The Earth has reached a crossroad. Destruction could be immanent. Can a Rookie band of newly created heroes stave off Doomsday? Chapter 1 of a collaborative effort by several Top Shelf writers will begin to explore this dilemma. Introduction of the heroes and their powers will be the first couple of chapters. Writers are: Catherine Linda Michel, Grover, Ariel Strickland, Erin Halfelven, Maggie Finson and Scotty, "Voice Of Reason" Bishop.

Beginning from the scene in the prequel. A meeting room in the White House.

RECKONING
Chapter 1

CHAPTER, THE FIRST. From Cathy.

The Office Of The President of The United States, immediately after the visitation of the Observer.

“What the flying fuck was THAT?” The President yelled to his hastily gathered staff. “I'm waiting people! Give me something... ANYTHING! I want answers and I want them now!”

The room buzzed for a few moments, then quieted as his Chief of Staff, nervously spoke up.

“Sir. Mr President, we haven't had time to even begin to form any kind of opinion or a plan of action. It's only been an hour since the call to gather here reached some of us. We need time to try to reach any kind of conclusions or form any kind of plan to deal with this announcement. In truth Sir, we don't even know whether to believe this “Observer” or ignore his so-called warning and message.”

“This thing has the people of the world up in arms and ready to riot!” The President said, still at the top of his lungs. “I mean, where the hell did this being come from? How does he, or it, know so much about us? Who is it going to choose to 'gift' these so-called powers to, and how do we get some control of them? I mean, do we trust this Observer to be telling us the truth, or do we believe that it's even friendly?”

The hubbub around the table reached a crescendo, then died out as The President scowled.

“Damnit people! I want answers and I want them yesterday! Is that understood?”

A chorus of 'yes sirs' and 'you bets' answered his demands and several of the staff members got on their phones and began making frenzied calls to subordinates.

The President turned and stalked out of the room, surrounded by his Secret Service detachment, and the room grew silent for a few minutes. Then, the Secretary of Defense spoke up.

“I think we need to institute an immediate threat level 2, with plans to upgrade it as we go. God only knows what this Observer person really wants, but we can't afford to drop our guard for even a second! We also need to establish an agency to find, study, and use, if we can, any individuals who might be contacted by this being and get gifted with unknown powers. They could be a threat to our National Security! Gentlemen? Let's get cracking on this! Use any and all resources that exist to get us some damned answers!” and with that pronouncement, he left the room.

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1A: A small city somewhere in the eastern United States: First Gifted.

My name is Keith Prichard, and I'm one of the 'lucky' ones who got visited by the Observer. He told me of the threat, the possibilities, and what I might be able to do to prevent it. I can't say I was thrilled to be chosen to 'save the world' though. I mean, who the hell WANTS that kind of responsibility? I got enough trouble trying to keep my own life in some kind of order, to try to be the world's savior!. Nevertheless, he came to me and made the offer. He said I had a week to consider if I'd accept, and if I did accept, what powers did I think would help me accomplish this monumental task.

I'll freely admit that I did have visions of myself as some kind of Superman, with “powers and abilities far beyond mortal men', but that aside, I felt a kind of panic. If I accepted, would I be able to live up to what would be expected of me? Would I be corrupted by such powers? Those thoughts and many more haunted my waking and sleeping hours for the whole week, but when The Observer next came to me, he wanted an answer. I wasn't sure I had one.

My whole life had been pretty much a comedy of errors, bouncing from job to job with no real plan for my life other than paying the bills and hoping for a lottery win, and always there was the “secret” that I couldn't allow anyone to know about. That was, that I had never felt I was supposed to be a man. In that deep dark place where dreams and nightmares live, there was always the belief that I should have been a woman. Shocking, I know, but there it is. I'd visited countless chatrooms and sites dedicated to 'Trans” people and read hundreds of stories, mostly wish fulfillment, and talked via I.M or Skype to many, many people who felt the way I did. Always hoping, always dreaming, but knowing that there was no way for me to realize what my soul wanted, needed.

Financially there was no way I could ever afford all the surgeries and counseling and shrinks required to even begin such a quest, and even if I could, I was convinced that I'd make one ugly woman. I wasn't attractive as a man, and I didn't waste much time trying to make myself attractive. No, I never tried 'dressing' either. If I couldn't be a 'real' woman, I didn't want to depress myself further by confronting a make believe one in any mirror. So I lived a boring, pointless, to me, life. No ambition, no hope, no future.

When the Observer appeared to me the first time, I mumbled and fumphered and didn't make much sense at all. He just stood there and looked at me expectantly. Finally he said;

“I know your secrets, Keith. I know what is in your mind and soul. I can do many things besides granting you powers. I can change your form any way you want or need. The one thing I cannot do is force you to choose to try to be one of the ones to save your world. This has to be your decision and, if you choose it, your responsibility. I know that there is great good in you and I believe that you are, indeed, one of the ones to be gifted with the abilities I can bestow. One of your so-called fictional superheroes has a saying. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” That is more true than you know, because on your shoulders, and those who follow you, will rest the most awesome and heavy responsibility anyone has ever known. You must choose now though. I have much to do and very little time in which to do it.”

“Can you tell me anything about what I'm supposed to do, or how to do it?” I asked him.

“No Keith. It is not permitted. However, I can tell you this. Examine the supposed end of the world scenarios, particularly the one that has the end coming in your December of this year. That is all I am permitted to impart to you at this time. I might be able to tell others more, but you will have to learn those things from them. I also cannot tell you who will also be gifted by me. You will have to find them on your own.” Then he simply wasn't there any more.

I did a hell of a lot of thinking in the following week. Did I really want this? Could I really do this? What about my life right now is so good that I wouldn't chuck it all to just once, be somebody... do something incredible. More than that even, my dream was being offered to me on a silver platter. I could really be a woman...and a damned powerful one at that! I... I had to believe in what Observer was predicting, and he said he believed that I was one of the ones who could stop the end of the world.

Well, I got to work on figuring out what I'd need to be able to do... abilities I thought might help in finding the others he'd said there'd be, as well as prevent the coming world wide catastrophe. When Observer came back, I was damned well gonna be prepared in case this was all real!

True to his word, The Observer re-appeared in my dinky, cluttered living room a week later.

“Have you made your decision, Keith?” He intoned.

“Okay!” I spat out. “Screw it! I don't believe any of this shit, but what the fuck. I'm in! In less than the time it takes to write this, he nodded, waved his hand, and I was... different! I felt powerful, odd, and looking into a mirror I saw what Observer had done to me.

The entity didn't even blink. He just nodded and, the next thing I knew, I was a her! I searched my mind and found all the know how to be who and what I appeared to be, and how to use my abilities. I discovered a bank account with a lot of money in it, and evidence of regular deposits in the 5 figure category! I sat there for a minute, trying to come to grips with my new self, and was interrupted by the Observer.

“You have all you asked for, Karen. I believe you've made wise choices, but time will tell if I am correct. Take a few days to grow accustomed to your new self, but bear in mind, it is only 10 months until the prophesied end. You must find the others very quickly and form the team that might make the difference between life or death for your race.” and with that, he was gone!

“Holy Crap!” I screamed, in a much different voice then my usual one. “He freakin' did it!” I turned fully toward the mirror, overbalanced, and fell on my new, strangely cushioned ass!

“Oh my God!” was my first thought, followed very quickly by checking my identification to see if that had been covered as well. I looked around and found a purse. A purse! Checking it quickly I found that the entity had thought of everything. I was Janet Mitchell, 25 years old with the same birthday I'd had as Keith. I was 5' 9” tall and 150 pounds with a very curvy body! Yes, I checked and I was complete as a female, at least as far as I could determine from an quick examination externally!

Perhaps the oddest thing I found out though, was that I felt completely comfortable with my new form and looks. There was none of the strangeness I'd expected at finding breasts on my chest and no external structures in my groin area. I found that all it took to access my abilities was a thought, and I knew everything about them, and how to use them! It was as if I'd been born just the way I was and had come into my powers by experimentation and use of them!

When I went to bed that night, I thought hard about the one thing the Observer had said. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” and I realized that I had placed myself in between the impending doom of my home planet, and being one if it's only hopes! Scary? Nah... not much. I shivered my way to sleep, knowing that the next few weeks and months were going to be the scariest, most trying times of my life, and you know what? I looked forward to them!

Chapter The Second: Pentagon, USA From Grover.

“All right gentlemen,” The General announced. “We've been placed at Threat Level Two. The National Command Authority is demanding answers and wants it now. What do you have?” His steely eyes cut a swath around the table of assembled Colonels.

There was silence as no one said a word.

“Nothing,” Colonel Maugham admitted. “We have nothing.”

“What does that mean?” The General demanded. He'd just had his own chewing out by the Secretary of Defense himself.

“Exactly what I said,” Colonel Maugham replied. “We don't even have a damn recording of this Observer. The camera's, recorders, and even phones didn't pick up a damn thing. I had to have my people write down what they remembered just to get a transcript of what he said. Fortunately, I got a Tech Sergeant with an eidetic memory so I'm pretty sure we know exactly what was said.”

Sighing heavily, The General asked, “Anyone else?”

“My imagery interpretation shop is the same way,” admitted another Colonel. “We can look all we want, but until we get some idea what we're looking for we're blind. When we have that, we might be able to do something, but until then this is just burning up our resources without any return.”

Across the table the signal intelligence chief cleared his throat. “I've talked with the NSA and we're trying to work out key words to have the communication systems scanned for. However at this moment this all everyone on the planet seems to be talking about this. Until it settles down, any clues that are out-there are getting lost in the chaff.”

“So we're down to waiting for this Observer to do whatever he's going to do?” The General summarized.

“Yes sir, that's correct.” Answered Col. Maugham.

“Gawd help us.” The General replied.

“That too sir. That too.” The Col. Agreed.
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2B: Second Gifted.

I wasn't sure if I'd just been blessed, or cursed. My name is Yarnell Earl Groves. Not a big surprise, but I went by my middle name, Earl. I won't say my parents hated me, but considering other names I'd heard of, I didn't get off that bad. At least I had a decent middle name to tide me over.

My curse, or blessing, had nothing to do with my name this time. It didn't even have anything to do with my peculiarity. Lord knows I'd been though enough hell because of it, but somehow I'd survived to see a bit more than a half century. I can tell you, that amazed the hell out of me sometimes. Probably the worst part about it all was I was my own worst enemy.

The hell of it is, I still don't see where I had a choice. You see I'm one of those poor unfortunates that is today called Transgendered or Gender Variant. Back when I was a kid, trust me it was called much worse. Somehow, I avoided being experimented upon or thrown in the nut house. It wasn't until years later I realized just how close I'd come, but my intuition and common sense had saved me. Mind you, most of my relatives still think I'm gay, but honestly I'd given up caring what they think. I'd spent too many years of trying to be something I'm not, and failing miserably to really give a shit.

I guess I'm just slow, but I'd decided if I'm not happy it was a waste of time to try and make anyone else happy. So I cross-dressed in the privacy of my small apartment, and did my best to come to terms with being a male who was way to damn feminine for my own good. However living hand to mouth made all of those resolutions harder.

Going back to that own worst enemy thing, I'd racked up an employment record that had the state job service folks wincing every time they saw me. Pretending to be someone I wasn't, I'd made just about every mistake you could make. Add a little depression and low self-esteem into the mixture and you have my resume. Trust me, it wasn't pretty.

In this economy, working minimum wage, I spent far more time at work during over-time than at home dressed more ... comfortably.

Okay I'm procrastinating. I'll just say it. I'm one of the ones the Observer made the offer I couldn't refuse. My first thought was, he wants me to help save the world? I had to ask to make sure he had the right gal or guy, if you know what I mean.

I couldn't even keep a decent job and he wanted me to do something this important? Hey, I wasn't stupid or dumb. I'd quickly figured out the Observer was talking about the whole end of the word thing in 2012, probably around the solstice. Personally it wasn't good news to have independent confirmation if you know what I mean. My life may suck, but I didn't want to die.

Sometimes I simply cared too much. All the meanness and hate in the world were just too damn overwhelming for me. My only escape was gaming, or burying my head into a book, preferably SF or Fantasy. For that matter there were more than a few comics and graphic novels laying around my place too, so when the whole granting of powers thing came up, my imagination ran wild.

My two extremes had me on the fence whether to accept the Observer's offer or not. At my age I had few illusions remaining about myself. There was more than one 'special' person I would mind at all getting a little payback on for the hell they'd put me though. On the other hand, I cared too much and couldn't stand aside if I could help. Knowing I could very easily misuse this power didn't make me feel good about myself. Let me tell you it sucked to realize just how much I was human, to my intense dismay.

The Observer had given me a week to make up my mind, but by the second day I'd decided to go for it. To try and get by my petty side I would go the other route to achieve my retaliation. Instead of 'A Dish Served Cold,' I wanted to give “the best revenge is living well” thing a shot.

By the third day, I had pages of notes on just how to best do that. Being a gamer, I used gaming rules to help define what I wanted. On the fourth, I threw up my hands and started picking out only the important, absolutely had to have, stuff. Okay, it wasn't all selfish. I googled the hell out of the whole 2012 end of the world thing trying to get a clue as to what powers would be most useful in saving the world. After all if I'm dead, I would be failing to live well.

The problem was you could take your pick how the world was going to bite the big one. Class X solar Coronal mass ejections cleansing the planet with radiation; Earth colliding with a black hole, or having a little fender bender with an asteroid, or a rogue planet named Nibiru. Bearing in mind that, before the Observer showed up, the big brains had labeled all of this as pseudoscience, and that the 2012 solstice would be the same as Y2K. A lot of talk, but everything would be fine.

That left me with a hell of a problem. Even Superman would be stymied by a black hole, although he probably could handle that rogue planet. However, I remembered that the Observer had also said a team would have to be formed to handle the threat. Additionally, we would have to find each other.

As you can tell, I don't have a lot of faith in my fellow human beings. We would almost have to reveal ourselves at some point just to try and find each other. My imagination had a whole lot of fun thinking of how Homeland Security would handle that particular premiere.

After being stepped on for nearly my entire life, I wasn't about to put any part of my new and improved future in the hands of petty paranoid bureaucrats with delusions of grandeur. Let me tell you it made me feel better about my 'Living Well' plan or at least less guilty.

By the end of Day Five, I had everything typed up, and felt a little proud at what I'd come up with. Unfortunately on Day Six, I had red pen marks all over it and was sweating having it done on time.

Finally, on Day Seven, I had it cleaned up and I hoped right. I felt so like Agent Mulder in that X-files episode with the genie, trying to cover every loophole. You've also have got to remember that I was working so much overtime I might as well have had two jobs. And no, I couldn't afford to quit, because with my luck the Observer would show up and say, “sorry I was just kidding. I've picked someone else.”

Sighing I picked up up my wish list from the printer.

There he was, standing behind me.

Numbly I held out what I'd put so much work and thought into, to him.

“No Earl,” he said. “First you must tell me. Do you accept?”

Even after all the work I did thinking about it, and nearly driving myself nuts, I hesitated.

“Can I really do this?” I asked him. “Can I prevent the end of the world?”

“Yes,” the Observer replied. “I believe you, and others like you, can save your planet.”

“Can you tell me any more as to what kind of disaster is coming, or what kind of powers and abilities would help the team?” I inquired. Selfish maybe, but not stupid. Stay alive first, then live well!

“No,” he replied. “It is not permitted.”

“Okay,” I breathed out. Looks like I'm sticking with plan C after all. “Like I said, all the details are in here.” I held out my papers.

They went up like flash-paper causing me to jump back which caused my breasts to bounce.

I froze. Breasts?

From the writers. More to come as more heroes gain their abilities! Can our intrepid heroes find one another in time to stop doomsday? Can they co-operate to form an effective team?

Tune in next time for RECKONING... More Awakenings!

A note from Cathy. You'll notice that I didn't allude to the powers that have been gifted. I thought it might be giving away too much at this time and, it might influence the other authors to try to compliment what now exists, abilities wise. When all members of the team have been gifted, then I will outline their abilities. Let's hope for the best, shall we?

Two more newly created heroes make their appearances. Read their backstories

Winter. By Maggie Finson.

Okay, what had just happened to me?

I knew, intellectually, but viscerally it really hadn't sunk in yet.

It all started a week earlier, after the flap the being that called itself The Observer had revealed itself to the people of Earth. Saying that it was going to choose people to save us all from some kind of cataclysm that could destroy us.

“Albert Lewis Higgins.” A voice said from behind me, and I knew there wasn't anyone who had entered my rather shabby apartment. Which was all I could afford with the disability payments I was getting. Oh, I had money saved, but that had to last me for as long as I might manage to live and the medication, and oxygen I needed weren't cheap.

I jumped up, immediately regretting that because my breath started coming short gasps from the sudden activity. COPD is not fun, or really pretty and I had a pretty nasty case of it.

“What? Who...” I trailed off at that because I recognized who, or what was with me. The Observer.

“What do you want with me?” I asked, knowing from the broadcast earlier but not believing I had been one of the people chosen.

“You know, Al.” The being gently told me. “Someone has to try and save this world. I am not allowed to do that so must use others.”

“I can't save the world.” I shook my head.

“You have the potential to do just that.” The Observer answered. “All I ask of you right now is to think about it. I will return in a week for your answer. Think of the abilities you would use to help save this world. Think carefully, because if you accept, those will be yours. I will return in a week for your answer, and remember, time is short.”

Then it was gone. Just like that. One second I was looking at it, then next it was as if the visit had never happened. But it had, and I had some thinking to do.

What would I do if I accepted the offer, or job? I thought long and hard about that one, and if I was someone who could be trusted with that kind of power.

The idea thrilled me in one way. I'd always cared about people, and for them. Which led to be becoming a nurse so I could get more hands on with that kind of thing.

A lifetime of smoking, then a case of viral pneumonia had ended that. Now I couldn't walk across the room with getting out of breath and had been feeling very useless lately. Useless enough to think, off and on, of just ending it period. But I was stubborn and never really considered suicide as an acceptable option.

“But what would I be like if was handed that kind of power?” I wondered to myself. “Would I stop caring about people and things?”

To me, that would have been worse than dying.

Yet it also held out the chance to be useful again, to do something really worth doing.

Yes, I had a lot of thinking to do.

* * * *

I'd researched the 'end of the world' prophecies quite thoroughly, I mean I had plenty of time to do it.

Here I was, 59 years old and convinced that my life was over, but with a chance to actually do something important again.

My choice was made on the second day.

* * * *

“You have decided.” The observer was back, just as abruptly and startling as the first time.

I want to do something, but how do I do that” I asked.

“I am not permitted to tell you that, Al.” The being answered. “Tell me. Is it yes or no? If you weren't capable of the act, I would not have chosen you.”

The moment of truth was at hand. Was I really wanting to help people, or was I just being selfish and wanting my health back?

I made my decision and nodded. “Yes.”

I didn't even feel it. The transformation, and The Observer didn't even ask what I'd picked out for powers.

Once it was finished, the creature was gone. But I could breathe!

I gloried in that for a few moments then noticed my chest as I was just enjoying the ability to breathe without a struggle again and not feeling tired as I had for the past year or so.

Oh, shit.

I was a woman.

I hadn't expected that.

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Aura. By Erin Halfelven

I'd heard the announcement from The Meddler, like I guess everyone else had, but somehow I never expected to get a personal visit.

It was in the early morning hours while I was making my rounds of the bakeries where I could sometimes pick up a hot, fresh muffin or even a loaf of bread from some kind soul. The loaf might be day-old or older but it would still be good enough for me and my friends in the Jungle.

That's what we call the small patch of bushes under the freeway overpass where my friends and I hang out. It keeps us hidden and as long as no one sees us, no one complains and we get to stay there. Los Angeles has a few busybody cops who would come in and hassle us if they knew we were there but the Jungle doesn't look as big as it really is.

So I was on my way back home with a paper bag full of bakery and a plastic one where I had salvaged some fruit juice boxes one of the fast food places had tossed out when The Meddler appeared right in front of me. I was taking the short way down, next to the bridge upright, which doesn't even look like a path. It's steep and you need to pay attention to where you put your feet since there are roots to tangle your feet, soft places you can sink into and loose places where you can slide.

"Tommy Golden," said the alien.

"Gah!" I said and threw the bag of juice boxes at it. They missed somehow and landed in the bushes below me.

"Do not be frightened," it said.

"All right for you to say," I complained. "No one who looks like an eight-foot frankenstein cockroach in a day-glo green tuxedo just ambushed you!"

"Do not be frightened because you have been chosen to become one of the Earth's Protectors."

"You've got to be kidding me!" I said. "Get out of my way." I started down, intending to walk right into or through the thing. I thought it was probably just a mental image anyway; how else could it have appeared to everyone all at once and not be caught on any cell phone cameras?

Somehow, I got past the ghastly thing without getting any slime on me or even feeling like I had touched it. I wasn't sure how that had worked, it hadn't seemed to move or get out of the path but there I was below it and getting my bag of juice boxes back.

"Tommy Golden," it said again.

"Okay, okay. I heard you the first time. You know my name and I am one of the chosen. Big whoop! If any of these juice boxes are broken, I'll have the Gorch breathe on you, huh? How would you like that? If you know my name, you know who the Gorch is, too. He's a sixty-year-old vet with rotten teeth and a bad digestion and his breath is so nasty it will take the grafitti right off a railroad car. Why didn't you pick him to be an Avenger or Legionnaire, huh? He's already got a super power."

The Meddler from Outer Space didn't seem to be paying attention. It repeated itself. "You have been chosen to become one of Earth's Protectors but you have to choose to do so."

"Yeah?" I said, checking each of the juice boxes. I wasn't kidding about the Gorch's breath; it was Godzilla class. "What does this job pay?"

The big bug ignored me again, I guess it knew with its mental powers that I was just yanking its chain.

"If you have serious questions, I can answer only a few. I can give you enough power to save your world from destruction, there is less than a full year of your time to do this in. During that time, you must learn to use your power and connect up with the others who have been chosen, but I cannot tell you who they are or what they can do. You will have to find out on your own."

"Mmph. Red tape operation obviously," I said. "Okay, assuming I accept this job, just what will I be able to do to prevent the Earth from being toast?"

"You must decide which abilities you think are needed, then ask. If your request is within the parameters that I can grant, I will do so."

My jaw almost dropped. That had kind of been implied in the earlier message everyone got but this was like something out of a comic book, for sure. "Shazam!" I said.

"I know who you speak of, and while I could not grant quite that level of power, I could come close."

I shook my head. Somebody else made this offer would already have picked The Big Red Cheese or the Blue Boy Scout; if that kind of power would help, it would be available. This whole thing reminded me of someone else, too.

I stalled while I thought about things. "Why me? I'm just a street kid, an orphan boy. I don't even know if my name is really Tommy Golden. I won't even be a teenager for another six weeks. My mom died when I was nine and I never knew my father. Why pick me?"

"There are reasons. Not the least of which is that you have already willingly become provider and protector for others even though you are still a child."

I snorted. "And how am I going to be accepted in this team you are building? Huh? Are all the others going to be kids, too?"

"I can't tell you much about them, you will have to find that out. But no, not all of them will be children." The big --thing!-- didn't really have a face I could read and while the voice I heard wasn't mechanical or anything, it didn't carry any emotion I could grab onto either.

For some reason, I started to cry. It waited me out. When I stopped crying, I wiped my eyes. "Do you know how my mom died?" I asked. The alien may have nodded.

I went on anyway. "She was a stripper. And sometimes she had dates and sometimes those dates paid her to be nice. It's how she made the rent money and kept us fed and clothes to wear and books to read. But one of those dates she went on with a girlfriend -- the guys took her and her friend someplace where other people did things to them.

The cops found her. Her friend was dead with her throat cut. There were two dead men, too. One of them with his belly cut, and one had his throat stomped on and Mom had a bullet in her back. She'd been shot and left to bleed to death!"

I cried again. "The cops took her to the hospital. They charged her with murder! She died without ever waking up. I think she died a hero. And if she could do it, so can I!"

I wasn't crying anymore, I was mad. "I want to be a grown-up like my mom! I want to be able to protect myself and other people, too. I'll take your job, you damned big cricket or whatever you are!"

I had more to say and when I finished, the bugman from outta nowhere simply disappeared.

I hadn't expected that and I looked around like crazy to see where it had gone. I would have kept looking but my clothes suddenly felt wrong, too tight across the chest and butt. They weren't much but they were the only clothes I owned at the moment. I felt the seat of the jeans ripping just as I looked down and realized; the Meddler had taken me literally when I said I wanted to be just like my mom -- 34G tits and all!

"Oh, man!" I whined. My voice didn't sound too much different, a little deeper maybe. "You should never trust an alien genie!"

---

There's still more to come! Don't miss even one exciting episode, as rookie Heroes try to save the whole world! Pressure much?

From Catherine Linda Michel: To the readers. Comments are the only payment the writers here get for their hard work. Please, please, PLEASE... comment. There are 6 writers contributing their talents and hard work to this epic adventure. Let them all know what you think of their efforts. Thank you.

