Tom

By the next day, the departing Samaritans had loaded up and prepped to go to Port Cascade, but I have to say it was nice that some of them took time to take to hang out with me. In fact, they all had something to say.
 
"Relax, you got this," Arctic Fox said, "Much as I had to admit it, your instincts are usually good. You saw through my ex," She made a face.
"Well, that might have been because he was hoping to get ride of me personally to create a spot on the team," I admitted.
 
"So was I," Fox said, "Look, you're a good guy. Annoying, but good. But the fact you and Lady Obsidian have caught the same things at the same time more than once is probably how she knows you've got the stuff. You have similarities where it counts, and enough difference that you're not some mini-she."
 
"Thanks," I said with a smile.
 
"Besides, Ariana will probably do the bulk of the work," She said.
 
"Hey? Lady Obsidian said 'co captains'," I reminded. "I'll do my share."
 
"Yes, but you and I weren't partials, we weren't always stuck at 'good enough to be a side show but not a superhero'," Arctic Fox said casually, almost callously.
 
"Ariana is a hero," I said, "She was taking risks even before-"
 
"Peace, Lover-boy," She held up a hand, "She was a friend of mine before she was your girlfriend. Of course she was a hero, but it's the super part I'm talking about. She was minor league, not because of a character flaw, but because she just didn't have the power level. But watch out, for once a government super soldier program kind of sort of didn't lead to doom, our leader improved it, and suddenly there's a way over that wall. Partials can hang with us. The one percent is now the five percent, and while none of us really think much of it, Ariana is leading that wave. She's the one who has been there in the minors, made it to the majors. She earned her spot, but she still had to work for it. You mark my words, she's going to be the hard ass, not you. "
 
"Right," I chuckled. My girlfriend was one of the most understanding, sweetest woman I'd ever met, playful sure, and brave and bad-ass, but R.Lee Emery she was not.
 
"Fine, don't believe me," Arctic Fox said with a shrug.
 
"This old foes of yours?" I said changing the subject, or trying to, "The three you said old dance partners, one of them you gave a pretty hard look at. Personal business?"
 
"Meaning you're hoping it's not so you can nose in?" She arched a brow.
 
"Yeah," I confessed.
 
"Ice Queen, not only is her name too on the nose for my liking, we're so evenly matched it can lead to some long frustrating drawn out battles. She's like evil opposite with the same shtick."
 
"She's evil but modest, open, and  non-judgmental?" I said in a surprised tone.
 
"Why Ariana likes you I am still not sure, but perhaps she just decided to bite a bullet to save the rest of womankind," Her eyes narrowed.
At least three responses came to mind, one a bit dirty, one a bit smug, and another probably not as clever as I thought it was. However, as I had already thrown myself into a hole here, socially speaking, I took the fourth option and gave a 'who knows?' shrug.
Now, Valentino giving me advice was a sure thing. He'd been the first of the team to actually befriend me, and while my dating his niece had cause some protective hackles on his part to rise, they'd smoothed over pretty quickly. To my surprise, the nature of his counsel had very little to do with Ariana. 
 
****
"You've got to get them to know the city, man," he said as we walked plains clothes through a food market of sorts, a bazaar might be a better word. With Mabel detatched, he'd volunteered for some shopping, "you need to give them an appreciation for the cultures, have them spread their patrols through the neighborhoods, meet and greet folks, get to know our fellow citizens."
 
There was a pause as he motioned to a bag of oranges and spoke in Spanish too rapid for me to follow with an older man regarding price. The haggling that followed  seemed to have the older man accusing Tino of being some kind of highwayman robbing from him, and Tino rattling off that if he wanted to be ripped off he could go to a grocery store. It was all very dramatic sounding. 
 
I wanted to cut in and tell Tino to just pay the asked for price so we could move on, but I admit I was too tickled. I'd seen Tornado bantering with supervillains with less intensity back and forth than this. Valentino gestured and make some comment about one of the oranges being oddly shaped, the gent selling it countered something about flavor and I think texture? 
 
I really do know Spanish now, but as fast as they were flying (Figuratively, not literally) I wouldn't just need subtitles, I'd need to slow down the speed of play on this particular bit.
 
Finally, it seemed Tino found a price he could abide. The transaction was made and with bag of fruit in hand, we went on.
Once I was sure no one could overhear I had to say it, "Is the world safe for reasonable rates on food produce once more, or will the dark shadow of its threat rise again should we neglect vigilance?"
 
"Macho talk from a guy who once needed help fighting poultry," He shot back good-naturedly, neglecting the part where said chicken was fifty foot tall and superpowered! Before I could think of a clever rejoinder (Hey, a minute or two and I could have come up with something) he said, "But seriously, Caleb, you need to get them in touch with the people."
 
"Tino," I said, "They're not staying in  Costa Sagrado beyond maybe a month. It's train em, then then wish them well."
 
"Don't be so sure, besides, this is an important lesson period, it's not about the city, it's about appreciating where you are and who you're fighting for. You know how it is for some supers, they live in some secret base on the moon, or at the South Pole, and have enough resources to avoid the Nine to Five rat race that swallows most folks up.  For some of those lucky bastards, it becomes all about the next fight, the next villain.  Some superheroes get so caught up in 'the struggle of good versus evil', 'us against them', 'white cape dukes it out with black mask' and so on, that they neglect being a part of who they're fighting for," Tino said, "You need to drive home to these rookies that it's not a villain hero only world."
 
"I'm pretty sure any superhero wants to protect the innocents," I raised a brow, "I mean, it's one of the reasons I'm a superhero and not an act at Sea World."
 
He smiled at that, but then shook his head, "It's not enough, man. Look, Lady Obsidian likes us to have places to live outside the base. She told you why, right?"
 
A light dawned, "Right, so we could remember we're part of the population, not above them."
 
"Exactly," He said, "Same thing. You need to get the rookies to appreciate the breadth of humanity, and hold onto it. Too many folks with power, even outside of superheroes, assume that their position as guardian excuses them acting like jackasses, or bullies. There is a danger in being so focused on protecting your fellow humans that you forget you are one."
 
As if to emphasize his last point, he spread out his free hand to the crowds in the distance, "They need to be able to relate to all this, wherever they go, not to be better crime fighters, but so they'll be better people."

It was not entirely new advice, but it was damn good advice, and timely, "Thanks, TIno," Then I thought of something, "You ever see some hero forget this lesson personally?"
 
A frown crossed his features, and he seemed ,troubled, "Angels fall, Sheep Dogs can turn on the flock, and the path from zealous do-gooder to delusional villain is not a hard one to find if your'e not looking where you're going." 
 
That was a bit more poetic an answer than I was used to, and I was tempted to ask for details if details there were, but by that time? He was already haggling for avocados..

That is one of the most desirable traits in a salesman.  The ability to convince your prospective customers that you truly believe in what your selling.
 
I haven't heard many people accuse Trump of not being a salesman. 
 
(the type of 'salesman' they might be describing him of being is a different thing entirely...)

Loved the "DIsadvantages" / "Complications" lines.  Now I wonder whether Hero 7E will rename them "Baggage." 
 

Hmmm, Caleb doesn't strike me as the wine sort.
 
Maybe he should experiment with beer.  It's probably closer to his budget -- but herding supers, he might be better off going straight to Scotch...

"Hey guys,"I said as I entered the main area of the mall turned base that had become a second home to me.  There was enough room, I thought, for a team twice our size, right? I mean, she wouldn't really close us up or send some of us out? This team was almost a family, or at the very least a tight knit group of friends by now. You don't 'rightsize' stuff like that.

What can I say? An idea gets in my head, sometimes I gnaw on it for a bit.

Like all day.

Tornado looked up, "Hey Pinprick, it is Eel, basher of Neerdowells."  Valentino is a good friend, not my best friend, but a good friend. He was getting less good the more he smiled though.

"At last we are saved, for I have lived in fear of Neerdowells, but now am secure," Pinprick nodded. Well, the permanently shrunk archer? He'd always been a jerk, but yes, he was a friend too. 

Which meant I had to suck it up and roll with it, "Mabel, you're a narc."

To my surprise, there was no response. At first I thought Mabel might be trying to dodge the accusation, but that would be pretty out of character for her. The fun loving and sultry voiced Artificial Intelligence that was plugged into our base wasn't exactly afraid of any of us. She had too much dirt. This was where she was supposed to express a complete lack of repentance, flatter me, tease me, and then move on.

Instead? Nada.

"Mabel?" I tried again.

"She's offline," Arctic Fox said, "Duh."

The queen of cold, the mean girl for justice; Arctic Fox and I had not started off on the best foot. Mostly because she had hoped her then boyfriend would be taking the 'strong guy' spot for the team. Of course, he had turned out to be a government agent involved in an illegal black operation who was using her affections as an in. So, I couldn't really be mad at her. Besides, push come to shove, she and I were actually very complimentary in a fight. I couldn't count the number of times her cold and ice powers had saved my bacon from fire or heat, and she knew that if some bruiser came for her that she couldn't handle that I would have her back.
Not that there wasn't she couldn't handle.

Each of my team mates was a powerhouse. None more than Lady Obsidian herself.

"Relax, people, it's my doing and she's good with it. I'll explain later," Lady Obsidian came out wearing her full armor, which surprised me a bit. Lately she had been saving that for the field. Yet the power armor she wore did seem to send a message that tonight's meeting would not just be a casual check in. 

"Still feels weird not hearing her," Viewpoint spoke my very thoughts from the corner. I turned, remembering what Ariana and I had discussed. Viewpoint had changed his costume, some of the glitz was still there, as were the 'shades for show' but he looked less like a male runway model and more like a superhero in design. 

It occurred to me I might suffer from some snobby tendencies.

The point, however, was that Viewpoint was here. A team meeting and he had shown.
He wasn't the only "newcomer".
Stuck to the wall, Slime really did look like some azure booger a giant smeared there. 

Greetings all! scrolled along his surface. Slime used his body to 'text us' more or less, as he didn't quite have the right body for regular speech. Then again, his form of communication worked fine on others of his species. No doubt we seemed rather odd in our own limitations to them. But Earth was Slime's home now, and he had become rather expert at chatting folks up as long as they focused on reading him.

"Hey, Slime" I waved and smiled as a sort of pseudopod waved back.

Lady Obsidian nodded, "Is everyone here? Where is Pogo?"

"I'm here, I'm here," Pogo bounced in, but then she always did. She was a kinetic reactive, any impact could set her bouncing. It was more useful and powerful than most folks realize. 

She had changed her costume again. Over the last  few months, Pogo had gone through  numerous costume changes. A few weeks ago, she had decided to sex it up, only to report later  to the other ladies on the team that they were right and maybe when your powers include bipping and bopping around at immense speeds maybe you'd want a costume that was a bit more 'secure' up top. The men of the team pretended, for our own good and for her dignity, not to have heard a word.

Pogo was back to green and yellow, but no shades were present allowing her lovely eyes to peek through the stylish half mask along with a costume that resembled something like an Olympic gymnast might wear. It occurred to me that she didn't look like a kid anymore. Nature, Time, and plenty of exercise ala crimefighting had been kind. She was turning into a rather pretty young woman.

How had I missed that?

Then again, she wasn't eighteen yet, and to top it off, my girlfriend was in costume nearby too. Maybe I should just keep missing that.

"Sorry, I'm late," Pogo rattled on, "I wanted to decide slippers or no slippers because I totally could have gone barefoot for my new costume but then I thought wait, barefoot like in all women should be barefoot and pregnant? And me a role model for young Asian American girls everywhere? well, not everywhere, but at least two folks online think I am and they're watching so nope nope, I went with the slippers even though my powers make it redundant mostly. Let me tell you it is no easy feet finding the right foot wear for maximum crime fighting efficiency. I mean, sneakers are great as sneakers, but it just looks so unheroic right?" She took a breath.
That was our chance. See, Pogo's greatest power is verbosity. If you don't dive in quick in the few gaps she gives you (because even she has to breathe) then you lose any chance of getting a word in edge wise. That much had not changed.

