Tales from the World of Scarlet Shield

For those who have a way with words.
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Green-Lightning
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Tales from the World of Scarlet Shield

Post by Green-Lightning »

Kenzie Meets Jen, Part 1

July 12, 2014
12:03 pm
Redford, Michigan

It was the usual summertime lunch rush at Crispy Cluck and Kenzie was glad she had gotten there before the crowd so she could claim her favorite corner booth. The fast food place had been a big part of Kenzie’s life for as long as she could remember, giving her fond memories of time with her family. As she got older, the family time mostly gave way to hanging out with Liz. They had spent countless hours at that booth talking about boys, school, boys, whatever mystery Kenzie was helping Liz solve that week, boys, their hopes and dreams and, well, boys. Kenzie and Liz had been best friends since they were little. They told each other everything; no one but Kenzie knew just how strong Liz really was, and Liz was the only person Kenzie told when she found out she could fly and create force fields a couple months ago, as well as when she made her first appearance in costume as Scarlet Shield five weeks later.

Kenzie nibbled on a drumstick and washed it down with a sip of root beer as she read an old issue of Metas magazine. She loved the Cluck’s fried chicken even if it was a little greasy, and they had Gramps’ Root Beer, her favorite brand. She was trying not to eat too fast, though, because she didn’t want to finish before Liz got there. Liz was helping her father, a private investigator, with a routine case that morning, but she and Kenzie had made plans to meet for lunch.

“Hey.” Kenzie looked up from her magazine to see a girl about her age standing at the table’s edge, holding a bag of food in one hand and a cup in the other. “Can I sit with you? There aren’t any empty tables.” Kenzie’s first thought was to notice how pretty the girl was, which surprised her. She normally didn’t give much thought to what other girls looked like but this time she couldn’t seem to help herself. The girl was a little taller than Kenzie, probably around five and a half feet, with a slim figure hidden under baggy clothes. Her straight blonde hair was nearly shoulder length and her bangs were combed back, but it was the girl’s heart-shaped face that held Kenzie’s attention. Fair-skinned with lips that formed a natural pout – the bottom one sporting two piercings – a cute button nose and almond-shaped hazel eyes made it hard for Kenzie to look away.

“Um, sure,” she replied, her cheeks turning slightly pink as she forced her eyes back to her magazine.

“Thanks,” the girl said as she took a seat. If she had noticed Kenzie staring, she didn’t let it show. “I won’t take long, I promise. I’ll be gone before whoever you’re waiting for gets here.”

“Wh-what makes you think I’m waiting for someone?” Kenzie asked, looking up again.

The girl gave her a wry smile. “You’re barely touching your food. That means either you don’t feel good or you’re waiting for someone to show up and eat with you. You don’t look sick and, come on, a cute girl like you sitting alone here with all these boys around? Yeah, that’s not happening.” Indeed, there were several teenage boys sitting at the nearby booths and tables; Kenzie recognized many of them from school, though she didn’t know all of their names. Some of them were casting furtive glances at the two girls in the corner as they whispered among themselves.

“...I’m waiting for a friend,” Kenzie admitted.

“Must be some friend,” the girl said between bites of food, “if she can keep the guys away even when she’s not here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kenzie asked, her brows furrowed in irritation.

“It means they respect your friend, or they’re afraid of her. Or maybe both.”

“Oh. Um, yeah, she does kind of scare the bullies at school.”

The girl smiled. “My kind of person.” Pushing her food aside, she laid a folded napkin on the table in front of her. “Do you have something to write with?”

Kenzie, would-be girl reporter and member of the school newspaper staff, never went anywhere without a memo pad and at least one pen or pencil. She got a pen out of the backpack laying next to her on the seat and slid it across the table. The girl picked it up and quickly wrote something on the napkin. “I’m new here and I don’t know anyone yet.” She slid the pen and napkin across the table to Kenzie. “I like you, you’re nice. I’ve gotta go, but call me sometime and maybe we can hang for a while.” Kenzie picked the napkin up and looked at it while the girl put her half-eaten meal back in the bag. On it were written the name Jen and a phone number. The girl, Jen, stood, ready to leave. She picked up her bag and cup, then took a drink of soda through the straw. “Later.”

“Uh, yeah,” Kenzie said as Jen turned and walked away, “bye.” To her surprise, Liz was walking toward the table with a tray in her hands. Kenzie had been so focused on Jen that she hadn’t even noticed when her friend arrived. “Hey,” Jen said to Liz, upnodding at her as they passed each other. Liz, nearly half a foot taller than the blonde, glanced down at her. “Hi.” Stopping for a moment she did a double-take, then looked at Kenzie curiously as she continued to her destination. “Who’s that?”

Kenzie watched, awestruck, as Jen walked out the door. She held the napkin out for Liz to see and said softly, “She thinks I’m cute...”

((To Be Continued.))
Last edited by Green-Lightning on Thu May 06, 2021 4:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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The Kids Are Alright, Part 1

Post by Green-Lightning »

May 28, 2004
Montgomery, Alabama

“Not so fast, Projectionist!” ten-year-old Cindy Rose, in her costumed identity of Dynamic, shouted from the entrance to the bank. Vicki, nine years Cindy’s senior and in her Fyrebyrd persona, looked at her speedster little sister as if she had just bitten into something sour. “Did you really have to say that?”

Cindy shrugged. “It was the first thing I could think of.” She turned back to the scene in front of her: the geeky teenager who called himself the Projectionist, along with six gun-toting mobsters he had called up from some old black-and-white movie, had the bank’s customers and employees cowering in a corner while they worked at emptying the vault. One of the bank’s guards was with the others, disarmed, while the second guard lay unconscious on the floor a short distance away.

“You’ll never take me alive, coppers!” shouted the young villain, looking straight at Vicki as he did so. With a grin he added, “I've always wanted to say that!”

“And you do, Irwin,” Vicki rolled her eyes as she replied, “every time we do this.” The girls had figured out early on that the Projectionist was really Irwin Lipschitz since he didn’t seem to have enough sense to wear a costume, or even a mask. “Will you just give up this time, or is it gonna end with my fist in your face like it always does?"