One of the final "volunteers" is chosen. Can they all find one another and get used to their new abilities and bodies? Stay tuned folks. It gets bumpy from here.

Tesseract... Sasha Nexus

My name is John Lawton and I just turned 18. Into the middle of a no win scenario for me personally, I heard the Observer's proclamation to the Earth. However I had my own problems to worry about and if I didn't get them solved, I doubted that I would be still around long before that December 2012 deadline happened for the world.

I'd known about the deadline but had not given it much thought about it even after that movie '2012' hit the theaters. Goodness, the Y2K bug was supposed to be like a neutron bomb and halt all our computers but when the clock struck a minute after midnight 1/1/2000 it was revealed to be just a scare.
But when you have first contact with an alien intelligence and it says that you gotta listen. I had my own problems that took priority over the world's woes.

I'd taken the last of my father's corporal punishment that was supposed to toughen me up to be a man. That was a big joke! Me a tough man! Like I would not give anything to be normal but at age 18, I had not been thru puberty yet. Dad was going to toughen me up so that I would not turn gay.

That was a laugh too since I have never had a sexual thought for either gender. Any other parents would have gotten me to a doctor to see why I was the way I was but they were these radical cultists that felt like going to a doctor was blaspheming God. That Prayer to God was all you needed to be healed from anything. They prayed and laid hands on me but nothing ever happened.

Legally, they had no power over me since I was over 18, the age of majority in Union City, GA (a suburb of Atlanta) where I lived. Emotionally they had all the power over me since they had been telling me how useless that i had been and that I would never make it out on my own. I believed all that verbal abuse. I thought no matter how much of a hell it was, that I was stuck there. But I found out that I wasn't alone. I had saved enough from my summer working for McDonald's to secretly buy a netbook at a pawn shop near the house and I could get online from an unprotected wifi from the neighbors.

I made friends again with my neighbor Tanisha who had been 2 grades above me in school. She had become an LPN and was working at a battered women's shelter in Downtown Atlanta. She made me promise that if I could not take the beatings anymore and wanted to save my life that I would go to her house for sanctuary.

Today was the day. I IM'ed her via yahoo and she told me she'd be waiting by her back door to let me into her house.ӬShe wanted me to only take what I knew that my parents did not know that I had with me so it would look like I had just stepped out for a bit when they looked at my room. She said that she had everything that I would need to get away from them waiting for me at her house. True to her word she met me and sneaked me up to her room.

"Sweetie I am so sorry that you are in this shape but I'm glad you finally are able to do something about it. I'm going to help you disappear and get you some place safe."

"Thank you Tanisha, I don't know what I would do without you."

"John, I've got an idea but it might be difficult for you. Do you trust me?"

"I'm in your hands, Tanisha."

"Okay, I'm a nurse and I need to see what I have to work with. Please strip naked for me. I need to document those injuries of yours and see if you need any immediate treatment."

I did what she asked me to do and she started documenting my injuries with a digital camera. It wasn't until she used a hand mirror to look at my private place that she stopped dumbfounded. She had me scared and she saw that so she told me what she had found.

"John you are intersexed and from what I can see, you may be more girl than boy. At your age without intervention some very bad things could happen. Have you had any cramps or symptoms like that?"

"I've had some bad cramps but they seem to come more frequently recently."

"John, my first idea was to find a way to hide you as a girl. Now I think the best thing is to take you to the battered women's shelter that I work at. You are close enough to female for them to take you in no questions asked along with the documentation that I have of your injuries.
Will you let me dress you up as a girl? I know that you have been forced into a crew cut but I have a blonde wig that I don't use because I discovered it's not a good look for me that you can have. I have a bag of clothing and necessities that I put together for you that you can have. What would you like me to call you for a girl's name?"

"I'd like to be called, Joanna. Let's do this, please Tanisha."

"I'll do my best, Joanna."

I made a rather pretty girl once the clothes and wig were in place. She even had some breast forms to put in my bra which felt cold but it was okay. I was fortunate that she had a pair of flats in my size to finish me off and we didn't bother with makeup since I looked fine without it.

We didn't talk on the way in the car to the shelter since Tanisha was speaking on speaker phone to the shelter. She took care of my intake paperwork over the phone including giving them the details of the pre intake medical exam that she had done.

Due to the unusual nature of my medical condition, they wanted to put me in a private room. Luckily a woman was able to move out into an apartment with her children so a private room was vacant that they reserved for me.

I got a welcome from the live in house mother, Lawanda, when Tanisha had us buzzed thru into the entry area. The three of us went into a private office where Lawanda asked me a few questions to confirm the things that Tanisha had already put into my intake paperwork that she had dictated. I indicated my agreement that I needed to disappear from my parents lives since they were a genuine danger to me.

"We have the means to get you alternate identification like they do in the witness protection program so that all traces to your former life goes to a dead end. Right now you are identified to our system only as Joanna. I'll need a last name of course and a middle name if you like for the records."

"I feel like a person outside their comfort zone being like this just like my boyhood hero Buck Rogers in the 25th century so I'd like my last name to be Rogers. As for a middle name, I'd like to be Christina, since I would like to be a real follower of Jesus unlike my parents: Joanna Christina Rogers and maybe Tina for short. How does that sound, Tanisha?"

"That sounds great Tina! You'll be Joanna Christina Rogers." That's all we need for now, Tina but tomorrow will be busy with intake and orientation for you. I'm sure you have had a busy day so the best thing that we can do for you now is let you get settled in your room."

Tanisha led me to my room and left me with the bag of clothes and supplies that she had packed for me. Having just had a shower at Tanisha's place prior to getting dressed, I opted to get into a nightgown that Tanisha had provided and I put the wig on its stand and brushed the hair out.

I’d grabbed my netbook and climbed into bed. I opened it to see if there was any wifi here when I had a visitor. It was the Observer and it looked like I was one of the chosen. I lay there dumbfounded not knowing how to react but the Observer finally said something to me.

“I know your challenges, Tina who was John. . I know what is in your mind and soul. I know the courage that you have shown in seeking refuge from those who harm you and starting a whole new life. I can do many things besides granting you powers. I can change your form any way you want or need.

The one thing I cannot do is force you to choose to try to be one of the ones to save your world. This has to be your decision and, if you choose it, your responsibility. I know that there is great good in you and I believe that you are, indeed, one of the ones to be gifted with the abilities I can bestow. I will return in a week for you to give me your decision and to choose what powers for me to bestow upon you.”

"Wow, you don't make it easy. Why me? Can I really help save the Earth?"

“Yes, I believe you, and others like you, can save your planet.”

"Could you shed any light on the disaster that is coming? Any clue at all?"

“No, It is not permitted.”

"What if..."

Before I could finish asking my question the Observer was gone. And the cramps and pain hit me. It was blinding severe pain that I could not think of anything else except that the question I almost asked was even more relevant. I wanted to know, what if I would not last a week?

I reasoned that the Observer would not have chosen me if I were to die before the week was out. It was a promise that I could get thru this. I needed the promise since the pain was so intense that I screamed and then there was blackness.

My eyelids fluttered, I was in a hospital bed and Tanisha was working over me to adjust an IV.

"Tina, you had us so worried. But you are getting stable. Welcome back."

"Thanks Tanisha, why are you here? Where is here?"

"You are in Grady, sweetie and the shelter is giving you private nursing care while you are here. We wanted you to wake to a familiar face so Lawanda and I have been sharing duties. One of us will be looking out for you. This is a special suite of rooms for shelter patients so you will be safe."

"How long have I been out? I've been having these strange dreams that an alien appeared and told us the earth would end in December."

"You've been out for two days. Not really in a coma but the meds that we had to give you to deaden the pain made you sleep. The Observer is real, Tina. It's all real."

I felt I could tell Tanisha anything yet I held back telling her that the Observer had appeared to me and that I was one of the chosen.

"Any clue what's going on inside me?."

"Right now you have a pancreatic infection that is causing your major symptoms but we got you an MRI and your insides need straightening out or you will die. From what the DR told me, you have a complete female reproductive tract but it's atrophied from not having started puberty. Even if we kick started puberty with Estradiol injections, you don't have a vaginal opening so that would be dangerous too."

"So what's the plan?"

"We're getting you into the Medicaid system and getting permission to do surgery on you to correct the problems inside you. You need to heal from the infection first and we hope that by that time we'll get the okay from Medicaid to do the surgery. Right now it's urgent you get it but not an emergency so you'll go back to the shelter until either it is an emergency or we get approval."

"Thank you all for what you are doing for me. I’ll be a good patient and get better and hope that we get an okay soon."
"You are welcome Tina. You need your rest so I'm going to inject you thru the IV with something to help you sleep.
Good Night Tina."

I slept and I got better and seven days from my first encounter, I was back resting in my room at the shelter when the Observer came back. I knew what I would say to the Observer and had thought of the consequences to my decision.

"Tina, what is your choice?"

"I choose the danger! Hell of a time to ask!" I saw that the Observer understood my answer.

"In this flash drive I've stored my choice for powers."

"Understood."

I offered to the Observer the flash drive which contained my request for the powers that the Observer had also asked me to choose. The drive floated out of my hand and then true to its name disappeared in a flash. I could not resist the trek reference, earlier, but regretted it when the pain came back upon me again even worse than before.
All of a sudden the pain was gone but something was different. The relief was heavenly but I felt hair cascading down my back.

"Fascinating!"
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From Cathy: One more to go, maybe. I hope you are enjoying this co-operative effort. If you are, Please comment. Let us know that we're doing a good job. Thank you.

We get more descriptions of the heroes and how they feel about being "Gifted" and descriptions of their powers.

Aura... Erin Halfelven.

The very first thing I tried to do with my new powers blew the rest of my poor tattered clothes to rags and scraps and scattered the pieces all over the area under our bridge. Scared the bejesus out of me, too, because it made a noise like a firecracker going off inside a garbage can.

"Oh, boy," I whispered. If anybody in the Jungle heard that, they would be out to investigate. I glanced down at myself and almost started cursing again when I saw the giant tits. I seemed to be naked but surrounded by a thin golden aura. Not quite naked, maybe, I saw lines in the aura, as if I were wearing a bikini top.

And when I started to move I discovered that I had on what looked like Mom's favorite pair of stage shoes, the ones with a five-inch heel and a one-inch platform. Good night! I could barely walk and when I stepped in a soft stpot the stiletto heels sank up to my arch in the dirt. I cussed again.

Smokin' Joe stuck his head out of the jungle about then. He had a cigar in his bearded face, like he always did, and his ancient Raiders cap was pulled low on his forehead. About all I could really see of him was his eyes, big as saucers as he stared at me.

I don't know why but I waved and grinned at him. "It's just me, Joe," I said in my new lower pitched voice. "I brought some bread and juice boxes." I pointed at the bags.

"Who the fuck are you, lady?" Joe demanded around the cigar.

"Uh." It occurred to me that I didn't really want to tell him what had happened. "You can call me -- Aura," I said. "I'm one of the superheroes the damned alien was talking about last week."

He boggled a bit. "You look like Stripperella," he said with a hint of -- what was that? Admiration or just leering? He paused to cough up a nasty wad of something and I looked around, thinking about getting away. But where would I go.

More heads were appearing in the Jungle curtain: Gorch, Needlenose, Aloha Sue and Bowser, the dog. They started asking questions I didn't want to answer. Ten or fifteen people lived in the Jungle at various times and pretty soon, everyone that was at home would be out ogling me. I felt exposed.

"Is that bikini painted on?" I head Needlenose ask.

"Looks like," said Sue. "Ain't you cold, honey?"

I wasn't cold, particularly, now that I noticed. Perhaps the aura around me kept me warm. I wondered about the other powers I'd asked for. Could I fly?

"Tommy ought to see this chick," said Gorch. "He'll be home soon."

The mention of my other self, --my old self?-- got me moving. I turned and stumbled back up the path under the bridge. When I had clear sky above me, I tried to jump into the air, intending to fly away if I could.

I felt the power of my aura fling me into the sky....Aura is about 5'9", 130 lbs. With long golden blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has a deep tan and a slight overbite that makes her look younger than she is which was 26 when Molly Golden died. She has a big chest because one of the clubs Molly danced for paid for her to get implants. Her measurements are 41-23-35

Her powers include a personal forcefield that protects her from danger. It lurks invisibly just under her skin unless the danger is obvious and imminent when it automatically comes to her surface and turns her gold, head to foot. If she is surprised, it will just blow her clothes off and she will be left looking as if she were wearing a golden bikini with high heels. Otherwise, if she does it deliberately, she can make it turn her clothes gold, too. She hates getting surprised. :)

If she's in the bikini and heels get up, she can jump by shooting the forcefield out of her heels. Trying to do that in regular clothes, even turned gold, will blow the clothing off and leave her in the bikini, etc.

She can jump several city blocks, about an eighth of a mile or jump that distance straight up. Once in the air, she can make wings grow on her back, big dragonfly or damselfly like wings (she can hold them in either position). She can glide with these wings or fly and hover. Her flying speed is only abut 180mph tho, less if she's using the force field for anything besides protection and flight. She CAN fly faster in an emergency but only by losing altitude rapidly.

When she lands, the wings disappear unless she concentrates on them for a moment but she normally doesn't keep them since she takes off by jumping anyway.

She can extend the forcefield from either hand as a club, a sword, a shield or claws. She can make spurs on her feet and horns on her head, too. At first, she can't really do these things during a fight, or the wings either, but she learns.

She can extend the forcefield into anything or anyone touching her or within arms reach. She can also make a force bubble about ten feet in diameter. She will be naked inside a force bubble tho. The bubble will hold enough air for her for about 20 to 30 minutes. She can see out of the bubble but no one can see in and she can make it float at about walking speed.

Actually, she can see through her forcefields anytime she wants, she still knows where they are but she can see through them. To anyone else inside one of her forcefields, personal or bubble, everything outside will look blue. Near ultra-violet radiation is the only thing that can go through the force field with enough energy to do damage without being affected by the absorption. So a near ultra-violet laser could reach right inside and hit her.

Her forcefield will stop any blow up to an elephant or rhino-killing rifle bullet and will at least soften the impact of harder stuff. She's pretty much fireproof and acid proof but caustic gases could get her unless she knows to hold her breath or use wings to blow them away. Nuclear energy is cut by about one half by her forcefield but she can harden it so 90% or more of radiation will be stopped.

She can make her forcefield glow with golden light and so see in the dark. She can form mermaid-like fins in the water but then can swim only about twice as fast as a person can run, about 30mph. She has to learn this trick, it doesn't come automatic.

Eventually, she might learn other uses of the forcefield, like making an augur to drill through stuff.

When she punches, her forcefield pulses and adds energy to her blow so she can hit about as hard as a strong man using a sledgehammer. With a forcefield hammer or sword, she can hit even harder because of the leverage.

She doesn't get tired as quick as most people but using too much aura energy will tire her and she does have to sleep and eat and all of that. She can recover some energy for her aura from the sun and heat, but this doesn't help with being tired. If she flew at max speed for two hours, she would need to rest and recharge for at least ten minutes or be at only half effectiveness. If she was carrying someone, she would tired as fast again for every hundred pounds she carried. Her limit for lifting is about 3000 pounds but for flying its about 500.

If she's prepared, it is hard to knock her down or back because she can sink force spikes into the ground or whatever is beneath her. These penetrate without breaking but anyone strong enough to knock her down or back then would tear chunks out of whatever she had spiked.

----------------------------------
Graviton... Catherine Linda Michel

“Oh my God!” was my first thought, followed very quickly by checking my identification to see if that had been covered as well. I looked around and found a purse. A purse! Checking it quickly I found that the entity had thought of everything. I was Karen Mitchell, 25 years old with the same birthday I'd had as Keith. I was 5' 9” tall and 150 pounds with a very curvy body! Yes, I checked and I was complete as a female, at least as far as I could determine from an quick examination externally!

Perhaps the oddest thing I found out though, was that I felt completely comfortable with my new form and looks. There was none of the strangeness I'd expected at finding breasts on my chest and no external structures in my groin area. I found that all it took to access my abilities was a thought, and I knew everything about them, and how to use them! It was as if I'd been born just the way I was and had come into my powers by experimentation and use of them!

When I went to bed that night, I thought hard about the one thing the Observer had said. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” and I realized that I had placed myself in between the impending doom of my home planet, and being one if it's only hopes! Scary? Nah... not much. I shivered my way to sleep, knowing that the next few weeks and months were going to be the scariest, most trying times of my life, and you know what? I looked forward to them!

Waking up the next morning was a... different experience. For the first time, I didn't have any aches or pains. My eyes opened and I was instantly awake. I did one of those full body stretches and just lay there for a minute or two, reveling in the feeling of a healthy body.

Then, it came crashing in on me. 'I can't waste any time! I gotta get up, get dressed, and get moving! I don't know how I'm gonna find the rest of the heroes,' but I damn sure have to figure something out.

With that thought firmly in my head, I jumped out of bed... and promptly hit my head on the damn ceiling! Well shit! I mean, it didn't hurt... well, it didn't hurt me. It sure did a job on the ceiling though. Looking around, I located my broom and dustpan, cleaned up the mess, and tried to find some clothes that would fit.

Yeah, right! Everything I had was either too big, too small, or too dirty. Sigh. Okay. Find an old sweatsuit... make it fit the best I can, grab my purse... my purse! Nobody can imagine how much of a thrill it was for me to be able to call a purse, my own!

Anyway, grab purse and head out to get some clothes that fit. Keys in purse, check. Wallet in purse, check. Out the door, lock it. Off to the stores. Crap! Unlock the door, go back in the apartment, find some damn shoes, then repeat former actions. Now out the damn door.

I hit the stores heavy, thanks to the money the Observer had so thoughtfully given me. When I reached the point where I couldn't carry any more bags, I stopped for some lunch. Setting the bags down in a food court in the mall where I was, I got in line at Biggie Burger. I was starving, so I ordered up a double everything with a large Pepsi(TM). The kid at the counter gave me a funny look like, “How is a little thing like her eat all that food?” I just smiled and went back to my seat.

I scarfed down all that food in a matter of minutes, not noticing the looks I was getting from the rest of the people eating there. When I looked up, however, I realized that I should have been a bit more... ladylike in my eating habits. Oh well, nothing for it now but to ignore them and get on with shopping.

By the time I reached the other end of the mall, I had so much stuff I'd had to borrow a cart from one of the custodians to carry it all. One of the rent-a-cops suggested that I have all that stuff delivered. What a great idea! I gave him a big smile and asked him if he would be so kind as to take care of that for me. He called his main office and after I gave him my address, he made arrangements to have the delivery made to my apartment within the hour. This being a gal stuff is neat! All I gotta do is smile and people fall all over themselves to help me.

So I took some of the things I'd bought, grabbed a cab and made it back to my place ahead of the delivery truck. Back inside, I tossed everything on the bed and sat down to think. I knew what abilities the Observer had given me, so I concentrated on them to see if any of them would help me locate the other heroes, and came up empty. Damn! I shoulda asked for telepathy or a magic locater thing, or something!

Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the hard way. Okay. No media. That could be a real goat rope! That means no advertising in newspapers either. Superheros in the Yellow Pages? Not bloody likely! Then it hit me. Atlanta Georgia! Home of HLN and Robin, hotter than a blowtorch, Meade! If I could wangle a way to get into the studios, I might hear or find something that might lea me to the other heroes!

Okay! Great idea! One thing though. Yeah, I can fly, but I can't take all my new pretties with me that way. Hmmm. Too much to go by plane too. Bus? No friggin way! Train? Same thing. Sigh. Okay. I guess I gotta pack up my trusty Ford Crown Vic and head south. A couple of days of easy driving would get me there in good shape. Then get a hotel room, and infiltrate the news station.

Hey! I didn't say it was a great plan! It was all I had, and I've always been more then somewhat impulsive. Besides, being able to have some control over gravity meant that I could decrease the weight of my loaded down Vic, and get better gas mileage. So, with the plan firmly in mind, I set about saying goodbye to this cesspit of a town.

I called my landlord and told him to keep the damn deposit. Then I cancelled the phone, internet and cable. Then I had the electricity and other stuff shut off. I packed up the Crown Vic, and I was outta there. Having no friends and a crappy job helped too. The job could go pound salt. When I didn't show up, they'd just fire me anyway. Screw them. Damn job sucked anyway.

Heading out of town, I thought about what was ahead of me, other than 600 miles of road. This is gonna be one hell of an adventure. I mean, saving the world? Give me a break here! Still, the chance to actually be a woman, not to mention a superheroine, well, that just about trumped anything else that I could think of.

So, look out world! Here comes GRAVITON! She's hot, she's super and she's comin' to save YOU!

I passed around Pittsburgh and stopped for fuel and snacks. The day was just gorgeous for this time of year. Bright sunlight, clear sky, a bit cold, but I have a heater in the car. Stopping every hundred miles of so to stretch my legs and snack a bit... Wow. This is the life. No job worries, no money worries, hardly any worries at all... well, unless you count that “saving the world” thing, that is.

Even with that on my mind, it was still a feeling of anticipation that buoyed my spirits more than anything. After filling the car, and myself, I got back on the road, keeping the cruise control set at whatever the posted limit said the speed limit was. I wasn't in a hurry and, anyone who was... well they could go around me. Besides, I was living my dream of actually being a real, live woman.

Yeah, okay, there was that whole “saving the world” thing in the back of my mind , but on the whole, I was finally what was, to my mind, the right sex! Compared to the immediacy of finally living the way I'd always wanted, needed to be, even the awful thought of the whole world ending unless I and some others did something about it, kinda faded into white noise in my subconscious.

I stopped at a rest area after about another hour, shut off the car and got out to stretch and think, listening to some vintage Jethro Tull coming from my new MP3 player. Mmmmm. Locomotive Breath. The whole parking area was empty except for Martha, my 1994 Crown Victoria.

I lit a smoke, knowing that they could no longer harm my health, thanks to the Observer and his gifts. Blowing out a plume of fragrant smoke, I reached into my cooler for a Pepsi(TM) and popped it open. I was singing along with the song, Locomotive breath, and had just taken a healthy swig of my cold soda when the air began... well, sparkling? around me!

Karen Mitchell, AKA Graviton. 25 years old, 5' 9” tall and 150 pounds with a very curvy body. Strawberry Blonde hair, tanned and very fit looking.

Powers: 25 years old, and physically very attractive, fully female. Appearance will never vary from apparent age of 25, and remain fully healthy until death.

Full knowledge of how to be a female, like a fashion sense, makeup and the like.

Powers have to do with gravity and the manipulation of it, with enhanced strength and reflexes. Flight, at mach 2 maximum when needed.

Virtual invulnerability from physical damage, and immunity from all known forms of radiation, gases and chemicals. Full knowledge of what powers can do and how to use them for the best in any situation.

Very secure financial condition and full documentation to support new Identity.
----------------------------------------

-------------------------------------Tessaract RevealedӬ by Sasha Nexus
"Fascinating!"ӬI just had to say it again and then Tanisha was thru the locked door and into my room and was about to start CPR when she saw the reason for the flat line on her remote monitoring.

The sensors were a bit close to my nipples when I was flat chested but now were on the sides of my breasts, yes Breasts! When Tanisha saw I was in no danger and what had incapacitated the sensors she just had the giggles and I joined her in my new higher sexy voice.Ӭ

"Talk about late bloomers girl, this is impossible! I'm so glad for you but is there something you would like to tell me?"Ӭ

"I'm sorry Tanisha for not saying before but I'm one of the gifted that the Observer called. I accepted and look, instant boobs, hair, voice and you tell me."Ӭ

"You've got the whole package girl. Give me a second, got to do something quick and I'll be right back."ӬTanisha tore out of my room headed who knows where.

Then it caught up with me, all of the treatment and records from Grady were under the name Jane Roe so as to not identify me outside of the security of the shelter. She must be canceling the data merge of my records from the hospital into my Medicaid file which would start the request for the treatment that I no longer needed.Ӭ

"Got the data merge purged. I'm afraid that Medicaid doesn't know anything about your condition now and Grady will have lost another Jane Roe thanks to the shelter's hacker."Ӭ

"That’s a relief. Thanks for helping me keep my cover Tanisha. Wow this all seems so upside down from where we started. I'm afraid to ask what comes next."”¨

"Girlfriend you get the complete exam this time including a ride in the stirrups. But it looks like you are whole."ӬTanisha took me to the exam room and she did the full exam on me.

