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Taking it in stride, Will replied humorously in a John Wayne accent, “Shucks Ma'am it weren't nuthing. Well, I guess I can sell him to you cheap, but I'm warning you, he bites!” Mark gave him an evil stare. “Gee thanks, buddy. It's a good thing it wasn’t a silver hammer.” He eyed his injured digit, that was regaining its normal shape after presumably being flattened by Will, using the same hammer Mark was regarding with ill intent. |
Mystery
Hello there! I am glad that you are here. This story is based on twenty some-odd years of playing, and eventually game-mastering, role-playing-games such as “Dungeons and Dragons”, just to mention the most widely known.
The characters and players mentioned here have had their names changed to protect the guilty and above all, for privacy. The story was not written for profit, but for fun and as therapy for the afflicted. I, the author, reserve all rights for posting and publishing this work, and will accept the credits due, as well as the blame.
If any of the players and friends from whom I have shamelessly stolen dialogue and great ideas read this, know that you are thanked for the great times we had while playing, and if your character has been changed or misrepresented here, it is all my fault!
This is a mosaic work, the result of ideas that has fermented in my Id for longer than I would like to admit.
“Heroes of Justice” is NOT a game being published by anyone to the best of my knowledge. It and this world is an imaginary title to prevent anyone and/or company from being offended or God forbid, deciding it is copyright infringement. Remember this is fiction! Violence, sex and trans-gendered themes are represented in this story, so if you are not an adult or would be offended by such material, do NOT read any further.
Any resemblance to characters living, dead, in hibernation or otherwise is pure speculation. I want to offer a big thanks to all of those TG authors who write of heroes and fantasy, and keep the rest of us walking-wounded up and about with their great stories. I am talking about Maggie Finson, EE Nalley, Bob Arnold and many others from the “Whateley Academy”, “Belle of the Ball”, “Masked Marvels-Lady Lightning”, “Zapped!” and other stories, that keep me up nights waiting for them to post. One last thanks to John in that place that begins with the “W”, that I cannot pronounce, who unknown to him, read my first clumsy story. Warning: As it leaves my hands, the following story has bad grammar and misspelled words and other unspeakable horrors. Thanks go out to Jamie Lou for her efforts to correct my mistakes. Any remaining errors are mine. A special thanks goes to Cathy T for her encouragement and pre-read. I hope that this will satisfy those, we in the gaming hobby call Rules-Lawyers! Now as they say, “On with the Show!”
Prologue:
The small coffee house, Hallowed Grounds sat on a small rise above New Riverside City Park. The scenic view from its large windows let one see the joggers and others enjoying the park’s many activities. In an out the way corner, sitting before a chessboard, was an old man. Hidden behind students nursing cups of their chosen brew while busily typing away on their laptops making use of the Wi-Fi zone, he sat alone. Ignoring the chatter of the other patron's keys and talk, he was absorbed in the game before him.
Few eyes looked up as the 'suit' entered. The young, expensively dressed man might have been handsome, if not for the predatory glare in his gray eyes. The clacking of his Italian leather shoes echoed loudly in the small shop over the continuous rattle of keystrokes and coffee mugs as he swaggered over to the comfortably rumpled senior citizen.
“How pathetically cliché, Chess?” the uninvited business-suited man scornfully observed.
Looking up from his board, the chess player gave the younger man a hard stare across the top of his glasses. “What would you suggest, Russian Roulette” he asked?
With a raptorial thin-lipped smile, the other replied, “Why not, I have no problems with games of sudden death.”
“Isn't that a little hard on your participants?” the old man replied raising a bushy gray eyebrow.
“No more so than you sacrificing pawns, Old Man.” He said arrogantly crossing his arms.
“Indeed? I make the best decisions I can for the greater good. Relying on the fickle hand of fate to favor my endeavors, No.”
“Tsk, tsk” the younger said disdainfully, “You take all the fun out life Old Man.”
Going back to study his game the older replied, “It is not fun or enjoyable to put other’s existence at risk. I only do so when absolutely necessary for the survival of all.”
The younger man gave a derisive snort. “Speak for yourself. After all why not? They are inferior beings.”
Not looking up, the old man said, “They all have their place in the greater scheme of things. Each is vital to the whole.”
The younger with a smirk on his thin face, sarcastically retorted, “So now you fall back on philosophic cliché’s?”
“Humph, cliché though they may be makes them no less true,” the older replied taking a slip of his coffee.
Rocking back and forth on his pricey leather shoes the other snorted while inspecting his manicured nails. “Even the pathetic unfortunates your incompetent servants conned onto your board? You just can't find good help anymore can you?”
Adjusting his glasses, the old man replied, “Yes, especially them. As for my servants they serve me willingly and not from fear or blackmail.”
Scoffing, the younger man snorted, “Half of them are perverts who can’t decide which restroom to use and the other half are a bunch of losers certain to be disgusted at the others’ perversions. You actually expect them to work together?” Laughing unkindly the young man snarled. “I don't think so!”
Putting his cup down, the chess player countered, “You don't give them enough credit. I suppose there will be problems, but I believe their friendship for each other is strong enough to overcome the inevitable misunderstandings. When you expect the worse from people that is what you receive,” He lectured while placing a finger on a bishop considering his move.
“Expect the worse Old Man? I count on it!” the other said with a gleam in his icy gray eyes.
“Is that why your chosen Champion is a desiccated corpse? Even the grave refused to have him.” The senior citizen said looking over the board with deliberate consideration.
The younger slightly inclined his head. “I admit he isn't much to look at, but he does have his charms. There is nothing like a bit of stark raving terror to insure loyalty of one‘s underlings.”
“I must disagree with you. Honesty, leadership, and compassion are the keys to loyalty. Fear creates nothing but more fear,” he said as he made his decision and repositioned the Queen's Knight.
Outside a man fell screaming wildly with a loud splash into the middle of the river. Startled park goers looking upwards for what he could have fallen from saw nothing. It was if somehow he had just appeared from thin air above the river before his fall. A couple of brave souls rushed forward into the chilly autumn waters to help him as he foundered about in shock
Looking at the rescue in progress with angry pinched lips the younger man splat, “Don't think this changes anything. I will prevail in the end. They are weak and will fail you, and then so much for you and your precious strategies. Put aside this ridiculous charade and face me Old Man!”
Calmly meeting the younger man’s angry gaze “No, I will not. To match my strength against yours would destroy this place regardless of which one of us triumphs. They deserve a chance to fulfill their own destinies. This may not be their homes and loved ones who are threatened but at heart, they are good people. They and the souls that live here deserve an opportunity, however slim it may be to defend this place.”
Peering up at the angry expensively dressed man from over the top of his glasses he said, “Your move.”
Making a visible effort to suppress his fury, but still shaking in anger the other grated, “No matter, by my strength or by my proxies, I will take this world Old Man.” He turned to leave, spitting his last words like a curse.
After taking another sip of his coffee, the old man put down his cup sighing. Looking out the window at the drama outside where the rescuers had dragged the unfortunate onto the bank while he coughed up the all the water he had swallowed back into the river, the senior citizen sighed, “We will see.”
Heroes of Justice: The Band of Heroes!
I would rather face Big Red again than those coming towards us right now. Anza's hand held mine tight and I could feel her loving presence inside and beside me. No, approaching us was a group worse than any group of supervillians or evil doers. They were our friends.
The turbulent feelings I had bouncing around in my stomach was much too energetic to be anything as mundane as butterflies. As dense and nasty as that twisting knot in my center felt it was more like a lump of plutonium. Yeah, that's the ticket! That would make the things whizzing about in my unsettled middle neutrons. Anytime now, they would start impacting that knot of plutonium. They would strip off other neutrons and start a super critical reaction, then Ka Blooie!
Ok I am exaggerating a little, but how in the blue blazes do we tell our three male friends that Anza and I, who use to be Danny and Greg, are now lovers and life partners? It is one thing to be transformed into super bodacious babes. Hey, it's not my fault! I was just role-playing this Super-Chick and then boom out of nowhere, bosom!
Telling them, the two guys who gamed with them were not only happy about misplacing the family jewels, but on top of that were now lesbian lovers? Oh and let us not forget the part where we want to stay that way! Maybe I am overreacting. They are our friends, right? How bad could it be?
Tom used to be a thin blond hyperactive guy and honestly, he had changed the least of us all at least in general appearance. He was more muscular now but like a swimmer or gymnast rather than a bodybuilder. It might be my imagination but it seemed I could still see traces of Tom in his new form as Duane Moors, Streeter. As he studied us and saw our grasped hands, his face frowned in a decidedly unfriendly expression.
Will, back home was another blond, but that was the only thing he had shared with Tom. Short and heavy set he had clearly showed his German ancestry. Now he towered over everyone else. He was the size of a professional wrestler bugling with muscles, but the most striking change to his appearance was now his American Indian ancestry. Walking lightly for such a huge guy, he still seemed self-conscious about his new height and bulk. His character's name of Jay Strong Bear, AKA Renegade fit him better than “Will” did now. The look of pure amazement and shock on his face as he stood there opened mouth looking at us beckoned someone to close it for him.
The last of the dreadful trio was Mark who once was the tallest but now was about the same height as Tom. He had always been muscular and fit, but now he could challenge champion bodybuilders with that incredible, well-defined build of his. His milk chocolate complexion had changed to a much darker black that almost made him look like an obsidian sculpture. He still resembled Mark somewhat but his wolf eyes gave no doubt this was not a man to cross. Mack Sirius, known as Wolfen was giving Anza a look reserved for prey. Absentmindedly, he reached over and closed poor Will's open mouth all the while not moving his amber gaze from MY lover! His desire for her was plainly visible.
I was expecting many things from this encounter but, nope, jealousy was not one of them. Werewolf or no Werewolf, she's mine buddy! I was not sure if this came from residue male conditioning or runaway hormones but with an effort, I managed to calm myself.
Anza was as unsettled by Mark as I, judging from her emotions bleeding over to me. It was my turn to give her a reassuring hand squeeze. Maybe she had been preparing to transition but that does not help when being eyed like a side of beef. Hell! He was worse than Tony the Tiger and that is saying a mouthful sister!
Morgan was bringing up the rear and I could see him sigh as he felt the tension overflowing in the backyard. Our first time seeing him in his 'male-mode', Morgan reminded me of Tom Sell-something from that old detective show set in Hawaii 'Maximum PI.' His rugged good looks contrasted with his other ID as the superheroine Lady Diamond, who was the exact opposite, being ultra feminine. As Heath Hefner, he looked every inch the rugged reporter. Morgan knew about us already and had proven to be a true friend.
Releasing Anza's hand, I stepped in front of her and crossed my arms. “So you Guys did not have any problems getting home, Mark?
He was at least a foot taller than I am now and twice as broad. Looking up at him reminded me that while everyone else had stayed the about same height or gotten taller, I had shrunk. Not that I have had time to find how much given the chaos of the last day.
Mark gave me a startled expression as if he had not even noticed me until now. I relaxed just a little. He might only be adjusting to his new circumstances. Imagining how much testosterone a male werewolf might produce made a shiver run up my spine.
My body's current estrogen hormone might cause me to cry, lust after my friend, and any number of other problems that had yet to manifest themselves, but I would not trade them for the world. I never hated the male of my species, but I never had much use for them either. The thought of being a walking industrial testosterone factory like Mark the werewolf, made my flesh crawl.
What made my head hurt was Mark was the most laid back person I had ever known. To have him come on so strong was way out of character for him. Well it was for Mark anyways. There was a lot we did not know about the people we were now. Who is to say about Mack Sirius?
Looking pass Mark, I could not miss Morgan’s exasperated expression — no doubt at our silliness. He was moving a bit unsteadily, which helped divert my attention from Mark’s predatory stance. Big Red, otherwise known as Persuader, had knocked Lady Diamond, Morgan's alter ego out cold. It is no wonder he was still unsteadily.
I could feel Anza asserting control over her anxiety over Mark's rudeness and it reminded me that despite how much this transformation had caused her to blossom she was a new comer to 'being a natural woman' too.
Her Emergency Room Nurse persona reestablished itself when she asked, “Where are the first aid supplies? Morgan and Misty needs medical attention,” she said taking command of the situation.
Tom stood there with his arms folded clearly stating his opinion without saying a word. Will had the good graces to look apologetic and even Mark averted his lupine graze.
“Hello? I have patients here. Could at least one of you three get me whatever you have for medical supplies? There should be one in the Limo, kitchen or bathroom” Anza directed with her eyes flashing and waving the empty, basic first aid we had recovered from our flower-power-mobile.
My split lip helped me not to smile as she admonished our three friends. It did remind me we had to do something about getting our VW girl-power car from the mall battleground and cook up a good story to hide our IDs while doing it.
Will blinked his eyes a few times shaking off his daze. “I'll check the house.”
Morgan suggested while carefully probing his head. “Mark, why don't you toss Will the Limo keys and he can check both. I need to talk to you. Girls could you do us a favor and change out of the super-suits please? I don't think we need to risk further discovery although Tom does has a privacy fence here.”
Feeling a little sheepish, Anza and I shared a small revelation that it had not occurred to us to change because we had felt threatened. Trust is a two-way street and it was up to us to try to re-earn it. Cape was a little grudging about this because it seemed quiet fond of Anza. That was a bombshell! Well it was as if the family dog had decided the new pack member was okay in its book.
It did not escape me that the outfit Cape dressed me in, the leather pants, loose blouse, vest, fingerless gloves, and flat-heeled boots was making a statement. It was an outfit suitable for fighting as well as presenting an aggressive appearance. I thought that for once Cape put me into something that did not ooze sex. That is until I caught Anza’s appreciative thoughts. Oh great, I wondered which it was: a dominatrix or maybe Goth?
Anza dropped the harlequin-like mask she had on. Relaxing her telekinesis the bits and pieces of dust, paper and other stuff fell away revealed for what they really were. It may not seem like much of a disguise but she had also used her powers to press her full hair close to her scalp giving the impression it was shorter. Now almost magically it became fuller and seemed more alive.
I stood there spellbound frozen as I watched. No glamorous model could hope to complete with Anza, no matter how much they slung their manes about. Yeah she was cheating, if you wanted to call it that, by using her powers. But if you got it, you got it. Believe me, she could sell a supertanker full of hair stuff and did not have to do a cotton picking thing other than just stand there running her telekinesis though her long, dark tresses.
A low growl reminded me we had others as an audience. I looked over at Mark who was still trying to make like the Call of the Wild. How do you tell a good friend he is being a jerk? Not wanting to cause any more damage to my sore face much less sour relations with my friend, I tried to catch Morgan's eye.
Morgan was way ahead of me. He tapped Mark on the shoulder and addressed us. “Anza could you look at Mystery first please? Tom, Mark we need to talk. ” He led them a short distance away from the small gazebo Anza had appropriated for her outdoor clinic.
Anza sat me down and I felt a tingle across my face as Cape removed my makeup. I was growing suspicious that Cape had no need what so ever of actually applying my makeup. It simply seemed to enjoy doing so.
Anza's gentle touch as she softly probed the damage caused me to wince. “You look like you've gone a few rounds with Blocky Ralboa. Nothing is broken considering all the crushed cars I saw from your, 'don’t worry I'm not going to get into a fight' stunt. Do you have any idea of how you scared me half to death feeling you freak out after you took off flying back to Morgan?” She sighed. “I felt your panic so intensely; I thought something had happened to you.”
I gently touched her arm. “I'm sorry Anza. When I heard that crash from where we left Morgan, I had to get back to her. It was foolish I know, but what else could I have done? You had that mom and baby to take care of and I didn't know where the guys were.”
Anza snorted and poked at a spot that caused tears to well up in my eyes. “How else do you think our three daring Amigo's got there in time to ride to your rescue? I called them of course, but no, you had to go flying off to the rescue. Well, at least you are all right. You’re healing very quickly. These look they’re already several days old, not less than an hour. By the end of the day you won't need a bricklayer applying your makeup to hide your shiners.”
We both jumped as our headset sparked to life and it took us a moment to realize Morgan was broadcasting his talk to Mark and Tom. Leave it to Morgan to notice we still had our earphones in. Feeling a pang of conscious, I started to say something but Anza quieted me with a finger to my bruised lips. Sighing, I listened in guiltily while trying to understand Tom's rapid-fire blurts.
Morgan: “Mark what the hell were you doing? Aren’t they having enough problems without you acting like that? Tom what's your problem? We all knew they changed into their characters just like us.”
Tom: “What a pair of Homo's.”
Morgan: “For Gawd's sake Tom are you prejudiced or something? They’re our friends. Besides, haven’t I heard you talk about how much you like girl on girl stuff before? You don’t seem to have a problem with lesbians.
Tom: “It's Greg and Danny and not a pair Of Lesbians. They are Freaking Guys!”
Morgan: “I talked to them last night. They found themselves naked in a dressing room in a strip club as women. I know I would've had hysterics, but they calmly got dressed and walked out. On top of that, afterwards when they saw they were being followed, they came up with a very smart diversion. What were you doing at the time? Screaming in panic bouncing off the inside of that car until Mark poured a fifth Johnny Walker Black down your throat?”
Tom: “It's Not The Same Thing! They Were Guys damn it!”
Morgan: “I'll draw you a picture. Esperanza is a powerful telepath, right?”
Tom: “Yeah she's a mentalist, so?”
Morgan: “Mystery has empathic abilities because of her Cape and that helps her discover those who mean her harm or lie to her. You with me so far?”
Tom: “Yeah, they both have the Mentalist thing going. So what, so does Streeter. Both he and Mystery is much the same. I spent my points on reflexes and telekinesis while Greg used his for Mystery on extra strength and the ‘is-there-danger-about’ Empathy thing.”
Morgan: “Then too bad you weren't in that room with Esperanza when you got here. On the other hand, maybe it was a good thing you weren't. Seeing a beautiful attractive woman without meaning too, she reached out with her powers. Mystery, seeing the same thing must have done something similar. So here, they are experiencing what each other is feeling. I don't know if might have been something like self-reinforcing feedback but they got linked or mentally bound together somehow. Now do you understand?
Mark: “Oh Crap!”
Morgan: “Yes Mark, crap. I think the two of them are coping very well considering. I can't say the same of you two. We'd heard Tom's sorry excuse what's yours?
Mark: “Heh, heh, hmmm... I didn't mean too, it's just Esperanza is so fluking beautiful. That was one thing, but then I scented her. I mean I can smell things a lot better now, but when I caught hers, I couldn't help myself. Sorry”
Tom: “For Gawd’s sake Danny is a guy Mark!”
Mark: “Maybe back home wherever that is, but here and right now, I can assure that she is all woman. Besides, I don’t have any problems at all with a pair of smoking hot lesbians getting it on. I didn't have any problems with being Wolfen till this happened.”
Morgan: “Tom, as far as the two of them are concerned the other is female and their powers won't let them ignore each other. Both of them think that even if we get home they still will be bound together and neither one is happy with that.”
Mark: “What's the problem Tom? We might be struck here anyways. I'm just glad I wasn't playing one of my female characters.”
Tom: “You don’t understand. It's not right! What's wrong with you guys?”
Morgan: “If we have any chance at all of getting home we’re going to have to work together. Tom come back here. Damn!”
Mark: “We've screw this up, haven't' we?”
Morgan: “I hope he comes to his senses. This came out of nowhere. Has he always like this?”
Mark: “He doesn't talk about it much. I think it comes mostly from his dad. They don't get along so I don't have a clue why Tom is acting like so much like him.”
Morgan: “Are you going to storm off too, or are you going to apologize to our friends for being a rude jerk?”
Mark: “Ugh, in person? I mean they already know. My ears are almost as good as my nose even if not as quite as sharp as when I’m Wolfen‘s. I can hear the background hiss from their radios. May we have some privacy?”
A click ended our eavesdropping, giving both of us nervousness tittering giggles. We looked at each other. “That could've gone better” we chimed in stereo, which set off another round of giggles. Mark was still talking to Morgan, but we saw Tom storming off for the house in a rapid huff that would have been an outright sprint for anyone else. Alas, poor Will was trying to squeeze his bulk sideways out the patio doors as Tom came charging in.