Ignoring Vicki’s question and paying no attention to Cindy, who was too young to spark his interest, the Projectionist waggled his eyebrows at the older girl. “Have you finally decided to agree to be my girlfriend, Hot Stuff, or are you still playing hard to get?”

“Omigawd,” Cindy drawled, wrinkling her nose. “Not this again. Ew. Can we just get this over with already? It’s almost time for my second ‘tween-lunch-and-dinner snack.”

“Boys!” the Projectionist called out, not waiting for Vicki’s answer. Maybe he had a little more sense than they thought he did. “Protect me!”

"Sure t'ing, boss," one of the thugs said as they aimed their guns at the girls, getting ready to fire.

“I'll take the three on...” Vicki was saying something but Cindy wasn’t listening. She was already making fast work of three of the thugs. In almost no time at all they were lying unconscious on the floor. She watched them fade away, as the Projectionist’s summoned minions always did after she knocked them out. Knowing that her sister wouldn’t have any trouble with the other three, Cindy turned toward the Projectionist himself. In a flash she was standing directly in front of him.

“Wanna give up now?” Before the villain could react, Cindy heard Vicki’s voice calling from her left. “Cindy, help me!” She looked in the direction the voice had come from, only to see the crowd of frightened people looking on. “Over here!” her sister's voice cried from her right. “Help me, please!” Again, Cindy turned to look in the direction the voice came from, and again her sister wasn’t there. “Hey!” Vicki's voice called out once again. “What are you doing?”

Cindy, confused and getting angry, turned once again toward the sound of her sister’s voice, to see Vicki standing over the fading forms of three unconscious black-and-white thugs. “You were calling for help,” she said, “but when I looked, you weren’t there.”

“Whatever,” Vicki replied in irritation. “And now Irwin’s getting away. Go get him before he–” The sound of a nearby jet engine drowned out the rest of what Vicki had to say. Cindy was immediately outside, with Vicki following as closely as she could, in time to see a fighter jet taking off down the street as cars quickly pulled up onto the sidewalks to get out of its way.

“Great,” Vicki said as she glared at her little sister, “we’ll never catch him now.”

“Wanna bet?”

“No, don’t!” Vicki shouted, but it was too late. Cindy was already gone, a blue, black and yellow afterimage stretching down the street and out of sight. A moment later she heard twin sonic booms just outside of town as her sister followed the jet. “I’m in so much trouble when Dad finds out ‘bout this.”

***
Detroit, Michigan

“C’mon, kid,” the convenience store clerk said, his voice a mixture of irritation and boredom. “I ain’t got all day.”

Sam tried her best to smile disarmingly at the clerk as she checked her pockets yet again for more change. “Hold on, I got this. Really. I do.” She had come to the store to pick up some snacks for the next round of card games with her dad and had found herself thirty-two cents short of what she needed for what she had picked out, but didn’t want to put anything back.

“Look, kid,” the clerk said, making a supreme effort at keeping his patience and mostly succeeding as Sam heard the door open and close behind her. “You don’t have the money for all this. You’re gonna have to put someth–” The clerk’s jaw dropped as he looked past Sam.

“Hands in the air!” a nasally voice shouted. “This is a stick-up!” Turning, Sam almost laughed at the sight of the tall, lanky boy. He looked to be about her age – that is, around fifteen years old. He had short, dark hair and glasses with tape holding them together at the nosepiece. He was dressed in a black, sleeveless, knit vest over a short-sleeved button-down shirt, brown pants that were about an inch too short and white socks with black dress shoes. Flanking him were a pair of heavy weapons cyborgs straight out of a Battlefield Andromeda movie. “I want all of the money in your safe! Now!”

With a laugh the clerk said, “Boys, Halloween isn’t for another–” but quickly shut up when one of the cyborgs aimed his weapon and blasted the cigarette rack behind the clerk. “Right, the safe,” he said as he quickly turned and ducked behind the counter.

“What the–” Sam’s exclamation was interrupted as the door flew open. A blue, black and yellow blur quickly surrounded the would-be robbers, who were all unconscious in a matter of seconds. The blur came to a stop in front of Sam, revealing itself to be a girl who appeared to be about five years younger than her, with big blue eyes looking at her through the eye holes of a mask that covered the top half of her face, red hair pulled back into a ponytail and a pair of goggles pushed up onto her forehead. She wore a blue and black superhero costume, the two colors separated by zigzagging yellow lines and a matching belt. Even standing still, parts of the girl’s body blurred at various split-second intervals, as if she were having a hard time slowing down. The girl smiled and seemed to be saying something but was speaking too quickly to be understood.

“Whoa, girl!” Sam said, laughing. “Slow down!”

“Oh, sorry,” the girl replied. “I’m Dynamic. Who’re you?”

“You sure are,” Sam said with a wry smile. “Sam Dunham.”

“...Sam’s a boy’s name...”

“Sam’s my nickname. My real name’s Samantha.”

Dynamic opened her mouth to say something, then frowned and looked back at the empty floor behind her. “Hey! Where’d the Projectionist go?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “And you thought ‘Sam’ was bad?”

“But why didn’t I hear him sneak out?” Dynamic looked at the door, which hung open, half off its hinges from her entrance. “Oh.”

***
I really have to start using tougher minions to rob banks, Irwin thought. The thugs he had called up from an early Blue Bowler serial episode had been enough to handle the customers and security, but they didn’t stand a chance against Fyrebyrd and Dynamic. Fyrebyrd wanted Irwin – every teenaged girl wanted him and he knew it – but she hadn’t let that stop her from beating up the thugs, and Dynamic was too young to fall for his obvious charms. Irwin had managed to avoid capture long enough to call up an Air Force fighter jet from the 1983 movie Aces vs. Aliens and use it to leave the heroes far behind. At least, he thought he had. He hadn’t realized that Dynamic was fast enough and stubborn enough to follow him all the way to Detroit.