There was no trace of any abnormality left. What I didn't realize until I got to look in the mirror is that instead of a mousey brown haired brown eyed person, I was a blue eyed blonde woman. My face had changed so that I looked completely different now.Ӭ

"Happy Birthday Tina! It's a girl!"Ӭ

"Thanks Tanisha. Why do you suppose that I don't look like a completely female version of what I was with the abnormalities removed?"Ӭ

"Part of what made you intersexed, Tina is that you were a chimera. Parts of you had a different DNA. While the most of you had been xxxy this other DNA was xx. It looks like you are the person that you would have been if you had been made up only with the XX DNA. Of course that is just a guess. It would take a lot more tests that we won’t do to confirm it since we don’t want to red flag you as possibly gifted. "”¨

"Thank you, Tanisha. You are such a good friend. Do you think that you could find some clothes that fit the new me?"Ӭ

"That I can do, Tina. Hey if you are Gifted, what can you do besides mesmerize guys who look into your cleavage?"Ӭ

"I know what I asked for but that doesn't mean that I got it. I'll work on seeing what I can do while you are away."Ӭ

"Okay Tina. Have fun!"Ӭ

I didn't want to tell her what I had asked for until I saw if I could do it. So I tried to open a Tessaract.

A Tessaract is a place outside of Space and Time at the intersection of all the points on Earth. Some one more powerful might be at the intersection of the Solar System or the Galaxy or the Universe but Earth was enough for me. From the Tessaract, I could open a 'window' where I could view one of those points and mentally selecting the point would provide the direction where it opened up.
You could step thru the window or else just close it and open up another window till you saw where you wanted to go. I had stored a key to all those points in my head so if I knew where I was going then I could just jump there but if I was searching for something it was trial and error but since the Tessaract was outside of space time , the time spent in the Tessaract did not happen and it seemed to an outsider that the trip took no time expended at all.Ӭ

"Open Sez Me!"ӬAnd all of a sudden I was no where and everywhere at the same time.

It was an atmosphere of swirling lights inside the Tessaract. I opened a window back to my room and I saw it exactly as I had left it frozen in time except I had vanished. Duh! I had missed it floating among the lights when I first entered the Tessaract but there suspended in mid air floating was a Powerball Lottery Ticket with today's date on it.
I snatched it from the air and placed it in my cleavage for lack of pockets in my nightgown. It occurred to me that in order for Tanisha to be able to come back to the room I would have to exit the Tessaract so that Time would start again when I emerged back in the real world. I stepped thru the window and re entered the room, not at the same point that I had left it so that if there were someone observing they would have seen me popping in to the room at a different place. With persistence of vision, It would have seemed initially that there were 2 of me. Very weird!Ӭ

Tanisha came in after a while with a dress underclothes and shoes for me to wear. I put them on and admired myself in the mirror. I guess I did have the superpower of keeping a Guy's eyes glued to my boobs, too.Ӭ

" Tanisha, do you know tonight's Powerball winning numbers?"Ӭ

"I can pull them up on my phone, why?"Ӭ

"I think I have the winning Ticket."Ӭ

"Cool. Here they are."ӬShe showed me the winning numbers on her phone and I compared them all.Ӭ

"This is the winning ticket. Wow. I can't redeem it. That would blow my cover for real. Tanisha, could you redeem it for me and use it to buy a large home in the suburbs? I don't have a home now so it would be good if you had one big enough so that I and the other gifted would have a place to hang out. You could use the rest for you and to make a better life for the battered women who go thru the shelter."Ӭ

"I'll do that for you Girlfriend and all those others out there who need help. It will take time to get the actual money but I imagine that my credit will be good enough to buy a large home. Hey I remember reading about one in the homes section. It's out in Covington but the seller has gone to St Simons Island to live with her Brother to be close to the rest of her family so it's all ready to move in and it comes furnished. Take a look at this house!"Ӭ

"Wow it looks like a 4 story house with basement that is formed in the shape of a Castle with turrets and stone walls and everything.
Why don't you check into that? Does it say how much land it is on?"Ӭ

"It's on 74 acres and has pastures for horses and a creek running along the boundary on one side. It's wooded so its very isolated from the neighbors. But you have been distracting me from asking about your gift. What did you find out?"Ӭ

"I can do a special kind of Teleport called a Tessaract."Ӭ"Like Meg in "A Wrinkle in Tine"?"Ӭ"Like that only I have more control since instead of being centered on all of space / time, I am centered on Earth. I think that if I touch you like Meg touched Charles Wallace; I can bring you into the Tessaract with me. Instead of like a tunnel that you flow down, mine is like a room where you can look at different places till you find one you want to get out at and it takes no time at all to go from A to B."Ӭ

"Wow, Tina. Let’s go!"”¨Tanisha put her hand in mine and we both went into the Tessaract and disappeared from the room.

Tanisha took a moment to get used to the new environment and then she was eager to explore .Ӭ

"Are you okay, Tanisha?"Ӭ

"I'm more than Okay. My COPD seems to be going away. I can breathe normally again. Wow!"Ӭ

"Look Tanisha. The scars on your arm are fading so that it seems like they were never there."Ӭ

"All of my old injuries are disappearing just like they never happened. The environment inside the Tessaract must be healing me. I bet you didn't notice it because you were brand new anyway."Ӭ

I opened a window onto "The Castle" in Covington.Ӭ

"Look Tanisha. It's ' The Castle’ I can open windows into each of the rooms so we can have a look see without actually going there and setting off the alarms"”¨

"It's even better than the pictures."Ӭ

We took a virtual tour of 'the Castle' by opening windows into each of the rooms. When we had finished we were even more Convinced that 'The Castle' would be perfect for Tanisha to own and for me and my new friends to stay since there was plenty of room.. When we agreed we were finished for now, I opened a window back to the room we had left. When we walked thru out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the two of us leaving.Ӭ

"Tina, I'll go ahead and get this started. If you are going to be a heroine you might think about borrowing one of the sewing machines from the activity room and some spandex and sew yourself a costume. I can help you with a pattern of something cute I thought about making for Halloween one year."Ӭ

"That sounds like a winner. How do I start? "Ӭ

"You'll want to decide what colors you want to make it and perhaps have some design on your front. Draw what you want it to look like and I'll bring you back the pattern and material that I had for the costume and we'll try to make what you want. Of course you know the first rule of costumes, don’t you?"”¨

"What is that Tanisha?"Ӭ

"No Capes!"Ӭ

"Okay Edna!"Ӭ

We both giggled and I got some pencil and paper and drew a design with a Moon over my boobs and a butterfly on my tummy and had the right and left be different colors. The left designs were in the rights color and the right's design was in the left's color. The two colors contrasted so the design was recognizable from a long ways away. Tanisha came back with the costume pattern and some gold and green Spandex.Ӭ

"Here you go, Tina. You can get the Sewing machine and thread from the sewing room. You can draw your design on the pattern and then with tracing paper trace it off into a pattern to cut out and then you can stitch the design to the costume."Ӭ

"I think I can do this. Thanks"Ӭ

Well I made a start on it and after Tanisha had started things on the Lottery ticket and the house, she came back and helped me with the costume. She corrected the things that I had missed and took over. By the time she was finished with the costume, they had arranged for her to start renting the house until all the paperwork went thru for her to buy it outright. I tessered her and her car full of stuff over and she began to move in.Ӭ

As I tessered over with load after load I became aware that there seemed to be others like me. I could sense their existence and a direction and relative distance from me. There was one heading north to Atlanta and another heading south towards Atlanta. I had the last load for Tanisha and we stopped to talk.Ӭ

"Tanisha, I'm sensing the presence of other gifted. I need to find them."Ӭ

"Okay, Tina. I'll get you checked out from the shelter. Of course you are welcome at 'The Castle' Anytime. I'll collect your things and have them for you in your bedroom here. When you find them you can bring them back here if you like. Please let me know before you do so I can be a little bit prepared for it and it’s not a complete surprise."”¨

"Of course, Tanisha. I'll do that."Ӭ

"Tina, aren't you forgetting something? This is your first mission after all."Ӭ

"My costume, Right! I'll go change into it before I go."Ӭ

"You never told me what you decided for your heroine name."Ӭ

"I'm Tessaract but you can call me Tess! All my hopes for you, Tanisha."Ӭ

"God speed, Tess!"ӬAnd Tina vanished from Tanisha's sight. With a quick stop and a costume change,

Tesseract was on her way to find the others.

Powers:

1. Unlike the power that Meg had to traverse galaxies, dimensions and time, Tina's power isӬlimited in scope to point to point transport within the Earth's gravity well.

2.With the limitation in scope, Tina is able to pinpoint with great accuracy the exit point for the Tesseract. This she does with the aid of exact model of Earth now stored in her brain to refer to in guiding the Tesseract

3.Once inside the Tesseract she is able to turn back and observe her departure point from safety inside the restorative and inertia canceling environment inside the Tesseract She is also able to view alternate exit points and chose where exactly to exit the Tesseract.

4.Time in the outside world appears to have stopped while one is inside the Tesseract. Being within the forces inside the Tesseract tends to degrade one's physicality so to preserve it there is a powerful restorative to organic matter only that will heal more and more damage in correspondence to the time spent inside the Tesseract Life Support is maintained for unlimited time inside the Tesseract and within the threshold Force Field.

5.There is a threshold state before actually entering the Tesseract where the person is surrounded by an energy shield but can otherwise interact normally in a protected state with the world. In order to move the energy shield, One Tessers But instead of emerging, remains in the threshold state which appears to achieve instant movement. The person disappears inside the tesseract during transit but since the movement is instant the period where it disappears is not detectable. Persistence of vision will make it appear that there are 2 forcefields momentarily when there is only really one.

6 Defensive use of the forcefield can be to Tesser into the path of something and let it run into the forcefield. With the inertia dampening field no impact is felt inside or to appear to surround something with persistence of vision making it appear that there are multiple forcefields present instead of one.

7 More than one person can enter the Tesseract with Tina but they must establish and maintain physical contact with her.

8. Unrelated to her ability to Tesser, She also has an empathic sense. She is able sense the presence of others that the Observer has touched and this sense of presence increases as the distance between them decreases. This sense of presence can detect anyone on the half of the earth centered on her present position very faintly. Once she comes within 30 miles of them she begins to detect emotional state with the stronger ones being detected sooner than weaker ones. When within sight of a person, she can recognize them as the source of the emotional content they are receiving . Her Empathic ability functions thru the threshold force field.

Power functionality summary:

1 Provides transport to all in physical contact with Tina

2 Time spent inside the Tesseract via touching Tina results in Healing

3 Tina can extend her threshold Forcefield to all who touch her

4 Can be used as a defensive cloak or weapon combining the threshold force field with Tessering.

5.Can detect presence extra long range, emotions medium range, and recognize extra short range with her empathic sense.
--------------------------------------------

Winter... Maggie Finson
Damn.

I sat down, conscious of more padding that was mine, than I'd ever been used to having. I'd always been a short, skinny guy, though I used to prefer calling myself lean.

I spent a long time just looking at my hands, and glorying in my ability to breath without trouble once again along with the aches and pains I'd started to consider old friends. I felt better than I ever recalled feeling even if the circumstances were more than a little strange.

My hands. Yes, back to those. Small, narrow, smooth, long fingered though my nails were still kind of bitten off, just as they had been. I made an idle, and inane mental note to stop biting my fingernails.

My skin was so pale it nearly looked white. Not like a fish belly, there was still enough color in them to avoid that, but barely. A strand, okay make that lock of hair that was a lot longer than I'd worn it since my near hippy days of playing in loud, obnoxious rock bands fell over on shoulder and curled around my — breast on that side.

“Oh, this is going to take some getting used to.” I muttered unsurprisingly, my voice didn't sound like mine any longer either.

Back to the hair. It was a white blonde so light that it actually did look white at first glance, was thick and wavy. Not to mention long enough to hang halfway down my back.

“Great.” I muttered. “Now I'm a platinum blonde. “At least I don't have huge — breasts to make that worse.”
And yes, my first impulse was to call those new additions to my chest boobs, tits, or even gazongas, but these were on me, definitely mine, and calling them that just seemed wrong.

Ahh, how perspectives can change given the right stimulus.

Looking at my pale skin I had another thought. “Am I an albino or something?”

Oddly, that was the first time I felt the urge to see what I looked like. Up until then I'd just been sitting on the couch getting my head around things. Oh, I had done a bit of exploring, touching myself here and there, just feeling the differences compared to now and then. And no, I didn't play with myself, just checked things with fingers and eyes where I was able to see.

The weight of that mass of hair pulled on my neck when I first stood up, but I adjusted within seconds. It was walking that was the bitch. Differently shaped pelvis and arrangement, legs farther apart, smaller feet, different distribution of body weight...
I didn't fall down. But it was a near thing for minute or so.

“Holy...” was about all I got out when I reached the bathroom and looked into the mirror on the medicine cabinet. I wasn't an albino.
Not with those pale blue eyes that seemed just a little large for my now oval, slightly long face. Ice blue, I recalled that color of eyes being called.

I now had a nice, small nose with delicate nostrils, high cheekbones that were nicely highlighted by the new fatty deposits on my face, a full, somewhat overlarge mouth that avoided being pouty, but was still attractive. Toss in a rounded chin, and smooth sweep of jawline, I wasn't what anyone would describe as delicately featured, but was attractive. Long, slim neck, smooth throat, all of the above framed with thick, wavy almost white hair tumbling with a lot more exuberance than I felt at the moment that did hang halfway down my back.

“Oh boy.” I sighed while still looking at that stranger in the mirror.

Now for the next on my list of 'getting to know' me.

I turned to look at the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door left there by the previous tenants.
I got out of my pants and shirt to get a better look, and besides, the jeans I'd been wearing were tight and uncomfortable around my hips and bottom so it was actually a relief to get those off.
And gave myself a critical looking over.

Nicely shaped breasts, not too large, not to small, probably around a B cup, narrow waist that flared outward into slim but very female hips, long smooth legs, narrow shoulders, arms that appeared skinny to me but were right for the body...
I wasn't a stunning beauty, but I was attractive. And my complexion and hair would make me stand out anyway. Hoo boy.

“I can see a lot of sun screen in my future.” I let out a sigh while looking at my uniformly pale skin.

My ice blue eyes, the one truly beautiful thing about me, stared at my new body with a look of mixed shock and wonder.

“What the hell.” I shrugged. “I'm young, healthy. I'll get used to it.”

Something told me I was going to be a head turner even if I didn't think I was beauty.

“Got other things to worry about right now.” I told that stranger — me — in the mirror. “I need clothes that really fit.”

The observer hadn't changed any of my clothes to match my new form.

When I was in the bedroom rummaging through things that might fit with at least marginal comfort, I felt as my head was being filled with something that had no right to be there.

It was December 2012, I knew that much, but nothing was right about what I was seeing. Fire, smoke, cities crumbling or falling into deep fissures in the ground. The heat was almost unimaginable it was so intense in spots as volcanoes formed where none had ever been before.

The screams of the people was the worst of it, though. Despairing, hopeless, and with nowhere to go for safety.
I did fall to the floor after that and my head felt as if a railroad spike had been driven into it from the top.
Worse, I had the certain feeling that that vision, or whatever it was, wasn't a figment of my imagination. I knew it was real, all too real.

As I curled up into a fetal position on the floor I briefly wondered just how I could stop something like that before drifting into a very welcome darkness.
Powers: First, the premise that winter isn't so much death as a promise of renewal. Cold does kill, but gently, making the thing dying sleep and feel warm before the end. One things goes, something else takes it's place, thus insuring the cycle of life.

Not the kindest of beings, but not cruel just to be hurtful. And there is compassion there, as shown by how the ones who died are given warmth and comfort at the end.

Cold. Anything related to cold she can use. Ice, Snow, wind, rain and so on.

Can see when it is time for something to die.
And maybe, what will emerge after that death.

So I guess she's empathic and a precog of some kind.

Though physically tough, is prone to all the ills of other humans and can be hurt almost as easily.

Regeneration: An aspect of winter that not many see. Can heal and repair damage to self in time, with enough rest.

Appearance:

Tall willowy young woman.

Height: 5'9”

Weight: 135 lbs.

Hair: White, but a vibrant white, like new fallen snow instead of showing age.

Eyes: Ice blue, almost clear at times. Almond shaped and not overly large. But compelling.

Slim, graceful, athletic.

Skin so pale it is almost white.

Oval face, high cheekbones, small straight nose, full mouth though it isn't a pouty one.

A beauty, but other than her hair, eyes, and coloring, nothing all that extraordinary.

Pre-change:

Albert Louis Higgins. Called Al by the people who know him. Late fifties, suffering from COPD, and feeling largely useless. Had worked as a nurse for most of his life, but with his illness couldn't keep up with that. Not bitter, just regretful for doing things that caused his illness.

Very caring person.

When the entity comes to him with the offer, he initially wants to jump on it, but has reservations that hold instant acceptance at bay. He wonders just what good someone like him could do in saving the world, and doesn't see anything that would make him think he'd be a difference at first. But he's made a difference for most of his life, and reflects on that before finally accepting the offer at the last minute.

The transformation draws on his caring nature, and his anima to produce Winter.Powers:

---------------------------------
Starshield.....revealed, By Grover.
--------------------------------Interlude in an Air Force Intelligence gathering facility------------------------------

Air Force Tech Sergeant Gene Zigler laid back in his office chair, careful not to hit his cubicle's walls. His neighbor, Petty Officer First Class Zayas hated that shit. However there was something bothering Gene. Some things just needed to talked out.

“Hey, Martin,” He called, pitching voice to carry to the next cube. They might be in the military, but at the level they worked the intelligence analysis biz it was more like an office job.

“Yeah Gene,” the Puerto Rican Intelligence Specialist answered.

“I've looking though these transcripts of what everyone saw and heard when that Observer dude did his song and dance.” He clicked the mouse until he found the screen he was looking for. “You know some things just don't add up?”

“Hows that Gene?” Asked Martin. He stopped and looked over the summaries, searching for a pattern.

“Well for one, does the Observer speak Spanish?” He inquired.

Martin was silent for a moment.

“You know, I think he does.” The Navy IS finally answered. “I didn't think about it at first, but when I first wrote down what Mr. Chrome Dome said, I did it in Spanish.”

“And that's another thing too.” Gene added. “I don't think everyone saw the same thing. By that I mean, sure, we all heard the Dude give his spiel, but I for one didn't see any bald guys. I saw this dude who, now that I that I think about it, reminds of John de Lancie as Q.”

“Really?” Martin questioned. “You're such a Trekkie.”

“That's Trek-KER, my friend,” Gene corrected. “So what did you see?”

“I guess I'm just as bad a nerd as you are.” The PO admitted. “You remember Marlon Brando as Jo-rel in 'Superman the Movie?'”

“Yeah,” Gene acknowledged, thinking about the glowing white robe. “But didn't he have hair?”

“He sure did,” Martin replied, “However, the Observer I saw was a lot like that, but with no hair. Authoritarian like if you know what I mean.”

They were silent while they thought about it.

“So you're thinking he's telepathic?” Martin finally said what they were thinking.

“I believe so,” Gene said. “If so, he not only appeared before everyone on the globe at once, but either he read all of our minds to see what image to use for each of us, or our own minds somehow picked out the image for him.”

“You know that's not a good thing don't you?” Martin asked. “That's a lot of power.”

“You've said a mouthful there, Martin.” Gene said making the understatement of the century. “If he's not being straight with us, there's no way for us to do a thing about it. However, while the conspiracy people are coming out of the woodwork shouting I-told-you-so's, the reputable scientists are still saying they don't see any signs of the Apocalypse on the horizon. Sure, some of them have changed their stories, but most haven't.”

More silence passed.

“So which one of us is going to write this one up?” Martin inquired.

“How about we split it up.” Gene suggested, sighing. “You take the language thing and I'll handle the images everyone saw, fair?”

“Doesn't sound like it's going to get any better.” Martin agreed. “We'll work together on the conclusions, deal?”

“Deal.” Gene said, sitting upright to get to work. There were going to be a lot of people really unhappy with this report. He already knew what the conclusion were. If this Observer was playing them, all planet Earth could do was dance on the strings.

Sparing a moment to think about those who were to be chosen, he whispered, praying.

“Please Lord, no psychopaths, Amen!”

“Amen!” Another echoed up from Martin's cubical.

***

I stared down at myself. Instead of my usual solid color crew tee and flat chested bulging belly torso, I now had on a vee neck, highlighting a respectable amount of cleavage. All that body hair I'd waged an endless battle against was gone. Shocked speechless, my hands told me that my new 'girls' were real and I reveled in the trim waist that had replaced the flabby spare tire I never could get rid of no how hard I tried.

Holy shit! The sonofabitch had really done it!

Holding up a slim feminine hand, I concentrated. I know I was grinning like a fool when my nails lengthened and turned a shade of hot rod red. Looking down, I giggled like a little girl as my clothes flowed into a imitation of Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit. Hugging myself, tears began leaking from my eyes. I'd despaired of being able to fit into this symbol of femininity from my childhood. This version wasn't quite the skin tight, allowing no secrets version, but it still demonstrated that the figure within was all woman.

Part of me wasn't sure how I felt about that, but that was the beautiful thing about my Living Well Plan. I could explore what was right for me. So what if I ended up male, female or somewhere in between. Screw'em if the world if it couldn't take a joke.

I brought up my arm into guard, and a glowing shield appeared. My eyes flashing delight, I extended my other as I did my version of the light saber igniting. Plasma arced and snapped as it was sandwiched and formed into a sword by my force fields.

Oh Yeah! Starshield was ready to rock!

I turned around looking for the Observer, but he'd already lit out.

“Hey Observer,” I said looking up. “Thanks!” I figured he was still watching since that was what he did. “I don't suppose you could give me clue as to where the nearest of my teammates are?”

I waited for a few moments, but nothing was forthcoming.

Still looking I dryly remarked, “Well, I guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way.”

I played around with my new powers a bit more so I could get an idea of how much it was all draining my internal battery. Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience, working out how to recharge myself. All I'll say is, 120 volts is a lot like a slipping into really hot tub. You do a lot of dancing at first, hot, hot!, but once you get used to it, oh so satisfying.

Walking back to the nook that served as my dining room, I stopped.

“Well, I be damned.” There sitting on my dining table, among all the 2nd and 3rd hand computer equipment, was a purse.

While I had a collection of feminine clothes that more or less fit me, I did not have a purse. As the guy I used be, I would not be stepping one foot out of the door. The crime statistics for guys that looked liked me, dressed in the way I preferred, weren't good. This white girl was staying safely inside.

However, things had changed. Hell, I looked better than most genetic girls and could appear to be male or female at will. No more fears of ending up in the morgue, so I would be needing that purse now.

One look at the ID inside made me do a duh, face plant.

First of all, the drivers license had the face the Observer had gifted me, with the name Meagan Groves. She was all of 21 years old and, get this, was my male identity’s daughter. Digging some more, I found a student ID for Emory University in Atlanta.

Okay, these were all things as I had asked in my print out. However, I hadn't specified the university, and Emory was at least 7 hours from my humble abode. I think I had my clue as to the nearest gifted.

Trying a quick experiment, the Emory card didn't change when I focused on it, so no psychic paper, and further excavation of that lovely purse of mine failed to turn up a sonic screwdriver. However, I did turn up a checkbook and charge card that, if it was valid, had a couple of years of pay tucked away in the account. Alright, I admit that with my job, it still wasn't that much, but it was a lot to me. I sighed, but smiled anyways. I think I could manage to deal, watching my girls heave under my catsuit.

Shifting to my old voice, it was time to call my boss. No way he would let me take as much time as I thought I needed, and so it was be fired or quit. My resume got a bit worse as I serenaded him with “You can take this job and shovel it!” Sue me. I like the misquote better.

A hour later I was sighing again. Everything I really wanted to keep was in my old junker of a car. That stuff was going to a storage facility that I was going to pay up for six months in advance, in cash, courtesy of an ATM. My apartment, I'd written a check good for the next month.

It was disheartening how little there was, but I was ready.

My old Ford Escort wagon belching smoke, I was off to save the world, yee haw!

***

Eight hours later, I was wondering if I should've risked testing my flying after all. However, having McDill Air Force base, as well as a large Coasty contingent nearby, was just chancing too much. Besides, I figured the Feds would be watching for anything unusual. My old wheels were about as far under the radar as I could go without tunneling.

On the other hand, it was anything, but comfortable. The seats were shot, and the cushion I'd placed there only partially made up the difference. If not for my rapid healing I think I would've crippled myself. Thank Gawd for my idea of living well!

Regardless of that, there was still the question of how to find my mystery teammates. I considered sitting my butt on top of that gold, glowing pyramid of the Bank of America Plaza. With my powers I should be able to avoid any pursuit, but I really didn't want to bring any attention to any of us this early.

There were plenty of scared people out there and, being different, I knew how mobs worked. It would not be pretty, Better to let the mania die away some before public exposure.

Which still didn't answer my dilemma of how to find these needles in a haystack. Help me Obie Ben Doggie, you're my only hope! Me and my misquotes.

Powers: In a very real way, Yarnell Carl Groves was transformed into an energy life-form. Being able to convert and control her own form's energy and matter means she can became practically any life-form of similar mass. She can add and subtract that mass though energy conversion or trade that mass off to fuel her energy field. With a genetic sample she can impersonate a person right down to the DNA level. She asked for the talent of an natural mimic which helps her fake the feminine skills she forgot to ask for. In short she's a very versatile shape changer who can even include clothing as part of her change.

