"The Superiors" Universe stories
The Superiors - Genesis
This is a prequel to my Superior universe stories, telling how it all began. Hope you enjoy
Two years ago, on an archaeological dig near Mt. Vesuvius:
“Dad! Come quick!”
“What did you find, Cat?”
Catherine Anderson sighed at her father’s use of the nickname, and then pointed down into the dig site, saying, “Am I dreaming, or is that a Roman Centurion’s armor?”
The middle-aged man looked at the gleaming armor that was slowly being uncovered.
“My goodness. Not only a centurion but a commander, I’m sure of it.” He practically shouted.
“Dad ... if he was caught in the eruption , shouldn’t there be remains? And that armor looks so fresh!” Catherine said while helping brush dirt off the armor.
“I don’t know. But please be careful.” His father replied.
“It looks so new ...” Catherine said, and reached out her hand to the breastplate,
Then she screamed as a bolt of electricity transferred from the armor to her hand.
****
For a moment, all Catherine was aware of was darkness. Then there was a mountain, with a massive Roman temple at the top. Inside, there was a statue of a man in Roman armor like the one she had uncovered.
Then the statue began to speak ...
Catherine had done some studying in Latin and ancient Greek before taking this trip, and she felt sure that the statue was not speaking in either of those languages, Before she could think about this much, the statue began speaking plain English.
It said, “Soldier, you are called to arms. Enemies are at the gate, you must take up your armor and spear. The fates have decreed only you can hold back the darkness, so to arms!”
Catherine felt her heart quickened, and she felt a need to volunteer, shouting “give me armor and weapons. I will fight for the light!”
Piece by piece, a Roman centurion’s armor formed around her body.
And at the same time her body changed ...
She felt herself growing larger, stronger.
And within moments, she knew without any doubt, that she was no longer a “she”.
He was a man.
A very powerful man, at that.
She (He, now) blinked and was once more on the mountainside, and his father was gaping at him.
“Cat?” his father asked with a stammer.
“Not anymore.” He growled in response.
“What’s happened to you?” his father asked.
“I’m finally who I always wanted to be.” He replied.
*****
A few days later, at a secret location.
An announcement goes out: “Gentlemen, the situation has changed. Please come to my home.”
Shortly, there was a gathering at an ancient castle in Germany.
The first to arrive was Lord Dark Flame, as he now called himself. He was followed by the creature known as Nightmare, and then two more, the mad scientist who had named himself Dr. Destructo, and the mage called Caster.
All of them were wary of each other, but even more wary of their host, Baron Richthofen, otherwise known as the Red Baron.
Which was one reason they had last gathered at his castle five years ago.
Then they had been five frustrated women, brought together by a hatred of their gender and of their lack of power.
But Alice Richtofen, as she was then known, had said she found a solution.
She gave each one a map to a place of power, and said, “Let us seek these powers out. If we are successful, we will have all of our desires met.”
And despite the terrible cost they had each paid, they were now everything they wanted to be, but the Baron was rumored to be the most powerful of them all.
He seemed to be utterly confident, and said, “Welcome back to my home. We have all changed a great deal in the last five years, have we not?’
Lord Dark Flame, who thought himself powerful enough to challenge their host if needed, replied, “I doubt you called us here to catch up on our progress. Why have you summoned us?”
“Ah, I see you are still too impatient to enjoy social niceties. Well, I will get to the point. It appears the world now has a superhero” The Baron stated, and showed a picture of the former Catherine in the Roman armor, calling himself Commander Ares.
“And we should agree on a strategy to deal with him.” he added.
Nightmare asked, “How certain are you that this ... superhero is for real? What powers does he have?”
The Baron responded, “Trace the magic of the world, and see for yourself the explosion of magic that has been added in the last few days. As for power, my research indicates he has received a boon from at least one god, perhaps more. I would not take this individual lightly, when you face him.”
“So what do you suggest we do?” Caster asked.
“I suggest we test this hero”. The Baron intoned.
‘How do we do that?” Dr. Destructo inquired.
“Actually I believe you would be ideal for the first test,” the Baron replied with a smile, “since your new name suggests some ability in making disasters?”
“My patron, Tezcatlipoca, is a god of storms, among other things” Dr. Destructo replied.
“You should let Nightmare and I take him.” Lord Dark Flame interjected, “He has the power of Azathoth, one of the Great Old Ones, and I burn with the flame of Surtur.”
“Be patient,” The Baron said, “We will all get a chance to display our new powers, But for our first test, the good doctor will do, although perhaps he would be amiable to having Caster join him?”
Caster blushed, and said, “the trickster Anansi gave me this wand, but I need more practice in controlling it.”
“Well, do your best.” replied the Baron.
“You know each of our patrons, but you have not shared yours,” Nightmare said, “If we are truly going to work together, there must be mutual trust.”
“I fully intended to share that with you,” The Baron replied, “My main patron is Prometheus, of the Titans.”
“All right, I’ll ‘test’ the hero first, Caster can help if he wants.’ Dr. Destructo said, “Anything specific you want?”
“No, do as you will. But I caution you, to not reveal yourself unless you must.”
“Why?” Dr. Destructo asked.
“I would like to keep him in the dark about our existence for as long as possible. As long as he doesn’t know of us, we have an advantage.”
Dr. Destructo nodded, and the meeting broke up.
Two days later, an enormous tidal wave was threatening the East Coast of the United States.
However, Commander Ares was more than equal to the task, and in the end, no lives were lost.
At his castle, Baron Richthofen watched the reports of the wave and the ease with which Commander Ares handled the matter. Sometime later he received a call from Dr. Destructo, who reported on the incident, and reassured his ally that it was a good first attempt, and next time perhaps Caster would be able to get his wand to work.
The young man formerly known as Kate was taking care of some business of his own. In the aftermath of destroying the tidal wave, he had discovered he could disguise his armor and look like a regular person, and in that form applied for and received a name change, deciding on Charles. He also was able to reconcile with his father, who quickly realized that his child was a much happier person as a boy than he’d ever been as a girl.
These moments led to Charles discovering another power, an ability to sense good-hearted people, and to encourage them in doing good. It wasn’t mind control, he could not make them do things, just inspire them, and it had no effect on evil individuals whatsoever.
He had just gotten his private life settled when Caster struck.
He had created an army of “mud-men” from the banks of the Mississippi river, and sent them squishing towards St. Louis. Conventional forces had no luck in stopping them, as bullets simply passed right through the mud.
When he arrived, Commander Ares used an ability he had discovered dispersing the giant tidal wave, a kind of tactical sense, an ability to analyze a situation and find the best solution in a matter of seconds.
In this case, the solution involved his shield, which not only deflected bullets, but had the ability to disrupt magic.
So putting the shield in front of his body, he barreled towards the mud creatures, and with each hit he disrupted the magic animating them until there were none left.
Caster had managed to make himself scarce by the time Commander Ares finished, and for a while, things went back to normal.
Then, Nightmare took a turn.
He had Lord Dark Flame create an inferno, to draw Commander Ares out, and then he sent the hero into what he called the nightmare realm, a place between Earth and the home of the Great Old Ones.
Commander Ares might have been in trouble, but not long after he was sent to the nightmare realm, someone arrived to save him, a sorcerer who called himself The Doctor of Magic.
Together they sent Nightmare and Lord Dark Flame running, and then spent some time getting to know each other. The Doctor of Magic told him about being a girl, who found the eye of Odin, and with it became a sorcerer, powerful, serene ... and male.
Commander Ares realized that there was a group of villains opposing him, and even with the help of The Doctor of Magic, he needed more aid. He shared an idea he had for dealing with extraordinary threats, and the Doctor of Magic liked the idea, and they began working on it together.
The two of them made a televised appeal for the best and the brightest to come to New York harbor, where they were building a headquarters which Commander Ares called “The Compound”, and would be on a small island near Nantucket that the Doctor of Magic’s family owned.
While their enemies seemed to be laying low, the two of them spent time building the headquarters and hiring staff, and in a remarkably short time, the place was nearly ready, but Commander Ares said to the Doctor of Magic, “We’re doing well, but we are only two against who knows how many enemies with powers.”
“Don't worry about that,” the Doctor replied. My magic tells me we will have others with superpowers on our side, and soon.”
“Let’s hope they will be able to help out quickly. Our foes have been quiet too long.” the Commander stated.
“Time will tell.” The Doctor of Magic intoned.
The beginning ...
Loved it? Hated it? all comments appreciated
The Superiors: The Saga of E-Girl
I can look out the window and see most of the Compound, the official home for Commander Ares and his teammate, The Doctor. I had never imagined that I would be among them, nor just what it would cost me to join the ranks of the "Superior". The Doctor wants me to spend some downtime working through what happened, so that I can put the guilt behind me and move on.
I don't know if I can, especially since I am constantly seeing the face of my best friend every night in my dreams. Every night I try to save her, every night I fail, just like I
did in real life. Everything I have accomplished with my powers since, all the lives I have helped save, cannot seem to make up for that failure. Or at least that's how it seems when I am asleep.
So, rather than face the dream again, I'm going over what happened, hoping that somehow I can make sense of it.
I guess I should start with how "The Superiors" came into being. Super-powers had been the stuff of comic books and sci-fi movies for a long time. Personally, I think Someone was trying to prepare us for the day that those stories would become real. When Commander Ares first appeared about 4 months ago it was the biggest story ever, but remarkably quickly, we got used to having him here, and then the Doctor as well, and of course there are the bad guys too.
I mean, it's news when Ares or the Doc save the day, but it's like everybody just takes them for granted
We have adapted.
At the time I had a lot of other stuff on my mind, mostly trying to get through my classes and trying to figure out where I fit in the world. I was still in high school, and just about the only thing I liked about it was Debbie Kelly. If compassion and gentleness had a face, it was hers.
She was my idol, and I was far from her only admirer. She had a light that emanated from within, and it brightened the world wherever she went, every day of her life. Until the day that light went out forever, and my world turned dark.
And yet it started so well. It started with her bubbling with good news about a trip to an island of Greece. A friend of her father's was an archaeology professor, and he sent a message saying that he had found a temple to Gaia, the earth goddess of the ancient Greeks. I was so overwhelmed with her infectious joy that I even managed to feel good for her boyfriend who was supposed to go with her. But the day before she was supposed to go, he managed to break his leg hanging lights in the school theater.
She suddenly decided that she didn't want to go alone, and for some reason asked me to come, because, she said, she knew I was crazy about the old myths and stories. A quick check with my mother and before I knew it, I was on an airplane with the most remarkable human being I had ever met, and we were headed for adventure.
So, after we arrived in Greece, it was a short boat ride to the island where the temple had been found. I was surprised to discover that beyond ourselves and the guide who had brought us, there were only 3 people on the island, including the professor who had invited Debbie. I asked about this, and the professor said that his local help had left as soon as they had unearthed the entrance at the top of a mountain on the island. Apparently the temple was about 50 feet below that spot, and they had rigged some ropes and a ladder to go down to the temple.
We had only been there an hour when a message for the professor came on the radio, and he asked us to hold the fort overnight and he would be back in the morning. If we had been a couple, it would have been amazingly romantic, but because she didn't see me that way, I quickly retreated to my tent and tried to suppress the attraction I felt for her.
While I was having my sleepless night, I heard a voice coming from the temple.
I went out and saw Debbie going toward the temple like she was sleepwalking. I found myself following, almost like I couldn't help myself. Debbie grabbed one of the ropes and began rappelling down like an expert. I followed using the ladder. Normally I am not found of heights, but this strange desire to follow overcame my fear.
Once down the hole, I looked around and saw Debbie going to a space in the wall and heard her speaking words in a language I couldn't understand, but somehow guessed was ancient Greek. The space opened, and beyond it was a large cave, and in the center was an altar, and behind the altar was the Goddess, Gaia, the Earth Mother. She appeared to be about 7 feet tall, covered from head to toe in green, and glowed with a vitality that is
hard to describe, but impossible to forget.
She approached Debbie, and Debbie quickly sank to her knees in adoration. The Goddess took her hand, raised her to her feet and said, "Welcome, my daughter, the time of destiny has come at last". She then said, "I have witnessed the coming of Ares and the other superior beings, and I made a pact with the Fates to create a heroine to represent my interests in this new heroic age. I will give you a portion of my power, the power to summon the spirits of the 4 elements - the Earth, the Air, the Water, and the Fire. This power will be placed in my belt, which I will give to you. Wear the belt, and call my name, and take the shape of the Heroine you wish to be."
"But be careful," she continued, "once you touch the belt again and say my name again, you will become your mortal form and be unable to transform again for 24 hours. Also, you must prevent anyone else from using the belt for the next 24 hours, or they will be able to access your power," she added. She placed the belt around Debbie's waist, and stood back and said, "Call my name, daughter, and choose your form, and fulfill your Fate!"
Debbie touched the belt, called out, "Gaia!" and was transformed in a blinding flash into E-Girl. I will never forget that moment, when she spun around in her super-hero outfit. It reminded me of our school's cheerleader outfits, but in green, with a white "E" on a cape, the symbols for the 4 elements on the chest along with the symbol for female, and another white "E" on the waist.
She called to me and said, "Isn't it fantastic?"
I must have seemed shocked, because she said, "Gaia," again and became herself.
"Come on!" she said, "let's go back up. I can't wait to get started!"
I paused and looked at the Goddess. She seemed to be looking at me strangely, almost sadly. I was going to speak to her, when Debbie called me again, and I turned to follow her up. And that's where my nightmare starts.
I have tried to avoid thinking of what happened next. Dreaming of it every night is hard enough. But the Doctor is convinced that by processing it, I will defuse its power over me.
Its worth a shot.
Debbie was more than half-way up when I began to climb the ladder. As I said, I am not over-fond of heights, so by the time I was a third of the way up I was totally focused on staying on. Then the earth shook, and I heard Deb scream.
I was helpless, on the other side of the pit when she fell. I reached out as far as I could while holding on to the ladder but I was too far away. She fell past me, and landed on the ground below. I scrambled down, and realized that she was hurt badly. I panicked, I went back to where the temple was but the Goddess was gone.
I went back to Deb, and as I wondered how I could possibly get her to safety, the words of the Goddess came back to me, the for the first 24 hours someone else could use the belt and summon the elements. I took the belt off Deb, put it on and shouted, "Gaia!"
The transformation took only seconds. I felt the power within me, and I knew what I could do.
There was only one thing wrong. I wasn't me. I wasn't even an ideal version of myself. I was her. I was E-girl.
I somehow managed to push aside my involuntary sex-change, and forced myself to deal with the issue at hand. I summoned the elemental force of Air, and floated upward, with Debbie in my arms. Once we were above ground, I sped as fast as the wind would take me toward Athens.
It was Debbie's only hope.
A few tense minutes later, I was looking for a hospital. I landed at the emergency entrance of a hospital attached to an American base, and quickly gave the care of Deb to the staff there.
I was going to wait until they finished working on her, but one of the nurses pointed to a
TV in the waiting room, and it showed the reason for the earthquake. Mount Olympus was erupting, and it was not a natural event, but being caused by one of the few super-villains around. I glanced back at the operating room where the doctors had Deb, but the nurse said to me,"Trust the doctors, they will do everything they can. Meanwhile, you are
needed. Go save other lives, we will try and save hers."
I looked at her, and realized she was right. As long as I had these powers, I needed to do something good with them.
Soon I was airborne again, about to confront a super villain.
It was something I had sometimes dreamed of, I just never thought I would be doing it in the body of a beautiful young woman. Not that I had any time to reflect on my changed shape. I was running on adrenaline, and my brain seemed to be on auto-pilot.
In what seemed like seconds, I was approaching the madman the papers called Dr. Destructo, and shouting at him to stand down. He turned, noticed me, and yelled out. "You are not the one I am waiting for. I want that fool Ares, or I will destroy Athens!"
As if on cue, the hero called Ares streaked into view and said,"You want me, you got me Destructo!"
I decided to let the boys play while I summoned the elements of Earth and Fire to put out the volcano. The two men were struggling together, when suddenly Destructo said, "Now, Nightmare, now!" and a rip appeared in the sky above us, and began to pull Ares in. I raced to grab Ares by the hand and tried to escape the pull of the rip. But it was too strong. We were sucked in. And then, things got really weird.
We were pulled into Nightmare's realm, which is just about impossible to describe.
When they found me, I was reliving the fall of Deb for what seemed like the thousandth time. The Doctor had arrived, and he used his magic eye, and we were back in reality. We had been gone for hours, apparently.
Thing is, they both assumed the only nightmare I had faced was the one they had witnessed, and the Doc had been treating me accordingly, although I am pretty sure he knew I was holding something back.
See, the worst part wasn't having to watch me fail to catch my best friend in time over and over again. It was coming to face with the fact I was now inhabiting the body of a
girl. Actually, that wasn't it either. It was the realization that I didn't mind being one.
Shouldn't the loss of my masculinity been horrifying? But it wasn't. Instead, it was like being a boy was a burden that had been weighing me down, only I didn't realize it until that weight was lifted.
What was I supposed to do with that feeling? I couldn't process it. Even my failure to save Deb paled in comparison.
Once we were back, they wanted to take me to the compound and have me checked out, but I desperately wanted to get back to Deb and give back the belt before the time ran out.
And then just to make things more difficult, a minor-league villain called The Caster decided to pick that moment to show up and attack.
He tried to zap Commander Ares, and hit me instead. Ares had him restrained in seconds, and turned back to me, but I shook off the effects of The Caster's blast, and was in the air headed back to the hospital. Ares started toward me, but Doc said, "Let her go,
Commander."
I landed in the parking lot, and decided it was a long past time for me to get out of this form, so I said the name, "Gaia!"
Then I tried to take off the belt. Only I couldn't. Between the time I spent in Nightmare's realm, and Caster's spell, I was bonded to the belt as Debbie had supposed to have been. I swore and thought "What the heck am I supposed to do?"
I decided the only thing I could do was to go back to Gaia herself and get her to get the belt off me and give it back to Deb. I decided I would do that right away, so without even going into the hospital, I took off for the island. It hadn't hit me yet that it was already too
late. I went to her temple, but I found no sign of her.
Then I heard a voice telling me, "It's time." It was Deb's voice.
Suddenly I knew I had to get back to the hospital. I flew back, and found the charge nurse, but as soon as I asked about Deb, her face fell, and I knew.
"She's gone," we said almost in unison.
"She died about 20 minutes ago," the nurse said, "I am sorry."
I didn't say anything, but just went out, and soon was flying again. So many different feelings were competing for space in my head I am surprised I didn't fly into something. I realized just how much I had loved Deb, how much I was going to miss her, how guilty I felt for not saving her. I also felt that she was the only person I would trust with the knowledge of my gender change was her.
I felt sure that if anyone could help me sort out what that meant, it would have been her. I am not sure how long I had been flying when the Doc spotted me, and led me back
to the compound, where I have been since
I did manage to convince the Doc that I needed to go to Deb's funeral, even if all I had to wear was the E-Girl uniform.