It would have been comical if we had not been so stressed out about what was happening. Tom bounce off Will as if he had run into a stonewall. Rather than hit the lawn, Tom, with his jacked-up metabolism, twisted around like a cat on amphetamines. What made it so funny it was not at all graceful. Arms and legs were flying all over the place, but he still landed upright, even if he was fighting for balance on one foot.
Will, just noticing someone had collided with him looked around with an expression of pure innocence. Seeing Tom still trying to recover his balance, he went over to help forgetting he still had not cleared the doorway. With a crack, the French-style patio door snapped off from its hinges. There was Will holding the broken door with one ham-sized hand and a first aid kit palmed in the other. Tom giving Will a dark look hurried past, while the embarrassed Will tried to apologize on the fly as the other passed by.
After Tom's hostile comments and Mark's animalistic lust, Will's simple bewilderment at what was going on was a welcomed change. Shaking his head, he ambled over after finding a place to lean the patio door against. “What was that all about?” his deep voice rumbled as he handed over the kit.
Anza opened it and looked though it. “Tom is having a little trouble with Mystery’s and my new situation.” Looking up at Will who had to ducked his head to enter the gazebo she asked, “How about you Will? Are you going to freak on us too?”
Carefully easing himself onto the table, he shook his head. “No, why should I? You two are gorgeous. I admit that I was awed when I first got a good look at you, but haven’t you heard? Guys think two women making out are hot.” he teased. “Seriously, I have to keep reminding myself who you are, but I can see some of the old guys in both of you. Now if we were back home and you started hitting on me, then I would have a problem.” Grinning, he pointed out. “As you are now I have no problem with you two flirting with me, but I don't think that's going to happen.”
Surprised, I looked at him as Anza was putting some balm on my injuries. “What do you mean?”
Will smiled. “Maybe the way you look at each other and the way you give little touches to reassure each other. The way the two of you are almost glowing has nothing to do with it. We've known and played together for years, and I've never known you two to be so happy. That's good enough for me.”
His face blushed so red I thought he was having a coronary when we both hugged him! “That's okay we love you anyways, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, Nerf herder,” Anza whispered into his ear.
Still scarlet he stuttered. “Wo,Woo, Who's scruffy looking? Y, Yu, You keep doing that and I'll have to say something nice about you. ”
The happy relief that we had not alienated Will and Morgan made me want to start crying. Somehow, I got a handle on it because Will would not understand. I knew we were all social outcasts of one kind or another, but never really understood just how socially inept he was. Despite his comeback, the poor guy looked if he did not know whether to run, hide or faint from our attention. I tried to make a mental note to remember to ask Anza if Will had problems like ours or just needed a little help. Smugly, I knew just the two to play matchmaker for him.
Cape gently got my attention by tapping my cheek with the collar of my blouse: Mark was heading towards us. I pretended not to notice. My friend he might be but neither Anza nor I was meat on the hoof!
“Heh, Am I interrupting something?” he asked. His nose was flaring and was doing everything he could to not meet our eyes.
Will looked even more embarrassed. “No, no nothing going on here. I'll go and see about that door” and hurried off.
We both bit back our giggles, not wanting to hurt the one guy besides Morgan who was cool with us. Anza and I remembered all too well being on that side of the fence. Having two women laughing behind your back could easily be misunderstood. Mark however was another question altogether and if I was giving him a chilly reception, Anza's was Antarctic-ice cold.
“I guess you heard about why I overreacted when you first got here,” he said looking anywhere he could to avoid eye-contact.
Anza frostily replied, “We overheard your explanation to Morgan, but so far you haven't told us anything other than you won't look at us.”
Sighing Mark said slowly, “I'm trying not to because that makes it worse. You don't understand. My sense of smell is so sensitive that now even without being Wolfen I know you two are female because it's almost like I'm tasting you. Imagine having an intimate connection with someone else but who doesn't even know it's happening. It’s almost like that. I can't help myself from wanting more. Being upwind from you is helping. Please forgive me; I'm not doing this on purpose. Both of you are beautiful, but Esperanza is like my fantasy turned real.”
I crossed my arms. “I can forgive some of this because we've had our own troubles coping with all this. We know Morgan told you some of what happened to us so you know that we are a couple like it or not? ”
Privately using our link/bond, I sent to her. “I like it! I like it a lot!”
Mark huffed. “Yes I do know. Now I know what to look for I can tell you two are mates. It's on your scents. I didn't have any problems yesterday, but since I shifted to Wolfen today, it’s been hard for me to deal with. Everything is just so much more intense. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm smelling sometimes. About this thing that happened this morning, please forgive me. ”
Anza however had picked up on something else Mark had said. “What do you mean, TASTING? And like being intimate with ME and I not know it? You had better not have meant I think you mean,” she said angrily with her almond, Hispanic eyes afire.
Crap! It is going to get nasty here. Not wanting to end up in an argument, I was waiting for a chance to try to defuse things. He had come over to try to make up. Mark saved me the trouble when even as dark as he was blushed. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it and as much as I did not want to admit it, he did look cute.
“Yes that is what I mean.” Mark said in a small voice as he was inspecting the gazebo floor. The way he did so suggested he had included me in that statement as well. “I can't help it. Morgan thought I might be picking up on your pheromones.” A little desperately, he apologized, “I'm sorry.”
I knew she was still pissed, but it just too much! Before he was the worse sort of macho while now he had the same look of an apologetic puppy-caught-wetting the floor. A two-hundred-pound body-builder puppy that is, who could turn into a three-hundred-pound plus werewolf.
Anza sighed and I felt her anger subside. “I guess we're not in Kansas anymore Toto. Okay you're forgiven, but I'm warning you I'm keeping a rolled up newspaper around for next time! ”
With a sigh of relief, Mark gave a toothy grin. “You got that right Dorothy!”
Morgan walked up, I guess sure that Mark's apology had been accepted from our laughter. Not to let sleeping dogs lie, I greeted him with “Auntie Em, Auntie Em!”
We all lost it again to giggles and howls as he flawlessly raised a single eyebrow in the finest Star Tripping tradition. “I fail to see the significance of that statement in this context.”
Morgan took my place on Anza's makeshift examining table as we recovered from our mirth. Anza asked as she checked Morgan's head, “So what happened after Misty and I took off with the mother and baby that ended up with you unconscious?”
He looked guilty. “I did the same thing she did.” Morgan said and pointed at me. “I screwed up by the numbers. I didn't want to injure him too badly so I aimed at a painful but non-fatal area.” Morgan huffed. “When I shot him it only made him mad. I did manage to blind him for a few moments but his mask must have some sort of polarizers built into it. He proceeded to clean my clock. We keep messing with these people... They’re going to seriously hurt one of us sooner or later.”
Anza sniffed. “You should have X-rays to make sure there isn't a fracture but you don't look to have a concussion. Maybe your brains are made of rocks when you're Lady Diamond. Nothing to bang around and be damaged inside your skull. You may not be as lucky the next time you run into Mongo. ”
I watched Mark walking over to help Will fix the patio door. “Two out three isn't bad is it?”
Morgan sighed. “I still have a headache but as you say.” Turning to look at me he replied, “Nope, except when you're talking about friends. I don't know what happened. I’ve never seen Tom act like that before even when you guys were playing my ‘Girls Want To Have Fun Game’ the last time. He seemed to be okay then and seemed to have had a good time along with everyone else.”
Anza started to pack up the first aid kit. “I was half expecting Will to wig out. You know. With him still living at home and the church thing, he does every Sunday. Instead it was Mark of all people who scared me.”
I touched her hand. “Hey we know what happened with him now. I got my differences shoved in my face yesterday. Today was his turn. I'm still overloaded some but not as bad. Mark was having a grand time looking like a black Hercules but today was his turn smell how the roses are fertilized. You know he was giving me that look too? The first time I can remember being thankful I smelled bad.”
“He'll get used to his changes in time,” Morgan said. “Tom will come around too because, after all he‘s engaged. That gives him a good reason to want to get home and to accomplish that he has got to work with us even if he doesn't like us.”
I gave them a lop sided smile. “Yeah that will do for now, but... Drat if I don't miss his snide comments.”
Just then, a string of profanity floated across the garden as Will and Mark wrestled with the patio door. After the first round, it was clear the patio door had the home court advantage. Mark and Will as the contenders however were determined to succeed. The second round was a tie as the door was hung but then would not shut all the way.
We three sat there enjoying the match when Morgan spoke up. “You know we need to retrieve your car, right?”
Anza pointed out while touching our empty first aid kit, “Laying our hands on a decent medical aid kit would be nice to if we're going to continue to get beaten up like this. We were lucky this time. Next time love; don't lead with your face. Those lips are mine to do with as I please, and I don't care for anyone else redecorating them!”
Looking at the two of them I added, “I want to know who those SWAT team wannabees were. If we are on someone's 'Oh Crap List' I want to know why and what we can do about it.” I turned to Morgan who was looking at the two of us.
“Please don't tell me you've gotten us on someone's official Villain roster,” Morgan winced as Mark yipped when Will missed with the hammer.
Anza protested, “We didn't do anything. Misty and I landed with our patient where the EMT's were doing triage. The next thing we knew these guys in blue armor are charging at us.”
I nodded. “Don't forget those attack helicopter things with the missiles and guns. There were two of them there. I'm familiar with most of our world's military hardware, but these were new to me. They resembled V-22 Osprey Tilt-rotors, but were sleeker carrying a hell of a lot of weapons. Kind of more like those science fiction assault-ships from those Alien's movies than helicopters. Why they were after us and not at the mall where the fight was going on is beyond me.”
Morgan massaging his head said, “First things first guys. Let’s retrieve your car and hide it in the garage here. Then we can see about taking the Limo shopping.
Anza shook her finger at him. “Not you. If you’re still having headaches, you should take it easy. You know that Morgan. Misty should go because she’s good at sneaking when she's not causing traffic accidents. And I need to, in case I'm needed to do my old Jedi mind trick. How about Mark driving us over in the limo? Then the rest of you can meet up with us later. It can hold all of us and if Mark has to play chauffeur it’s only fair given how he acted today.”
I mused, “That’ll leave Will to watch you. If things go badly the three of you will be our backup. How about it?”
He thought it over. “Sounds good to me, I'll let Tom know since you two are verboten around him. Are you two going to be all right with Mark in a confined space with his uber-nose? ”
I looked over at Anza and could see she had her doubts. “We need to know if we can work our way pass this with him. In theory the more time we spend together the easier it should be. This should be easy. No damage done to the car and we didn't see anything worthy of making a statement. If things go south, well, having a werewolf could be handy. Does he have a collar and his shots?” I giggled.
“If he doesn't behave we could threaten to take him to one of those Doggie boutiques and give him a poodle cut,” Anza laughed.
Morgan took a deep breath. “You know, I would almost rather try to do that rather than talk to Tom right now. Not that I think you could manage it without Will's help, but certainly it would more pleasant. That reminds me. You remember last night when I said that some of the stuff that has happened to me wasn't included during character generation, but I had intended as part of Lady Diamond's origin anyways?”
Anza and I traded a smile knowing he was talking about being hermaphrodite and nodded.
“If that is the case for all of us Will's Renegade character had tons of accumulated experience from being been played for so long. He would be the most powerful of us all followed by you two from playing in my game for so long. Wolfen and Streeter would likely be next follow lastly by me since I've never been able to play Lady Diamond very much. Like you said we really do need to find out more about ourselves and our abilities,” he said.
I blinked, looking over at Will. He'd played Renegade for years. For rewards for completing missions or just playing well, Game Masters awarded experience points. These points usually either helped you level up and become more powerful or could spent increasing your abilities depending on the game system. Whoa! The rest of us were like 'B' list heroes, like BugMan. Powerful and able to do things no normal human could dream of but save the world? Not so much.
Will's Renegade could well be on the coveted 'A' list with SuperJock and other world savers types. I mean I have seen Will's write up of him and he had mounds of experience. A part of me was so glad that it was the rather socially inept but good-hearted Will and not Tom with his prejudices. On a personal note this could also mean there was more to Anza and I than we suspected.
Morgan cleared his throat. “Lets be about it shall we?” He slipped carefully off the table.
We got over to our pair of home fix-it guys just in time to see Will decide to forgo using the hammer and use his thumb to push the nails into the door jam. Despite what we've seen in the last two days, it still was eye opening. Even Mark who was still nursing a smacked finger was openly amazed. Nope Dorothy, we certainly were not in Kansas anymore.
Will nonchalantly brushed off his hands. “That will hold it for now and keep the weather out. You guys should really get a carpenter over here and replace the frame. I messed it up pretty good when I went though it. ”
Finally noticing we were staring at him he blushed. “What?” he asked looking around to see what we were looking at.
Not able to stop myself from smiling I joked, “Nothing Will. It's just your natural good looks overwhelming us lesser mortals. We need Mark to drive us over to get our car left at the mall. Are you finished with him?”
I was not prepared for his brilliant red blush, but Anza's mental elbow reminded to be careful. What used to be good-hearted teasing might be taken as flirting now and that was a horse of another color!
Taking it in stride, Will replied humorously in a John Wayne accent, “Shucks Ma'am it weren't nuthing. Well I guess I can sell him to you cheap, but I'm warning you he bites!”
Mark gave him an evil stare. “Gee thanks, buddy. It's a good thing it wasn’t a silver hammer.” He eyed his injured digit that was regaining it normal shape after presumably being flattened by Will using the same hammer Mark was regarding with ill intent.
Before our very eyes, Mark’s smashed finger healed and looked never to have suffered harm to start with. I knew today would be filled with discoveries but had not figured on ones like this. I felt a little guilty as well. We should have known Will hitting anything with a hammer was not a good thing. Instead, mistakenly we had treated as a more or less normal mishap.
Morgan as one of our two medical trained members said, “Important safety tip everybody: Don't let Will anywhere near any tools and be careful. If Mark didn’t have regeneration he would've lost that finger,” looking at Will and me as our two Bricks.
Curious I picked up a warped nail and tried to bend it. With my friends watching on I twisted like was soft wire as I contorted it into one shape and then another. Anza reached to touch it, but I stopped her. “Don't, it's hot luv'. The friction of the metal being worked back and forth is just like the heat you get when twisting a wire till it breaks.” Wondering how far I could take this, I tried to pinch it in two. That was not as easy, but Cape added these harden tips to my gloves that let me do it.
Seeing everyone was enjoying the show, Will took another nail and — I am not kidding here — wadded it up as if it was clay and pushed at it until it was roughly half-dollar sized. Gamers are repositories of odd bits of trivia, but even so, it took me a moment to recognize what our titanic-sized friend had done. Working the metal back and forth until it created enough heat from fiction until it could have started a fire, and then using force to reshape the nail is called cold-forging, reshaping metals using low temperature heat. He did it with just his bare hands! The wild part was, he was still in his normal identity during all of this. If he used his mystic shaman powers, he could become even larger and stronger, woof!
Morgan gave Will a considering look. “While you guys are out, I'll see if I can find a place for us to practice. We have to get a grip on our new selves,” he said, giving the glowing half dollar sized ex-nail a disapproving look.
Will smiled and dropped it into a glass of water one them must have gotten from the house. Quenched, it hissed as hot metal hit the water. Amazingly, the glass did not shatter but we all jumped just the same. Giving each other an eye-rolling, eyebrow-raising look of disbelief, we all knew it was to time to “Make it so!”
Heroes of Justice: But Not Alone!
Our little expedition headed for the car after Will gave Mark back the keys. The trip over to the mall was, for once, uneventful. I think Mark must have learned his lesson. The only near disaster was me remembering to dress as I had earlier just in case someone remembered us from last time. By the time, we got back to Clairmont Mall the fight had long ago ended. Rescue and clean up efforts were still busy working I was just happy not to see any more of those blue dropship/helicopter things buzzing around.
Mark got us as close as he could before parking. We only had a short walk to our car but had to pass this guy passing out fliers to the injured and others like us who had been inconvenienced by the unexpected battle.
He had shoved a pamphlet into our hands muttering about how dangerous Muties were and how they all needed to be dealt with. The brochure promised the ‘Humanity League’ would help with suing the parties responsible for our injuries and/or property damage. Inside, it spouted propaganda about the threats mutants and meta-humans were to the human race at large. More, it pointed out we could help by making our views known to our congressional representatives and by joining the League ourselves. All we needed to do was send in the low, yearly membership fee and we would do our part to save the world.
Without a word between us, Anza crumbled it up and gave it all the respect it deserved by dumping in the nearest trashcan. Another discovery I could have done without: hate and intolerance were alive and well in this world too.
The wreckage from the ill-fated flying Toyota Camry had been cleaned up. Wreckers were towing the ones unable to move under their own power and the fire department was taking care of spilled nasty stuff from leaking fuel tanks and acid from shattered batteries.
We explained to a police officer we were new to town and had run away when the fight started. The young officer bewitched by our charms very politely escorted us to our car where he asked for our phone numbers. I did not have a clue how to handle this, but sensing this did not have anything to do with his official duties Anza pointed back up the street where the impressively muscled Mark was waiting for us. “I don't think my boyfriend would like that,” she said and he hastily dropped the subject.
The puckering came later as we were driving away, when we opened the bright orange envelopes, like the ones used for mailing parking tickets, which we found stuffed under the wipers. One was a standard form giving us 30 days to send in a written statement of the incident. It also had a toll free phone number included for us to use if we saw anything 'important.' Well it was not a surprise that the authorities had our license plates numbers along our names and addresses.
No, most definitely it was the other envelope that caused us to freak. The envelope was just like the other one, but it was being used by someone else entirely different. All it said was “Call me” and had a toll free number. There was no name, only a large question mark. I would give you some guesses as to whom — but why waste them?
We gave each other a simultaneous “Oh Crap” look. “You don't think he knows do you?” We asked each other in stereo thinking of that red and white costumed guy with that same punctuation mark. A cold shiver went down my spine and Anza's dusky complexion paled. We had gotten away from whatever official agency those SWAT guys in blue had been with, but being chased by armed aircraft is not a pleasant experience no matter how I make light of it. However, it seemed we were not out of trouble yet.
“He can't know, but he might suspect something. I mean, he saw our car escape damage and got a good look at us fighting Big Red. He does seem to be friendly with the powers that be, and we know they have our vehicle information. If he is hunting us it’s over before it‘s begun. There no reason to panic because for all we know he just wants our phone numbers to ask for a date,” I reasoned.
She shook head causing her mane of hair to bounce. “I'll buy that we haven't been outed yet, but I think you're right, he is suspicious. This is not a comic book, where just wearing a pair of horn rim glasses is a disguise. We know he got a good look at you, and while I love your hair hon, it is distinctive. Then he sees a superheroine with hair just like yours and perhaps saw me too. I love being beautiful, but we do stand out in a crowd.”
I was trying to make my jittery brains work while driving and attempting not to get into more trouble. Thinking hard about what to do an idea came to me. “Cape is our car bugged?”
A moment later, I got back a confused “Huh?” feeling. All right, that did not work. Okay Cape picks up on people's feeling and would not have a clue about electronics. Fine let us try something else. “Cape are we being followed?”
With a delighted feeling, Cape's confusion disappeared and I got back an aura of alert contentment. I was not certain but it seemed nothing alive was trailing us. “Anza, Cape doesn't sense anyone after us.”
Glancing over at her, I saw that odd glow again in her eyes that meant she was using her powers. A part of me was scared, because of our foul up we might have gotten all of our friends in trouble.
Anza began speaking. “Don't worry love I'm not actively searching, so no one should be able to find us that way. I'm just passively esper listening. Give me a few more moments of quiet and I'll be finished.”
I am telling you those few moments seemed endless. Finally, blinking away the glow, she said, “I agree with your clothing accessories. No one in several blocks seemed interested in us other than lusting for our gorgeous bods.”