Having control of energy to matter she can also make forcefields and project them out to protect others. She can shape these into any geometric form as well as some relativity complex ones. Starshield using wing-shaped forcefields can also fly and can carry others by making them aircraft shaped. She is limited to under 10 grand feet given they lack oxygen and other aircraft amenities such as instruments.

Being simply a plane of force the edges are very very sharp and can be used as a weapon or tool. Because of that she can control the color of her forcefields

Finally having/ being energy, she can project it out as a weapon or tool. It can be as gentle as a light giving glow to the intensity of a plasma torch. She can also use the energy to form a jet and fly. It's very inefficient in this fashion being a jet's afterburner. She can convert mass to energy to re-energize herself so in a way she uses fuel. Good old fashion H2O is what she prefers to use in that case. Additionally, since her energy blasts are comparably short ranged, she can increase that distance by placing 'charges' of energy inside a small forcefield globe. By throwing the globe she has more range and an explosive effect.

Point of fact she did ask for psychic paper, a sonic screwdriver, and a tricorder, but those requests weren't fulfilled by the Observer.
-------------------------------------

Oh, there is MUCH more to come. The Heroes now have a way to find one another. We have one more, maybe, to learn about and then... The MAIN story can begin to take off! My thanks to all of those who have stayed with us through this "birthing period" and I promise that there will be action very soon. On behalf of Erin, Maggie, Ariel and Grover, I am

Catherine Linda Michel

More Powers are revealed and then, The Heroes begin to meet one another.

Reckoning -5- More of Winter and Aura's stories and Tesseract finds Meagan/Starshield, and Janet/Graviton.

WINTER---Maggie Finson:

I woke up still on the floor, and still naked.

The odd thing was that I wasn't cold or sore at all, it was if I'd been in a comfortable bed since I'd passed out.

But why wasn't I cold? This crappy apartment had equally crappy heating and I'd always been cold in the winter since I'd moved in.

The dream I'd had while still awake tried coming back, but I resolutely refused it entry. The other time had been bad enough. I knew that it wasn't really a dream, that I'd seen a real thing, or at least the possibility of those things happening.

Had I even asked to see the future?

I don't think I was too specific at all about what I wanted to be when The Observer, damn the thing, had come to me.

I padded around the apartment, still nude and still not feeling the cold at all while I thought about things.

“I didn't ask for much of anything, did I?” I thoughtfully spoke to nothing in particular. “But I can see the future, or some version of it. Is that immutable, or can I help change it?”

I didn't know. “But I'll be damned if I just cave in, hide, and accept that is how things will be.”

With that decision made, I felt better, a little.

I left that alone and let my thoughts slow while I tried to think or not think about what any other abilities I had might be.

And found the answer.

Cold.

Ice, snow, sleet, rain of some kinds, wind, air. All of those were mine to play with, to manipulate, to use. Anything with moisture in it was my domain if I desired it.

“Well that might be useful given what I've seen.” I thoughtfully nodded to myself while saying it.

So I experimented.

I made ice cubes, then little ice sculptures. Then froze the water coming out of the shower and turned the steam from the once hot water into a freezing mist.

The heat from the water, and steam had felt normal enough to me. But the ice and mist...

Those felt wonderful.

And not once did I even feel even a bit chilled, even when I sat down on a chair I'd fashioned out of ice. Other than that it was kind of hard and uncomfortable on my softer backside.

“Note to self.” I muttered once I'd gotten up and let the ice chair dissipate. “Make some snow for a cushion next time.”

* * * *

I stood in front of the mirror giving myself a pretty dispassionate looking over again.

Pale skin, not white, more an ivory shade, hair so blonde it was nearly white, and my appropriately ice blue eyes.

“I look like an Ice Queen.” I muttered and thought about that as a name.

“Nah, too much like a damned comic book.”

So I thought about things for awhile and nodded at my new reflection with a thin smile. “Winter. I'll call myself Winter.”

Winter is thought of as cruel, a killer. Admittedly some things die during the season, the weak ones who would have done so in a less merciful way later in the year, but most just went dormant, waiting for the renewal that spring would bring. So winter was actually more a custodian in my mind. Something that held things ready for when life was ready to leap out again.

Yes, I know. I read a lot of poetry, philosophy, and fantasy. I couldn't afford cable, the TV reception sucked and there was a used book store right around the corner. So with all the time I had, I read a lot.

“Hello Winter.” I smiled at my reflection, and it felt right.

* * * *

On to other things.

I had noticed a beat up leather purse on my kitchen table, so went to look through it.

The first thing that caught my attention was the wad of cash. After counting it I had just a little over a thousand dollars there. Not much if I had to outfit my new form, I thought, but it was something.

Given the state of my apartment, unchanged, I just knew the Observer hadn't provided clothing that would go well with my new shape.

I found a bankbook that showed I had about five thousand in it, a Gold Master Card for an Elise M. Winters, and a driver's license for aforementioned Elise M. Winters. The M was for Morgan. There was a birth certificate there too.

Otherwise it was the usual clutter of a woman's purse. Odd cosmetics, tissues, loose change, keys, and — urk -- a couple of tampons. That was something I really preferred to not think about just then. But I was a young woman now, so knew it was more than likely something that I would have to deal with in time. Probably a lot sooner than I really wished to.

And I'd been right about the clothes.

I ended up struggling into a pair of kind of ratty blue sweats. The pants were to tight in the hips and bottom and the legs were too short, the top strained against even my modest breasts, but I was at least covered in a mostly appropriate way.

I pulled on a pair of socks and tried my shoes.

Sigh.

I hadn't had big feet as a male, about a size 8  ½, but they just wouldn't stay on at all when I tried to walk. Another three pairs of socks — on top of each other — and I could finally walk around without feeling like I was going to step out of my shoes.

I finger combed my mass of hair since the little comb I had broke the first time I tried to use it, into a semblance of civility, steeled myself, and set out to get some clothes that would at least fit me right.

* * * *

My beat up old Chevy had become a just about equally beat up little Honda Civic. Just like the Chevy the little Honda purred like a kitten and ran great. I gave the steering wheel a pat and told it. “I know, I got changed, too, but at least now you'll be easier on gas.”

Kansas City has a plethora of Wal Marts, K-marts, Costcos, and other big chain stores. I hit a Wal Mart for some underwear, a pair of jeans, and a top that actually fit and didn't show too much. Plus a pair of trainers that didn't take three or four pairs of socks to stay on.

I then went to the place where a person on a budget could buy really decent things without really going broke. Burlington Coat Factory.

Oh yeah, anyone who tells you a girl can just look at her sex down there without being a contortionist is a liar. I tried. I'm not a contortionist. You figure it out.

But I ended up with another four pairs of jeans that fit well, more tops, some shoes, socks, and underwear without maxing out the credit card. Yay me.

And still had over nine hundred in cash.

There were Police cars, and those unmistakable 'Government vehicles in front of my building when I got back. One thing I'd noticed right away was that I was more than a bit distinctive and stood out. Much to my discomfort.

“Damn.” I let out a sigh as rampant paranoia came to the fore as I sure they were there to find me.

And I knew I didn't really think that was such a wonderful idea.

So I just calmly drove past all the hubbub, and hit the interstate out of town headed west.

AURA---Erin Halfelven:

acing and stuff
My leap carried me high above the city, I clamped my mouth shut on a scream. None of the cars on the I-10 swerved or anything, I guess no one saw me flailing my arms and legs like a cartoon. I hit the top of my arc probably several hundred feet in the air and started down.

Then I did scream. "Oh, Shit! Son of a bitch! Goddamn alien insect! I'm supposed to be able to fly! This is not flying!"

Down I went. Before I hit the ground, I felt my aura expand below me and I landed gentle as a butterfly in the concrete bed of the Los Angeles River. And promptly fell on my ass next to the muddy stream that ran down the middle of the overgrown canal.

I did some more cursing. If you spend a lot of time with old street people, you learn some really colorful language. I wasn't hurt but that had really scared me. I sat there for a bit, exercising my vocabulary. "Meddling, lying potato bug," is about the most polite thing I called the Alien Observer.

After a bit, I stood up and examined myself for bruises. I seemed to have quite a bit of ass behind me but none of it was bruised. My ankles were fine, despite the skyscraper heels. Mom had dressed this way for work but she had actually had clothes on top of the bikini, most clubs she worked in only allowed her to strip down so far.

When I got control of my surprise and fear, I had to admit, jumping like that was kind of fun. My long blond hair had whipped in the wind and the big old breasts on my chest had bounced when I landed. Other than that, it was like I had jumped maybe a foot or two. My aura seemed to have spread the impact of my landing so I didn't leave a big Hulk-like divot in the ground.

I finally got up the nerve to try it again, this time not trying to jump so hard or so high. I'd actually forgotten about trying to fly for the moment. I took a step and jumped, aiming down the river, toward the next bridge overpass but not intending to jump that far. It was actually easy. I started out making jumps of ten or twenty feet and was practically skimming the ground, ten or fifteen feet up, a hundred or two hundred feet at a time.

I was really moving, like a cartoon of someone wearing seven league boots!

I passed a couple of homeless encampments and waved as I went by. Not a smart thing to do, camping in the riverbed in the rainy season but sometimes people don't have much choice. I passed a construction crew repairing the bank in one place, and I waved at them too. I think one guy got whiplash trying to follow me as I bounced past.

When I heard traffic noise ahead, I realized that I was coming up on the 405 freeway and I put out my arms to try and stop myself. It was like the aura expanded from my sides to my hands and cupped the air like a parachute and I landed easily, still about a quarter of a mile from the freeway.

I was a long way from where I had started near the I-10 and the I-5. I'd paralleled the 710 most of the way and had passed under the 91 and 105 without really noticing but the 405 was a bigger freeway and not the river was not cut as deep under it. But I had never been down this far by myself. If I kept going, I'd be in the port area before you knew it and there would be boats and trains and trucks everywhere.

Once, a long time ago, Mom and I had come down to the ocean when she had a car and we had driven to San Pedro and had a sort of picnic near the boats. There had been a street fair and we bought kettle corn and barbecued sausages in little buns and ate under a big Ramada where a Mexican band was playing that music that sounds like polka but isn't. I just stood there, thinking about Mom for a minute. Then I glanced down at myself and realized that anyone looking at me might think that Molly Golden had come back.

Except I'm really golden.

I didn't want to start crying so I decided to get moving again. But first, I wanted to do some thinking. When the cape-like thing had appeared to help me stop, I realized I could shape the aura around me, In fact, I realized, I was probably shaping the bikini and heels. Why couldn't I make other clothes?

What I needed was a mirror. Off down the freeway, I saw the tall sign of a service station. They'd probably have a bathroom. Maybe I could conjure up some pants.

I tried to get a good look at myself without a mirror, but you know, that just can't be done. And the engine nacelles on my chest kept getting in the way. Maybe, if I could shape the aura, I could alter my own shape? Change back into a boy?

I jumped again, to go under the overpass out of sight while I tried various mental gymnastics. The first attempt made the bikini and aura itself disappear and I stood there naked in nothing. Even the high heels had disappeared. But my skin showed and I was just normal skin color, not all golden and glowing.

Still a girl though.

I gave in to curiosity and did a bit of exploring. Yikes. Nipples and event he skin around them is too sensitive to mess around with. That put me off completely doing anything else like that. In fact, I wanted to cover everything up.

I tried to imagine something else to wear. And so suddenly it startled me, I was wearing a pair of jeans that looked like they were made of gold lame and a sort of half t-shirt thing of the similar cloth up top. And I could feel something like boots on my feet. I checked, yup, gold lame boots. Well, it was better than the bikini.

I tried again. This time it came up gold leather mini-skirt with maxi-boots and this leather thing that pushed my chest together. "Yikes!" I said and everything disappeared and I was naked again.

One more try resulted in a shimmering golden gown cut down so low you could almost see my navel. That's when I got clued in. All of those things weren't imagined, they were remembered. They were things I had seem my Mom wear as stage outfits. Except in gold, the original of the gown had been ruby red.

I had Mom's body and I couldn't imagine dressing it in anything except Mom's working clothes.

"Oh, my god, I really am Stripperella."

--------------------------------------

STARSHIELD---Grover:

There were plenty of scared people out there and, being different, I knew how mobs worked. It would not be pretty, Better to let the mania die away some before public exposure. Which still didn't answer my dilemma of how to find these needles in a haystack.

Lost in thought, a knock on my window startled me. Oh great, just what I need. Just my luck to park in some kind of taboo and forbidden area. Expecting one of Atlanta's finest with ticket book in hand, I stared at the unusually dressed young woman smiling at me. She had on a green and gold outfit with a butterfly and a half-moon on her chest.

Cranking down my window, I wondered at why the costume as well as why she was here. I carefully didn't raise my hopes that I'd found another gifted already.

“Hi I'm one of the gifted and I sense that you may be one too.” She explained. “My name is Tessaract but you can call me Tess.”

Okay maybe it was that easy. For ease and comfort of traveling I had on a t-shirt and a pair of comfortable jeans. However, since I really couldn’t wear a billboard advertizing for other Gifted I'd instead went with something a little more subtle.

I twisted around so she could read the printing on my t-shirt. 'I got visited by the Observer and all I got was this t-shirt.'

“Okay maybe I got a bit more than that.” I returned her smile. “Dressed like this, I go by Meagan.”

“At least you kept your sense of humor.” Tess giggled.

“Hmm... maybe you should get in.” I suggested. “We don't want to attract too much attention.”

“Good idea.” She replied walking, around to climb in.

Not being able to help myself any longer, I had to know.

"So what's with the costume?" I asked, glancing around to see if we had an audience or not. “That's what people in Atlanta are wearing these days?"

“Only during Dragon Con.” Tess said. “I don't want anyone to know who I am.”

“Really?” I sighed. “I've wanted to go to Dragon Con, but Atlanta is too far away and the money was never there.”

The girl in green and gold nodded in understanding. “Do you trust me?” She then asked.

“Well I did stop for a complete stranger, and I do believe you might be a Gifted.” I pointed out.

“Then take my hand and we'll step into my office.” Tess said.

“”Can I leave my car here?” I asked, thinking we had really got lucky with me stopping so close to where she worked. “It's not much, but it's all I got.”

“We'll take it with us...” She answered. “We may need it where we are going.”

Okay so we're not going to her office after all. She did know this city better than me. “I hope it's not too far. We may or may not make it. These wheels aren't the most reliable ones in the world.”

Then she touched my shoulder.

How can I best say this? The whole world went away! There was total silence except for the cooling dings and pops from my old Ford. We appeared to be in the center of some kind of cube, but as I looked out into the distance prospective got kinda wonky. We were in the middle of a cube within a cube within... well you get the idea. All the sparkling lights didn't help one damn bit. I closed my eyes because it was really making my head hurt.

“You can get out now.” Tess explained, “Time has stopped relative to the earth while we are here.”

Dazed, I asked, “Question, is the surrounding area in time freeze then?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Inside the Tessaract we are outside of normal space time until we go back into the real world.”

Then she got this faraway look. “I'm sensing another Gifted, North of Georgia. We need to find her.” She got out of my car, walking across the 'floor' of this Tesseract thing as if nothing unusual was up.

“So we can see out?” I asked, gingerly following her. As long as I didn't focus into the distance it wasn't too bad. Not being able to help myself, I glanced down. Think of walking across a glass floor with a mirror underneath. Swaying and more than a little disoriented I amended my thought. Okay and don't look down!

“Yes. Just think of a window and you can see out.” Tess directed, unaffected by this four dimensional fun-house of hers.

“So that's it? You're going to wiggle your nose and pop us to the next gifted?” I remarked awed. This girl had some real power.

“Well we have to find her...” She had that far away look again. “I can sense that she is north of us, but that is all ... We need to find the window to where she is.”

“Well Tess,” I pointed out. “I may have the car, but you're driving this thing. Do I dare ask how we find one of these windows of yours?”

“I guess I ought to demonstrate that too, so you would know how to do it.” She walked over to the 'wall.'

“Meagan, just go out to a point, then wave your hand at the sparkling lights and you will be able to see out into normal space/time Just think, while you are waving, where you would like to look out on, say Tennessee.” Tess directed. “Then I'll come to your window and see if we need to go further north.”

“Okay,” I replied. “I've never been to there, but if you say so. Tennessee!” Suddenly, I was looking out over tree covered mountains.

Looking over my shoulder she said. “Okay, needs to be further north … Kentucky.

Feeling very surreal about this whole thing I said, “Alright Col. Sander's land!”

She laughed out loud. “Do you need to stop to get something to eat... I forgot to ask when you last ate something. My bad.”

“Nah, I'm good.” I edged the truth. I honestly wanted to get this over with so I could be back where I could trust my own senses.

“Ok, then onward... whats above Kentucky? Ohio?” Tess asked thinking.

“Here, let me get a quick pick me up.” I told her, walking by to my car. I put my finger in the cigarette lighter socket. “Don't do this at home.” I warned. This wasn't very efficient, but it let me use my energy thing to sustain my physical body.

“Oh, now that's impressive.” She raised a brow. “I wont try that at home.”

“It's like sugar.” I explained. “Good for a quick burst, but no lasting power.” Rummaging in the back seat I pulled out my road atlas.”

“I knew it was a good idea to bring your car.” She giggled

What can I say? It's been very long time since I'd named and labeled all the states. So what if I'm not smarter than a 5th Grader.

“Yeah, Ohio sounds good.” I confirmed, after checking the map and walking back over to those darn willow-wisps.

“Ohio... Further north and to the east,” Tess did her oracle thing again.

Flipping the pages of the atlas, I asked, “West Virginia or Pennsylvania?

“Lets try PA.” She decided.

“Sounds good to me.” I commanded the portal, “Pennsylvania.”

“Right state,” she commented, as much to herself then as to me. “Lets get out here so I can get my bearings ... I think she in the southwest. Lets get back in the car and I'll bring us out into normal space/time.

“Just wait til we have to put gas into this thing.” I said trying to be humorous. “Gas prices are crazy!

We got back in my car. “You got it Captain. Dropping out of warp!”

Despite no sensation of moving, I had both hands on my steering wheel. One eye blink it was sparkles, and the next we were in the parking lot of a Walmart.

“Okay what course do we set, Captain?” I grinned. It was nice to be back in reality!

“She's on the expressway, going south it feels like.” It was that faraway look again. “Meagan can you wait here for me? I'll pop inside her car and bring her back here.

“You've talked me into it.” I remembered I was hungry. “While you do that I'll do a munchie run here at Wally World.

“Sounds like a plan... Wish me luck.. I don't want to make her wreck.” Tess blurted out.

“Luck!” I shouted to the empty seat beside me. She was gone. “Well Crap!” I muttered. “Now you see her, and now you don't.” I wasn't even certain where I was, but if you've been in one Wally World, you've been in them all. My cheater charge I stole from my car's electrical system had taken the edge off of my appetite, but I still needed food.

Rolling my shopping cart though Walmart, I hit the deli and whatever snacks that caught my eye. It was so nice to be able to just throw it in the cart without a running account of how much it cost.

Since I knew Tess could find me whenever she finished picking up our next teammate, I wasn't in a hurry. Thinking about useful stuff, I stopped by Electronics and picked up three pre-paid cell phones complete with those Bluetooth headset things. Being dirt poor I'd never had a cell before, but figured these would do until we found something better. If we're lucky, we would have an inventor type who could take care of the equipment problem.

That made me think about my powers. I was really pretty self-sufficient. I could transform my clothes into just about any clothing I needed. My experimentation back home had informed me that I could even make things that were a part of uniform, but anything with moving parts ended up as a solid movie-like prop... a very realistic prop, but it still didn't work.

Not that it needed to. With my forcefields and energy blasts, I was the equal of anyone short of a tank, and I wouldn't bet against myself even against a main battle tank. What would make or break a fight like that was my energy battery. I could feel the light bulb go on over my head. Water was about the easiest thing for me to convert directly into energy. It might be very wise to stock up on the H2O.

Pushing my purchases back to the food section, I loaded a couple cases of bottled water, along with the rest of my stuff. With that done I was drifting towards the checkout when I saw a sorta, kinda familiar face.

It was Tess, dressed normally this time, but she had a friend with her.

I couldn’t keep from smiling and then there were three! Gifted Assemble!

------------------------------------------------------
JANET/GRAVITON Catherine Linda Michel.

Tess blinked out of Meagan's sight, concentrating on the feeling she had. As she homed in on the new gifted one, she got clearer and clearer impressions. Finally she believed that she had pinpointed her and, to Tess' relief it did seem like the car she was looking for had stopped at a rest area.

She opened a window and. Looking out, saw a deep red, older model Ford Crown Victoria with a well built, young woman standing next to it, smoking a cigarette and drinking a soft drink, while singing softly. Seeing that the rest area was empty save for one woman and a car, Tess stepped out into the parking area in front of the woman, smiling warmly.

“Aqualung my friend....don't you start away uneasy. You poor old sod, don't you see, it's only meEEEEP! Holy crap! Who the hell are you and where did you come from?” the woman screeched.

“Please don't be alarmed,” Tess said, holding her hands up and open. “I'm not here to hurt you. I'm Tesseract, one of the gifted ones. I sensed that you are one of us and I came here to meet you and invite you to accompany me back to meet another member of the team.”

“Jeezuss woman! You about scared the shit outta me! I damn near swallowed my smoke, for God's sake! The woman yelled. "Damn!”

“I'm sorry.” Tess said. “I had hoped that wouldn't happen, but I had to meet you and there really was no gentle way to do it. We have to get us all together and working as a team if we're going to succeed at stopping whatever threat the Observer told us about. I'd like to take you back with me to meet the other gifted one I've already located. Is there room in your car for me? I noticed that it seems really crowded in there”

“Yeah, I think I can move some stuff around so you can fit in. So you can take me AND Martha with you?”

“Who's Martha?” Tess questioned.

“Martha's my car! She and I have been through some really rough times together before getting zapped by that Observer guy. I'd really hate to desert her. By the way, you can call me Janet.”

“That's not a problem, Janet. I can easily take you both with me. Shall we get going? Just put your hand on my shoulder while I put my hand on Martha and concentrate.”

Tess closed her eyes and the air began to sparkle a bit around her, Janet and the car. A 'doorway' opened in front of Tess, then it enclosed the two women and the car and, in another second, the rest area parking area was empty again.

The next thing Janet saw was a weird area that defied description. “I guess this thing defines your gift and your name, Tess?”

“Yes it does, Janet. What we're inside is a tesseract and I can control it and open doorways to see where I'm going. It's also a healing aid. While inside it, anyone who might be injured or sick will be healed, coming out of it fit and healthy.”

“Pretty cool Tess.” Janet said. “That could come in really handy if this mission we're supposed to be on gets dangerous.”

“Yeah. I figured that too Janet. So, I'm taking you to meet Meagan, another one of the gifted. She's waiting for us at a Walmart store south of Pittsburgh.”

“So how are you gonna set us down there without anyone seeing us “pop in'?”

“Like I told you, I can open a window to see where we're going. I can pinpoint an area where nobody is around, or just not looking. It's gotten easier with practice.”

Tess opened a window in her construct and, seeing a good chance, she set them down next to a rather beat up Ford Escort wagon, with a huge van on the other side of the parking spot she put them into.

“Jeezus, Tess!” Man, that's gonna take some getting used to! I like the sparklies though.” she giggled.

“Yeah, it took a bit before I got used to it, let me tell you. So, you wanna head inside the store and meet Meagan?”

“Um, lemme have a quick smoke before we go in, okay? My nerves gotta recover before I'm ready to battle a Walmart mob. Before you say it, I know smoking is bad for people, but since the Observer gifted me, I'm pretty much immune to getting sick or hurt, so I figure smoking won't hurt me at all. Besides, it calms me down and helps me think.”

“Okay Janet.” Tess said. “If Meagan gets done shopping before we go in, she'll just come out to her car...this dirty Ford next to your car.”

Janet lit her smoke and quickly took several deep drags on it, calming visibly. “I don't know if I'll ever get used to traveling in your tesseract, Tess, but it sure saves time and gas! Martha has never been an economy car!” she giggled. “She's comfortable though and rides like a dream.”

Tess waited while Janet smoked quickly. While waiting, Tess made some hand motions and her outfit changed from a spandex looking uniform thing, into a skirt and top.

Then, when Janet was finished with her smoke, Tess said, You ready to go inside?”

“Yeah Tess. Let me field strip this butt and we can head in. It's an old habit from my time in the military, and I don't like to litter anyway.”

“Field strip?” Tess asked.

“Yeah.” Janet responded. “You just take a spent cigarette, strip the paper and tobacco that's left, stick the filter in a pocket and dispose of it in a trash can. You learn to do that when you're in the military, because if you don't, you can spend a lot of time on cleanup, as punishment.”

The two women walked into the store, Tess searching for her new friend, Meagan. Before very long, Tess spotted her and led Janet over to where Megan was pushing a loaded shopping cart. When they got near her, Tess greeted her and introduced Janet.