He had fled the bank empty-handed and needed money, so he tried robbing the convenience store. There was even a pretty girl there who hadn’t been able to hide her desire for him. But Dynamic had shown up and ruined that, too. Luckily, she had pulled her punches – maybe she wasn’t immune to his animal magnetism after all – and the girl distracted her long enough for him to sneak away. Outside now, a safe distance from the store (he hoped), he called up the time machine from 1991's Anywhen But Here. He climbed aboard and set the controls for exactly ten years in the future just as a by-now-familiar blue, black and yellow streak shot out of the convenience store and headed straight for him.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Dynamic proclaimed as she came to a stop in front of the time machine.

“That’s what you think,” Irwin replied, aiming a blaster out of the 1978 low-budget movie Galactic Convoy that suddenly appeared in his hand at her and firing. Dynamic, taken completely by surprise, was hit in the chest by the blaster’s beam and dropped to the pavement, unconscious. Suddenly a sneaker-clad foot knocked the weapon out of his hand and sent it spinning out of reach.

“Surprise, loser!” The girl from the convenience store grinned down at him from her perch atop the back of the time machine. Irwin didn’t have time to invite her to sit on his lap as they traveled into the future together. Dynamic was a tough girl; Irwin wanted to be gone before she woke up. He pushed on the lever that sent the machine forward through time. Though the machine didn’t physically move from its place in the parking lot the effect was similar as it began to accelerate through time, causing the girl to lose her balance and fall backward. “Gah! Help!”

***

Cindy lifted herself slowly – for her, anyway – off the pavement and looked up to see Sam fall from the time machine as it began to shimmer. In less than the blink of an eye she was behind the machine, leaping to grab the rail that ran across the back of it even as she wrapped an arm around Sam’s waist. She held on for dear life, to both the machine and Sam, as the sun’s movement across the sky accelerated. Day became night became day, faster and faster. Things continued like this until Cindy found out that bar she held on to wasn’t as strong as she’d thought it was, snapping under the pressure of her grip. The girls tumbled from the time machine to find themselves... right where they had started, apparently. Or maybe not; upon closer inspection, Cindy noticed that some things about the convenience store had changed. She also noticed differences in cars, clothing styles and other things that reminded her of a certain four days of her life when she was eight years old.

“We’re not where we’re supposed to be,” she told Sam, who was still gathering her wits about her.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked. “We’re right in front of the store.” Faster than anyone around could see Cindy ran into the store, grabbed a newspaper, ran back out and handed it to Sam. “Look at the date.”

“Holy...” Sam muttered as she looked at the paper, which was dated May 21, 2014. Turning her attention back to Cindy she asked, “All right, what do we do now?”

“I know someone here,” Cindy replied. “She might be able to get us back home.”

“Wait, you know someone here?” Sam was trying to wrap her head around the idea of a ten-year-old superhero knowing someone who lived in the future when, without warning, Cindy grabbed her and took off. Newspaper pages went flying everywhere and Sam’s scream could be heard trailing off into the distance as they headed toward downtown.

To Be Continued...

((Adapted from writing I previously published as “The Kids Are Alright” at https://standonline.guildportal.com (which no longer exists) on May 22, 2014 and a section of “With a Little Help from My Friends, Part 2" at https://silverage.guildportal.com (which also no longer exists) on December 21, 2014. References to Champions/Champions Online lore, as well as a character belonging to another player who had given permission for that character’s use at the time, have been changed or removed for the sake of establishing continuity separate from Champions and Champions Online.))
Last edited by Green-Lightning on Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
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The Kids Are Alright, Part 2

Post by Green-Lightning »

May 21, 2014
Detroit, Michigan

Traveler felt sorry for the owner of the car she was forced to hide behind as four Demon Knights shot the other side full of holes. At least no one’s in it, she thought. Hopefully it’s insured against metahero battles. Not that the Demon Knights were metavillains; they were just a bunch of thugs with some high-tech weapons and lightweight body armor. Traveler, on the other hand, was a metahero, so it counted.

A metahero without powers, she silently noted with a wry smile. She had just used up the last of her energy reserves to get home from an Earth that she never wanted to go back to, so it would be several hours before she could use her powers again in any meaningful way. Unfortunately when she appeared near the Renaissance Center she interrupted the gang members while they were doing something they shouldn’t be doing. She assumed they were, anyway, because when weren’t the Demon Knights doing something they shouldn’t be? She hadn’t had time to find out for sure, though; as soon as they saw her they started shooting. It was a good thing that she hadn’t turned her force field belt off yet, at least. If she had, she would probably be lucky if she made it to a hospital. It was only a matter of time before their blasters turned her hiding place to Swiss cheese unless she could get a few lucky shots in with her own smaller, more powerful blaster – a gift from a friend in the twenty-fifth century. Her powers weren’t the only thing that needed to recharge, though; the blaster and belt would need to soon, as well.

The sound of blaster fire stopped suddenly, replaced by shouts of surprise from the Demon Knights. Traveler rose up from behind the car, ready to take a shot or two and quickly duck down again. Luckily she didn’t have to, and her heart leapt when she saw a familiar blur making short work of the thugs. Cindy always shows up when I need her most. Then the blur came to a stop and Traveler’s smile turned to a frown as she felt a moment of confusion. That was definitely Dynamic but she was too short – too young – and her costume wasn’t right. It sported her old colors – blue, black and gold – and the bottom half of her face was uncovered, as were her legs from her knees to just below her calves. But she had been wearing a white costume with gold trim that covered everything except her eyes and hair for the last couple weeks, since the Luminary had made her its host and healed her after Cicatrix nearly killed her and left her paralyzed from the neck down. And she hadn’t worn goggles or kept her hair in a ponytail since she was–

Traveler mentally kicked herself; she couldn’t believe she’d forgotten that this was the day. And there’s me, she thought as she watched the preteen speedster mostly succeed at walking at a normal pace back to the teenage girl she had brought with her. Traveler got her cell phone out and made a call. “Hiya, sweetheart... yeah, they’re here. She just took out the goons for me... They’re looking over here now...” With a smile and a wave she started walking toward the girls. “Okay,” she continued into the phone, “see you when you get here. Love you... Mmbye.” She ended the call and put her phone away just as she reached the time-lost youngsters.