“I tried asking Cape about electronic surveillance, but it didn't have a clue,” I wondered if we dared call the guys.
“That's why I listened as far out as I could, hoping whoever might be using the old 'electronic listening post in a van trick.' Still nothing but, Ugh, there are some sick people out there luv',” she stuck out her tongue in distaste.
Ignoring the distraction my hormones gave me at the sight, I started grasping at straws. “Maybe there is some sort of security device in the car. After all, it is armored and even the airbags retracted by themselves somehow. I don't know who built this thing, but it has more than few post-factory mods.”
Anza gave a sexy shrug and giggled.
Questioningly I spared a glance from the road wondering what she was up to.
Mischievously, she ordered, “Computer On!” giggling as I rolled my eyes.
“Beetle-Informative-Mobile-Backup voice activation unit is on-line and awaiting input,” intoned an emotionless but feminine voice.
That scared the crap out of both of us. Stunned, I fought to keep us on the road while Anza jerked in surprise. Cursing, I weaved in our lane until we reached a red light and came to an abrupt stop.
“Don't ever do that again!” I almost shouted, riled at the still shocked Anza.
“Affirmative, disabling voice activation module,” the voice from our car monotoned.
Now it was my turn to gape as Anza hurriedly countered, “Cancel last command!” She gave me such an insufferable look a part of me started planning my revenge for tonight. Revenge is a dish best served with strawberries! I misquoted to myself.
“Last command is canceled. Beetle-informative-mobile-backup is awaiting input.” The voice assured me I had not screwed up.
“Computer please don't respond unless specifically addressed as Computer, Okay? First are you an Artificial Intelligence?” Anza asked
“Affirmative will comply. Negative, while this unit is equipped with an advanced personality emulator it does not pass the Turing standards for intelligence.”
“Computer do you know why my friends and I are here?” I asked really hoping for some answers.
“This unit is not programmed to respond to philosophic questions”
Anza decided to try a different tact. “Computer where were you designed and built?”
“Beetle-informative-mobile-backup was designed and built by the Cosmic Forge. A specific location and address were not provided.”
“Hey that was the name of our game store! Computer do you know Chuck and Pete who works at Cosmic Forge?
“Negative, No records are provided for specific employees at Cosmic Forge.”
This isn't helping us much,” I complained. “Okay first things first. Computer are we under electronic surveillance?”
“Affirmative, Visual and audio surveillance devices detected at intersections equipped with traffic signal units. Additional devices were detected at several locations this unit has passed.”
Anza squeaked, “You mean they can follow and hear us Computer?”
I turned paler than she did. Parts of England I had read about had systems like that, but the US? Crap, now that I think of it I am not sure what country I am in. Hey, wait minute! “Computer, but no passive or active tracking or listening devices of any kind is attached to this vehicle?”
“Affirmative, detected audio devices are primarily designed for determining direction and location for gunshots and other catastrophic events. This vehicle’s security precautions are sufficient to prevent any violations of privacy. High probability of successful tracking of this vehicle using passive tracking devices already described. Security systems report negative hostile tracking devices detected onboard”
“Relax Anza; it was just saying that using the cameras at banks and red lights they can probably follow us.” Seeing a chance to score against her for all the movie quotes she uses I misquoted, “I'll just drive relaxed. See no problem.”
My beloved gave me the evil eye. “Computer, when and where does your earliest recording take place?”
“Time-date stamp begins at Fourth November, 2006 1300 Eastern Standard Time.”
“That doesn't tell us much. That's when all of this started,” shaking my head and quickly stopped feeling my earrings and long hair moving. “Computer is there any messages or special instructions for us or the operators of this vehicle?”
“Sensors indicate vehicle is in motion and is not under emergency conditions. There are no messages that warrant violating safety protocols at this time.”
Anza asked, “Who are your messages addressed to and what is their nature?”
“The content is addressed to the operators and concerns vehicle operation and maintenance.”
Thinking about some of our other mysteries, I probed for more. “Is there any information about and/or contacting Horus or Mike Miller?”
“Negative contact information provided. Horus is listed as original purchaser.”
Anza noticing my line of thought asked about the rest of the guys. “How about any information about Greg Kinder, Danny Allison, Morgan Fairis, Mark Sanford, Tom Simms, or Will Bankenship Computer?”
“The first two are listed as alter-egos for present operators and the other four are in the on-board phone book as well as listed as alternate operators.”
Anza sighed. “That didn't help much. It would be nice to know more. ”
I echoed her feelings. “Sometimes You get what you need and not what you want. At least we know we aren't being bugged or followed within reasonable doubt. Beetle-informative-mobile-backu... ” and that is when it hit me.
My love gave me another of her patented looks I so adore. “Oh no, now what?” seeing the look on my face.
“Uh, Computer what were you called for short by your designers?” I asked dreading the answer.
“This unit was referred to as B.I.M.Bo by the creators.”
I winced knowing it was going to say that. Anza broke out laughing so hard only her safety belt kept her from sliding into the floorboard. No it was not enough that the Girl's wheels had to be pink with flowers and butterflies, but did they really have to call it a bimbo too I thought plaintively.
Morgan greeted us by opening up the garage and we wedged Flower-Power in with an SUV. Do not even start with me. I will live with calling our wheels Flower-Power but I am not, repeat NOT, addressing our car as BIMBO!
As we sidestepped out of the crowded garage, I could see that by the serious look on Morgan’s face we had other problems. Anza and I took a deep breath. Here we go again!
Inside the den, everyone was present, even Tom. He had his arms crossed and was definitely not happy. At least he was participating now. Morgan cleared his throat. “I have good news and bad news guys. “We have found Mike and know who those guys were that chased you two away from the mall,” looking at Anza and me.”
Tom spoke with his usual rapid fire blurt that took me a bit to catch to understand. Though it all he did not meet out eyes even once. “They are this world's organization for fighting supervillains. They’re called ULTIMATE “
“United Law-enforcement Tribunal for Metahuman Affairs, Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial,” Morgan interjected.
“They mostly have high tech equipment and Special Ops type troops like SWAT. Tom continued pausing for breath. “There are superheroes working with them, but from what I've read the team’s uses is more political than anything else.”
Morgan gave us more details in a more understandable speed. “ULTIMATE really prefers not to use its superhero teams since at some level they hate to admit they have to depend on the teams. From the little reading we've been able to do, they are really the last resort because the landscape is not really the same afterwards. We saw an example of that today at the mall. They also in theory regulate superheroes worldwide by requiring them to be registered. Apparently, we are all breaking a law because we are not registered here far as we can tell.”
Morgan took a deep breath and somehow I knew it was going to be bad; I was right. “Mike apparently fell out of thin air this morning at the park. Security cameras caught him as he splashed into the river. Some joggers helped drag him out, but ULTIMATE took him in for questioning given his unusual arrival. From what Tom and I could tell from the video, he looks the same as always and hasn’t been transformed as we have.
It is possible he hasn't a clue about what is going on and worse he knows all of our secret identities, our powers and weaknesses. I'm afraid he might give us away not knowing what the situation is here.” Looking at Anza, Morgan continued, “If they have an esper or mind reader like Anza that's a moot question. These people feel they are totally justified no matter what they do because of the greater good.”
The group erupted into hysterical chatter. The huge knot in my gut this time dwarfed the previous one. This one was a great big nasty one that when it went critical it would put the 100-megaton Tsar nuclear bomb to shame! We did not dare try to break him out. Even if our last debacle at the mall had not amply demonstrated, we were not anywhere near ready for prime time. Hell, we did not' even know where he was being held. Besides that would guarantee we would be placed on someone’s 'most wanted' list. Anza and I wanted to start new lives, not start living on the run! That is when I remembered the envelopes Anza was carrying and the color orange triggered an idea.
Depending on our mental link to catch her attention I asked “Anza could I have the envelopes if you please?”
I knew she would argue for just waiting to see what would happen as the least worse of our possible choices. Her wonderfully deep chocolate eyes were blinking; I could see her wondering why I wanted to bring those up now.
“When life hands you crap, make explosives!” I said winking at her referring to the nitrates that form on the foul smelling stuff. Do not look at me that way I have never claimed to be anything other than a nerdy gaming geek!
Waving the orange envelopes to catch everyone’s attention, I shouted, “Listen up!” When the guys finally quieted down enough for me to speak, I continued, “These were on our car when we picked it up. One is just a standard form, but it tells us the authorities know our car was at the scene. The other is a note from the Question.”
Mark and Will's eyes kinda of bulged out a bit, but Tom just gave me an accusing sneer that made me very glad I could not mind-read. The disgust coming off him was like something nasty left out in the sun too long. “We got involved at the mall to start with when someone started throwing cars. The Question showed up and shoved our car out of the way of one of them. He noticed at the time because it wasn't even dented. Then he jumped away to enter the brawl. He probably remembered the incident and put two and two together after he saw us. The note simply asks for us to call him on some toll free line.”
Holding up my hands, I kept on talking. “If he was going to set these ULTIMATE people on us we would already have them busting though the windows. I'm suggesting we meet and come at least partially clean with him. He might be able to intercede with them on Mike's behalf. If everything goes south, he only got a good look at me although Anza and Morgan were with me. Anza might be at risk but Morgan I think is safe because he was in disguise at the time.”
Morgan rubbed his chin as he considered my plan. “That's not a bad idea. We get to control the situation somewhat and, though I hate to agree, you two are our biggest liabilities right now. If this works, we get an ally and, hopefully, Mike with some solid information on what's going on. Sorry Will but I think Mystery's plan is better than your frontal assault. ”
The big Indian just smiled. “I wasn't happy with it either, but we just can't leave Mike in there–not just for what he could tell them. You don't leave your own with fanatics. I hope her plan works.” He was giving Tom a disapproving stare at his snubbing us.
Tom shifted uncomfortably. “You should use one of those disposable cell phones. Just make sure you pay for it with cash to erase any possible money trails.”
Mark added, “We can leave your car here and take the Limo with its dark windows.”
And so began the planning session. In the end, it was decided Morgan would purchase not one but several phones using her feminine mode as a disguise. Mark would drive us over, but I would be the point man, err, person. Anza and Morgan would be nearby to help if things fell apart. Will and Tom were not supposed to be part of this at all, but Will dug in his heels and insisted. Tom, after a glare from Will, went along with the slightly altered plan of the two of them in that oversize pickup of Will's.
As far as plans went it was not a bad one, but I could not help worrying what would go wrong this time. Plans never work the way they are suppose to, but are invaluable because of the research and preparation that go into them. That knowledge often give you the edge you need to succeed despite when the situation turns into a “Situation Normal All Fouled-Up” Snafu for short in military speak.
Looking around as we were getting set to head out to put Operation Peace Conference into action, I knew my friends were all good people; yes, even Tom. I might want to go over and wipe that disgusted look off his face, but he was still my friend. I was getting the feeling that his attitude had something to do with stuff in his past. Who am I to cast the first stone when some could consider so much in my own past questionable? What counts is how he deals with his problems now.
We all piled into our respective transports, and we were off. The three of us were sitting in the back just trying to get comfortable when Anza and I shared a mischievous thought. Giggling together, Morgan raised her eyebrows as she morphed to her Fem mode. She had on the same clothes she had on earlier before the Battle of the Mall. Not sure how that worked but hey, Once again, who am to cast stones? Cape frequently seems to violate natural laws so I try not to look a gift horse in the mouth, if you know what I mean.
"Mark," she warned. “Be ready for a surprise at our first stop.” I told him, giggling with my lover like a pair of schoolgirls.
Morgan dryly asked, “I don't suppose you're going to be forthcoming about what you two are up to, are you?”
Anza very maturely stuck out her tongue. “No! You can find out the same way we did. ”
I was trying to suppress a tremor that tingled from my nose to my toes at her sassy response. I could feel us start to slow and darn if we did not start giggling together again. I was under the influence of deadly hormones doctor. It was not my fault. I giggled myself to death!
From the front, Mark announced, “We’re coming up to a stop sign. Just please leave the car in one piece, OK?”
Together we sang out, “Computer on! Disregard all queries that do not begin with ‘Computer!’”
“Limousine-Information-Mobile-On-board-Utility-System-Independent-Navigation-Elite voice activation system on-line. Affirmative, Accepting only queries beginning with 'Computer.”
An incredulous Mark exclaimed, “We have a KITT?!!” He meant of course, Komputer Integrated Tactical Transport from that old campy TV show from the '80s.
Anza rolled her eyes. “Boys and their toys. We almost crashed when ours turned on and he thinks he has a new toy to play with! ”
Answering Morgan's unasked question I replied, “Yes we just found out about this on the way back from the Mall. We didn't have chance to tell anyone because of your good news/bad news announcement. If it is like the one in Flower-Power, it is just a computer with an advanced voice recognition system. We didn't get any useful information from ours, but who knows we might get lucky!”
“Computer,” Morgan asked, “Is Misty's statement correct?”
“Affirmative, this unit is a computer with advanced systems,” intoned the voice from the speakers.
I am not going to repeat all that happened during Morgan’s interrogation of LIMO but that it was mostly the same the one we gave Flower-Power. One of the things that did come up was that like the car in the Agent 000, movies it could alter its license plates and outer color. We used that feature when we stopped at a Fast Stop convenience store for the phones and after activating them, suddenly it was show time.
I have never been a fan of telephones because my bad hearing made it something of an ordeal. Now here I was about to play Mata Hari using one. She had been an exotic dancer too and I remembered all too well, what had been her fate.
Dialing the toll free number, I swallowed nervously as I got an answer. Anza and Morgan clustered in close to hear.
“You have reached the New Riverside Warders. If this is an emergency, please dial 911. If you have a touch tone phone please press one otherwise stay on the line for operator assistance.
Wonderful, even the Superhero headquarters has an automated phone system. Okay we want to speak to some one so let us stay on the line. A short muzak wait later, I was answered again.
NRW: “This is the New Riverside Warders operator how my I assist you?”
Me: “Hmm I got a note on my car to call this number. It looks like it was signed by the Question.”
NRW: “Can you hold please?”
Me: “Ah, yes.”
We waited while I was all-to-aware that I had not one, but two beautiful women nearly in my lap. One was the love of my life and the other a good friend. Part of me was still boggling at the changes that had taken place in my life in a mere 24 hours; what a difference just changing worlds make.
Question: “Yes, is this one of the young women that was in the pink VW earlier today at the Clairmont Mall?”
Me: “Yes you saved us from a falling Camry. Thank you.”
Question: “May I say you have an unusually interesting car? The reason I left the note was I was curious if from your rather unique location if you had seen anything that might give us a lead on those new masked Capes that appeared today. They helped save some bystanders today, but seeing how they are apparently unregistered they are wanted for questioning.”
Me: “First let me thank you for saving us earlier. We aren't from around here and had never been involved in anything like that before. You know the guys with guns running around and the helicopters flying all about. WE just didn't know the correct things to do with all that stuff being thrown about. We would be glad to speak to you about what happened. Could we meet you some place kinda relaxed? Going to your headquarters would be just too much for little ole me. Some place where no one's secret identity would be exposed?”
Question: “I see. May I suggest Masks? It is in the Downtown area and is known for its confidentiality? Say 6 pm tonight? Just tell the Majordomo the password Pineapple and that will get you inside.”
Stifling a laugh at his secret password, I looked to my two eavesdroppers to see what they thought. They nodded their accent while biting back their own giggles at the silly password.
Me: “That would be fine Mr. Question. We will see you there.”
I turned off the phone breathing a sigh of relief that it was over. Anza and Morgan were laughing and I asked, “What?”
“Are you sure you haven't done this before girlfriend?” Miming my southern accent, Anza asked, “It would be just too much for little ole me! Mr. Question!”
“What type of intelligence work did you do again Misty?” Morgan half giggled. “You sure you weren't having us on while all along you were some sort of super spy?”
Primly I responded, “I'll have you know I worked in a small cubical in an office, with no windows, with armed guards at the exits. I looked at maps and pictures all day long, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
For some reason that just made them laugh harder. Helpless I looked to Mark for help but the coward just gave me a straight face as he raised the privacy screen. Pouting I crossed my arms in disgust, but could not help myself from joining in as LIMO rolled down the road.
Several hours later found us downtown at the nightclub: MASKS, the neon sign advertised. Anza and Morgan was already inside after being dropped off earlier. Mark had then used the LIMO's newly discovered license plate switcher to confuse any watchers when he later delivered me to the front door too.
Anza told me, using mental communication, they had gotten inside club Masks and that Question was playing fair so far. It seemed Masks was a semi-private club where to enter you had to have the permission of a member to enter. All of us had been concerned we were being setup, but Anza, doing a bit of surreptitious mind reading, greatly relieved that worry. It had been child's play to convince the goon at the door to let them enter. Not that he had needed much convincing the way Anza had him wrapped around her finger. I almost hurt myself when she sent me an image of her arching her back, causing other parts of her anatomy to rise, saying to me, “The force can have a strong influence on the weak minded.”
Just being here would be enough to have as me nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof but Cape had gotten into the act as well. The outfit it had whipped up had started as the infamous Little Black Dress. Using its own special mojo Cape had given it a holographic effect that made it sparkle, but also a shine like latex, depending on the viewer’s angle. Top this with patent leather half boots with two-inch heels and a matching evening bag. All that was needed to complete the picture was a neon sign over my head flashing 'look at me!' Oh, you say the heels sound a little short for an outfit like this? Let me tell you sister, Cape and I had it out over those 4-inch ankle twisters it wanted me to wear. If I had to look like meat on the hoof for any male within eyesight, I damn well wanted to be able to run away!
I walked up to the goon, as Anza had called him; she was not far wrong. Jeez, he towered over me like some professional football player or wrestler. I gave him the password and he very politely let me inside. Once inside I found out why it was called Masks. The coat check girl there gave me a domino mask that apparently all the guests had to wear. Kinda thin on disguise but it was better than nothing I guess. The goon from outside must have been in contact with the majordomo. As soon as I entered, he led me to a table.
I twitched my eyebrows as Cape incorporated the borrowed mask into itself with a tingle. Self consciously pulling a mirror out that made my male reflexes rebel, I sighed seeing my mask now had the same shimmering qualities of the rest of my outfit. Sometimes I think Cape is fussier about fashion than any fashion designers on TV are.
Chocolate milk is my drink of choice for I don't care much for alcohol, but it didn't exactly fit my current surroundings so on Anza’s recommendation I ordered a virgin daiquiri. Sitting there on display, I had time to think about all my contradictory feelings. Part of me was thrilled to death about being beautiful and able to wear such things. My remaining male portions were self-conscious and horrified of being in public so attired. What was worse every man who stared at me reinforced that and Cape’s empathy made certain I knew. I was breaking out in Goosebumps, but I can assure you it was not because of the air conditioning.
Finally, Cape alerted me to our host approaching the table. I almost giggled because he looked so much like Mr. Marvel from that film the “Marvels” where Mr. Marvel comes in to dine with the Femme Fatale after defeating the giant robot. I mean with his build, wearing the tuxedo and mask he was a dead ringer, except maybe for being Black and not Caucasian. It also made me aware he was showing a lot of trust in us by revealing even that much.
My friends and I may be gaming geeks of the sort many admonish, 'to go get a life,' but we are not ignorant. Just because this guy has the urge to run around in tights, fighting crime does not mean he is a person we could trust. Comics are filled with flawed heroes and real life has more than its share examples of once admirable role-models who have fallen from grace. Thus far, since Question had shown willingness to give us the benefit of a doubt, so would we.
“Miss?” he asked in a deep baritone.
Trying to smile I replied, “Please call me Mystery, Mr....?”
Doing a much better job of smiling than I, he said, “’Q’ will do just nicely for now, Miss Mystery. Please, I am here attempting to keep any more misunderstandings from causing any additional unfortunate ‘incidents’.”
I felt Anza’s presence within from our bond as she listened with me. “Believe me 'Q’, we have no desire to further complicate our situation. I'm going to speak a little bluntly so please forgive me.”
