Warriors way chapter 5...Showtime!

So what will happen now, the story goes on!

New story in the growing Hekawi universe!
Read the others in this new universe

Meagan's Tail

Nuuan's
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention” and “Déjà vu”

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Sophia knocked on Mark's door to make sure he was awake and heard water running in the room's bath, "Well at least he is up and getting a shower done..." she smiled and turned back to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast before she left for work.

Inside his room Mark was panicking, his worry at not changing back faced him in the room's mirror via the girl he now was being reflected back at his eyes and he was more genuinely worried about mom being furious with him than actually being a girl! For right now the shower being on was only a delaying tactic and how long before mom came back and yelled once more for him to get moving and be ready to go to school?

Mark tried jumping in the shower to at least 'sound' like he was washing up, the strange new feelings of showering as a chick were very far from his worried mind right now, so he showered on hoping all would be fine. Back out in the condo, Sophia finished up with her light breakfast and noted the time on the room's clock.

She walked over to Mark's door to bang on it once more, "Hey if you are not ready, then you will have to take the monorail to school and pay for that trip yourself!" she barked out the now standard punishment for his being late in the mornings.

"FINE!" she heard muffled from beyond the door, "Okay, but you be on time home and no hanging out after school!"

"FINE!" came again as her answer and Sophia walked back to the kitchen, grabbed her bag before leaving the condo for work.

Back in his room, Mark fell to his bed and sighed out, "Woof I thought I was a dead man or dead girl right then! Well let's see if this fades or I am stuck as a girl for good?"

Mark was getting antsy while the clock on his nightstand clicked on and the stopwatch held in his shaking hand ticked off the growing seconds. He was about to shout out in the growing madness when he felt that 'feeling' wash over his body and he instinctively clicked the stopwatch's count off and stared at the time shown, "Woof over two hours well past the time I thought that I should have changed back to normal?" he questioned the numbers, then sighed out slowly as he started to mentally do the math, "The ratio did change by like double or better!"

At his small desk Mark worked over the numbers and found them very confusing, but at the same time they made sense in a strange way, "I stopped the clock to change back to normal when I put on the bracer once again and then the ratio doubled the time changed into an Amazon, then quadrupled the time to change back to the normal me!"

He realized that all night during his tests the ratio was climbing slowly up and up, and he would be changed for longer and longer times. But that on last test re-using the bracers Magic before it was done with changing him back, it really tossed a wrench into the works and who knows what numbers it might toss out if he did that same thing ever again!

After Mark had calmed down farther, he dressed for school and this time he added the tracksuit to what he was wearing today and packed the top into his backpack, then added the bracer into his cargo pocket to keep it near, "You are staying with me...just in case!"

The teen's day at school was uneventful with most of his personal bullies gone for good or still on punishment, so he treasured this day and thought of days to come at a more permanent home that the family would be moving too...unless the museum here wanted mom bad and she would stay here, they really did like her and paid VERY well to obtain her services on the museum staff.

~o~O~o~

A long ring of the school bell system told Mark that the day was done, so he decided to go by the skate park on his way home and the mall. He knew this was all against his mom's orders, but he had dealt with a lot over the last few days and he needed some personal fun time away from home!

Mark rolled up into the park on his board, kicked it up into his waiting hand then took a spot on one of the lower level bleachers to watch the action down in the skate bowl better and see how much 'airtime' skaters got off their runs. One skater stood out like all the times she skated here. This girl was a mutant and most would call her scary by the way she resembled a full blown monstrous Medusa, she had a human body on top of a long snake body and that body was nearly fifteen whole feet in length!

The skating Medusa went by the handle of "Euryale" to most, but her real name was Erin and she used the other name because it was one of the three sister Medusas of history. Erin had on the basic pads on top of her human body, all topped off with a sticker covered helmet and below she had no less than three full boards strapped along her very long body in strategic places, the tip of her tail had a plastic cone with a spark maker on the end that she would drag along for a show of sparks now and then!

Erin made a show of going fast over the rolling part of the skate course by rolling her long body along it, this built up speed towards the bowl or the large for height jumps. She swung her long body over towards the bowl and went right into the huge bowl at blazing speed and skated leaps off the edges for height, then corkscrewed in the air till she had to line up her body on a path back down into the bowl.