Lady Obsidian knew this, and she had things to do so she spoke up then, "That's fine, Pogo. It looks very nice. Folks, I need the floor if you please. I have some big announcements explaining the new loss to the city's superhero population..."
It wasn't just Pogo who cut in on that, it was all of us.

"Wait, the rumors are true?" Arctic Fox said in the same tone of disbelief I felt.

"Oh my god I'm never going to be a member, but I've worked so hard," Pogo began to protest.

"Come on, Viv," Pinprick wasn't supposed to use our non-super names and frankly was the only one who could get away with using that nickname for our team leader, but no one was going to call him on it as he was speaking for all of us, "I know things have been dull lately, but ending the team, or even kicking some of them to the curb? You don't want to do that."

"Seriously," Tornado agreed, "I mean, I like this team better than I do my family," There was that silent beat of a moment and he added, "Sorry, Valerosa."
Ariana shook her head, "Don't apologize. I feel the same way, not that I'd tell them."

Viewpoint frowned but said nothing. 

I took a breath and made up my mind about something, "Lady Obsidian, Costa Sagrado is doing well, but the New Samaritans are the reason why it's doing well. If you take away this team and leave the place undefended, or even just disorganized; it'll be chaos. Word will get out. It always does. Without a deterrent, the criminal element will flood back into the area with a vengeance. And without a support net work, without coordination, we might have lives lost. We can't risk that. I'm begging you, please, don't break us up. Don't kick a lot of us out. But if you do, then...well, Maybe we'll have to pick a new name or something, find a new place, but we'll have to keep the team going in one form or another. And I bet the others would be with me on that."

Some of the others were already nodding. Tornado even threw in a "damn straight" for which I was grateful.

Well, there it was. I had just put my foot down against the team leader; not quite an act of rebellion, but certainly conviction. She was a woman I had admired since I was a boy. Heck, I did a report on her in MIddle school for Black History Month. I could only hope that, even if she was now going to eject me first, that I had earned her respect in so doing.

"What in God's name are you all talking about?" Lady Obsidian said, "Do I look like an idiot? I know the city would get swarmed if we left it undefended. My mother, rest her soul, did not raise an idiot. I've only been doing this for longer than any of you were born. You think I haven't seen what happens when cities lose their super teams?"

"Ahhhh," I said intelligently.

Valerosa looked at her feet.

"Sorry, Boss," Pinprick winced.

"We got it all wrong?" Pogo said in a way that made it sound like she still wasn't sure but would agree to anything that would get her out of trouble.

"Damn straight," Tornado said throwing an arm around Lady Obsidian's armored shoulders and waving a finger at us, "The rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves. Where's the trust?"

"Tornado," Lady O said in a flat tone, "Remove the arm, you are not fooling anyone."

"Roger that," He put his arms to his sides.

"Okay, what is going on then?" Arctic Fox said, "I'm sorry, we all are, but you were heard saying earlier that the base would feel the absence and..."

"If you folks would let me finish?" Lady Obsidian said putting one hand on her hip, "First, let's get some things settled. Viewpoint, welcome to the team, if you want to make it official."

Viewpoint's eyebrows shot up, then he smiled "Thanks. Was a time I'd ask about royalties and insist on Tuesdays off, but you know, I had my eyes opened a bit since then," Then he added, "No pun intended."
A few chuckles.
"Well, you'll get a stipend and some royalties from a few merchandise sales just like the rest of us, but you've been busting your ass by our side and it has not gone unnoticed," Lady Obsidian said.
Then she turned, "Pogo. Might as well make it official even though you're not quite eighteen yet. Welcome to the team. You are, at long last, a New Samaritan."

Pogo's jaw dropped open and nothing.
"I think she's broken," Pinprick observed.
"She's speechless," Artic Fox commented.
"Like I said," Pinprick nodded.

"Pogo, honey? You have to say yes for it to count, I don't draft people against their," Unlike Tornado, Pogo threw BOTH arms around our team leader, "oof, will." Lady O finished.

"YES, Affirmative, Absolutely, Positive, Surely, eagerly, Yes yes yes!" Pogo said!

"So that's a maybe then," Tornado commented dryly.

"I know how she feels," Viewpoint said, "Go easy on her."

Congratulations to you both! Slime declared in his way.

"What the blob said," Arctic Fox said.

"We have one more person to let into the field," Lady Obsidian said, "Though I hesitate to call her a new member."

A thought occurred to me as I remembered the only person I had expected to be here who wasn't.

"Despite my suggestions not to, she has, as her supername, chosen to call herself Brazen," The good scientist finished.

The door opened, and there was the most gorgeous brass colored robot I'd ever seen. Okay, that would arguably be a category with little competition. What I mean is, a brass hued robot who looked like she had stepped out of the cover of a 1980s Sci Fi magazine was in front of us. Her hair was copper, and , of course, not hair at all but rather wires meant to simulate it. The phrase "a body built for sin" gains new legitimacy when it really was built. 

There was nothing blatantly pornographic about her, I mean, the skin had a sort of faux costume pattern, really more like a one piece; but despite that I could tell that a lot of young men who saw her would be developing a new appreciation for technology their mothers would not approve of. 
"Ta-daaa!" Brazen struck a pose while still in the door frame.

Her voice confirmed my suspicions.

"Looking good, Mabel" I said. It was an understatement but I said it in what I hoped was a supportive drooling free tone.
"Wait, that's Mabel?" Viewpoint said.
"Oh my god," Arctic Fox said.

"His wonders to behold," Tornado said reverently as he oggled the she-bot.

"Well, that's not going to lead to impossible body image expectations for my peers at all" Pogo muttered as she surveyed the bust to waist to hip ratio of the robotic body.

Valerosa simply hugged the mechanical form for a moment, then parted (Just in time too, a fantasy was forming, one that would get me killed if a telepath ever squealed) to say "Congratulations, Mabel. I mean Brazen. You finally got a body that.. I mean, you can feel it right? It's not a remote thing?"

"My hardware is now in this body, and this body is functional," Brazen winked in the general direction of the men of the team "Fully functional."

"Stop that," Arctic Fox told Mabel/Brazen, "Or we won't get anything productive done."

"She's got a point" Lady Obsidian agreed with Fox.

"Where's the trust?" Pinprick said looking hurt.

None of the women on the team dignified that with a response.

"Seriously, congratulations, Bonita," Tornado said.

"This been a dream of yours long?" Viewpoint asked.

"Sure feels like it, " Mabel said, "and it's not just for looks. Superstrong, super durable and a few other goodies besides."

Valerosa and I exchanged looks. Super strength with accompanying durability and resilience was amg the cornerstone power set. I'd been invited to join the New Samaritans in large part because I filled that crucial niche, that and because they thought I was Atlantean and talked to fish, but that's neither here nor there. When Velrosa went super dense, she came close to matching me. Now there were three of us? 

I don't know about Ariana but a part of me wondered if I was now more than a little redundant. Another part of me couldn't wait to figure out if Brazen or I was stronger. Yes, it's a bit of a jock thing, but there's a competitive streak among superheroes of similar abilities. Mostly good natured. Mostly.
Brazen's sultry tones took on an apologetic twinge, "I'm afraid there is a downside to this  body walking around as my new home base."

"An increase in traffic accidents?" Tornado opined.

Mabel gave a dazzling smile, "That too, but no. I mean while I can still run things remotely for the vehicles and the base if I concentrate; and hooking up the coms is little trouble- From now on a lot of things are going to be on a default standard programming level. That is, just as artificial, but not as intelligent."
"That'll slow response time of some protocols," I said aloud, earning a look from Valerosa. She was right, I realized, now was not the time to induce guilt in someone for living a dream, even if I didn't mean to. I threw in "But it's nothing we can't adapt for."
The robotic woman cheered at that, "Thanks for understanding, everyone. Maybe eventually I'll be able to handle this body and all that with greater ease but there's an integration period. And the other thing." She gave a look to Lady Obsidian.
"The other thing?" Pinprick said it first, I swear.

"Some of you may have noticed we have had a bit of a slow down in Costa Sagrado's crime rate, from super-crime to purse snatching, is down a tick," She stated.
We all stared at her.

"Fine, from that weird mix of loyalty and near mutiny I got just a few minutes ago, it's obvious you are all aware this city's crime rate is lower, but there is a price to our success," She gestured to the monitor screens. I wasn't sure but I swore they lit up just half second slower than they did when Mabel's hard drive was in the base, an unfamiliar city skyline came up  then zoomed in focus, "This is Port Cascade.  Hundreds of miles away from us, you probably heard of it more than seen it but it does have a pretty nice alternative music scene. It doesn't get as much sunlight as Costa Sagrado, and likes to boast it's greener, probably because of all that rain. Despite that, it's got many of the same things to offer, fusion foods, hipsters aging inelegantly, and a thriving tech industry. Guess where all the supervillains have been going in the last year?"

The question was rhetorical, but Pinprick the bait enough to say "Des Moines?"

"No, man, that's election time, and the villains aren't super, just political," Tornado corrected.

"Laugh it up," Lady Obsidian said and gestured to the monitors again. The display was not just one screen after all, and images flashed all over. Images of supervillains we'd fought before and some we'd never seen danced on those screens. Looting openly, pillaging like modern day vikings, and having a grand time doing it. 
Tornado's eyes locked on one figure, in an orange and black costume, the style of which reminded me of certain martial arts movies, "That's Devil Tiger. He's not there just for fun or easy money."

The name rung a bell, "Isn't he one of your oldest foes?" I asked, "You two used to spar all the time?"

"Yeah, with mixed results each time," Tornado scowled, "And he's not your typical payroll raider or even jewelry store bandit. He's a member of a group of assassins who call themselves the Children of the Dread Star. They seek to release him so he may rule all the world with them as his beloved and favored generals. Frankly, I despised the guy long before I knew what a lunatic he was. If he's in Port Cascade, something big is going on."

"And I recognize at least three monsters on my usual dance card," Arctic Fox said, "When can I go?"

And there it was, out in the open. 

"Wait," I said staring at Lady Obsidian, "You're branching us out? Aren't you? Some stay here, others go there, and we're big enough to roll." 

I couldn't go. Could not go. Sure, a break was coming up, but even that break was going to require study, and I had commitments. I hated to bring her the bad news but I readied myself to make my case.

"You can't go, Eel," Lady Obsidian said as she saw me preparing to say something.
 
"Why the hell not?" came out of my mouth, a testament to the contrariness of the Lambert line.

"Because I worked too hard to get you to go to college and I don't trust a two week break not to stretch out into something else," She said.

"Great, a month or whatever taking orders from Pinprick" I sighed.

"Pinprick's not staying here," Lady Obsidian said.

"Why not?" my girlfriend's warning pinch did not get to me in time, "How come he gets to be not bored?" I demanded.

"Because I'm her indispensable ace-in-the-hole, you're her highly dispensable acehole," Pinprick smirked.

I flashed the diminutive archer the gesture of the high hand, never let it be said I won't abandon silver age sensibilities under pressure.

"Pretty much that, I've grown to rely on him and he backs my plays very well, most of the time," She eyed Pinprick as she gave the qualifier.

Viewpoint cut through this to ask his own question, "Just who is being left behind? Me? I don't much care.  But we got to leave some folks behind. Even if there's just a one in hundred chance some seriously bad threat arises this city needs some heroes."
"Very true, Viewpoint," Lady Obsidian nodded, "And as Eel surmised, I am splitting the team. Pinprick, Arctic Fox, Tornado, Mabel and myself will be going with me. Mabel because I'll need muscle  and her body is new and I want to make sure the transition to her new robotic form sticks. Viewpoint, Pogo, Slime, this is an excellent time for you to coordinate a little bit more with each other as a team.  Eel and Valorasa will be team co captains while I'm gone."

I must have looked surprised.

"Eel, you've shown leadership moments before, and Valorasa knows this city almost as well as Tornado does, plus, as a Partial she can help empathize with the new trainees who are partials themselves when you teach them," Lady Obsidian said, "You two will be great co-captains."
Valorasa beamed at me, "This could be exciting."