He raised his eyebrows, but said, “My home has become a battleground. The time for half measures has long passed, but I am an honorable man. Please let us resolve our problems.”
I took a deep breath and felt Anza's support as she passed along Morgan's encouragement as well. “My friends and I are indeed not from here. As far as we can determine we are from a different world, and may well be from another dimension or even universe. We thought we were going to be involved in some sort of simulation, but instead found ourselves here. The simulation goal was to have us uncover the true purpose and leader of this new Syndicate.”
His eyes opened wider in hope, “So you were sent here to help us stop this madness?”
I sighed, “It's a little more complicated than that. In our own time and place, we were all normal people. Here some of us have not only radically changed form but have abilities we never had before. If that wasn't enough, we were expected to work undercover to ferret out leads to the Syndicate, something none of us have trained for or have the experience for.”
With a pained expression, 'Q' rubbed the bridge of his nose as began to see. “So what you're saying is your entire group has only just received their powers and abilities. Worse you've all been thrown into the deep end with little to no preparation.”
His intelligent eyes looked up into mine as he reasoned it out, “All of you are obviously in very precarious position so why are you telling me all of this? You might be new at all of this but none of you seem slow on the uptake.”
Slow on the uptake he says! If he only knew how over our heads we were! “We have a big problem. You see just after that mess at the mall happened, someone who just might have some answers dropped out of the clear blue sky today.”
'Q' winced in pain. “He wouldn't happen to be in custody with ULTIMATE right now would he after being pulled from the river?” One hand massaged a temple as he took a long swallow of his drink at my slow nod. “And this is how bad?”
“This is very, very, bad because he knows all of our secret identities, abilities and weaknesses. We were trying to meet and figure out what to do as well as recover from the shock of our transformations when we were caught up in that trouble at the mall. If ULTIMATE gets this information, they could force us into working for them. That would be bad because that could prevent us from trying to get home,” I said as dead serious as I could. “Some of us were ready to assault the place not because we wanted to but because we felt we had no choice at all.”
He almost spit his drink across the table. “Are You Insane?” Looking around he lowered his voice. “That place is a fortress not to mention the number of innocent people that would hurt doing something like that.”
Nodding my head, I agreed with him. “Yes we know. Moreover, even more to the point we know the chances of success is damn slim. He is our friend but if that wasn't enough of a reason would you hand over every bit of personal information to ULTIMATE? I know you have to be registered, but are there not a few things you've kept from them? In truth, my friends are closer to me than family and with each held hostage for the behavior of the other, we would be helpless. They would force us to do nothing because of their political considerations. Look what they’ve done here so far. There should at least one of their Supersuit Teams here but what have they done? Sent a few dozen troopers and helicopters that had the good sense not to get in the middle of ground zero today? Please help us and get our friend released!”
Anza hissed at me in my mind to take Q’s hand, while what was left of my male ego responded 'not a flacking chance in hell!' However, firmly pushing my reservations into the closet, I raised another crop of Goosebumps as I reached across the table and grasped his hand. “Please?”
The whole while he had been trying to take in all I was saying. When I took his hand, he blushed. “None of that girl! If my wife saw that she would make both of our lives hell!” jerking it a safe distance away.
“Can you hold your friends back for 24 hours while I try to get him free?” He asked.
I had no trouble sounding relived for Cape's empathy assured that he was sincere and would try. “Yes! None of us want a SWAT team swinging though our windows in the middle of the night!” We both relaxed a little. “There is another matter that perhaps you could offer some advice?”
Question with a cautious expression bargained, “That would depend on what you want to know and what you are offering. You want an awful lot from me, but haven't given much return except to say you won't cause any trouble for 24 hours.”
I could feel Anza filling in Morgan and Morgan's frustration at dealing with this third handed, as it were. Smiling sweetly to buy some time for Anza to relay Morgan's reply I pointed out, “By helping us you help yourself. You want the Syndicate brought down and we have the same goal if we ever want to get home again. Keeping ULTIMATE from interfering with us gives you an entire team of Masks to help you do that.”
Taking a sip of my drink to buy more time I watched him consider our proposal. He and the Warders had one hell of a crappy problem. They and the few independent Supersuits in New Riverside were dealing with nothing short of a Supervillain turf war — winner takes all.
“What we need is a place to practice and see just what we can do without the danger of hurting someone else. Preferably, with some privacy so we can really cut loose. We were very lucky today, but regardless, we couldn't stand by without helping those poor folks caught in the middle of that demolition derby today.” I finished and felt Anza's agreement with me.
Signaling for a waiter, Question downed his drink. “Ok, there’s an old rock quarry about a half hour outside of town that an old adversary of ours used to have as his headquarters. We sometimes use it to take care of business out of the limelight. That would keep you out of possible trouble for now and give you a place to practice.” Giving me a long measuring look, he asked, “And you haven't any experience or training either in combat or teamwork?”
I heard Anza's mental reply. “Only in simulation captain” and stifled a laugh. “That is correct for the most part. We have worked together in Sims but not in these forms or with these powers.” Waving my hands, I indicated myself.
The waiter returned with refills and Question snagged pen and paper from him. Give that one a tip! While writing down the directions and pass codes to the quarry he said, “There are facilities there but they are primitive. A trio of robots maintains and guards the base but these codes will get you pass them. Just make sure to bring your own food and stuff. With luck I'll be able to bring your friend there in a few days.” He handed it to me. “Good enough?”
I asked Cape if I could trust this man, but I already knew the answer. This might all go to hell in a hand basket but Question would do the best he could to keep his word. “Good enough.”
I got an itch between my shoulder blades and caught Question looking like a kid with his hand in the candy jar. I turned and saw a fashionable dressed woman giving me hostile looks. On a hunch I said, “I think your wife has had enough waiting on you to complete your ‘business’ tonight 'Q',” I said, giggling at his discomfort.
Cape somehow took a twenty from my purse and got it to my hand without being seen. That started me thinking just out much of the stuff I carried was a part of it. I knew it invisibly covered me, but didn't really know just how much. It had to have eaten the twenty or something and then reassembled it within my hand from what, part of my hand maybe? There are some things it is better not knowing. Besides the point, the look on Question's face when I plucked that twenty out of the air was priceless. He was used to seeing the impossible everyday so it was likely a rare event when something got by him.
Leaving the money on the table, I got up. “Thank you for your help.” A worried look showed on his face despite the mask. “Don't worry,” I said, “I may be many things but the 'other woman' is not one of them!”
I somehow kept from falling down laughing on the floor at Anza's mental remark as I left him to make explanations to his wife. “You damn well had better not be!”
It took a while to get everyone picked up and back to the mansion during which, due to popular vote an Emperor Burger’s drive-thru became our next stop. Will and Tom had stopped at one while I had been making do with sweet fruity drinks, but now the rest of us needed food.
Heroes of Justice: Not something you see everyday!
The scene on the kitchen table was a familiar one with its creeping mound of grease-stained fast-food bags, wrappers, and boxes. It almost was like back home after a game session with everyone comparing notes and thoughts while hungrily eating. Slurping nosily on my deluxe sized shake, chocolate of course, I saw that the lipstick prints on the straw spoiled that illusion immediately.
Oh, there were other clear signs we were not back home. Tom was clearly ignoring us, winkling his nose at all the scents while Mark talked to him. Morgan was back in male mode but projecting the map and instructions Question had given us in midair like a living holographic machine. Will munching down on a handful of Walloper burgers and fries while one handed fidgeted with a 20 lb weight. The warm wet feeling I was feeling below, under Anza's smoldering graze, was yet another sign that, yep, we certainly weren't back home, thank you Gawd!
We had a lot to discuss between my meeting with Question and the discoveries that our vehicles weren't exactly off the showroom floor. That brought up the item that Mike had said about Will's helicopter having a really honest-to-god A. I. aboard it. We had not gotten much information from our car’s computers, and we all felt an A.I. should be eons beyond what they demonstrated.
Even Tom agreed that we needed to know as much as we could, and that meant knowing more about our transports. He and Will had gone over Will's pickup but it seemed to be just a pickup. However, a Habu sports car in the garage did answer the 'computer on' wakeup call.
Strangely that left Morgan and either Anza or myself without some sort of enhanced wheels. That did not brother Anza or me any because we had grown so close enough sharing was natural. Heck, I think we liked it better that way. If it only had more of a muscle car look.
Morgan, I think, felt a little left out, but Mark pointed out that he had not even been home to his apartment yet, so who knew what might be there. Moreover, I was wondering just how much his transformation was contributing his moping. In female mode, she seemed very natural and happy. Was she in denial of how she really felt? I did not know, but knew I would try to be there for her. No matter if a she, a he or somewhere-in-between; Morgan was my friend.
With that in mind, we decided a camping trip was in order. There was this small matter of us all having jobs we did not have a clue how to perform so leaving town and hiding sounded like a good idea. Anza and I was kinda hot property after being on not only the official radar at the mall but Tony the Tiger's at Twin Peaks too. We would see just how much Flower-Power could disguise itself and head back to our place for hygienic materials and clothes.
Will would take Morgan home in that 4X4 truck of his to check it out and gather supplies as well as dropping by Will's place to get his stuff. They would then head to the heliport to see if they could get the AI to fly the helicopter to the quarry. Tom and Mark would head out shopping for camping supplies from the accumulated stack of bills all of us contributed from our ready cash.
Tom had also elected to try to use his ATM card. He had pointed out how our real names were used for personal stuff such as listings on the phones so he was guessing it was our birthdays. That was actually a darn good idea. Now if he would ditch that attitude of his, we would be getting somewhere!
I claimed the driver's seat and we were off. Anza got us off to a good start when she successfully convinced our computer to change our color scheme. It had this convenient function that would gradually change Flower-Power's outward color scheme so this black VW would leave point ‘A’ but a pink one would arrive at point ‘B‘. It was just the thing to confuse watchers from using those traffic cams to track us.
We got to the little place we called home and started packing for our trip. I am not going to go into about detail what happened when we finally had some time alone except to say we made up any lost time by telekinesis and Cape lending an extra 'hand'. Beside it ain't none of your beeswax anyhow, thank you very much!
You should have seen my face when Anza started tossing tampons and pads into a bag. I for one, wish she had not brought it up. She gave me a matter of fact look that made me think that she was even looking forward to her first pe, per, per, drat! I cannot even say it! Despite all of that, we were soon on our way.
Will gave us a call that everything was fine at their end. Morgan was riding a motorcycle and was going to meet us. He had all their gear on Screaming Mimi and was heading to Point Luck to give it a look over before the rest of us arrived.
Anza gave me a confused look. “I know he must be talking about the quarry but why Point Luck?”
I smiled. “Morgan knows I'm a history buff. Point Luck was the rendezvous point where the American Carrier Strike Force waited for the attacking Japanese Fleet. I'm surprise you didn't recognize it. Point Luck was used in the movie ’Midway’,” I teased her about being such a moviephile. “What is the 'Screaming Mimi' reference about? All I know about that was it the nickname of a German rocket during WWII, but I don't think he had that in mind.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “So I missed that one. You don't know about ‘Riptide’? It was a Detective buddy series from the ‘80’s. They had an old pink helicopter they called the Screaming Mimi. You know the Boz and Robo-Boz?”
I tried to say something snappy back but was blushing too furiously from thinking naughty thoughts from Anza's cheating by using her tongue for something other than talking! She started laughing and helplessly I joined in. Isn't love grand?
Anza and I made our next stop at a neighborhood Food Tiger grocery. Grabbing a pair of shopping buggies we loaded down them down with everything, a group of hungry campers needed. We did get some odd looks. After all, it was November, a warm November perhaps but still late Autumn. Maybe they were staring at the good-looking babes running amok in the store at closing time on a Sunday night. It was a challenge, but we did pack everything into Flower-Power although the Styrofoam coolers full of ice and perishables were an interesting load problem.
We met the rest of the crew at the local S-Mart department store parking lot having made a big dent in our available ready cash funds. Tom's experiment with his ATM card had been a success and while he did not say how much he had had found in his account; his smug look suggested it was 'fat.' We were still pariahs in his eyes, but at least his temper tandems had eased off. Now he was down to giving us the evil eye.
Then Morgan pulled up on this big Harley with a shit-eating grin on his face. Anza and I traded a thought and a look: “Boys and their toys!”
The guys clustered around the bike making oohs and ahs. Personally, I kinda liked Tom's bright red Habu sports car. Just sitting still, it looked if it was breaking the speed limit. I resisted the impulse of going over and really salivating over it. He would just find it an excuse to complain about us again. It would be best to give him more time now that we were sorta working together again as a team.
After the vehicle admiring session was over, we started our convoy over. I guess we were an oddball group a VW, Limo, Habu, and a Harley. We had a rather nice drive with the only excitement being a County Mountie getting some radar hits. Flower-Power, not ‘Bimbo’ thank you very much, alerted us to the radar beam and popped up a graphic identifying the location and the type of radar. That enabled the night vision system, and the radar jammer, which was cool.
We drove by the cop, waving and giggling! Anza was operating the radio and soon we were singing along with Nancy Nitro, whoever she was. It was too bad we had the top up but as tightly packed as we were, our poor wheels would have exploded into a geyser of food, panties and tampons!
As we got close to Question's quarry our night vision system picked up Will and his helicopter whirling about overhead. That was just before Flower-Power gave us another warning that another radar beam was hitting us. It seemed this was the place. Anza's peculiar sense of humor made her order Flower-Power to change its warning alarms. The tones and beeps were annoying but they were supposed to be to catch your attention. Anza had the computer respond with Warning, Warning ......insert name of driver. You guessed it for more dire alerts, Danger! Danger! .......with the name of who ever was driving. Well at least she left out the “Will Robinson,” so that is something.
Morgan beat us to the gate and entered the code. A heartbeat later, we were bumping down the dirt road. The road was well maintained and made a massive corkscrew around the perimeter of the quarry. In its day, it must have been a massive operation because there was even a rail spur: the abandoned equipment still here. Amazingly, a tunnel was cut though one side, for ore trains I guess. Street-type lights with some kind of motion sensors came on, lighting our path like out of some eerie sci-fi thriller.
When you think of such places, it's the huge angry gash cut into Mother Earth that grabs your attention. Here almost everything was covered in greenery. Ok, it was only kinda, sorta green. This being Autumn, it was more like brown. Trees grew by the roadside in corkscrewing terraces as Mother Earth reclaimed what was hers.
By the time we got to the bottom, I could see some of the smoke and mirrors at work disguising this place's true purpose. That abandoned equipment was actually huge workout gear. I was becoming curious if Question was consciously imitating 'The Marvels' movie because it reminded me very much of the work out scenes with Mr. Marvel working out with locomotives and freight cars.
I got another look at that railway tunnel and that is where the rest of the veneer on this illusion started wearing very thin. It was too darn smooth and straight. The tunnel would have to been dug after the quarry had gotten this deep. Most quarries would just have cut right into the side of the hill not just cored the center out of it. Nope, this looked like a quarry but it in reality was something else. This far from the city looking up out of this titanic hole in the hillside the night sky was as deep black as the rural area where I grew up.
The stars burned above, stretching into infinity. Turning in a slow spin, I drank in their beauty as I realized that we had indeed traveled far. I recognized the Big and Little Dipper although the rim of the quarry limited the view. In the background, I heard the guys joking and talking as they looked around. Tom's comment about me being a space case bothered me not at all. He was the one who was blind to the wonders about and above him.
Anza came up to me. “Are you all right luv'?”
Taking a deep breath, I knew it was time to re-enter reality where everyone else was. “Yes, I'm fine hon. it just hit me just how far from a familiar shore we’ve been cast. Here we are at a real honest-to-Gawd Supervillain base. Abandoned or not, this entire place was built to help someone to try to take over the world. We have nothing like this back home.”
She just smiled enjoying not only the view but also my reaction to all of this. “What about Macrosoft Headquarters?”
I returned her smile. “You have a telling point. So Gill Bates is a Master Mind trying to take over the world every night?” I laughed. “No don't answer that! Silly question of course he is, or maybe he already has!”
We turned to unload the supplies when Cape tapped me on the shoulder. That is when we saw the robots. There were three of them just as we just like Question said. One was forward talking with Morgan while the other two were obliviously covering it. They stood about five feet tall but squat and compact with a tank like treads with a vaguely humanoid torso on top. Each had two arms, with one arm having pincers and the other with a more human-like hand. On their backs was some kind of multi-purpose boom tool arm that stored a variety of different tools, including weapons. All which were armed and pointed at us.
“Your party is in a restricted area. Leave immediately or give the password. You have 60 seconds to comply.”
We froze. Morgan told it our password and the robots retracted their weapons, pivoting on their treads left us. A pale Morgan shakily demanded, “Next time one of YOU get to give those things the password!”
Mark passed him a brew that they must have gotten from the S-Mart. Morgan accepted with thanks. He offered us each one as well. I politely declined although Anza accepted. While they celebrated not being shot by robots, I started unloading our gear.
Opening the door to the building nestled next to the Quarry wall; I walked into the kitchen area. The lights were already on and a quick check revealed the fridge although empty was on and cooling down fast. It took just a moment to put up the groceries. Anza came in carrying all of our stuff at once with her telekinesis and with some maneuvering, got herself in the door and down the hallway. Curious I struck my head in the two large rooms nearest the kitchen and found one was a briefing room while the other was a recreation room with a pool table and a large screen TV. Further down were about a dozen small bedrooms. They reminded me of my Army days being basic two-man affairs with twin beds and dressers.
We picked a room, pushed the beds together and dumped our stuff onto it. I left her sorting through our belongings while I headed back into the fray after hearing the guys petitioning for aid. Making a command decision, I directed the flow to the conference room and its larger table seeing the small one in the kitchen was already swamped and going down fast. Once again, I had fun power-tripping and could see the guys were too.
Going though all the shopping bags and making piles of what went to whom took a while and by that time, we were all winding down. They had not known what facilities were here and so bought accordingly. The Lamps, camping stove and other stuff we did not need, were put aside to be returned. The sleeping bags were definitely going to be put to use, but Anza did give them a look when she saw the girlie ones meant for her and me. “My Little Kitten” and “Hello Pony” themes were a bit young for us. Hey, they were adult sized and if Tom were responsible, he would be appalled to know secretly Anza was tickled pink at his choices. Me, well if she is happy so am I, besides I had always had a soft spot for cats. That one is mine!
As I said, it had been one heck of a day and it was getting late. I think someone may have stayed up a while watching the tube, but Anza and I curled up, spooning, after zipping our bags together. The last thing I remember is her heartbeat lulling me into sleep.
A part of the back wall slid smoothly upwards revealing a passage deeper into the hill. Like the railway tunnel, it was extremely smooth with not a single visible tool mark. The figure within had waited to make sure these newcomers were asleep before daring to come out. Cautiously, it went to the kitchen looking for food. The base had enough food stored to last for years, but although it would keep you alive, tasty it was not.
Carefully it looked for food it could take and not be detected. It found a package of chips opened and left by the TV With a steady hand it measured out an amount that should not be missed. By the door, it found an ice chest full of soda pops and beer. Using a ragged corner of its coveralls to keep from leaving a trail of droplets it took one of the sodas.
Happy with its finds, the figure backtracked back to the wall where it re-entered the sanctuary. The entrance closed silently behind it leaving not a trace of its foray.
Coming awake to the unmistakable smell of bacon cooking I opened my eyes. Yeah, I know it was not healthy but so were most things I really enjoyed. Anza was still asleep and I could not help smiling. If it had been the smell of coffee wafting over us, she would have been up first.
Slipping free of her embrace, Cape dressed me in a pink sweat suit and I went to take care of all those other little chores the morning demanded. Taking care of my altered anatomy was still new enough to me that I was thankful for the privacy.
Feeling a bit more human, I headed towards that delicious odor, and I found Tom, of all people, cooking a huge breakfast. Okay maybe not surprising given his enhanced metabolism, which demanded he eat often.
“Good morning,” I said as politely as I could, “Mind if I grab a cup of coffee?”