“Hey Meagan.” Janet said. Glad to meetcha. I guess you're one of the fortunate ones to get zapped by the Observer?” She said quietly so as not to be overheard by other shoppers.

“Yes I am. Good to meet you too. How'd you like your ride here?” She giggled.

“Very fast, but very weird.” Janet said, shaking her head. I guess I'll get used to it, but damn... it's disconcerting!”

“I see you've been busy, Meagan.” said Tess, gesturing at the loaded shopping cart Meagan was pushing.

“Yeah. I spotted a bunch of stuff I thought we might need other than the load of snack stuff I know we'll need!” she said with a smile.

“OOH!” Janet suddenly said. “Giant Hershey bars! CHOCOLATE!! I gotta get some of those!” as she grabbed a handful of them from a nearby shelf. “You want some Tess? Meagan?”

“DO they have the dark chocolate ones?” asked Tess. “Get some of those too, okay?”

Janet grabbed some of those as well, touching all of them and watching them float off the shelf, into her hands.

“Oops!” Janet said. “I'd better not do that where so many people can see it. Sometimes I forget about my new gifts and use them without thinking first.”

Tess looked around and, seeing that she wasn't observed, reached into her tesseract and pulled out a shopping basket. Janet quickly maneuvered the candy bars into the basket and withdrew her power from them so they stayed in the basket.

“Good save, Tess.” Janet said quietly. “Well, lets head for the checkout lines and get outta here. We got a lot to talk about.”

The women went to the checkouts, with Janet remarking, “Hey! Let's use the 20 items of less line. With what Megan's got, and 20 Hershey bars, they only count as one item, don't they?” she giggled. Anyway, I've got this trip. I got a lot of loot from Observer, so I'll just use the credit card he gave me.

“Cool. Thanks.” Meagan said.

The women checked out and headed outside to their cars. Janet said, “Hey, can we go to Atlanta? I wanted to see if I could find some info there from the news agencies about other gifted ones,and I really wanted to maybe get to meet Robin Meade, the newsreader for HLN? She is sooooo hot!”

Tess said that she had sensed a couple more gifted ones off to the west in the U.S. And wanted to try to home in on them, but she wasn't keen on going to Atlanta. She said she had a place where we could go that would be secluded, away from prying eyes.

The women got to talking about what they could do, and Meagan produced a marble sized ball of what looked like pure energy in her hand. She passed it to Janet, who hesitantly took it into her hand, expecting to get shocked or something, but nothing happened.

Meagan explained that it was absorbing ambient energy to make it stabilize. She said also that she could produce much bigger ones that would act as shields or she could throw them like grenades that would explode. The bigger the ball, the bigger the explosion, she said.

Tess explained her powers a bit more on the way outside the store. She said that she could tesser all of us and our cars to the place she had in mind.

“Great!” said Janet. “Martha goes where I go! I'd hate to have to leave her behind.”

“Martha is your car, I take it?” Meagan questioned.

“Oh yes!” “Plus, she's chock full of clothes and stuff I bought before I left Buffalo. I spent a heap of money on all that stuff and I damn sure ain't gonna leave all that stuff behind. Besides, Martha and I have sorta bonded, you know?”

Yeah, I do know.” Megan answered. Me and my little Escort are sort of like that too. That's why I've kept pouring money into it to keep it running. It's probably worth more as parts than as a whole car.”

“Honey, any ride is a good ride if it gets you from point A to point B with a minimum of fuss. Besides, even third class riding is better than first class walking, right?”

“You got that right! Walking sucks!” Megan responded.

Tess said, “When we get back to the cars, I'll pop over and warn Tanisha that she is having guests tonight then bring you all over... she's not gifted but she's done everything for me... saved my life, in fact.”

“Hey Tess,” Janet said, “If she's a friend of yours, then she's a friend of mine. Does she know about your... um, gifts? Nobody except you two knows about mine.”

“Yeah she discovered me when I changed... it was kinda funny... I was almost dead so they had me being monitored remotely with little stickons on my chest, and when they became breasts, well, Tanisha thought I had flat lined and she found me out. She helped me sew my costume and it was when I took her for a Tesseract ride we found out that it healed.. all her scars were gone and her COPD went away too. So she knows all about what I can do and she has sworn to keep our secret.”

“Okay girls. Are you both ready to get out of here?

”You bet Tess. Let's ride!” Meagan and Janet responded.

“Ok. Let me pop in on her first by herself... she said she wanted some warning before I brought friends over.”

“Hmmm... Engage?” Meagan said.

“Oh no! You're a trekkor too?” Said Janet.

Both Tess and Meagan said they were, indeed, trek fans. “Maybe that's why the Observer picked us, you think?” said Tess.

“Now wouldn't THAT be a kick in the head? Janet quipped.

Tess popped out and Janet offered Meagan a Mountain dew from her cooler in the car. Meagan accepted and Janet got a Pepsi for herself, while they waited for Tess to return.

Tess popped back in quickly, saying, “Honey! I'm home!” startling both women.

“Damn, Tess!” You gotta quit doing that! Janet said, testily.

Meagan said, “Yeah! Besides, I'm freaking out a little . This morning I was in Tampa Fl. and now ...where the hell am I right now anyways?”

“South of Pittsburgh, hon. Anyway, Tanisha said that any friends of mine were friends of hers, and she would be pleased to show you both some southern hospitality.”

“So let's' go.” said Janet. “ Weeeee re OFF to save the worrrlld... the wonderful world of earth... and me without my Ruby Slippers” she sang.

Meagan quipped, “The first ass that says, 'I'll get you, my pretty.' is toast!”

“We're going to Tanisha's new house in Covington... she bought it from a really cool lady there who is going to Saint Simons to live with her brother, to be closer to her family”

“We got a full tank of gas, and a half a pack of cigarettes.” Said Meagan.

“We're on a mission from...Observer? Oh never mind. To Infinity, and Bey...oh forget it.” said Janet.

Tess said, “Now we have to arrange ourselves so I can transport both of you and your cars. You two have to touch me, while I touch your cars.”

Janet got a good hold on Tess, but Tess said, “Uh. That isn't my shoulder, Janet!”

“Well, it was close!” Janet said apologetically.

“Well, even though I enjoyed it, lets try to stay professional here, okay?” Tess admonished.

“Jeeze! A girl tries to have a little fun and...whoooOOAAA!” Janet complained, as Tess activated her tesseract powers.

Within just a few seconds, they all arrived in a parking area in front of what looked all the world like a castle!

“You gotta be kidding me! A freaking castle?” Janet mumbled.

“Tanisha has plenty of room for us all inside. I'll just ring the doorbell tolet her know we're here.” said Tess.

She walked up to the door, rang the doorbell and waited. Eventually, a woman opened the door and invited us in. Janet made certain Martha was comfortably parked in the lot and followed the other women inside. 'Why am I thinking, Frau Blucher?' she wondered, hoping she didn't hear a horse whinny.

---------------------------------------------

The Heroes have finally all met. They know their powers. Can they find the threat that will end the world? Stay Tuned!

-----INTERLUDE. JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg NC--------

Each person entering the room had their ID carefully checked again, although just to gain entrance to the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg NC required passing an armed checkpoint.

Taking a seat, they did their own check, looking over their fellows. It quickly became apparent they were in rare company. The Special Ops community is a small one and they all knew or were familiar with the faces of everyone here. Delta Force, Seal Team Six, the Air Force Special Tactics Squadron, and the Activity, the Army's Intelligence Support unit, were all represented.

Seated with them were members from the FBI's Hostage Rescue Teams. Each gave the other nods, since each group often trained with the other and, in some cases, were members who had moved on to the civilian side of the house, more or less.

The Admiral that came in had them all rising to their feet, as well as raising the stakes of the game. Most had made bets with the others about what this was all about. Being what they were, having a lot of Brass around wasn't anything new. However having the second highest ranking military officer of United States take a direct part threw a curve ball into the betting pool.

“Be Seated!”

An Air Force Colonel stepped to the briefing podium, as the Admiral quietly sat.

“I don't have to tell you gentlemen about the Observer, or the message it gave a week ago. Since then we haven't heard or seen anything to confirm or deny what it insinuated. The President's Science Advisor and the Office of Science and Technology have double-checked everything they have, and have found nothing to back up the alleged worldwide catastrophe at the end of this year.

“Despite some claiming it was all a mass hallucination, we have to take this seriously. We ruled that theory out, since we all heard the same thing. My group has determined that what we experienced was some kind of telepathic message. We all heard it in our native language and saw an image that our own minds translated into an authority figure. In short, we all saw what we expected to see.

“Our conclusion is that this Observer is, as it said, an alien. As for its actual motives, they are completely unknown. The consensus is, that if there was a credible threat to the world, it would've come to the leaders of those countries with the resources to best handle the emergency.

“That did not happen.” He paused, looking at the hard, fit men around the table.

“The policy is, if these empowered people do appear, they are to be taken into custody until their motives can be ascertained. Perhaps they were given more information by this alien that can help determine if there really is a threat.

“It also can not, I say again, can not be ruled out that they are under a kind of telepathic control, considering how that message was delivered. It is the opinion of the National Command Authority that these individuals pose a clear and present danger, not just to the United States, but to the entire planet.

“Planning is to take place to apprehend them and, if they refuse apprehension, to neutralize them safely and quickly. The FBI is here, in case any appear within the United States, while the Navy and Army will deal with those outside of our borders. The Air Force and the Activity will assist all groups as needed.

“However, let me stress that no rivalries will be tolerated. We have no idea as to the nature of these 'gifts' from the Alien. An exception to The Posse Comitatus Act has been accepted from the Justice Department allowing all of you to operate within the CONUS if necessary. A Justice representative will be assigned to each unit to provide the civilian law enforcement presence, and to do the official detaining.

“If said individuals decline to co-operate, then it's up to you gentlemen to do what you do best.” The Colonel sat down.

“Gentlemen.” The four star Admiral spoke. “I'm here only because the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff couldn't be. We want to convey to you how seriously everyone is taking this, and that you have our full support. The entire world is in an uproar, and I don't have to tell you how bad that is. If a threat occurs, then I know you will be prepared to take action. If not, then we'll all have a drink come Christmas, and laugh about how the big bad Alien had a joke at our expense.

“However, make no mistake.” His gray eyes were hard as stone. “Not only the President, but all the world's leaders are taking this deadly seriously. I'd suggest you do the same.”

The room slammed to attention as he left.

Smiling grimly, the Colonel spoke, “Shall we begin?”

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MEAGAN:

I swirled, grinning at my image in the full-length mirror. The young redheaded woman's green, silky dress flew around her.

“I can't believe I'm in a real castle.” Giggling, I whirled around again, “And in the middle of Georgia, for Gawd's sake!”

The sensual feel of my dress floating around me was nearly as good as missing those fifty years of aches and pains. I'd only spent eight years serving Uncle Sam, but there was nothing easy about the whole, Green Beret falling from the sky, deal. Even if I was never on a Team, and only supported them, the training alone was tough. Add all the low wage, strong-back, weak minds jobs that were all my piss-poor resume could provide, getting up in the morning was not easy. Waking up because I couldn't lie still anymore because of the discomfort, and not because of the alarm clock, sucked.

That was then, this was now.

“We're the Knight's of the Round Table,” I sang, overwhelmed with silliness. “We dance whene'er we're able. We do routines, and chorus scenes, with footwork impeccable. We dine well here in Camelot, ya'll,” I humorously added the very southern colloquialism, exaggerating my normal drawl.

“We eat ham and jam and spam a lot,” Janet added, sticking her head in the door. “Please don't tell me you're a Monty Python fan too?”

“Okay, I won't tell you I don't like spam, spam, spam or spam.” I replied, in a very English accent, sticking out my tongue. My mimicry thing was a lot of fun. Before I only tried to sound like my favorite characters from media. Now I did! Whoa, this was soooo, cool!

I resisted the urge to show off my shape changing. A girl had to have some secrets after all. Plus, I didn't know if I would need my powers anytime soon. I didn't know these people very well yet, although I did feel a bond. Better to be cautious than betrayed. That was a lesson I'd learned all too well in my fifty years, even if I looked less than half that now.

“So what's up,” I asked Janet, as she looked me over.

“Tess has zapped out, going looking for those others she sensed.” Karen explained.

“Oh?” I asked. ”Did she take along one of the phones I bought?”

“Phones?” she asked blankly.

“Darn it!” I mildly cursed. “I picked up three of those prepaid phones, as well as the Bluetooth sets to go with them. I bet they're still in the bags downstairs. Here, lets get you one and make sure we have the numbers straight.”

--------------------------------------------
JANET:

We'd been at the castle for about a day or so, while Tess rested up from overtaxing her tessering power. As soon as she was back to full strength, she shared a meal with us and then took off, looking for more gifted ones.

While Tess was off chasing after more gifted people, I had a chance to just sit quietly and think. So far, this had seemed like my dreams come true. I was transformed into a real woman, I was given awesome powers, and I was damned pretty, not to mention younger.

Yeah, there was definitely a serious downside to all of this though. I mean, I was meeting other people who had been granted some really great powers and abilities, but this whole 'saving the world' thing was gonna get downright dangerous. Of that, I had no doubts.

Again I wondered, can I really do this? This is one hell of a responsibility to expect anyone to shoulder, especially one who had never really had any responsibility, even for myself. Yeah, I paid my bills, and I worked, but all my jobs were crap, minimum wage crap work. No one expected anything from me beyond showing up for work on time and doing the minimum amount of work required, in order to keep a job I really didn't want anyway.

I pondered these problems for awhile, but realized that I wasn't coming up with any answers, so I went to see if I could talk with Meagan about it, but she was way too occupied, preening and posing in front of a full length mirror. She asked me where Tess was. I knew she had gone searching for more of us, but then Meagan asked me something about Tess and a phone. I looked at her, puzzled for a moment.

“Darn it!” She mildly cursed. “I picked up three of those prepaid phones, as well as the Bluetooth sets to go with them. I bet they're still in the bags downstairs. Here, lets get you one and make sure we have the numbers straight.”

I followed her to where our bags were still scattered inside the entry door, and watched her rummage around, finally coming up with three cell phones, still in their plastic armor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEAGAN:

It took us way too long to figure out the cotton-picking demonic electronic devices. I did learn that Janet was far more willing than I to indulge in 'salty' language, as she described it.

Usually I try to resist the urge, remembering my Uncle Harry Joe, who told me profanity was a crutch for those who didn't know what else to say. Coming from a poor rural background, I was very conscious to avoid anything and everything that could be taken, in any way, shape, or form, as white trash or redneck.

However, I was weak, and all too often failed to keep my tongue civil. In other words, I did as much cussing as Janet did at the damn things.

“Shit, I need a smoke.” She grabbed her purse and went out the back door.

I followed, although I was a nonsmoker. In fact, I was almost militant about it, being allergic to the smoke. It was one thing I probably didn't have to worry about anymore, maybe. I had no idea as to the limitations of my shape change thing. No matter, as long as I was upwind.

“So where're you from?” She asked, blowing a plume of smoke into the air.

“South Carolina, by way of Tampa, Florida.” I answered. It was pretty nice outside, being around 60 degrees. A little bored, I practiced projecting my force fields. I could form them around something, or I could use them like balls to hit things. Glancing at Janet, I didn't put a charge into any of them. She was trying to relax and I didn't think explosions would help any, even firecracker sized ones.

I did learn that the further from me that I projected the field, the less strength they had. Wrapping the field around me, actually augmented me very nicely. Easily stronger than I'd been as Carl. How much, I didn't know, since all I had to gauge myself were the odds and ends in the backyard.

“How about you?” I asked Janet.
-------------------------------
JANET:

“I'm from Buffalo, New York, but right now I got some thinking to do. I'm gonna go 'walkabout' for a bit. I wanna explore the castle grounds and get some shit straight in my head. When I get back we can talk more, okay?” Meagan nodded at me and I began walking toward a tree line in the distance.

I wandered for quite awhile, thinking about what I had to do, what we were all going to have to try to do, getting more and more confused and concerned about my own ability to live up to what the Observer claimed he'd seen in me, and what he believed I was capable of doing. What I'd originally seen as a wonderful chance to escape a boring, pointless life, had turned into the almost soul crushing realization that I had no damned clue of how to do it!

I wasn't really paying a lot of attention to where I was going, or the changes in the land I was walking on, when suddenly, I found myself slipping and sliding on a wet, muddy hillside which ended in a nasty looking pond of water! I reacted in much the same way anyone would, by trying to grab for something to stop my slide, but there were no trees or even bushes close enough for me to get a hold on.

I tried digging in with my heels, but only ended up sliding faster in the slippery mud. I turned over on my stomach and tried to dig my hands into the soil when, to my shock, I plunged my hand into the mud, almost up to my elbow! I came to an immediate stop, halfway down the muddy hill, confused about what I had just done. I worked my way back up the hillside , being very careful about my footing and, once back at the top, I turned and looked back down the hill.

“What the shit just happened?” I wondered to myself. I wasn't hurt, although I was considerably muddied up from head to toe, front and back. What I was amazed about was that I had plunged my hand and arm into more or less solid earth, with no pain or even discomfort!

'Of course.' I suddenly realized. My gift of strength and agility had enabled me to stop my slide without injury! Well, the strength anyway. As for the agility part, it dawned on me that even the most agile person can still be caught by surprise and slip or slide. That line of thought brought me to another thought. 'I'm supposed to be able to fly!'

Thinking about the way I'd seen movie superheroes perform that particular aspect of their powers, I tried a few things. First, I just jumped into the air. *Thump.* That was the sound my feet made upon contact with the ground. Okay... that didn't work at all. Then I tried using my mind to lift myself into the air... headache. Damn! How the hell does this work anyway? I sat down on a nearby rock and thought about it. Do I have to yell 'up, up, and away' or something? Hmmmm... what if...

One of my other gifts was supposed to have something to do with gravity, so I began concentrating on... well, being lighter. The next thing I knew, I was floating about 20 feet in the air! Woo Hooo!!! Now this was more like it! Over the course of the next hour or so, I managed to get some control into my rising and coming back down to earth. I tried moving parallel to the ground while I was floating above it, but quickly realized that it would take a lot of practice to get that part of things down pat. Still, I felt a bit better about things after my practicing, and I now could feel the control and knowledge of my powers that I had asked the Observer for.

Just to make sure everything I'd asked for was working, I took a kick at a sizable rock. A piece flew off it! I kicked it again, and it just crumbled, and I felt no pain at all! I almost skipped back to the castle after all of that, my mood considerable lightened by discovering the things I could now do, and how to do them.

When I got back to the castle, I wanted to go clean up, but I noticed a different car in the parking area, next to Martha.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TESS

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ELISE/WINTER

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though those cops and feds all around the shabby apartment building where she had lived weren't there for her, the person who had started thinking of herself as Winter, or Elise through necessity, had rightly decided that going in was a bad idea given her appearance and presence in a man's apartment who was nowhere to be found and never would be found.

That kind of attention was the last thing the new woman needed, she thought while barreling down the turnpike between Kansas City and Topeka at close to eighty miles an hour.

“Whoa!” She had to do a double take at something beside the highway.

It was a female figure, wearing a green and gold something that looked as if it belonged in a comic book with a moon covering her breasts and butterfly on her stomach.

Even stranger was the sign the person was holding.

I'm a gifted too. Please stop and talk.

With a sigh and shake of her head, Winter slowed down, pulling to the shoulder of the busy highway and waited for the stranger to reach the car. Once she had she tapped on the passenger side window and reminded Winter to lower it. “Hi, I'm Tess, one of the gifted and I sense that you are, too.”

“Uh, yeah.” Winter got a sudden flash that this other woman, Tess, really was a friend and could help. “I'm — Elise. But what's with the Halloween costume?”

“What's wrong with it?” Tess questioned then grinned. “I kind of like it, actually.”

“Okay, on to something else here.” Winter shrugged. “Don't you know it's illegal to hitchhike on the turnpike?”

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Tess shrugged, “but I sure don't want my parents to find me.”

“Then all the more reason not to hitchhike out here.” Winter sighed and reached over to open the door on the passenger side. “So get in before a state patrol car comes by.”

“I've found two more gifted and I would like to take you to them.” Tess said as Winter got the car moving and out in traffic again.

“Wait, two more?” Winter looked at her companion then nodded. “Well, you found me, so I can believe that. So now what?”

“Yes, two more.” Tess grinned. “I have the power to teleport and can take you and your car to them, except...”

“Except what?”

“I'Il need your help.”

“Help with what?” Winter questioned.

“I can sense another gifted farther west, but she seems to be very elusive and I may need some help to find her.”

“You found me when I was doing eighty on the highway.” Winter pointed out, so how do expect me to be any help?”

“You'd be an extra set of eyes to look for her.”

“Fine, so where are we headed?” Winter nodded.

“I have the ability to look out anywhere on Earth I want.” Tess said. “I just have to find the right spot to find her. Someone else looking at the same time would be a big help since this one keeps moving around even more than you were.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Winter wondered if all the nodding she was doing would hurt her neck but decided on the face of things that the person she'd given a ride to might not be quite such a nut case as she'd first thought given the costume. Then her eyes glazed over for a moment and she shook her head at seeing something that definitely wasn't the highway in front of her.

“Hoo boy.” She shook her head and asked. “Does Long Beach, California mean anything to you?”

“No, just that it's farther west, why?”

“I dunno.” Winter gave a little shiver. “I just got a flash of Long Beach when you were talking about finding the other gifted is all.”

“Okay.” Tess answered then closed her eyes for a moment. “Like I said, I can teleport things so I'd like to take us, and your car to park it where the other two are staying. It's a safe place, isolated, and we are welcome there. A friend of mine owns it.”

“We can take my car?”

“I can teleport inanimate objects.” Tess nodded with a little frown. “But I've learned not to do that a lot or it really drains me and I need to sleep for awhile.”

“Okay, teleport us.” Winter answered. “Why not, with everything else that's happened to me over the past few days why should I be surprised about anything?”

“After that we can go find the other gifted, from what you said I would guess that she is in California.”

“Yup, Long Beach.” Winter agreed.

“May I touch your shoulder?” Tess asked. “I need to be in contact with who and what I'm teleporting.”

“Okay, do whatever you need to do, then get us to Long Beach. Just let me slow down a little...”

A swirl of rainbow colors enveloped them for an instant...

“Arrrrghh!” Winter screamed while slamming on the brakes. The little car lurched, spun around several times in the gravel parking lot they had suddenly appeared in and finally Shuddered to a stop.

“Tess?” Winter managed to get out once she had started breathing again and laid her head on the steering wheel for a few moments. “Next time I'm driving and we do that, please, please let me stop the car first.”

“Okay.” Tess let out a breath of her own. “Sorry, but it was kind of fun, wasn't it?”

“Oh yeah, just like a trip to the dentist.” Winter agreed.

“Did I forget to tell you to cut the engine?” Tess asked then let out a sigh. “I am so ditzy these days.”

“I'd say it was the blonde hair, but since I'm blonde, too...” Winter grimaced and parked the car then shut it off. “Well, we're here.”

“Sorry again.” Tess said apologetically. “I was concentrating on the rules for my power and guess I just forgot to tell you.”

“Well, I have to admit that hitting a gravel parking lot at almost eighty miles an hour was a trip, but I'd really rather not make a habit out of that. I'll let you go this time.” Winter let out a sigh. “Obviously you're new at this kind of thing.”

“Well, I am kind of sure it's just me with the ditz thing, but you know how that can be.” Tess answered.

“Oh, yeah.” Winter sighed. “I'm kind of frazzled myself just now. Don't feel bad.”

“I'm trying to get better.” Tess sounded almost defensive.

“I know, I know.” Winter answered then grinned. “Me? I can make these really neat little ice sculptures out of nothing. And freeze pipes. My landlord is going to be pissed about that one. Glad I'm not going back to the dump.”

“Well, I can take ditzy right now because I was close to dying and that about what I was going to do before this happened to me.”

“Yeah, I was slowly dying at the time, too.” Winter gave her a sympathetic look without asking any more. But come on here, bleach the hair, bleach the brain? Nah.

Once Winter had parked the car and they'd had their short conversation, the pair got out and she looked around, then stared. “A castle? A freaking castle? Where the Hell are we?”

“In Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta called Covington.” Tess answered. “It looks like a castle on the outside but it's a huge modern home started in 1990 and finished in 2000. It's very nice inside.

“And we're close to the largest granite outcropping in the world.” She finished almost proudly.

“But we were in Kansas... Never mind, teleport, I got it.” Winter waved off Tess' answer to that before she could give it.

“Now we can tesser to Long Beach to find the other one.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Okay then, take my hand... We'll go into the tesseract. You have to keep touching me or it drains me while we are inside the tesseract.. I don't know why. That's the place with the swirling rainbow lights we were at before we were here.”

“Let's do it.” Winter smiled and took Tess' hand. “How does this thing work? The tesseract?”