She leapt in and out of the bowl several times building up even more speed then made a run at the tallest ramp at the course's end and 'snaked' or slithered her long body all the way to build up even more speed and at the ramp she did a crazy body loop that resembled the Ouroboros symbol of ancient times! Her next set of tricks was a long set of body corkscrews and finally one more for height...boy she got some huge airtime!

Mark clapped at the show, "Great go Erin girl!" he yelled a few times over the crowd already cheering for her.

When Erin was done with her show, she skated through the crowd slapping upheld palms offering praise to her skills and then over towards Mark where her gear was laid out on the bench, "Have not seen you down here for a few days Mark?" she smiled to his pleasure.

Mark was a little taken by the snake girl, she might have resembled an ancient monster or terror to most? But to his tastes she was very nice and a great plus her face was utter beauty and her human part of her body matched! Mark had made quick friends with her at school, because one he was not scared of any snake considering the number of places he had grown up where waking up to a cobra in your bed was a distinct possibility!

Then add his mom over his formative years, had SO many strange mutant friends that he thought it was very normal to be VERY different from the rest of humanity! "Heya Erin, I was dealing with personal stuff over last few days." he worried out a bit.

"I heard that Cathy tried to steal your frame and then tried to whack you at the mall!" she said giving him a hug and she felt a little cold to Mark, but that was normal for Erin! Only in the heat of a Las Vegas day, did Erin do her best and if she still lived in snow country, she could never go out in those lower temperatures as a reptile based mutant and that is why her family moved to here from Idaho when she changed.

"Yep Cathy was after me!" he laughed.

"Want me to go bite her for ya!" she hissed and her long tongue flicked out in anger!

"Ohhh no and have the FEDS come down on ya. The Department of Exo-human Affairs can be a bitch and that is why I'd move to cali to have that state's MCA run interference?" he warned and asked why she did not move there for better protections?

"No cali for me except summertime, that place gets too cold in winter and even LV gets too cold. I know the DEHA is a bitch and that cali's Meta-Human Control Agency is better for us mutant types...unless you are Fae...then M&M's is your bitch!" she laughed back.

Erin started to pack up her gear and boy did she have the best gear money could buy! She had a built in cash stream with her mutation, because most venomous snakes only put out a few drops of venom when 'milked' for making anti-venoms, but in her case she put out a gallon of the stuff in one good bite and that made her some serious cash with the medical manufacturing companies!

As Erin packed away her gear, up farther on the bleachers a girl flipped out her Frame and tapped out a message on it "Cathy, that asshole is here and seems to be heading to the mall I think...Want me to follow?"

Mark noticed that all her boards were brand new, "New planks I see?" he said handing her one to place inside the large gear bag.

"All a gift from Universal Biotech for last months venom draw, they are trying to swing me over to them as a permanent supplier. But I don't like them, I get the stink eye from the staff way too much for my likes!" she spat.

"Well unless they pay double, fuck-em!" Mark laughed taking the lead towards the monorail station at the park's end.

"Heading home?" Erin asked.

"Going to the mall for food and maybe a new set of wheels?" Mark offered.

"I'll go with ya after I drop this pile of mine at home, if you want to wait a few at my stop for the next mono?" she asked.

"Yep we can do that!" he added with a quick smile.

Up on the bleachers the girl overheard the two's plans for heading to the mall after Erin dropped off her bag, "Cat, he is heading to the mall with snaky girl and they are taking the mono!"....."Follow them for me and keep me in the loop. Meet you there!" evil smiley face!

Just a few stops off 'The Strip' the main boulevard of the city and where most of the largest casinos in the city showed off their best to the wide street in order lure in customers to gamble. Erin had her stop and Mark waited for her return at the small station while she dropped off a large skate gear bag at home.

Erin quickly returned to an impatient Mark that was busy checking over his math once more for the changes he tested last night and he was still not sure of the numbers the results gave him. An ever increasing ratio to being changed to changing back and the possibility of it growing at an even faster ratio if he made that mistake of putting on the bracer before he fully changed back to normal!

"Ohh you're back!" Mark sputtered, then started putting the math notes away.

"Yep, doing homework?" Erin asked, "You know I can help?" she smiled.

"Ahhh it's a personal project of mine dealing with a set time and a set result for ahhhhh chemical to make a change of color back and forth with being re-excited," Mark stumbled out a quick cover as best he could.

"Well when you feel you need help, call me Mark. But lets get going to the mall!"

On the ride down 'The Strip' Erin noted Mark's pants, "Why the baggy pants, I know the brand is a top one, but the fit is way off for you Mark?"