Pogo clearly agreed, "Guys, guys, you know what this means? I mean wow while the old pros are out, the young talent is getting room to show off and folks won't see us and say hey there's those tagalongs, no they're goinna see us and go 'Look, it's the NEW New Samaritans!' Yay!"
Me? I felt Ariana's smile getting contagious, and looked to the old school crew, "Thanks guys. I..We're proud you trust us with the city and we won't let you down." 
"I knew you won't," Lady Obsidian said.

"Wait, trainees?" I blinked.

"Well, of course. " Lady Obsidian said, "Look, crime is low and you've got a two week break where you can teach some basics to the partials who I gave the gear too. I said I would do it, did you think I was lying to the government official? There are laws against that sort of thing." She said with a bit of satisfaction.
"Mozel Tov, Fish Guy," Pinprick said hoisting a thimble sized mug and taking a drink, "To the youngbloods, may they not screw this up!"
"Hey!" Pogo said offended on our behalves.

Slime bubbled with what I guessed to be amusement.

And I felt a strong need for a hard drink. Leading the team I could do? But teaching?

I Looked at Tornado, one of my best friends and whispered, "She expects me to teach a group of young partials how to use their full powers?"
"If it helps," He said kindly, "We'll get your head shaved before we go."

Ah, team mates, always there when you need them; usually with a punch line.

Sometimes I wonder if the thing really getting Trump's goat is Obama's tweet in response to Charlottesville is more popular than anything he's ever sent.
 
(Just to take a step back from more serious concerns -- well, serious to us)

I'm beginning to suspect that the majority party is shockingly incapable of the basic duties of governance.

Everywhere I see President Trump in his current job, whether in domestic politics or international diplomacy, his words and actions tell me that he's out of his depth. He simply does not understand the game he's trying to play.

My fingers hurt just thinking about what that'll feel like in a weapon with serious recoil...

Given it feels like just about everyone feels let down by existing parties everywhere to at least some extent, I find my self wondering what it would take to even attempt to pull off what the media thinks Macron and the LREM are likely to do in France.
 
Yes, the US and France have different systems.  We're comparing apples to oranges at best.
 
Still, the LREM was supposedly formed slightly more than a year ago (I think I saw 14 months in an article).
 
The French National Assembly is 577 seats and there is a belief that the LREM could win ~400 (they need 289 seats for a majority) after the second round voting this weekend with a number of their candidates being complete novices.  I'm getting most of my news on this from the BBC, though I've read articles in both The Economist and on CNN's website.
 
If a group wanted to make even a comparative attempt, just how much of a logistical nightmare would it be to field a valid candidate in every US House seat in 2018.

The ending is a blur, but hopefully still satisfies... thanks for your patience and making it this far.
 
 
A lot of the rest was clean-up, in more ways than one. We had to make sure the city had public sightings of us as a team again.
 
Who puts out the call to all the supervillains that the heroes are elsewhere in large number, I really don't know, but I wish they'd cut it the hell out. While Slime, Viewpoint and Pogo were okay, they had more a more than an average number of encounters. Viewpoint claimed he'd been attacked by a group of super-villainesses who called themselves the 'fangrlz' and barely escaped with his life.  
 
Pogo, on the other hand, ran into a fellow who was looking for me.
 
"This guy says the oceans aren't big enough for the two of you, and you stole his shtick, He didn't have much time in town, had to be somewhere, but he says he'll be back in a few months to teach you a lesson."
 
 
"I stole his what?" I blinked.
 
"His theme, I never heard of him but apparently, he breathes water, he's super strong like you, and your name was way too similar." Pogo said in a rush, "He said 'tell the punk to get training, for soon he will be tested by the Sea's true strong man! Soon he will face the one, the only- Moray!'"
 
"Oh, sweet mother of God," I muttered, "It's not even the same word!" But despite my grumbling, I didn't doubt her. The Super world has villains and heroes aplenty, but it's a wide spectrum between them, and sometimes what you end up with are just jackasses looking for excuses to fight with someone and prove themselves the toughest. It was akin to the stories you heard about gunslingers in the old west. Get a reputation, and someone must test it.
 
I suppose I should have been flattered, but, pardon the pun, I really had bigger fish to fry. The Moray moron would have to wait. There was so many more important things. Like my hair cut, it was getting kind of shaggy.
 
 
"The chicks would have liked it longer," Aaron observed when I came into the apartment sporting the trim.
 
"I'm a Southern boy, guys with a mullet now a days get put through hell, guys with a southern accent and a mullet get it double," I informed him.
 
 
"You need to go hipster, tell them it's a French cut, the 'moo lay'" He suggested.
 
"I'm dating a very intelligent girl," I explained to him, "She's not going to buy that," I smiled and got my best outfit out of the closet.
 
The date that night was fantastic. I mean it, I treated Ariana to a real date at a real restaurant. The prices were more than I expected, but let me tell you when she came to her door when I knocked, it was worth it. She looked like she stepped off a fashion magazine. The heels she wore put extra swish in the miss, and I was not blind to that.
 
"Wow," I said before I could reach for the more poetic adjectives.
 
 
"You like?" She asked though the delight in her eyes told me she already knew the answer, she just wanted me to put a bit more praise for the effort she'd gone through.
 
Which was more than fair, "You always look beautiful," I told her honestly, "But wow if you didn't' just jump right over spectacular." 
 
 
I opened the car door for her and admired the way she slid on in so gracefully I think I could have made a happy living just being her chauffeur. The car was the team's, of course, and she knew that, but it wasn't like folks had the plate (We changed that anyway) and it had just gotten a new paint job. As long as I resisted the urge to send it flying above the traffic, we were just another couple on the way to a nice dinner.
 
And it was nice, damn nice. We flirted and talked and there were no villain attacks, no world threats, not so much as a fire that needed putting out. Of course, it couldn't last forever.
 
I had agreed to a patrol that night.
 
 
Of course, I didn't realize that my plans were about to be altered. I had just changed into my costume at the base and was readying to head out when Dr. Vernon called out, "Eel, I could use your help tonight? As she was dressed in her civvies and not her power armor, I was surprised.
 
 
"Certainly, Doctor, do I need to change back?"
 
 
"No, it'll be on the base and I want you in costume. I have a guest, an old friend who I can't trust, so having one of us in costume nearby and one of us out may throw him off," She answered with a smile.
 
"Why would you have a friend you can't trust?" the concept was alien to me.
 
"They can be extremely useful, for one," She shrugged, "Maybe a better term would be the devil I respect, come on."
 
The devil she respected turned out to be a black man in his late middle ages with graying hair and a suit that fit nicely enough but wasn't up to current fashions.
 
"Please, James, have a seat," She gestured to the table and asked, "Would you like some tea?"
 
"Got coffee?" He asked.
 
She nodded, then said, "Eel, would you?"
 
"No problem, ma'am," I said and got her them each a drink, her tea, him coffee.
 
"This is Eel, one of our newer members," She introduced me.
 
"Yeah," James gave me a vaguely sour look, "I've heard of him. A lot lately."
 
"This is James Elroy," She told me, "He's with government intelligence."
 
"You'll pardon me if I don't say it's a pleasure," He grumbled in his coffee.
 
"You don't see my hand stretching out either, so fine," I said.
 
"Knew you two would hit it off right away," She sipped her tea, "You wanted to see me, James?"
 
"Vivian, you know darn well why I came here," He said, "You memory wiped Eagle Eye's agents, and you have amplification belts. I'd kind of like to have both restored?"
 
A chill went through me as I realized exactly what Mind's Eye had done for Lady Obsidian as a favor. Of course, it made sense. Valorous, at least, had weeks to learn anything and everything Arctic Fox was willing to tell him about us. Surely though he would have passed on at least her secret identity by now? What good would a memory wipe do?
 
"I don't have a telepath on my team to help you, sorry," Dr. Vernon formed her fingers into a steeple and cast a glance over them at him,  "I'm sure the government has a few that can do the job though."
 
"At incredible cost and hassle," He grumbled, "And the belts?"
 
"Right here," She slid a bag over.
 
"They've been torn apart," He said with annoyance.
 
"Well, somehow they got around the waists of a group of violent burglars and when some our team defended themselves, they got a bit torn up," She replied dryly, "Not bad designs by the way. I was impressed your R&D found a way around the Genetic Maximum by tailoring for partials."
 
"You have our amplification tech," He scowled, "Damnit, Vivian. You're mad because Eagle Eye tried to steal your tech, but you've got no problem with stealing ours?"
 
"To the victor," she raised a brow, "Don't act all wounded, James. Your people broke into my house…"
 
"That was not my idea and I tried to stop them," He protested.
 
"You didn't try hard enough," She scowled and continued, "Now I believe you when say you tried to stop this, because you have common sense. I don't suppose you're going to tell me exactly whose idea it was?"
 
"You know damn well I won't put the finger on anyone, I have sympathy with you, but I also know who I work for. Besides, I suspect you have ideas anyway," Mr. Elroy countered, "There's new blood siding with some of the old and me stuck in the middle. Trying to help you."
 
"Your help blinded one of my friends," I said, my jaw grinding.
 
"I see he takes after you in taking this whole operation personally," James noted to Vivian.
 
"That's because he doesn't buy your 'standing on that wall' crap any more than we do, James. We're on the wall too, even if we are volunteers for it; and finding folks we thought were on our side pushing us off it to rifle our pockets puts us in an understandably bad mood. Yes, I have amplification tech, and not only do I have it, I'm improving it. It still only works on partials, but that's okay. There are a lot of good people half way to being to super-heroes anyway. I'm just giving them a chance if a superhero I trust sponsors them."
 
"You're sharing it!" His eyes flew open wide, "Jesus Christ!"
 
I admit, I was caught off guard too. I mean, I knew Ariana was a shoo in, but I didn't know Lady Obsidian was planning on handing it nationwide to other teams. Hell, maybe she was going global.
 
Dr. Vernon bathed in her 'friend's' panic like it was warm sunlight, and smiled, "I'm very particular. But yes, the genie is out of the bottle. It was going to be anyway, eventually one of your agents would have gotten taken by some villain, and it would out there the next week. I am hoping a controlled release will give us the edge we need against the bad guys."
 
"You know the others will play hard ball," He said, "They'll threaten to expose your team for this, one by one."
 
"I know," She said, "That telepath I don't have on my team?" She reminded, "What do you think she sorted through before blocking memories?"
 
I carefully kept my expression blank as I realized she'd changed the gender of the telepath. Would James see through it? I don’t know.
 
"You didn't," He frowned, "Vivian, those memories are classified. You could be endangering our agents' lives if you let that out."
 
"And some of our people have children. This is one box that hasn't been opened, James. I called you here to turn your junk back over, and beg you to do what you can to keep what you have in your computers and files secret. I'm not as idealistic as I used to be, all I know is these people are the only family I have left, and the people who should be thanking them are threatening them. So yes, I trust other superheroes and myself to decide which partials get elevated more than I trust the government. I trust that we need dirt on Eagle Eye to keep our dirt from being leaked, and I am trusting, that if nothing else, enlightened self-interest will keep us from escalating this. Talk to them, make them listen, or it will get so much worse before it gets better."
 
There was everything in her tone; a promise, a threat, a plea.
 
With a grimace, and a grunt, he took the bag, "I'll see what I can do. If nothing else, this fiasco has cost them some status. And I'm not blind to the fact what you've told me gives me a heads up on covering my own ass from the fall out. Don't expect me to thank you for that too much."
 
"You're welcome anyway," She crossed her fingers, "Do you need an escort out?"
 
"No. I know the way, and I'm sure Mabel is watching me anyway," the government man gave a wave to the air at the last, rose and walked down the hall way. After a few minutes Mabel said.
 
"He's gone, Doctor."
 
"And did you hack his phone?"
 
"The encryption was hard to get through, but the amplifier in your purse helped."
 
"Excellent, I want a back door into their files to erase what they have of us."
 