“All I have to do is think of a place, wave to the wall and a window will appear for you to see out of to the place you thought of.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Winter nodded. “Don't forget, Long Beach and let's go.”

Then the pair were in the tesseract, looking to a window to somewhere else.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOMMI/AURA

Tommi had been entertaining herself by forming different outfits to wear, but wished there was a decent mirror so she could see herself in them. She had ended up on the slopes of the LA river and decided to stay there for awhile before leaving to find the Mayans.

She went from a sexy nurse's uniform to a french maid's outfit complete with a feather duster, all of it in gold and black.

From the tesseract, Winter closed her eyes briefly and sighed. “Another one.”

“There's our gifted one.” Tess pointed to the window Winter had been watching.

“I kind of got that idea.” Winter nodded. “Who else would be changing outfits every second or two?”

“Look at the terrain.” Tess cautioned. “I can set us down easy but we have to be ready to stand up once we're back in normal space.”

“We aren't standing now?” Winter asked then added. “Never mind, I'll brace myself.”

“Are you ready to come out?” Tess asked again, then looked at the hand not holding Winter's. “Good, I'm ready, I have my sign.”

Tommi changed to being dressed like Jessica Rabbit as the pair stepped out of the tesseract to stand almost next to her.

Winter noted that she had added rabbit ears to the costume.

“Hi Jessica!” Tess announced their presence. “I'm one of the gifted and you must be one, too. I loved that movie by the way.”

“Yikes!” The girl squeaked and did a very creditable hop given her costume that sent her back about ten feet to land on her bottom.

Tess thought to look at Winter and asked. “You okay, Elise?”

Winter shrugged and spread her arms. “Sure, just along for the ride here, you know.

“Oh, hi.” She gave the new girl a little wave. “I'm Elise.”

Carefully and cautiously getting up while watching the two people who had just appeared out of thin air, Tommi returned the one's wave and asked. “Did the Cricket send you?”

“Cricket?” Winter asked.

“The Observer.” Tess elbowed her in the ribs. “Everyone sees it differently for some reason.”

“Yeah, kinda.” Tess nodded.

“Figgers.” Tommi tilted her head and grinned.

“We're getting the band together,” Tess told her, “and we got us a gig to play.”

“Good.” Tommi nodded. “I thought I'd have to go looking for you guys. All I know about the Mayans is they live south of here.”

“Well, even if we don't do what the Cricket wants, we already have a gifted support group to help each other. We'll figure this out.”

“Wait, Mayans?” Winter asks. “Uh, just to point something out here, they don't have a civilization any more.”

“They left stuff behind,” Tommi answered. “You know, buildings and stuff?”

“Well, I can't argue that point.” Winter agreed.

“Remember you guys?” Tommi waved her arms around. “December 21st, Deadline? Derp, derp, derp?”

“Yeah.” Winter nodded.

“It might be fun to save the world.” Tess put in while Winter just rolled her eyes.

“Might be fun for you guys.” Tommi answered while hefting her breasts. “But I'm going to get arrested for smuggling watermelons here.”

“We won't get arrested, hon.” Tess assured the girl. “I can teleport us to a safe place where we can talk with the others.”

“Oh, wouldn't happen to have any sunscreen would you?” Winter hopefully asked.

“Nope, don't need it.” Tommi smiled and her skin changed to a golden color and she was suddenly wearing a bikini with high heels, also in gold.

“I had to ask.” Winter muttered to Tommi's amused giggles.

“Oh don't worry about getting arrested.” Tess smiled and touched both the others. “I can get us to where we need to go without actually traveling to do it.”

“Five of us now.” Tess nodded. “The three of us and two more at the safe house.”

“Just warn me before you do that again, the teleport thing, okay?” Winter told Tess.

“Sorry.” Tess didn't sound sorry at all, but tried to look it. “At least I'm glad to say that I haven't landed anyone inside solid rock, so far. I always look before I land. Have to be careful when you teleport.”

“I can't help it.” Tommi plaintively answered, thinking Winter had been talking about her sudden costume changes. “I don't have good control over what I'm wearing yet. At least I'm not butt naked. Smokey Joe almost had a heart attack when he saw me that way.”

“I can imagine.” Winter smiled then shook her head. “Not you, her. A naked girl I could handle.”

Tess blithely ignored that and waved at the air in general. “We have seventy-eight acres of woods out there to hide in to try and figure out what we can all do before we have to do anything real.”

“Oh, cool!” Tommi almost bounced up and down with her enthusiasm. “I can fly but I haven't figured out how yet. Maybe I should imagine me with a pair of wings?”

“Whatever works.” Winter chuckled.

“Teleport is a cool thing to do.” Tommi told Tess then looked at Winter. “What do you do?”

“Umm, I make ice thingies.” Winter answered then added. “Out of thin air.”

Tommi grinned. “Snow cones? What flavor?”

“No snow cones yet.” Winter had to grin. “Little ice sculptures, ice cubes, curtains, things like that.”

She formed a duck out of ice then made a small wall ten feet behind her.

“Oh, cool.” Tommi breathed as Winter handed her the duck.

“And if either of you gets hurt.” Tess put in. “I can take you inside the tesseract and that will heal any injury. I've seen it work.

“I hope we don't need it, but if we do it's there.”

Tommi changed into a pair of really tight black jeans and a gold top that was just as tight and very revealing, along with a silly little pillbox hat perched on her head that she didn't even seem aware of.

“Umm, nice hat...?” Tess said.

“Oh! Yeah.” Tommi grinned sheepishly. “I'm — uhh — Molly Gold. Aura. And what hat?”

“Elise Winters, Winter.” Winter grinned as Molly started reaching towards her head.

“Tess, Tessaract.” Tess put in.

Looking at both of them, Winter shook her head. “I'm an NOT going to wear spandex.”

“You won't have to.” Tess assured her. “A friend of mine made this for me and I couldn't disappoint her by not wearing it. She almost died because of me so I wear it. And she kept me from dying, too.”

“Oh, really nice hat there, Molly.” She said, changing the subject.

“What is this?” Molly turned the little hat around in her hands and poked at it. “It looks like something out of The Great Gatsby or something.”

“It's cute.” Tess reassured her. “I don't know how you do your designs but in time I'll bet every girl will want to be wearing them and looking so stylish and sexy.”

“Uhh, these are all stage costumes.” Molly responded. “You know, for my act? But they all keep coming out in gold and black!”

“Good colors for you.” Winter noted.

“And this — this!” Molly looked at the little hat. “Is just ancient!”

“What's old is new, Molly.” Tess shrugged. “Everything old comes around again and you, Molly, are setting a trend with that.”

“Well, I guess I am kind of a natural leader.” Molly giggled and thrust out her chest. “Because I'm always out front like this.”

Tess giggled, and kept giggling as she told Molly. “Oh, I liked that one!”

“I didn't look like this before.” Molly said a little shyly.

“Neither did I hon.” Winter softly answered. “We all changed when the — Cricket came to us.”

“Oh, but I was a...”

“Uh, guys?” Winter interrupted that as a vision of police, leading to other government types swarming over them came to her. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

“Do her eyes always go so glittery and spooky like that?” Molly asked while looking at Winter.

“Off and on.” Tess answered then held out her hands. “Come on ladies, let's go home.”

“Will it hurt?” Molly questioned.

“No, not at all.” Tess assured her. “Might tickle a little bit, though.”

Once a shaken Winter had given her a hand the rainbow engulfed them again.

“Beam us up, Scotty!” Molly shouted.

“Might want to close your eyes.” Winter advised.
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TESS, AURA and WINTER ARRIVE AT THE CASTLE

“Wow.” Molly looked around once they'd arrived back at the castle. “How do you do all those colors? I feel like I'm upside down. Are we in Australia? Is that really a castle? Do you take drugs? Can we see a kangaroo? Do you have a drawbridge?”

“We're just in Georgia and I think I need to throw up.” Winter may have been pale but with her complexion it was hard to tell before she shook herself and got back to normal.

“It came with the package.” Tess told Molly while ignoring Winter for the moment. “Nice room, isn't it?”

“Yeah.” Molly grinned. “It comes with built in entertainment for druggies.”

“There's your car, Elise, safe and sound where we left it.” Tess told Winter.

“Oh, good! Got stuff in there.” Winter grinned as she went to the car and started rooting around to emerge a bit later carrying close to a dozen bags of stuff much to the others amusement.

“What?” She looked at both of them and shook her head. “I had to get clothes. Nothing I had before fit worth crap.”

“Shopping gene.” Tess confided to Molly, who just giggled.

Dropping a shoebox, Winter gave the pair a glare that became an entreating stare. “You could, could, offer to help me with this stuff you know.”

Laughing, they did so.

“Are you sure we're in Georgia?” Winter looked at the castle again and took a deep breath.

“Which Georgia?” Molly asked. “One might have lots of castles.”

“Not the one in Russia,” Winter grumbled.

“It's not Russia any longer, silly.” Molly laughed. “It's a country all by itself now.”

“Oh yeah.” Winter nodded. “That's right.”

“They're at war with someone right now, but I forget who.”

“Never mind, this is Georgia, USA.” Tess reassured both of them. “Now let's get inside. I've only been gone about fifteen minutes, so Tanisha, my friend shouldn't be far from the door. I didn't warn her, but I hope she hasn't gotten too far away already. Teleporting takes no time at all and we didn't spend a lot of time in either place before we got back here.”

“Oh, better try to look normal, then.” Molly changed from the gold skin to a flesh tone and grinned as she looked at the turrets and huge double doors. “Nice castle.”

“I need a bath.” Winter sighed as they approached the large set of double doors.

“I don't need to take baths.” Molly cheerfully responded. “I can push stuff away from me so the dirt and stuff will just go flying!”

“I hate you.” Winter grumbled then grinned. “And pity you. Baths are wonderful.”

“Oh, I could take one if I want.” Molly giggled. “If they feel as good as my mom used to say, I think I'll be taking a lot of them.”

“Being clean is good.” Winter chuckled as she nodded.

“Especially with all bubble bath in the water!” Molly enthused.

“Uh huh.” Winter answered while thinking that she had to experiment with that herself.

Tess knocked on the door and within minutes a gorgeous black woman answered it and smiled at all of them. “Welcome and come in. My home is your home.”

MEAGAN:

I hadn't gotten very far, besides writing down what I'd found in my self-strip search, which was a big fat nothing. However, that was how investigative work functioned. You recorded everything and then looked for patterns.

What distracted me was the voices from downstairs. For a half second I marveled that Tess was back already, before recalling just how fast she could zoom in on things and do the 'energizing' thing.

I took a moment to make sure I was presentable. From long experience, I knew how easily I could get caught up in computer games, good books, and working through puzzles like this one. Just as easily, I could neglect my appearance. Live well, I reminded myself.

The young woman in the mirror agreed with me. Average height for a woman, her shining, red hair gleamed like new copper. Curvy, but not top heavy, her green dress shimmered into the t-shirt and jeans I was most comfortable with. A pair of knee high boots appeared, completing my outfit. After a moment's thought I added moderate heels to the boots because I could. Have I said I love being able to dress the way I always wanted?

My image gave me a green-eyed wink, Perfect!

Walking out to the stairs, I got my first glimpse of my new teammates. Both were girls like the rest of us, and one was quite tall. Then I noticed the skyscraper heels and how golden she was, no pun intended.

Her tan, extremely voluptuous look screamed 'California girl' with her metallic gold top and spray painted black tights. She even had a little gold pillbox hat, like a sixties sitcom character.

Tess's other companion was just as unforgettable. She was dressed plainly in jeans, blouse, and jacket, but her pale slimness, and platinum blond hair, just screamed Jadis, the White Witch from Narnia. If casting had seen this woman first, Tilda Swinton wouldn't have had a chance at the part.

“Oh,” Tess exclaimed in that exuberant way of hers, “Here's Meagan!”

Smiling, I descended stairs the best I could. Maybe the heels weren't the best idea after all, but I wasn't going to let them know that. All the practicing I'd done as Carl in my small apartment didn't translate well into the real world with things such as stairs, gravel, and soft ground.

“You do know you two have that Winter and Summer thing going don't you?” I asked.

They both kinda stared at me as Tess introduced them.

“This is Elise, and Molly.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7 will be along soon. Stay tuned, as the action begins to pick up!

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

Reckoning -7- THE MONDAY FOLLOWING THE HEROES GIFTINGS.

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

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

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

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

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

Come with us or be dead.

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

The FBI man nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

They both laughed at the old joke.

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

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

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

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

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

JANET:

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

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

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

Tess:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AURA:

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

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

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

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

Wow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TESS:

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

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

ELISE:

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

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

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

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

“I smell a rat.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nice.” Elise answered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nope, do your worst, or best.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No.” Elise agreed. “It doesn't.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meagan nodded her understanding.

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

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

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

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

"I hope so." Elise answered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joint Intelligence Center:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gene smiled. He knew what was coming.

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

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

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

He didn't think anyone had Kryptonite bullets.

A NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL: following the Observer's appearance.

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

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

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

This newspaper wants to know:

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

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

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

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

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

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

All information received by us will be considered confidential.

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

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

RECKONING -8- Gifted, Assemble!

FROM CATHY: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. A computer problem is to blame, but all is fixed and here we go!

An incident prods our heroes to jump into action. Chapter 9 will follow very soon, I promise.

THE PLAYERS

Janet/Graviton
Meagan/Starshield
Molly/Aura
Elise/Winter
Tess/Tesseract
Tanisha/Friend of Tess, owner of the castle.

AN ADDRESS FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

My fellow Americans. As you are undoubtedly aware, an unprecedented event has occurred this week. I, of course, refer to the appearance of the alleged alien who called himself 'The Observer.' This so-called alien supposedly appeared to every person on the entire planet and spoke every conceivable language and dialect so as to be understood by everyone. I might add at this point, that no recording of any kind exists of this appearance or the speech he delivered, anywhere in the world, to the best of our knowledge.

Your government and, for that matter, every government in the world is researching the allegations made by this 'Observer,' and, at this time, there are no confirmations of any kind of immediate or even long term threat to this world. The finest minds on planet Earth are working solely on this problem and have denied knowledge of any known threats, further referring to this so-called alien as a complete hoax, perpetrated by some unknown agency to promote unrest and panic. I assure you, that to the best of my knowledge, and that of every scientist in the world, no such threat exists, and there is no 'Observer.'

I strongly implore every person within the sound of my voice to return to their everyday lives and occupations. Panicked buying and hoarding of resources will only have a negative effect on the economy and mental well being of everyone, accomplishing only unrest and mistrust between all of us. I have consulted with every scientific organization, as well as with the military regarding this event, and I can tel you with absolute assurance that there is no known threat to this world.

There are, I will admit, several theories that coincide with the given date of December 21st of this year. They vary from perceived religious portents, to ancient calenders, to rogue planets and asteroids or meteors, but at this time, none of these so-called threats show any scientific indication that they might be true, and the thought that some unknown alien might be telling us of an immanent threat is the sheerest fantasy of some science fiction writer's imagination.

I want to reassure you that, at this very moment, the finest minds on Earth are working at re-confirming that there is no credible, immanent event that could threaten mankind or the world upon which we all live. If, and I say again, if, any information to the contrary should be discovered and verified, we will cooperate with all of the governments of the Earth to avoid the event, or escape it.

I want to make a brief statement about these supposed 'gifted' people the Observer alluded to. Since we conclude that the alien was indeed a fake, we also do not believe that any of these so-called heroes exist. I know that there have been rumors of sightings of supposed people with abilities, but I personally do not believe any of them, and again, my scientific advisors have assured me that no such heroes could possibly exist, since they would be flying in the face of acknowledged physics. I'm afraid that 'superheroes' only exist in the comic books or cartoons, and the minds of science fiction writers.

I will end this press conference with this final statement. Such things as we have discussed here today do not, cannot happen in this day and age. We have learned much about our planet and much about our nearby neighbor, the moon as well as a bit about Mars. We are still learning more about those planets and moons in our own solar system and I will not dismiss out of hand, the possibility of the existence of life other than that of which we are presently aware. To believe, on the other hand, in some otherworldly, Godlike beings, who come to warn us of some catastrophe is, again, in the realm of fantasy and science fiction.

I wish to thank the members of the press who have attended this address, as well as the members of the various religious organizations and those of the scientific and military communities who are also in attendance. I will not, at this time, take any questions from anyone, but you will all be given a press handout which contains the body of my speech and statements from the various committees who have been working on this since it's advent.

Good night, my fellow Americans. Trust in your government and in yourselves. There is no threat. Return to your different lives and I wish you all good fortune and prosperity.

BACKSTAGE AFTER THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

“Do you think they'll buy it? The President asked his Chief advisor.

“I believe so, sir.” The advisor said. “In any event, we'd better hope that they do. This whole thing could blow up in our faces, making us all look like fools and worse, liars, if any of these heroes turn up in the public eye.”

“Well then, you better hope that none of them do show up publicly, because it will be your ass and, more importantly, my ass if we don't keep the tightest lid on this thing that there ever has been! Now I want every damned agency we have, working on this thing! If anyone with any kind of unusual abilities does show up, we damn well better be the first to know about it, you got that?” The President threatened.

“Sir, do you think your decision about finding and detaining any of these 'heroes' is a wise one? Remember that the Observer said that the world's reaction to these heroes and how they are treated, will be a deciding factor in their success or failure at keeping the world from being destroyed. Can we take that risk?”

“Charlie, if you are telling me that we have to make nice with some super powered freaks to save the world from some damn fool threat we don't even know is the real deal, I might have to re-think your appointment to the position you hold. Do I make myself clear? I want these super people, if there are any, locked up tight and under our control. This world end bullshit is phony and you know it. The real threat is that, if any unusually powered people do show up, we need them on our side, not auctioning their abilities to the world! It would be political suicide to allow any such threat to be bought and used against us! Now get your ass in gear and get your people out there, looking!”

Charles Duncan, the President's Chief Advisor, was beginning to have doubts. On one hand he could understand the President's point of view, but on the other, possibly larger hand, he realized that the future of the entire world would, without a doubt, depend on the good will and co-operation with the designated heroes the Observer said he'd provide to save it, to preserve it. 'Is it worth my job to go against the President?' he asked himself. 'Yes, it is! It's worth my job, my life, the life of the Earth itself! But I gotta be very careful about this. If I'm wrong, I have to make sure I have plausible deniability, and a damned good excuse to save my own ass!'

JANET/ GRAVITON

By the time I got out of the shower and dressed, most of the girls had either gone to eat, or were working on practicing their new abilities. I'd noticed that, since I'd experimented with mine, however inadvertently, I was stronger and faster than I thought I'd be. Once I remembered that my main ability had to do with gravity and the control of it, things I'd thought impossible became easy to accomplish.

I located Meagan in her room, but she was really busy doing something that seemed important, so I left her alone. I saw a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on Tess' door, so I left her alone as well. That left Elise and Molly. I found Elise taking it easy, relaxing and playing with making ice shapes.

“Hey Elise.” I said. “Sorry if I'm interrupting you, but the other girls are either busy or sleeping. I didn't see Molly though. Any idea where she might be? I worry about her. I get the feeling that she's very uncomfortable around the rest of us and, like the rest of us, she's fascinated and scared at the same time about her new form and what she can do.”

“No Janet, I haven't seen her. Did you look around?”

“Not a lot. Maybe I better wake Tess and see if she can get a read on her.”

I ran back upstairs and knocked on Tess' door. I heard a sleepy sounding, “Who is it.”

“It's Janet, Tess. Can I come in?”

“I guess so Janet. Give me a minute to get up and put on a robe?”

“Sure thing Tess.”

I waited a couple of minutes and then I heard, “Come on in Janet.”

I entered and told Tess that Molly seemed to be among the missing, asking her to see if she could get a read on her whereabouts. She concentrated for a few seconds and then said, “Oh no! She seems to be on the move toward Atlanta! I'd better get her back here before she does something to expose us and where we are. Also to keep her safe. I don't think she really realizes just how powerful she is.”

Tess concentrated for a few seconds more and then just...vanished! I thought about waiting for her to return, but I knew Tess was fully capable of doing what she needed to do, so I went back downstairs.

MOLLY/AURA

I flew above the suburbs of Atlanta on golden wings at least thirty feet wide. It didn't take much effort but the more effort I put in, the faster I seemed to go. Being up high scared me a bit so I kept fairly low, maybe a hundred feet above houses, trees and telephone poles.

I knew I could be seen but it didn't occur to me until later that people would be taking my picture and making videos with their phones. I also didn't know until much later that I showed up on the airport radar like a plane five times my size. I was having fun, being a superhero was kind of neat when you could fly, even if you had to be a girl to do it.

I must have been halfway to downtown Atlanta when I became aware that someone was following me; only they weren't flying. It was that girl Tess, she was appearing on rooftops using her teleportation, I guess. She kept waving at me and at first I just waved back. Duh!

Obviously, she wanted to talk to me so I swooped down to where she was standing on the roof of a church, holding onto the steeple for balance. My wings automatically shrank and beat faster as I hovered above her. "Hi!" I called. "I know you." Amazingly, my wings made very little noise, about like an air conditioner in the next room.

"Yes, Aura, you do. Call me Tesseract when we're out in public. But really, we don't want to be announcing where we are so -- so soon. How about you land here and I teleport us back to headquarters."

"Uh," I hadn't thought about what people might think or do about us. Maybe some of them wouldn't want the world saved or wouldn't want us to try in case we messed up. "Okay," I said.

Landing was harder than it looked but I managed and when I straightened up after catching myself from pitching off the roof, my wings shrank back to nothing and I grabbed Tess's hand for balance.

I guess she took that as being ready to teleport and we did. That bothers some of the others, they get upset tummies but I don't I think because I am full of the golden force fields that I use all the time. It only took a moment, we went through the Room Between Places and came out in the little courtyard lined with roses beside the big house that looked like a castle.

"Sorry if I caused any trouble," I said, feeling like a little kid now that I thought about everything that could have gone wrong.

"Don't worry about it, Molly," said Tess. "We will all make mistakes and this wasn't that big of one." She gave me a quick hug and I hugged her back.
Still holding my hand, she started into the house through the same door I had sneaked out of and I followed her, kind of embarrassed but feeling pretty good, too.

And hungry, I realized. I was very hungry for some reason.

MEAGAN/STARSHIELD
After having dinner with the girls, I wandered back up to my room. Revealing my secret to Elise made me think. Looking back into my beloved mirror caused me to smile. Before the mirror had not been my friend, but now we were best buds.

It took me only a second to decide on a subject. Another second and I was done. There, perched upon my head, was a black baseball cap with a bright yellow patch that proclaimed, CAT Fusion Power.

What can I say? I've always been a big SF fan and Aliens was a right decent movie. However that was besides the point. I was about to make history!

Taking a deep breath, I reached up and took it off. Then I tossed it on my bed.

It didn't derezze! However, I did feel a sudden drain like I'd been lifting a heavy box. Okay, that answered that. I could permanently create things, well, clothing items at least, but it was tiring. However, there was a cost. That pointed the way to experiment number two.

Taking one of my water bottles, I chugged it down, concentrating on charging that internal battery of mine. It did help, but with a bit of practice, just putting it to my lips was enough. I watched as the water level dropped like I was pouring it down a drain and never felt a drop on my tongue.

Baseball cap; energy to matter. Water; matter to energy.

On the other hand, there was a heck of a loss. It took three bottles to make up the difference of a cap that weighed only a couple of ounces. I sighed. This wasn't going to be easy, but there were necessities.

Superheroes with superpowers or not, we were going to need equipment. Tactical gear wasn't cheap and the good stuff was restricted to law enforcement and the military. A little more experimenting informed me that I could duplicate any fabric I'd touched. Once I had it in, call it my memory, I could shape it into just about any kind of garment. That's me baby, Super-Tailor.

Then I sat down with my pad of paper again. This was going to require a shopping trip...and thought I added, a lot of thought.

ELISE/WINTER

After the conversation with Meagan, I just kind of sat there on the bed for awhile to think about things.

I really hadn't had time to stop and do that since my transformation.

Since I hadn't specifically asked for powers, like the others had, it stood to reason that what the Observer had given me was important in some way. If I could understand why that was, other than the precog thing it might give us another valuable clue about what we were really supposed to be doing.

I was worried about Molly, but then again I was worried about me, and the rest of us, too. Molly had been a kid, but from some of the things she'd said, I got the idea that she had been a kid, but a street kid, and smart enough to generally stay out of trouble then. Hopefully she could do that now too.

I had abilities other than that damned precog, and I needed to find out more about them. But not in the house. I shuddered when I thought about that. I think I'd frozen half the pipes in that ratty apartment building I'd lived in the first time I tried much of anything. So it would have to be outside.

But first, I was tired. A little nap wouldn't hurt at all.

I stretched out on that nice big bed that was more comfortable than any I'd felt in some time and dropped into sleep before I had time to realize it.