"I wanted to see if baggy pants would help me do better stunts on my board and they don't!" he admitted after testing it out a few times today.

"Well at least you now know, but here is our stop and what did you feel like eating?" Erin asked slithering off the monorail car and onto the platform, then looked around at the mall's offerings for food.

"Go over to Jim and Sam's for a pizza. I love the games they have in the place!" Mark stated looking forward to the huge arcade that had a restaurant at it's core.

"I can do that!" She grinned back, "My treat, because I got a huge raise last week and need to celebrate with somebody!"

As they walked, or in the case of this pair. Mark rolled along slowly, his board's wheels clacked at each gap in the floor's tiles and Erin slithered long in a smooth motion with her long body. That is when four girls jumped out of one of the stores packed with displays that hid them to the slow moving pair and three of the set went at Erin and the last one being Cathy smiled evilly Mark's way, "He's mine!"

"Run Mark, I got these three easy!" Erin barked, then started hissing like made at the three, "You messed up, I can not only take all three of you...but kill you all with ease!" and she spat at the floor laying between them, where her venom filled spit sizzled on the bright tiles!

Mark ran as he was told too, he knew Erin could handle those three and even more...with no sweat! He made a 'beeline' towards a doorway leading to the service corridors of the huge mall and he knew several ways out of the mall from there!

As he went, Mark kicked his board as fast as he could muster in the tight space, then slammed right into doors open them and luckily did not fall his speeding board from the hard impact that he needed to open them. Right behind him was a very mad Cathy who was gaining ground quickly and as he passed by a few garbage bins, Mark tossed them to the floor trying to impede or slow down Cathy for now!

Mark rounded the next corner with Cathy still far behind stumbling over garbage cans and assorted empty boxes. She howled at his back, "When I get you, I am busting both of your legs!"

When he rode out of sight, Mark pulled his camo top out of his backpack and slammed the bag into a can as he passed by. A plan formed in his mind, 'Get to that lighting panel, shut off the lights and fight her in the dark as the NEW ME!' he grinned over his shoulder checking if she had turned that last corner and may have ruined his plans!

Several bangs came from around the corner as Cathy made her way through the mess that Mark had left behind in her path and at the electrical service panel for the hallway Mark hefted his board, then used it to slam the small lock off the panel's door and once the lock gave way, he opened the panel to flip all the switches off!

Now in the dark, Mark tossed on the tracksuit top, then added the bracer to his left arm and noted the time on his wrist watch. The changes washed over his body in the darkness and as they did he noticed for the first time that his vision of the dark black hallway became very much easier to see in! "Hey I got night vision too...cool beans!"

Mark dropped his board into yet another garbage can, then turned to face the long dark hallway as he heard Cathy round the counter with a growl, "It being dark in here is not going to help you asshole, I see really well in the dark!" she boasted and walked his way.

As Cathy stalked in the darkness towards Mark or the now bigger Amazon her, Mark opened one of the side doors then tossed a box out of it, "Run Mark I got this bitch!" he faked yelling at himself to fool Cathy into thinking this was a new person and that Mark was now long gone!

"Girl I am going to pound you like a steak for helping him!" Cathy hissed a warning to the new girl.

"Not today bitch!" Mark yelled picking up a large can and hurling it at Cathy!

Cathy dodged out of the can's way with surprising ease, then yelled at Mark, "Get out of my way and you will leave here in one piece!"

"Not going to happen bitch!" Mark howled out in his new voice and charged right at a now surprised Cathy!

The two girls clashed at the intersection of the hallways with a huge thud, Mark being the slightly bigger of the pair shoved Cathy back and she fell stumbling down to the floor. On the floor her hand found a long pipe that fell out of one of the many upended trash cans and she swung it at the attacking girl.

Mark was on some newly found instinct that helped him block the pipe's blow with her bracer covered left arm, the clash sounded out with a very loud CLANG that echoed down the hallway and that is when Mark saw that the was pipe bent, 'no' really came close to wrapping around her outstretched arm. "Ohh you are SO going to pay for that, you were trying to kill me bitch!" Mark shouted back to Cathy.

Cathy took this chance to standup while Mark was busy yanking the bent pipe free of her arm and retreated back to one of the hall's corners to make a grab for a long piece of wood that was sticking out of a can.