By the end of that day, I had buried my friend, and had a unique conversation with both
her folks and my own. It helped that I had an even more unique conversation with Gaia before the funeral. She said that the Fates told her that Debbie was doomed to die, and so she felt she had no choice but to prepare a replacement, me. She told me that the belt and I are one, and there is no turning back, but If I wanted to appear as a mortal girl I just had to put on regular clothes over the uniform and that's all anyone would see.
She then showed me my past, and through it I saw the truth. I was always supposed to have been a girl.
She also had another surprise for me, Deb, in spirit form. Deb assured me that she doesn't blame me, and that she is happy and at peace. Gaia also told me I would have help making the transition from boy to girl. So on our way to my hometown to pay our respects at Deb's funeral, I came clean to both Ares and the Doc.
I had debated with myself whether or not I should, but I was convinced that if I was going to be a member of their team, I have to be able to be honest with them. Ares' reaction was priceless. He is an old-fashioned man's man and you could tell the concept gave him pause. But he showed why he is admired by almost everyone when the confusion he
obviously felt was replaced by acceptance. Doc was a lot harder to read.
But I am glad I did it, because it was a good rehearsal for the meeting with my folks and Deb's parents. I told her folks how much she had meant to me, and then I told mine who I was, and what had happened to me.
Then in a week of surprises I got a couple of pleasant ones. My mom said to me, "Sweetie, I knew you were a girl when you were inside me. I was shocked when you came out looking like a boy."
Then Deb's mom said "Hun, we are going to be hurting for a while, and we are going to miss our daughter like crazy. But if you need help learning how to be a girl, I want you to know you can call on us. I am convinced that's what Deb would have wanted."
Then the Doc said to my mom, "It is for the best if everyone believes that your son had died in Athens with the young lady."
I replied, "No. I am not lying or hiding anymore. Nobody knows how many young boys have a history like mine, and feel ashamed because of it. The only way to counter that shame is with honesty."
So that's what I did. I held a press conference a couple of hours later, with my parents at my side, and told the world my story. The reaction has been, needless to say, mixed. But I believe I made the right choice. I am already getting messages from young people who feel trapped in their birth gender, full of despair that they will ever be accepted as who they really are, and how glad they are that I'm out there, being a positive role model.
So now I have even better reasons to be the best heroine I can be. Because I can make a difference to all those kids. And having spent all day working through it, and reading those messages again, I have realized that the Doc was right.
I may stumble and feel guilty at times in the future, but I now realize the death of my friend wasn't the end of the story.
And you know, I think I am going to be okay after all.
Here Comes the Troubleshooter!
Here comes the Troubleshooter!
Entry 1: I cant argue with Carl, at least not about this. He thinks its a good idea to write down my cases, both for myself, and possibly as a way to get business. I’m not a professional writer, but I’ve done enough incident reports that I’ll give it my best shot.
So where do I start? Well, today’s case was pretty typical of what I do now. I had a client who wanted a drug den moved out of her neighborhood, so I spent a couple of days doing recon on the place, figuring out the best way to .... convince them moving would be a good idea.
Now if I was still the old me, I wouldn’t have worried two cents about drug dealers. I mean, if you’re stupid enough to take drugs, you’re just taking up space in the gene pool, so who cares? But as the saying goes, that was then, this is now.
Once I had made my recon, I put on my uniform, and get busy. The place looks like a typical three bedroom, one floor house, but they’ve reinforced the door, and I’m pretty sure the windows have been replaced with bullet-proof glass. Its only got one real weak spot, so I wait for a tweaker to come to to the door, and slip in behind him.
Once I’m in the door, I toss a special toy created by Carl into the main room. Its a customized version of the flash-bang devices police use, and it does the job nicely. It pops off a loud noise and bright light like the police version, but then it does much more. It produces a continual scream, flashing lights, and as a last touch, tear gas.
Within a minute the people inside the house are totally off balance, and that allows me to do my thing. There’s about a dozen people in the main room, mostly tweakers who aren’t going to be a problem. But there are three guys with sidearms, and one dude with a shotgun, so I move fast.
Spin heel kick takes out shotgun dude, then judo flip throw handles one guard who makes the mistake of reaching for me instead of his weapon. I leap over to guard two, and take him out with an elbow to the solar plexus followed by a uppercut to chin with the heel of my hand.
Last guy has got his weapon out, so I take out a throwing star and hit him in the wrist with it, forcing him to drop the gun. I pull out my sword, and get the guys attention by putting it an inch from his crotch, which puts the breaks on any ideas of resistance he might have had.
“Downstairs.” I shout into his ear, and soon we are headed for the basement.
Once down there, I say “Where are the drugs? And if you try to lie to me you’ll lose your family jewels.”
He points to the freezer, and I smile, even though he cant see it behind the mask covering the lower half of my face.
I cuff him to a pipe, and go to the freezer. I take out a layer of Hungry Man dinners, and then hit the jackpot.
I go back over to the guy, and put my blade to his neck.
“Can you hear me?” I ask him politely.
He squeaks out “Yes.”
“Good. I have a message for you to take to whoever runs this house. Move out of this neighborhood. Or I’ll be back.”
I then pull out a napalm grenade out of my bag, and toss it into the freezer.
I’m up the stairs and out the door by the time it goes boom.
I do a zigzag course back home, and sneak into the garage, where we keep my hero stuff. I hang up the belt and the bag, and strip off the suit. Its a marvel, one of Carl’s best works - light as anything, smooth as silk to my skin, and yet tough enough to turn a blade or stop a bullet.
I pull off the black wig, and remove my DD padded bra (gives guys somewhere to look other than my face), and then my jockey shorts (Yeah, I like men’s briefs. Got a problem with it?) Then I slip off my gaff, and let my little soldier breathe again.
I take a peek at myself in the mirror, and shake my head. Even with a buzz cut and no makeup I look like a girl with something extra between her legs, just like I have for the last year, since my encounter with a goddess left me with a curse.
I take a quick shower, and go upstairs, to where Carl is making me dinner. Even in bare feet he hears me coming, and turns and smiles at me. He’s a big guy, and even though he isnt a soldier anymore he still carries himself like one.
Dumb-ass “Dont ask, dont tell” policy ended his military career, but he seems happy now.
“How did it go? Or considering how horny you look do I even need to ask?”
I blush a bit, realizing that both my breasts and my male equipment are at full attention. “It went great. And yes, I’m randy as hell now.”
“Well, supper is ready, you should eat first.”
“As long as I get you for desert.”
What follows after food isnt for public consumption, but lets just say both of us will be walking funny for a while.
He’s dropped off to sleep with a smile still plastered to his big mug, while I try and wind down on my own. My stamina is beyond human, so what exhausted him only made me slightly less amped up, so this is the perfect time to type this out on the computer.
Beyond human.
I’m still getting used to that.
Suddenly, I do feel sleepy, so I’ll sign off for now. Maybe next time I’ll tell the story of how I ended up being who I am now.
But no promises.
*******
Here Comes the Troubleshooter! Part 2 - The Troubleshooter transforms.
Next morning I wake up to Carl cooking an omelet. He approaches cooking like he does his inventions, and more often than not the results are amazing. Which is a good thing because I have super-strong senses including taste, which can be a lot less fun than you might think.
While I’m waiting for breakfast, I put on the TV and they’re showing footage of the latest Superior. He looks like a teenager, maybe eighteen years old, and he’s pretty good. Apparently, some robbers took off with a bank truck full of money, and then this kid comes out of nowhere, doing better than sixty miles an hour, without a car. Then he makes this amazing leap and lands in front of the truck. He sticks out a hand like a policeman trying to control traffic, and the truck hits him dead on.
The truck breaks apart like he was made of solid steel, and shortly the robbers are in custody, and the kid takes off without talking to the press. Just as the talking heads were starting to chatter about him Carl called me to come eat, and I put the kid out of my head. I might be more than human, but I have no interest in joining Commander Ares on his Compound. Let him and his friends handle the super-villains out to take over the world, I’m carving out my own niche.
After we ate, Carl went down into his workshop to do his thing, and I went to have a bit of a workout. I get into that zone you can sometimes find when doing something really physical, and so I miss the warning signs that my curse is about to hit at full force again. It isnt until the pain starts that I remember why Carl didnt have me booked for any appointments today.
Trust me to be dumb enough to forget what day it was.
I must have cried out when the pain hit, because by the time I hit the floor Carl was with me, cradling my head.
Part of me wants to push him away, to not let him see me like this. The other part wants to hold on to him with everything in me.
The “hold me” part wins - this time.
By the time my transformation is done, I have fur, a tail and a face like a cat-human hybrid. I wept, and Carl soothed me until I gained control of myself.
“Come on Andi.” Carl said, and took my hand. He led me across the room, tossed aside a rug, and pulled on the ring beneath it.
He led me down into a cave below our house, and it was a wonder, and perfectly designed for my current form.
If I had been capable of speech, I would have thanked him a thousand times.
I kissed him instead.
Once we both got our breath back, he asked me, “Do you want me to stay down here with you? Or would you rather be alone?”
As much as I love him, I hate having him deal with me in this state. So I guided him back to the stairs and motioned that he should go.
I kept myself together until he was gone, and then I let go.
The next couple of days are a bit of a blur, because my thinking was not quite human. I was a creature of mostly instinct, and hardly aware of much else. Carl came down a couple of times a day to check on me and to leave me some food, which I probably would have refused if I had the choice. In the state I was in, I much preferred to catch my food while it was still alive ....
On the third day I returned to my normal state, and Carl helped me climb back up into the house.
“Thank you. For all of this. I’ve been dreading my change, but at least down there I’m safe.”
“My pleasure.”
“Carl, why are you so good to me?”
“You have to ask? I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.”
“I was a big strapping man then.”
“That was just the package. Its what’s inside you that makes you special. Like how you’re using your gifts to help regular people .”
“For a fee. I’m working for the cash. I’m no hero.”
“If that’s what you need to tell yourself.”
I just glared at him.
“Listen, speaking of work, there’s an offer on the table that could help us a lot financially.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“It means going back to the Middle East.”
“Just great. Back to where this crazy thing started.”
So I guess I should actually talk about how I ended up like this before any readers get so annoyed at me they quit reading.
For me, it started when I met Carl. I was an Army grunt, but I had dazzled my superiors with my skills as a sharpshooter, and they were trying to figure out how to best take advantage of me. They decided to pull me from the front lines and make me a guard inside one of our desert bases, so I wouldnt get blown up by an IED while they worked things out.
I wasnt broken up about not getting killed, but I found waiting for them to make up their minds about me frustrating. Then I bumped into a guy in almost the same exact position - Carl.
He had started life as a regular soldier, but the inventions he was banging out on his off-hours had gotten the attention of the powers that be, and so they dropped him into a desk job until they could figure out the best way to take advantage of his talent.
With not much to do but kill time together, we became close, a lot closer than I had wanted. He was gorgeous , and having a brain as well as body is pretty damn sexy, but I was interested in going places I wouldnt reach if I got kicked out of the army for being gay.
Which didnt dissuade him, and eventually, he got me in bed. And as hard as I was fighting against it, I was losing my heart to him.
Even as I told myself not to. I tried to remind myself that love is a mug’s game, that such a relationship couldnt last under the conditions we were under, that if anybody found out I’d lose everything, but I did it anyway.
And of course, we were found out. Our CO was turning a blind eye to us, but someone on base decided we were doing something horrible, and managed to get some film of us with our pants down.
The court-martials didnt take too long, and soon we were headed back to the States in disgrace. Carl invited me to stay with him, and I took him up on the offer, trying to kid myself that it was just because I had no other place to be.
Our little vacation lasted about six months.
Then Pitchriver, a company that did work in both the military and intelligence communities, got a hold of Carl’s record, and decided they had to have this wiz-bang inventor working for them.
Carl agreed, but only if it was a package deal - they wanted him, they had to take me too, and no more hiding our relationship.
To my utter astonishment, they said yes.
So we were off to the desert again. Carl was given a state-of-the-art lab to play with, and I was given a job as self-defense instructor, and life seemed pretty good.
Until a crazy lady showed up, claiming to have solved the riddle of the Superiors.
Ever since Commander Ares had made his debut, people have been trying to find or create their own superhero, and failing, but this lady had figured out the problem.
Apparently, you needed a god.
And just our luck, she knew where to find one.
Pitchriver took one look at its roster of employees, and decided I was the best candidate to be elevated to being a Superior, and since I was pretty much going stir-crazy without something meaningful to do, I said yes.
Carl thought I was crazy, but said he’d back me if its what I wanted, so I kissed him goodbye and went off with this woman to find ourselves a god.
In retrospect, I’m really glad Carl didnt come with us.
Because that’s where everything went to hell.
Here comes the Troubleshooter!
Part 3: The Secret Origin of the Troubleshooter.
It feels like my life is about to go through a replay, and it wasnt all that much fun the first time. Last time I started to write down how I became what I am now, and got as far as me and Carl working for a company called Pitchriver in the MIddle East. And as I type this, I’m in a private plane headed back to the middle east with Carl at my side.
The reason why I stopped where I did was Carl came into the room, and decided I needed some.... relaxation after my last couple of days.
A couple of hours of his tender care later, I was VERY relaxed....
This morning I got into a slightly modified version my Troubleshooter outfit, and over it I put on a blouse and skirt set that would have looked quite appropriate for most offices. I put my wig into a more professional style, packed most of the weapons into a briefcase, and had this laptop in a case as well.
Now we are onboard the private plane of our client, trying to ignore the history between Carl and I and this company, and I finally have time to finish telling about how I got changed. As I said before, it started with this crazy lady showing up at Pitchriver with the offer of helping the company create its very own Superior. She claimed her name was Dr. Felis, and somehow convinced the company bigwigs that she was serious enough that they decided to give it a shot, and picked me as the person they wanted to elevate to superhero status.
Apparently, you couldn’t just summon a god anywhere. It had to be a place where the god was worshiped, that is, a temple. So she and I and a group of soldiers headed for an ancient city in Egypt where the god was worshiped.
It wasnt until we arrived that she corrected my idea of “a god” and instead admitted we were after a goddess.
I shrugged. What difference could it make?
We went into the ruin of a town, and she began directing us until we go to an old building, and said the temple was under it. Apparently, the desert had blown in enough to cover over the entrance, so the soldiers had to work for a couple of hours to expose it, and then we went in.
What happened next was not fun. You may remember in the first Indiana Jones movie, the place with all the booby traps?
Well, this temple had real ones, and it cost us three good men setting them off.
So it was with a smaller and much more pissed off crew that we got to the main area of the temple, and for the first time I caught a look at this goddess we were trying to get to do us a favor.
I thought, “Okay so she looked like a cross between a cat and a woman, so what?”
Dr. Felis set things up. while I felt ridiculous standing right in front of the dias. Then she began to chant in what sounded like Egyptian, trying to get the goddess’ attention.
Unfortunately, she succeeded, and the goddess was less than pleased ...
I didn’t understand all of the exchange, but the goddess said something about us not bringing the proper gifts, of bringing men of war to her temple, and something that sounded like punishment that would be taken.
And then she looked at me.
“You have skills, talents, potential. And yet you waste them in selfishness. When you learn better, you may serve.”
After I heard that, I passed out.
The next thing I knew, Carl was standing over me, and I looked like I did a couple of days ago - part man, part woman, and part cat. And even though a couple of days later I looked more human, I was a mess, spending most of my time curled up in a ball and crying.
Needless to say, the powers that be were less than pleased with that result, not to mention the fact that the soldiers who had gone with us were now a bunch of alley cats, and sent me back to the states.
Carl quit to look after me, taking me to the place he had inherited from his folks, and for a while, it was touch and go if I would live or choose to die.
Then, by chance, we were watching a re-run channel, and there was an old show on called “The equalizer.” It was about a former secret agent who now used his talents to help ordinary people, and I turned to Carl and said “I ... I want to do that.”
And that’s how the Troubleshooter started.
And it looks like I finished this story just in time, because we are about to land in the Middle East for the first time since we quit Pitchriver.
I’m so looking forward to it.
Not.
Here comes the Troubleshooter!
Part 4: The circle closes
Once we landed in the Middle East, we got ushered to a converted army base, where a bored looking guard called out our names without even looking at us. “Captain Andrew Mays and Sergeant Carl Ryan?”
“Actually, I go by Andi, now.” I said gently, “And we lost our ranks.”
He looked up, and did a double take. “Oh. Sorry.”
He didnt sound very sorry, which only made my bad mood worse, to the point I was ready to snap at anybody over anything, So when we made it to a large hangar and found most of the old Pitchriver gang including Dr. Felis looking like they were gearing up for something big, I turned to Carl and snapped, “Are you crazy? This is the bunch who dropped me like I was radioactive when their little summoning plan blew up in their face, and it looks like they’re about to try again. Why are we here?”
Carl looked down at the floor, and said, “Andi, please. I said yes to this for a couple of reasons, one is over here.” He pointed to a bunch of cats caught in cages, “They were able to find all the transformed men. I wanted to help restore them, if possible I ... signed off on the first trip, so ....”
I fumed, but realized he was dealing with his own guilt. “Okay Carl. For the men, I’ll do my best. But if we succeed, we’re on the next plane home, right?”
“Of course.”
I went over to Dr. Felis, and said, “You sure you got it right this time? That goddess of yours isnt going to get even more pissed off at us?”
“I have figured out what went wrong, and everything is set. Shall we go?”
“All right, let’s get this over with.”
We flew back to the ruins of the temple, and Dr. Felis set things up, saying “No soldiers this time, it offends her, apparently. And I’ve got some fruit, meat, and some gold and silver as gifts to the goddess.”
“Okay. Carl, you wait here, and we’ll be back with the men hopefully.”
“You sure you dont want me to come?”
“I’m not taking the chance. For all I know, we’ll all be alley cats by morning.”
He kissed me fiercely, and then said, “You come back, hear?”
“Gonna do my best.”
He turned to Dr. Felis, and said, “You better take better care of Andi this time. Or you’ll have me to deal with.”
Dr Felis said nothing, but just gathered her stuff and headed toward the temple, and me and two assistants followed behind her.
This time we didn’t set off any booby traps, so we were all in one piece by the time we entered the place where my life had changed. Dr Felis laid out her gifts on the altar, and then started her chanting.
Less than two minutes later, we were in the presence of the goddess. She pointed at our offering, and it vanished.
“Much better, mortal.” She said to Dr. Felis.
Then she came over to me. “As for you, I offer you a choice. I can restore these,” she pointed to the cats in their cages, “Or I can restore you to your original form. What do you choose?”
“Restore the men. I’ll be fine as I am.”
She smiled at me, and said, “You’ve made progress, mortal. I will restore these men, and give you a gift as well. Now, when you transform into your cat form, you shall retain your human intelligence.”
