The Superiors: The Gift

Author's note: this is a sequel to all the stories in "The Superiors" universe. The first is found here: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/17639/saga-e-girl-than...

The second is here:
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/35500/here-comes-troubles...

The third is here:
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/34248/indestructible

And the fourth is here:
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/23823/lucky-one

Prologue:

At the center of the multiverse, there is a small moon-sized planetoid. On the surface is a large tree, whose branches give the impression of giving shade to the whole of Creation.

At the base of the tree is a dwelling that looks like a traditional North American native teepee, and it would have looked quite natural on the North American plains.

What steps out of the teepee would not have looked as natural.

It was a coyote.

In fact it was the Coyote - trickster god to many native American tribes, who was stuck at the center of the multiverse thanks to an encounter with a certain Asgardian.

Coyote sniffed the air, and frowned.

Most of the time, Coyote grumbled to himself about how boring things were since he got stuck. “Oh sure” he’d say, “I managed to have a little fun by sending my power to Earth, and turning one poor schmuck’s life totally upside down, that had been a good time, but other than that ... this is no place for jokes - or a joker.”

But today felt different.

Something was about to happen, Coyote could feel it.

Then the air shimmered, and there in front of Coyote was what looked exactly like a Christmas elf. About three feet tall, in striped socks and a hat with bells on it, and carrying a candy cane.

“Hello, Loki.” Coyote said with a sigh.

“Well, well, well, look who’s here!”

“Where else would I be. You got me stuck here, remember?”

“Ah, yes. Not a bad prank, I think. But not as good as the one I’ve got cooking now.”

The air shimmered again, and Loki was now holding a large chest.

“Guess what’s in the chest, Coyote.”

“Nope. Not gonna.”

“I’ll give you a hint. It has eight legs, and used to be a god.”

“Loki, you didn’t ...”

Loki threw the chest at the ground in front of Coyote, which opened it. Coyote peered inside, and said, “Anansi. What are you up to, Loki?”

“Something that required a little more power. So I’ve been visiting all the tricksters of all the myths everywhere. Believe it or not, most were glad to help. Especially when they saw what happened to the Spider, here.”

“Well, you can’t take my power, Loki. I don’t have it. My avatar on Earth does.”

“Yes. But I have enough anyway. I just thought you might want to watch the show. It will be a real exciting time!”

The air shimmered, and Loki vanished.

“Is he gone?” said a voice from the chest.

“You still alive, Anansi?”

“What’s alive to someone like me? But I’m not going anywhere for a while, if that’s what you mean.”

Coyote sighed. He’d promised The Doctor he’d stay out of his avatar’s life, but this was an emergency.

He took a deep breath, and shouted “Fluke! You got company coming!”

To be continued ...

The Superiors: The Gift

Chapter 1:

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

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

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

“Hey!” Sarah shouted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then she said, “I better go.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Does that mean I’m in danger?”

“Perhaps. We should ...”

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

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

“What is it?”

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

“All right. I’ll come.”

“Should I back you up?” Fluke asked.

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

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

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

“Okay.” Fluke replied.

Then Commander Ares flew off.

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

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

****
Elsewhere ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then the world changed forever.

****
Everywhere:

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

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

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

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

Starting now!”

****
"The Compound"

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

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

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

*****

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

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

“Hank, come quick!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So sue me, I’m a bit patriotic.

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

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

Last I want is some comic company suing me.

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

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

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

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

To be continued ...

The Superiors: The Gift: Chapter 2:

“The Compound” ...

Fluke:

“I really should go out there, people are getting hurt.” I said to Sarah.

“Not yet, Eddi” Sarah cautioned me.

“But ...” I objected.

“If Loki really is out to get you, this would be the perfect time, while everybody is busy with these aliens. Wait, and I’m sure the Doctor will be able to figure a way that you can help without putting yourself in danger.” Sarah pointed out.

“Indeed I will” The Doctor intoned as he faded into the room.

“Dont do that!” I growled, as he’d scared me out of a couple years growth with that entrance.

He handed me a strange looking necklace and said, “Put this on. If Loki shows up and tries drain you of your power, he’ll get a nasty shock.”

“Thank you. “ I said, and put it on. “Here I thought you didn’t like me.”