* * * *

It was dark when I woke up and I was hungry. Getting up I turned on the bedside lamp and changed out of my rumpled clothes, got into my runners and quietly went downstairs to the kitchen in search of breakfast.

Coffee and toast seemed like more than enough, though I'd never really eaten much right after getting up and I noted that it was four-thirty in the morning. Well, I'd had jobs where I needed to be up earlier than that, so it didn't seem to strange to me. I hadn't been paying attention to the time before I dropped off to sleep so wasn't sure how long I'd been out, but it seemed like it had been enough. At least I wasn't tired out any longer.

I cleaned up after myself then went outside into the back yard and found a convenient bench to sit on while I went back to considering what it was I could, and more importantly was supposed to do.

“Well.” I stood up after a few minutes and shook my head with a little smile. “I'm sure not going to find out anything sitting here and just thinking about it.”

After moving far away enough from the house that loomed in the darkness like an old castle, to be fairly sure I wouldn't damage anything there I stood and just let myself feel my surroundings. The humidity in Georgia was heavier than in Kansas, the air warmer while the near lack of any breeze was different for me,too. In Kansas, if the wind wasn't blowing at least a little something was wrong but here I sensed that the quiet was normal.

I also sensed more, so much more, than that. I could almost feel the life around me as something I could reach out and touch in some way, though I wasn't sure how to do that other than just take it all in as I stood there. Sensing all the small life in the area wasn't all either. Something just let me know that some of things were going to die soon and I knew I would even be able to pick out which ones.

Unsettling as that was, I could also almost see what would come from those impending deaths, that something else would benefit and grow because of it, and what could emerge from the whole thing.

“Whoa.” I shook my head and that sense faded away, thank goodness. It may have been reassuring in a way but it was very weird. “That had to be my imagination.”

I let myself drift back into that feeling and state of mind, and it happened again. Then a third time.

“Okay, so I seem to have a sense for the things around me, and the other I'm not going into right now. That kind of ability would be a mood killer for sure.” I muttered. “So what else can I do that I haven't tried?”

I pulled the surrounding moisture in, a lot more of it than I ever had before, and just let it gather around, and on me for a few seconds. While I did that I could feel the temperature drop in the general area quite a bit. I wasn't sure how far that went in a circle around me but didn't even feel as I was putting any effort into it at all yet. So I pushed and felt the area grow. A lot. At first it had been only a few feet, that grew int yards, then reached out far enough to make a pretty good sprint distance for a runner. Fifty yards, maybe more? It was hard to judge the distance but I could feel the heat leaving the entire area and that fueled what I was doing even more.

The moisture left in the surrounding air precipitated, first into rain, then to sleet, and even to snow. There I was, Close to Atlanta Georgia, standing in the center of a snow storm. A very localized one, but it was still a snow storm and the temperature differences in the area caused wind, so the stuff was blowing like a blizzard.

With me in middle of it and feeling as if I was just enjoying a warm spring breeze. I didn't feel the cold at all.

I raised a hand to make sure it wasn't just freezing to death and got another shock. It, and the rest of me as I continued the self examination, was sheathed in a coat of ice that was flexible as any clothing I'd ever worn, and comfortably warm to me.

I had no idea if it could serve as effective armor, Id need someone else to test that out along with not flinching at the idea of just letting someone hit me with things. But at least I was beginning to feel less vulnerable with each thing I was finding out.

I was still the center of a localized storm and it occurred to me that weather satellites and other sensors would be very likely to pick that up. I shut off the power that had been making the storm and stood there feeling vulnerable all over again. “Crap, I hope I just didn't expose us all to the Powers That Be with that one.”

Another thought, almost unconscious and my icy covering just kind of evaporated into the air. Once again I was standing in a quiet little meadow in the spring like weather of earl morning. Except there was melting snow all around me for at least a hundred yards in any direction I looked.

“Great.” I sighed. “I'm my own air conditioner, freezer, storm generator, and can water lawns. I could probably make a fortune renting myself out to ski resorts all over the country if I wasn't being hunted by just every government agency in the books, and some that probably don't get on any books at all.”

I already knew I could project ice in areas I wasn't standing in. So I tried doing it right from my hands so I could actually aim it.

A stream of hailstones erupted from just in front of my outstretched hands to pepper at a nearby bush, shredding the leaves, flowers and more than a few branches away like it had been sandblasted.

“Oh man.” I kind of moaned that, but at least I knew I could hit things in a fight if I had to do that.

I could do the same thing with icicles that I could vary in size from about an inch long to five inches or so before they were too clumsy to use. Those hit a nearby tree like a ton of thrown daggers or needles.

“Just call me the ice ninja.” I sighed after that one. “No, given the way I look and what my powers do I suppose they'll be calling me something like The Winter Queen, or Ice Queen, or something else stupid like that.”

I moved away from that spot and absently touched a flower on my way. Without shutting down the cold projection thing. It froze solid at my touch. So much so that it shattered when I touched it again.

Shaken by that one more than anything else I realized that I very well could kill something, or someone, with a simple touch. “Or maybe they'll call me Lady Death.”

I could see some copyright problems in my future if anyone did things like that, I wryly thought while walking back to the house.

I really needed to think about some of the things I'd done out here, and though not tired, felt an overall sense of foreboding. If the kind of powers I seemed to have were going be as needed as the Observer evidently thought when giving them to me things weren't going to be nice at all in the near future.

In fact, I'd already had visions of Hell turned loose on Earth. Worse, my range was so pathetically limited in the scope of things that I couldn't begin to protect more than a very few, let alone save the world.

“But it's a start.” I told myself while starting to shake off that mood a little at a time. “With practice, maybe my range will grow enough to be a real help.”

A few minutes later I was back sitting in the kitchen with another cup of coffee in front of me but just staring into it without really doing much else.

Others came and went, probably even spoke to me. But I was somewhere else for more than a few hours there.

I had spent most of my adult life helping people, working to make things better for them in some way. The powers I had weren't simple party tricks. The could cause a lot of harm, and could very well be lethal if I couldn't find some way to limit them when I needed to do that.

I was like a hermit even with the others around for the rest of that day, and the next, as I thought, experimented, and worked on things while working others out in my head.

MEAGAN/STARSHIELD

The next morning I was up early. I considered checking to see if any of my teammates to be were alive yet, but decided against it. Tanisha, our hostess, thankfully was and helpfully directed me to the nearest Walmart.

I remembered to leave my number with her, just in case some emergency came up. I wasn't expecting anything, but with this bunch who knew what trouble they could get into. Cranking up my Escort, I left on my mission.

A few hours later, I was back at the castle, exhausted. There was my internal battery and then there was my mental brain power. While the one was fully charged, the other was completely wiped. Wally World was the easy stop.

The previous night I'd finally located the first of my goofs in what I'd asked the Observer for. You see, trying to think ahead, I asked to paid for my efforts in saving the world. That wasn't being greedy. If I was off doing what had to be done, I couldn't work, and a girl still had to eat.

The goof was, silly me didn't specify how much. Before all of this, I was working at minimum wage, as well as working my butt off with overtime. The Observer added about 16 grand to my account. One year of pay for me at min wage, but without my usual overtime, Doh!

So I get to save the world while being chased by the Feds, along with other hazards I can't even guess at right now, for minimum wage. Someone needs to to tell the world it's getting a bargain!

No matter, we needed this stuff, and it appeared that Janet had been more thoughtful about her finances than I. The first stop at Wal-Mart was a big stop. A laptop, more phones, office supplies, and just about anything else I didn't think I could replicate with my powers.

Then was a pit stop for breakfast as I got my new, ready for the internet laptop, really ready for the internet. Cleaning up all the junk off the hard drive and downloading the stuff that was really needed took longer than I wanted to think about. However, I needed just the necessities right now.

After my first search, I was back to Walmart, this time for one of those Magellan GPS things to help me find the place. Let me tell you, navigating the city was a real experience, however soon enough I was there, 'Dan's Safety Supplies.'

On the outside it was a plain looking building that gave no clue it was the local law enforcement supply retailer. Being paranoid, I parked a few blocks away and walked back. I'd altered my appearance to an older, stockier woman. Instead of lying, I told part of the truth as the helpful clerks did their jobs. I was part of an new group my department was forming and was in town for a meeting. Having some time I was taking the opportunity to window shop and get a handle on what kind of gear we would be needing.

That was enough to get me in the door and let me get my mitts on the stuff I needed, the bullet-resistant armor. Sure, while everyone calls it bullet-proof the honest truth is that it isn't. Most the good stuff will slow, or even stop most pistol rounds, but really the goal is to make getting shot survivable. Getting back up and walking out, not so much, but being still alive, even if hurt, is good.

Touching the material and getting a feel for the fabric made me smile. I could do this! The salesman was full of information about all the latest stuff, including something called Goldflex, which was the latest armor fiber on the market. A bomber jacket of it was able to stop most pistols, and provide some protection from the heavier stuff. Hey it was a bargain at only $900 bucks a piece!

I looked at the designs for boots and gloves, as well as their other clothing items too. Picking up a catalog, I felt the trip had been well worth it. Making another stop for some lunch, since my window shopping had taken up the whole morning, something else caught my eye, shoes.

No, I don't mean heels, although, I've wondered if my fascination for sexy shoes was a fetish. In this case it was Nikes, or more specifically, Flyknit high tech, light weight, running shoes. They were said to be so light it was like wearing a pair of socks.

That led to another stop. The store was sold out, but the display item was still there. Just a touch was all it took. I grinned all the way out, walking in my my new Flyknits.

Okay, I guess it was stealing, intellectual properties and all of that. Even worse, I was planning on using it and giving it away to my teammates. I rationalized it as the toll Nike paid for getting its butt saved, along with the rest of the world.

Once back at the castle and dragging everything upstairs, I didn't see anyone else around. Except for Tess who was looking very wiped. She mumbled something I couldn't make out and went back to bed.

That was fine with me. It'd been a long day and I more than ready to grab a bit to eat and zone out. First however, remembering we were all new at this, I dragged out one of my purchases, a large, briefing sized, white board and easel. Using an improvised straight edge I marked out a sign out form. Marking down my name, Meagan, I put my phone number down and that I was 'IN' and resting. The finishing touch was attaching the box of markers everyone would hopefully use. Adjourning upstairs, I wrote down some outfit ideas as well as some for other projects before bed.

JANET/GRAVITON

When I got up in the morning, I noticed that Meagan's car was not in the lot, so I asked around and was told that she had talked with Tanisha, then got in her car and took off. I found Tanisha and she told me that Meagan wanted directions to the Wal-Mart store nearby.

I wondered what Meagan was up to, but knowing a bit about what her powers were, I figured it had something to do with her ability to impersonate just about anybody. Maybe she was also thinking about getting us some communications stuff, like Trac Phones...prepaid cell phones, like she had before. Maybe even a couple of computers as well. I wished she had asked me before she left. Part of my request to the Observer had been for a secure means of financial independence, so I had lots of money in a couple of different accounts at my bank.

I noticed that Tess wasn't around, but she was probably back in bed, recovering from chasing Molly down and bringing her back.

I went down to the kitchen and fixed myself some breakfast and was just sitting down to eat when I heard someone thundering down the stairs. It was Meagan, and she was almost breathless!

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MEAGAN/STARSHIELD

In the morning, I booted up the laptop and hit my old sites I hadn't been to in long while, like the local Tampa news. Most was the usual reports where you had to read between the lines for the real story. I got a chuckle reading the transcripts of our President's Address to the Nation. So there weren't any superheroes huh? I couldn't help, but hear Jack Nicholson misquoting, 'Wait till they get a load of us!”

I checked out what the weather was back home as compare to Georgia. The heavy fog warning had me nodding my head, been there, done that. Sometimes it was so thick you would just dull your knife trying to cut it.

I was looking at just the right place at just the right time. A breaking news flash hit. Huge multi car pile up in heavy fog on the Tampa Bay bridge. Barely remembering I was still modeling Elise's form, I switched back to me. Wincing, I plugged in the bare wires I had prepared in case I needed them.

Instantly I was back at a full charge. Healing the damage from the 'juice', I hit my door at a run, “Hit the Deck Girls! Emergency!”

JANET/GRAVITON

I got up from the table to see what was going on and Meagan skidded into the kitchen. She gasped out; “Huge accident on the Tampa Bay Bridge! We gotta do something!”

We ran back upstairs and woke the rest of the girls, telling them we had a mission and to get up and dressed pronto! When we had all gathered back in the kitchen just a few minutes later, Meagan told them about the accident, and we all agreed that we had to help out if we could, but that we'd try to remain anonymous as much as we could.

Winter said she might be able to increase the fog and mist around the accident scene so we'd go a bit less noticed. Meagan gave Tess the co-ordinates and off we went!

Chapter 9 sees our heroes in action together for the first time! Don't miss: Help Is on the Way, or: A Bridge Too Far?

Action at last. Watch our heroes use their powers as a team for the first time!

For the benefit of all the readers who are having difficulty telling who is who and who can do what, this first section describes the heroes, their powers, and who their creator is.

The Players:
Erin- Aura/Molly
Cathy- Graviton/Janet
Grover- Starshield/Meagan
Maggie-Winter/Elise
NPC- Tesseract/Tess (NPC=non player character. Originally the creation of Sasha Nexus, who found she didn't have the time to dedicate herself to this project, but allowed us to continue using her hero and her name.)

RECKONING HEROES POWERS SUMMARY

JANET/GRAVITON: STRENGTH: Spiderman class. SPEED: Mach 2 flying, Spiderman on foot. REFLEXES AND AGILITY: Almost instantaneous. INVULNERABILITY: Almost total. Immune to all known gasses, poisons, chemicals and radiation. VISION: Fog, smoke, darkness, is the same as in normal light. Control over gravity. Can increase or decrease gravity in specific locations up to 200 feet from her. Effects indefinite in duration at her control. Can effect areas up to 200 square feet. Increase can be up to 20 times normal gravity in effected area. Can also increase or decrease gravity effects on herself or others, as well as objects.
APPEARANCE. Very attractive 25 year old female. Does not age visibly and has complete health until death.

MEAGAN/STARSHIELD: STRENGTH: Normal human unless assisted by her energy powers. SHAPECHANGER, Including clothing, to genetic level. FORCE FIELDS: visible or invisible. Matter creation by use of internal energy, rechargeable from any normal source like electricity, or simple rest. FLIGHT: By means of internal energy, using force fields. FORCE FIELD: Can be generated by use of internal energy...personal or area. SENSE OF SMELL: Equal to best canine. VISION: Night vision as feline. APPEARANCE: Normal attractive 21 year old female...changeable with shapechange power.

ELISE/WINTER: Cold based powers. Like Iceman or Ice Queen from X-men. Can use moisture from any source, or generate ice internally with no ill effects.. Empath and precog. Regenerator. Can foretell death and possible rebirth. Very tough but can be hurt. Former Nurse. APPEARANCE: 5'9” 135 lbs. Vibrantly white hair. Blue eyes, almond shaped. Slim, graceful, athletic. Pale almost white skin. Oval face, high cheekbones, small straight nose, full mouth but not pouty.

MOLLY/AURA: Automatic, invisible forcefield. If surprised, eliminates clothing left with gold bikini and heels and gold colored forcefield. Can use forcefield to fly or hover, shaping it into wings. Can jump approximately 1/8 mile, line of sight or straight up. SPEED in flight, 180 mph. Can form forcefield into a weapon. Can extend forcefield up to ten feet in bubble shape. Forcefield will absorb kinetic energy used against her and is proof vs. acid or fire. Can also resist nuclear energy. Can swim twice as fast as an olympic swimmer and run at about 30 mph. Can increase strength by use of forcefield. Can lift up to 3000 lbs on foot, 500 lbs flying. Can resist being knocked down or back by use of forcefield spikes. APPEARANCE: 5'9” long golden hair and hazel eyes. Deep tan, slight overbite, 26 years old. Very voluptuous. 41-23-35.

TESS/TESSERACT: By use of internally generated tesseract can instantaneously transport alone, or with passengers and equipment to any point on planet Earth. Internal GPS enables transport without error. Uses ability to open “windows” to look at different points outside tesseract. Being inside tesseract heals and the longer people remain inside it, the more they will be healed. Outside time suspended while inside tesseract for those inside it. Has inertia dampening field. Anything inside tesseract must remain in contact with Tess or it/they will not travel with it. Empathic with respect to things/people touched or used by the Observer, also to otherworldly things on Earth. Can use tesseract as forcefield and/or weapon. APPEARANCE: Normal, attractive mid 20s female.
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Meagan was still modeling things for Elise when something on the television caught her eye and riveted her attention.

“A huge multi-car accident on the Tampa Bay bridge, probably caused by the heavy fog, has just happened. Details are still….” She lost the rest while going back to the form she generally wore. She also plugged in the electric core ending in bare wires to take a quick recharge.

Full of energy, healing the minor burns from the sudden application of electricity as she charged down the stairs she shouted, “Hit the deck girls! Emergency!”

In the kitchen, Janet got out of the chair she had been relaxing in while enjoying a cup of coffee as Meagan skidded/tumbled into the kitchen. “What?”

“Huge accident on the Tampa Bay bridge!” Megan managed to get out between gasps for air. “We gotta do something! We need to go get the others up now!”

“You get Elise, I'll get Molly.” Janet nodded as they both started up the stairs at a charge old-style cavalry would have been proud of. “Their rooms are closest, then we get Tess.”

“Right.” Meagan agreed.

* * * *

“Elise! Medical emergency! Up girl!” Meagan shouted as she slammed the door to Winter's room open without using the door knob.

Elise swore, but used to such things given her former profession rolled out of her bed and immediately started getting dressed. “What is it?”

“Huge multi-vehicle pileup on the Tampa Bay bridge!” Meagan answered then added. “Heavy fog and emergency people can't reach them in time to do much. Need to go wake Tess up!”

“Go!” Elise waved her away. “Meet you in the kitchen.”

“And I thought all this was behind me.” Elise sighed, then grinned. “But it feels good being able to do something again.”

* * * *

Janet burst into Molly's room but didn't see her. Then noticed the bedclothes were not on the bed and that the dresser in the room was pulled away from the wall. On checking, she found Molly comfortably sleeping with the bedclothes piled around her in a sort of fort.

“Molly! Up and at 'em! We have things to do, places to go!” Janet told the girl. “Huge accident we need to go help with.”

“I'm awake.” Molly answered while squirming out of her comfy nest.

“Kitchen.” Janet told her as she left to wake up Tess.

A few minutes later Molly was in the kitchen looking at Winter looking at her. “What? It's an emergency.”

Looking at the sexy Halloween costume-style police uniform, with very low cut top, short, tight skirt and knee high boots with four-inch heels, Elise just shook her head and answered. “Nothing.”

As usual, Molly's outfit was in black and gold except she had somehow managed bright red lipstick and green eyeshadow this time.

“I thought it would work for this.” Molly pouted. She remembered the Halloween her mom had worn this, both to the club and out trick-or-treating with a five-year-old Tommy. A tear trickled down the side of her nose.

“It's fine, hon.” Elise reassured her.

Once all of them had arrived, Meagan went over the news again. “We have to do something!” she finished.

“I could increase the fog and mist in our general area. To, you know, keep anyone from seeing us while we work,” Winter told them. “Or get rid of it if needed if we need visibility, but my range is pretty limited. Only about a hundred yards to a side, and even if I do increase the fog, someone is bound to notice that and wonder why. If I clear the fog, then they'll know for sure.”

“But if we don't do anything people could die!” Meagan answered.

“Never said we shouldn't do anything.” Elise pointed out. “Just what could happen if we do is all. I'm all for going to help out.”

“I think,” Janet shrugged, “that no matter what we do someone is going to take notice of us whether we like the idea or not. At least the authorities don't know where we live right now.”

“Okay, so let's do this.” Molly was almost jumping up and down she was so excited. The bosom of the fake police uniform was under a lot of stress.

“Besides.” Janet shrugged. “If the government does show up, Winter could probably slow them down enough for us to get away without really hurting anyone.”

“I could probably do that.” Elise nodded but with a little shudder at recalling some of the things she could do. Icicle spears, hailstone barrages, frozen hearts; she had reason to shudder but she pushed those thoughts away; she was a healer first.

“Okay, here's the plan.” Meagan nodded. She gathered their attention with one commanding glance then told them what she thought they should do. “Tess, you get us right in the middle of the bridge on the big hump, that's about two miles from either shore, so we would have time to get some things done before anyone can interfere.”

Tess nodded, reaching out with her power to locate the real place that matched the images on TV.

“What do you think we should do with the people who are critically injured?” Janet asked.

“Winter could do triage, she used to be a nurse.” Meagan answered while asking.

“I could give immediate first aid, yes.” Winter nodded. “And find the ones who need more help right away.”

“Don't forget that my Tesseract can heal people." Tess interjected. "but I should still transport the critically injured to a hospital because they'd have to spend some time inside the tesseract to get any real healing done, and we won't have that kind of time.

“Found it.” Tess told everyone while Molly just watched everyone else do the planning.

“Then let's go.” Elise joined Tess and took her hand then waited for the others to join them.

“I hate this part of getting there.” Janet sighed as Tess opened the window.

“Oh, my gawd.” Elise gasped as they saw a morass of cars, trucks, buses, and people tangled in a metal jigsaw with moving parts still grinding against each other. The screams of metal, and people were horrible. Especially with the burning vehicles adding black, oily smoke to the fog.

“At least it doesn't look like the bridge is damaged.” Janet noted then ordered, “Tess, set us down.”

“So who does what, other than Elise giving first aid and doing triage?” Tess asked, looking around.

“Get the fires out first.” Meagan answered.

“I got the fires!” Molly shouted and immediately headed for the closest one.

“Oh, crap.” Meagan sighed. “Someone follow her and help.”

“Okay, you two work on the fires.” Janet nodded. “I'll start pulling people out of the wrecks. Elise you know what you're supposed to do.”

Molly, thinking the fires woudn't hurt her just rushed right in, trying to find people who were hurt and needed to be gotten out. As she did that a thought occurred to her and she shouted back. “Winter! Would snow put out the fires?”

Janet was already working to pry open stuck or crumpled doors on the nearby vehicles.

Elise had already had the same thought as Molly and isolated snowfalls, right on top of the fires, slowed the burning down, but didn't quite put them out. Snow doesn’t actually have much fire-quenching ability, she realized.

“Guess that answers that one,” Molly sighed after seeing the same thing Winter had seen. She tried something new with her force field, covering trapped people with it to protect them from the fires; not like with a dome but like a coat of spray paint. To her surprised delight, it worked as Aura's golden force fields covered victims from the fires, each with only a gesture and a thought from Molly turned into gleaming fireproof figures still able to move and get themselves away from the flames.

“I can't put the fires out!” Winter shouted out. “Someone get those things out or they'll spread!”

Meagan tried to surround a fire with her force field to see if she could smother it.

Molly got people out of the fires, soothing and telling them. “You'll be okay. Help is on the way.” As soon as they got more than a dozen feet from her, the golden coating peeled away like spray paint in reverse.

She started getting other people out, bending, breaking or just tearing doors off to get to the injured. Her own strength amazed her. “The force fields are doing all the real work!” she told herself.

The arrival of the first casualties distracted Winter from trying to summon more humidity to create perhaps a drenching downpour. She grimaced while tending to some of the injured.

The snow, which she could keep up without much effort or concentration, had slowed down the fires, but not completely stopped them. She pulled more fog in and more while she worked at stopping the bleeding and making slings from torn clothing for injured arms. An old man who looked like someone’s retired drill sergeant had started tearing cloth into strips and supplying them to her.

Slowly the fog thickened to heavy mist and the mist began to fall, hissing in places where it hit the fires. And then the mist turned to real rain, the drops getting larger moment by moment.

Elise patted one child after bandaging a shoulder. “If the rain doesn't stop the fires, at least it will damp them and cool things off a bit.”

“Are you making it rain?” the little girl asked, awed.

Elise stammered out a non-committal answer and called to the others. “Bring all the injured this way, I’ve got people helping me tear bandages.”

Meagan did manage to put out one fire, but when she pulled her force field away it started again, even more fiercely than before, as if it had been banked coals. She wanted to cuss but restrained herself to a mild, “Snake oil and sugar lumps!”

“The rain works!” Molly shouted back as cold rain started to fall on the fires.

“Things are too hot!” Meagan complained. Her invisible forcefield protected her and she could use it as a shield but she couldn’t do Molly’s spray paint gimmick. Besides, she’d been too busy to notice that. Instead she twisted her field into a sort of corridor to guide people and protect them at the same time.

“Just keep getting people out!” Winter called back. “That first. Fires we can deal with later. Just get the people out!”

Molly had already figured that out, and was working hard to get people out of the real danger areas. “I got it! I got it!” She extended her arms and strength with crowbars forcing her way into the wrecks.

Janet got Elise's attention. “Got a couple for you here, Winter.”

It was a woman and a girl about four years old. Both looked as if they were in shock and not really understanding what was going on.