As Cathy leaned down to pull the long thin board from the can as Mark took a wild swing aimed at her head and Cathy barely ducked away from the fierce blow that took out a huge chunk of the wall spilling several busted cinderblocks all over the hallway. Cathy gasped at the sight, the new hole in the wall was so large it even exposed the wall's rebar!

If Cathy's head was still there in the arc of that swing, her head would be gone and just bloody pulp all over the walls of the hallway! "Ohhhhhh SHIT!" she gulped realizing she was greatly out matched by the bigger girl and even though Cathy had, plus knew more martial arts than the new girl...one hit connecting like that again and Cathy would surely die!

Mark stared at the utterly huge hole in the wall he had just BASHED into it and saw light coming through it from the shop beyond the wall! The hole was just large enough for a small kid to wiggle through into the room beyond it!

"Ohh shit," Mark mumbled out, "I nearly killed her, but she was trying to kill me...so it's still on like donkey Kong!" he ended up yelling towards the end at the now retreating Cathy!

Cathy took the short Pause in the battle to stumble back out of reach....AND RUN for her life. She knew if the fight went on any longer, she would not go home today!

As Cathy ran down one hallway, the cops entered from the mall's side of the intersection and yelled at Mark, "Girl stay where you are, don't move!" one cops shouted while tossing loose cans and boxes out of their path.

"Fuck that!" Mark yelled out to the cops, then ran VERY quickly back down the hallway to his waiting skateboard and grabbed it as she ran past its hiding spot. At the first exit door, Mark ran out while taking the bracer off his or her arm and once outside found her path blocked by a short wall that was a drop off ending up at the mall's huge loading dock forty feet below. Seeing no real option, Mark leaped over the wall guessing that the fall was nothing to his newly enhanced body!

Mark landed with ease, then ran across the loading docks and out of the Mall's lot. The next obstacle to freedom was to make a leap over a twenty foot wall into one of the city's many storm washes and into the huge tunnels that run under the city for rain run-off. Once hidden by the darkness of the tunnel, Mark noted the time and did a quick math puzzle inside his head.

"Okay this long changed, at the ratio from last night's run annnnd I get about forty-five more minutes changed into a girl to deal with and then I can move right on out of here unnoticed by any cops. Because they will be looking for a big tall girl and not a thin normal height boy, I'll get past them all easy!" she sighed waiting out the time hovering in the shadows and keeping a wary eye out for the cops.

Mark nodded to his watch as the forty-five minute mark came and went, "Well that sucks, maybe my numbers are off a bit?" he questioned, then felt the first waves wash over his body and strangely they took longer changing him back this time than any of the other times!

He thought about why changing back to normal took longer this time than last and the only conclusion his brain could come up with, was that maybe he used more energy during that fight and had to fill back up before changing or maybe it was slowed by the same lack?

Glancing down at his watch as he ran up the small hill leading out of the storm wash Mark noted the time, "I'll make it back just before mom gets home and still have a little time to clean myself up a bit!"

When Mark entered his Condo building his frame rang with an incoming call and it was Erin! "Hey you good?" she asked, very worried that Cathy had got him and hurt him bad!

"I'm good, had some help from a strange girl and ran off while she kept Cathy very busy!" he lied, trying to add a good story in to cover himself for later!

"I'll have to meet her and buy lunch!" Erin smiled.

"Ohh I am sure you will both meet, I got her info and will try to get in touch with her later?" he lied again wondering how to work that all out with his time limits of being changed!

"Give that info to me and I will thank her personally today!" Erin added in gratefully for the help this strange girl offered!

"Nope, she is all mine and I am not sharing for now. But bye I gotta run, clean up myself and the house!" he chirped, then cut the line to her smile and knowing nod.

~o~O~o~

An hour plus later Sophia opened the door to the condo and found Mark was busy cleaning the living room and cooking dinner in the oven, "Hey mom, I put a tray of lasagna in the oven and it should be done in about a half an hour."

"That's nice hon, anything happen at school today?" she asked and Mark held back a short laugh while he was busy dust mopping the living room floor.

"Ahhh nothing mom, came right home after school and jumped on my math, then started to clean and make dinner!" In Mark's mind that was partially true...he did do some math. But it was all for his tests at how long he would stay changed into powerful a girl by the armor!

~o~O~o~

Later on that night

Hours ago Mark made it through a nearly silent dinner with his mom and they talked about Lee coming over Saturday. And that fact left Mark with only one real test night before Lee might come and take the armor back to LA with her for further study.