He grunted and I took that for a yes. I poured a mug and went back to rouse Anza. I saw Mark on his way to the single bathroom and raised an eyebrow at the towel wrapped around his waist, making my point that for now we were co-ed. Embarrassed he took a moment from ‘checking me out’ to head back to his room for something else to cover up with. I guess I should be glad no one in our gang tried it au natural but being checked out by one of the guys gave me the shivers!
We all had a lot to get use to I thought, shaking my head. If we were ever going to get home, this was only the beginning. Speaking of which, that was another can of worms we had not opened yet. Who wanted to go home and who did not.
Sighing, I sat on the edge of our bed and brought the hot mug near my lover's nose. Like a magic potion, the brew near Anza's nose brought her to life.
With a smile on her face, she reached for the cup. “I could get use to waking up like this.”
Blushing, I gave her nitie-clad shape an appreciative gaze, as she put down her mug. If you want to know what took us so long to get to breakfast, ask someone else. I'm not telling.
We joined the others, who would make a school of piranha look like finicky eaters. I half-way expected Tom to leave nothing for us, but he was acting almost nice today. It was amazing to watch him at work. With his speed, he made one helluva short order cook. Maybe he was not as fast as some of the comicbook super-speedsters, able to break the sound barrier or even out-race light itself, but the blur of knives and spatulas made it worth losing a hand to try to steal a taste!
Morgan started the bull session by suggesting how we should organize the day. I was too busy eating to pay much attention. Seeing how much energy I used for my powers, not to mention Cape who used its share as well, I was not too concerned about gaining weight now and figured I would need the calories. I could see no way our abilities were powered by what we ate, but you would have a hard time proving it by me. My stomach was a black hole that was only momentary satisfied.
Tom must have cook ever bit of breakfast food we brought for three days and this wrecking crew was going to eat every bit of it, Eep! Me thinks we're going to have venture out for more groceries!
While dueling Will with forks for the last couple of flapjacks, I did pick up the gist of Morgan's plan. He was running a version of the old army physical training test. We would use our cars to measure off a course and record our abilities for things like running, push-ups, and then find a way to measure agility.
Later we would see about our specialties such as flight, super-strength and so forth. Morgan did grin and say we would take Anza's mental blasts as a given as since none of us wanted to wake up with a splitting headache.
Some of the preparations were easy when we found a running course already marked out. It turned out LIMO had a laser range finder that worked just as fine as a radar gun. To no one's surprise Tom easily outran the rest of us at blistering 100 mph. That is nearly 161 kph for you metric folks. Will was running an easy second until Mark wolfed-out and dropped to all fours. Even then, it was close, with Mark winning by a nose at nearly fifty mile per hour.
The rest of us still turned in times that would have put us on the track team of our choice back home, averaging around 20 mph. Not world records granted, but not bad for a bunch of gaming geeks. For those who want to know, the World record at least back home was somewhere around 11 to 12 meters per second, say, 23mph/37kph give or take.
The results from the push-ups were not a surprise either except maybe for Mark having some problems. He tried to stay in wolf form but his limbs just would not let him get into the right positions so he had to use his regular human form, poor baby! Everyone did very good of course, even Anza our most non-physical member. Back home I had seen worse cases of couch-potato gamers than we had been, but here all of us were nearly world-class athletes.
While we were doing that, the quarry’s three guardian-robots laid out an obstacle course like the ones seen in so many military films. That made all of us wonder just how smart these things were since this was done without our asking. After our introduction the previous evening, none of us really wanted to go over and chat with the darn things. Getting guns pointed at you tends to do that you know. In only a few minutes, they had the course assembled so we gave it a try.
Finally, something Will did not excel at! Tom ran though it like a ferret on a caffeine buzz, but I did very well too. Mark found his wolf was good for most things, but climbing a rope was not one of them! Anza had a little trouble with some of these, but it was because of technique rather than lack of strength or agility. Will also had some difficulties when he came up to the wall with the cargo net you were expected to climb. He just had so much bulk it was a little awkward for him. Giving up he just leaped over the damn 20 feet tall wall! We had a little argument about if he had fouled, but Morgan ruled in his favor, saying that in a superhero battle, it did not matter how you got over the wall. Come to think of it, he had a point.
We were in good spirits about then and after taking a break started testing our real powers. What can I say? Flying is a rush! As long as we stayed below the quarry edge, we were concealed. Besides Anza and I were the only ones who could fly. Everything was cool until I almost ran into Will, who was trying to see just how far he could leap and damn near cleared the quarry!
Morgan, Tom and Anza then tried their hand at some target practice. Morgan won easily with her lasers. Tom did give her some glances with Morgan being in Fem mode, but did not make a big deal about it. Tom used the bit of telekinesis he had to improve the accuracy of his throwing stars while Anza used whatever was handy to flick with her own TK power.
I did take my turn on those Gawd-awful weight machines. It looked liked an overhead gravel-loading gantry-type structure for ore train cars except it had chains and pulleys attached. On sidetracks there were a variety of cars, pickups, trucks, all adapted to run on rails. All you had to do was move the thing you wanted to lift underneath the gantry, hook up the chains to the lift shackles and start lifting. Except for how large the whole thing was, it was the same as lifting in the gym. For those who were into heavy metal you could try the tank cars, ore carrier or even a locomotive, for goodness sakes!
All I can say is I did manage lift one of those empty tanker cars. It sure was not easy and I had to work at it. Will, on the other hand, just sat there and knocked out some reps using the locomotive.
I should not feel too bad I suppose; no one else could even budge the things! Anza did mange to move a car with her TK, which was darn good! Mark could not lift it but he did tip it over onto its side — which is still impressive.
After a lunch break came what we were all waiting for: the interrogation of the AI in Will's Chopper. He had been silent about what he had learned if anything, on the way over here. When asked, he’d just shrugged. Well here was time to find out for ourselves.
As far as helicopters go it looked liked just another of the Bell Jet Ranger series. You know, holds about seven passengers? Well anyways, take my word they are very common. This one was done up in Channel 7's News Eye In The Sky colors, a burgundy and black two-tone with a large white number seven.
Will sighed as we reached the helicopter. “I'm warning you it's a little, ah, quirky.”
“Who you calling quirky there Tonto?” a voice said from the machine. “And while we're on the subject, who's idea was it to assign the biggest one of you to be my pilot? It's bad enough he doesn't have the slightest idea how to pilot, I also had to make a highly modified pilot's station as well.”
We all looked at Will who had a pained look on his Indian face. “Tonto?”
Looking down at the ground, the big guy said rather sadly, “You might as well introduce yourself.”
“I see you have some manners. Greetings, I am Reid. This machine which houses me is based on a Bell 2006L4 Long Ranger IV Helicopter. I have large number of functions that I am sure your group will find useful,” it said cheerfully.
Anza noticed the pun first of course. “Isn't that supposed to be Lone Ranger and not Long?”
“Perhaps lovely lady, but given how my assigned pilot is of Native American origin I simply couldn't resist the intentional error. Additionally there is the little fact I'm going to be doing most of the work flying since Tonto over there can't,” it said with what sounded like a smirk.
Will looked up. “Hey this isn't my fault! Besides, you said last night you would help teach me to fly. Are you taking that back?” he said with his hands on his hips.
“Seeing how I just witnessed you bench pressing a locomotive that wouldn't be wise of me would it? Please excuse any breach of manners. Like you, I'm trying to determine how I arrived here.”
Morgan who had changed back to his male mode asked, “You mean you don't know how or why you are here either?”
Reid answered, “That is correct in part. I do know that I am here to assist you in your activities. As for how I arrived, I haven't got anymore of an idea than you have. I have memories of being constructed at Cosmic Forge Inc. and know your other vehicles and I were purchased by someone named Horus. The instant of our activation coincided with your arrival.”
A mutter passed among us. I do not think anyone was happy with our lack of information about what was going on.
“Indeed, from what I can gather, you were here brought under what could be called false pretenses. I have complete information regarding this place but I have not found anything that might aid you returning home. There is data regarding the craft Mystery and Esperanza encountered yesterday. It is a variant of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor called the Shrike drop-ship. The forward cockpit area is similar to attack helicopters with a weapon turret and pylons for external weapon stores. The rear compartment carries ten Enforcer Powered Armored Exoskeleton Troopers with a rapid deployment system,” Reid informed us. “It is a formidable weapon system, although at this time I can’t calculate the degree of threat to you as a group. Singly, I suspect you would be overwhelmed.”
The guys started wandering away, but I had some more questions. “What do you do when not piloting? Using an AI just as a pilot seems like a waste. ”
“Ha! An intelligent question. Yes, I can pilot this machine, but I am also data-linked to the other vehicles as well. I am not configured to control those vehicles but I can receive and process data they possess. Our data-link is secure and encrypted so it can also be also be used for more than basic communications. As of this moment, I am monitoring the World Wide Web for helpful information, but have not attempted the penetration of any networks. That falls outside of my primary purpose of piloting and support.”
Morgan and I asked a few more questions, but we got the gist. Reid would be a helper, but we were still on our own here.
Bored, the guys had taken the cars in the meanwhile and were racing around the same track we used for running earlier. With a laugh, we joined them although Morgan decided he did not want to be on a motorcycle with crazies like us behind the wheel.
Flower-Power really had more power under the hood than anyone would expect, but we could not compete with the others. Tom seemed to get off on lapping us in his Habu. Hell, he could almost manage that on foot without the car!
Morgan asked us all to give him some private time on the track so we sat and watched him whirl around on his Harley. A mass rumbling of empty stomachs got a laugh from us all, even the sour Tom. Showing off, Tom took off running matching speeds with Morgan to let him know we were going to start supper. Morgan had the advantage in the straightaway, but Tom could corner better. Yep, Power tripping shore ‘nuff!
It was still nice out for November so we decided to grill outside. With everyone helping, in no time at all we had some nice, hot coals with the tantalizing scent of steaks sizzling on the grill. We were relaxing outside full from eating and enjoying ice cold drinks from the guy’s cooler. The robots were busy cleaning up after us and the sun was setting.
I knew we had to make a shopping trip, but really was feeling kinda mellow. Even with all the physical activity none of us seemed to be sore, just a bit tired. With that said, I asked, “Anyone want to go with me to restock from the attack of the killer appetites?”
Anza lazily opened an eye. “Did I ever tell you that you are evil and despicable for suggesting even moving right now?”
I laughed. “You're the one who told me we had to watch our waist lines now that we're girls. So let’s go and work some of it off girlfriend!”
Grudgingly she got changed and met me at Flower-Power which one the robots had washed and polished after our dirt track race. I still did not care too much for robots with guns, being more a fan of Isaac Asimov’s kinder, gentler three laws of robotics. Still, any chore I did not have to do was worth a gold star in my book.
At the last minute, Morgan ran out and flagged us down so he could come along claiming he had some stuff he needed to get. Almost as soon as we cleared the gate at the top of the quarry that I had started calling 'Checkpoint Charlie' Morgan shifted into girl mode. Alright maybe “shimmered” into girlfriend mode was a better term.
Anza and I exchanged a glance, both of us wondering if it was something more. Well if it was, Morgan would let us know. Each of our journeys was an intense personal experience. We would be there for her if needed.
We had a good time during the drive. It was wonderful riding down the road singing with the radio, oh the joys of a convertible! Since Anza was driving this time, I had asked the computer for directions to the nearest full-sized grocer.
It directed us to one of those strip malls built around a grocery store with a pharmacy and a slew of other smaller businesses. This one's Food Tiger had an ATM and I tried Tom's trick of using my birthday for my PIN. I left out the zeros and used the first four numbers: it worked. I checked the balance and it was a year’s pay at least. I withdrew the maximum amount and placed it in my purse for a rainy day.
We had not even gotten down to serious shopping before Cape started sending warning signals. Looking about a little alarmed, we were being eyed with ill intent by a group of young hoodlums. All right maybe they were not but they were dressed in the style popularized by prison inmates. You know the baggy jeans pulled low, cockeyed ball-caps, and barbed-wire tattoos.
What's more, I could 'feel' what they had on their minds with my empathy. Just trust me here that it was not nice at all.
It was about then when the three of us was beginning to realize that we had screwed up. Even Anza who was more knowledgeable about this kind of thing had missed it. None of us had paid any attention that this particular strip mall was on the edge of the city in a neighborhood no one would ever call affluent. As guys, Morgan and I never worried about such things. Anza had enough problems gay bashers in the past to be cautious, but she had been having such a good time she had gotten careless. It probably had not helped matters at all when I took a wad of cash out of that ATM.
Mentally I heard Anza's, "Oh Shit!"
It got quiet except for the store's muzak and the not so whispered rude comments from our would be predators. From their hunter or prey point of view, we were just asking for it. Three young beautiful women casually but expensively attired in the wrong part of town.
We were not talking aloud but using Anza as our switchboard operator we were burning up the aether. I do not think any of us hid our disquiet at being lusted over by those punks very well.
My love threatening to brain burn them into imbeciles declared, "If they so much as touch me, they're going to need help tying their shoes for the rest of their short lives."
Morgan, just as upset but trying not to make thing worse counseled, "Let's not panic ladies. Ignore them. They're not going to try anything here inside where there are cameras and witnesses. You know if you act scared you'll just encourage them."
A little anxiously I guess because I knew exactly what our stalkers wanted to do to us I said, "Besides if it comes to a fight we'll tear them apart though you're right about this being too public."
Anza grudgingly agreed with us, "Alright I guess you're right, but I didn't like it when Mark ogled me yesterday and I like it even less from them!"
"Remember yesterday at the mall when you could've used your TK to just catch that car throw at us?" Morgan reminded her. "Don't forget your other options. You can order them to leave us alone or suggest they have to use the restroom urgently using your powers."
Anza recovering a little of her humor replied, "Oh, I get it, just shop causal like. If they try anything I‘ll keep that in mind."
It seemed to last for minutes but our mental communications had really only taken a few seconds. I think it took us longer to shake off the intensity of the mental rapport then the entire conversation did.
As unnerving as it was we did our shopping with our unwanted spectators. I was quickly learning the downside of being Mystery. While Morgan was aware of the problem she was able to concentrate on ignoring our gangsters wanna'-be's I could not. My empathic power gave me a constant update every time they saw hmmm... something that visually simulated them.
It was nearly as bad as that nightmarish experience at Twin Peaks the strip club. Despite the fact I could break every bone in their bodies without breaking a sweat what I was feeling scared me. For the first time I thought about wanting go back to being Greg and male again just so they would not look at me that way. That did not last very long but did get me to thinking about other things that would make them leave us alone.
About then Anza laid her hand upon mine and I felt the love she held for me. Of course, she knew how I was feeling because of our bond/link. Her love steadied me and allowed my thoughts to consider how to make them leave us be. They would not be giving us a problem if there was a cop about but of course, there is never one around when you need one.
Then I had a thought. "Badges, we need some stinking badges!" my brains misquoted.
"Girls,” I asked telepathically. "I have an idea. Would you mind playing along? I promise I'm not going break anybody's bones, okay?"
Morgan thought back me via Anza, "I hate to ask, but what exactly is this plan?"
Thinking to Cape I asked it as I stepped behind my friends out of site of my audience, "I need some clothing accessories. A belt decoration that looks like this." I requested visualizing a policeman's shield complete with leather backing and belt clip. Since what I was wearing left no room for anything like a shoulder holster I tried simply for a pistol shaped lump under my blouse.
I leaned over and thinking of that old "Police Woman" show, whispered in Morgan's ear, "Just call me Angie Dickinson."
She gave me a long suffering sigh, "I don't suppose you can pull more of those from the air can you?"
Cape gave me an answer that I had to take a moment to decipher. Do not tell me you can not figure out what your dog or cat is saying you. It just takes a few false tries sometimes.
"Yes," I replied smiling palming a fake badge into her hand. "We can't do the dummy weapons, but how are these?"
Morgan just shrugged and clipped it to her belt arranging her top to just cover it while Cape did the same for me.
Anza was stifling a giggle as she tried to ignore our antics. I stepped next to her and passed another fake badge to her. Stealing Earl Holliman's tag line she whispered, "Freeze Turkey".
The hard part was waiting while the young delinquents took notice. It was longer than I would have liked because it wasn't our beltline they were staring at. Once they did to say they quickly lost interest was an understatement. After they wandered away all three of us breathed a little easier.
On another note, I didn’t noticed Morgan buying up anything that seemed critical to me so I was guessing she just wanted some girl time. That was fine with Anza and me for we had plenty to spare now!
Morgan and Anza did hit the pharmacy next door for what they regarded as needed medical supplies. Then it was time to head back to the hole. We did see our young trouble makers on the way to Flower-power, but evidently the fake badges had worked.
It was cooler out now and besides with all the food we needed to put the top back up. Still the ride back was nice. Luckily we breezed though Checkpoint Charlie without having to give Huey, Dewey and Louie the passwords again. Soon we pulled to where the guys were still sitting around the remains of the grill pit, talking about the usually guy stuff I guess. One thing though, Morgan did change back to male before we entered the gate.
I opened the door and there was someone pawing though our leftovers! With both arms full of bags that I couldn't drop there wasn't a thing I could do. Frightened the intruder looked up at me and lighting-fast, darted into the conference room before I could say a word.
Nearly throwing the bags down on the table, I flew into the room after them. Only there wasn't anyone there! I looked everywhere, but my intruder had seemed to disappeared into thin air.
Anza called from the kitchen, “Misty, what's going on?”
I could feel her curiosity but I was half wondering if I hadn’t imagined it all. “Nothing love, thought I saw something, but it was nothing.”
She shrugged. “Let's put up this stuff, then we can relax some, ” She said, suggestively raising her eyebrows.
Giving the room one last look, I decided that no real harm was about, but I would keep my eyes open. Later that night thinking back about it before sleep overcame me, hmmm... Mystery’s got a mystery!
Clutching the bits of grilled meat, the ragged figure shivered in fear, its heart beating in panic. Never should have dared while they were still awake. But the meat smelled so good! It carefully listened for sounds of pursuit but heard none.
Soon the temptation of the grilled meat overcame the fear. Half wild it gnawed at the feast and licked every finger clean afterwards. A small internal voice advised that Nurse would've been unhappy with the finger licking. But it really didn't matter it told itself sadly,: manners and being happy were for viables not for defectives.
Heroes of Justice: A Blast from the Past!
“Warning! Warning! Unknown airborne radar contact three miles out and closing!” Reid, the AI pilot, blared out!
We'd been up for some time and were still playing with the powers we had inherited with our transformations into our characters. As Tom had proved yesterday we did have their skills as well as their abilities. They were harder to access, however. Like his skill throwing shurikens — the favorite toy of choice of Ninjas everywhere.
Annoyingly, it was something that if you thought about it you couldn't do it. If you put it out of your head and just did it, everything just fell into place. Easier said than done. I dare you not to think of something when someone tells you not too! I suppose that’s what the old saying about “practice, practice, practice” is about.
Everything stopped as the News 7 chopper did its Robot impression. What also grabbed our attention was Huey, Dewey and Louie the three caretaker robots. They stopped what they were doing and what could only be missiles cycled onto their utility arms.
I know I was holding my breath, but then as one the three robot amigos lowered their weapons and went back to what they were doing. I heard some of the others sigh in relief too. Slowly descending was a Bell V-22 Osprey Tilt rotor. Looking like a airplane with an engine on each wing tip, it was just coming into service back home. What made it different was that the engines could rotate upwards changing the plane into a helicopter, a real life transformer. This meant it had the speed and range of a plane, but could hover and land vertically like a chopper. No wonder here they were calling them dropships after the feared assault vessels from the pages of science fiction.
This one was in the white and blue of the New Riverside Warders. How did I know that? Well the huge letters spelling it out on the underside certainly helped. The cheap cellphone whose number Question had never rang so the question (no pun intended!) was, is this a setup?