“I am not fond of someone wielding chaos magic, but compared to Loki, you at least have a good heart.” He growled in response.

I blushed at the compliment, and then turned to my partner, and said, “put on your fighting clothes, hon. We’re going to go save people.”

“One warning, Fluke.” the Doctor said, “You might start getting stronger because the chaos going on out there could fuel your magic. Be careful. And if Loki does come for you, even if the necklace works, call me immediately, are we clear?”

“No problem Doc. I want to help people, and fighting Loki would be a distraction right now.” I replied.

My partner said, “give me a minute to get into my new suit, and we can go.”

Her “new suit” had been one of the things I had insisted on before she joined me in crime fighting. As she was a regular person, she would need an edge, and some protection to reduce the chances of her getting herself killed.

And boy does her new suit give her an edge.

It looks like her, if she was fifteen feet tall, and covered in gold glitter, with the initials “RG” made out of diamonds on the “belt”.

I dont think I wanna know how much the thing cost her to have built.

But I’m glad she has it, especially going into the chaos we were about to enter ...

And it was truly chaos.

Bad people who were using their new powers to terrorize others were bad enough, but almost worse were those who seemingly hadnt planned their wish for powers properly, or maybe the aliens didnt understand their requests and now had put themselves or others in danger as a result.

And then I discovered something interesting. Coyote was a trickster god, like Loki, and it seemed that chaos not only leaked out of me making weird stuff happen around me (on my first official day as Fluke, I had dealt with another alien invasion AND a bank robbery, both of which went way beyond “normal”), but I seemed to be actually drawing strength from the chaos that was now all around me.

Chaos I then began to channel into a force to help people.

For example, someone had set cars on fire, and I caused a water main to break at just the right place to send jets of water toward the cars, dousing them before they could explode.

Still, we would have been quickly overwhelmed if there hadnt been people who were using their new gifts to try and help out.

Trouble was, even with help, it looked like it wasn’t going to be enough ...

At the home of Andi Mays ...

Andi:

Once I realized the amount of chaos the aliens were causing by giving powers to people, I gave Carl a kiss, and changed into my “troubleshooter” costume.

Once I was ready, I sighed, and jumped into the fray. Even though I prefer to get paid for my work, sometimes, you have to do a freebie. Especially when it was likely there wouldnt be any clients left if things didn’t turn around ...

At the home of “The Red Baron”

Baron Richthofen, aka “The Red Baron” turned from the television screen to address his guests.

“This will cause chaos.” He said.

“Seems like this would be a perfect opportunity for us to do as we please, while the so-called “superiors” are busy.” Caster said.

“Perhaps, but I dont believe that would be the wisest course.” The Baron replied, “I believe that there is something more going on than what we are seeing. Only a god or goddess can give a human these kinds of abilities.”

“What would you suggest we do?” Lord Dark Flame asked.

“Watch and wait. Let us learn more before we go out into that madness”

“What a waste. ” muttered Dr. Destructo.

“Waste or not, it is the best plan” intoned the Baron.

The others nodded, and all of them said, “Okay, we wait.”

Just then, a voice said, “Well, that’s no fun”

And the castle exploded ....

To be continued ...

The Superiors: The Gift Chapter 3

Author’s note; This is the conclusion of this little adventure. I hope you all like it. After completing 2 chapters of this story, I suddenly realized I hadn’t shown what E-girl has been up to. And since her story is what got this universe rolling I should correct that ...

At the home of Debra Cain, A.K.A. “E-girl”

Debra:

It was almost one in the afternoon before I was able to make it home long enough to grab a bite to eat. But even before I could finish the next crisis hit as I heard over the radio ...

(Newscaster’s voice): “Amid all the chaos that has occured since the arrival of the aliens with their promises of power, here is just the latest: Reports are coming in of a massive explosion at the home of Baron Emil Richthofen, popularly known as ‘The Red Baron’. We’ll pass on more information as soon as it is available.”

I used a communication device to contact Commander Ares, and told him of the apparent explosion, and he asked me to check it out.

So I gave my mom a kiss and told her to keep indoors, and used my wind power to fly into the air, and using a portal provided by the Doctor, I popped over to Germany.

I flew over the spot where the Baron’s castle once stood, and then I contacted Commander Ares, telling him, “The castle is ... gone, Commander. Totally destroyed. No signs of any survivors.”

