The Superiors: The Gift

Chapter 1:

Author's note: I know its been a while since I wrote the prologue for this story. You might want to read it (or read it again) so this chapter makes more sense ...

On the super island known as “The Compound” ...

Fluke woke with a start, sending her partner Sarah off the bed.

“Hey!” Sarah shouted.

“Sorry. I just had one whack of a nightmare.”

Sarah climbed back onto the bed, and asked, “What was it?”

“Coyote wanted to tell me something. It was garbled, but I got the impression that something majorly bad was coming our way.”

“You think it’s for real? Not just Coyote yanking your chain?”

“I’m sure enough that I’ll mention it to the Doctor and to Commander Ares this morning.”

“Okay. speaking of which, you should probably start getting ready. I’ll make you some breakfast.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Fluke said, and kissed Sara.

Fluke took a quick shower, got dressed, and came back out to find Sara had made poached eggs.

The two of the ate together, and then Fluke kissed Sara.

“What was that for?” Sara asked, giggling.

“Just because I could.” Fluke said, with a smile.

Then she said, “I better go.”

Once she left their quarters, Fluke broke into a run.

When she got to the training room, she found the Commander and The Doctor talking together.

“Hey guys. I just got a pretty strange message from Coyote.” Fluke said.

“Tell us.” The Doctor said, in his gruff voice.

Fluke relayed what Coyote had told her about Loki and Anansi.

The Doctor nodded. “That sounds like confirmation of some whispers I’ve been hearing from the Astral plane.”

“What do you think Loki wants to do? Why would he attack other gods?” Fluke asked.

“For their power. But he’d be limited to other tricksters. Theoretically, he could access their power, because it is similar to his own.”

“Coyote is a trickster, why didn’t Loki take his power?”

“Because Coyote doesn’t HAVE his power, Fluke. You do.”

“Does that mean I’m in danger?”

“Perhaps. We should ...”

Before the Doctor could finish his thought, an alarm started blaring.

Commander Ares went over to a control panel, and pushed a button. A screen lit up, and a man on the screen said, “Commander, we have an emergency.”

“What is it?”

“A large spacecraft has entered Earth orbit. How it got passed our normal detectors, I can’t say. So far, the only message we’ve received indicated they will make an announcement shortly.”

“All right. I’ll come.”

“Should I back you up?” Fluke asked.

“No. We don’t know for sure if you’re in danger from Loki yet.” The Doctor said.

Fluke sighed, and then said, “Okay, what CAN I do?”

“Monitor the situation from here. For all we know, these guys are friendly.” Commander Ares said.

“Okay.” Fluke replied.

Then Commander Ares flew off.

After the Commander left, the Doctor said, “Let’s go to the monitoring room. And call your ... sidekick. She should listen to this too.”

Fluke went over to a panel, and pushed a button that would buzz her room.

****
Elsewhere ...

Even in daylight, the castle was creepy. Of course, the “guards” - who were zombies, probably were part of the reason.

But at night, the place looked even worse as several turret towers seemed to frown down on anyone foolish enough to approach.

Or at least that was the opinion of Edgar Matthews, known to the world at large as Caster.

“I hope this meeting really is an emergency. I was getting closer to full control of my wand” he thought, as he waited for the others in the courtyard. “But at least those zombies didn’t stay inside with me.” he thought.

Edgar patted the wand that was both the source of his powers and the frustration of his ambitions. Sometimes, it did what he wanted, and he’d been able to become a well known villain with it. But sometimes, it would either not work at all or backfire, which was why of the five of them he was often regarded as the least dangerous, even less of a threat than Dr. Destructo who had lost twice to a sixteen year old girl.

The main gates of the castle swung open, and as if invoked, in strode Destructo wearing what looked like a purple jumpsuit over which he wore his traditional white coat. Despite his lack of fashion sense and recent defeats, Castor knew the scientist was probably loaded down with miniaturized weapons and experimental devices.

Destructo nodded to Castor and Castor nodded back. Despite a severe difference in style, the two had bonded over their feeling of being 2nd best in their area of expertise to the Baron, whose castle they were now in.