I didnt trust myself to say anything, and just like that, she was gone.
It was at that point we realized we had not thought of everything. The men were restored, but we had forgotten to bring along clothes.....
So its the day after, and we’re flying home. Carl is snoring in the seat beside me, and I’m wrapping this up on our laptop while we fly.
If you’re wondering if I’m okay with being part man, part woman and part cat, well, the answer is I’m just fine. As long as I got Carl, I can deal with the rest of it, and with the gifts the goddess gave me I plan to make the world a little better, one client at a time.
Look out world.
Here comes the Troubleshooter.
Indestructible
“Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive...”
You can blame my grandfather for the fact I know that line. Its from a TV show from the dark ages called “The Six Million Dollar Man.” He likes to tell me he worked on the show.
Over and over again.
Somehow, he ended up with a lot of memorabilia from it too. A whole pile of props, mostly examples of the “bionic” parts. He also has copies of all the scripts, and worst of all, copies of film he er... liberated from the set.
The result is I’m probably the only person under forty who can recite the opening scene from that show from memory.
Really.
I make fun of him and his strange obsession with that show, but honestly, he is … an amazing guy. My parents died when I was eight years old, and he took me in and raised me. It couldn’t have been easy for him, especially since I was a girl. I’m even named after him, sorta. See, he is Henry Hollis, Sr., my dad was Henry Hollis Jr., and me?
I was born Henrietta.
Honestly.
Regardless, with no female help he had to assist me through crying over being flat chested, and then having a growth spurt in the chest area that hurt like anything, not to mention me learning about makeup, dresses, heels, and of course, boys.
And of course, having to deal with me developing a monthly cycle, a subject that made him shudder.
But he saw me through it all, right up until the day I died.
I was eighteen years old when the world changed forever. A man calling himself Commander Ares revealed himself to the world and it started a whole new era, one in which some people on earth had the ability to have powers far beyond the norm.
Soon after, others arrived, and it was like we were all living in a comic-book world. Girls and guys who could control the earth, who could fly, all the things we used to consider fantasy had come to life.
I pretty much ignored the whole thing.
I was busy having my last summer as a kid before attending UCLA, where I planed to take film classes. Yeah, somehow Gramps had finally rubbed off on me, and I was following in his footsteps.
And the fact that my boyfriend was also a student was just a coincidence, really.
I really loved the guy. He was movie-star handsome, strong, smart, funny, and had a cute butt. He could’ve had any girl in our school, but chose me and made me feel like the girl lead in a super romantic movie every time we were together.
We even died together.
Only I came back, sort of.
It happened my third year at college. He was driving me back to Gramp’s place, as I was going to stay there for the Christmas break, and like a lot of kids our age, we were not exactly being safe. My crazy boyfriend was speeding, and I was standing up with my head out the sun roof. I had taken my top off, leaving me just in pants and a bra, giving him a good look at my assets.
I must have been a bit too good at getting his attention. He took the last turn far too fast …
What happened next seemed like some really odd dream. I knew I was badly hurt, even dying, but I seemed to be beyond pain. I seemed to be floating above my body, only an observer, as Gramps limped up to the car as fast as his cane allowed.
He must have been waiting for me and seen the crash. He pulled me out of the wreck and took me home. Why he didn’t take me to a hospital, I don’t know. Instead, he took me into his workshop. I think somehow, he knew a hospital would be no help to me.
That’s when the changes started. My breasts that I was so proud of deflated like a couple of sad balloons. What was left of my face became angular, and I even got a five o’clock shadow.
Worst of all a male organ spouted between my legs like a bizarre weed.
Then things really got weird.
Whatever powered my transformation, it wasn’t enough. I was still dying.
“We can rebuild him...”
Gramps started grabbing the props from the show, and putting them on me and in me. And even though they were props, not real “bionic” parts, somehow, when they were put on me, they worked like they were the real thing.
By daybreak, I was … a real-life cyborg.
He’d just finished when he started feeling woozy, managed to call 911, and then fell over.
I was blissfully unaware of much of this at the time. My spirit had watched for a while, but then I was drifting, headed for the Light. You know, THE Light. I was just about there when I got intercepted - by a girl.
The girl was wearing some kind of toga, and had a veil thing that obscured her face. She told me I wasn’t done on Earth, that I had a destiny as a hero to fulfill.
Honestly, it sounded pretty corny to me, too.
She led me back to my body, which by that time had been moved and was laying in a hospital bed with my best friend Katy sitting beside me. She was holding my hand and crying. I looked down at that strange body, so changed since I last was in it, and said to my angelic companion, “No way. Let me go into the Light, please.”
“Not yet. You are needed here, for her, for the world. And as tough as it it will be, you’ll never be alone. You are watched over, and loved, in ways you cannot yet understand.”
With that, she faded, and I fell into darkness, a sleep without dreams.
When at last I awoke, I was looking up at soft lights on the ceiling. The sound of the occasional beep filled the air, almost drowning out soft snoring coming from the corner. I looked over and saw Katy sleeping, She had put a couple of chairs together and was wedged into the corner.
I looked at her and after a minute realized something I had not really thought of before.
I’d always known she was cute-looking, but now I was seeing her through different eyes. My friend was sexy as hell.
I felt blood rush to my cheeks, and …. other areas.
There isn't an easy way to describe what that felt like. It was weird, and uncomfortable, and …
Okay, okay, it felt kinda good, too.
I must have made a noise, because she stirred, and opened up her eyes.
“Hi,” I croaked.
“H... hi, Retta. You woke up!” She smiled, rushed over and hugged me.
The press of her breasts against my body created a feeling I could only wish to continue.
I tried to speak and failed.
“You must need some water. I’ll be right back,” she said, and after giving me a quick squeeze, she left.
I found myself admiring the wiggle in her walk as she walked away.
I thought, “What in God’s name had happened to me?”
She came back with a nurse in tow. The nurse cranked the bed so I was sitting up and handed me a glass of water with a straw.
I took a long sip, and got rid of the cotton feeling in my mouth.
“Thanks.” I managed, and realized how low my voice sounded.
“How are you feeling?” Katy asked.
“Not… sure just yet,” I said. I was squinting, so I added, “Can we turn down the lights?”
“I’ll close the curtains,” the nurse said, and went over to the window.
When she moved to the window, I realized I could clearly see her bra strap showing through her uniform.
It was all I could do to prevent myself from trying to get a better look.
Trying to distract myself, I asked Katy, “What happened? Where’s Gramps? Is he okay?”
“He’s okay. He was exhausted and dehydrated when they got to you two, but otherwise okay. As to what happened … you were in an accident, and … you changed.”
“I had a strange dream … Am I a guy now?”
She nodded.
“How did you guys know I’m... me?”
“He managed to stay conscious long enough to tell the EMTs, before he passed out.”
“Can I see him?” I asked.
“Soon, I promise,” Katy said.
“I’d better tell the doctor you’re awake,” the nurse said, and left.
As soon as she was out the door, I told Katy, “Okay. I want to get up and look at myself.”
I pulled the blanket back and dropped my legs off the bed. I wobbled when my feet hit the floor, and Katy rushed to me, put my arm over her shoulder and hers around my waist, helping me stay upright.
“Whoa,” I said, and swayed for a few seconds.
“Take it easy, would you?” Katy said.
I just stood still for a moment, and then realized the position we were in. She was holding on to me tight, and she smelled nice, and her body felt warm and soft and …
I forced myself to think of other things, like getting my legs working
Finally, I staggered to the bathroom, and with some reluctance told Katy, “I’m okay.”
She let go a bit, but stayed very close, close enough to send little shivers across my spine.
I focused on the image in the mirror. The perspective was different than my dream, and I was paying closer attention, so I noticed a few things for the first time.
The first was the family resemblance. The nose, the ears, I could easily pass for a cousin or even my own brother. The second thing was the fact I looked like I had lost a couple of years. I’d get carded at any bar in town, and suddenly the thought of using my old ID made me almost giggle.
That led to the last thing I noticed, the thing I had tried so hard to avoid thinking about since I woke up.
I was a guy now.
I had hair in places I’d never had before, my chest was all wrong, and my hips and …
“I … I ...”
Katy took my hand, and squeezed gently. That felt good enough to hold back the “ick” feeling I was getting looking at myself in the mirror.
“I’m a guy, Katy. I....”
“I can only imagine, Retta,” Katy said. “But if you have to be a guy, at least you’re a handsome one.”
That last comment made me look again. She was right, I was … a hunk. I’d be beating girls off with a stick. Heck, I’d been beating the old me off with a stick.
My head began to spin, and I said, “I’m going to lay back down now.”
“Okay,” Katy said, and steered me back to my bed.
“Thanks, Katy,” I said as I eased back in.
“Anytime,” she said, and squeezed my hand.
Finally, she let go and said, “I … I should go see if I can find out how your grandfather is doing.”
“That’d be good. But come back soon,” I said, and I could swear I saw her blush before she turned, and left the room.
I laid my head back on the pillow and tried to think. So okay, I was a guy, and based on my reactions, I was into girls now. Could I cope with that? I was assuming I had no choice. But the whole “superior” thing was also there to deal with. I hadn’t shot lightning bolts out of my fingers or anything yet, so I had no idea what I could do, or how even to figure it out.
And then there was my dream, that Gramps had somehow incorporated the props from that show into my body. By the cold light of day, that sounded just ridiculous, but we lived in an age of wonders, now, so could I completely dismiss it? I could only hope so.
I turned the TV to a music channel to distract myself. Again, my change in orientation was obvious to me almost as soon as the first video started playing. Before, I would have been either annoyed at the females in the videos for how they behaved and dressed, or maybe envious at their beautiful bodies, but now...
All I could think was, “Oh boy, this was going to take some getting used to.”
Just then a doctor entered the room, and said, “Ah, Mr. Hollis. Awake and feeling better?”
“Awake, yes. As for feeling better? That’s still up for debate.”
“Ah, well, it will come in time. As far as your physical health goes, you are in good condition and getting better quickly, especially considering the trauma you just went through. I see no reason why that won't continue. Baring some sudden downturn, we could clear you to leave from a medical standpoint by tonight,” he said.
“I fear there’s a ‘but’ coming,” I said.
“It's your mental state we must now concern ourselves with. How are you coping with your …. transition?”
“As well as I have to,” I said.
“Well, I’d like you to talk to our psychiatrist in any case.”
“Is there an ‘or else’ attached to that request?”
“Only that I would be negligent in my duty if I released you without knowing you were recovering mentally as well as physically.”
“So I talk to him, or I don’t go home.”
“You understand my position perfectly.”
“Fine,” I said. “But I want to see my grandfather. My friend just left to see how’s he doing.”
“I will do what I can to arrange it. Try not to over-exert yourself in the meantime,” he said calmly.
“I’m okay,” I said, getting slightly angry at him.
“If you say so. Do remember however I have the authority to have you restrained, if it becomes necessary.”
I glared at him, and then forced myself to calm down. “I’ll be a good …. boy.”
“Excellent,” he said, and swept out of the room.
Suddenly, I felt very tired, and even though I fought it, trying to stay awake until Katy came back, I found it harder and harder.
“What have you gotten me into?” I muttered to the mystery girl from my dream, and then fell back to sleep
*******
When I woke, I saw my grandfather standing by my bedside.
“Gramps?”
“Yes, dear. They tell me you are recovering nicely.”
“I guess. so, Gramps... Except for …”
“Turning into a guy?” he finished for me. “I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now. But we’ll get through it, together.”
“Thanks, Gramps. Oh God...
“What is it, hon?”
“What happened to Robert?”
“We’ll … talk about that later, okay?”
“He didn’t make it, did he?”
“I’m sorry, hon. He didn’t”
I cried, not caring if it wasn’t “manly” or not.
Just then my doctor came into the room, and said, “I see I can’t leave you alone for even a few minutes before something happens.”
“Sorry, Doc,” Gramps said. “She ... he just found out about Robert.”
“My boyfriend’s dead.” I said numbly.
“I heard. I was going to try to wait until you were feeling a bit better before we discussed that.”
“Sorry, Doc.” Granps said.
“Sorrys can wait. I brought the psychologist, so I want everyone else to leave so they can talk.”
Everyone left, and an older woman came in.
“Hello. I’m Dr. Morrow. And please don’t make the obvious joke.”
“Wow. It must suck having a name like that.”
“It can, on occasion. Now, let’s begin our little session, shall we?”
“I guess.”
“Look, I wont claim to understand what you’re going through. But I will listen, and I might just be able to help you deal with this.”
“Okay. I want out of here, so I’ll cooperate.”
“Please don’t think of it like that. Having you go out without dealing with these things would do you no favors.”
“I know, I know. Its just so much to process right now.”
“Which is why we need to take it slow and steady. You’ve experienced a tremendous loss, and I’m not just talking about your boyfriend. Changing your sex has to be at least as traumatic experience for you.”
“I … I don’t know how I feel about it. One moment I feel like I’m okay, the next I just want to go back to being me.”
“Probably perfectly natural. But let’s take it one step at a time. I … was actually able to find someone who might understand better than I do what you feel like.”
She went to the door, and waved. A young woman came into the room, and I recognised her right away. It was E-Girl. She looked like a regular pretty high school cheerleader, and despite myself I felt a rush of blood to … certain places.
“Hi. They call me E-Girl,” she said softly.
“I... I was Henrietta, but I guess I’m closer to a Hank, now.”
“I understand, a bit of what you feel like. I started off as a guy, and now I’m a girl.”
“Yes, but from what I’ve read, you always had a feminine side. I’m not like that at all.”
“Okay, lets start with that. Can you describe how felt about being a girl in the first place?”
“I don’t know. I mean, its not like I woke every morning and sang that song ‘I enjoy being a girl’, but … now that I think about it, I really did enjoy it. My friends always teased me about how much of a girly-girl I was.
“They said once the easiest way to pick me out of our group was to look for the one in a skirt. I just laughed and said I liked making it easy for the boys to pick me out.”
I took a deep breath and added, “I don’t know if I appreciated what I had, until it was gone.”
“You couldn’t have enjoyed periods, could you?”
“No, I guess I didn’t And I didn't always like the way sometimes guys treated me like I couldn’t have a brain, just cause I was good looking.”
“Well, no problem there anymore, but you might need to worry about getting attention from girls now. You’re a … pretty good looking guy.”
“I kinda noticed. Trouble is, I may not mind that attention much, and that frightens me.”
“Frightens you?”
“Yeah. I’ve... started to look at girls the way I used to look at guys. And its scary.”
“I would think there would be worse things than finding out you’re heterosexual.”
“I guess I am, when I think about it that way. Its still a little strange and frightening.”
“I can only imagine.”
“I don't suppose you have any good advice for me?”
“I wish I did. Changing gender the way you and I did is an unbelievable traumatic experience, and that's even if you kinda wanted it, like I did. It's got to be a lot harder for you because you were comfortable as a girl. But what I can tell you is that you won't be alone going through it.”
“Th... thank you.”
“And you have another source of grief at the moment as well. Can you talk about it?”
“I … I killed my boyfriend,” I wept.
She held me for a while, and then said, “I’ve been there, too. I failed to save my best friend, and that’s how I got my powers.”
“I remember reading about that. But it wasn’t your fault, if I remember.”
“And maybe you’re not to blame for what happened either.”
“I distracted him while he was driving! Of course it was my fault!”
"And maybe my presence distracted my friend long enough to make her fall"
I had no answer to that, and instead started crying again.
We talked for a long time, and finally she said, “Look, I’ve got to go. Here is a contact number for me at the Compound. At some point, you’ll need to check in there anyway, so it might help you to have an old hand around.”
“Thanks, uh... What do I call you? Calling you E-Girl seems kinda silly after all we shared.”
“You can call me Debra. I took that name in honor of my friend, Debbie.
“Okay. Thanks for everything, Debra.”
“You’re welcome.”
She went to the window, and flew off.
I lay there thinking about what she talked to me about, until I started to drift off to sleep.
I dreamt again of Gramps using the parts from the TV show to fix me up, and even as a dream, it didn’t make any sense to me. How could that possibly happen? How could he take a bunch of movie props and fix me with them? And what about that mysterious girl who said I had a destiny?
I resolved to figure it out, and there was only one place to start.
Gramps.
When I woke, I asked the nurse to see if he could come see me. I waited through breakfast, and then Gramps came in, but he wasn't alone. With him was a older man in a crisp white suit, and I guessed based on how he stood that this man was military.
“Hi, sweetie,” Gramps said.
“Don't sweetie me. I’m not a girl anymore, Gramps. What did you do to me, and whose your friend?”
“Okay. Let me introduce you to Oscar Goldman.”
“You have GOT to be kidding me.”
*****
“What is she talking about?” the man said.
“The Six Million Dollar Man. I know you’re obsessed with that show, Gramps, but still.”
“Oh yes. Obviously, I’m not that Oscar Goldman.”
“Obviously, since that was fiction.”
“Some of it was. Some of it was based on real events. For example, Steve Austin was a real person.”
Gramps looked pained at hearing that name.
“Gramps? Did you ... know him?”
My grandfather, who was one of the strongest people I met, looked like he was going to break down and cry.
“Sorry,” He managed.
His friend looked uncomfortable, and said, “I'll... let you talk to your grandchild alone.”
He left, and my grandfather came close, and sat on my bed.
“Okay, Gramps. Who was Steve Austin?”
“Steve was... an amazing, special man. I... I...”
“You were in love with him?”
Gramps hung his head down.
‘Its okay, Gramps. I mean, I know some gay people at school, so its not like I’ve never heard of such a thing. But what about Grandma? Did she know?”
He laughed through his tears, and said, “No way she couldn’t. Since they were the same person.”
“Say what now?”
“Your grandmother’s true name was Steve Austin.”
*******
“Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“No. Your grandmother was a man in the core of his being. But sadly, that was long before the word “transsexual” was heard of, much less surgery for female to male trans people, so she never got acknowledged as such.”
Looking down at my now male body, I could sympathize. “I’m sorry, Gramps. Why didn't she, he come out of the closet? Why am I only hearing this now?”
“Well, after he had your father, he had all but shut down because of being forced to play the female role. He decided the only way to survive was to totally go into the closet, to never even mention “Steve”. So I honored that choice, and it was the biggest mistake of my life. He just... wasted away, and died young. When the show started and they were looking for a name for the hero, I suggested the name ‘Steve Austin.’ as the only way I could honor him. And that’s how it happened.”
“No wonder you loved that show. But you never said anything to me or to Dad?”
“I honestly didn’t know how to broach the subject. Your dad had lost his mother, and I was going to take away the memories he had of her by saying she was really a he?”
“I’m sorry, Gramps.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn't say something sooner. He deserved better.”
I just sat there, silent, and held his hand. After a while, I said, “Look, Gramps. As much as I want to know more about this, I have other issues at the moment. Like the fact I’m a guy, and I think you did something to me to keep me alive.”