 
I stared at her, "Why did you have me witness that?" I finally asked. "Mabel's got your back, and I suspect you've got at least one other device in your purse that makes a taser look like a child's toy," she smiled at that weakly, "So why?"
 
"I wanted you to see, and to judge for yourself how far I've gone," She said kindly, "I have friends, Eel. Good friends. I'd like to think you're becoming one, but you've also got an annoying north pointing moral compass. I want to keep you in the loop in this because I know, when you think I've gone too far, you'll tell me. The others?  They… might not. Hell, some might cheer me on."
 
"You want me to be your cricket of conscience?" I tapped my chest in surprise, "You're Lady Obsidian, you've been the conscience of the superhero community for decades."
 
"Even the pope has a confessor, young man, and I don't claim to any form of infallibility," She told him, "You up for it?"
 
"Some of what you said scared me," I admitted, "And I think you're taking an awful big gamble with a lot of people. I think some of those things better be bluffs because if you carry them through you'll hate yourself. I think I liked it better when I did think it was all simple white hats versus black hats."
 
"Oh? A black hat thang is it?" She raised a brow.
 
I guess a horrified look crossed my features for a moment and I didn't know what to say.
 
She laughed, "Lord, Caleb. Ariana is right. You are so easy."
 
"Thanks," I said dryly.
 
"Was that no?"
 
"No, it's not a no," I said, "I'm a superhero, and we don't run from the hard choices. We can't afford to."
 
"Wise words," She smiled and rose inviting me to walk with her.
 
"They should be," I reminded, "They were in your second book."
 
"Ha," she laughed, "Young man, I'm flattered, but you need to get to work focusing on your own story."
 
I walked with her, "Yeah, The Adventures of Fish Guy," I snorted with a chuckle, "That'll be a hit."
 
"Well," She patted my hand, "Maybe not. Probably best if it isn't. Keep you humble, but I would read it."
 
"Thanks, Dr. Vernon," I smiled.
 
"Now, about those college courses…."
 
Some battles, it seemed, were unrelenting.
 
(The End of the Book, but never the story)

If Oregon's carry laws are anything like Ohio's, I wouldn't.
 
The legal twistings involved on 'when' it's legal to use lethal force in self-defense can be almost more paralyzing that actual fear.
 
More practically, from what I'm reading into the situation, a solid background in unarmed self-defense would probably been more useful.  A knife in close quarters is an ugly scenario.  In a moving, small, crowded space, random bullets flying about are real low on my desired additions to the situation.
 
(disclosures: I have a concealed carry permit, though I rarely carry outside of work related situations.  Also, despite being grossly out of practice in the fancier techniques, I spent enough years practicing martial arts to be fairly confident in my grasp of the basics in an immediate stress situation)

OK. Schedule is crazy and I'm going about 5 hours of sleep when I feel like I want 12 each night this week sooo...I don't have it done yet. Still, better to get a part in and keep this going than to sputter out at the end entirely.
 
It would have been nice to end things on a kiss. But this is the real world, a world not of kisses and closing curtains but one of flying men, undersea civilizations, six-inch tall men cursed by fairy magic and iguana people.
 
And that means the wrap up is full of paperwork, consequences, and complexity.  Mind you, superheroes have some insane short cuts. Case in point, it seemed like no sooner had Ariana and I gotten all the prisoners sedated in the medbay when word came in from Mabel the New Samartans had returned! Tornado had gotten groggily to his feet (An advantage of his high speed metabolism was his processing some drugs faster I suppose, though he was still shocky) and woke up even more when he learned his niece had been fighting the bad guys.
 
"You went toe to toe with a Purifier XI AND Valorous?' Tornado's voice slurred a bit drunkenly but was improving.
 
"And did not end up sedated," She countered in a calm cool tone, preparing to make her case, "So before you lecture me on how dangerous this is and so on, I want you to know I did what I had to do to protect a place I care about too and if there were other options, I might have tried them but there were not so…"
 
He held out one hand to forestall her, "Hey, it's okay. I actually do get it. I was trying to tell you 'good job'."
 
"Oh," Ariana looked sheepish, "Well, I had help."
 
"I think I was the one who needed help," I said with a smile to her, "That killbot pert near took my head off…"
 
"Wait, say that again?" He said.
 
"'Pert near took my head off'?" I repeated sighing as his eyes lit up in delight at the expression, "It's a legitimate expression, and you have an accent too. You know that, right?"
 
"Maybe in your part of the country I would," He smirked, "But here my way is the normal way to talk and you're the one with the accent," picking on me seemed to revive him a little. I'm not sure that spoke kindly of him, "Say something else folksy!"
 
"I will arrange a coming to Jesus meeting that has nothing to do with mass if you don't lay off the way I speak?" I gave him my most saccharine smile.
 
"Guy nearly gets his head shaved off by a killbot and he gets all cranky," Tornado sighed as if he were the victim here. 

Nice pacing on the fight and an excellent job of including both Ariana and Artic Fox.

The final battle! Only the epilogue remains
 
After grabbing a backpack to throw the enhancers I'd collected in, I moved as quickly as I could through the dark of the mall. I doubted it would do me any good. Valorous had as much as mentioned he'd gotten into the secure area already and that would be beyond Mabel's control, even over the lighting. If I was very lucky, and I doubt I would be, Ariana would be safely on the other side of that entry way and not in danger. As soon as I considered it, I realized how unlikely that scenario was. Valorous hadn't denied my accusations of taking a hostage, and if Ariana wasn't down, she was fighting.
 
Why am I attracted to the stubborn ones?
 
You never appreciate just how big a mall is until you must run the course of it. I leaped over furniture and barriers, and weaved around columns in a full tilt run. Fortunately, the location of the entrance wasn't at the other end, so it wasn't like I had to go a full football field here.
 
The good news? The Entry way was still open. I could get in. The bad news? It was open, clearly Valorous was indeed already in. Worse news? He'd taken Ariana with him. That meant she was likely hurt, bound, and/or pissed.
 
Barring the private residence suites of some of my team mates, this would be the only room I hadn't had time to explore. That was a pain, no home field advantage here.  I moved through the open double sealed doors. Looks like he hadn't had to pry them open, but then he'd likely gotten everything he needed from Arctic Fox.  Copy of her eye's retina from a high-tech scanner disguised as a smart phone. Her voice, easily from all the calls. I didn't want to ask how he got her password, but no doubt he had more than one shot at it and all the time in the world to analyze it.
 
Thank god, he hadn't closed it behind him. I'm not sure I was authorized yet. I guess worry for Ariana and outrage made me sloppy. I just barreled in instead of trying stealth. Then again, it wasn't like he didn't know I was coming.
 
But either way, as soon as I came into view the son of a biscuit eater shot me with an obscenely huge energy rifle.  The green energy hit me in the side in a particle stream that had the whammy of a wrecking ball on steroids. I don't budge easy, but that one staggered me onto the ground.
 
Then I heard a second sound, a fizzle spark and curse.
"Only enough charge for one shot?" I said and rose. There was Valorous threw the chrome hued weapon to the side. My gaze fell nearby where Ariana was pulling hard down on her forearm. The line clear through the arm between wrist and elbow told it all. He might not have shattered her hand into a hundred pieces, but he, quite literally, broken her arm in two. Only constant pressure kept it as one.
 
"Are you…" I was going to say okay, which would have been a very stupid thing to say.
 
Ariana beat me to it, "I'll be fine, focus on the fight… and kick his ass!"
 
I smiled at her spirit and turned to Valorous. It was good she had refocused me, because he was already streaking towards me fist ready to hook me hard. I decided to hold my ground and trade blows. He hit me square in the jaw rocking my head back but not taking me off my feet, I brought an uppercut in his stomach and knocked him into the ceiling.
 
I'd like to imagine his grunt of pain was louder than mine.
 
The blow had been tremendous. It wasn't to the level of Mr. Brute, but it certainly was comparable to my own.  Add to that and his edge In maneuverability, and this could be a long hard slog. My eyes drifted to that bulky belt of his. If I could tear it off during the right, he'd lose his enhancement, and I'd win this easily.
 
Of course, the jackass just had to come with contingencies of his own. Reaching into the side pocket of his belt, he flung something down hard at me that looked like an oversized gumball. With the toss powered by his superstrength, it moved as quickly as a bullet as he said, "Hey, Fish Guy! Catch!"
 
You know, there was a time when I might have agreed to play by the rules of someone who was trying to kick my ass, when I'd let him set what was or wasn't manly even if it gave him an edge. But then I got of middle school and decided I'd really like to win one and go by my own rules.
 
There's an element of pragmatism tempering idealism in your growth into an adult.
 
Or as papa used to say, "If they tell you hitting them in the balls makes you gay, what they really mean is I don't want to sing soprano."
 
Suffice to say, I did not catch. I rolled to the side, barely escaping it striking me. It exploded into a five foot radius ball of fire and still caught me in its wake. The indirect heat still burned along my left side some. If it had hit me square on, I would have been in serious trouble.
 
"You think I didn't prepare for you?" He announced, "The only fully powered and healthy hero who might be here?" Valorous floated a good twenty feet over me, "I know you're vulnerable to fire. I know you don't have much in the way of range."
 
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ariana focusing, glistening, and I realized what she was doing. She was reversing her density, growing softer, more malleable, trying to force her arm back in piece by going softer rather than harder. Whatever held her together when she went spongey, I prayed it kept her from spilling out. She'd need time to line things up and fuse.
 
I needed to move the fight away from her. If she got caught in one of those fireball blasts I…then a thought occurred to me. I reached into the backpack behind me and pulled out one of the enhancer belts, "You know, for someone who talked trash about Lady Obsidian, you sure use a lot of tools. At least she made her own. You rely on this, don’t' you?"
 
His eyes narrowed, and he rolled another fire globe in his hand, "Why don't you put it on, maybe you'll actually have a chance."
 
"I already know it won't work for me," I answered, "Mabel, you assumed with her security and comms down, she wasn't much threat to you. Did you know there are rooms where she can detect your pulse rate? Now the medbay, that's a marvel. And she has two of your agents and one of my buddies there to compare, along with one of the enhancers. She warned me, even after she hacked them, that if I tried one the best it would do hurt some, the worst? Might lock up. Instead of enhancing my power it would trap me in it as if muscle bound. That's why the government uses partials…" I threw it to the side, where it slid across the floor keeping my eyes on Valorous, "instead of A-listers. Because it adds an extra inch to the puny, but it will never let you get better than average man length. Explains a lot about your attitude, tiny."
 
Okay, maybe there is a part of me that never got out of Middle school after all, but I needed his attention on me, and I needed to piss him off badly. Very badly.
 
"You smug mother@@@@er!" He lobbed the fire globe at me, harder, but sloppier than before!
 
Well mission accomplished.
 
Frankly this whole idea was dangerous for multiple reasons.  Chief among them, I am a water sign so fire bad. But also in a chamber full of devices arcane and scientific that were considered too dangerous for mankind! Some of it was labeled, but those labels brought little comfort. When you see a large hollow oval marked "Timegate: Paradox Buffer down do not use" you know, even if you didn't finish your bachelors, that it's probably a bad idea to set off explosives near it. Add to that a kill bot from some genetic purity organization that was shut down years ago, a pulsing hovering spindle in a glass container, and severed dead man's hand that appeared to be in a frozen state of decay on an altar with a warning in Latin, and I would rather have been fighting in a field of land mines.
 
 I dove behind the kill bot, figuring it, at least, could take the hit without exploding. Good choice, the flames washed over it like it was nothing and I barely felt a thing.
 
"Valorous," I tut-tutted, "Did you lose both your balls?"
 
Well, that did it, he flew around the kill bot with, I'll give him credit, amazing speed and hammered me with blows to my body that sounded almost thunderous! His rage seemed to give him extra strength, but the lack of precision meant he neither took the wind out of me, nor did it break anything.
 
Pain? Pain I can take.
 
And he was in arm's reach now.  I hit him with a hook shot right in the jaw, his face slammed into the backside of the killbot, and he wobbled for a moment, eyes glazed, and blood coming out of his mouth. I'm not a fan of blood, but damn if giving him a bloody lip wasn't gratifying.
 