Not long after Mark was sure that his mom was fast asleep, he crept his way out of the condo and down the hallway, then slipped out the parking garage into the dark night of Las Vegas!

To the south of his home, 'The Strip's' glow was filling the night sky with all the bight lights coming off the casino filled adult playground when he slipped into a even darker alleyway to hide his testing. First on his long list was jumping for height and falling or leaping down to see how far he could muster and this information would help him out later with escaping away from any cops!

A dozen blocks from his place in a slightly shadier section of town, Mark arrived at what he was sure would make a great testing spot. This place was hidden down a dark alley, that ended up in a large hidden parking lot that was surrounded by a ring of two to four story buildings.

In the darkness of the place, Mark checked out the area for anyone still hanging around for several minutes and found no one hidden in the place. Then add the streets around this section of town only seemed to work during the daylight when most businesses were open their regular hours.

Mark changed into his tracksuit that was now quickly becoming his very own 'supersuit' and laid his backpack down on an over turned box for now. Next he placed the stopwatch around his neck and synced it to his frame, he had to look up how to do that on the net and was luck that this stopwatch even had the feature...bluetooth was SO last millennia!

He was about to start his tests, when a woman dressed in a long trench style coat walked down the dark alley and four men were following her every step from a few dozen yards back. Mark slid into the shadows next to the building for better concealment and watched as the group of bad looking dudes came closer to the woman.

The woman had quickened her pace by the growing tempo of her high heels clicking on the blacktop and almost seemed to be at a run now as all four men slipped into the alley from the street. She entered the hidden parking area behind the shops and was surely cornered by the pack of bad men!

As the pack circled her Mark grumbled out to himself, "WOMAN, why did have to choose my dark alley to get cornered in and why guys did you HAVE to choose tonight to be stupid?"

Mark shook his head to the next thought in his head, "I am going to have to 'rescue' her and beat them all off...then get away CLEAN before the cops show up here, so I don't have to answer questions I don't have any answers to darn it!"

The pack hooted and hollered at the cornered woman like a scene from a cheep action flick! They yelled out the sad lines as if on cues, "Hey baby want to party!"..."Lonely girl I am your man!" among several cliché others!

It seemed to be going bad quickly as the men circled in closer to the woman and Mark shook his head to the action, "Well I can't just sit here and watch when I have the means to act...mom did not raise wimps!" So he placed the bracer on his left arm and cinched it on tightly, "No need to have that fall off during a fight and me go normal when I need to be Amazon!"

The waves of power washed over him and Mark noted one new thing as he clicked the stopwatch around his neck to start its count of precious seconds, then added a countdown timer to remind him of that precious time, "That change seemed to go much faster than the ones from last night? Those took nearly a minute to complete late night and this new one was only about twenty seconds in comparison!" he worried and noted it for later pondering when someone's life was not on the line!

The first man was just making a grab for the woman as she shouted 'NO!' to him and added in a fierce "Go way I don't want you to touch me!', that is when Mark yelled in his new female voice at the men 'Leave her alone unless you want to mess with me!'

"Ohh good we have a two-fer deal here buddies!" one man shouted as he leered at Mark and one more added, "Hey less waiting for my turn baby, there is enough men to go around!"

The woman on the other hand seemed to be VERY surprised to see the teen girl interceding in this crime, like she had it all in hand and as she pulled a golden rod from under her jacket Mark knew why!

A golden rod about two foot long was in the woman's hand and she flicked it once to make it extend to over six feet. Then she slammed it into the blacktop where the pole made a huge 'BANG!' into the surface and lengthened even farther up as lights sprung out from its top to illuminate the whole parking lot with dancing, flashing lights much like a strip club might have!

With a whip of flare, the woman tossed her long coat at and over the head of the nearest man. AND now with the coat gone, reviled her fit hardened body that was dressed up in tall heels and clothes that only could be called 'stripper wear!' to anyone reasonable. Next she swung a leg around the tall pole by the knee and used it to twirl her body fast and kicked out at blinding speed to the surprised man covered up with the coat. The savage blow sent him flying for several yards back into the darkness!

Mark could only gasp at the sight, this was a local heroine or vigilante...."Pole Dancer!" A women that suckered in dark men that were about to act bad and maybe rape, harm or kill a woman and she beat them to a pulp...she never killed one...but several never harmed anyone again because of the damage she dished out!