He looked down in shame. “I ... I did what I had to do to save your life.”
“Gramps, I’m glad I’m alive. But what exactly did you do?”
“Not here. When you get home, I promise I’ll tell you everything.”
I was a little grumpy about this idea, but I agreed.
A couple of days later, I was sent home, and as soon as I was inside, I turned to Gramps and said, “Okay. I’ve been patient. Now, if you please, tell me what happened to me?”
“Okay. Come to my little workshop.”
We went in, and I noticed that Gramps had added a couple of new items. One was a treadmill, another was a large concrete block with some gauges somehow stuck in it.
“Cute. Now, what’s this about?”
“Hon, I .. I want you to understand. I did what I had to do to save your life.”
“I’d be more grateful if I knew what you did.”
“It's... easier to show you. Step on the treadmill, and go all out, would you?”
I was totally confused, but I got on the treadmill, and started jogging.
“Faster"
And something amazing happened. I went faster, and faster, and yet I didn't seem to even feel the effects of it.
“Faster!” Gramps shouted.
I went all out, and finally, Gramps told me to stop.
“Okay. What was that about?” I said as I got off.
“How fast do you think you were going?”
“I don't know. How fast?”
“About Seventy-five miles an hour. And you aren’t even out of breath, are you?”
“You’re joking, right?”
He showed me the speedometer, which read “74.8 MPH”
“Whoa.”
“And that’s not all. Try to lift that block.”
“You’re kidding, right? It's got to weigh a ton.”
“Just try.”
I shrugged, and got a grip on it. The next thing I knew, I had lifted it up above my head.
“I can’t believe this!” I don't even feel like I’m straining!”
“Interesting. You might be even stronger than I planned on.”
I put it down, and then said, “Okay. So I’m definitely a Superior. So give me the details, please.”
“Well, to start with, I have to come clean with you. I’m .. not the person you thought I was.”
“What do you mean?”
“My original name was not Henry Hollis.”
“Gramps, I don't care what your name was. To me, you were the man who raised me after my parents died, and that’s enough.”
“Thank you, dear, but my original name is important. I’m just not sure you’ll believe me.”
“Gramps, I’m some kind of super-dude, and I wasn't even a dude a couple of days ago. I think I’m ready to believe anything.”
“Well, we’ll see. My original name was ... Hephaestus.”
I tried to remember where I had heard that name before. “Okay?”
“Perhaps I should have spent more time teaching you Greek myths. I was the Keeper of the Forge of the Gods. The Romans called me Vulcan.”
“You’re ... a god?”
“A former one. Retired, until your accident.”
Somehow, I didn't doubt him. There was something about him, something I hadn’t seen before probably because he hadn’t wanted me to.
“How? How is it possible?”
“We ... retired when Christianity became the dominant religion. Most of us left Earth, but I was working on something, and so decided I wanted to keep at it. When human society seemed advanced enough, I found a mortal to be my front, and then we tried to make my experiments work.”
“Let me take a wild guess, and say it had something to do with the show?”
“Yes. We attempted to rescue an accident victim, and make them a cyborg. But it failed. Then it appeared that the story would come out, so they made the whole show to cover up the situation.”
“You said it failed. But I’m standing here.”
“It failed then, and even I didn’t understand why. But when I saw you start to transform and realized you were something special, I believed it could work this time. And it has.”
I sat down heavily, and he put a hand on my shoulder. “I can't even pretend how hard this is for you to take in. But I believe you survived for a reason.”
“Can a god believe?”
“Maybe we can believe easier than humans. Because we KNOW there are some amazing things out there.”
“You ... weren’t really gods, were you?”
“I guess that depends on what you mean. We live forever, and have abilities humans never had, at least until the Superiors arrived.”
“Commander Ares? Is he really ... you know, the god?”
“No. He’s the first human to approach our abilities. But I wouldn’t put it past my old friend to have had a hand in things.”
“So what happens now? E-Girl wants me to go to the Compound, and be a super hero. I... I don't know if that’s the life I want.”
“Why not take some time to figure things out? There’s no rush. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you, are you going to want to change your name? Henrietta doesn’t really suit a boy.”
“I jokingly called myself Hank in the hospital. Maybe that’s exactly what I should use. In honor of dad.”
“Okay, Hank. I’m proud of how you’re taking this.”
“I think I’m in shock. I’ll probably have a breakdown later.”
“Well, if you start having trouble, maybe you could invite that friend of yours. Katy?”
I blushed. Had my attraction been that obvious?
“If it helps you, She’s... interested, too.”
“But she is my best friend!”
“Which is not the worst place to start a deeper relationship.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Okay. I’ll butt out,” he said.
“I... I’m gonna lay down. I’ve got a lot to think about.”
“Good idea.”
I went to my room, and realized how much had changed for me since I was last here. The room looked like a typical teenage girl’s, and that was one thing I wasn’t anymore.
I figured that when I woke up, I’d have to start the redecorating process. Trying to imagine what a boy’s room should look like, I fell asleep.
As I slept, I dreamt.
I dreamt of using my new abilities to help the people in my town after an earthquake. I dreamt of wearing a costume, and fighting bank robbers and other criminals. I dreamt of being alongside Ares, E-Girl, and others fighting against the mad scientist Dr. Destructo and his strange magical partner Nightmare, as well as others.
But mostly, I dreamt of Katy.
Of us forming a partnership, using the friendship and trust we had always had for each other as a foundation, to which we added the new level of physical attraction.
Of us becoming closer and closer, until the two of us becoming one, stronger together than either of us had ever been alone.
I smiled in my sleep, and thought to myself, “Sounds like fun.”
Quick note: this is not a Ret-Con story. It is inspired by some comics I read as a kid, but I hope it is a little different from anything else out there.
The Lucky One (part 1)
Well, hay there, hi there ho there! Or, as my dear friend Stan Lee likes to say “Face front, true believers!” (I better be careful about saying that. Don’t need to annoy The Stanster, much less his horde of marvellous Marvel Zombie lawyers… )
This is the one, the only, the Fantastic Fluke, The Luckiest Person Alive coming atcha from the wonderful world of the World Wide Web! Welcome to the first ever blog from your pal, me! I know, I know, you can’t believe your luck. But calm down out there, you will strain something.
You know, there are a lot of crazy stuff out there about us “superiors, (I actually hate that name, blech) and especially about Yours Truly (you would not believe what was on my Wikipedia page until I fixed it) So I decided I would do my part, and help straighten some stuff out. Plus, I can make all of your lives a little better by sharing my wonderful self with all of you! Yes, I can feel you squirting with excitement (and some bodily fluids some of you, you naughty people you)
Now, I know you people have come to expect me to be the bestest at everything (and I would normally agree with you , except I am far too modest to say so), so it will come as a shock to you, but even I have some things I am not the best at. Now, now, pick yourself off the floor, I know it was surprising.
Because of this, I asked a professional writer to assist me in making this blog happen. You may have heard of her, since she helped my fellow “superior” E-girl tell her story. Say “Hi” to Dorothy Colleen, everybody.
“Hi. Thanks for letting me write this, er, Fluke. First, I would like to explain how I came to be here. See, there are an infinite number of parallel … “ Ok, ok, stop hogging the spotlight Dot. This is my story.
How should I start? Well, among the most common comments I get when I appear in public, after “Can I have your autograph?” and “You wanna sleep with me?” (both boys and girls say that one, believe it or not), is “Hay, Fluke, how did you become the Example of Awesomeness, the Idol of Millions, the all around Top Dog that you are today?”
(Well, I am paraphrasing )
So, without further ado, let me give to you, my fans, for the first time anywhere, the (formally) secret origin of me! And how does it all start? With a unsuspecting shmuck named Eddie James, and a one in a trillion event that changed everything.
A bolt from the blue…
Eddie was no prize, I would have to admit. Nearing thirty years old, he had accomplished pretty much squat in his life. No girlfriend, heck, no friends of any sort to speak of, a series of dead-end grunt jobs for minimum wage to keep the wolves from the door, and not much chance that things would ever change.
Then, one day, he was taking a walk to the corner store, and got hit by what a witness described as “blue lightning”. To this day, authorities are still confused about what it was. (I know, but they don’t listen to me all the time, as hard as that is to believe, since I am clearly the expert ).
Kids, let me tell you this before I continue, DON’T TRY THAT AT HOME.
Last thing I want to be responsible for is a bunch of crazies wondering around with lightning rods and hanging off rooftops hoping to get hit.
The one thing even the experts are sure of, is what happened to Eddie is about as unlikely to happen again as anything they know of.
So there was Eddie, zapped by a bolt from the blue, as the saying goes. I wish I could say he bounced up and flew up to give a bunch of fives to whoever sent it, but sadly, he did not. Instead, he lay in a smoking pile and moaned.
Now, things could have been dicey at that moment, but Eddie had a bit of luck, his first break. The witness called 911, and soon, an ambulance arrived on the scene. Not that they thought they could do much. From the expression on their faces, they looked like there were not sure if they should use a gurney or a dustpan to take Eddie in.
Well, they got poor Eddie to the hospital, and one look at him made the docs try and shift through the frazzled remains of his clothes for an ID, and maybe compose a letter to next of kin, when Eddie moaned some more.
What happened next has been played on Youtube over and over again, thanks to the hospital’s security cameras. If George Lucas or Steven Spielberg had done that video, they couldn’t have done anything as spooky.
Basically, his whole body started to heal at a unbelievable rate. And if that wasn’t odd enough, it also began to change. Most of his hair (and a good part of his skin too) had been burned off, and most of the hair never came back. The part that did was the stuff on the top of his head, and it came back with a vengeance, becoming long and full of body within minutes
His face softened, becoming more oval, which was pretty painful. Then the changes started moving south. As his chest healed, small mounds formed, and blossomed into bosoms (and don’t you just love that turn of phrase?). That was surprisingly painful. Then, things really got interesting his bottom half was covered by a sheet, so the cameras missed it, but his privates did a retreat, and soon his outtie was an innie, which was very very painful.
Then the worst pain hit as his hips broke again and again to accommodate his new equipment. Specifically, his body was building a womb, although it didn’t have all that good a view (get it? A womb with a view?, Oh, never mind….)
So, in the space of about an hour, Eddie had gone from a male crispy critter to a healthy, (and hot) woman. I bet you have guessed by now, that woman is me. A few moments later, when I woke up, I discovered my changes pretty fast, and shook, screamed, and then started crying like the girl I now was for about one minute.
Then, I decided I needed to get the heck out of there. So I wrapped my sheet around my downright hot body and went hunting for some help. I approached the nurse’s desk, and said to the cute girl there, “Excuse me. If I were to ask why I am now a foxy babe, am I likely to like the answer?”
“I am sorry sir, ma’m. The blunt fact is we don’t have a clue what happened. We think you must be one of those ‘Superiors’.”
“Yeh? Like that hot chick E-Girl?” I guess it could be worse.”
“You seem to be taking this awfully calmly. Most men would be a bit more freaked about being turned into a woman.”
“Kid, I was a nobody. Now, apparently I am so good looking I make myself pant, and have super powers besides. I will miss havin’ my naughty bits, but it wasn’t like I was getting any action anyway. “
“O… kay then. Let me call the doctor, get you checked out, and maybe see what we can get you to wear besides a sheet.”
“Fine. Almost a shame to cover this body up though. Hay, I wonder if I can fly?”
“Well, I wouldn’t recommend jumping off the roof to find out.”
“You might have a point. I will be a good girl and go back to my bed until the doc comes. Stay sexy, babe”
When the doctor came, he gave me a quick physical (and when he put some equipment up my new hole, it created some mixed feelings. First, the little metal dealie was COLD! I swear they must store them in a freezer. But, on the other hand, when it brushed against a spot inside me, it felt darn good, and put a exploration session on my “things to do list”
Now, I had a small problem. My “Eddie” ID had burned up, and even if it had not, I sure didn’t look like my driver’s photo.
Things might have gone south in a hurry if they hadn’t actually witnessed some of my transformation. So I was spared a visit to the rubber room when I told them who I was. But I had another small problem. My former clothes, my wallet and the little bit of money in it were now charcoal briquettes.
And that’s when things got totally strange, as if healing and turning into a girl wasn’t strange enough. As soon as I concentrated on the idea of getting dressed, there was a small ‘pop’ sound, and an outfit appeared in midair, and dropped on the bed I was laying on.
They were built for my new gender, and I shrugged. I needed to wear something, and they would do. And the idea of making boys drool had a certain appeal to it…
Once I was dressed, I wanted to check out of that hotel, and got into a battle of wills with the doc over it. While they conceded that I seemed to be in perfect health, especially considering the condition I came in, but they were a little worried about how what happened would affect me mentally.
Finally, I convinced them that I was as ok as was possible under the circumstances, and that I would call on them if I started feeling otherwise, and they let me go.
On my way out the door, it occurred to me that I didn’t have anyway to get home, as my car was at my place. But I heard a rustling sound in my purse (my purse? Oh, it showed up with the outfit.), and sure enough, there was enough money in there to catch a taxi home, plus, a new ID, with my female form on the picture, and a feminine version of my name: Eddi James. (not the greatest name in history. Apparently, Eddi is a version of Edith. The creep who sent it had no imagination, I tell you.)
So I made my way home, and judging from the reaction to my appearance from the taxi driver, I had not overestimated my effect on males, and if anything, I had sold myself short. I thought to myself, “You know, I could get used to this. Being a sexy chick is kinda fun….”
I went into my apartment, and kicked of my heels (Did I forget to mention that the outfit came with heels? My bad). I took a peek at myself in the mirror. I always thought a woman looked better wearing less, but this outfit seemed to defy that logic. Nothing really was showing, but just hints here and there, and yet the effect was electric.
I went to my bedroom, and thought I might as well take my new equipment for a test drive. I was just getting going when the closet in my room came open, and a large, yellow, and round creature came though.
Boys and girls, if you are over a certain age, there is a good chance that you have taken your equipment out for a spin, and there is at least some chance that someone decides to pick that particular moment to drop by, leaving you flustered and red, and not just from the exercise you were just getting. But I happen to think it’s a little worse when it’s a giant tennis ball with eyes, and as I was about to learn, a huge mouth who drops by.
“Yaddie!” it said, and opened its mouth wide. So wide it seemed to extend past the limits of its “face”.
I quickly re-arranged my sheet and tried to regulate my breathing, so I could try and figure out what this thing was.
“Yaddie!” it said again.
“Hi”
“Yaddie!”
“And you are…”
“Yaddie!”
“Fine. You are Yaddie. You say anything else?”
“Yaddie!”
“Obviously not. Listen, I was a little busy. Do you think you could come back in an hour?” Then I remembered just how sensitive to touch some parts of my new body were, and added “Or possibly three?”
“Yaddie!”
Then it bobbed and wafted over to my bed. Did I mention it was floating in mid-air? It was floating in mid-air. It took the edge of the sheet in its mouth (an act that made me instinctively curl up my legs so it wouldn’t catch my toes) and then it pulled it off the bed. It then quickly floated to the other side of the bed, and nudged me gently. I almost fell off the bed.
“You want me up?”
It got ready to give me another gentle nudge, and I decided I didn’t need to be pushed through the wall of my bedroom, and got up. It zoomed over to the side of the bed I was standing by, and grabbed my clothes, and managed to fling them at me. (which isn’t easy to do without hands).
Rather than risk it “helping” me get dressed, I put on the outfit and slipped on my heels. It drifted back towards the closet, and then looked back at me.
“You want me to follow you?”
“Yaddie!”
I considered my options, and figured I really didn’t want to find out it’s definition of a gentle tug on my arm, so I followed.
My closet now had a hole in it. Not a hole that led to the next room, but a hole that led to what looked like a road, if a road could float in the middle of the Milky Way.
I don’t mean the chocolate bar, I mean the galaxy, but that wasn’t exactly it either. It wasn’t dark with little lights, it was like a multi-coloured cloud with flashes of lighting, bright lights hanging in the sky, and this glowing path that started at the edge of my closet and wound it’s way up, down, and all around that odd environment.
“You sure I have to go down this road?”
“Yaddie!”
“Well, you are just a load of helpful advice, you know that?”
“Yaddie!”
“Ok, fine. If I have to go, I might as well get started. But,” looking how far the road seemed to go “I think I am going to wish I was wearing flats.”
Yaddie floated ahead of me, and looked back, waiting for me to catch up.
We made our way down the road, and soon I realized that the road seemed to have its own gravity, after we flipped upside down and were able to keep walking. I resolved to not look down (or was it up?) I also saw a great number of side paths branching out on either side of the road, but we stayed on the main path.
We were not totally alone. I could see, hear, or feel shadowy creatures. Some were some distance away, and some were much closer, but none came too close to the road. Some ignored us, some paused whatever it was they were doing to watch us go by, some scattered as though scared of us, and a few made some threatening gestures, but they seemed too afraid of the road to do more to us.
For someone who hadn’t worn heels before, I found them comfortable, and the wiggle in my walk natural. I vowed I would find a construction site to walk past when I got home, so I could enjoy the wolf whistles.
That thought gave me pause. I wasn’t even slightly upset about turning into a woman, and seemed to absolutely relish every moment of it. During my little “exploration” I had found I could think about either men or women as my partner, and have it make little difference to me, leading me to concede that I was now thoroughly bisexual, with just a touch more interest in girls than boys.
What that meant to me long term, I had no idea, but I found myself looking forward to finding out. After traveling what seemed like miles, we reached what looked like a major intersection, with a small ball in the middle of it. in the middle of the ball was a tree, and in front of the tree a small figure apparently waited for us to arrive.
Yaddie zoomed up to it and bounced in mid-air like a puppy. (I mean, if a puppy could bounce in mid-air)
“So you finally made it. Took you long enough” it said.
“Oh now, this is just plain silly”
You see, by now, I was ready for a great deal. But a pale green midget in a blue dress with a strong accent was a new one.
She looked like a female version of the character Mel Brooks had played in that space parody, and sounded almost exactly like Bugs Bunny. (Ok. So I like classic movies and TV shows, what of it?)
“I suppose you would like an explanation”
“That would be very nice.”
“Well, for starters, this is the center of the multi-universe. It is from this place that everything that ever was or will be comes from”
“I am going to nod and smile and pretend I understood that”
She sighed. “which part gave you trouble? I thought I was pretty clear”
“What is a multi-universe?”
“Oh, boy. Ask me something easy why don’t you? You live on one planet, in one solar system, in one galaxy, in one universe or one reality, if you like”
“I will take your word for it.”
“Well, have you ever wondered ‘what if?’”
“What if what?”
“What if anything! What if you had taken a different job, or bumped into the love of your life while waiting for a train, or if you had been something other than totally out of it right now?”
“I resemble that remark. I am usually quite smart, I just have had an interesting day, and am having trouble processing.”