Looking around to gage everyone else's reaction, Morgan was tapping her cellphone and pointing to her ear. Alright, it was clear she wanted us to use our phones to go to tactical communications. The problem with that was, I didn't have my phone with me and from Mark's expression neither did he. What can I say? We are new at this, okay.
Anza, using our bond/link said, “Don't worry love I'll pass along everything to you and Mark.”
Feeling very silly because I should've known better, I sent back to her a very heart-felt sense of relief.
Morgan gave a long suffering sigh. “Everyone stay cool, but if it ’s a double cross make for the Long Ranger. Are you listening to this Reid?”
“Affirmative, I am tied into the base's radar and no other contacts are within range. The sentries stood down after the correct code from the Warder's transport was received. Analysis at this time suggest this just a unannounced visit. Still your caution is commendable.” The AI radioed.
Rather dryly Morgan responded, “Thank you. We do need to work at this some more. I don't think anything is going to happen but if it does be ready.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I watched the big aircraft set down in a hurricane of dust. The rear ramp lowered and, lo and behold, it was the Warders. Well, at least most of them; Question we had already met; Enigma, a white shrouded woman wearing twin shoulder holstered automatic pistols; Black Hawk named because of his black wings in a black and red costume; and Conductress a red-head woman dressed in blue tights decorated with lightning bolts.
Finally gawking all about him was this somewhat overweight guy who was about 6'4”. He had that dark-hair hirsute look about him that promised a five o'clock shadow before lunch. Lumbering down the ramp because of an old injury he had gotten years before, he paused at the bottom. It was MIKE!
His standing there amongst the Warders was a study of a normal-looking dude amongst the larger-than-life heroes. Flab with blue jeans and red t-shirt sporting a large yellow lightning bolt versus spandex and tights, rippling with muscle.
It was definitely a Kodak moment as he recognized us and we almost involuntarily took a step towards our friend. His eyes boggled as we dared the windy vortex from the Osprey's rotors to reach him.
“It's Mike!” Will yelled audible even over the roar of the turboprops. We finally got far enough away so we could talk. While the gang were all talking excitedly, I was watching the amused looks from the Warders. The only faces I could see were Black Hawk's and Conductress, but my empathic link with Cape let me know the other two, although masked, shared their comrades’ amusement.
“You guys alright?” Mike asked, his concern visible. At our nods he continued, “Thank Gawd, I'm so sorry fellas. I had no idea anything like this was going to happen.”
“Us? We were worried about you! You big lunk! ULTIMATE had you locked up and we didn't know if you would ever be released,” Will exclaimed.
“All of us were worried they were torturing you or something worse.” Mark spoke up over Will's boisterousness. “Are you okay?”
The gang quieted down. “It wasn't pleasant, but I'm okay. I'm telling you those guys are a real piece of work. ” Mike looked around at all of us. “Even though I'm looking at you all, it's hard to believe you've changed into your characters. These guys told me I have you to thank for them getting me released. Thanks Guys.” He blushed as he saw Anza and me. “Er, Greg, Danny I really sorry. I never meant to get you two turned into girls.”
An ugly look crossed Tom's face, but before he could say anything a still grinning Will gave him a not so gentle elbow. Mike raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. This reunion meant too much to us to spoil with nasty reminders of real life.
Mike got a baffled look as Anza told him, “We'll talk later okay?” glancing at me and him.
We were interrupted by what sounded like a Detroit Diesel truck engine down-shifting, but was only Question clearing his throat. “Not to be rude but I put a lot on the line getting your friend released. I had to ask my friends to blindly trust my judgment concerning you folks. If you don't mind we really want some answers.”
As one we all turned to Mike with puppy dog eyes wanting to know just what was going on here. “I hardly know where to start. Okay, I guess you all know we were just starting to play a game that, as far as I can figure, is based on events that are happening right here in this world. It was a pen and paper role-playing game, but had a computer component to ease game play and help out with in-game graphics.”
Heroes of Justice: Mike's story
One minute he was at Comic Forge and then, wham bam no thank you ma'am, he was at some set for an ancient-Egyptian movie. There were columns and pools and surrounding palm trees. Mike looked around wondering if he'd finally cracked. No way any of this was real.
The breeze blowing though the enclosed area was kept cool by the pools that must have been fed from some sort of underground system or springs based on the gurgle he heard. Bowls of what he thought might be dates and some other fruits were set next to them. Nearby pillows made of some shiny material were scattered about, but not a single modern convenience was in sight.
Outside, it looked pretty lush and green to him, but wherever he was it didn’t look like the good old USA. He took out his cell phone, but it dead. His Swiss army knife had among its other gadgets a compass, but all it did was spin in a circle. Even his trusty, retro, wind-up watch had stopped. This was too weird.
Picking a way between the columns, Mike headed towards what seemed the way out. After about five minutes he didn't seem to be making any progress. Wait, he thought, didn't that group of pillows look familiar? Looking around, he slapped himself on his broad forehead.
Mike was certain that he'd been walking straight and not in some sort of circle. The only other explanation he could think of was that he was on some sort of Má¶bius strip where space-time was curved in on itself. Limping over to one of the bowls he arranged some of the fruit in a pattern on the marble floor. Picking out a spot with his eyes he started moving, paying attention not to wander from his path.
He'd only been walking just a few minutes when right there in front of him was the empty bowl with the fruit in a large cross. Huffing in frustration, he demanded, “Hey! Is anyone here? How do I get out of here?”
“Oh this is just great!” he complained.
Sitting down heavily on the cushions, he massaged his aching ankle a memento of younger more foolish days. Oh yeah, he was wiser now. If so why the hell was he trapped in a bad episode of Strange Stories?
Mike checked out each pool but as far he could see they were all the same. He didn't know if he was going crazy or if he had cursed one time to often. Finally he tried the food and, although different from was he was accustomed to, it wasn’t too bad. He attempted his experiment with leaving again but was no more successful this time than the last.
Frustrated and worried he eventually went to sleep.
“Why! Mortal did they abandon the plan?”
Mike jerked awake with this huge black shape yelling at him! He rolled off the cushions scrambling awkwardly to his feet.
“Oh shit!” he whispered as he saw what had woken him. It stood nearly seven feet tall and was dressed just like those in the murals on the walls. Even a blind man couldn't miss the falcon's head on its shoulders. Just a like a bird it now had one eye cocked at him, demanding answers!
“Why have you not been using the pools to observe and aid your chosen champions’ progress? For what purpose did you change the agreed upon plans?” this impossible creature questioned him.
Mike had a bad feeling about this. As with most gamers, he had a fairly good knowledge of mythology and if he wasn't hallucinating, this was a Egyptian god. “Champions? I don't understand. How would I use pools of water to see anything? Excuse me, but where am I? Who are you? What is this all about?”
“I am Horus. You and your companions agreed to fight for justice and thus they became your Champions.” it said waving a hand over the nearest pool. With a shimmer, a movie like image appeared within its waters.
Mike blinking saw his gamer friends' characters fighting some villains at a shopping mall. It looked as if Mystery, Greg's character was taking a beating repeatedly getting kicked in the face, ouch!
“Yeah those are my guys’ characters alright. Is this part of the game we were supposed to play? Why am I here and where are they?” Mike asked half afraid he knew the answers.
Horus’s great eyes blinked, bird-like, and it pointed into the pool where the small figures were fighting.
Mike looked and winced in pain. “You mean they are their characters? And that pool shows they’re getting their asses handed to them? For real?”
The giant nodded.
Mike swallowed hard, his palm s sweating. “This all some kind of mistake. I don't remember any kind of agreement. We're just ordinary guys play a game, not heroes! We don't know anything about being heroes. Please,” he said, looking at the mirror feeling his gorge rise when he saw Mystery covered in blood, “Undo all of this. Let us go home.”
Horus was impassive. “The agreement was made.”
Still trying to swallow he begged, “You don't understand! They could die!”
“The agreement was made. Their avatars were chosen and placed.”
This just couldn't be happening. All his friends could die down there. Okay let’s calm down here, Mike told himself.
“What can I do to help them?” he asked.
“It is too late. The plan has not been followed and thus has failed.”
“Don't give me that crap. Plans fail all the time. You regroup and start another. What can I do to help my friends?” Mike said as forcefully as he could while wondering if this bird-thing would squash him flat.
It tilted its head upwards as if hearing something from on high. “Yes, plans fail.”
Mike jerked back as the thing leaned over and its cruel falcon's beak came to inches of his face, “Chose an avatar mortal.”
He took a step back after almost soiling himself. “You mean chose a character to become?”
Horus nodded and crossed its mammoth arms signaling finality.
Oh great no pressure here! Just fluking great. No details help him to make a informed choice. Well there's always SuperJock, but he has that damn weakness to Kryptonium. Maybe the Green Ring, but his ring has to be recharged plus it could be taken away. Damn it! The Hammer God is a tough guy, but shit he has his problems too!
Horus crossed its arms. “Choose Mortal”
“Hey, give a guy a chance here will ya?” but somehow Mike didn't think it was listening. Rubbing his temples trying to think, he looked down at his shirt. The yellow lightning bolt on red was of course from the Big Red Cheese, but he'd worn it because he couldn't find one in black with a silver bolt.
The silver on black was the symbol from "The Hero Found" series a urban tale using Arthurian Legends and other classical myths. There were several advantages with Kevin Matchbox “The Hero Found” character. One was: no huge glaring weaknesses or problems. But he was also limited in his powers being a brick strong guy. Too bad he couldn't be a mixture of Merlin, a magic using wizard from the same series. Okay how about Iron Guy? He has a powerful set of armor, and a master inventor too.
“Acceptable” Horus announced as he uncrossed his arms.
“Hey wait a minute! I haven't decided yet,!” Mike protested.
Then suddenly he was airborne! That bastard had thrown him into one the pools. His thought, “Hey why haven't I hit the water yet?” came out as a single scream while the fall seemed to last forever! Then, with a breath-stealing slam, he splashed into the cold waters!
“Next thing I knew, some joggers were pulling me out of the river. One of them drove me to a hospital because I seemed so out of it. I think it was more from dealing with Horus than swallowing any of that river. Then the Gestapo showed up wanting to know how I fell from midair into the river.
“Telling them the truth didn't seem like a good idea so I told them who I was and where I lived. The problem with that was I don't exist here. I explained that the last memory I had was going to buy some comic books, not mentioning the game or my stop-over in Egyptian-Never-Never-Land.”
Looking around at us, he continued, “They didn't like that answer and started playing harder. They brought in this weird woman to see me. I think maybe she was a telepath, but she didn't find whatever they were looking for. Next came the little tricks like messing with the lighting and food.
“I'll admit was getting worried about how far this was going, but then he came in,” Mike pointed at Question. “I him what I told the Gestapo, but he seemed to know you guys. It was great when he came and got me released this morning.”
Mike looked at the Warders. “Thanks for getting me out there. I'm afraid it’s the good news, and bad news thing. The good news are I think we can go home, but the bad is we are going have stop this Syndicate first.”
Question's expression was hidden beneath his mask. “Why tell us all of this when you kept this such a secret earlier? ” his glance including his team mates.
Mike got a pained look. “Well you already knew something about us already and trusted us enough to get me released. There is no way, as it stands, that we have a hope in hell of taking this Syndicate down. We're going to need help and at least you've proved the Warders have an open mind. ”
I cut in. “ULTIMATE has already proven it is more interested in politics then in resolving this. We were hoping for more information, but what Mike has told us has taken some of the doubts out the equation. This Syndicate is reason we're here and is going to have to be dealt with before we can go home.”
Morgan added, “What's more, there may be a lot more to this than anyone suspects, if this Horus is indeed a god. They have the reputation of not getting involved unless the stakes are world altering or worse.”
My empathic sense let me know Question was real unhappy to hear any of this, but he couldn't disagree. His other teammates looked if they’d just stepped in something very unpleasant.
For that matter, my friends didn't seem any too happy about it either. Yes, even Tom. He might be acting like an ass but I still consider the dummy a friend. The worse feelings were coming from Mike; he truly felt he was responsible for us being in this fix.
Question gestured to his compatriots. “Excuse us but we need to have a short conference.”
We watched them step away, and everyone relaxed... well mostly.
Mike turned to me. “Greg, when I realized that it was you I saw covered in blood I almost threw up. Please, I'm sorry about... ”
Both Anza and I smiled. “Mike, like we said, we'll talk about that later. We're fine. What you never said was which avatar you chose.”
Mike beamed. “Well you don't see any red and gold armor do you?”
That lead to us ribbing him about his possible choices which he took good naturally. It felt good to just joke and laugh together like old times. I think we all knew it couldn't last, but that made it all the more precious.
Morgan, smiling ruefully asked, “I suppose its to much to hope for that you've been released with no strings attached?”
Mike shook his head. “I wish! No, I'm in the Warder's custody for now. That means that I'll have stay at their base under a kind of house arrest. That telepath kinda saw a hint of something. She knows more is there, but I believe I hid it from her. Not sure how I did it, but I did it, I think. ”
Shaking his head, he added, “If you'd told me I would be worried about telepaths and the mutant police four days ago I would've think you were crazy or talking about a game. I used to wish that somehow I could become like the heroes I read about. Now that I have it's not as much fun as I thought it would be.”
Mark dragged his ever present cooler outside, and tossed a cold one to Mike. “Be careful what you wish for man. You might get it! ”
That was a sentiment we all earnestly saluted.
A few minutes later the Warders returned and, from what overheard, not all of them were happy with Question's proposal. They were perhaps, how to say it?... Enthusiastic in pointing out what they saw were flaws?
Black Hawk, with his large black wings still ruffled, spoke. “If I thought for a moment there was some other way of doing this I would turn you in to ULTIMATE myself. We’ve already lost one dear friend and have another companion recovering after being half-killed. This is our offer. Enigma? ”
Enigma surprised me when she spoke with a British accent. “Question has an old friend he is planning to ask help train you. Before we agree to this we must, for our own peace of mind witness that you have some ability to defend yourselves. If you can prove that to us, then you'll have your chance. Maybe gods have no qualms over dropping innocents into the deep, but the rest of us want to be able to sleep nights.
Question went off to make his call while the Warders put the rest of us through our paces, again. We spent the rest of the day being tested by the Warders and, trust me, it sucked. For the most part we got humiliated, but there was a few memorable bits of payback.
Enigma had this little 'find me' test. She could quiet literally disappear and even Wolfen couldn't track her scent. Anza had gotten a pissed over the Brit's arrogance. When she'd reappeared Enigma had a pair of bunny ears attached to her cowl. After the laughter had died down and she'd found them she grudgingly gave Anza a pass.
Conductress was even worse because she kept shocking everyone with these cattle prod like jolts. The idea were we was to dodge these, but the bloody things would arc right to you! Morgan, as Lady Diamond walked right up to her as the lightning writhed about her. Turning to stand beside Conductress, she said, “Electricity doesn't do much to me, but I can do this.”
Producing a visible red beam she guided it to a rock and melted it in a flash of light. “So, tell me dear, are you laser proof?”
Of course I got to play with Black Hawk and he flew rings around me. His idea of a test was a game of tag some what like flag football. We had strips of cloth attached to our shoes and took turns trying to snag the other's 'flag.'
What gave me fits was he as so darn fast and accurate he would snatch off my flag before I even knew it. After the third time Cape had enough, it became part of the flag. The next time Black Hawk grabbed the flag he found himself pulling a streamer made of Cape, that acted like a bungee cord and bounced me right at him. I'll admit it was lucky we didn't collide, but not my grabbing his flag on the way by.
I had the giggles for hours at the dumbfounded look on his face wondering what the heck happened! Those however were the exceptions and all of us had a tough time. However, at the end of the day, when all was said and done, they couldn't say we were helpless. They didn't seem to like it, but gave their assent.
No one held a grudge against them, I think. I understood why they needed to know if we had any idea what we were letting ourselves in for. They got an invitation to stay for the grill-out we had planned but they had to leave. Unfortunately that meant Mike had to go with them, so we didn't get that talk we wanted. Speaking for myself it sucked, having just found him, for him to leave so soon. Because of his unchanged appearance, he was a visible talisman of our old lives.
Just to confused things, he said he would speak to us soon. This after Question had seemed unsure of when they could return. Argh, cryptic Game-masters!
That night our mood was a little more upbeat. We'd found Mike and confirmed that yes we did get Shanghaied. Anza and I were both happy to know we hadn't dispossessed anyone from their bodies which meant the ones we had were all ours.
The guys were having a good time and so were us girls. I know I'm including Morgan with the girls even though after the Warder's left he went back to guy mode. His explanation was as far as they knew he was a woman. It was a good way to keep a hole card hidden. Me, I think he just enjoyed being a girl sometimes. As for Anza, she gloried in it while I was still adjusting. No matter how you look at it, this was a massive and unexpected change. Yes it was wonderful but as with a lot things, it took some getting use to.
Mark had managed to get a better handle on his uber-nose and wasn't sniffing up Anza's skirt anymore even if he did indicate he was still interested. Tom, well, was Tom. He obviously still disapproved of our relationship, but had stopped bad mouthing us about it. Good natured Will seemed to be enjoying himself and had become our resident peacemaker.
Which brings me to the other burning question Anza and I had. Could we stay like this even after whatever happened with this Syndicate mess? Was this an all or nothing deal about going home? For that matter, we weren't even sure who, if anyone wanted to stay besides us. Actually, asking if anyone wanted to stay implied we liked what had happened to us. While true, it could open up Tom's nasty box of comments again. With that in mind both of us decided to wait for a better time.
Remembering my mystery guest from the night before, I picked out few pieces of leftovers and made a plate, placing it in the conference room. I covered the plate with foil to protect it but also to see if anyone got into it. All of this I did on the sly, not wanting to answer unwanted questions. With that done, it was off to bed, if not sleep. There were a lot of things about being a girl I still didn’t know and Anza was determined I learn them all!
As the wall rose, the figure cautiously moved to the tantalizing plate with all those wonderful scents. Hesitating, thinking it could be a trap, it slowly investigated the plate of food. It took the plate and removing the foil, scooping up the food and putting it in a worn chipped bowl. It then took the paper plate and foil and dumped them in the trash in the kitchen. With luck they'll think one of the others took it.
Trembling a little it'd been a long time since it'd been so close to discovery. The ones with long hair reminded it of Nurse but it dared not take the chance. Dealing with others was dangerous. It was best to hide until they left. Scampering back to the other side of the wall, the secret door close whisper quiet behind it.
The next morning I got a surprise when I woke up!
“Good morning, I wondered how long you two were going sleep.”
Grabbing at the edge of the sleeping bag to cover myself and Anza I found we'd been covered with a sheet that hadn‘t been there the night before. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I found, Mike.
“What are you doing here?” I asked still groggy from sleep.
“You said you two wanted to talk, it sounded important, so here I am,” he said in a matter of fact way.
Anza muttered, “Who are you talking to?”
Not taking my eyes from him, I answered, “There is a man in our room and we're still dressed for play, baby.”
Now that woke her up better than a cup of coffee could! If you are wondering what ‘dressed for play’ meant... I am not going to tell you. Go fish!
Her eyes flew open and she was ready to give a migraine to their intruder, they would never forget. “Mike?” she asked confused, “What the hell are you doing in our bedroom?”
Mike smiled. “I'm guessing this is part of what you wanted to tell me? It's okay, you did surprise me, but when I saw your connection, I figured it out. If I can hazard a guess, you two don't want to change back? ”
Anza was not her best first thing in the morning. “What the hell are you talking about? And what’s it to you if we don't? And, while we're at, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN OUR ROOM?” she demanded screaming.
“Easy love, we wanted to talk to him. And since he's at least talked to what brought us here he might know more than he's told everyone else.” I tried to calm her.
He spread his large hands. “I'm sorry about this but right now I don't want anyone else to know I'm here. Ask me what you need to know and I'll tell you if I can.”
My ears was still ringing from my lover's angry retort when I asked, “Don't you think it's a little late for that? Maybe no one heard that in New Riverside, but I wouldn't place any bets.”