One of the tall men closest to Mark flicked his wrist and a blade snapped open in his hand, "I may not be able to hurt that hero bitch, but I am going to skin you alive before she can get to us and save your dying ass!" he growled to the night.

Mark lowered his body's stance and got ready for the man's first strike! The man leapt forward, striking out with his knife and Mark reacted instantly! He grabbed the man's hand so quickly with his hand, that it surprised Mark and then he closed the grip on the man's hand until the sound of several bones crushing under the pressure was heard and that stopped the now crying man dark man, Mark let go of him know that he was finished for the night by the amount of fresh blood pooling under the man's arm.

Mark looked over to Pole Dancer from what he had just done and found that she seemed to be going faster or getting stronger as she 'stripped' off her lose clothes and with each piece of clothing left to fly off and fall to the ground. Her blows came faster and faster and hit harder and harder each time!

One man flew off from the fray via one of Dancer's wild kicks, landing right next to Mark and the man rolled back to his feet pulling a gun out. As he made aim at Mark's face, Mark struck out as the gun fired with one hand defecting its aim and the other balled into a fist striking the man's chest with a very savage CRUNCH that sounded like several ribs shattering or even his whole ribcage!

The man fell to the ground and was instantly wheezing badly and coughing up gouts blood. Pole Dancer took care of the last two men still standing with a huge wild swing of her legs and a few lashes from her swinging arms. When she saw the man next to Mark and that he might be dying right now, she ran over to them both.

"Ohh this is bad, let me guess this is your first time out and you don't know your powers?" she asked like a true mother only could!

"Ahhh ya and I was trying to save you?" Mark had to say.

"I had this, but deary how could you know that? But please get some training and find your limits...because this guy might die and I don't want any deaths on your conscious...this was my fault for not checking out the alley first!" she chastised herself.

Pole Dancer stood up as she made a call via her frame to 911 and had an ambulance coming. The sight of her in nearly nothing took Mark's breath away...she was gorgeous and with her being this close drove Mark crazy!

His stopwatch beeped to remind him that ten precious minutes had past by and the change back would last well over an hour so far! "Ohh you are only a baby, please get some training or meet up with an existing team or maybe go to one of the schools that tries to train us supers and mutants better?" the woman worried for the child before her.

"Ahhh I gotta go!" Mark said snapping back into reality because of the warning beeps from the watch.

"Are you sure dear, I can give you a false drop to contact me and I could train you some myself...." Dancer said as she went to gather up her coat and yanked the pole out of the blacktop.

"Sure...I gotta go now!" Mark sang while grabbing his own hidden bag.

"Well leave me a note on the...," Dancer trailed off saying, as Mark yanked his bracer off his arm and leapt over a building as the first ambulance drove up shining its many lights into the dark parking lot.

~o~O~o~

An hour plus later Mark was laying on his bed still changed into a girl and nervously counting the seconds as they passed by, hoping he would change back before morning came and his mom might find out what he had done.

He glanced over to his frame that showed the latest news stories, "Want to be rapist nearly killed by unknown vigilante!" Mark was not worried about the headline, LV was very mutant and super friendly because it was so close to California and LA and their laws had made their way to here via the influx of Californians over the decades!

The law in most cases of supers of mutants stopping and hurting criminals was simple. Was the person or criminal DOING an actual crime and if so did the vigilante, mutant or super stop the crime from happening and save lives or property? If the answer was a simple 'yes', then no crime was committed by the vigilante, unless recklessness or vengeance was shown!

Time passed by slowly, so very slowly and as Mark almost gave up hope the changes back to normal washed over him slowly and showed to him that he was right to worry back in the alley...the changes did happen faster to a Amazon for the lack of a better term in his mind and now even slower back to his normal self!

~o~O~o~

The next morning

Mark was very ready for his normal ride into school this morning and wanted to be sure he showed that nothing had changed at all. At the drop-off his mom leaned over to give his a small kiss and reminded him, "Since Lee is coming over tomorrow, I am staying home to give it one of my deep cleans. So did you want me to set the rug cleaner bot off in your room, I am sure the rug will be dry by the time you get home?"

"Ahh ya mom, my floor is clear of my stuff, just don't go looking for my nudey mags under the bed!" he jested before closing his door and waving bye.

When Mark was in class, his mom was on a cleaning rager on the condo! Sophia started by vacuuming the carpets with the bigger vacuum, because the smaller bot was only for keeping it looking 'okay' and not for good deep cleaning. Her next step was the far larger rug washing bot that had to be borrowed from the condo's maintenance department down stairs.