The Commander responded, “Copy that. Check in with the local authorities, and then port home.”

I flew to Berlin, where the authorities were using some experimental mech suits to try and deal with the ongoing chaos. It seemed to be working well, so I signaled to the Doctor I was ready to return the Compound or wherever the crisis was at its worst.

That turned out to be New York City, where the new hero Bzzzzappp (kinda a silly name, but then again its not like E-girl is much better) was doing her best to help out. As I came close, she waved at me, and shouted, “You’ll never believe who just was here. The Red Baron himself! He wanted me to join his team!”

“Wow. I was just at his castle, its been destroyed. I guess he survived.” I replied.

“Looks like.” she replied.

I contacted the Doctor, and told him about the appearance of the Red Baron. He replied, “Strange. The destruction of his home would have given him an excellent opportunity to let us all think he was dead, giving him enormous freedom of action. But he almost immediately shows up again? I will consider this. But for now, continue helping where you can.”

“Will do.” I replied, and jumped back into the fray.

About an hour later, things finally started slowing down. Fewer new cases were popping up, and those who had gained positive abilities were helping contain those who had selfish motives as well as those who had simply not thought through their wishes. They were aided by response teams from the Compound using a variety of devices and gadgets to help rein in the chaos. There were also some superiors who we had files on who were also helping, even though they had turned down opportunities to work with Commander Ares, most notably a so called “hero for hire” known as the Troubleshooter, and a kid on the west coast calling himself the Haymaker.

I made a mental note to make sure and ask Commander Ares to send them both a thank you note for their help or something, when this crisis was concluded.

Even if they didn’t want to join us officially, things would have been a lot worse without their help, or at least I think so.

My musings were interrupted by a message from the Doctor. “Come to the Compound. We have some ... interesting guests.”

So away I went.

And boy, he wasn’t kidding.

The Red Baron was there, and he wasnt alone. With him were Nightmare, Lord Dark Flame, The Caster, and Doctor Destructo.

Fortunately, besides the Compound’s security team, they were being covered by the Doctor, along with Bzzzzappp, Fluke and her partner Rich Girl, the “hero for hire” Troubleshooter, the Haymaker kid from the west coast, and front and center, Commander Ares himself.

The Doctor nodded as I arrived, and then said the Red Baron, “You were about to tell us why you’re here.”

“The being responsible for all the chaos tried to destroy me and my ... friends here. He did destroy my home. I believe the phrase ‘the enemy of my enemy is ... well maybe not my friend, but at least worth allying with.’ applies here” the Baron replied.

“Who is responsible for this ... insanity?” Commander Ares asked.

“Loki. Trickster god of Asgard. Although this requires much more power than I thought he had in him.”

“He’s been stealing the power of tricksters from all the other pantheons,” Fluke said, “Coyote told me, but we didn’t know why - until now.”

“There is something else, isnt there?” The Doctor asked the Baron.

“Very perceptive of you. Yes. I believe you have a young lady who recently was seemingly approached by me to join my little group?” The Baron replied, “Well in fact that was not me. It was Loki. The question is why?”

The Doctor looked thoughtful, and then said, “Because there is some aspect of her power that worries him.”

Then Commander Ares said, “All right. So what we need is a way to flush him out into the open long enough to test why he would be afraid of Bzzzzappp.”

“I believe I have an idea about that.” the Baron said, smiling, and he looked right at me as he spoke ...

*****

Twenty minutes later ...

Fluke:

To say I was nervous would have been putting it mildly. I mean, here I was, facing down the spaceship that we now knew was really something created by Loki, who had been stealing powers from other tricksters - like my patron Coyote.

I did have a couple of things to comfort me. One was, that without the spell the Doctor used to keep Loki from finding me, I could tap into the raw chaotic trickster magic I could feel coming from that ship The other was that beside me was my girlfriend and sidekick in superheroing, Sarah, aka Rich Girl, in her power suit, which also had a little surprise courtesy of the Baron ...

I shouted up at the spaceship, saying “Loki! As one trickster to another, this has been one heck of a gag. But you’ve been outed, so time to step from behind the curtain and take a bow.”

A door in the ship opened, and out stepped Loki himself, dressed like a punk version of a Christmas elf.