“Actually no one did. I've got a barrier up around us. If anyone looks in here all they will see is two young women asleep,” Mike said pleased with himself.
Anza still out of sorts shot back, “I thought you said you didn't get any superpowers?”
Mike smiled. “I said I didn't receive any red and gold powered armor. You could say I found the ‘Hero within’, so to speak. ”
Anza looked to me. “You're the comic fan. What is he talking about? ”
Meeting his eyes I explained, “The Hero Found” was a very artsy series about a modern day Champion using Arthurian legends. The Hero was always wearing this t-shirt with this lightning bolt on it,” gesturing at what he was wearing.
Mike, smiling, gave me nod-like bow.
“Anyways he was mostly a brick but had a baseball bat instead of a sword, in keeping with the urban fantasy theme. He also had an incarnation of Merlin as an advisor, as well as a group of oddballs that was kinda like the Knights of the Round Table,” I explained.
“Since, I as far as I know the Hero couldn't do magic… You're Merlin?” I asked as Anza was TKing her clothes to her. Duh! I had forgotten about Cape. Mentally, I asked, “Some clothes please.”
“Well there's a story here. I wanted something so I could help you guys but I also wanted to be loaded for bear if it came to that. The Hero was one tough strong guy but lacked any real support ability. Merlin had that ability, but had a glass jaw. That's why I was considering Iron Guy because he could do both.”
Mike sighed. “Horus took it out of my hands. I seem to be a mixture of the Hero and Merlin. Before you get jealous, what powers I do have don't seem to work all the time. Only when I need them like when that telepath tried to read my mind, or when they didn't work when I fell into the river. ”
A dressed calmer Anza said, “Okay, I'll bite. Can Misty and I stay even after this is all over assuming we don't die?”
“Honesty I don't know. Horus kept bringing up some contract and I don't have the slightest idea what he was talking about.” Mike confessed.
Anza and I traded a look, while I told him, “That part we figured out. We think it was the software use agreement. It had what I thought was this humorous bit tacked on about agreeing to be Heroes of Justice and aiding others in the fight for truth, justice, and etc. I don't recall anything about a time limit or a release clause. Morgan may remember more because of his eidetic memory.”
Mike, running his hands though his thinning hair said, “I got the feeling that Horus felt he had too much invested in this plan and avatar thing with you guys. It is possible, if we can get ourselves out of this mess we can renegotiate because we didn't understand the terms. Before anything else though, beating this syndicate is the first thing we need to do.
So you're not sore at me for all of this? You know getting you turned into girls and everything?”
I got a flash of what Anza intended and joined her when she leaned over and we gave him a peck on each cheek.
While he was busy blushing I said, “Defeating them isn't going to be easy. It took all of us to put Big Red down. Even if you figure in that we only half-knew what we were doing, it still means they are pretty tough and not at all afraid to use lethal force.”
“Question has been playing this trainer thing very close to his chest. It's like watching an old cold war movie with his “need-to-know” security. Even the rest of the team who didn't meet you, don't know the details. I don't know if he doesn't trust them or it is just more security measures.” Mike said.
“Some training is better than none,” I pointed out. “What we can't overlook are our character's skills and combat experiences are harder for us to access than our powers. It could be this mysterious trainer of Question will help us unlock them. If so, that could make all the difference in the world.”
He cocked his head, as if hearing something. “Okay guys I need to split.”
Looking down her nose, Anza corrected him, “Don't you mean girls?”
Her question he dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Nah, girls, guys, you’re still my friends. Ciao!” He stepped into a greenish disk that suddenly appeared and was gone.
Giggling, I remarked, “That's good news I think!”
Still disgruntled, Anza snorted, “The next time he barges into our room, I'm going give him a pain he's never going to forget!”
A beating at the door startled us, as a half dressed Will slammed open our door! “There's another plane coming in! Didn't you hear the warning?”
Mutely we shook our heads, but I was not even sure he saw as he rushed off. Our door swung open still locked but the entire door jam was splintered where he forced it. Anza just lowered her lovely head in hopeless resignation of getting any privacy. Well at least we were already dressed. Well, almost anyways. I had to explain to Cape that stilettos and a mini skirt were not proper attire for early morning outings in quarries.
With Mike and his magic barrier thing gone, our phones came alive with Reid's warning. “Small aircraft approaching. Call sign Mike Victor. Security codes received and robot-sentries have stood down.”
We met the others, who were already outside. Since they had all run out half-dressed, we gave them a little extra time to finish. All eyes were turned to the skies where a small saucer shape circled the quarry. I heard the distinctive sounds of turboprops so that ruled out any little green men.
Looking upwards Morgan asked me, “Misty don’t tell me that’s what I think it is.”
“Okay... I won’t tell you that it looks like a World War II era Vought XF-5 known as the Flying FlapJack. On our world, they never even made a test flight, but apparently here things happened differently. Back home they were supposed to use piston engines but I hear turboprops. Plus I think I see some kind of weapon blister on the underside of this one. That would more than likely be twenty- or maybe even thirty-millimeter cannons. It’ll be very bad news for anything flying that's not at least post 1950's military. It is also STOL. That’s Short Take Off and Landing,” I added for Anza’s sake.
Feeling uncomfortable, I looked around and saw everyone staring at me. “What? I'm an amateur military historian alright?”
You know it is bad when you out geek the geeks, geez!
Just as I expected, the pilot after making a few passes to eyeball our running track, raceway cum, runway brought the bright silver aluminum finished warbird floating in to land lightly with a very short roll. Being a history nut, I was fascinated with this impossible aircraft, but that was nothing compared to the pilot.
He slid off the rear of the aircraft, still wearing a Korean War era flight helmet. Like most helmets of the time, it was colorfully painted. His had a large red “V” on the front. His flight suit looked to be from the same time period.
Opening a storage panel, he pulled out a duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. Looking about he saw our group and started towards us.
As he got closer, I could see he was about the same height and build as Mark, which would make him 6'4”. The other thing was he was glowing! He was wearing a major's insignia and had a red “V” patch on his shoulder just like the one on his flight helmet.
Our mystery major dropped his duffel and took off his helmet. Geez! Sandy-haired and gray-eyed, he could pass for a recruiting poster for either side of the Atlantic during WWII.
While we were checking him out, he was inspecting us with a critical eye. He held out his hand to Will. “I'm known as Major Victory. We have mutual acquaintance who has asked me to help keep you alive. The Question called in a marker and so here we are.”
Will was surprised, because we all kinda looked to Morgan as our leader. The thing was Morgan was in her secret ID girl mode. Evidently, an old fashion kind of guy, he decided the largest male was the leader.
Anza rolled her eyes at what I am sure she thought as his ancient dinosaur like behavior.
Morgan did not think much of it either. “I'm Lady Diamond. What inquiring minds want to know is this glow of yours dangerous in any way? Most of us are pretty tough but not invulnerable.”
Major Victory gave us an actual bow. “Ladies, what you are calling my 'glow' isn't dangerous. It is the opposite actually. It is the visible manifestation of my bio-energy field and rather than harm, it heals and energizes.”
Putting his helmet down upon the table, he cleared his throat, “This is as good a time as any to tell you about myself.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I haven't decided whether or not to accept this position yet. Call this a mutual interview, if you will. My powers as some call them are those of extreme strength and durability. I am much older than I look and have outlived all my contemporaries.”
“I was born in 1894 and fought in the Great War. Afterwards I became what some would call an adventurer and I got involved with stopping the notorious Professor Sinistral's various schemes in the mid-1920's. To make a long story short as revenge he captured me and used me a guinea pig in one of his amoral experiments. Rather than stealing my life force to re-energize his own as he intended, he somehow made me a converter. By this, I mean I take ambient energy in the form of heat, light, and other forms of radiation and turn it into a kind of biological or life energy. ”
An old pain flickered across his face. “For three years I was imprisoned and used by him to lengthen his own life until in his greed he sought to leech even more bio-energy from me. You see whenever I'm exposed to too much energy and am injured some of my bio-energy goes to heal myself. That increases my overall capacity. Wanting more and more the old madman caused me grievous harm. It drove him insane that each time, I became what he desired. After each episode, I was stronger and healthier despite what his fiendish machines could steal from me.
“To this day, I don't know what tortures he inflicted on me that last day. Time was running out for him. My companions had been searching for me for all those long years and were closing in on him. I remember hearing the sounds of battle as they uncovered his hidden lair. The rest was lost in pain so great that I've lost the memory of what occurred next.”
“When I came to, I was lying in the wreckage of his lab with my friends fresh from battle around me. Professor's Sinistral was nowhere to be found and in all these years since, he has never reappeared. I went from adventurer to masked crime fighter. When World War II started, I fought for the Allies as Major Victory, the commander of an elite team of commandos in the European theater and later in the Pacific during the invasion of Japan. After the Korean conflict, I tendered my resignation in protest of Senator's McCarthy's Witch-hunts. ”
Meeting each of our eyes one by one, he said in a low voice. “I've seen dear friends die in some of the most horrible ways imaginable, but the direst of them all is time. To see their strength and vitality stolen from them while I remain hale is a worse torment than any the dear professor inflicted upon my flesh. More terrible is the theft of their wits and to see their envy and hate of me, who still has everything they have lost.”
“I retired from saving the world and the people in it. I live alone and tinker with my hobbies from my youth. The only reason I'm here is because of a promise to a dear friend. Now it is time you tell me your story,” He said resting on the edge of the picnic table.
We all looked at each other, but hyperactive Tom, tired of waiting began first. The Major asked each of us our own version for what happened and asked a few careful questions of us. It was obvious to me that he had a lot of experience as a de-briefer as well as an interrogator. The best ones are always the ones that could get what they want from you with a smile and hand shake.
It did take a while for everyone to have their turn and I noticed he seemed very interested in our second hand account of Mike's journey and his meeting with Horus.
He paused after we had finished. “A most unusual adventure you have shared and a challenge to cause even the bravest to falter. Do not take this Syndicate lightly. What little dealings I've had with those who style themselves gods have taught me they see reality very differently than we do. For them to gift their champions as you have been, would suggest a great and dire danger.”
“The gifts you've received are challenges in and of themselves. Not only do you have to defeat this enemy, but before you do you have to master yourselves as well. You've each been transformed into different people from whom you are all unaccustomed to interacting with. Some of you have changed radically and that is going to be a challenge for all of you.” He paused and looked at each of us in turn. I felt his gray eyes boring into me.
Just then as if planned Tom and Will's stomachs gave out a loud 'grumble.' Everyone laugh as the two of them looked suitably embarrassed.
Major Victory laughing along with the rest of us said with a big smile, “But it is still early and obviously you haven't eaten yet. Let me suggest we break to eat?”
With this bunch of chowhounds, everyone readily agreed. I suspected he had other motives; he never said if he was going to help us or not. However, I put those thoughts aside for the moment. It did not take long for us to fix up breakfast and soon we were all munching down. Major Victory finished before us and making excuses that he needed to see to servicing his aircraft left us alone.
Everyone started talking at once, even Tom who still had a mouthful of third helpings.
"This burnout is suppose help us? Give me a break!" Tom said almost understandably. "I've seen dear friends die," He mocked.
Will shook his in disagreement, "Are you kidding? This guy is like Captain Patriot, Indiana Smith, and Doc Ferocious all wind up together. He's got to know tons of stuff that's ass-kicking."
Anza looked as if she was eating lemons as she agreed with Tom. "I hate to agree with you, but he is so old fashioned he's an antique. Just look at the way he ignored us girls and assumed this big dope spoke for us."
Morgan shook her head and sighed, "I know how you feel Anza, but he's the only game in town. At least part of the reason Question dragged him out of retirement is because he's off the radar. Unless there is a really serious problem I think we're struck with him."
Keeping quite for once, I caught Mark's attention who had also been keeping silent. He just shrugged and forked over the last of the flapjacks onto his plate.
Even though I wanted to say something, I held my tongue because I had noticed that at no time had Major Victory said he was going to help us. When the rest of the gang started drifting off, I decided to hunt down him and put him to the question.
He was just where he said he was going to be, at his aircraft. When he saw me approaching, he met me halfway and sat down on the tailgate of a pick-up truck used as part of the over-sized weightlifting gear.
I asked him, “So have you talked yourself out of helping us or is that taking a little more time than expected?”
Meeting my eyes, his gray ones were as hard as stones. “Why would you say that? I could be just weighting the pros and cons and have yet to make a decision. ”
I shrugged. “You told us yourself, if not in so many words.”
Raising a brow, he gestured at me to sit and continue.
“Nearly all your life you've been put in harm's way,” I explained. “Two world-wars and you hinted at other conflicts you've been a part of. Though all of them, you've survived, but you've seen those you've known and cared about come to harm and worse. If that wasn't enough, now the ones that have survived are falling to the one foe we all yield to in the end. All but you, perhaps.”
I wondered at what point he was going to get mad and stalk away. “If you had decided not to help us, I think you would already be gone. I think you want to aid us, but you've been hurt too many times by the deaths of those you care about. Now you are wondering if we're going to hurt you too.”
“I can't claim we’re not going to. As you pointed out we have all changed and some of us are taking those changes better than others. What I do know is, with or without your help, we'll try. You know better than us if you could give us a better chance to succeed or not. Besides, it will give you a better chance to meet those gods you were so careful not to show too much interest in,” I tried to smile.
The veteran smiled back and I felt the warmth of his 'glow.' All I can say it's a damn good thing I was head over heels in love with Anza. This guy was dangerous and this was from me, who had no interest at all in males!
“You see a lot Miss and out of politeness, I won't say you're wrong. I must admit I would rather not be involved in this. While I have out-lived many of my enemies, there are still a few who would love to have a shot at me. At my island home, all have been content to leave me to my peace, but now if I reentered the world I fear that peace will end. I knew Question would never ask me for something like this if he had any choice.”
“This entire situation is atypical. Other criminal, so-called ‘masterminds’ have come and gone, but this one has been very secretive about his identity — if it is even a he. His enforcers are very powerful and well trained. Some have a past history while others seemingly appear out nowhere. To add to the chaos there are a growing number of mercenaries who keep showing up like the one whose, hmmm... wardrobe you altered. ”
I do not know how he’d found out that it had been me but I am sure my blushing gave me away.
After a pause and clearing his throat, he went on. “The Warders were a fairly large team with six full time members with two more on reserve status. That is enough in most cities to handle the majority of problems. Now one has been killed while another is hospitalized. Most criminals know killing a cop or hero is just a bad thing, but these don't care.”
“The original intent for ULTIMATE was for them to provide resources for problems local law enforcement resources were unable to solve or handle. Here the bureaucrats are unwilling to admit they have lost control and instead are holding back assistance and making the situation worse. Now here you are, proof that there is more to this whole thing than any of us suspect.”
“In the past I've fought desperate odds to save the world from one mad man or another, but all this is telling me something really bad is getting ready to happen.”
The old hero sighed. “I may have buried my head in the sand for the past couple of years, but now that I know this, I cannot sit back and do nothing. Yes, I will help you, Gawd help us all,” he prayed.
I closed my eyes, said a silent prayer of thanks as well and replied, “I won't say thank you. If it is going to be as bad it sounds, just surviving may be thanks enough. I do have a question for you about your past if you don't mind me asking? ”
He smiled and replied, “You may ask.”
Taking a deep breath I asked, “In my world, World War Two ended when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That didn't happen here?”
A slow shake of his head the veteran answered, "Yes and No. If Little Boy and Fat Man ended the War for your world, there are indeed big differences between our homes. If you will excuse me, I will not answer in detail but I will suggest a book for you to read, fair enough? “The Day the Seas Burned: The Story of Operation Downfall”
I nodded. “More than fair. Your plane was the first clue the past here was different. In my world it never made it beyond the prototype stage, here obviously it went into production. Can you tell me about it? ”
This time he ginned. “Hasn't anyone ever warned you of asking a Hobbyist about his passion? Given the chance I'll talk pass all safe reason. Fifi is a F8U-1 Dragonfly a development of the F5U Flapjack with turboprops and limited tilt-rotor ability. They were outstanding fighters, but really shined in close air support with their low stall speed and maneuverability. This one I restored myself. It’s my favorite aircraft of my collection.”
Being a gaming geek, I understood all too well about talking someone's ear off about a passion. “I will see about getting that book. Thank you. ”
He got up first and extended a hand to help me. Not used to being treated like a lady, I hesitated at first, but biting the bullet, did take his hand. If I'd thought seeing that 'glow' of his was an experience, physical contact set my libido at ‘ludicrous speed’, well on it's way to plaid — to quote a space movie spoof!
Smiling Major Victory pointed out, “You do better than you think, letting the world believe what it will, but there are still a few rough edges. When a man offers you assistance simply accept it. Although in this modern world many wouldn't think twice about it thinking you were just independent minded.”
Hoping not to reveal just what he was doing to me, I tried to keep my mind off of it. Cape, however was having none of it. I swear the damn thing was purring, the traitor! Of course, I should have known he would have noticed Anza and I being changelings. “How did you know?”
Helping me up he replied, “Let me just say that you and your companion aren't the first I've met who have changed their forms, voluntarily or not. Shape shifters, body jumpers, and even magical spells and curses are not new here in my world. Perhaps not common, but they do happen.”
Hoping this was not a deal breaker, I asked nervously “This doesn't bother you.”
Major Victory replied shaking his head no, “Some of the finest men and women I've ever known had... ‘peculiarities’, if you would, that weren't acceptable by society at large. You and your companion seem happy and are adjusting to your new lives. Who am I to condemn someone else's happiness when it harms no one?”
Walking back to my friends, I was very aware of his hand on my arm. If they only knew what it was doing to me! I could not miss how everyone was eying him walking with me, Crap! Closing my eyes, I could feel Anza's ... jealousy? Damn! I really do not need this. 'Please' I thought, 'Anza you have my love and you know what lies within my heart. Believe that and not what you think your eyes see.'
That is when I heard a beeping. Wondering if Anza had gotten mad enough at me to blow me up, I opened my eyes and looked around, only to find it was Major Victory's wristwatch.
“Excuse me Miss Mystery, I have a call I have to take,” he explained and walked off talking into his watch.
Watch, I wonder if it has a TV too. Calling Richard Tracey, Calling Richard Tracey! Please, a little humor here. I think we were thinking, hey, fight a few bad guys, put ‘em in jail and then it is time for a cold one, Right?
Nooo..., that would be too easy. Now we are mixed up with interfering gods and mysterious masterminds who do not think twice about a little murder on the side. And whom do we have on our side? A super-team that has already lost two members, and a burned out hero from WWII. Oh and let us not forget the government that was trying to spin this thing to the public for the upcoming election. This was just getting better and better!
Reaching our designated meeting area, the picnic table by the grill, I saw Tom smirking at Anza. I had a funny feeling that if I knew why, I would have to hurt him, Hard and Repeatedly. She looked, maybe not angry but “put out” would be high on the list. I decided humor would be my best bet to ease her worries, but before I could start, I got interrupted.
Tom drawled out nastily, “Hey Mistiii, You get tired of playing with the fagot and wanted to see what a real man was like?”
I stopped with a look of disbelief on my face not believing what I had just heard. Glancing at Anza I now had a good idea what he had been smirking at, the poisonous little weasel.
Cape had been keeping a low profile after bathing in Major Victory's 'glow', but in a flash, a sexy but practical leather outfit replaced my casual clothing. From fingerless sap gloves to the steel toe reinforced boots, Cape made its own suggestion on how to deal with him.
“Tom I should've known you had been saving this up. I wanted to ask Major Victory some questions concerning us. And in case you've forgotten, I'm a history geek. He mentioned an invasion of Japan. I wanted to know more about that and his plane,” I said taking nice slow deep breaths.
“Yeah I can see you finding out all about his 'plane', walking back arm in arm,” he snickered with a nasty glint in his eyes.
All right. That was it. I was going to kick his ass! He was damn fast, but I had already oxygenated myself the same way swimmers do before diving. Just one, all-out blow... All I had to do was keep from telegraphing my intent to him. One, two...