“Hi there,” Traveler said cheerfully, then focused on young Dynamic. “It’s good to see you again. You’ve grown some since last time. How old are you now?” She already knew how old this Dynamic was from living through events the first time as Sam, the teen, but she remembered her older self asking.

“I’m ten,” young Dynamic answered. “Is old me gonna be here?”

Traveler couldn’t help but laugh a little at the girl calling her older self “old me”. “I just talked to her and she’s on her way. She should’ve been here alr–” A sudden gust of wind blew everyone’s hair around. Traveler smiled and walked over to the where the adult Dynamic landed, dazzling with her golden hair and pristine white costume trimmed in glowing gold and matching starburst chest emblem.

Young Dynamic’s jaw dropped. “I can fly in the future? Cool!

“Hey, hon,” Dynamic said to Traveler as they held each other close for a moment, mask-covered noses touching.

“What took you so long?” Traveler asked with a smirk.

Dynamic shrugged as they let each other go. “Cat in a tree in Nashville.” Then she turned her attention to the girls. Sam stared blankly at the two of them for a moment – Traveler knew she already had a suspicion that they were the same person – before looking over at the younger Dynamic. The costumed girl wrinkled her nose in faint disgust at the show of affection by the adults. “Ew.”

Dynamic chuckled at her younger self. “Believe me, you won’t feel that way in a few years.” She glanced at Sam and winked, bringing a slight blush to the girl’s cheeks, then turned back to Sam’s adult counterpart. “Right. So, the MeRTs should be showing up ‘bout now...”

As if on cue, two black vans labeled DETROIT POLICE and METAHUMAN RESPONSE TEAM arrived on the scene. Each van disgorged a team of five officers in body armor and armed with weapons designed for fighting metas. The leader of one team approached the heroes as the rest surrounded the Demon Knights.

“Come on, girls,” Traveler said as she and the older Dynamic turned to face the officer. “Let’s tell them everything that just happened. Then when we’re done we’ll get some lunch and figure out what to do while we wait for the Projectionist.”

To Be Continued...
Last edited by Green-Lightning on Tue May 17, 2022 8:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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The Kids Are Alright, Part 3

Post by Green-Lightning »

May 28, 2014
Detroit, Michigan

“...And there he is,” Traveler said to the others as a shimmering light appeared at just the right place in the convenience store’s parking lot, “right on time.” The heroes had been on the scene for less than five minutes.

“Whoa,” young Dynamic said, impressed. “Is knowin’ stuff like that one’a your powers or somethin’?”

“Not exactly,” Traveler said. Unlike Sam, who had figured out right away that she and Traveler were the same person, her companion from the past had been too busy examining everything else around her at blinding speed to really think about it.

“You can come out now, Irwin,” the older Dynamic drawled, turning to face what seemed like empty space.

“How’d you know I was here?” the Projectionist’s adult counterpart asked as he removed a cloak of invisibility that he had gotten from a cheesy 1980s fantasy movie.

Dynamic nodded in the general direction of the teenaged Irwin, who seemed to be struggling a bit to get out of the time machine. “Same way we knew he was gonna be here.” Then she motioned toward her own younger self. “I’m standin’ right there, remember?”

“Oh,” the villain murmured, looking over at the costumed preteen in dismay as she stuck her tongue out at him. “Right.”

“Look,” young Dynamic said, scowling, arms folded across her chest, her left foot a blur as it tapped the ground at super-speed, wearing a shallow hole in the pavement, “can we just beat these two up an’ get it over with? A week here is way too long an’ I really wanna go home.”

Sam watched this then, smirking, looked over at the adult Dynamic. “You do learn some patience, right?”

“Sort of,” Traveler, her expression matching the one on Sam’s face, answered for her girlfriend.

“‘Least some things haven’t changed.” The older Dynamic looked from Traveler to Sam and back, her eyes giving expression to the smile hidden behind her mask. “And I’ll have y’all know I’m extremely patient. Y’all just can’t tell ‘cause I move so fast.”

Even with her knowledge of events – imperfect as it was, based on ten-year-old memories – Traveler was unprepared for the deep, booming voice that spoke next. “Halt, evildoers!” Turning suddenly, she saw the source of the voice standing majestically next to the adult Projectionist, his fists on his hips, orange cape moving ever-so-slightly in a gentle breeze. Large and imposing, the man wore a light blue mask and bodysuit with orange and white accessories. On his chest was a large, white exclamation point inside what looked like a word balloon similar to the ones used in comic books, except that it was a bright orange color.

Who’s this guy?” Sam asked.

“Cap’n Spectacular,” the older Dynamic answered. “He was a hero back in World War Two. They made a movie ‘bout him in the nineteen-fifties an’ a cartoon in the ‘nineties. This one looks like he’s from the movie.”

The two Projectionists simultaneously pointed at their opponents and commanded the movie hero, “Get ‘em!”

“You betcha!” the imitation Captain Spectacular answered. Before he could do more than take a step, however, a ten-year-old speedster was running circles around him, punching and kicking him so fast that only her older self could see her as anything other than a blur.

“You’ll have to do better than that, villain!” Captain Spectacular said, looking from left to right and back as he tried to keep track of the girl’s location.

“We’re not the– oof!” Young Dynamic had been so focused on hitting the target of her attacks that she failed to notice when he suddenly dropped to one knee and made a move to block her. Running into his outstretched arm knocked the wind out of her and she fell to the pavement, stunned.

“Gotcha now, you little miscreant,” the cinematic Captain said as he wrapped a large hand around the girl’s ankle. “Here’s how we deal with delinquents like you where I come from.” He swung her around once like a shotput and let go. Sam watched, shocked, as her new friend went flying toward the horizon.

“I got her,” adult Dynamic said to Traveler. “Y’know what to do.”