"No more games," I said, "No more taunts," I promised, "I'm just going to take away what makes you special."  I latched onto the belt and got ready to pull.
 
I forgot a cardinal rule of fighting. Don't call your shots or announce your plans unless they really can't stop you.
 
"No!" He said, rising up to kick me in the face before my grip was solid. Even limited flight meant he could get a height advantage on me. What's more, he realized he'd been baited. That rush of panic at almost losing his belt cut through that foolish anger like a knife and brought him a moment of clarity.
 
And damn it, maybe even a bit of cleverness.
 
He turned to the kill bot and his eyes lit up, "Huh, the Mark XI Purifier! I read about these, go after whoever has the most genetic deviation." And he flipped a switch near its neck, "Betting that's you!"
 
The killbot in question was roughly nine feet tall, twice as wide as I was, and looked like the love child of Gort and Robbie the Robot… on steroids.
 
"Genetic deviations detected!" It announced, its eye slit glowing and then carving a wound in my leg with a laser that would sheared it off if I hadn't moved, "Purification protocols underway."
 
"Beautiful," Valorous smirked, "I had hoped to kick your ass myself, but you know, this will buy me the time I needed to retrieve my target," he turned to head towards the glass case with the prism.
 
Before he could really move, the robot's torso spun in a three sixty allowing it's arm to whip around and strike him with all the force of a runaway eighteen wheeler and knock him for quite a loop.
 
"Congratulations," I told him, "You just woke up a Eugenics bot on the hopes it might ignore you… never mind that if it kills me and you're gone, it's going to go on a rampage in the city after this with you as still on its kill list. You're not just a villain, you're a stupid one."
 
I had wanted to kick his ass myself, but obviously, ego had to give way to pragmatism.
 
I reached into my own belt and hurled something Valorous' way. It landed behind him with a shattering sound.
 
"And you think my aim is bad?" He snorted, "Enjoy your killbot, punk. I've got things to do."
 
"Like playing good women for chumps just so you can use them?" I sneered, and then weaved to the side as another laser beam from the Purifier robot fired, "Arctic Fox trusted you!"
 
"That was her mistake!" He said seeming to enjoy my troubles with the robot despite the shot it had given him, "Frankly, carnal benefits aside, she was in the end, just a means to get in here. It was professional, not personal."
 
I rolled between the killbot's legs, forcing it to punch down instead of firing. The floor was made of some damn durable stuff and it still showed a nasty crack where that thing's fist came down.
 
"Yeah? You do know I heard your rant earlier. How you were doing her a favor, how she'd be wiser after this…" I reminded.
 
"Well, we can't all be sentimental romantics, I leave that to dumb hicks like you and poor little ice princesses who just want to be loved," He snorted and started to fly towards his prize.
 
Only to have a burst of baseball sized hail come at him sideways like the fire from a heavy caliber machine gun. I guess he hadn't realized that the vial I'd thrown had materialized its target to bring me the team mate Dr. Salem had promised me.
 
I had considered bringing in Lady Obsidian, undeniably the most powerful of the team to my thinking, but hell hath no fury …. and besides, Arctic Fox had a right to this.
 
She had every damned right.
 
He looked up from the pile of ice debris he was half buried in, "Foxy?"
 
"Don't Foxy me!" the air around Arctic Fox's body was cracking with cold. The large chamber had dropped at least ten degrees all over despite the size of it, "You miserable, traitorous, son of …."
 
"It's a job!" He made another attempt to explain, even as he turned something on his belt, "And an important one. Help me out here, and you can join my team. You can help humanity."
 
"What would you know of humanity?" Arctic Fox seethed, "Besides, aren't I a little too sentimental for your line of work? Now that I can talk to Mabel again, she's playing me all your greatest hits. The speech you gave then wasn't any more flattering than what I just heard you tell Eel. Help humanity? Wouldn't you have to be capable of being humane to do that?"  Her emphasis on the question was accompanied by another ice blast.
 
While the two no longer lovebirds were talking, I had problems of my own. That problem being the Purifier XI. I spat into my gloves and dived for it, only to get shot along the shoulder before I could close with its face. I tried not to scream as it carved a chunk out of said shoulder.
 
It reared up another blast, only to have its head twisted to the side by two diamond dense hands that jerked it hard to the right! The blast carved a groove in the wall instead of me.
 
Ariana had just saved my ass.
 
"I see the belt works for you," I tried to sound nonchalant, but I'm pretty my relief at not having my head sheared off was evident.
 
"Yeah, thanks for throwing one my way" She announced, "it’s a fashion disaster, but you know what? I'll take it."
 
"Look out!" I warned her as it spun on her just like it had Valorous earlier! There was a glow about her and its metallic arm went clean through her leaving her utterly untouched.
 
"Damn!" I was impressed, "You're a quick learner!" though it occurred to me that fast shifting may not have been new to her. She'd still practiced with her power, she just had more oomph in her powers now. Kind of like how a light weight boxer still knows how to throw a punch even if a heavyweight has the edge in arm strength.  I shifted tactics, "Think you could spit in its eye for me?"
 
"Seriously?" She said surprised, but then spat once on its eyes area where the blaster would exit from as she solidified, "Why did I just do that?"
 
"Get back!" I told her and punched it to get attention, hard as I could. I was gratified that I dented the metal monster.
 
She did back up some then scowled, "You didn't answer my…"
 
The purifier's laser lit up and… well, the lens was coated in saliva and the weapon blew up inside of it's head!
 
"Mom used to have a crush on Val Kilmer," I said, "One thing I learned from an eighty's movie with him - Keep your optics clean."
 
Despite missing part of its head, the purifier fought on! It must have had other sensors, because it still had a general idea where we were.
 
"Okay, that's clever… you know, you might have a mind for science," She started to say.
 
"Oh god, not another back to college speech," I told her and caught the incoming arm of the Purifier XI
 
"Fine, it bothers me a bit yes, and Lady Obsidian said…"  Ariana wasn't just talking, she'd gone super dense again and begun to shred at the already exposed wires at the head level, tearing chunks out of it.
 
"I can imagine," I told her, "Why don't you go help Arctic Fox with Valodorous?"
 
She twisted her gaze and looked were Fox and Valorous were continuing their own fight, "Nu uh. She's got dibs."
 
"She say that?" I inquired.
 
Ariana scoffed as if men were the dumbest creatures on the planet, "She doesn't really have to. If some guy broke my heart on purpose like that, I'd make his life a living hell for years. I wouldn't let my uncle or any other guy in my family handle him because that would be too quick… too painless."
 
"Uh…" my eyes widened, and for one brief moment the robot was the second scariest thing in this kerfuffle.
 
Ariana saw my expression and dimpled, "Second date still on after this?"
 
"Yes, ma'am," I said very politely, and bent the robot's arm backwards warping it.
 
Meanwhile, I had some reason to worry for Arctic Fox. Valorous' raw power meant she couldn't contain him in ice, he just broke through the bonds, but there was more.
 
"You know sweetheart, I didn't' expect to fight you today, but I did have contingencies for that too," He said moving forward steadily, walking because if he flew the force of her cold and ice might yet blow him back, "My suit's lined with micro heaters. The material protects me from extreme cold. Now sit down, let me get my target before I have to hurt you."
 
Much of the ice encrusting his outfit was indeed melting in rivulets, like a defroster might clear your car window in winter. He had come prepared. The robot was almost done for, dibs or not, I got ready to jump in to help my team mate.
 
I shouldn't have bothered.
 
"Jerry," She said, her eyes narrowing, "You seem to be under the mistaken impression that no one I've ever fought before prepared for cold weather. You have thermal undies, oh no…whatever will I do?" She reached out and spread her hands. What I saw at first didn't look particularly impressive, a burst of mist, tiny snowflakes and crystals in a wide cloud about him? "Maybe, Jerry, I'll drop the air around you to Antarctic levels, or lower…. How's your breathing Jerry?"
 
Valorous aka Jerry, couldn't answer. His lungs had filled with air that, well, I don't know how cold it was but he couldn't breathe it safely. He clutched at his throat for a moment and tried to escape the cloud of cold but instead of flying fell to his knees.
 
Arctic Fox strode towards him and reached down, "Don't worry Jerry," her finger tips popped and cracked with sub-zero temperature, "I'm a hero. I don't kill. I'm just going to remove something you value." Her hands went to his waist.
 
"Uhm, Arctic Fox?" I said eyes wide.
 
"Relax, Rookie," She told me, and froze the belt solid until it was as brittle as glass, and then she punched it. It broke apart easily, "I've got this."
 
Another gesture with her freehand and the cold around his him faded allowing him to breathe again, though really, he coughed and kept coughing so I wasn't sure there might not be some real damage there.
 
She buried him up to his neck in ice, the defrosters or not, it was too much for his reduced strength to allow him to break out of anytime soon.
Then Arctic Fox slapped him hard across his already bloody mouth, "If you ever try this on another woman and I hear about it I'll take more than your toy belt."  She must have put some cold in her touch because the palm strike on his jaw looked border line frost bit.
 
"Eel," She said turning from him, "You got everything covered?"
 
The robot was broken in three different parts and had finally gone out, "Yeah," I said to her. I moved closer, "Are you …"
 
Ariana shook her head at me, and I shut up.
 
"Please, Rookie," Arctic Fox shook her hair like she was cleaning something out of it, but there was a little catch to her voice, "I'm a superheroine. I deal with petty little villains every day. It's …just another day. But you are the rookie, so I'm going to leave the clean up to you while I get word out to the rest of the team what's gone down. Got a complaint, tell Lady O." She strode off like a queen.
 
I mimed tipping my hat
 
"I'll talk to her later when it's right," Ariana assured me. She was rubbing at the arm that had been broken. It looked good to me, but I guess, molecular density powers or not, it was at the very least sore.
 
I gave her a grateful look, then glanced over to the still half encased half powered Valorous, "We need to make sure he's not going to cause trouble so…"
 
"Got it," She strode over and punched him across the jaw with her density amped up, knocking him out cold! I guess sore or not, her arm could handle that last duty.
 
"I was going to say 'We should inject him with a sedative from the medbay'," I held out my hands in a 'hey' gesture.
 
"Whoops," She said, "My bad."  She fluttered her lashes.
 
"Uh huh," I told her and moved towards her.
 
She dimpled, and I couldn't help it. I kissed her. At first it was like kissing a statue, but then she turned her power off and her lips because soft and warm and she was kissing back.
 
"Hey!" She pulled back a bit, "I was saving that for the third date."
 
"Superhero time" I told her, "We could die any day, so we've got to live while we can." A bit of a smile ended up on my face, "Besides, I like to end an adventure on at least one high note."
 
"You're pulling the gather ye rose buds while we may and 'I love happy endings' bit just to get me to make out with you?" She ran fingers along my chest and looked up at me with those gorgeous chocolate eyes.
 
"Yeah," I nodded honestly.
 
"Works," She tilted up her head and laid one helluva kiss on me.

If only this were a party.
 
However, a group of GMs trying to see how crazy they could go writing a round-robin adventure story a paragraph at a time could be amusing.  With or without alcohol.

I'd assumed Valorous was working with someone, though I didn't particularly expect it to be the Gov't (and I should have, since I've been in some of your games).
 
I'd like to have a long talk with Mayo (both in character and not).

If only this were a party.
 
However, a group of GMs trying to see how crazy they could go writing a round-robin adventure story a paragraph at a time could be amusing.  With or without alcohol.

This is starting to feel like a 'make your own adventure' book -- written by multiple people while drunk.

Thanks for the well wishes folks. As always, this is a rough draft fresh from the typing, English Teachers, Librarians, Newspaper editors, and other lovers of the  written word may wish to shield their eyes as they read.
 
 
 
The images in the mystic windows played like scenes from some demented reality show from my nightmares. Each window displayed a different section of the base just one dimensional wall away. In each scene, numerous drones and robots lay shattered: Mabel's guardians that she had used to defend against siege. In this case to little avail. The lights had dimmed on the ceiling but there were circles of red shining on the walls.
 