“Fine. But do you get the idea? You ever read any alternate history? What if the Roman Empire hadn’t fallen, that type of thing?”
“Sure”
“Well, if you were to take that path,” and she pointed to one of paths that led away from the ball, you could find out”
“Ok. So you said this place is the center?”
“Well, as close as you can come.”
“And why did Yaddie bring me here?”
“Because you are the Chosen One, and you are going to protect it all”
“Pull the other leg, it’s got bells on”
“Fine. I don’t think you are ready for that yet anyway. But I will tell you one more thing. First, you noticed that your clothes and ID appeared when you needed them?”
“How did you know that?”
“It’s my job to know. I sent you what you needed.”
“so if I needed a new TV, you would send it to me?”
“Try and take this seriously.”
“Seriously? I got zapped by some kind of cosmic lightning, burned to a crisp, healed, turned into a girl, had stuff appear out of thin air, had a visit from a yellow critter with too large a mouth and a one word vocabulary, who takes me to see the wizard at the center of the multi-universe who tells me I am a Chosen One, and you expect me to take it seriously?”
“I think we are moving too fast for you. Yaddie here will take you home.”
“Sounds good to me. With any luck, when I wake up tomorrow this will all be a chilli-inspired dream.”
So Yaddie bounced ahead of me, and we went back the way we had come. After I stepped back into my own room the hole closed behind me, with no sign of where it had been.
I looked at my new companion, and said, “Well Yaddie, I guess it’s just you and me.”
“Yaddie!”
“I somehow thought you would say that.”
I grabbed my sheet and crawled back into bed. After a while, the yellow creature bounced on to the bed, and snuggled in beside me like a round dog. I had had worse sleeping partners, and after a bit, I fell asleep. Tomorrow, I thought, all of this will have been a weird dream, and life would be back to normal.
I had no idea how wrong I was…..
The Lucky One
(Part 2, or “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping”)
Hay, kids! What time is it? It’s Fantastic Fluke time! (note to the owners of the Howdy whoever show, please don’t sue me. I am just funning, and I have already had a cease and desist order from Disney from borrowing the theme from the Mickey Mouse Club by accident in my first entry)
Yessirry, its your pal, the Flukester, back with more of my amazing origin!
But before we begin, I noticed a small error in my first blog, for which I totally blame my ghost writer, Dorothy Colleen.
“Hay!”
Now, now, Dot, don’t get your panties in a bunch, I will come to the rescue like the amazing heroine that I am.
See, when she was describing Yaddie for you all, you may have gotten the impression that it was small.
But as a matter of fact, it grew after it came into my bedroom, and soon was about the size of a German Shepherd, if a German Shepherd was round.
Anyway, where did we leave off last time? Oh, yes. We left your stalwart heroine (that’s me) having fallen asleep after an eventful day that started with a bolt from the blue, and went downhill from there.
When I awoke the next morning, you could possibly forgive me for thinking there was a ghost in my bedroom, as my sheet was hanging in mid-air. Fortunately, I am I am far too brave to let that bother me, and any suspicious wet spot on my panties was purely coincidental, and the fact that I had to take several breaths to get my heart going at a normal rate not something anyone else would take notice of.
It was when I heard a muffled voice from within the floating sheet that I made a guess as to what was going on, and (as always), I was correct. I pulled the sheet off, and there was my yellow furry companion from last night.
“Yaddie!” it said, clearly grateful to me for releasing it from the sheet.
“I am assuming your presence here, plus the fact I still have lady parts, means yesterday was not a dream”
“Yaddie!”
“Sigh. Fine. I can deal.”
“Yaddie!”
I went over to my closet with some reluctance, but I couldn’t wear the same outfit I had worn yesterday. (Gee, I guess I was really turning into a girl). But there was no sign of the hole from yesterday. However, being the keen observer that I am, I noticed a small difficulty. Outside of the outfit that had appeared yesterday at the hospital, I didn’t have any clothes that would suit my new body.
Not feeling sure if I was crazy or very smart (but I will go with smart, don’t you agree?), I spoke into the air, and said, “Hay misses wizard, how about a switch? You take all these boy clothes, and send me some girl ones?”
I had a vision of what I wanted. Skirts, dresses, blouses, you name it. No frumpy stuff like I had worn as a guy, but clothes pretty much built to show off my new assets. I am not saying I looked like some kind of slut, you understand, but just a very, very sexy lady who loved being one, and wanted to grace the world with her awesome beauty. (That’s me, I am a giver.)
But sadly, all I got was five business outfits suitable for work, one skirt and blouse set designed for a day off., and one rather nice dress for a night out.
I checked my drawers, and there were seven pairs of panties with the days of the week, seven bras, a dozen pairs of pantyhose, and what I thought at first were socks that had been made too short, but I soon learned that was how they were supposed to be.
With my clothes suitable to my new condition, I had a bite of breakfast, while trying to make a list in my head of things I needed to take care of. In no particular order they were: My job; I had no idea what would happen if I showed up to work tomorrow looking like this, but I also didn’t see any choice if I wanted to keep my self housed.
Then, there was my powers. Beyond the items I had received from Misses Wizard, I didn’t know what I could do. I had healed once, but did that mean I would heal fast every time?
And did I have any other gifts? I mean, it would be wonderful to discover I was bulletproof and able to fly, but like that nurse said, I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way I was wrong.
The large yellow creature bounding into the kitchen reminded me of point three: Yaddie. I had no idea how to look after it. I didn’t know what it ate, and no idea if I needed to take it for a walk or if I should invest in a very large kitty litter box, or what.
Then the was the whole issue of the Superiors. I had not focused much attention on them, except for E-girl, and that mostly ‘cause she was pretty hot for a kid still in her teens. Nobody has any clear idea why there are so few. Logic would indicate either none at all, or some reasonable percentage of the population would have the potential.
Commander Ares is by far the best known. Not only is he ultra-powerful, but he is apparently a brilliant tactician, and has the ability to inspire just about everyone who meets him.
But it’s E-girl who has caused the biggest stir, which is not surprising. I mean, she was a dude who got turned into a chick, but apparently was always a bit of a girl inside anyway, or something.
(Dot here. You guys can read her story for yourself)
(Ahem! Authors, I swear… If she is going to do that, I am going to mention my super Fantastic Fluke Fan Club! If you are not a member yet, shame on you, but it’s not too late! Join the FFFC today! )
Anyway, since then she is been a major spokesmen for transgender issues, and even did a commercial that has been shown a billion times.
As I remember it, it featured a bunch of people, both male and female, each just saying one sentence: “I am transgender” It ends with E-girl, saying it too, and then adding “We are just people like you. We work with you, go to school with you, live in your neighbourhood. And we don’t deserve to be hated. But it’s up to you. Stand up” and then it flashes back through the people all saying “Stand up” and then she ends with, “Stand up against hatred, against discrimination, against bigotry. It’s all up to you.”
I used to think it was pretty corny, to be honest.
But back to my little list. As I started to say before my little sidebar, I was not exactly sure what my relationship to the Superiors was supposed to be like. Was I supposed to go to The Compound, where Ares lived? Was I supposed to report to the government? I simply had no clue. (now, now, don’t you worry, me putting myself down is just a habit from being Eddy. It will go away soon)
Lastly, and most importantly, I had a small twinge in my neither regions and decided to add taking care of that to my list. I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of the amount of havoc I was going to cause among the male population (and probably a good share of the female population too) once I made my official debut.
Which would be a good thing, as I had the feeling it was going to take more than one person to satisfy me unless they also were super human.
“Hmm, I wonder if Ares has a girlfriend ?” I said outloud.
(Now, lest you get the idea that I am some kind of super bimbo slut, there was more than sex on my mind. I felt more alive than I had ever felt, and I wanted to relish every experience that came my way. As the old song says, I don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to miss a thing… or maybe it should be that this girl just wants to have fun?)
“Ahem. Dot here. Any chance you could quit mangling song lyrics and get back to the story?”
Spoilsport! To put it another way, I wanted to suck the marrow out of life.
“Oh come on! Movie quotes now?”
Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a knot, Dot.
Anyway, I was still musing over having a fling with the Commander, when I had to postpone scratching that particular itch, because right at that moment, someone knocked at my door.
I looked at Yaddie, and she (I had decided that Yaddie is a girl) blinked back at me, as though to say “You don’t expect me to get that, do you?”
The knocking persisted, so I went and opened the door. It was my neighbour, Sarah. Sarah is one of the best people I know (besides me).
She is pretty, sweet, and kind to children, animals, and even to Eddy (and that was before he became the wonderful wonderfullness that is me.)
Anyway, I opened the door, and she bustled in, talking a mile a minute. She was saying something like;
“HiEddyyougottaseethiscrazythingonyoutubeyouwillneverbelieveit…”
At this point she finally took a breath, and saw Yaddie. She turned to face me, and suddenly noticed my changes, and almost fell over. I almost laughed, because her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets, and her mouth moved like a guppy’s, but no sound came out.
But then I heard a noise that put my teeth on edge. I heard a growl, and I realized it was coming from Yaddie. Her hackles were raised (assuming she had hackles), her hair was standing out, and her “expression” was defiantly hostile, and it was directed toward Sarah.
Thinking quickly, I said “Yaddie, down. She is a friend.”
She immediately relaxed, and wobbled over to Sarah. If she had licked her face, she couldn’t have been more friendly. I filed that piece of info about my pet in my brain for later perusal.
“Ed….Eddie?” she managed.
“In the very curvaceous flesh hon. You like the new me?”
“You…you are the girl on youtube!”
“What?”
“Someone leaked a video from a hospital of a man transforming into a woman. It is you!”
“So much for privacy. Too bad I can’t copy write that video, I could use the money”
“I think I better sit down”
So she sat, and I told her everything that had happened to me yesterday.
Being the keen observer of people that I am, I could tell she was having as much difficulty swallowing the story I had had yesterday, but the obvious change in my body, and my new pet, helped her be convinced.
When I told her about the sad state of my new wardrobe, she said, “Well, that just will not do. Grab your purse, we are definitely going shopping.”
“One difficulty with that idea hon. I am not exactly loaded with cash.”
She giggled, and said, “it will be my treat hon.”
“I can’t ask you to spend money on me.”
“It will be my pleasure. I always wanted a live Barbie doll to dress up”
“Barbie? I am better looking than her. But how can you afford it?”
“You mean I never told you? I am a trust fund princess!”
“Say what?”
“Daddy left me a huge fortune in a trust. I almost never touch it because I like to make it on my own efforts. But I can take as much out as I need. In fact, I own this building.“
“I thought that is was some management company or something”
“Well, they run it for me. What I have discovered, is it really is no fun being in charge. So I hire good managers, and let them have the ulcers instead.”
“Wait a minute. We have been friends for almost two years and this is the first time you mention this little fact?”
“Well, I guess it just never came up before.”
I grinned. “Sounds good to me.”
“And trust me, you will enjoy this. What‘s that saying? When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping?”
That left one small problem to figure out before we took off. Yaddie. I spoke to her, and said, “Yaddie, can you make yourself less conspicuous?”
In answer, Yaddie disappeared with a small popping noise.
“Yaddie?”
She reappeared making the air pop again.
“Okay. As long as you are fine, wherever you are, and come when I call.”
Yaddie disappeared again, and the two of us almost skipped our way out the door, headed for the nearest shopping center.
As most people know, shopping is a totally different experience for woman than for men, because they start from totally different points of view. For men, shopping is like hunting. You go in, get what you need, and get the heck out before something large and snarly eats you.
For women, especially when it is more than one, shopping is a social time, a chance to browse and chat while you looked around, and my initiation into the fraternity of womanhood was as fun, if exhausting. As promised, I was Sarah’s living Barbie, and if there was a single item of female clothing and accessories that was in my size that we missed me trying out, I have no idea where it could have been hiding.
Meanwhile, I learned a great deal about Sarah, her family, her life, her hopes, and dreams in a couple hours than I had learned in two years of knowing her as Eddy.
Finally, we had taken a load back to the car, and went back in to find a good place to eat. We ended up going to a restaurant that had a bar, and had a bite and a drink to toast my new status. Afterwards, I did something that would give a hint of what I was capable of. We past a video lottery, and I put in a dollar. I hit the jackpot. Then, for some reason, I went to the next machine, and put in a dollar, and hit the jackpot again, and did the same on the third machine.
I insisted on splitting the winnings with Sarah, but we were both a little struck by the odds I had just defied.
“I wonder if that isn’t your power”
“What, winning jackpots?”
“Sort of. What if your power is about bending probabilities? To put it another way, what if you are the luckiest person alive?”
“Some kind of fluke?”
“Not just a fluke. The Fluke.”
“Hmmm. The Fantastic Fluke! Has possibilities. Maybe we should go to Los Vegas”
“Greedy girl.”
“Would beat working for a living.”
Unfortunately, our chat was interrupted by the appearance of a group of bank robbers, and things were just about to get really weird.
(Next time: Bank Robbers! Aliens! The heroic debut of the Fantastic Fluke! And the appearance of the Superior known as The Doctor, in a little chapter entitled; “What’s up, Doc?”
Authors note: because it has been a while since I posted the last episode, and before I hand things over to Our Lady of Perpetual Ego, I feel I should point out something about this adventure. This is NOT an objective account. It is seen through our heroine's eyes, and she has a certain.... bias, that must be taken into account when reading, and it is wise to take what she says with a large truck full of salt. If you have read the first two episodes, you are probably saying something like “Duh!” but I thought I should pass on the warning Enjoy!
The Lucky one, part 3
“Here’s the story, of a boy named Eddy, who suddenly had become a girl…”
(Ahem. Dorothy here. Any chance we could start off without getting me sued?
(Poor Dot. By the way, you folks may have notice the length of time since my last posting, and it’s all her
fault. )
(Oh this should be good…)
(You see, Dot had to take a break for “mental health reasons”. I bet she was just on the rag)
(Umm, Fluke? You do know what “transgender” means, right?”)
(Whatever floats your boat sweetie. I offered to help you “relax“ by spending some quality time with Yours Truly. A roll in the hay with me, and you would have woken up sometime next week feeling fabulous)
(Not a chance. Considering how many people you have slept with, I don’t need some kind of inter-dimensional clap)
(Meeeouch! Sheath those claws! Just because you havent got lucky in a while…)
(You know, I don’t have to do this, I could be writing serious drama)
(Gee, folks, we don’t want Dot to go away, do we? Dorothy, you are a wonderful writer and I am glad you are writing my story)
(Fine, quit blowing smoke up my skirt, and lets get this show on the road, shall we?)
(Ok, ok. But we do have one piece of business to clean up before we get rolling.)
(What’s that?)
(Well, I should talk about why I spent time last time talking about Ares and E-Girl instead of focusing on my wonderful self like my legions of fans would have demanded)
(If you say so. But I am kinda curious myself. Seemed a bit out of character for you)
(I can’t help it if I know how wonderful I am. But anyway, the reason why I mentioned her commercial is that some nasty rumors have surfaced that I am jealous of E-Girl. Personally, I blame Fox News for it. But the fact that I was willing to praise her should put those rumors to rest)
(Fine. Now can we get started?)
(Let’s do.)
Now, where did we leave off last time?
Oh, yes. We left our intrepid heroine (me) waking up on my second day of girlhood, meeting my neighbour Sarah, finding out I was already a Youtube sensation, and descending on a local mall for some serious shopping.
Now, if you were going to go shopping as a girl for the first time, I highly recommend having a heiress with you willing to pay for everything. Makes things so much nicer, no?
Anyway, after our shopping was finished, we had lunch at a nice restaurant in the mall, and then discovered that I seemed to be able to make luck and chance go my way, leading Sarah to give me my heroic name, Fluke.
Along the way, I had won a large jackpot at three different video lottery terminals, and after turning in the winnings to be changed into cash, we both decided we needed to go back to the bar and have a stiff drink each.
Unfortunately, I had just started to enjoy my first drink (as my male self, I had steered clear of alcohol) when the screaming started.
I found out later exactly what happened, but rather than bore you with the investigation, lets leave me and Sarah in the bar, and show what was going on in the mall itself.
They were not stupid, for crooks. The plan was to tunnel under the city from an old warehouse, to the bank and end up right in the vault room, just after closing time. (It was an early closing day for the bank, but the mall was still open). They would clean it out, go back down the hole to the tunnel and be gone to Mexico or wherever before the bank even noticed the theft.
Unfortunately, they made a major error in calculating how far they would have to tunnel. That, plus the infra-red goggles they wore which meant they didn’t catch the error until the bunch of them had popped up like a group of gophers right in the middle of the food court at suppertime….
What saved the patrons was in part that these guys had not planned for running into any major opposition, so they were not heavily armed. Still, one couldn’t exactly blame people for panicking.
Hearing the commotion, I took a quick peek out the door of the restaurant, to give me some ideas as to what was going on. Guys in masks, waving small guns, the crowd scattering in all directions, I got the gist pretty quickly.
I started figuring out my strategy. (Don’t believe those nasty rumors that I was shaking in my heels)
I could jump in there, and maybe they would focus on me instead of the crowd, but this “luck” power, however it worked, might not prevent somebody from getting hurt. (IE: me)
Then I looked at Sarah, and she was smiling, and I knew. I knew I could do it. I stood up, slipped into the ladies room, and said to the air, “Wizard, I need a costume.”
Once again, the wizard showed she had a bizarre sense of humor. The best thing you could say for the outfit was I was covered. In fact I was covered from my neck to my ankles and all of my arms to the wrists.
There was only one small problem.
It was a body stocking, and it was almost entirely sheer, except just a bit thicker around the nipples and between my legs. Even me, who had seen this body naked, thought this made me even sexier than when I was nude.
At this point I found myself in an argument, with myself.
One part of my brain was saying “You are bloody indecent, girl! Cover up!” (I blame Eddie’s background for that voice)
The other part was saying “You got, you might as well flaunt it sister” (which is more like the fantastic female I have become)
I figured I would let Sarah break the tie, and stepped out of the bathroom, and all the patrons stopped what they were doing, which mostly consisted with quietly looking for an exit that did not lead back into the mall and the screaming, and they all looked at me.
I don’t mean to brag, but more than a few pants now had bulges in them, and an number of blouses looked a little perkier than before. I tend to have that reaction wherever I go, no matter what I am wearing.
Sarah was looking too. As for her reaction, well, to be kind to her, I will only say that it was a good thing she was wearing a bra, since otherwise her erect nipples would be standing so far out they would be in a different area code.
“You going to go out there like that?”
“Well, being the good friend I am, I wanted to share with you first.”
“Well…. At least the bad guys are not likely to be able to pay attention to anybody else.”
“my thinking exactly.”
“You sure you wouldn’t like a skirt or something?”
“Nah. I’m good. Besides, we left everything we bought in the car, remember?”
At that moment, there as a small pop, and Yaddie came back from wherever she went to while we were shopping.
