” Meagan changed things again. “I'm really, really hoping to dodge the authorities and get this done as much out of the limelight as we can get away with.”

"That would be a good thing." Elise nodded. "Because I really think the authorities are going to do their best to stop us."

“They are going to be scared and aren't going to want to trust anyone much less us." Meagan agreed. That's not counting on all the frightened people out there who will be demanding something be done right or wrong. I would much rather not have anything done to me at all. So letting them get their hands on us would not be a good thing, I agree.”

"No shit." Elise chuckled. "They already know we're out here, and are probably hunting for us now, they want to control us because they're afraid of us. Don't ask how I am so sure of that." Elise shrugged. "I just am."

"You don't have to tell me," Meagan nodded again. "I worked with military intel for eight years. I'm well aware of how they think. Wait, you mean you've 'seen' it right? precog?"

"Uhh." Elise looked uncomfortable, then nodded. “Yes, and it won't be good if they get their hands on us.”

Meagan hugged Elise tightly. "Don't worry, we'll keep our heads down. Somehow we will stop this thing. We have to.”

"Yes we do." The blonde nodded emphatically. "One more thing here, I know that the things I see aren't immutable. Different actions change things from what I've seen. Make the outcome different."

Meagan breathed out, relived. "That's better. Seeing possibilities is much better than things that can't be changed.”

"Oh yeah." Elise nodded. "There is no way I want to be some doom prophet. I don't want to be another Cassandra."

Joint Intelligence Center:

Gene kicked back in his chair again. “Hey, Martin,” He called to PO Zayas. “I've got this tasking from the JFK Special Warfare Center.”

“Yeah,” The Navy IS replied. “What do they want?”

“Get this,” He grinned wryly. “They want to know the possible nature of these alleged Gifted.”

“Really?” Martin guffawed. “They don't let those guys out of their cages very much do they? Don't they watch the evening news or surf the web?”

“Sure don't seem like it.” Gene laughed along with his friend.

“A Golden Girl with, hmmm, assets like hers is a little hard to miss.” Martin pointed out. “Particularly, when half of LA seems to have taken pictures or footage of her flying around.” He was careful to phase his words, given workplace rules on sexual harassment.

“I don't believe she was really flying.” Gene made no mention of the very suggestive money-shots of the over night sensation. “That was falling with style.”

“Oh yeah,” Martin agreed enthusiastically. “Anyone who can leap a football field in shoes like that has all the style I'll ever need.”

“So what else does it look like she can do?” Gene asked getting back on track. “That glow of hers appears to make her stronger by a factor of at least 10, given how far she's leaping.”

“She has ability to mesmerize the minds of men,” Air Force Sergeant Karen Lee remarked drolly, obviously more than little tired of the innuendo.

“Silly little planet. Anyone could take over the place with the right set of mammary glands. ” Gene smiled, quoting 'Men in Black 2.'

“She also has the balance of a cat, to run and jump around in heels like that.” Karen added, sounding a little envious.

“That's not counting that she seems to be tougher too.” Gene pointed out. “Some of the spills she took would've put most people in the hospital.”

“That's true,” Martin agreed. “And she's fast. No one managed to see where she went. The only reason she was recorded so much was because so many people have camera phones now.”

“That's going to make it very hard for snipers to track her,” Gene grimly reminded them of just who was making this tasking.

“Yeah,” Martin sighed, much subdued. “What about that other report I saw this morning from Kansas City?”

“You mean the one about the Ice Queen?” Gene asked. There was a landslide of false alarms and reports. “Nothing confirmed, but if true, she has Cryokinesis, which could be very bad news.”

“Hows that?” Martin's head poked over the top of Gene's cube. “Iceman was always the lamest X-Man.”

“My friend, that was a comic book.” Gene sighed. “The human body is mostly water and if she projects intense cold, well ...” He didn’t finish.

“Hey,” Karen interjected again, “You guys ever see that experiment with the hotdog and the liquid nitrogen? It shattered like glass!”

“You would bring that up!” Martin groused.

“So what would you ask for if someone made you a similar offer?” Gene changed the subject.

“What do you think?” The Navy PO laughed, “The Man of Steel of course.”

“Oh?” Karen mocked, “I thought you would've picked Wonder Woman.”

“Why would I do a thing like that?” He asked.

Gene smiled. He knew what was coming.

“Well, you seem to like Golden Girl's assets so much, I figured you would want your own pair to play with.” She answered.

Silence cut across the room as the Colonel cleared his throat loudly from his office. They all got the message, back to work.

That was fine. Gene had his answer, but he didn't think the guys at the sharp end of the stick were going to like it. He did hope the Brass knew they were only making the best guesses they could. SWAG's was the term, Scientific Wild Ass Guesses. However, if he was right they were going to need some big guns, and they had better not miss. That's if none of the Observer's Gifted had the same idea as Martin. It'd give a whole new meaning to another movie quote, 'Don't shoot him. You'll just make him mad.'

He didn't think anyone had Kryptonite bullets.

A NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL: following the Observer's appearance.

GIFTED! BLESSINGS OR DANGERS? An Editorial By Rodger Blevins.

This past week, an alien, claiming to be The Observer, evidently appeared to every human being on the planet. He stated that there is indeed a threat to the survival of the Earth, and that it will end on December the 21st of this year, 2012. This pronouncement elicited widespread panic across the entire world. World leaders are known to be in deep conference with their governments and intelligence agencies.

To avoid this alleged threat to the Earth, he claimed to have the power to create several “gifted” individuals with unknown abilities, “superheroes” if you will, who would be able to stave off the oncoming doom. The Observer also stated that he either could not, or would not specify the nature of this threat to our planet, prompting most of the world's scientists to call it a hoax, intimating that the entire thing was some kind of internet fakery, perpetrated by some unknown hacker, or hackers.

This newspaper wants to know:

1.How does this Observer know that this threat is, in fact, true?
2.Does this Observer have an unknown agenda of his own?
3.Why does The Observer even care?
4.Who are these “Gifted” people he refers to?
5.Are they a threat?
6. Is the Observer real, or just trickery concocted by some hacker?

This newspaper, and indeed, the world, wants to know the answers to these and many other questions. Every Governmental agency has been put on high alert, and the midnight oil is known to be burning in the White House, Senate, and Congress. No one has any answers, but everyone has questions.

Some unconfirmed reports have reached this reporter, about an alleged “flying, golden woman” spotted in the nearly dry Las Angeles riverbed. Several people using cell phones have forwarded pictures of this mystery woman, but none of the pictures are of high enough quality to be reprinted, apparently.

There have also been reports of an ice woman, someone who can use the power of cold. These rumors are unsubstantiated and from questionable sources that cannot be confirmed. This newspaper is prepared to offer a substantial amount of money for reliable, provable information on both the Observer, and these so-called Gifted individuals. Every major comic book company has denied any connection to this event, even though issues of every superhero comic have sold out within hours of the Observer's proclamation.

Survivalists are reported to be buying up supplies of weapons, ammunition, ready-to-eat and non-perishable food, and bottled water, as well as medical and even surgical equipment. The government is strongly urging the public to avoid panic buying and stockpiling such things, calling the threat unsubstantiated and unlikely. Who is telling the truth? The government, the Observer?

We can be reached at 000-555-NEWS or at our website: GOODNEWSONYOURSIDE @WWW.NEWSANDVIEWS.WEB

All information received by us will be considered confidential.

*All views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper, it's owners, or it's staff.*

Chapter 8 will be along soon, right here, on this Batsite! Stay tuned for ACTION!!!