Then the gates opened again, and two more men came in. Nightmare was dressed in black from head to toe, and beside him came Lord Dark Flame who was wearing orange and red.

The four of them took part in some small talk, and then a few moments later their host came into the courtyard. He was Baron Richthofen, known and feared throughout the world as “The Red Baron”

He was shirtless, but had black pants and a red cape with a hood.

“Welcome. Glad you all could come.” He said.

“You did make it sound important:” Nightmare said.

“Come into my conference room, and I’ll show you.”

The group followed their host to a conference room, and then when everyone was inside, their host said, “Last night, sensor I have deployed beyond Pluto picked up a large object headed into our solar system. That object, which turned out to be a spacecraft of unknown origin, headed straight for Earth, and has since sent out a signal that an announcement will be forthcoming very soon.”

“I take it you haven’t been able to determine who is in control of that craft, or what they want?” Lord Dark Flame said.

“No,” The Red Baron said, “But they are apparently about to make an announcement. I thought we should be together to hear it.”

He pushed a button, and a screen came down from the ceiling.

There was an image of the spaceship on the screen, and then a voice began speaking ...

In the apartment of Andi Mays A.K.A. “The Troubleshooter”, N.Y.C. ...

Andi: I had just finished my morning workout when I smelled breakfast. I smiled, because Carl always makes good stuff. My man is amazingly creative in the kitchen, in the workshop, and as he proved last night, in the bedroom ...

We ate together and I listened to the TV which had been giving updates about some strange thing being seen in the skies.

Suddenly, an anchor came on and said, “We have been told to expect a transmission from an alien craft in orbit of the Earth any moment ..”

And then the world changed forever.

****
Everywhere:

On computer monitors, television screens, PDA’s and phones, a voice began to speak ...

“People of Earth. We have been observing your world for some time. We saw the rise of those you call the Superiors, and became concerned. Concerned that this development was terribly unfair to the vast majority who would not be lucky enough to get super powers.

And we have a solution. We can give every human on Earth super powers if they so desire.

Just speak your wish, and you will be as powerful as any of the Superiors, even Commander Aeres.

Starting now!”

****
"The Compound"

Fluke turned to the Doctor once the announcement was finished, and said, “This cant be legit, can it?”

“I shall find out,” the Doctor said, and disappeared.

Fluke shrugged, and said to herself, “Well, on the one hand, I can’t leave. On the other hand, I have a lovely lady waiting for me in my room. So it’s not all bad.”

*****

The home of Henry Hollis, just outside Hollywood, California ...

I was working out in the basement, when gramps called me.

“Hank, come quick!”

I dropped my specially made weights (regular ones not being heavy enough), and ran upstairs.

“What is it, gramps?” I called out as I came up.

“Come watch this” He said, and led me to the living room.

We watched the announcement, and then I asked, “This ... cant be real, can it gramps?”

“I .. don’t know. I have been feeling a gathering of power, such as not been seen on Earth since most of the gods left more than two thousand years ago.”

I sighed, and said, “I probably should get ready for trouble. Been meaning to try out my new costume and name, anyway.”

Gramps nodded, and I went to my room to change. The costume was a little like what had been used on the “Six million dollar man” show, since Gramps had played a big part in that show existing. The character had usually worn a simple grey track suit, but mine was more colorful. Mine had light blue as the background color, with red and white stripes on the legs and arms. On the chest I had a stylized “H” on the chest in white inside a red circle.

So sue me, I’m a bit patriotic.

The “H” of course was from my superhero name - Haymaker.

Hey, it wasnt easy to come up with something not already trademarked.

Last I want is some comic company suing me.

Anyway, it was time for me to go to work, as chaos struck ...

Person after person took the aliens up on their offer of power. And because many of those people were selfish, or bullies, or just didnt think their “wishes” through, the city was soon overwhelmed.

Thanks to an internet connection that was part of Gramp’s “enhancements” of me (dont ask me how it worked), I soon realized it wasnt just my city that was in trouble. Commander Ares was going from place to place, but even he couldnt be everywhere at once.

“This,” I thought to myself, “Is really bad ...”

To be continued ...