“How did you ever guess? Even your sorcerer supreme shouldn’t have been able to pierce my disguise.” the trickster asked.

“You outed yourself trying to blow up the Red Baron. He survived, and told us it was you.” I replied.

Loki sighed, and said, “I should have expected that. But I had so assumed he and his friends would take advantage of the situation and create even more chaos. When he wouldn’t ... well, I lost my temper.”

‘Be that as it may, Loki, the point is the gag’s over. How about you hang it up, and go bug Asgard, or whatever it is you do when you’re not trying to make mortal lives miserable.” I replied.

“Well, things have calmed down a bit ... but how about I just take Coyote’s power from you and see how much more fun I can have instead?” Loki said, and then pointed a candy cane at me ...

And fired.

Fortunately, Sarah stepped in front of the bolt, and it bounced off her “Rich Girl” suit.

She then raised an arm of the suit, revealing a tank missile and pointed it at Loki, saying “You’re not hurting anybody else, Loki. Stand. Down.”

Loki said, “Mortal, this is god business. You have no place here, especially being so dependent on technology. Do you not realize how easily I can cause your systems to go haywire, shut down, or even turn on you?”

He then fired a blast at Sarah, but I was able to push her down and out of the way in time. Sara, meanwhile, managed to fire the missile not at Loki himself, but at the spaceship behind him.

Except it wasnt actually a missile. It was something a lot closer to a taser, with the “missile” part having a line going back to Sara’s suit, so when it hit the spaceship, a bolt of electricity went from the suit to the ship.

And that bolt had another surprise - Bzzzappp who had been able to “hide” in the current thanks in part to a spell created by the Red Baron.

The result was a huge explosion, and when the dust cleared the ship was gone, and it was revealed to be in fact a cart with two goats in front.

Despite the large electrical blast, they seemed unharmed, which made sense to me when I realized who they were, and who their regular owner was - Thor, god of lightning.

Which probably also explained why Loki, disguised as the Red Baron, had tried to get Bzzzappp off the playing field, so to speak. Her power would have seemed a little too close to Thor’s for his liking.

Loki growled “No!” but before he could bring up his candy cane wand to fire at Bzzappp, she showed something about lightning.

It’s really, really fast.

She bowled into him giving him a serious jolt that sent the smell of ozone into the air.

But Loki was far from done, and he managed to knock Bzzappp away, and prepared to fire at her.

But I looked up, and realized he was too late.

Because Ares had brought the other heroes, and the Red Baron had brought the villains.

I think everybody took a few shots at him. Even the villains gave him a pounding. But surprisingly, it was Haymaker, Troubleshooter, and Bzzaapp who did the most damage when Haymaker doused Loki with water, allowing Bzzapp and Troubleshooter to both hit him with more electricity, Bzzzapp using her power, while Troubleshooter hit him with what looked like a super-powered defibrillator. I let them have their fun while I went to check on Sara, who had punted herself out of the Rich Girl suit.

As a result, I almost missed the next part, but the loud shout from the sky allowed me to catch the moment ...

The trickster gods had arrived, and they were NOT happy ....

Not long after that, it was over. The trickster gods had taken their power back, and had left. Loki, looking fairly burnt, was turned over to Thor, who also collected his cart and his goats. The villains took off, except the Red Baron who actually THANKED me, Sara, and Bzzzappp for our help, and then vanished.

Haymaker and Troubleshooter both were given Compound communicators, and told that should they ever need help, we would be there for them, and they took off. The Doctor and the rest of the heroes went back to cleaning up the mess Loki had caused, and Sara and I went back to the Compound so she could fix her Rich Girl suit and then we joined in the cleanup efforts.

That night, I had a dream ....

I saw Coyote in his teepee on the asteroid with the giant tree at the center of the universe. There was a noise outside, and he went out, to discover the chest that had once held the remains of his fellow trickster god Anansi was full again, and a large man with a red beard was walking away towards a chariot that was pulled by two goats. Coyote looked at the chest, and said, “Well, it will be nice to have company, dont you think so, Loki?”

From within the chest came the sounds of cursing, which in my dream were replaced by beeps ...

I woke, smiled, and snuggled next to Sara and soon fell asleep again ...

End.