“You know how to beat these guys?” Sam asked as the older speedster flew off in a streak of gold-trimmed white. “How can I help?”

“We keep them busy until the others get back, then let them handle it. And try not to get hit.”

“That’s easy for you to say! You’ve got powers, I don’t!”

Rubbing his hands together as if to dust them off, Captain Spectacular turned to face Traveler and Sam. “Who’s next?”

“Look,” Traveler said as she sauntered toward him, “can’t we talk things over? Hero to hero?”

“We could,” the Captain said warily, his hands clenched into fists, “if I was talking to a hero.”

While the two heroes talked, teen Projectionist sidled over to Sam. “How about me and you catching a movie after this?” He leered at her, waggling his eyebrows, but she ignored him.

“What are you waiting for?” the adult Projectionist asked angrily. “Just hit her!”

“Yeah,” his younger counterpart added, “do it already!” This earned him a glare and a muttered “Moron” from Sam. “...What?” he asked Sam, looking as if he were trying to convince her that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, which caused her to roll her eyes and look away in exasperation.

Captain Spectacular looked from one Projectionist to the other, then back at Traveler, who smiled disarmingly at him. “Do I look like a villain to you?” she asked as he raised a fist, ready to throw a punch. “Come on,” she continued, “I mean, really, there’s no need for violence.”

“Stop trying to confuse me, villain,” the big man said as he swung at her, his fist passing through empty air where her head had been a moment before. Glaring, he looked around to see Traveler standing between the two Dynamics. Sam, who had been standing next to the younger Projectionist a moment before, now stood next to young Dynamic.

“I really don’t wanna fight you,” the older, white-clad speedster said in a low, even tone belying the anger that seethed just below the surface, “but if you’d hit her, you probably would’a killed someone very important to me. You probably would’a killed the kid, too, throwin’ her that far.” Her muscles tensed, ready to take action as she continued, “So instead’a pickin’ on them, why don’t you try takin’ on someone a little closer to your weight class?”

The Captain raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look like you’re any tougher than the others, but it’s your funeral.”

“You heard her!” the older Projectionist yelled, pointing at the women. “Don’t just stand there, you idiot! Get her!”

“Yeah,” the younger villain added, “what are you waiting for?”

“Omigawd,” preteen Dynamic muttered, rolling her eyes. “What a bunch’a losers.”

With a snarl the movie hero charged Dynamic, who kept her speed in check as she ran toward him. When she was within range, Captain Spectacular launched a large fist at her chest. To his surprise the woman dodged him easily, causing him to lose his balance as his hand unexpectedly passed through empty air. Even more surprisingly, she didn’t take advantage of his vulnerability to attack. Instead she just waited while he regained his balance and turned to face her again. “We can do this all day if you want. I really don’t wanna fight you but I’m fast enough that you’ll never hit me, either.”

“That just makes you a coward,” said the Captain as he charged at her again.

“Seriously?” she asked as he took another swing at her. Vanishing in a blur, she was suddenly behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m over here. As for bein’ a coward, or a villain for that matter, would I stick ‘round an’ refuse to fight you? What’s the point of that?”

“You’re trying to humiliate me,” the movie hero said as he made another attempt to land a punch on his much faster opponent. This time, rather than dodge, her hand shot out to catch his fist, stopping it cold. “It’s not... going to happen,” he continued, strain showing as he pushed against her open hand.

“I’m not tryin’... to humiliate you,” Dynamic replied, straining as well as she fought to hold the slightly stronger hero back. “I’m tryin’ to make a point. My friends and I... don’t wanna fight you. I think y’know that, too. You’re holdin’ back, or I wouldn’t’a been able to stop that punch the way I did. But what ‘bout the other two? They’re the... unh... ones tellin’ you to attack us.”

The blue-and-orange-clad assailant relaxed, unclenching his fist as he lowered his arm. “You have a point.” He turned to look at the two men. The teen was standing next to Sam again, to her obvious dismay, while the adult was several yards away from the rest of them, trying to sneak off while he had the chance. “Hold it right there,” he said as he floated majestically, arms crossed, to the older one and landed in front of him. “Prepare to face justice.”

Irwin smiled weakly at the bigger man. “...You wouldn’t hit a guy wearing glasses, would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Captain Spectacular said as he removed the villain’s glasses. “But you’re not wearing them now.” Irwin tried to back away but the hero grabbed him by the shoulder with his free hand, stopping him. He raised the hand holding the glasses until it was even with Irwin’s forehead, then flicked him between the eyes with his index finger. Irwin’s head jerked backward from the impact, his eyes rolled up into his head and started to fall, unconscious. Captain Spectacular made no effort to catch him, prompting Dynamic to rush over and do it herself, gently lowering Irwin to the pavement.

“Your writers sure didn’t give you much compassion, did they?” she asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.

“Writers?” the Captain asked, confused. “I don’t understand.”

Several feet away, the younger Irwin glanced nervously at Sam. “So, uh, about that movie?”

“Does this answer your question?” Sam asked, grinning, as she kneed him in the groin. The boy’s eyes bulged and he fell to the ground and stayed there, lying in the fetal position, moaning and whimpering.

“Was that really necess–” Captain Spectacular started to say as he took a step toward Sam and the fallen teen, but faded from view mid-objection.

“Well,” Sam said, “I guess we know which one of them thought him up.” She nudged Irwin with the toe of her shoe. “Hey, you okay down there?” Her question was answered with another whimper, causing her to look at the others and shrug with an innocent smile. “I didn’t think I got him that hard.”

“He’s a wimp,” young Dynamic answered.

“An’ he always will be,” the older Dynamic added as she hefted the unconscious adult Irwin over her shoulder.

“That really shouldn’t have worked,” Traveler said.

“Yeah,” the older Dynamic answered, “I know. Best guess I got is, Irwin’s control wasn’t as good when he was younger an’ the Cap’n from the movie was too much hero for him to handle.”

“Why didn’t old Irwin help him, then?” young Dynamic spoke up.