“Yaddie! Good. You can help me deal with these guys”
“Yaddie!”
She floated over to Sarah, and managed to get herself under Sarah's arm'
“Come on, Yaddie.”
She managed to give me the impression of sticking a tongue out at me.
“Yaddie!”
“Okay, okay. You guard Sarah.”
“Yaddie!”
With Sarah taken care of, I went out to bravely face the foe.
My outfit gave me the best idea for how to deal with the guys in masks, and so I slipped out the door of the restaurant that led back to the mall proper, and said “Ahem!”
Needless to say, that pretty much had the effect I was hoping for - the bad guys stopped worrying about the shoppers fleeing and focused on me.
I almost felt sorry for them, they looked like teen boys who, having a super crush on some babe they only had posters of, then turning a corner and finding said babe waving to them.
They lowered their weapons (but the cannons in their pants were now pointed at me…)
“This is going to work... Of course, why would I ever doubt my natural charms?”
It was at that moment that the roof of the mall creaked, groaned, and then...
Vanished.
“Now what?”
A wind whipped up, and something started to come down toward us. At first, it was a light, then it became more solid.
It was a flying saucer.
No, I don't mean it was just a UFO. It was actually a flying saucer, just like the movies. It dropped down, and landed in the middle of the food court, and opened up, revealing what looked like a robot. In fact, it looked exactly like the robot from “lost in space”.
Then, something else came out of the ship, and I wanted to scream “Oh, come, on!”
It was a group of little green men. Again, I mean literally. They were maybe three feet high, florescent green, and reminded me of every Martian from every bad sci-fi movie ever made.
The robbers fled, and most of the civilians had found the exits, so it was me and a bunch of stereotype aliens.
Then I heard a soft pop, and Sarah and Yaddie were beside me.
“Hi”
“Yaddie!”
“You got any ideas?”
“Yaddie!”
Sarah said “Please Yaddie. People are going to get hurt”
“Yaddie!”
With that, Yaddie popped out, and a second latter, popped right in front of the spaceship.
“Yaddie!”
Yaddie, the robot, the aliens, and the ship itself popped, and were gone.
“I hope the little gal is okay”
“Yaddie seems to know what she is doing”
“What did it feel like, when she popped you”
“It was....interesting”
“You will have to go into details”
Before she could oblige me, Yaddie re-appeared.
“Yaddie!”
“You didn't hurt them, did you?”
“Yaddie!”
“Good girl”
I swear, Yaddie purred.
“As much as I hate to break up this love-fest, I think we still have some problems.”
The reason why I said that is the weather started to get weird. A massive storm seemed to develop faster than should have been possible. Sarah and Yaddie started to look for shelter, while I bravely headed for the center of the storm. I was soaking, my hairdo was ruined, and I wanted somebody to pay....
A figure came down out of the sky, waved a hand, and the roof re-appeared. I recognized him. He is called the Doctor, and not like the old British TV show. He stood there looking at me for a minute.
“What's up Doc?”
I had always wanted to say that......
He glowered at me, and said, "We must have word, Coyote"
Uh oh.....
Coming Soon!...
The amazing conclusion of the origin of Fluke, in a story called "Coyote ugly"
The Lucky One, Part 4
(Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, and all beings in between, this is the conclusion of the exciting origin of the Fantastic Fluke, “the luckiest person alive.” Without further ado, let's join today's adventure, already in progress....)
It was a dark and stormy night....
(Umm, Fluke? Dot here. Just what are you doing?)
(I got bored waiting for you, so I thought I would get started without you)
(Fluke, leave the writing to professionals, okay?)
(Fine. Should we catch every body up)
(Nah. If they want to, let them go back and read part 3 themselves)
(Dot, that is …. remarkably self-centered of you. I approve, of course.)
(Now that's a scary thought. Lets get going)
I looked up at the man they called the Doctor, our Sorcerer Supreme, as he floated above me, and said, “I am sorry. What was it you just said?”
“I said, we must have words, Coyote “
“Oh. For a second, I though you said 'We must have word' which made no sense to me.”
He glowered at me, which would have been more effective if he hadn't been floating about 10 feet above me.
“And another thing.” I continued, “What's with calling me Coyote? They call me the Fantastic Fluke, and the only Coyote I know of it the bar from the movie.”
“You mean Coyote Ugly?” Sarah asked.
“That's the one.”
The Doctor floated down to me, and said, “Do not play games with me, Coyote. Lord Dark Flame is on the loose, and I have little time to spare.”
(An aside to people in Dorothy's dimension, If you met a person who decides to use the name, “Lord Dark Flame” and you assume that such a person isn't a nice guy, you would be right. )
“Look, I honestly don't know who you are talking about. They call me Fluke, but you can call me Fantastic, and after a night together, you will.”
He looked at me very sternly, and said, “I will use the all-seeing eye of Odin, and find out what you are hiding, Coyote.”
“Sounds kinky. You should be at least taking me to dinner first.”
He pulled out an eyeball. It wasn’t his, but still, eww. What happened next was.... well, you ever see the movie version of the Lord of the Rings? That eye thing sweeping the land like a searchlight? Sort of like that. I shivered, and wished I was somewhere else....
And then I was.
Actually we were. Sarah, Yaddie, and I were well, elsewhere. (Let me just say, teleportation? Not a fun way to travel. Honestly, you’re better off taking the bus.) After our eyes (and stomachs) stopped spinning, I looked around. It was fairly dark, but a large full moon gave enough light to make me very unhappy with what I was looking at.
It was a castle.
It wasn’t some nice, bright castle, like the one at Disneyland. It was a dark, foreboding, creepy castle that came right out of central casting for horror films. (If castles had to audition for that part.)
“Yaddie, did you pop us?”
“Yaddie!”
“Good girl.”
“Yaddie!”
“Don’t suppose you would share as to where we are?”
“Yaddie!”
“Thought not.”
Sarah pulled out her phone, and then said, “No service, Eddi.”
“That’s not good news.”
That’s when things went from bad to worse. The ground shook, and suddenly, dozens of zombies were climbing out of the ground, and they were headed our way.
“I don’t suppose you have a rocket launcher in your purse?” I asked Sarah.
“Not so much as a water gun, sorry.”
“Yaddie? Can you get rid of them? Or maybe get us out of there?”
“Yaddie!” Yaddie made a noise like “phoompht” and then looked embarrassed.
“I assume that’s means no?”
“Yaddie!”
“Marvelous. “
“What about calling on your wizard buddy, Fluke?”
“Worth a shot. Hay Miss Wizard! A weapon would be nice.”
Nothing.
Nada.
Zip.
“Okay, now we could be in trouble.”
“Fluke?”
“Sorry Sarah.” I closed my eyes and held her.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and risked a peek. One of the zombies was trying to get my attention. Once it seemed sure it had succeeded, it made a reasonable approximation of a bow, and then pointed at the castle.
“Cooooome.” It said
“I think it wants us to come with.”
“I gathered.” Sarah said.
“Think we should?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
So off we went.
We made our way up to the castle. Once we got to the door, it opened on its own, and our guide led us inside. As soon as we entered, I looked at a huge picture hanging on the wall, and said, “I know that guy from somewhere.”
“Fluke that’s …..HIM.”
“Him who?”
“That’s the Red Baron.”
“You mean the guy Snoopy fought?”
“That was a song, and no.”
“I am the descendant of the original ace fighter pilot .” said a voice.
“I apologize for my friend, Baron Von Richthofen , she has let TV rot her brain.” Sarah said, in a very shaky voice.
“Hay!”
“It is quite all right. Sadly, my predecessor has been reduced to …. humor. I hope someday to restore the family honor.”
I slinked up to the Baron. “Well, looking at you, I judge you will succeed.”
“Umm, Fluke? Dial it down a tad?”
“What?”
The baron disentangled himself from me with some difficulty.
He asked, “And what are your names, lovely ladies?”
“I’m Sarah. The ‘lady’ trying to get into your pants is called Fluke.”
“Yaddie!”
“Oh, yeh. And this is Yaddie.”
He bowed slightly. “And to what I owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Yaddie kinda popped us here by accident. Then a bunch of zombies brought us inside.”
“Ah, yes. A rather effective group for guarding the doors. Less good at being company, however.”
“Well, if you are looking for company....” I started, only to be cut off by Sarah saying, “Not now, Fluke.”
“As charmed as I am by your offer, my dear, you actually arrived at a rather... private moment.”
“I am so sorry if we interrupted you, Baron. If you could provide us transportation, we would be glad to get out of your hair.” Sarah said.
“Could you not leave the way you came?”
“No. Or at least when we asked Yaddie to pop us, nothing happened.”
“Well. Under the circumstances, perhaps I can send you on your way. Please come with me.”
I shrugged at Sarah, and we followed him. We went down a long hallway, up a long staircase, down another long hallway, down a set of stairs, and finally, we were at a room that, based on the heavy door, was not built for visitors.
He opened the door, and said, “Please wait in my laboratory. I will be with you shortly.”
Looking inside, I could see why he called it a “laboratory”, and not a “lab”. A “lab” should have a bright science geek feel. This place was going for a very different vibe. More of a Frankenstein feel to the place, in fact. If he had a monster with bolts in its neck on a slab, it would be perfect.
After a quick look look around, I said to Sarah “Well, he seems charming enough. I bet he’d be fun in bed.”
“Please be careful, Fluke. From what I have read about him, he has a stringent code of honor, but he isn't a person to trifle with. Plus, I don’t think he would sleep with you or anybody else casually.”
“Too bad.”
“ Why, you getting … itchy?”
“You offering to help scratch?”
“Can’t you take anything seriously?”
“Considering how my life has been the last couple of days? Besides, I thought you liked me”
“Eddi, when you were a guy, I liked you. Not because you were a guy, but because you were glad to have me around, and it showed.”
“I’m still glad to have you around. But I feel like i had been nothing but an observer in my own life before I changed. Now, I am trying to make up for lost time.”
“And I don’t blame you.” said our host, making me jump.
He was shirtless, but had added a cape. His chest was covered in strange symbols, but he obviously worked out, and I could feel my pulse rising.
Sara swatted me. “Stop drooling!”
“Sorry.”
He only smiled, and led us out to a room that was dominated by a large circle on the floor.
“Step inside, and the three of you will be sent home.” He said
“Thank you, Baron.” Sarah said.
He took her hand, and gave it a kiss, and then led her to the circle. “It is so nice to meet a respectful young lady.”
Sarah blushed, and stepped into the circle, followed by Yaddie. The Baron took my hand, and kissed it, just as he had done for Sarah.
He said, “The mark of Coyote suits you, I think. We should meet again, and we could discuss your power.”
“Mark of Coyote?” I said, as I stepped into the circle. “What the heck does...” the room vanished, or rather we did.
We were back in the mall. I looked around, but there was no sign of the Doctor. We made our way out, to find a small group of reporters and a policeman coming up.
The policeman said, “I take it that the excitement has ended? I got reports of men in masks, aliens, and I don’t know all what else. “
“All taken care of, thanks to yours truly.” I said.
“Fine. Anything left for me to do?”
“Let me smile pretty for the cameras, I think.”
And that’s exactly what I did. Yaddie did a vanish, and Sarah stepped back, and let me bask in the glow of the admiration of all and sundry. After a while, I slipped away, and went back toward where we had parked the car. Sarah was waiting for me, and as soon as I got close, Yaddie popped back in as well.
“Miss me?” I asked.
“You’re lucky I waited. You could be walking home.”
“That’s me. The luckiest person alive.”
“I have been thinking about that. I think your luck power is responsible for what happened today.”
“You think?”
“Makes sense. How likely is it that all that stuff would happen? And the Baron too. I mean, we met an honest-to-God villain, and he just sends us home without even an evil laugh?”
“You did say he has a code of honor. Maybe it includes not being less than a gentleman to a couple of women.”
“Maybe, but when one of them clearly has superpowers? He doesn’t accuse us of spying on him, or anything?”
“I don’t know, Sarah. Plus, what’s the deal with this ‘Mark of the Coyote’ thing he mentioned? The Doctor called me Coyote too.”
“I am not sure, Eddi. Tomorrow, if you are up to it, we can do some searching online. For now, I think I need a bath. And no, I don’t want company, at least not this time.”
“Hmm. I will have to file that one away. But I feel like I need a bath myself. What about Yaddie?”
Sarah turned to the creature, and said, “Yaddie. Go with Fluke. With her luck, she might have an octopus in her bathtub, or something.”
I grinned at that. “Well, they do say you should save water and bath with a friend.”
“I am too tired to even want to imagine that. I will see you in the morning.”
She gave me a kiss, and then went toward her apartment. I went to mine, with Yaddie bouncing behind me. (Although I am not sure if its “bouncing” if you never hit the ground.)
Soon, I was all covered in suds, and enjoying myself, when, wouldn’t you know it, the door burst open.
“Yaddie!”
“Don’t do that!”
“Yaddie!”
“This better be good.”
I dried off quickly, and by the time i was getting dressed, I could hear thumping.
“That’s coming from Sarah’s place.”
“Yaddie!”
“Yaddie, pop us over there. Now.”
We popped.
My first impression of Sarah’s place was maybe she was really the Doctor. Not the magician, but the TV character. Her place looked bigger on the inside that it looked from outside. The thumping was definitely coming from the bedroom, and I burst in with Yaddie right behind me to find ....
How do i put what she was doing delicately? She wasn't in distress, but she was making a lot of noise. She was using a large rubber toy, and she wasn't playing house. Anybody need me to draw them a picture?
She paused, and must have realized she had company. She opened her eyes, and looked at me.
“Hi. Sorry, Sarah. Thought I heard you being in trouble.”
“I can understand the confusion.”
“Well, again, sorry. We will... just leave you to your business.”
“Well, you kinda spoiled the mood now.”
“Yaddie!”
“Yaddie said she is sorry”
“I’m sure she is.”
“Anyway, we will see you in the morning.”
We slipped out.
“Yaddie!”
“Well, this is another fine mess you got me into.”
“Yaddie!”
We went back to our place, and went to bed. Can I say I had some …. interesting dreams?
The next morning, I did some searching online on Coyote. Turns out, there was an Native American myth about this creature, who, well, looked like a coyote. The thing that interested me was that Coyote was a trickster. There was a knock at my door, and I went to let Sarah in.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
There was an awkward pause.
“Eddie... about yesterday...”
“Say no more, dear. You are talking to someone whose sex drive went from zero to maximum overdrive overnight.”
“That’s … rather decent of you.”
“Anyway, I learned a couple of things about Coyote, you wanna look?”
“Sounds good.”
She looked over what I had found, and said, “A trickster, huh? That seems to make sense.”
“But I thought my power was good luck.”
“Maybe, but maybe its just...probabilities. Like the odds against something happening.”
“Cool. Maybe if Douglas Adams shows up I can invite him to dinner at Milliways.”
“I think he’s dead, Eddi.”
“Then it would be pretty improbable of him to show up, wouldn’t it?”
Before she could reply, the floor shook, and my computer blinked out.
“What was that?” I asked.
As if in answer, my TV blinked into life, and a masked face was on the screen.
“Hello, citizens. I am Dr. Destructo, and you city will be destroyed, unless Aries meets my demands! Come to City Hall, oh great Commander, if you dare!” The TV blinked out.
“I should go help, Sarah. Maybe you take Yaddie and get somewhere safe.”
“Okay, Fluke. Here’s the keys to my car. Good luck.”
“A rather ironic statement, all things considered.”
They popped out.
I put on my “costume” and drove toward City Hall. When I got there, Commander Aries was fighting a giant robot. He looked like he was having fun, so I snuck around, looking for Destructo. I figured he would be remotely running the robot, its kinda the thing he would do. So I looked around, and sure enough, he was sitting in a folding chair on the steps of City hall, giggling as he watched the robot fight with Commander Aries.
I was about to be the heroine who saved the day, when something hit me. I turned around and saw another robot, just like the one Commander Aries was fighting. Only one small difference. This one was six inches tall. And so my first real battle as a super heroine began....
About five minutes later, I was picking myself off the pavement for the third time, and making boxing motions with my hands, while saying “Come on....is that the best you got?” The fact that I was slurring my words, and barely able to stand upright should in no way indicate how the fight was going...
When suddenly, the little robot was drenched in a small rainstorm. I looked overhead, and saw E-Girl, waving at me.
“I had him just where I wanted him!”
“I saw..”
“I suppose I should thank you.”
She smiled, and said, “You were doing wonderfully. What is your name?”
“They call me Fluke.”
“Well, Fluke, shall we tackle Destructo?”
“By all means, after you.”
She zipped toward where Destructo was sitting, and before he could even finish shouting “You won’t stop me this...” she had stopped him.
All I could do was applaud. She managed a passable curtsy, and handed the poor man to me.
She said, “Do you mind holding on to him until the Commander comes? I’m actually late for class.”
So I did my civic duty and was sitting on Destructo when Commander Aries showed up with the last couple of pieces of the giant robot. He said, “Thanks. What’s your name?”
“They call me Fluke.”
“Interesting costume. You know, I have built this facility to help new heroes learn to use their abilities, would you be interested in coming sometime?”
I practically jumped into his arms, and said, “A chance to come home with you? My momma didn’t raise no dummies.”
He actually blushed.
Before we could take off, reporters appeared like magic. Soon, I was being praised as the heroine of the day. And with the events at the mall yesterday still fresh in everyone’s minds, I was really starting to get a bit of a following. Finally, Aries begged off, and flew me to the Compound. How do I describe the Compound? Well, it deserves the capital letter, that’s for sure.
Its HUGE.
As Aries showed me around, it occurred to me that Sarah would love this. One of the things I learned about her during our power shopping trip was the fact she was a fan of Aries and had always dreamed of visiting here. I asked Aries if that was something we could arrange, and he said he would look into it.
After the tour, Aries told me that The Doctor still wanted to talk to me, when I had a chance. I said “Not right now. I should get home, I’m sure my friend Sarah will be worried.”
“That’s fine, for now. Do take care of it, though. I have come to trust The Doctor in this type of situation.”
“I will, I promise.”
Soon after that, we were flying me back home. (a little aside about flying by way of a superhero. - I could understand why Lois Lane could get a hard-on for Superman after going for a flight. It’s exciting, freeing, and yet, at least for me, gave me a feeling of vulnerability that made me feel more feminine that I had since my transformation. The only analogy I could give is the difference between the lead in a dance, and being the one led.)
When we landed, I had a surprise waiting for me - Yaddie.
“Hi Yaddie.”
“Yaddie!”
“This... creature is yours?”
“I guess so. Yaddie this is Commander Aries. He’s one of the good guys.”
“Yaddie!”
“That means ‘hi’, I think.”
“Well, I better get going. Nice to meet you, Fluke.” He waved, and was gone.
“Yaddie!”
“Yaddie, can you take me home, please?”