The window that caught my attention first explained everything.
 
Even in the dimmer lights, Valorous stood out in his crimson and gold costume. He was walking up to the sealed door entrance that would lead to the top security areas Mabel had told me of. His presence was alarming, what he was doing set my blood to boil. Tornado wasn't there. Mabel's defenses had been countered, so the only one who was in his way was Ariana!
 
She had on jeans, a pull over blouse, and one of her uncle's spare masks. Her feet were spread for fighting balance and her fists poised.
 
"I don't know why you bothered with the mask, young lady," Valorous said, "It's not like I don't know who you are. Get out of my way. I've got a mission to finish, and you're no match for me."
 
He started to brush past her only to find himself on the end of a leg sweep that knocked him to the floor!
 
"You're not getting in!" Ariana said and tried to follow up with a blow to his solar plexus, I could see the floor bend a little under her as she gathered mass going to a density that matched concrete and used what she'd learned from Tornado to land a blow with what would, to anybody else, stopped them but good, "You traitor!"
 
All he did was grunt, and then fly upright, feet slightly off the ground now so she couldn't do that leg sweep a second time "Nice punch, I even felt it a bit. Traitor? No, Ariana. When a government agent infiltrates a group of dangerous individuals, it's called going undercover. I bear you no malice, you least of all, to be honest, but there are several weapons of mass destruction and technology holding mankind back from the stars themselves within. So, I need you to sit down," And he backhanded her, "And stay down."
 
Even now weighting over a ton she staggered back into the nearest wall, making a divot. I don't know what she said in Spanish, but I'm pretty sure it was vile.
 
I had few choice words myself inside the Balance which had become my prison, "Son of ####ing #####!" I seethed!
 
Ariana lunged forward again this time moving in what looked like a beautiful circular kick. He tried to raise his hand, but it connected before he could. Flying or not, this time he didn't budge. Valorous' head twisted as if he had gotten nothing more than a slap from a weak armed date, more surprise than harm.
 
"Ariana," He said, "You can't win this. Your training is okay but as a partial you're trapped in the minor leagues, believe me. I know the frustration!"
 
"After how you led on Arctic Fox all this time making her think you loved her," Ariana spat at him, "I wouldn't believe you if you told me water was wet!" She tried for another blow, this time a punch, but he caught her fist in his own hand.
 
"Yes, I had my doubts on being on that side of a honeytrap. You wouldn't believe the hours of acting lessons went into to that. I didn't like doing it, but what could I do? Lady Obsidian never took a liking to me. Maybe I came on too strong with the flattery, maybe they should have put some sort of sympathetic beat down in my records? Who knows? But with her refusal to give me a chance I had to focus on Fox. She was easier. For all her alpha queen attitude, she actually is quite soft. She wants to believe in love. Me? I believe in duty and take pride in my work, so… I played her along as I had to. She'll mend in time, and maybe I'll help her become a little wiser," He considered, "Maybe I'm doing her a favor?"
 
"So am I!" Ariana couldn't free her hand so she snapped her rock-hard knee cap up into the groin of her captor. Valorous winced and cursed, but didn't let go of her hand.
 
"Alright," He said through gritted teeth, "Enough of that. I could shatter you, you know that right? You only get as tough as concrete! I can break that easily, I can shatter steel. Unlike you I've been given a way of surpassing my partial limitations! So it is only because I have sympathy for your plight…." He began to squeeze her hand causing her to gasp in pain, "That I am not breaking this hand into a hundred pieces and letting you glue them back together!'
 
Then he flipped her with it onto her back creating a woman shaped divot with her and let go of her hand.
 
"So, stay down there and let me get what we came to get!" He warned.
 
Ariana lay there helpless, struggling to get up, but too weak and dazed to try again yet. I knew as soon as she got her second wind, she'd try again though. She would force him to break her. Mask or not, I could see it in her eyes.
 
"I'll kill him!" Fury filled me. There was no mystic spear involved. Maybe I was talking out of my ass when I said the words, but the rage I felt towards that walking Trojan horse was very real, "Doctor Salem you've got to let me out of here!"
 
I can't, her mental voice said, I don’t have the energy.
 
"Don't you get it?" I announced, "It's not just about Ariana. Tornado, Mayo…. Mabel too, they're all in danger. He said 'we'!"
 
 
Indeed, another scene was playing out in another window, two figures in dark blue generic uniforms and helmets with tinted visors were in the medbay. In fact, the only thing they seemed to have in common with Valorous looks wise was their bulky belts. Tornado may have been out of the woods for the worst of it, but he still hadn't fully recovered; a fact his two assailants were taking full advantage of. Tornado was weaving between the strands of some kind of energy web that was constantly closing the already limited space of the room. The lines of energy seemed to be the work of the woman in uniform who was making gestures as she worked not unlike a conductor leading a symphony. The other invader was vanishing and reappearing rapidly allowing little time for Tornado to adjust.
 
"We're having a little trouble here, Valorous!" The woman was yelling, presumably into an ear piece communicator not so different from what the New Samaritans had, "He's not sedated like we hoped any recommendations would be welcome."
 
I was too focused on this window now to hear what he was saying in the other, but she nodded, "You're right, I don't really have to trap him…" And the glowing web became more diffuse spreading out, but also thinning until it was less strands, and more sheets.
 
Tornado, while not at the top of his game, blocked the blow from the tonfa the teleporter was using for some really forceful strikes by intercepting at the wrist.
 
"I don't just teleport, Tornado!" The vanishing agent announced, "Superfast repetitive actions! " And his free hand shot another three blows almost too fast to see towards the side of Tornado's head. The first one hit, the others didn't as the Latino whirlwind weaved his head at precise moments.
 
"If you mean your lips won't stop flapping, I can see why I should be concerned," Tornado said, "Tell me, does that teleporting cancel your velocity?" And he grabbed the man and spun him and spun him faster and faster before releasing him. The teleporter flew one way, flickered and reappeared to slam into another wall hard.
 
"Guess not," Tornado pressed his attack, diving through the sheets of energy which slowed him down, but not enough to prevent him from performing a whirling kick on the teleporter and putting him out hard, "Next time, be man enough to fight your own battles, eh?"
 
Tornado turned and found the goo on him now accompanied by strands.
 
"Stand down!" The woman who made the webs said, "You are half trapped anyway, and still recovering from previous injuries. Stand down"
 
"El Zorro never surrenders!" Tornado whipped through the goo and strands tearing ripping across the room and …ended up encased like a fly in amber, his fist just an inch from landing the blow.
 
She reached to the side of her belt, and drew forth a needle, injecting him, "This is B Unit. Tornado is neutralized.  Agent Ambush is down, repeat, Agent Ambush is down as well."
 
I gnashed my teeth in helpless frustration, "Doctor Salem, we just lost Tornado…"
 
I turned to move to another window waiting for her to answer.
 
The next view was of the pool!  The Agent there really stood out, then agian he would, he was glowing, allowing him to view the formerly dim room easily. And Mayo lay in the pool floating like a dead goldfish, his back breaking the surface, his body limp.
 
"Well, I found 'a' Fish Guy," The glowing agent was saying, "But no sign of the Fish Guy. He sure is one ugly ####er though, he told me he was no hero but would be obliged to protect his hosts…  so I gave him a love tap with a photonic burst of light. He went down easily actually. Must be one of the undersea guys that has all those teams in a scramble. Assuming he's still alive, I can pick him up for study later. Roger that. I'll just head onto the next area. Agent L out." He turned his back to the pool to do just that drifting up a few inches.
 
 
The formerly limp and 'downed' Mayo leapt up into action and seized Agent L yanking them both into the water. He had grabbed Agent L by the gut, and squeezed the wind out of him as best as he could as he drew both back towards the pool's deeper end.
 
Bubbles escaped from Agent L's mouth in a stream of air!
 
There was a wave of light from the agent, slamming Mayo loose and against the wall. Mayo scraped along the wall, then turned, "We should talk yes?"
 
A beam of light sheared towards Mayo, missing him and burning along the walls.
 
"I prefer the dark, you make the light," Mayo said, "But the waters don't like the light either. Ever notice how it bends it? Your aim is not normally this bad….but I know what you are thinking," Mayo scuttled along, "You will eventually hit me and then you will win."
 
A barrage of more slightly askew blasts from Agent L confirmed that Mayo was right. The man looked pissed that he'd been tricked and closed on Mayo. Mayo had been clever, but Agent L was ready for him now. My favorite undersea guru had no weapons, and I doubt his punches could get through even a diffused photonic field.
 
What he did do was talk, which confused me. Mayo was the sort to pontificate, to think the deep thoughts out loud, wax a little nostalgic one second and a bit philosophical the next, but he wasn't a chatterbox.
 
"I notice your uniform is not so colorful… you are soldier, yes? Me too," Mayo said, "That is your misfortune. If you had met Fish Guy … I suppose I should not tell you his real name, you might have lived. He is a good man, but not a soldier."
 
A sneer crossed Agent L's face and he 'flew' under the water to give another burst. This one clipped and burned Mayo.
 
Was he hoping to make Agent L run out of air just by talking?
 
"He didn't know the difference between a hero and a soldier," Mayo said his right hand tight, his shoulder burned, "Sometimes they coincide. Not always. But we know the difference, don't we?"
 
Agent L closed on him, then looked up noticing what I, with my tight view on the scene, had failed to. Above them, the pool had been closing, going into Tennis Court mode!
 
Panic filled his face and he looked about to the far end of the wall where Mayo had headed with him in the first place. The knob that was pressed to open or close it from down here had been torn off!
 
Mayo opened his hand to reveal the knob, twisted and bent in it, "Heroes will give up their lives to protect the lives of others, soldiers will do the same, if they must… but if they can think of a way to have he enemy pay the price instead, they will. That is…how wars are won. I'm told. This may end as a draw between us, but… I'm at peace with that. Let's see the next fathom of the great mystery reveals together, shall we?"
 
Agent L shot towards the closing floor/ceiling, but not in time. His flight, like most of his powers, were thrown off by refraction! He slammed against the thick barrier and fired, but his lasers, diffused as they were, could damage it, but not break through it! More air escaped him.
 
"Beyond stopping you, I suppose the real benefit of this is that my surface friend is not here to see it," Mayo averted his already sensitive eyes to the increasing intensity of the light, "He'd be very disappointed in me, give me those big seal pup eyes, and I'd feel bad. If I could do it all over again, I'd probably be chasing Tinlu about the coral bed, but at least if I'm dying as a soldier, I'm dying for a good cause.  You may wish to make peace with yourself and whatever belief system you hold onto. You don't have long left."
 
L whirled realizing he was about to die, rage and desperation filled his eyes and the glow about him intensified.
 
"I can no longer see you," Mayo said, "But I know what you're demanding. The answer… is no."
 
The last of the bubbles escaped Agent L's mouth and there was a burst of light that filled the window, and then blackness! I couldn't see a thing!
 
 
"MAYO!!" I called out, then looked, "Doctor Salem! People are dying! Valorous and his goons are about to get their hands on everything Lady Obsidian has stored away! PLEASE!"
 
This… is going to cost me, Doctor Salem groaned, Move fast when the door opens… it won't be there long!
 
Her body no longer floated but fell…. And a door appeared, and swung open. Almost as quickly, it started to close, but I was already diving through it.

Okay, long one... meaning even more violations against the English Language . Hope you enjoy
 
 
The Balance spilled all around me, before it was almost equal parts land and water, but the land was shrinking even as the view of it was expanding. More and more I took in glimpses not of flowing rivers, but great gaping oceans that seemed to pour off the edge of the metaphorical map that was the strange plane. It wasn't hard to guess why.
 
"I guess my mind is on the others right now and the sea," I confessed, "So… I'm affecting the view?"
 
"Quite right," Dr. Salem told me. Unlike before, she did not appear as a beautiful young woman. There was a glow to her, but her age here matched her many years on the mortal world. It wasn't hard to guess the reason for that either: Energy conservation, "But that's all right. Just leave me enough to sit on, and think on the ocean. Imagine going further than you've ever been before."
 