“Probably ‘cause he remembered that we won an’ he didn’t think he could change that. He’s not as dumb as he looks.”

“Um...” Sam began, approaching Traveler as young Dynamic picked the teenaged Projectionist up and, mirroring her older counterpart, threw him somewhat carelessly over her own shoulder. He groaned again, then whined when his knuckles rapped against the pavement. “When do I get my powers?” Sam looked expectantly up at Traveler, who remembered the excitement she had felt at knowing she would have powers and the hope that she would tell herself exactly when they would manifest.

“Soon,” was all Traveler said in reply. She knew it wasn’t the answer her younger self wanted, but she also knew the girl had enough sense not to press the matter.

“It’s time to take ‘em back,” Dynamic stated as she motioned toward her preteen counterpart, who had begun to blur slightly as she fidgeted. “I know someone’s really anxious to get home.”

***

May 28, 2004

Traveler and Sam stood in the convenience store’s parking lot in the exact same places where they had stood less than a minute before, ten years in the future. As soon as they had arrived Traveler stopped time for everyone in the immediate area except herself, Sam and ten-year-old Dynamic; a young couple, leaving the store, were frozen mid-exit. Dynamic, with teen Irwin in tow, was most likely at least two counties away already on her way back to Montgomery, leaving the time traveling hero alone with her younger self. The two young women looked at each other silently for a moment as Traveler waited for the questions she knew were coming.

“So she, like, dyes her hair blonde?” Sam was having a hard time reconciling the thin, fidgety and impatient preteen she had hung out with for the last week with the woman that girl would become over the next decade, and whom she seemed destined to fall in love with. Traveler remembered that the thought had been mind-boggling and a bit disconcerting. Sam would spend several days trying to imagine what the woman looked like behind her mask before eventually letting other things take priority.

“Not quite.” Traveler knew that she shouldn’t tell her younger self too much. One thing she didn’t need to know yet was that Dynamic would become the host to an alien energy being and that their symbiotic relationship would not only save Dynamic from spending the rest of her life as a quadriplegic, but make her one of the most powerful heroes Earth – their Earth, at least – had seen.

“And you two are...?” Sam blushed as she asked the question.

Traveler, smiling softly, nodded once. “Uh huh.”

“And when you get back to the future, are you gonna...?”

“Maybe. It depends on what Cindy needs to do. But–”

“Cindy?”

“Yeah, that’s her name. But don’t let her know I told you. When you meet her again it won’t be long before she tells you herself.”

“Right. So, when you’re together...”

“We’re pretty predictable, I guess. Usually it’s dinner, dancing and going someplace we’ve never been to before where we can have privacy – the Amazon rain forest, the Himalayas, Australian outback, places like that – and, um... enjoy each other’s company for a few hours, then watch the sun come up.” Traveler smiled brightly as she added, “Being able to teleport and time travel really helps with that.”

Sam spent a moment letting that sink in then grinned. “Cool. When do I meet her again?”

“Look,” Traveler said, “I’ve already told you more than I should’ve. It’s your future, after all. For you, it hasn’t happened yet, so you’re not supposed to know any of it. Besides, I have to get back and stopping time like this is a real drain on my energy reserves. But before I go...” She pulled a dollar bill from the top of one of her gloves. “Here, you’ll need this. I made sure it wasn’t too new.” She handed the dollar to Sam. “I brought us back to a little less than ten minutes before you get to the store.”

“That’s why the guy gave me a funny look when I got here,” Sam said as she took the bill. “Sweet, thanks.”

“Don’t take too long. Like I said, you get here in less than ten minutes, so I suggest you be gone before that and take a different way home.”

“Be gone before I get here. Got it, weird as that sounds...”

“You’ll get used to it,” Traveler said with a chuckle. “Speaking of being gone, I’ll see you in ten years.” She blinked out of existence, as if she had never been there, leaving Sam alone. The teen hadn’t even noticed how quiet it had been until the sounds of the world around her came back as time resumed its normal flow: birds singing, nearby traffic, the couple talking to each other as they left the store. She smiled brightly at them as they walked past, and they smiled back at her. Then she turned and, opening the door, walked into the convenience store, still smiling as she wondered what adventures the future held for her.

((The End.))
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Kenzie Meets Jen, Part 2

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 12, 2014
10:27 pm
Redford, Michigan

Scarlet Shield and Midnight Blue sat on the roof of a building across the street from a strip mall, their feet and lower legs dangling over the edge, munching contentedly on burgers and fries from Burger Czar as they took a break from their nightly patrol. Though they preferred Crispy Cluck’s chicken, Kenzie Jacobs and Liz Karras had been regulars there since they were small children and were known well enough that they didn’t think going to the Cluck in their costumes was a good idea.

“So,” Blue said as she chewed a bite of her burger, “are you gonna call her?”

“...I don’t know,” Scarlet answered hesitantly, hoping the darkness hid the pink in her cheeks that accompanied the warmth she felt. “Should I?”

“Don’t ask me. You’re the one who can’t stop thinking about her.”

Scarlet had just shoved some fries in her mouth in an effort to delay having to say anything else when she noticed movement inside Enrique’s Electronics, a store in the strip mall that had closed for the day more than an hour earlier. She pointed toward the store as she quickly chewed the food and swallowed. “I think I just saw a light moving around through the window over there.”

Blue looked at the storefront window for a moment. “I see it too. Let’s go check it out.” The duo quickly crossed the street and approached the store. The door was closed but the lock had been broken none too subtly. Blue opened the door quietly and went in followed by Scarlet, who was surrounded by the soft red glow of her force field.