Sophia had just come from claiming the larger bot affectionately named R2 from the lobby and was leading it out of the elevator by its remote when Mary greeted Sophia from her door down the hallway, "Hey doing the big clean? she asked.

Sophia waved back to the woman, "Yep having guests over tomorrow!"

"Anyone I know?" she giggled out knowingly!

"Nope no one from school and not a known hero at large!" she laughed back, being one of the VERY few who knew the Mormon mother of eight's hidden secret....that she was soccer mother by day and at night...she was Pole Dancer...vigilante of 'The LV Strip'!

Sophia shook her head to the thoughts, Mary was a long time friend from her boarding school days and during the day was a very prim and proper, no cussing allowed mother of eight. But at night she changed into Pole Dancer and became a stripper costumed or 'lack of costume' heroine that tried to clean up the city at large. Mary's husband had moved the family to LV to be an accountant for one of the largest casinos and they rented out the last three units on the far end of this floor, busted out the walls and remade the place to fit the whole ten of the family!

"Well do you need any help girl?" Mary asked quickly, being one who loved cleaning for some strange reason!

"Nope, but we can chat while I work and last night I heard there was an incident...a bad one?" she questioned the hidden heroine and mother of eight.

"I was there, but the most of the bad damage was done by a kid... a teen girl, just a baby!" she said back while strolling with Sophia towards the condo's door.

"A new vigilante!" Sophia breathed out in surprise as the door opened for both of them and the larger cleaning bot.

"It appears so, she was just a baby. A teen at best!" Mary worried out only like a mother could.

"So we have a new, untrained kid out there with powers?" Sophia asked as she filled a large bucket with hot water for the carpet cleaning bot and went about filling the bot's tank, then sent it into Mark's room via the remote.

"Yes very untrained, she almost killed one man that had a gun and surely crippled the hand of another, but he had a knife...SO he earned that maiming!" Mary barked, still mad at the man for trying to kill a kid while she watched!

"So you going to go all mentor on the kid and teach her the ropes?" Sophia questions as she went about cleaning the kitchen.

"I might, but first thing I would have to do is get the girl a better suit. Because that camo tracksuit made by Fendy, you know the one in night blending camo and made of that technopath...you have heard about it, the un-rippable stuff?" Mary smiled.

"Really?" Sophia stopped working on cleaning and was thinking about each word Mary said.

"Yep, I am sure that was all she could find and it makes sense if you could get the suit cheap. Its durable and blends into the night like crazy!" Mary added in helping out with cleaning up the stove top.

"Was the girl very tall for her age and fit, with black hair, blue eyes?" Sophia asked and was quickly coming to a bad conclusion!

"You have seen her too, She has this one armored plate covering her left arm?" Mary said while motioning from her wrist to her elbow to show what she noticed better.

"Was that plate, gold and silver in color?"

"Yes." Mary said knowing it sounded bad as Sophia left the kitchen and started to tear into her closet as she watched from the hallway.

Shortly, Sophia walked over to Mary and handed her a metal plate, "Was it like this one?" she asked, hoping it was not!

"Yes, very much like this or almost exactly like this?" Mary wondered as she flipped the plate over and over to examine it closer.

"Thanks Mary, can I get you going? As I have something personal to do right now."

"Sure, but if you need help...please call me, I am only yards away!" Mary sang and hugged Sophia as she left.

~o~O~o~

Hours later

Mark came into the condo's entry and sang out, "I'm home mom, what's for dinner?"

He dropped his bag on the kitchen counter and found his mom sitting in her chair in the living room looking VERY cross at him, "Hey Luuucyyyy....Yu have sum eXSpanlinggg to doooo!" she deadpanned in the Ricky Ricardo accent.

"What mom, what did I do now?" Mark asked hoping she did not know his secret!

"GO to your room right now Marcus Hapgood and look at your bed!" she ordered him.

Mark walked towards his room like a condemned man walking the last green mile and found the Amazon armor all laid out in human form across his bed...minus one piece!

"NOW explain it all to me!" his mom yelled from the living room!

~o~O~o~

~o~O~o~
Shadowsblade here.

But I have to thank, Both Branek and Nuuan for their vast input and the ability they both have to 'bounce' off ideas and improve them!

To all my readers who have e-mailed me and given support--THANKS!

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