I didn't completely have to imagine on my own. A lot of brave explorers and brilliant scientists have made studying the depths their lives' work.  The Balance reared up, and suddenly she and I weren't just sitting on an Island, we were in a bubble. The ocean depths! I swore I could see figures moving in the great twilight murk of the aquatic world beyond. Whales? Squid? Flickering schools of multitude fish.
 
And the currents, I could see the currents blowing past like windstorms of the depths. The energy of them was intense. Part of my longed to drift into one, and let it carry me away…. Even if the ultimate goal would be oblivion and then renewal into… who or what I didn't know?
 
Doctor Salem sat down next to me, and pulled out a spear. She had dabbed some goo on her forehead before this, and some on my chest over my heart. Marks of some ancient culture I didn't know jack about; so much for my love of history.
 
"Take one," she said.
 
I reached for another spear, and felt the rage, the intense hatred rise up, but not only was I mentally braced for it, the wards cast on me numbed it. It was like having a drug in your system that took you out of yourself. It made me detached. I could see the anger inside me. I could feel it but it seemed less real than before. Good thing. Eight of these without some protection and I might have slapped the old woman silly.
 
Yeah, that thought indicated I wasn't as detached as I thought.
 
"Islu Katan!" She raised the spear she carried with surprising strength for she lofted it one handed, "Islu Marduk! Islu Gaia! Wyrdaan nosi! Tantu fo vragain!"
 
I had no idea what she had just said, even if I was going to get greater understanding, this was the plane for it, but she followed it up with an order, "Break it."
 
And I snapped the spear!
 
Worthless! Pathetic miserable little me! Daring to try again to gain the notice of a universe that loved me no more than a dog loved a tick. Energy that I would never grasp, power I was unworthy of, burst around me and flowed… and then was drawn into the other spear Dr. Salem carried.
 
"Grab another!" She demanded.
 
I wanted to curl up and sleep again, and hope I never ever woke up. Here I was, wasting my time in some ritual I didn't understand while my team mates could be dying, no doubt they would be dying, for they faced the blessed troops of the Eldest while I sniveled here like a child taunting an oncoming Tsunami only now realizing his mistake, "We can't possibly…"
 
"Grab.Another!" She bellowed!
 
And I did, it was useless, but if the hag wanted me to grab another, so be it. I resented it though, especially now that I held a new spear again. How dare she snarl orders at me anyway? She was just another insect, as unimportant and meaningless as I. Didn't she see that?
Apparently not, more chanting began railing out of her mouth, much like before. In my mind's eye, I thought the images of the great sea were gaining substance, clarity, but they weren't pleasant.
 
"BREAK IT!" She demanded!
 
I snapped it, directing my rage and loathing at the object. It cracked then sundered, and another wave of suicidal self loathing struck me! It was…weaker!
The Law of Diminishing returns, they had said. So it was. I still felt insignificant, but this time my survival instinct rallied more quickly. So what  if I didn't matter… maybe there was a certain reason to live. If infinity wanted to be uncaring, to remind me how it had no obligation to me and I would die miserable and alone with nary a glance, I could at least spit in its metaphorical eye and make it notice me.
 
Let's hear it for North Carolinian stubbornness!
 
I glanced up! I could see distortions along the Balance! It was like looking in a hall of mirrors if the mirrors couldn't quite agree on what they were reflecting! I saw whole cities underwater! Some were elegant spiraling towers, others were vast cave networks with beautifully adorned entrances, and others still looked like ancient Grecian architecture lit up by radiant plant life! Some plunged into the dark depths, pits rather than towers, yet they were no less magnificent for it. One floated, touching neither sea floor nor surface! Another was  a Giant Turtle with an Island nation upon its back, it's people only seeing the surface once a century when it decided to rise.
 
Wonder had slipped through the terror… but then the pictures changed, focusing, narrowing…images of vile shrines at each location! Hearts being torn out like Aztec priests of old sans restraint, determined not to raise a sun, but allow it to be devoured! The Eldest's priests … their shrines were their forges! Of course, of course!
 
One tendrilled priest twisted as if he knew was being watched. And I felt a cold chill return as his eyes flickered at hate for the intrusion on what to him was a most sacred rite.
 
I almost didn't notice Doctor Salem warning me, "Good, soon the Eldest will try other means … falsehoods and visions… brace yourself, and grab another!"
 
"What the hell do you think I've been doing?" I said a bit louder to the old crone as I seized yet another. Damn, the anger was getting through, "Sorry."
 
But she didn't have time to answer, she was chanting again, more words that flowed in one of my ears, stirred something ancient in my mind, and then left forgotten.
 
"Break it!" She said.
 
I didn't hesitate this time and snapped that sucker like a great white going to town on a surfboard.
 
They were all around a table, each New Samaritan, and Valorous!  Ariana was there too, the only one missing, was me!
"The stupid hick actually thinks he's important" Pinprick said laughing and holding up a thimble sized glass, "I'm telling you, Vivian, you got that kid so convinced he's got the right stuff, he'd let you launch him to the damn moon."
"We aim to please," Lady Obsidian, helmet less, took a drink from her own glass of wine, "Not bad, I must admit, but we needed a sacrifice for Doctor Salem's ritual and it's not like I wanted to lose a real hero."
"Hey, credit where credit is due," Arctic Fox snuggled against Valorous, "if it weren't for Ariana setting salmon man into spawning mode, he wouldn't be so distracted that he never noticed how my man, who is not a member somehow is on every other mission and always available."
Ariana winked, "Thank you. None of you are as happy to see him gone as I am. I mean, I did not want some redneck pawing at me any more than necessary."
Tornado laughed, "Can you imagine what your mama would say?"
"well, I for one am grateful," Valorous said, "And look forward to joining the best team officially soon. Here's to Fish Guy… a very useful map maker….and… hell, I can't think what else he was good for?"
Pinprick laughed, "The source of a lot of good jokes!"
 
Their laughter resounded.
 
"Oh, bullcrap," I snarled, shaking my head and scattering my vision, "You overplayed that one," I said to the thing moving past the barrier of oblivion, "They're grown adults, not middle school jackasses willing to murder… try again, punk!"
 
"Eel? What are you doing?" Doctor Salem asked.
 
"Just having a chat with the Eldest or at least I think I am," I said. Images had grown clearer of the locations where the spears had made, even taking direction, so that the others would know where to go.
 
"Yes, I gathered," She said, "No need to call him out."
 
"Makes me feel better, I'm tired of this bullying 'I'm nothing he's everything' bunk," I answered, "You just keep chanting and let me rant a bit at him. I'm calling this loser out."
 
"That loser could obliterate you with a thought," She warned, "If it ever gets free."
 
"Ah, but it's not free," I said, "It's trapped behind the barrier and now it's writing badly out of character fan fiction….Keep chanting…" Then I added, "Please."
 
And she did. I was pissed as I grabbed another spear, not just because the thing was tainted, but the honor of my friends had just been insulted. I've got a real problem with liars saying crap about my friends. Pinprick could be a jerk, but he'd looked after me. Lady Obsidian believed in me every step of the way and was trying to warn me of the pitfalls of the calling. Tornado was becoming a friend. Arctic Fox had never let me down when the fighting started. And Ariana was too sweet a soul for that nonsense whether she wanted to date me or not.
 
Valorous?  Okay, I still felt Valorous was a jerk, but I was angry for their sake.
 
"Break it!" The now familiar command came.
 
"Whoops,"  I said to the void and Shattered the fourth spear! "Should have bought American, Eldest!"
 
The wave of self loathing… and another vision…
 
The battle was not going well. Lady Obsidian held the line! A force wall held back besieging tentacles hammering, hammering against the fields like a thousand sledgehammers! Pinprick's magic arrows did nothing, and something like a barracuda shot up and bit him clean in half before continuing onto attack the next one!
I could smell his blood in the water!
Arctic Fox froze foe after foe, but the undersea warriors kept coming, until one broke through a protective layer of ice and stabbed her right in the heart with one of the blessed spears! If it could penetrate my hide, why had I ever let them risk themselves! I could have taken the blow…
If I'd been there.
I saw Lady Obsidian's helmet sinking to the bottom of the sea trailing blood.
Tornado's lifeless body floated to the…
Tornado?
 
I shook my head, "You need to pay less attention to my fears and more to the logistics!" I seethed. That vision had hurt! I felt sick to my stomach. If I hadn't realized Torando was still laid up and on the base, that might have taken me out of it completely.
 
"Grab another and snap out of it!" Dr. Salem's voice was shrieking.
 
"Wrong order, but yes," I agreed and took the fifth, "Two more to go… hurry!"
 
But there was no rushing the ritual. The chanting went at its own pace.
 
And now it felt agonizingly slow. Despite my bravado, that last vision had rattled me.
 
"Break it!" She said.
 
Thank God, I thought, and snapped it ready for the…
 
The punch knocked me through the bank wall with such force that the stone work shredded like tissue paper. My own body certainly felt the impact.
Where was I?
I was back in North Carolina, in my home town.
I knew where I was…and I knew when I was.
"Oh god," I said and looked up into the masked face of Mister Brute. He wore a pin striped outfit that looked like a period piece from golden mafia days of old, or at least what Hollywood tells us they wore. The mask, such as it was, was more phantom of the opera than anything.
I had never felt a punch as hard as the one he delivered.
"Eel, is it?" The man moved through the hole in the wall he'd just created using my body, "Eel, I warned the others that this little bank robbery was beneath us. Especially in a small town like this, I doubted it would have much of worth, but…well, they wheedled and since we had time before our real job started elsewhere, I indulged them."
"Aren't you a sweet heart?" I said cockily, far too cockily for one who had just gotten his bearings again, and lobbed a manhole cover at him with all my might as a distraction.
He caught it quicker than I thought possible, "Nice throw. Now, little did we expect this place would have a hero guarding it. I admire your dedication, but you are outnumbered, and frankly, over matched. Stay down, boy."
He flung the manhole cover back at me with twice as much force as I'd managed. I tried to move to the side but it still clipped me knocking me like band English on a pool shot.
"Get bent!" I said, backing away from the bank as I got up again, and motioned him to follow me. I needed to get him away from the crowds.
"You warned him!" A woman's voice, and the popping of flames. Firebug was one of those villainesses who enjoyed showing her body off. It wasn't like anyone was going to touch her without permission, not with blue edged flames all over her, the body said come hither, the eyes added 'and die'.
Flames burst around me and I felt it all over again! The heat searing my flesh, the light blinding me. So much stronger than what Bodysuit had managed. I grabbed for the firehydrant to open it…
And for my trouble I bled, badly. Something shot by me faster than I could see, and cuts appeared along my torso.  I called out, surprised.
"Slice has her moments," Mr. Brute said and only now did I get a glimpse of the blurring figure carrying the knives, "Speedsters, not common, but not unheard of. Now ones with blades that can cut through almost anything or anyone, and training in those blades? That's rare. "
"Can we just finish him off already?" Slice's voice was in one place on moment, by my ear the next, and then closer to Mr. Brute, "I'm bored." I realized another slash, this one across my belly was threatening to split wide open.
"Pay attention, Slice," Mr. Brute said, "Observe… he's kept an awareness of this place, where things are… the struggling for the hydrant? No doubt to try to direct a shot of water at Firebug. And he's been pulling us further away from the crowds. This is, in most ways, an intelligent young man… most ways, a truly intelligent individual would be running now. Besides, his plan isn't going to work, is it Dice?"
Dice turned out to be a bored looking blond man in a black body suit with a duster over it. The logo on his chess was that of Snake Eyes. He lowered his shades and there was a glow, "It's not his lucky day."
While they were talking about plans, I was putting them into action. I broke the hydrant open only to feel a rush of empty air flow in my face!
"Awww, just air in the line, what are the odds?" Dice laughed.
I'd never faced a probability manipulator before.  I flung the hydrant itself at him but my shot veered wide and all I did was succeed in breaking a window in the distance.
"That's your solution to ranged targets? " Mr. Brute frowned, "you throw things at them? You are not well equipped for certain challenges, are you? Come at me, boy. I may knock you around, but at least, I'll let you get close." And he walked with slow deliberate steps towards me.
I took the bait and swung at him, clocking him hard across the mouth!
"You asked for it," I said with a moment of satisfaction.
"I felt that, nice," He said, "Good. Again!"
I jabbed, and he grabbed my arm and swung me around like a child.
"Did you study any hand to hand? Do you have any idea how to apply power you've got?" Then he pinned me, "I mean, this is the boonies, I don't expect to find a Krav Maga practitioner, but surely you considered learning something beyond the basics?"
I arced up trying to break him with a sudden movement, but he kept the grip.
"Now assuming I'd be surprised by that is an insult to a man of my talents and experience," He frowned, "I don't like insults."
And he broke my arm.
I screamed. This had happened before, but the pain was no phantom. This wasn't fiction, this was real, it was memory, and it was a fact!
"I'm going to test your resolve," he offered, "Now, if you can last  one minute of what we're about to do to you without begging for mercy. I will only kill one person here. If you can last five… no one , with the possible exception of yourself dies. See, I want to teach you a lesson about numbers, and the value of team work. I want to teach you to respect experience. But first… I want to see what you're made of. And just how dedicated you are to this protection of the innocent. If you agree to this little test, we'll begin. Refuse it, and I'll have Firebug torch every building on this block and send slice loose. Do we have a bargain?"
Firebug landed nearby. I couldn't reach her.
"You're insane," I sputtered at them all.
"With a name like Apocalyptic you expected warm and fuzzy?" Firebug turned her fingers towards the nearest building and flames built up.
"Three, two…" Mr. Brute said as calmly as you might time an egg.
"Fine!" I said, these nuts would really do it, just to make a lesson clear to other heroes, "I agree!"
"Brave choice," he nodded sounding like he almost admired it.
"It's not a choice at all," I spat at his face. The glob hit the side of his cheek, "Go fu…"
"Oh, now you've made it personal," He nodded to Firebug, her hand burst into flame and touched my wounds.
And I screamed and I screamed and I…
 