There were two figures in the store. The smaller of the two looked like he couldn’t be any older than the teen heroes about to confront him. He was Scarlet’s height, if that, and skinny. His costume was familiar, though, mostly dark green trimmed in yellow and pink, with a large yellow H on his chest, a smaller one on his forehead and a pink and purple zebra-striped cape. The larger figure was a robot that looked like it had been built using parts found in a junkyard. The top of its head was a miner’s helmet with a lamp – the source of the light they had seen – and it appeared to have a large power button in its lower abdomen. That can’t be real, Scarlet wondered as she looked at the robot, can it? How could someone smart enough to build a robot be dumb enough to put an on/off switch there? In one hand the villain held a canvas bag, which he was busy stuffing electronic devices into when he noticed them. Uncertainty and defiance fought for control of his masked face as he looked from one hero to the other. To her dismay Scarlet couldn’t help but notice that his gaze tended to linger on her slightly longer than on her friend.

“Minion,” the villain addressed the robot as he somewhat clumsily drew a strange looking gun from the holster on his right hip and aimed it at Scarlet, “I-I’ll deal with the, uh, the p-pretty one, you take the other one.”

“Query:” the robot responded, its voice a synthesized monotone, “which-one-is-the-other-one?”

“The tall one,” the villain said with a sigh. “The tall one is the other one.”

“Wow,” Blue said to Scarlet, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow and a wry smile. “That’s two in one day.”

“Oh my god,” Scarlet whispered, facepalming and shaking her head slightly.


“W-wait, what?” asked the villain, seemingly confused by Blue’s comment while simultaneously blushing from embarrassment as if he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Query:” the robot interrupted, preventing that possible conversation from continuing to Scarlet’s relief, “where-do-you-want-me-to-take-the-tall-one?”

It was the villain’s turn to facepalm. “Don’t take her anywhere. Just... just start hitting her and don’t stop until she falls down and doesn’t get back up.”

Blue frowned at the villain as the robot advanced on her. “Well, that was rude.” She closed the distance between herself and the robot, dodging a punch when she was within range of its metal fists and responding with the heel of her hand against its chestplate, causing the robot to take a step backward. “You’re the expert on metas, Red. Who are we dealing with?”

“I don’t know,” Scarlet replied, “I think he’s new. The costume looks kind of like one worn by a couple guys who called themselves the Heckler. The first one was a hero who died, like, thirty five years ago. He, um, insulted people...”

Blue stared at Scarlet incredulously. “Really? Insults were his power?” Minion took advantage of the momentary lapse to hit her on the side of the head. “Hey!” she yelled, punching the robot on its faceplate and knocking it to the floor.

“Yeah, I guess that’s where the name came from? He didn’t last very long. The second one was a villain in Arizona who could make people smaller and weaker – not real small or anything, just, like, about five feet tall – and weaken their powers by touching them. He disappeared after getting hurt in a fight with the Protector Alliance about twenty years ago, I think.”

“Enough with the history lesson,” the villain growled with as much menace as a mouse trying to sound tough while the robot got back to its feet. “Yeah, I’m the Heckler. Minion and I are leaving and there’s nothing you can do to stop us!” As if to prove his point, he fired a warning shot from the strange-looking gun at Scarlet, leaving a scorched spot on the wall a few feet to one side and knocking several display items from nearby shelves. Scarlet flinched and let out a small yelp. She knew her force field was bulletproof but had never had an energy weapon fired at her before and wasn’t sure if her powers were a match for one. She recovered quickly and responded with a series of low-powered force bolts from her hands, which struck the floor near the Heckler’s feet and forced him to take a couple hasty steps backward.

“Minion?” Blue asked as she pressed hard against the robot’s power button with her open hand. “Do you mean the robot that I just turned off?”

“Shutting-down,” the robot said, confirming that Blue had indeed turned it off. Slowly the light in its eyes and the lamp on its head faded to darkness and the robot was still.

“Wow,” Blue said, not bothering to hide her surprise. “That worked? Who’d be dumb enough to– never mind.” Scarlet quickly moved to stand next to her as she turned to face the Heckler. “Now, Heckler, what was it you were saying about leaving?”

Several minutes later Scarlet and Blue watched from a distance as a Wayne County Sheriff’s Department MeRT hauled the Heckler, hogtied with phone cord, and his dormant robot away while the store’s owner, who had arrived in response to a call from the company responsible for the store’s security system that included a silent alarm, yelled at the villain in what Scarlet thought was probably Spanish.

It’s a good thing some people still have landlines, Scarlet thought, and that Liz knows how to tie knots. “Our first supervillain,” she said to Blue.

“Yeah,” her friend answered with a sigh. “Kind of a letdown, really.”

“I definitely wouldn’t call him if he gave me his number.”

Blue turned to face Scarlet, looking at her quizzically. “You were thinking about Jen the whole time, weren’t you?”

“Wh... what makes you think that?”

“He was obviously interested in you, just like it sounded like Jen is. But you made a point of telling me that you won’t call him. You didn’t say that about her, so I have to think that maybe you want to call her.”

“But I don’t like girls, not like that!”

“Kenzie, I saw how you looked at her at the Cluck, and she’s been on your mind nonstop since then. Maybe you don’t like other girls like that, but you seem to like her like that. Call her. See what happens. She’ll probably end up being just another girl and you can go back to thinking about boys.”

Scarlet’s shoulders slumped. “All right,” she said, sounding nervous and a little dejected. “I’ll call her.” She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone.

***

10:49 pm
Detroit, Michigan

Oni looked around in grim satisfaction at the dozen Demon Knights scattered throughout the warehouse, unconscious or wishing they were. A drug dealer had reluctantly named the location as the source of his product when she none-too-gently pressed him on the subject and there was easily enough evidence there to send the people working at the warehouse to prison for years. She had let them have a chance to give up peacefully but, in all honesty, she was glad they tried to fight. “Tried” being the operative word. Even then she’d gone easy on them; they would all be able to walk to their jail cells when they got out of the hospital. This time.

She winced a little as she gingerly touched a spot on her left bicep that was a slightly darker shade of red than the skin around it, where one of the gang members had managed to hit her with a glancing shot from his blaster. That’s gonna sting for a while when I change back. Leaving the warehouse and finding a secluded area where she was less likely to be spotted by passers-by, Oni took out the burner phone she kept for such occasions. She was about to dial 911 to anonymously report the criminal activity when her smartphone began to ring. She put the burner away, took out her other phone and looked at the screen. The source of the call started with “313", the area code for Detroit. The only local person who had her phone number was the girl she had met during lunch at the fast food place. Smiling, she answered the call.