We popped, and “landed” right in front of Sarah’s place. I knocked, and Sarah answered.
“Hi.” She said. “Fight go well?”
“Sure. Never in any doubt. The fact I am covered in bruises is just a trifle.”
“Aww, poor baby Come in..”
I came in, and said, “Anyway, things turned out okay. I got a chance to meet Aries. He even gave me a tour of the Compound.”
“Really? What was that like.”
“Pretty cool. You might be pleased to know, I asked about letting you visit, and Aries said he would look into it.”
“Eddi! You magnificent woman you!” She gave me a huge hug and a kiss. I made a mental note to do stuff like this more often.
“I have a surprise for you, Eddi.”
“Really. Do tell.”
“I will do better than tell. I will show.”
“Color me intrigued.”
“Wait here. I have been working on this all day.” She slipped into her bedroom, and I tried to find a casual position to wait in. I didn’t know what she had in mind, but my imagination was doing a pretty good job of coming up with some interesting theories .
I’m a big girl, and I can admit that once a century, I’m wrong. And the theories I had entertained at that moment were wrong. Very, very, wrong.
She came out in a costume. Unfortunately it wasn’t a “Naughty Nurse” or a “Sexy Witch” costume (Hay, I like the old standbys, what can I say?) Instead, it was a superhero costume. It was also included belt with the initials “RG” in what looked like diamonds.
“Should I ask what the heck that is?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“I’m hoping I’m wrong.”
“I’m going to be your sidekick. I call myself ‘Rich Girl.’ Cute, no?”
“You are amazingly cute. But it’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?’
“Sarah, don’t remember the other day? We almost got eaten by zombies.”
“But we didn’t. Your power protected us.”
“Doesn’t mean it will always extend to you, hon.”
“I think it will, since you will want it to,”
Before I could come up with a witty retort, the doorbell rang. Sarah answered, and The Doctor stepped in.
“You again?” I asked.
“It is time, Coyote. You owe me an explanation for your presence on this plane.”
“Look. All I know about Coyote I learned from the Internet yesterday.”
I proceeded to give him the short version of how I got my amazing abilities.
He said, “A hole in the wall of your closet? Show me.”
I shrugged, and led him back to my home. “Rich Girl” and Yaddie tailed behind him. We went into my room, and I showed him the spot where Yaddie had taken me, the first night after my transformation. He did the eyeball thing again, and the next thing I knew, the path I had taken to the wizard was in front of us.
“I intend to get to the bottom of this.” He said, sounding rather peeved
“I’m coming with you. I deserve the truth.” I said, sounding heroic.
“Yaddie!”
“Sure, why not come too, Yaddie.”
“Me too.” Sarah, aka ‘Rich Girl’ said.
And so off we went, down the yellow brick road. (Oh, wait, that’s Oz.) Up, down. and even upside down, we traveled. Eventually, we were approaching the home of the little wizard.
She took one look at us, and said, “Aww. I was hoping it would take you longer to get here, Doc.” She sounded like a little kid told to go to bed, and as she spoke, she transformed before our eyes.
She turned into a coyote.
Human sized, and standing on it’s back legs, but a coyote.
“All right, Coyote. Out with it. And the eye of Odin will know if you are lying.”
The coyote-thing sighed, and transformed back into her wizard form, and said, “I’m just having a little fun, Doc. Got to pass the time, especially since I’m stuck here.”
“Fun?” I managed.
“How did you get trapped, Coyote?” asked The Doctor.
“Loki. Cheesy little Asgardian....”
“The trickster tricked. Justice, I would think.”
She shrugged, and added, “And since I can’t leave, and its....beyond boring here, I sent my power back to Earth. I didn’t count on the real guardian of this place following to find my representative.”
“Yaddie?” Sarah and I exclaimed at the same time.
“Yaddie!” Yaddie said, looking pleased.
“Can you remove her power? She will cause chaos on Earth.” The Doctor asked.
“Nope. Her power is tied to this tree, and bonded to her body, as long as she lives. I didn't lie to you Fluke. You really are part of this place, now. I guess that's why the guardian follows you.”
The Doctor sighed even louder, and said, “Fine. But no more interference, got me, Coyote?”
“Spoilsport.”
“Coyote...”
“Okay, okay. She is on her own, from now on.”
“Let’s go home, Doctor.” Sarah said, and we started back the way we came. I looked back at my benefactor, and she winked at me.
Trying to think of happier thoughts, I asked. “What happens now?”
The Doctor sighed. “Well, I will turn you over to Aries. ” He said to me, “Maybe he can teach you how to control yourself.”
“You mean she will go to the Compound to be trained? Can I come, Fluke, please?” Sarah begged.
“I won’t go without you, ‘Rich Girl’. You’re my sidekick, after all.”
“Yaddie!”
“I guess I’m stuck with you too, Yaddie.”
We walked the rest of the way back in silence, and when we passed through the hole in my closet, The Doctor said to me, “I expect to see you both bright and early tomorrow morning.”
I saluted, and said, “You got it, Doc.”
He vanished.
I let out a breath, and said, “Well, I guess that’s the end of a strange day.”
“With plenty more strangeness to come, I hope.” Sarah said.
“You’re probably right, Sarah, you’re probably right.”
And you know what? She was.
Fin.
(Well, th...th...that’s all folks, as someone once said. The amazing origin of the Fantastic Fluke. Will there be more tales to come? Only time will tell.)
The Lucky One: Luck be a Lady (Part 1)
For those who haven't read the first adventure of Fluke, you can find it here: https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/23823/lucky-one
This is my May 2023 Free Comic Book Day Challenge entry, even if I couldn't find that in the contest section . .
Well, hello there, wonderful web readers!
It is I, the Fantastic Fluke, back again with even more adventures!
(I’d say it was due to popular demand, but that goes without saying. I mean who wouldn’t want more of me?)
I got tired of waiting for my co-writer, Dorothy Colleen, to get busy showing the multiverse even more of my acts of daring-do, so here I am!
(Hi guys, its DC here, I’m being held prisoner until this story gets done)
(Now, now, we’re just having a little fun there, DC. I promise we’ll return you to your dimension as soon as we can.)
Anyway, when last DC managed to actually write about me, I had saved the world from the Norse god Loki, who had stolen the powers of a bunch of trickster gods, and was looking to turn the world into a total chaos zone.
Okay, okay. DC is reminding me the other heroes of my Earth helped, and even the villains chipped in. But that’s just a little detail.
So in the aftermath, the other trickster gods took all of Loki’s power away and sent him to the center of the multiverse, where my patron, Coyote, has a residence and can keep him company.
But there was apparently nothing they could do about the fact that Earth is kind of saturated in chaos magic, which has resulted in a number of people gaining superpowers, and more developing the potential for powers.
Considering up to that point there had been less than two dozen super-powered people, including the villains, that’s a big change.
So for a while, we heroes were a tad busy just cleaning up the mess.
Finally though, I decided we needed a break, and by “we” I meant Sarah and I.
(I hope you guys haven’t forgotten Sarah, my former landlord and now my partner in both heroics and civilian life. Thanks to hanging around me she built herself a supersuit, and goes by the code name “Rich Girl”.)
I am not going to go into graphic details, but suffice to say Sarah has taught me the difference between having sex and making love. I have had my share of sex, but making love emphasises the “love” part, and in my humble opinion, (and as you all know, I am always very humble) making love is a LOT better. I highly recommend it.
I’ll give my patron Coyote this, she/he (I’m honestly not sure. It might be “they”) waited until we were in the post sex spooning portion of events before sending us a message that we were going to be needed as soon as we could get dressed.
So, gathering our clothes, our wits, and the official guardian of the center of the multiverse, Yaddie, we went to see what the god wanted.
Once we arrived at Coyote’s place, the god explained to us that there had been cosmic consequences to the recent shenanigans Loki had caused.
Apparently, the effects reached into the Multiversal Pathway, the route we took to come from Earth to the center of the Multiverse.
As a result, Coyote wanted us to go to some other realities, and see what damage was done, and help fix it if we could.
Sarah pointed out that our own Earth was still in some difficulty, but Coyote said time passes differently in other dimensions, and so we could be gone for months and when we got back only days would have passed, if even that much time.
Sarah and I talked together for a bit, and then we both decided we would do our best to help.
We really had no idea what we were getting into. As weird as our lives had been up to that point, it was just about to get a lot weirder . . .
Coyote told us that Yaddie would be able to lead us where we needed to go, and then did something strange, even by the god’s standards - Coyote rummaged through a chest (which caused something inside of it to swear at Coyote) pulled out a pendant, and gave it to Sarah to wear, saying it was a little extra luck, just in case.
I should have been offended since thanks to Coyote I’m basically Luck incarnate, but anything that kept Sarah safe was okay with me, so we took off, heading for the first reality that was going to need our help.
It was a good thing we had someone who knew where to go, because the Multiversal Pathway is really complex, and it's the only safe area between worlds, as apparently all kinds of creatures live in the interdimensional space, and not all of them are friendly.
We got to the entrance to the first reality we were going to visit, and Sarah turned to me and said, “Time for a leap of faith?”
“Sure,” I replied, “Leap of faith to save a world”
We landed face first on a sidewalk. Well, I landed face first on the sidewalk. Sarah’s supersuit has rockets in her high heeled boots, so she made a controlled landing, and Yaddie ignores gravity anyway.
Sarah helped me up, and asked “Anything bruised?”
“Only my dignity” I replied.
“No harm then, your ego will soon inflate.” She said with a smile.
“Hey, nothing wrong with knowing how great I am.” I said.
“No comment,” she replied, and then asked, “any idea where we are?”
“Why would I know?” I pointed out.
“Wasn’t asking you, I was asking Yaddie.”
“Yaddie!” Yaddie yelped.
“An alternate Earth. Well, maybe the crowd of people coming our way will help us narrow things down.” Sarah said.
Crowd? Oh yeah, our arrival had apparently drawn some attention from the locals, and they were coming to investigate.
Now, as the Fantastic Fluke, I am no stranger to getting attention. I am often mobbed by fans, who love and adore me, and who can blame them.
This crowd was different. They clearly were curious, but also cautious. They obviously had no idea who we were, which considering it was an alternate Earth shouldn’t have surprised me, but I am so used to being famous it took me a minute to adjust.
Fortunately, before anything too scary happened a new figure appeared.
At first, it appeared to be a large bird made entirely of flame, but then, it turned into a young woman dressed in a red costume with the stylized image of a flaming bird on her chest.
Look, I’m not one to be critical of costume choices. My current outfit looks like a bathing suit, except all the bits of me from my wrists to my ankles not covered by the bathing suit are covered by sheer fabric, and while I happen to think it’s a sexy look, some spoilsports disagree. But her outfit looked like it was painted on, and since she also seemed to be under 18, that’s a bit of a yikes in my book.
Still, I bravely stepped forward, and said, “We come in peace!”
She looked at me, and then she said “You’re from another dimension.”
“How did you know that?” I asked.
“I’m a telepath.” She replied.
“Goody,” I said, and then added, “Then you probably now know I’m Fluke, this is Rich Girl, and that is Yaddie. We’re here because a chaos wave is going through the multiverse, making weird stuff happen.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Phoenix, and it's actually been kind of quiet since I and some other heroes shut down a group of psychopaths who wanted to take over the world with computer chips they would put in people’s brains.” She said.
I facepalmed, and said, “You had to say the ‘Q’ word, didn’t you.”
She looked confused, but before she could ask what I meant or even use her telepathy to find out, an alien armada appeared in the sky.
She looked up, and asked “What the heck?”
I replied, “That’s why you never say the ‘Q’ word.”
“What do you think they want?” Sarah asked.
“Considering how armed they appear to be, nothing nice.” I answered.
The aliens must have taken lessons from the Vogons, as they made their announcement heard all over the world.
The announcement went “People of Earth. Turn over the Phoenix to us, or we will destroy your world. You have one of your Earth hours.”
“I hate it when I’m right,” I said.
“What could they want with me?” Phoenix asked.
“Well, you’re the telepath, can’t you find out?” Sarah pointed out.
“I can try.” She replied.
She became quiet, and closed her eyes, and then, after a minute, she opened them and said, “There are two alien species involved, but they represent others. Including one who had their fleet destroyed by the Phoenix before I became its host.”
“I can understand that might make someone a tad upset.” I said.
“I guess I have to go. I can’t let them hurt the planet because of me.” Phoenix said.
“Okay, but let us come with you. I have to believe this is because of the chaos wave, and so we need to help.” Sarah said.
“All right. I can use my telekinesis to carry you.” Phoenix offered.
“That’s okay. Yaddie and I fly, and I’ll carry Fluke.” Sarah said.
So we started flying up, with me in the Lois lane position. Not that I was complaining much, as snuggling with Sarah is always fun, although more fun when she isn’t wearing her supersuit. Or anything else, for that matter.
Once we got to the lead ship, we were invited in, and some introductions were made. Both of the main alien species had something in common, besides a sense of fear about Phoenix. They both kind of had a bird motif going. The one, called the Shi’ar had feathers instead of hair, and the other, who were referred to as the Thanagarians, wore helmets with a bird beak and had artificial wings.
Once introductions were done, Sarah did a reasonable imitation of a defense attorney, pointing out that Phoenix’s host, a girl named Jean Grey, was not part of what happened to the alien fleet, so punishing Phoenix would also punish an innocent person.
I don’t know if that argument was going to make a difference, but it sure confused the aliens, so I gave her a kudo anyway.
Then things managed to get even weirder. The sensors on the alien’s ship told them there was another Phoenix headed our way.
Jean managed to convince the aliens to let her go handle it, and for some reason, she wanted me with her.
Knowing my effect on people, she probably had developed a crush, but I figured I’d help out anyway, since this was probably due to the chaos wave, which made it my responsibility.
Jean said, “First, Aliens, and now, another Phoenix, probably from some other reality. This is getting weird.”
“If this is because of the chaos wave, expect things to get even weirder” I pointed out.
I was more right than usual, as we were about to find out . . .
The Superiors: The Gift
The Superiors: The Gift
Author's note: this is a sequel to all the stories in "The Superiors" universe. The first is found here: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/17639/saga-e-girl-than...
The second is here:
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/35500/here-comes-troubles...
The third is here:
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/34248/indestructible
And the fourth is here:
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/23823/lucky-one
Prologue:
At the center of the multiverse, there is a small moon-sized planetoid. On the surface is a large tree, whose branches give the impression of giving shade to the whole of Creation.
At the base of the tree is a dwelling that looks like a traditional North American native teepee, and it would have looked quite natural on the North American plains.
What steps out of the teepee would not have looked as natural.
It was a coyote.
In fact it was the Coyote - trickster god to many native American tribes, who was stuck at the center of the multiverse thanks to an encounter with a certain Asgardian.
Coyote sniffed the air, and frowned.
Most of the time, Coyote grumbled to himself about how boring things were since he got stuck. “Oh sure” he’d say, “I managed to have a little fun by sending my power to Earth, and turning one poor schmuck’s life totally upside down, that had been a good time, but other than that ... this is no place for jokes - or a joker.”
But today felt different.
Something was about to happen, Coyote could feel it.
Then the air shimmered, and there in front of Coyote was what looked exactly like a Christmas elf. About three feet tall, in striped socks and a hat with bells on it, and carrying a candy cane.
“Hello, Loki.” Coyote said with a sigh.
“Well, well, well, look who’s here!”
“Where else would I be. You got me stuck here, remember?”
“Ah, yes. Not a bad prank, I think. But not as good as the one I’ve got cooking now.”
The air shimmered again, and Loki was now holding a large chest.
“Guess what’s in the chest, Coyote.”
“Nope. Not gonna.”
“I’ll give you a hint. It has eight legs, and used to be a god.”
“Loki, you didn’t ...”
Loki threw the chest at the ground in front of Coyote, which opened it. Coyote peered inside, and said, “Anansi. What are you up to, Loki?”
“Something that required a little more power. So I’ve been visiting all the tricksters of all the myths everywhere. Believe it or not, most were glad to help. Especially when they saw what happened to the Spider, here.”
“Well, you can’t take my power, Loki. I don’t have it. My avatar on Earth does.”
“Yes. But I have enough anyway. I just thought you might want to watch the show. It will be a real exciting time!”
The air shimmered, and Loki vanished.
“Is he gone?” said a voice from the chest.
“You still alive, Anansi?”
“What’s alive to someone like me? But I’m not going anywhere for a while, if that’s what you mean.”
Coyote sighed. He’d promised The Doctor he’d stay out of his avatar’s life, but this was an emergency.
He took a deep breath, and shouted “Fluke! You got company coming!”
To be continued ...
The Superiors: The Gift
Chapter 1:
Author's note: I know its been a while since I wrote the prologue for this story. You might want to read it (or read it again) so this chapter makes more sense ...
On the super island known as “The Compound” ...
Fluke woke with a start, sending her partner Sarah off the bed.
“Hey!” Sarah shouted.
“Sorry. I just had one whack of a nightmare.”
Sarah climbed back onto the bed, and asked, “What was it?”
“Coyote wanted to tell me something. It was garbled, but I got the impression that something majorly bad was coming our way.”
“You think it’s for real? Not just Coyote yanking your chain?”
“I’m sure enough that I’ll mention it to the Doctor and to Commander Ares this morning.”
“Okay. speaking of which, you should probably start getting ready. I’ll make you some breakfast.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Fluke said, and kissed Sara.
Fluke took a quick shower, got dressed, and came back out to find Sara had made poached eggs.
The two of the ate together, and then Fluke kissed Sara.
“What was that for?” Sara asked, giggling.
“Just because I could.” Fluke said, with a smile.
Then she said, “I better go.”
Once she left their quarters, Fluke broke into a run.
When she got to the training room, she found the Commander and The Doctor talking together.
“Hey guys. I just got a pretty strange message from Coyote.” Fluke said.
“Tell us.” The Doctor said, in his gruff voice.
Fluke relayed what Coyote had told her about Loki and Anansi.
The Doctor nodded. “That sounds like confirmation of some whispers I’ve been hearing from the Astral plane.”
“What do you think Loki wants to do? Why would he attack other gods?” Fluke asked.
“For their power. But he’d be limited to other tricksters. Theoretically, he could access their power, because it is similar to his own.”
“Coyote is a trickster, why didn’t Loki take his power?”
“Because Coyote doesn’t HAVE his power, Fluke. You do.”
“Does that mean I’m in danger?”
“Perhaps. We should ...”
Before the Doctor could finish his thought, an alarm started blaring.
Commander Ares went over to a control panel, and pushed a button. A screen lit up, and a man on the screen said, “Commander, we have an emergency.”
“What is it?”
“A large spacecraft has entered Earth orbit. How it got passed our normal detectors, I can’t say. So far, the only message we’ve received indicated they will make an announcement shortly.”
“All right. I’ll come.”
“Should I back you up?” Fluke asked.