"Wake up," Doctor Salem informed me! "The ritual, we can't let it slip!"
 
I was in a fetal position again. I was too scared to touch the last two spears. I was terrified, "I can't…" I shivered, "I can't experience that again, the pain the helplessness... the… I'll rather die."
 
"Young man, when the last one in your possession breaks the other heroes will be able to destroy the spears themselves without the curse striking them! They'll be able to stop this at the source! The connection of the conduits will see to that! Without it, they will be helpless at best, and most likely some of them will die as the rage eventually turns them upon each other. The choice isn't would you rather die… the choice is would you rather them die?"
 
"You're wrong," I said, reaching for the next, "That's not a choice at all." And when she said break it, I did.
 
My brother didn't hear me. The car came streaking by and I raced towards it… ready to pull him to safety. I would save the day, I would save…
I was seven years old, and seven-year-old don't out race speeding cars.
"Kevin!" I cried out.
 
More chanting, and a voice telling me "Break it!"
 
I grabbed the last one, numb, on autopilot. My brother was dead all over again.  And the feeling that it was my fault somehow was as strong as it was the first time.
I was tempted to plunge the last spear in my chest and end it all.
 
I don't know where I found the strength to break it.
 
I don't remember what vision I saw after that. I think… I think I retreated into catatonia for a moment. Only dimly did I catch a glimpse of  Dr. Salem taking the spear she had been using and snapping it between her own spindly fingers.
 
I had made that possible.
 
And now it would be possible for all the spears—everywhere.
 
I blacked out unable to feel victory, satisfaction, or even hope.

The Pike Munition
 

A couple from this week's Star Wars Edge of Empire game:
 
Our ship has two GNK "Gonk" Droids as NPCs. The way our GM plays them is that they have a full & complex language when talking to each other, but to everyone else (including my protocol Droid PC) it all sounds like "Gonk gonk." Early on, they took it upon themselves to christen our ship, so it's now known as The Gonk Gonk.
Recently, we picked up a 3rd Gonk...
Mechanic: "So does that mean our ship is now The Gonk Gonk Gonk?"
GM: "The Gonks all look at you weird and mutter among themselves like you just said something wildly inappropriate. After a few minutes, they file into the cockpit and hand the Captain a piece of paper. It looks like an HR Form for a hostile workforce complaint. But it's hard to be sure because all the blanks are filled in with "Gonk gonk gonk gonk gonk!""
Captain: "What did you say to them?!"
Mechanic: "Apparently I have no idea."
 
We also found an...interesting quirk in the EofE rules while trying to repair some hull damage:
GM: "Anyone who has Mechanics can assist. If you don't have Mechanics, you can use Athletics instead."
Player 1: "Wait, how does that work?"
GM: "It means you're using a more brute-force approach, welding plates in place and so forth."
Player 2: "Are you telling me I can literally buy ranks in I Kick It Until It Works? That's...the most Genre thing ever!"
Player 3: "I am so putting XP into that..."

For those of you still with us...well, THANK YOU... *Cough* I mean, here we see evil magics are a pain in the rump even when you mostly resist them
 
"You're bleeding," I realized a bit too late after putting the last spear into the tarp wrap we'd had ready on the shore, feeling like an idiot for not noticing it before. It looked like at least one shot with a spear had tagged Tornado.
 
"A gash," he said, shrugging it off, but I didn't like the look of it. It wasn't deep, true, but it was deep enough to cut and still awfully red and… it didn't look healthy.
"Yeah, well, you should get Doctor Salem to look into it," I told him with concern, "And you know Ariana is going to worry."
 
"She doesn't need to see this," He said, meaning the latter no doubt, "And she's not going to if you…"
 
"Hey," Ariana said approaching. She gave both of us stern looks. I suppose it was too much to hope that she'd forgive us for the overhead communication, "Everything okay?"
 
"See," Tornado whispered at me, "You jinxed it." Then he smiled at her, trying to keep his wounded thigh facing me instead of her, "I'm fine."
 
"You're lying," She scowled.
 
"Hey, it's not nice to accuse someone of lying," He protested.
 
"Even when they are lying?" She countered.
 
"Especially when they are lying," Tornado asserted, "Besides, you're mad at us, remember. You're supposed to be snubbing us, not fussing."
 
"I can do both," Ariana said trying to get a look at him.
 
He kept turning in little bursts to the side keeping the wound constantly juuuust out of sight.
 
"Stop that," She insisted.
 
"Stop what?" Tornado smirked.
 
I saw a chance to get a bit further out of the doghouse and took it, "It's a long gash on his upper left leg… it's shallow, but it doesn't look clean. I think Doctor Salem should take a look at it."
 
"Dude," Tornado shot me a glare, "Seriously?"
 
Ariana gave me an assessing look, but rewarded me, well, not with a smile, but less sternness then took advantage of Tornado stopping to look over her barely older Uncle's injury.
 
Now it was safe for me to shoot Tornado a smirk.
 
"He's right," Ariana said, "That looks bad. You're not healing as fast as usual."
 
"He got stabbed plenty and he's fine," Tornado countered, "or will be after a few more minutes in the water.'
 
"You're not him," Ariana said, "And we don't know how these 'blessed' objects work. Fly back to the base. I can give Eel a ride…we can deliver the spears."
 
"Uh huh, no way," Tornado said, "I do not want you near those things. They make you mean, flat out hateful. I only held one for a brief time and I got nasty."
 
She  rolled her eyes, "I figured that's why he was wrapping them up."
 
"Maybe I should just hoof it," I told them, "I mean, these things make you hateful and nasty and even distance…"
 
Arina walked over, and ran her fingers over the tarp, and frowned, "I see what you mean. I don't have the gift of the third eye or anything, but getting this close makes me want to chew you out. I mean, I wanted to before."
 
"right, so hoofing…" I began to say
 
"Don't be silly," She said, "We put them in the back trunk. Now go change in the car, I carried some sweats that would fit either one of you," She looked at Tornado, "Go to the base fast, okay? Now would be good."
 
Tornado sighed and was off.
 
There was indeed a pair of gray sweats that fit me, and soon enough I was dressed. I shoved the tarp back into the trunk, grumbling and then cleared my head.
 
"It's that quick, is it?" She said.
 
"Yes," I admitted as I slid into the vehicle's passenger side "And apparently, I'm now more resistant than before, not that it feels like it."
 
"Let's hope we don't hit a traffic jam," She said, "I might strangle you."
 
"Don't joke," I said with a frown, "I don't want to lose my cool and I worry I could hurt you."
 
She sighed, "Okay, do you know how patroni…" She caught herself, "No, not doing that. You have superpowers that are way off my scale and you are not saying I'm weak, you're worried you are… in the noggin."
 
"Kind of," I smirked, "Not how I would word it. So how do we keep anger from leading to hate, and hate leading to movie quotes?"
 
"We…" Ariana thought about it, "Agree we only speak in compliments and we're always polite."
 
"You're kidding, "I said.
 
"You mean to say 'pardon me, but you're kidding', " She corrected, "And I'm not. You agree to try it?"
 
"Sure," I said, "You start the compliments first though," then I added, "Please."
 
"Fine, you're very brave, and you clearly care," She said.
 
"And?" I shouldn't have been flip, but already those spears were pinging at me, even from here.
"And it's your turn," She replied a touch of irritation in her tone.
 
I was just trying to lighten the mood, geez, "Okay, you're beautiful…" I said to her braying, well, it felt like braying with the dark magics of the spears nipping at my ego.
 
"Oh, is that all?" She snorted.
 
"I'm sorry," I glared, "Don't you mean 'thank you'?" She couldn't even follow her own rules!
 
She grit her teeth, "Thank you…so much."
 
"You're welcome," I snapped, "And yes, the spears are getting to me. I really want to tell you off right to your beautiful face."
 
"Yeah, well, it's a good thing you're so nice and kind of hot, or I'd pop you one," She was pissed, "I was mad at you before this."
 
"Yeah, I know," I rolled my eyes, then corrected, because she clearly hadn't been listening when I said these things would do that to us, "I mean you're very forthright, and I'm sorry I was worried about your life being endangered by knowing me and then I had the nerve to say I'd take care of you even though you're an amazing woman who any guy would want to protect."
 
"Thank you for recognizing your well-intentioned chauvinism," She mouthed off to me, "You don't smell like bad tuna at all!"
 
"That's a compliment?" I blinked, then bit down, "Beg Pardon, but was that a compliment? You're normally so good at making your wishes known."
 
"Well, I'm trying," She said, "Evil spears in the back, you heroic lifesaving meathead," She took the next corner hard.
 
"Thank you for trying, you smooth tongued harpy you!" I shot back.
 
"You're welcome!" She said, "I can't believe how much I want to kick your firm and masculine ass!"
 
"Please stop, you're making me blush! And if I may say, mad as I am, I STILL want to know you better, you interesting and good hearted shrew," I had to process everything from my raging thoughts into something kind of nicer, but the filter was really flubbing it.
 
"Well, you'll probably get your chance, because maybe I do have a thing for heroes, and maybe I still like you even if you and my Uncle were talking about me like I was a trading commodity on a stock room floor," She snorted and hit stop. I realized we'd driven around to a well concealed service road into the mall/base.
 
"Well, gorgeous," I said, "Thank you, because right now I kind of hate myself almost as much as you do. I hate screwing up with someone I like because I want them to like me back. I'm immature like that," I told her, "Now get away, because I have to cart eight rage fueled cursed objects to Dr. Salem!"
 
"No, no, thank you! And I have to go check on my idiot uncle and see if that weird wound has been tended properly while I contemplate how unhealthy this whole conversation has been! It's been a unique experience you…" And she switched to Spanish.
 
"Spanish is cheating" I said getting out of the car to get the stuff from the back.
 
She flipped me off, said more things in Spanish, and went on into the mall.
 
 
"Damn, this is messed up," I snarled to the air as I grabbed the tarp and followed.