Elise smiled at them and checked for injuries which were thankfully few. “You'll be alright, just sit down, get something warm to drink, and you'll both be home in no time at all.”

From somewhere, the old man had produced blankets and he and Elise wrapped the two in them. “If we had something hot for them to drink,” she muttered. “Can you do anything about that, Sarge?” she asked the old man.

He smiled at the little girl and her mom and repeated the assurances Elise had given them. “Someone will have something,” he told Elise. “We’re doing what we are best able to do.”

Molly had seen what Meagan had tried to do with the fires and tried that herself, surrounding the flames in golden force did seem to strangle the things while she still worked at getting injured people out. But she didn’t have Starshield’s reach with her powers and could only put out fires within ten feet of her.

Winter looked at one man that was brought to her and shook her head sadly at what she saw and felt. “Make him as comfortable as you can, there's nothing anyone can do for him now other than that. Not even Tess's tesseract can help him now. Even if he made it to the hospital, he'd only die there, and probably in a lot more pain than he was before I "helped" him.

“I'll do it.” The woman with the child said. “Give me some blankets and I'll do what I can.” Sarge handed her the blankets and helped her wrap the dying man in them.

“Thank you.” Winter nodded and handed her the items, then turned back to the deeply injured man and gently touched him. “I can't save you, and you're going to feel a little cold for a bit, but you won't have to suffer.”

Her touch numbed the man's nerves, as if he were in the last stages of freezing to death, and she watched the agony on his face fade into an almost peaceful expression. “Don't fear it, everything has to go sometime, look forward to what awaits once this has passed.”

“Why didn't you help him?” Janet had overheard and was angry and outraged.

“I did.” Winter sadly answered. “He won't live an hour, the damage is too much. At least now he won't suffer.”

“How do you know that?” Janet asked.

“I was an ER nurse.” Winter quietly said. “As for knowing, I just do, one of the more uncomfortable, heartbreaking things about my powers. I can see when living things are going to die.”

“Oh my gawd.” Janet swallowed and impulsively gave Elise a hug. “That has to be terrible.”

“But I can see what's going to come after they die, too.” The white haired young woman nodded with a faint smile. “Don't worry, what he's going to will be a good thing.” Elise looked into some invisible distance before straightening up. “But now we have more to do.” She tilted her chin at all the chaos around them.

“Best that we get back to it, don't you think?”

“Damned right.” Janet nodded then flew off to find more trapped people.

* * * *

Molly heard whimpering from a vehicle that was so crushed that it was hard to believe anything could be alive in it.

Carefully applying her force field by using it like a giant pair of gloves, she managed to straighten enough of the mangled metal to make an opening and reached in for the person that was whimpering.

To her surprise it was a dog. A frightened Malamute that still enthusiastically licked her face in thanks before looking back at the twisted mass that had been a high end SUV with another whimper.

“I know, girl.” Her voice caught in her throat. She’d always wanted a dog but the way she had lived all her life meant it would not have been fair to the animal. Molly gave the dog a stroke. “We can't save everyone or bring back the ones who died, but we can help the living.”

The dog hesitated, tilted her head and yipped before charging off into the chaos.

“Sheesh.” Molly shook her head. “It's almost like she understood me.”

Then she went back to searching the wrecks for people who needed help.

* * * *

“Meagan!” Janet bellowed. “I have a truck on top of a car here and there are people inside! I need some help here!”

Meagan heard, finished cutting open a really twisted up pickup so the less injured could pull the driver out and flew to Janet. “What do you need?”

“I can lift the truck, but I can't do anything else while I'm doing it.” Janet grimaced. “I need you to get the people out of that car while I do this.”

“Do it.” Meagan nodded.

Janet wasn't all that sure that she could do what she'd said, but focused on the large truck and concentrated on what she did to lift herself into the air, only on the truck.

And it lifted off the car with a groan of abused metal, but it lifted. An inch at first, then a foot, then a yard, then hovered over the half crushed car.

“Get them out!” Janet grated while all her abilities were concentrated on the floating truck.

Meagan immediately started tearing at the sides of the car, ripping off doors, and even some bodywork to reach the people inside. Miraculously, all of them were still alive and she quickly used her force fields to pull them out. “Got 'em!”

With a sigh of relief, Janet let the truck crash back down on the car.

* * * *

Molly soon realized, just as Meaghan had, that though she could stop the fires so long as her force field contained them, they started back up even more fiercely once she let up. Only the rain could cool things down enough to actually put out the flames.

“Give it up, girl.” She told herself and began concentrating on getting injured people out of the crumpled vehicles.

* * * *

“I need first aid kits!” Winter shouted as more injured were brought to her. “Bandages, antiseptics, anything!”

Molly yelled, "Big trucks will all have first aid kits," and headed for the nearest one. “How many do you need?”

“She’s right,” said Sarge.

“All of them you can find!” Winter shouted back.

“Should we have Tess take the really badly injured ones to a hospital?” Janet asked as she brought another injured woman to Winter.

“Yes,” The white haired caregiver nodded then pointed at three people. “Have her take them first.”

“What about them?” Janet waved towards another group covered with blankets and with the less injured tending to them as best they could.

Winter simply shook her head with a sad look in her eyes.

Recalling their earlier conversation, Janet lowered her head for a moment and nodded. “Okay.”

With her powers of location and observation, Tess had been finding trapped people and pointing out the most urgent cases to the others. Somehow, though, she knew that Winter needed her and just exactly what she was needed for. She arrived in a blink, touched the people Winter had indicated and vanished with them. Once at her destination, a nearby hospital's emergency room, she shouted. “Bridge casualties!”

Then she ported back to the bridge, thinking as she did that she would take people to a different hospital on the next trip to avoid overloading any one emergency room.

* * * *

As Molly handed Winter several first aid kits, Meagan remembered one store she had been in the other day. “I can get all the kits we need if Tess can get me there!”

“Do it!” Winter nodded. “We can pay for them later but we need them now.”

“You got it, but I brought cash, thanks to Janet.” Meagan nodded and went to Tess the moment she reappeared and talked with her for a moment before both of them disappeared.

Meagan had to use a force blade to get to the things she needed and felt bad as the ultra thin blades of energy parted the lock of the cage where the kits, and medications were kept.

The pair found what Winter needed and gathered everything together using Meagan's forcefield — with the store logo prominently shown on them, then ported back to the bridge.

* * * *

The cold rain continued to fall, at least damping the fires as Tess and Meagan appeared and dumped twenty or thirty plastic bags on the ground beside Winter. Meagan grinned and said. “First aid kits and some meds!”

“Here you go!” Meagan told Elise as they dropped the bags.

“Great!” Elise smiled. “Unpack them so I can use them, or find someone to do it. I'm a little busy right now.” Sarge held a young man down while Elise anesthetized his wounds with cold and reduced the compound fracture of his lower leg.

Meaghan tried not to look and was grateful for the distraction as more than a few willing hands grabbed the kits, unpacking and opening them and the meds, so that Starshield could go back to finding more people in need of help.

“Thanks, Sarge.” Winter nodded then pointed at some more people. “Tess, get them to a hospital, NOW!”

Meagan went back to getting trapped people out of vehicles as Tess touched the badly injured and winked out of sight with them.

Janet drafted the unhurt people into helping to search for more injured and getting the ones they could out of the wrecks. Then she went back to cutting, tearing, and lifting to get others out.

Molly, frustrated at not being able to reach a couple trapped in what had been a high end sports car, focused her force field into a blade-shape and discovered she could cut things with it. She immediately cut away parts of the car and dragged the occupants out.

“Cool!” It took a lot less time and effort that way than by using crowbars to bend the metal — and she discovered that she could order the blade not to cut into any flesh or clothing so she slice away with no worry about hurting anyone. If the blades touched someone, they just changed shape to go around them.

* * * *

Amid all that was happening, Sarge led a man and woman up to Elise. “Tell her,” he ordered. The woman said, “We're both nurses, what do you need us to do?”

“Clean wounds, bandage, stop bleeding, give painkillers if needed.” Winter gestured to the mass of supplies now available. “If someone is really bad let me know.”

The pair nodded heading to the supplies and getting to work like the professionals they were. Sarge went back to the job he had adopted, directing traffic around the impromptu aid station.

“I need to get rid of this damned fog.” Elise muttered and push her ability higher. Surprisingly, the entire center of the bridge cleared as the rain got heavier, but the fog was gone for half a mile either way. The effort tired her and the effect surprised her a bit; she decided that was about as good as it got for the moment and saved her energy to help the wounded. The rain, she knew, would continue until it ran out of the moisture she had gathered for it.

She heard the screech of brakes in the distance and stopped to look, thinking more help had finally arrived. But it was just another truck broken loose from the chaos and a driver frantically using the brakes to keep from hitting other vehicles or going over the side of the bridge.

Tess popped back in beside Elise and asked. “Any more to go?”

“Those.” Winter pointed to another pair then shook her head. “There are too many, I have to see them to decide and I can't see all of them!”

“You're doing good, hon.” Tess assured her before moving to touch the pair that Winter had shown her and blinking out again.

* * * *

Meagan saw a large fire involving three cars and a bus as she was searching. And it was growing as she watched. Afraid of what it would do to her, she still reached out to the fire to absorb its energy before it could do more damage. She hadn’t tried this before because she thought she knew what would happen.

Her scream of agony was loud enough to get past the general mayhem around her, but the fire went out. It perhaps was not the best way to do that.

Tess was close when it happened and hurried to where a badly burned Meagan was staggering around.

“Come on Meg.” She said as she carefully touched the badly injured Meagan. “I can fix this.”

Once in the tesseract that Tess used to travel from place to place, another of its properties kicked in and Meagan's burns faded to be replaced with healthy skin.

Meagan drew in a breath and shook her head. “Man, that hurt.” Her own self-healing powers had been overwhelmed by the pain.

“You stopped a really bad fire, though.” Tess told her.

“Yeah.” The other woman gave a weak chuckle. “Remind me NOT to do that again if you aren't around, okay?”

* * * *

“I see police cars, and ambulances!” Molly announced after jumping high for a look and seeing half a dozen police cruisers, and three ambulances reach the east end of the bridge. “Help is here!”

She landed back on the level of the bridge near Winter’s aid station. “Not a good idea to show myself, I know, I know. But help is here!”

Winter nodded and hollered to the rest. “Others are coming now! Help for these people is here!”

“But there are still trapped and hurt people here!” Meagan shouted back.

“A lot of medical help is here or on the way!” Winter replied, with more coming, and others too. “We have to get out of here now! There will be more than police and emergency personnel here in a few minutes and we don't want to be here when they get here!”

“I don't think they saw me up there.” Molly told them, then brightened. “But I am dressed like a cop!”

“Well, sort of.” Janet agreed. Like the other girls, Janet figured that Molly’s forcefields were the only things keeping her in her skimpy costume.

“The ones arriving behind the police and paramedics will be real alphabet agencies!” Winter almost shouted. “They'll try to capture us and more people would get hurt. We found the most critical ones we could, it's time to go!”

Tess nodded, reached out to all of them and took them out of there.

* * * *

When they arrived back at the castle, they found that any injuries the had suffered were healed by the tesseract effect. As they touched down, Tess dissipated her multi-dimensional construct and staggered, looking like she'd been beat up. She had kept going, even when she didn’t think she could.

Meagan dropped to her knees, overwhelmed by all that had happened, staring at her healed hands and arms and not noticing Tess’s exhaustion.

Elise looked like she'd been in a war, and even Molly was somewhat subdued, but Janet seemed angry.

“I should have done more!” she kept saying.

Molly chimed in. “We did good, and I'm tired.”

Winter answered. “We all did what we could, and I'm tired as well.”

“Next time we'll do better.” Meagan added. “We have to.”

“More just wasn't something we could do.” Winter said quietly. “We saved people, helped everyone we could. That's all anyone could ask in a situation like that.”

Janet lit a cigarette and stalked off, muttering to herself. She stopped when she looked at Tess the first one to notice her friend’s trembling. “You okay, Tess? She asked, but Tess just wearily shook her head and sank to her knees. Janet threw her smoke away and moved to support Tess.

Molly sniffled. “I thought we did real good.” She cried a bit, though she wasn’t sure exactly why. Her costume changed to something that looked more casual, a beach wrap and high heel sandals. “Did anyone see what happened to the dog?”

Winter told Molly that the dog was fine and still looking for injured people which seemed to satisfy Molly a bit.

“It was a really nice dog. I'm glad I could help her. Oh, and all the people too.”

Tess said, “You did wonderfully Molly. We all did, but now we all need to rest.”

Meagan moved to help Janet get Tess off the floor.

Winter continued. “We aren't Supermen, or even Superwomen here. We get tired, we have limits and can't do much more beyond them. We did good people, we did good. For a first outing, that went pretty well.”

“I did stuff I didn't know I could do!” Molly answered, sounding pleased.

“So did I, Molly.” Meagan added. “I learned some things from you.”

Molly nodded back. “And me from you. I wish I could reach as far with my forcefield.”

“We all learned some things about ourselves I think, and that's a good thing.” Winter said.

Meagan and Janet began helping Tess to her feet, prepared to carry her into the castle, but just then, Winter staggered. She stiffened and her eyes went cloudy.

“Uh oh. This can't be good.” Meagan observed.

“Don't let her swallow her tongue!” Molly blurted out, excitedly. One of the older women in her troop of homeless people back in L.A. had said that was the first thing you should do when someone had a seizure.

Winter began speaking slowly, in a hollow sounding voice. “We need to find things. There is stuff that will help us do what we've been tasked with, and we haven't been left completely on our own. There is something, a machine, an artifact, that will increase our powers and help in other ways. I see it! I can touch it! There are more than one of them too. We need to find them! Mexico, Peru, Central America, Africa...a canyon, very deep, very dark! Arizona. The first one is there...Arizona.” Elise's eyes rolled up and she collapsed on the ground.

“What the hell was that?” Janet shouted.

“I don't know!” Molly cried. “Is she okay?”

Meagan rushed to Elise's side and checked her over. “She's breathing. I think she just fainted.” She picked Elise up and carried her back to the castle, taking her upstairs to Elise's room, followed by an anxious Molly, while Janet followed with Tess in her arms.

“I'll get Tess to bed and be back as soon as I can.” Janet said.

“Okay Janet.” Meagan replied. “I think you can take your time. She seems to be breathing okay and isn't hot or anything...I mean, I can't feel any fever...I mean... oh, just go! I'll take care of her. Molly? Do you think you can go find Tanisha and ask her to come up here right away?”

“I sure can, Meagan.” Molly said. “I'll be right back with her.” She bolted from Elise's room.

Janet took Tess to her room and gently placed her on the bed. “Are you okay Tess?” She asked concernedly.

“I'm fine Janet. Just very worn out from all that activity. I'll be okay in a while. If you would, ask Tanisha to put together a meal of some kind in about three hours, okay?”

“Okay, Tess. You just rest here and I'll take care of everything. I just want to check on Elise first, then I can let Tanisha know about food.”

She left Tess' room and went over to Elise's. She saw that Tanisha was already there attending to Elise, with a very worried looking Molly watching closely.

“How is she doing Tanisha?” Janet asked.

“Oh honey, she's okay I think. She's just worn down to a frazzle and, from what Molly and Meagan told me, from that vision thing she had. She just needs to rest a bit and she'll be right as rain.”

Janet breathed a sigh of relief and then asked Tanisha about getting some food together in a few hours.

“Oh, sure I can, honey.” Tanisha replied. “I'll have some hot soup and sandwiches ready for all of you whenever you are ready for them. Why don't the rest of you go ahead and catch a nap while I take care of things for a while? I'll wake you all in about three hours or so, all right?”

“Thanks, Tanisha. That sounds good to me. Tess is right...you are a treasure.”

FROM THE AUTHORS: Our heroes are napping, while the world outside wakes up to the fact that heroes are real!

Later that same day:

THE PRESIDENT'S CHIEF ADVISOR, CHARLES DUNCAN.

“Oh shit!” muttered the President's chief advisor, as he perused the stack of pictures. “Well, the… the fecal matter has definitely impacted the rotating atmospheric oscillator. I don't know how Frank is going to explain this away. Too many people and too many photos of these heroes who don't exist.”

He tossed the photos on his desk, disgustedly. “He had to go on television and make himself look like a complete ass! He's going to be more than pissed off about this! I'll bet my ass, and my job, are going to be in the crapper if I don't figure a way to turn this around in his favor. Shit, shit, shit!”

There was a knock on his door.

“What? I mean, come in.”

A Secret Service man opened the door and said, “The President wants to see you...now!”

'Well,' he said to himself, 'you knew this was coming. You'd better think of something fast, or begin drafting your resignation.' Charles Duncan got up from his desk and followed the Secret Service man to the Oval Office Conference room. He straightened his tie, shook his suit coat straight, checked his fly, and knocked on the door.

“That better be you, Charlie!” The President yelled. “Get your ass in here!”

As Charles entered the room, he noticed the photos scattered about the room as if they'd been thrown in the air and littered the room.

“Mr. President,” Charles began. “I... “ but The President didn't give him a chance to finish what he was going to say.

“How the hell could this happen?” The President asked, in a disturbingly quiet voice. “The press is going to destroy me when they get wind of this. Why didn't that damned Colonel from McDill confiscate all these damned pictures the way he was instructed to do? Son of a bitch, Charlie! This could ruin me politically and in the eyes of the public! I damn sure hope you have some good news for me!”

“I wish I did, sir. As it stands, there are countless witnesses to what happened on that bridge, and some of the photos got out to the papers and broadcast media. I've got every intelligence agency working their asses off on this, but I don't believe that there is any way out of admitting that these heroes do exist. Your best bet, I think, is to go on television immediately and make a statement, acknowledging that your information was in error. If you continue to deny their existence, it'll only get worse for you. Blame your service agencies, blame your advisors, but for God's sake, don't continue on this course of denial! If you do, I can guarantee that you'll be out of office before you know what happened!”

“You really think that's what I need to do, Charlie? You think that I should go in front of the American public and the fucking world and admit I made a mistake? Maybe the biggest mistake in the history of the fucking world?! Jesus Christ, Charlie! If I do that, I make myself out to be the biggest fool there has ever been! No, I'll tell you what I need to do. I need to get all over some asses and threaten some prestigious jobs, and get these so-called heroes rounded up and in custody! Now, you get your, about to be unemployed, ass out there and get me some results, and fast, damn it! If I don't hear anything by tomorrow morning about us having some or all of these fucking “heroes” in custody, I'll expect to see your resignation on my desk by lunchtime, is that clear?”

Knowing he was better off by far to get out of The President's sight, Charles did a quick about face and left the office, closing the door behind him. “Now what do I do?” He asked the air. Covering my own ass comes to mind, but if I do that, I'm abandoning the leader of the free world. He's wrong though, and his ego just won't let him admit it. I'd hoped that he could get through this last term of his Presidency without any major crisis, but that's out the window at this point. All I can do now is disseminate his orders and prepare a fallback plan to save my butt and my career.” So saying, Charles Griffin re-entered his office and picked up the phone, issuing orders to his various secretaries and aides. Some of those orders were as the President wished, but others were to ensure that he didn't go down with the President's ship. This is not going to be good.” he mused. “CYA is the order of the day from here on.”

Joint Intelligence Group

“Have you ever wondered,” Gene asked not really expecting an answer, “What were they thinking?”

“Getting re-elected, falling in the polls, and covering their asses?” Petty Officer Martin Zayas replied.

“There were pics of Golden Girl on the web, but no, the POTUS has to go on TV and say there aren't any superheroes.” The Air Force Tech Sergeant sighed, “Do you ever have the idea that no one really looks at this stuff.” He paged down the report he was working.

“Now the powers that be want to know where they are.” Gene felt like banging his head on his desk. Ever since 'The Bridge' the Brass had lost their minds demanding answers where there weren't any.

“Well,” Martin sounded as tired as he was. “Golden Girl does get around. Two days ago she's in LA and then in Atlanta, but now she's in Tampa. The others are all new although there is a report of Butterfly being seen with Goldie in Atlanta. We have no idea of how many there are. Reports are saying between a half-dozen and a dozen. There were so many others out there helping too, everything is confused.”

“There is that, but they did get much better pictures of your girlfriend this time Martin.” Gene rubbed his eyes. “Guess what?”

“I'll bite, what?” Martin shot back.

“Running the national facial recognition data base, the FBI was hoping to get a hit from the airlines to explain how she got from coast to coast so quickly. They nailed her, but there's a little bitty problem.”

“They ID'ed her?” That's great,” Martin exclaimed. “Who is she?”

“You were right about her being golden.” Gene said flatly. “Molly Golden, exotic performer, and she's been dead for five years.”

“Err, Gene,” Martin interrupted, “Did you say dead?”

“Yes, I did, and she sure is.” Gene stated. “I'm reading the forensic report as we speak.”

“Well,” Air Force Sergeant Karen Lee giggled, “I always knew you would go for anything with arms and legs, but dead?”

“Hey, Gene,” Martin turned serious. “I just ran across something for you. The FBI came though again. They traced the serial numbers of those emergency supplies to a burglary in, guess where, Atlanta.

“Security video caught the red head using some kind of telekinesis to just snatch up the entire display. She left a wad of cash and then poof! Plus, Butterfly was seen there too as well as at Tampa General Hospital where bridge accident victims just appeared as if stepping out of thin air.” Gene could nearly see his friend making quotation marks on the other side of his cube.

“Geez,” Karen sneered. “This Observer is as bad as you, Martin.”

“Why do you say that?” The Navy PO asked curious.

“Just listen to this. First we have Golden Girl dressed as a cop stripper. Number two we have, the red head who was seen putting out that fire. For three, there's Gene's Butterfly,” do you get it now?” she demanded.

“They're all women, Martin.” Gene smiled to himself.

“That's not all,” She kept going. “Two more unconfirmed reports have a white haired nurse being involved as well as yet another woman who was yanking doors off of cars like they were made of paper. I'm not sure about the rest of these possibles.”

Opening up the reports his co-workers sent to him, Gene gave them a quick look over prioritizing where to put them.

“Alright, Good work guys.” He closed his eyes knowing that this report was going to be feeding a buzz saw of crap. It wasn't as if anyone else probably hadn't already put two and two together. After all, most of this stuff came from the FBI anyways. He guessed that they had people already rolling.

“Well, it looks like they're somewhere in Atlanta.” Martin said what they were thinking.

“Were,” Karen corrected. “No, they're smart. Either they have already moved or they're getting ready to. Look at the Bridge. They arrived and set up a triage point. Butterfly is their transport element who zapped the most badly injured right to the hospital. Several different hospitals. Running out of supplies or simply caught unprepared, they raided a store for more. We'll have to check the time line to be sure, but the point is that they organized themselves quickly and got the job done.

“Then they left just as soon as other first responders got on the scene,” she concluded. “I don't think we're going to find out much more besides just filling in some details. Any more clues were lost when they began cleaning up the wrecks.”

“Except for the obvious.” Gene sighed.

“What's that?” Martin rose to the challenge again.

“Knowing they weren't going to be warmly received, they exposed themselves to help others in need anyways. Hell, they even paid for the stuff they took in the middle of the emergency.”

He paused before continuing. “I know I shouldn't criticize the Commander in Chief, but he is wrong.” Gene wondered if anyone was going to have the balls to say that to the man's face. “There are Superheroes.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

A Newspaper headline, Evening Edition.

SUPERHEROES ARE REAL! PHOTOS ON PAGE 3!
BY SAMANTHA HOWARD.

Any doubts about whether or not there are real superheroes were dispelled today. Following a horrendous multi-car accident on the Tampa Bay bridge, before authorities and emergency help could arrive, a group of unusual people appeared, seemingly out of mid air.

Without being asked, they immediately began helping the injured people from their mangled cars and trucks, in some cases, literally tearing doors off vehicles. They formed a triage point and, using some unknown means, transported the most seriously injured directly and instantaneously to a nearby hospital. This newspaper has obtained several photos, both from digital cameras and from cell phones, taken by witnesses to the actions of these heroes.

The news of these heroes directly contradicts the speech delivered our President just hours before. Neither the President or his Chief advisor could be reached for comment, but this reporter believes that they are very busy trying to confirm the rumors and reports of so-called “gifted” individuals.

Their identities are, as yet, unknown, but they all appear to be female. No rumors or sightings have have been reported of any males who might be a part of this group, but it seems likely that there must be some males. In this reporter's opinion, whoever they might be, and whatever their reasons for remaining secretive, they proved to be favorable so far.

Mr. President? Perhaps you might look a bit closer at the reports you must be receiving and re-evaluate your position about heroes. As far as I, and a lot of people who might not otherwise be alive this evening are concerned, they're real, they're welcome, and seeing as how they are real, that means that the Observer was real as well. His dire predictions must be given much more credence now.

This newspaper and all of us who work here simply want to say thank you to these unknown people who risked a lot in order to help out in a bad situation. Well done heroes, and welcome.

{The opinions expressed by Samantha Howard are her own, but they do express the overall feelings of this newspaper and its employees.}