“No. We don’t know for sure if you’re in danger from Loki yet.” The Doctor said.
Fluke sighed, and then said, “Okay, what CAN I do?”
“Monitor the situation from here. For all we know, these guys are friendly.” Commander Ares said.
“Okay.” Fluke replied.
Then Commander Ares flew off.
After the Commander left, the Doctor said, “Let’s go to the monitoring room. And call your ... sidekick. She should listen to this too.”
Fluke went over to a panel, and pushed a button that would buzz her room.
****
Elsewhere ...
Even in daylight, the castle was creepy. Of course, the “guards” - who were zombies, probably were part of the reason.
But at night, the place looked even worse as several turret towers seemed to frown down on anyone foolish enough to approach.
Or at least that was the opinion of Edgar Matthews, known to the world at large as Caster.
“I hope this meeting really is an emergency. I was getting closer to full control of my wand” he thought, as he waited for the others in the courtyard. “But at least those zombies didn’t stay inside with me.” he thought.
Edgar patted the wand that was both the source of his powers and the frustration of his ambitions. Sometimes, it did what he wanted, and he’d been able to become a well known villain with it. But sometimes, it would either not work at all or backfire, which was why of the five of them he was often regarded as the least dangerous, even less of a threat than Dr. Destructo who had lost twice to a sixteen year old girl.
The main gates of the castle swung open, and as if invoked, in strode Destructo wearing what looked like a purple jumpsuit over which he wore his traditional white coat. Despite his lack of fashion sense and recent defeats, Castor knew the scientist was probably loaded down with miniaturized weapons and experimental devices.
Destructo nodded to Castor and Castor nodded back. Despite a severe difference in style, the two had bonded over their feeling of being 2nd best in their area of expertise to the Baron, whose castle they were now in.
Then the gates opened again, and two more men came in. Nightmare was dressed in black from head to toe, and beside him came Lord Dark Flame who was wearing orange and red.
The four of them took part in some small talk, and then a few moments later their host came into the courtyard. He was Baron Richthofen, known and feared throughout the world as “The Red Baron”
He was shirtless, but had black pants and a red cape with a hood.
“Welcome. Glad you all could come.” He said.
“You did make it sound important:” Nightmare said.
“Come into my conference room, and I’ll show you.”
The group followed their host to a conference room, and then when everyone was inside, their host said, “Last night, sensor I have deployed beyond Pluto picked up a large object headed into our solar system. That object, which turned out to be a spacecraft of unknown origin, headed straight for Earth, and has since sent out a signal that an announcement will be forthcoming very soon.”
“I take it you haven’t been able to determine who is in control of that craft, or what they want?” Lord Dark Flame said.
“No,” The Red Baron said, “But they are apparently about to make an announcement. I thought we should be together to hear it.”
He pushed a button, and a screen came down from the ceiling.
There was an image of the spaceship on the screen, and then a voice began speaking ...
In the apartment of Andi Mays A.K.A. “The Troubleshooter”, N.Y.C. ...
Andi: I had just finished my morning workout when I smelled breakfast. I smiled, because Carl always makes good stuff. My man is amazingly creative in the kitchen, in the workshop, and as he proved last night, in the bedroom ...
We ate together and I listened to the TV which had been giving updates about some strange thing being seen in the skies.
Suddenly, an anchor came on and said, “We have been told to expect a transmission from an alien craft in orbit of the Earth any moment ..”
And then the world changed forever.
****
Everywhere:
On computer monitors, television screens, PDA’s and phones, a voice began to speak ...
“People of Earth. We have been observing your world for some time. We saw the rise of those you call the Superiors, and became concerned. Concerned that this development was terribly unfair to the vast majority who would not be lucky enough to get super powers.
And we have a solution. We can give every human on Earth super powers if they so desire.
Just speak your wish, and you will be as powerful as any of the Superiors, even Commander Aeres.
Starting now!”
****
"The Compound"
Fluke turned to the Doctor once the announcement was finished, and said, “This cant be legit, can it?”
“I shall find out,” the Doctor said, and disappeared.
Fluke shrugged, and said to herself, “Well, on the one hand, I can’t leave. On the other hand, I have a lovely lady waiting for me in my room. So it’s not all bad.”
*****
The home of Henry Hollis, just outside Hollywood, California ...
I was working out in the basement, when gramps called me.
“Hank, come quick!”
I dropped my specially made weights (regular ones not being heavy enough), and ran upstairs.
“What is it, gramps?” I called out as I came up.
“Come watch this” He said, and led me to the living room.
We watched the announcement, and then I asked, “This ... cant be real, can it gramps?”
“I .. don’t know. I have been feeling a gathering of power, such as not been seen on Earth since most of the gods left more than two thousand years ago.”
I sighed, and said, “I probably should get ready for trouble. Been meaning to try out my new costume and name, anyway.”
Gramps nodded, and I went to my room to change. The costume was a little like what had been used on the “Six million dollar man” show, since Gramps had played a big part in that show existing. The character had usually worn a simple grey track suit, but mine was more colorful. Mine had light blue as the background color, with red and white stripes on the legs and arms. On the chest I had a stylized “H” on the chest in white inside a red circle.
So sue me, I’m a bit patriotic.
The “H” of course was from my superhero name - Haymaker.
Hey, it wasnt easy to come up with something not already trademarked.
Last I want is some comic company suing me.
Anyway, it was time for me to go to work, as chaos struck ...
Person after person took the aliens up on their offer of power. And because many of those people were selfish, or bullies, or just didnt think their “wishes” through, the city was soon overwhelmed.
Thanks to an internet connection that was part of Gramp’s “enhancements” of me (dont ask me how it worked), I soon realized it wasnt just my city that was in trouble. Commander Ares was going from place to place, but even he couldnt be everywhere at once.
“This,” I thought to myself, “Is really bad ...”
To be continued ...
The Superiors: The Gift: Chapter 2:
“The Compound” ...
Fluke:
“I really should go out there, people are getting hurt.” I said to Sarah.
“Not yet, Eddi” Sarah cautioned me.
“But ...” I objected.
“If Loki really is out to get you, this would be the perfect time, while everybody is busy with these aliens. Wait, and I’m sure the Doctor will be able to figure a way that you can help without putting yourself in danger.” Sarah pointed out.
“Indeed I will” The Doctor intoned as he faded into the room.
“Dont do that!” I growled, as he’d scared me out of a couple years growth with that entrance.
He handed me a strange looking necklace and said, “Put this on. If Loki shows up and tries drain you of your power, he’ll get a nasty shock.”
“Thank you. “ I said, and put it on. “Here I thought you didn’t like me.”
“I am not fond of someone wielding chaos magic, but compared to Loki, you at least have a good heart.” He growled in response.
I blushed at the compliment, and then turned to my partner, and said, “put on your fighting clothes, hon. We’re going to go save people.”
“One warning, Fluke.” the Doctor said, “You might start getting stronger because the chaos going on out there could fuel your magic. Be careful. And if Loki does come for you, even if the necklace works, call me immediately, are we clear?”
“No problem Doc. I want to help people, and fighting Loki would be a distraction right now.” I replied.
My partner said, “give me a minute to get into my new suit, and we can go.”
Her “new suit” had been one of the things I had insisted on before she joined me in crime fighting. As she was a regular person, she would need an edge, and some protection to reduce the chances of her getting herself killed.
And boy does her new suit give her an edge.
It looks like her, if she was fifteen feet tall, and covered in gold glitter, with the initials “RG” made out of diamonds on the “belt”.
I dont think I wanna know how much the thing cost her to have built.
But I’m glad she has it, especially going into the chaos we were about to enter ...
And it was truly chaos.
Bad people who were using their new powers to terrorize others were bad enough, but almost worse were those who seemingly hadnt planned their wish for powers properly, or maybe the aliens didnt understand their requests and now had put themselves or others in danger as a result.
And then I discovered something interesting. Coyote was a trickster god, like Loki, and it seemed that chaos not only leaked out of me making weird stuff happen around me (on my first official day as Fluke, I had dealt with another alien invasion AND a bank robbery, both of which went way beyond “normal”), but I seemed to be actually drawing strength from the chaos that was now all around me.
Chaos I then began to channel into a force to help people.
For example, someone had set cars on fire, and I caused a water main to break at just the right place to send jets of water toward the cars, dousing them before they could explode.
Still, we would have been quickly overwhelmed if there hadnt been people who were using their new gifts to try and help out.
Trouble was, even with help, it looked like it wasn’t going to be enough ...
At the home of Andi Mays ...
Andi:
Once I realized the amount of chaos the aliens were causing by giving powers to people, I gave Carl a kiss, and changed into my “troubleshooter” costume.
Once I was ready, I sighed, and jumped into the fray. Even though I prefer to get paid for my work, sometimes, you have to do a freebie. Especially when it was likely there wouldnt be any clients left if things didn’t turn around ...
At the home of “The Red Baron”
Baron Richthofen, aka “The Red Baron” turned from the television screen to address his guests.
“This will cause chaos.” He said.
“Seems like this would be a perfect opportunity for us to do as we please, while the so-called “superiors” are busy.” Caster said.
“Perhaps, but I dont believe that would be the wisest course.” The Baron replied, “I believe that there is something more going on than what we are seeing. Only a god or goddess can give a human these kinds of abilities.”
“What would you suggest we do?” Lord Dark Flame asked.
“Watch and wait. Let us learn more before we go out into that madness”
“What a waste. ” muttered Dr. Destructo.
“Waste or not, it is the best plan” intoned the Baron.
The others nodded, and all of them said, “Okay, we wait.”
Just then, a voice said, “Well, that’s no fun”
And the castle exploded ....
To be continued ...
The Superiors: The Gift Chapter 3
Author’s note; This is the conclusion of this little adventure. I hope you all like it. After completing 2 chapters of this story, I suddenly realized I hadn’t shown what E-girl has been up to. And since her story is what got this universe rolling I should correct that ...
At the home of Debra Cain, A.K.A. “E-girl”
Debra:
It was almost one in the afternoon before I was able to make it home long enough to grab a bite to eat. But even before I could finish the next crisis hit as I heard over the radio ...
(Newscaster’s voice): “Amid all the chaos that has occured since the arrival of the aliens with their promises of power, here is just the latest: Reports are coming in of a massive explosion at the home of Baron Emil Richthofen, popularly known as ‘The Red Baron’. We’ll pass on more information as soon as it is available.”
I used a communication device to contact Commander Ares, and told him of the apparent explosion, and he asked me to check it out.
So I gave my mom a kiss and told her to keep indoors, and used my wind power to fly into the air, and using a portal provided by the Doctor, I popped over to Germany.
I flew over the spot where the Baron’s castle once stood, and then I contacted Commander Ares, telling him, “The castle is ... gone, Commander. Totally destroyed. No signs of any survivors.”
The Commander responded, “Copy that. Check in with the local authorities, and then port home.”
I flew to Berlin, where the authorities were using some experimental mech suits to try and deal with the ongoing chaos. It seemed to be working well, so I signaled to the Doctor I was ready to return the Compound or wherever the crisis was at its worst.
That turned out to be New York City, where the new hero Bzzzzappp (kinda a silly name, but then again its not like E-girl is much better) was doing her best to help out. As I came close, she waved at me, and shouted, “You’ll never believe who just was here. The Red Baron himself! He wanted me to join his team!”
“Wow. I was just at his castle, its been destroyed. I guess he survived.” I replied.
“Looks like.” she replied.
I contacted the Doctor, and told him about the appearance of the Red Baron. He replied, “Strange. The destruction of his home would have given him an excellent opportunity to let us all think he was dead, giving him enormous freedom of action. But he almost immediately shows up again? I will consider this. But for now, continue helping where you can.”
“Will do.” I replied, and jumped back into the fray.
About an hour later, things finally started slowing down. Fewer new cases were popping up, and those who had gained positive abilities were helping contain those who had selfish motives as well as those who had simply not thought through their wishes. They were aided by response teams from the Compound using a variety of devices and gadgets to help rein in the chaos. There were also some superiors who we had files on who were also helping, even though they had turned down opportunities to work with Commander Ares, most notably a so called “hero for hire” known as the Troubleshooter, and a kid on the west coast calling himself the Haymaker.
I made a mental note to make sure and ask Commander Ares to send them both a thank you note for their help or something, when this crisis was concluded.
Even if they didn’t want to join us officially, things would have been a lot worse without their help, or at least I think so.
My musings were interrupted by a message from the Doctor. “Come to the Compound. We have some ... interesting guests.”
So away I went.
And boy, he wasn’t kidding.
The Red Baron was there, and he wasnt alone. With him were Nightmare, Lord Dark Flame, The Caster, and Doctor Destructo.
Fortunately, besides the Compound’s security team, they were being covered by the Doctor, along with Bzzzzappp, Fluke and her partner Rich Girl, the “hero for hire” Troubleshooter, the Haymaker kid from the west coast, and front and center, Commander Ares himself.
The Doctor nodded as I arrived, and then said the Red Baron, “You were about to tell us why you’re here.”
“The being responsible for all the chaos tried to destroy me and my ... friends here. He did destroy my home. I believe the phrase ‘the enemy of my enemy is ... well maybe not my friend, but at least worth allying with.’ applies here” the Baron replied.
“Who is responsible for this ... insanity?” Commander Ares asked.
“Loki. Trickster god of Asgard. Although this requires much more power than I thought he had in him.”
“He’s been stealing the power of tricksters from all the other pantheons,” Fluke said, “Coyote told me, but we didn’t know why - until now.”
“There is something else, isnt there?” The Doctor asked the Baron.
“Very perceptive of you. Yes. I believe you have a young lady who recently was seemingly approached by me to join my little group?” The Baron replied, “Well in fact that was not me. It was Loki. The question is why?”
The Doctor looked thoughtful, and then said, “Because there is some aspect of her power that worries him.”
Then Commander Ares said, “All right. So what we need is a way to flush him out into the open long enough to test why he would be afraid of Bzzzzappp.”
“I believe I have an idea about that.” the Baron said, smiling, and he looked right at me as he spoke ...
*****
Twenty minutes later ...
Fluke:
To say I was nervous would have been putting it mildly. I mean, here I was, facing down the spaceship that we now knew was really something created by Loki, who had been stealing powers from other tricksters - like my patron Coyote.
I did have a couple of things to comfort me. One was, that without the spell the Doctor used to keep Loki from finding me, I could tap into the raw chaotic trickster magic I could feel coming from that ship The other was that beside me was my girlfriend and sidekick in superheroing, Sarah, aka Rich Girl, in her power suit, which also had a little surprise courtesy of the Baron ...
I shouted up at the spaceship, saying “Loki! As one trickster to another, this has been one heck of a gag. But you’ve been outed, so time to step from behind the curtain and take a bow.”
A door in the ship opened, and out stepped Loki himself, dressed like a punk version of a Christmas elf.
“How did you ever guess? Even your sorcerer supreme shouldn’t have been able to pierce my disguise.” the trickster asked.
“You outed yourself trying to blow up the Red Baron. He survived, and told us it was you.” I replied.
Loki sighed, and said, “I should have expected that. But I had so assumed he and his friends would take advantage of the situation and create even more chaos. When he wouldn’t ... well, I lost my temper.”
‘Be that as it may, Loki, the point is the gag’s over. How about you hang it up, and go bug Asgard, or whatever it is you do when you’re not trying to make mortal lives miserable.” I replied.
“Well, things have calmed down a bit ... but how about I just take Coyote’s power from you and see how much more fun I can have instead?” Loki said, and then pointed a candy cane at me ...
And fired.
Fortunately, Sarah stepped in front of the bolt, and it bounced off her “Rich Girl” suit.
She then raised an arm of the suit, revealing a tank missile and pointed it at Loki, saying “You’re not hurting anybody else, Loki. Stand. Down.”
Loki said, “Mortal, this is god business. You have no place here, especially being so dependent on technology. Do you not realize how easily I can cause your systems to go haywire, shut down, or even turn on you?”
He then fired a blast at Sarah, but I was able to push her down and out of the way in time. Sara, meanwhile, managed to fire the missile not at Loki himself, but at the spaceship behind him.
Except it wasnt actually a missile. It was something a lot closer to a taser, with the “missile” part having a line going back to Sara’s suit, so when it hit the spaceship, a bolt of electricity went from the suit to the ship.
And that bolt had another surprise - Bzzzappp who had been able to “hide” in the current thanks in part to a spell created by the Red Baron.
The result was a huge explosion, and when the dust cleared the ship was gone, and it was revealed to be in fact a cart with two goats in front.
Despite the large electrical blast, they seemed unharmed, which made sense to me when I realized who they were, and who their regular owner was - Thor, god of lightning.
Which probably also explained why Loki, disguised as the Red Baron, had tried to get Bzzzappp off the playing field, so to speak. Her power would have seemed a little too close to Thor’s for his liking.
Loki growled “No!” but before he could bring up his candy cane wand to fire at Bzzappp, she showed something about lightning.
It’s really, really fast.
She bowled into him giving him a serious jolt that sent the smell of ozone into the air.
But Loki was far from done, and he managed to knock Bzzappp away, and prepared to fire at her.
But I looked up, and realized he was too late.
Because Ares had brought the other heroes, and the Red Baron had brought the villains.
I think everybody took a few shots at him. Even the villains gave him a pounding. But surprisingly, it was Haymaker, Troubleshooter, and Bzzaapp who did the most damage when Haymaker doused Loki with water, allowing Bzzapp and Troubleshooter to both hit him with more electricity, Bzzzapp using her power, while Troubleshooter hit him with what looked like a super-powered defibrillator. I let them have their fun while I went to check on Sara, who had punted herself out of the Rich Girl suit.
As a result, I almost missed the next part, but the loud shout from the sky allowed me to catch the moment ...
The trickster gods had arrived, and they were NOT happy ....
Not long after that, it was over. The trickster gods had taken their power back, and had left. Loki, looking fairly burnt, was turned over to Thor, who also collected his cart and his goats. The villains took off, except the Red Baron who actually THANKED me, Sara, and Bzzzappp for our help, and then vanished.
Haymaker and Troubleshooter both were given Compound communicators, and told that should they ever need help, we would be there for them, and they took off. The Doctor and the rest of the heroes went back to cleaning up the mess Loki had caused, and Sara and I went back to the Compound so she could fix her Rich Girl suit and then we joined in the cleanup efforts.
That night, I had a dream ....
I saw Coyote in his teepee on the asteroid with the giant tree at the center of the universe. There was a noise outside, and he went out, to discover the chest that had once held the remains of his fellow trickster god Anansi was full again, and a large man with a red beard was walking away towards a chariot that was pulled by two goats. Coyote looked at the chest, and said, “Well, it will be nice to have company, dont you think so, Loki?”
From within the chest came the sounds of cursing, which in my dream were replaced by beeps ...
I woke, smiled, and snuggled next to Sara and soon fell asleep again ...
End.