“If you want to know what the young lady and I were discussing, perhaps you should ask me?” a deep voice said tonelessly.
A little voice rang, Oh Shit. How did Major Victory get all the way over here so fast? I recognized his manner not as something calming but as a preamble to something bad.
“I was taught manners and to respect ladies,” he continued. “Part of that is to help one to her feet and, yes, walk with her. If you're going to imply Miss Mystery isn't a woman or a lady... I already know all of you have experienced major changes in appearance. I'm certain that any doctor, upon an examination would agree with me. However if that doesn't answer your concerns, I was also taught it was a gentlemanly duty to defend a lady's honor.”
The large veteran stood loose and easy. Despite my wanting to split Tom's fat lip, I felt a cold shiver go through me for my friend. This guy has had a century of learning mayhem. Like an old character from the heyday of comics, who was also a WWII veteran. Captain Patriot kicked butt and took names of a slew of more powerful characters with just pure skill and cunning.
Tom seemed to have forgotten that bit of comic book trivia. “Defend a pair of homos who look like lezzie bitches? The slut was flirting with you and then she came over here and went all dominatrix when told the truth! ”
That made Anza so angry, she forgot whatever jealousy she was feeling about Major V. and me I felt her reaction though our link. Cape started peppering my outfit with spikes and, mad though I was, damn it, I still thought of the shithead as a friend. Anza having TK and being a trained nurse could muck up his day in so many ways I could not even begin to count the ways! What be your pleasure, heart attack or maybe a stroke? Just squeeze an artery here, or pinch this muscle there and it's hello ICU.
Major Victory, aware of her anger, surprised Anza by taking her hand. “Miss I can assure I had no intentions towards your companion. I respect your relationship and if I gave you the wrong impression please forgive me. I am a student of an older school of behavior.” His manners... He did the Gary Crant better than even Gary did, and that is saying something sister!
Okay. Let us see how you like it, I thought as I felt Anza's quiver though our bond. If they could bottle that 'glow' of his, women across the world would be smiling.
Turning to Tom, Major Victory addressed him formally, “I accept your challenge. Name your terms.”
Hesitating Tom answered, “I don't know.”
“Might I suggest a boxing or wrestling like ring? Whoever is thrown from it first loses?” The old hero offered.
Tom rubbed his chin in thought. “That'll sounds like that would work, but where would we get a ring from?”
With a flourish, he waved at us. “If these ladies would ask one of the caretaker machines I sure they can come up with something suitable. However, I warn you if I am the victor, I will require an apology from you on their behalf. ”
“And if I win?” Tom asked.
“Oh, in that case feel free to insult them as much as you like. Personally, I think that would be an outstandingly bad idea because no matter what they started life off as, right now they are women and as such have long memories of wrongs done them. Also, remember this: you’ll have to count on both of them to help keep you alive in the coming months. But it is your choice after all.”
He clapped his hands briskly together and, in a complete change of mood, added cheerfully, “Say we begin in an hour? That should give our meals time to settle.”
Poor Tom nodded as he began to see that just maybe his mouth had gotten him into some deep doo-doo. “Yeah an hour.”
Anza and I walked off towards one of the robots who were still tending the Major's aircraft.
“Isn't that better than any hot tub you ever read about?” I asked her teasingly.
“Hot tub? Huh ..,” She asked still dazed.
“You know all the TG fiction stories and how they write of how good a hot tub can hit your G-spot? How do you feel now that HE gave you that whammy? Still jealous and angry at me?” I poked at her.
“Was that his bio-energy whatsit? Damn it girl, I don't even like the old fossil, but I thought about jumping him!” She said trying to keep her voice down.
I giggled, “I couldn't have removed his arm while we walked over if I tried!”
Anza giggled back. “You think he knows what's he doing?”
I nodded. “Poor Tom! He just doesn't know what he's getting himself into. ”
“Poor Tom, my ass!” Anza spat. “I used to think he was an okay kind of guy. A bit too much of a smart-ass maybe, but okay. Now I hope he gets pounded!”
“Tsk, tsk, Anza it's going to be much worse than that!” I told her. “Our old fossil, as you called him, has a bio-energy field remember? What do you bet that it has a similar effect on males, too? It might be more intense for us girls but I’d wager...”
She blinked her big dark eyes. “Oh My. You mean he'll... ”
I nodded again. “Yep, that’s exactly what I mean. So what’ll you wager? ”
Anza stopped doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down her face. “You mean Mr. Homophobe is going to ...”
Grinning I said, “Yep that’s exactly what I think is going to happen. So are you going to bet or not?”
Anza smiled. “The traditional one dollar works for me. He isn't worth anything more.”
I scolded her. “Now be kind. I was hoping he’d get over this, but now I don't know. Please let’s not escalate this okay? ”
Kissing me on the cheek she said, “You're a better friend than he deserves. All right. But if he tries undermining our relationship again, he gets everything that’s coming to him.”
After we told Robo-Don King to set up a ring for the bout, Anza whispered some suggestions on how to spend the next hour. It is true the best part about having a lover’s quarrel is the making up. No, I am not going to tell you, if you cannot figure it out for yourselves!
An hour later, okay, maybe it was over an hour, how time flies when you are having fun, sure enough Huey, Dewy, and Louie, the robotic helpers, had set up a boxing ring. Mark and Will had even found a bell from somewhere. As we walked up, they were flipping a coin to decide who would manage it.
They did not have any silk robes on, but still our fighters made their appearance. Tom had on his usual t-shirt and shorts.
Major Victory had found a pair of shorts, but had elected to do without his shirt. Not to belabor the fact, but he was built like a Greek god. Before, I did not think his supercharging my and Anza's libidos was deliberate, but this showing off his torso was making me wonder.
Morgan, as one of our fellow spectators, came dragging a chair with her.
Anza, being a friendly sort, caught it and two more in her telekinesis and brought them to us. Settling ourselves down as the boys sorted themselves, I asked Morgan, “Does this seem more stupid as girl than a boy?” waving my hand at the men folk deciding how long a 'round' was going to be.
Morgan who had the foresight to bring something cold to drink with her, swallowed. “That’s an interesting question. In this case, I would have to say, no. I can't imagine how this could seem anymore ridiculous.”
She sighed. “I really thought Tom had worked his way past the worst of it and then this... Tell me did he really call you two bitches and sluts? ”
Anza nodded, her dark complexion even darker with anger. “Yes he did. After we finished eating, Misty went to talk to the Major. When the two of them came walking back they were arm in arm and it was clear she was enjoying herself. ” Waving her hand at my breasts, she said to me, “Even a bra and t-shirt can't hide your ... hmmm indicators dear.”
Blushing, I blurted out, “I didn't know!”
Morgan raised one eyebrow, but did not say anything.
Anza continued, “Well Tom brought it to my attention and I must admit I felt a little jealous. Yes, I know we're linked and all I needed to do was just listen mentally. But damn it, you should have seen how it looked,” she said, still a little angry.
I shrugged helplessly. “Well, Major V. has this cell phone widget in his wristwatch that rang and he had to answer. After I got back to Tom and Anza, Tom started in with his nasty potty mouth. Both Anza and I were ready to kick his butt, but then out of nowhere the Major showed up.” I said.
“The next thing we knew, they were talking about duels, fights, and boxing rings.” Anza finished for me.
Morgan shook her auburn head. “All this was started by you and him walking arm in arm? What's up with that? I thought you didn't like men that way,” she accused me.
Anza and I traded looks as I warned, “Morgan, a very important safety tip, do not let him touch you.”
“I know I'm going to regret this, but why?” she asked.
Anza said, “I’ll take this one. What is one of life's most imperative demands after breathing and eating?”
“Reproduction comes to mind. Why?” Morgan asked with a raised eyebrow.
Grinning, Anza explained, “Because our dear Major Victory has some sort of energy field about him that stimulates biological activities such as healing, general wellness and at a guess...” She let it hang there.
Morgan was frozen, as her brain was busy working it's way though that thought.
A little evilly, I added, “So unless you want to know a whole lot more about being a woman it wouldn‘t be a good idea to get too touchy-feelie with him.”
We all giggled as we got a blush from Morgan, causing the boys to pause in their rules making to wonder what we were up to now.
As always, her brain was racing, seeing the possibilities. “But if that is so... and Tom... and he grapples won't he... ”
Together Anza and I chimed in together, “Yes!”
Shaking her head at us, she admonished, “Horus, or whoever did this to us, had no idea what it unleashed on the poor universe when it remade you two into women. Tom doesn't know any of this does he?”
Anza shook her head. “No we don't think so. Frankly at this point, neither of us cares. He went way too far this time. Misty and I are still new at this girl thing, to say nothing of being lovers. We are apt to have our little disagreements as we work things out. Tom was actively trying to make me think the worst of her tying to break us up. That pisses me off.”
Morgan disagreed. “Anza, Misty, I understand you being upset at Tom. Hell, he makes me mad too, but for someone who seems so homophobic being aroused at the touch of another man could be quite traumatic.”
Looking at Anza, I made up my mind. “You have my permission to end this if you can. However, both of us were wronged in this. What do you say Anza? ”
“Okay, but only because I don't think you'll be able to talk Blocky Ralboa or El Capitan Americana out of their testosterone induced bawl,” she said, not one bit contrite.
Morgan got up and went over to them just as they were climbing into the ring. I must admit I think she handled it well. She acted like the third-party in duels of old; asking if there were no way this affair could be settled in another fashion.
Of course, they both declined. She then asked the Major if she could impart information to his opponent that might influence his decision to stay and fight. Pleased at the old-fashion protocols, he magnanimously gave his permission with a nod.
Morgan went over to talk to Tom, but drat, we could not hear what they were saying. Whatever it was did not work for he was determined to stay. Disgusted, she left the ring and came back to rejoined us.
“Okay maybe this does seem to be even more idiotic when I’m female rather than male,” she snorted.
Okay, the long and short here is, I am not a fight commentator and could not describe half of what I saw anyways, but here is the short version.
Tom was smaller, lighter and fast so he made the first moves with a fury of punches and kicks. The Major took most of this in a traditional boxing stance, using his hands and arms to protect himself, while stepping aside from anything that could hit hard enough to hurt.
It soon became clear he was letting Tom tire himself out. To give Tom credit he must have had some sort of Taekwondo or similar training. Could be he was just further along than most of us towards unlocking the combat skills we had. Not that it did him a whole lot of good. Seeing how striking did not work, he tried use throws and leg sweeps, but the Major just turned them back on him.
What we did notice was that, just as we thought it would, any contact with Major, 'I've got a glow', Victory caused Tom to, pardon the pun, grow. His cotton shorts did not conceal it and it caused Tom to go almost berserk. He abandoned using any type of tactics and just whaled on the Major who skillfully avoided most of his insane onslaught.
It ended with Tom lying exhausted on the mat.
The Major knelt next to him and what went on between them; I would have given a lot to know. Finished, he stood up and addressed the rest of us. “You've seen some of what I can do. I'm sorry about any misunderstandings, but believe me when I say that you have to resolve any ill will between you. Each of your lives will depend on the actions of your comrades. I know this is hard for you, but you also have a potential I'm willing to help you discover, if you will let me. I prefer the easy way, but if this is what it takes, so be it. Please let me know your decision by the morning. Ladies, Gentlemen,” he bowed his head and left.
Morgan thoughtfully watched him leave. “That was a suckers bet. He had his shirt off to adsorb the sunlight for his bio-energy field. He must've had an idea Tom would behave like this.”
I half wanted to help Tom, but his stinging words still hurt too much. Mark and Will saved me from feeling guilty about it by climbing in and helping him.
“So what do you think? Should we accept his offer?” Anza asked.
“I don't see where we have any other choice. The Warders conditions included being trained by him, and if we don't agree we could end up on the run from the good and bad guys,” I said.
Morgan nodded in agreement. “No we don't have a choice, so yes, we accept his offer. I don't know what to do about Tom. Maybe the Major has some idea. I don't think it's your relationship, so much as the idea you both used to be guys, that is his problem.”
While we were discussing out future, Tom recovered enough to come over to us. “He won. Danny and Greg, I apologize for my comments. The two of you aren’t Misty and Esperanza, and I‘m not Streeter. We are who we have always been. What you two are doing is wrong, but I shouldn't have said what I did.”
He turned and walked away.
Anza gave his back a disapproving stare. “Apology accepted, I think.”
“Somehow I don't think this is over yet,” sighed Morgan.
Feeling dejected and hurt, I just wanted my old friend back. “You think? Tom just can't see pass the forms we had before. The problem was they weren't us! ” Waving my hands indicating Anza and myself I said, “This still isn't who we really are, but it is much, much closer.”
Anza purred, “Oh, I think I could learn to make do!”
We saw the guys clustering about the picnic table where Mark had dragged out his trusty drink cooler. He was passing out cold ones and damn didn't that seem like a good idea. I don't care for alcohol, but given the events of the past few days I was willing to make an exception.
“Well, girls now that we've decided what to do shall we go over there and let them know?” Morgan waved a hand over at the boys.”
Giggling in stereo, Anza and I chimed, “Lets!”
Laughing in mutual agreement, we went to claim our share of the refreshments and pass down our proclamation. It was not that easy, mind you. Tom and Mark did not much care for the military and it was certain the Major would use that style of teaching. For that matter Anza and Will weren't all that thrilled with the notion either.
Morgan and I having been there and done that knew how tough this could end up being. Necessary perhaps but still unpleasant like whenever you are pushed pass your limits to another plateau. We were being shoved out of our comfort zones like baby chicks out of their nest over a river full of crocodiles. It did not matter that we knew it had to happen and perhaps even wanted it. Accepting Major Victory’s offer was a commitment unlike anything most of us had ever faced before. Like with all such changes it was not easy but we faced it together as friends. We might have argued most of the afternoon and emptied out Mark’s cooler but that was all for forms sake. In our hearts, we had already agreed to accept the Major's offer of educating us in the way of the hero.
The small figure was torn between fear of even more strangers and the wonderful food. Never had it had such a feast even in the before-time, when Nurse had taken care of it. Being a Defective meant the perfect ones received the best food and attention. Looking at its small stomach now round from the recent banquets, a rumble from it sorely tempted it to continue. The one who had seen it had not sounded the alarm and with its long hair reminded it of Nurse. Remembering how everyone else treated it badly but her made it finally decide to take the risk. She would continue to venture out rather than hide in the down-below.
End of Heroes of Justice: Part II
Comments
Heroes of Justice
Hey everyone!
I finally got the next part finished. Hopefully most of the grammar errors has been corrected and I like to stress that the ones that sneaked by are all my fault. This Part doesn't have a lot of action but the remaining ones will. It was hard getting this one out because of the high praise that Part one got. I started second guessing and doubting myself which took some willpower to get though. Once I started having fun again I think this turned out the way I intended from the start. I have to thank Jamie Lou again for her very comprehensive proofing. Also I have to thank Catherine Linda for her pre-read and encouragement. Our beloved Sephy gets a big hug and thanks for her aid helping understand how to format a little better. I'm sure that I did something wrong somewheres but not as bad as when I first began. Please let me know what you all think about this part.
hugs!
grover
Well, I guess it falls to me,
to be the first. I can only add, to what I've said before, MORE, MORE, MORE!!!!! I am completely enthralled with this story, and I'm already breathlessly awaiting the next chapter(s)
You have a winner here, grover, and I'm pleased and flattered that you thought enough of me to let me have a sneak peek at this part.
GROVER!!! GROVER!!! GROVER!!! GROVER!!!
Let's hear it for the creator of a brand new world and superheroes!!
Oh, by the way grover? I DID notice the "mixed up names" of several non-characters. Blocky Ralboa indeed!! Doc. Ferocious? It might take a SciFi geek like me to spot them all, but I think I got 'em.
Great job, grover!
Congratulatory huggles from,
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
Grover,
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.
Can we have some more please.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Avatars Assemble!
Greetings Grover,
What excellent writing! I loved the humor and the twisted way of refering to icons that you have that makes it all the more humerous. You have made an intimate world full of details. I like the mechanics of interposing another first person viewpoint to show us things that the viewpoint charactor could have no idea about. You have raised the ante from save the city to save perhaps all the universes. Lots of pressure on our team to not mess up and getting back to their own universe may be the least of their worries. I'll resist the temptation on speculating what I may think will come next and instead urge you to complete the next portion so we can see what really happens. Excelent Grover!
All my hopes,
Sasha Nexus
All my hopes
Ariel Montine Strickland
Heroes of Justice format
Well as you can probably figure I'm not very technical proficient. As long as the story/post/format is readable I'm happy. It is really scary that I actually use to be worse, crying out in panic to our guardian angels, Erin and Sephy, whenever disaster struck. Yeah, I know having a catchy format and picture attracts readers and I'm grateful for all Sephy has done to help with that. I have a huge appreciation for what Erin and she does. Parts one and two are nearly 60K words, and going though correcting italics, bold type and other format stuff is real work for something this long.
All in all I prefer to spend my time writing which is a good thing since I have 2 more parts to read over, edit, and rewrite where needed. Thanks for the comments!
Hugs!
grover
Fun!
Fun!
Michelle
P.S. FUN! Like a good comic book or GURPS!
P.P.S. LOL
Down-Below
What a great hook. The Defective, down below who or what is it and how will she impact the outcome? A great start. Now I have to wait for the third chapter and find time to read it.
What typo's?
As always,
Dru
As always,
Dru
Thanks for comments
Thanks for the comments everybody! I guess I must be doing something right. Part 3 is being cleaned up and should be ready for proof soon. Thanks for the support!
hugs!
grover
Great Stuff
Grover,
this is a great story. Thanks. I'm enjoying it immensely. Please keep at it. :)
I like how you're mixing heroes and gods and alternate histories. The foo fighter is a nice touch. Tom is bugging me a lot but I suppose you intended that. If so, I hope things work out for the best later in the story. I'll be watching.
- Terry
Heroes 2
Hi Grover. I finally got to read this part. It was a bit slow as you suggested, but laid a good foundation for what is to come, and explained some of what has happened. I have to say nice job.
You made a statement about grammer. I am the last to be concerned about 100% correct sentence structure and some punctuation, as I figure it is more like most people actually think and speak anyway. i did see a few things that are minor. Not that I care. What I did see that I will correct after I paste it into a document, were tense errors on some verbs, that make it not read quite right, if that makes any sense.
Heroes 2
There are a couple of things that bother me. The homophobe can't seem to keep his mouth shut, and since he has been changed so much, it seems he would be a touch more ready to accept that his friends have been changed too. Maybe deep inside, he's jealous that they might have gotten what they wanted while he is left in his new form, which may not be quite as acceptable to him. Not that he is unhappy with his sex, but that he is not quite as "perfect" as he thought he should be in his new form. Or maybe he just doesn't like the form, since he just played it, not wanted to be it.
I also wonder......I realize its part of the story line, but since our team is not registered they are going to have problems with the govt. Why can't they just go in and register? All newly developed would have to have a way to get registered, when they realize they are developed. Oh well, maybe its because they could not withstand the background investigation to be vetted. Other than that, its good.
Um... wasn't Tom the only one
Um... wasn't Tom the only one who wasn't attracted to our super attractive changelings? I wonder if he was attracted to them before? It would make all too much sense, especially if he feels he needs to hide his "gayness" for some reason.
Meanwhile Anza seems to get angry very quickly. Which is quite weird because I'd expect her to have a great understanding of people thanks to her telepathic powers. Maybe her temper will become a problem for her.
Anyway, great story so far, thank you for writing,
Beyogi
I hate to be different
but I am new here, not a writer, a gamer, fan of sci-fi, or super heroes, or even fighting and violence. My interest tends to be more like Second Chance, River, Gabby and others where the boy or man is made to change to the female and decides to stay that way.
That being said, I love the relationship between Mysty and Anza; the introduction of the defective and the power the women have over the men. I can do without all the macho posturing. But overall I am enjoying the tale--for now. I will continue to read it as long as I can. You have definitely woven a great tale.
ReubyLouise