“Hey... I’m glad you called... My voice? Sorry, I’ve got something stuck in my throat, just a minute...” She made a show of clearing her throat for the girl’s benefit as she instantly transformed. She shrank from nearly seven feet tall and muscular to a slender five foot six inches; long white hair shortened, turning blonde; red skin faded to a fair complexion; the yellow irises of her eyes turned hazel as the sclera changed from black to white; horns disappeared; her black and yellow fighting outfit morphed into the baggy clothing she had worn earlier. Leaning against a nearby wall, the oversized, heavy-duty shamisen that served her as both an instrument and a weapon changed with her, becoming a somewhat beat-up looking but serviceable electric bass guitar. “It’s gone now,” Jen said, her voice an octave higher than Oni’s. “So, first question: What’s your name?... Kenzie. I like it...”

((To Be Continued.))
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Re: Tales from the World of Scarlet Shield

Post by Davies »

This is really good stuff.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Re: Tales from the World of Scarlet Shield

Post by Green-Lightning »

Davies wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 7:38 pm This is really good stuff.
Thank you, I appreciate the compliment :D
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Kenzie Meets Jen, Part 3

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 13, 2014
3:23 pm
Redford, Michigan

Kenzie wanted to eat but her nervousness made it hard to do more than nibble. She was back in her favorite corner booth at the Cluck, sitting across the table from a girl she had only known for one day but who made her feel things that she didn’t completely understand. Sure, there were girls who liked other girls that way, she knew that and was fine with it, but she wasn’t one of them. At least she hadn’t been until she met Jen while sitting right there at that table. Part of her was scared to death by the feelings, which she had only had for boys before, while part of her hoped that the previous day’s meeting had given her another reason for the booth to be her favorite.

“You’re picking at your food,” Jen noticed. “You did it yesterday, too. Is something wrong, or do you always eat like that?” The lunch rush had been over for a while but dinner was still a couple hours away. Other than herself and Jen the only people in the place were the employees, who were too busy doing their jobs in preparation for the coming evening rush to pay them much attention.

“What? No!” Kenzie replied, a little louder than she meant to. “No,” she repeated, more quietly.

“No, there’s nothing wrong?” Jen asked, leaning forward a little to rest her chin and cheek on her hand with her elbow on the table. “Or no, you don’t eat like that?” The girls were completely focused on each other, ignoring the ring of a bell and greeting from an employee as someone entered the building.

“N-no,” Kenzie insisted, flustered, “there’s... there’s nothing wrong. I just–”

“Excuse me, ladies,” a voice interrupted, “but you’re sitting at our table.”

Kenzie looked up, wide-eyed, and saw the last three people she wanted to see right then. Damon Whitaker was the center for Township High’s varsity football team and the school bully. At six feet, three inches tall and around 350 pounds, he was the biggest boy at school and he loved to throw his weight around, figuratively speaking. With him were Tony Giacomo and Bart “Giraffe” Dolby. Tony was also on the football team, a defensive lineman who was only slightly smaller than Damon. Giraffe got his nickname because he was as tall as Damon and skinny, with a neck that seemed longer than it really was because he was so thin. Unlike the other two, who both wore Township High letter jackets despite the summer heat, Giraffe’s denim vest sported Demon Knights colors and insignia. Damon and his flunkies had terrified Kenzie before her powers manifested, even with Liz around to stand up to them most of the time. She was still afraid, but for a different reason. With her powers came the secret of her dual identity and the fear of having to choose between defending herself or protecting her secret. Except that it wouldn’t just be herself she was defending, but Jen as well. If she could only stall for time while she tried to figure out what to do...

Jen seemed completely unimpressed by the trio as she glanced up at them. “Are you sure this is your table?” she asked. She gave the table a quick once-over, lifting first her plate then Kenzie’s to look under them as she did, and added, “I don’t see ‘Dumbass’ written on it anywhere.” She looked up at Damon, smiling innocently. “You must have confused it with another one.”

“Oh boy,” Kenzie muttered.

“Dude,” Giraffe said, “you gonna let her get away with that?” Damon held a hand up to silence his companion and returned Jen’s smile.

“I’d be offended by that but you’re new here and obviously don’t know who I am. Besides, you girls were nice enough to buy us food.” He turned his attention to Kenzie, reaching down to take a thigh from her plate. “So, pipsqueak...” He took a bite of the thigh. “Does your girlfriend know you’re cheating on her?”

“Liz isn’t my girlfriend,” Kenzie whispered, worried that he would think she was talking back to him if she said it too loudly.

“What was that?” Damon cupped his free hand behind his ear. “I didn’t hear you.” He took another bite of Kenzie’s chicken.

“So you’re deaf as well as dumb,” Jen answered before Kenzie could say anything else. “She said Liz isn’t her girlfriend. I’m kinda surprised she’s not though, really. I haven’t even met her yet but she’s gotta be a better choice than any of you.”

“Jen,” Kenzie whispered frantically, “what are you doing?”

“Pipsqueak,” Damon said as he glared at Jen, “there’s not enough food here for all three of us. Why don’t you go buy some more while we teach your new girlfriend some manners?”

“Maybe it really is true,” Jen said with a smirk as, keeping her eyes locked on Damon’s, she stood up, “those who can’t do, teach.” With a sneer, Damon turned to face her.

“That does it, bitch!” He reached out to grab the front of Jen’s shirt, but she was ready for him. She easily sidestepped his outstretched hand then kicked him hard between the legs with her steel-toed boot. With a grunt he dropped the stolen piece of chicken and fell to his knees, clutching himself. She followed up on the kick by hooking the forefinger and index finger of her right hand into his nostrils and yanking upward with as much strength as she could muster.

“Ow-ow-ow-ow, by doze!” Damon whined as intelligibly as he could with both nostrils being yanked on from the inside. “Stahb id!”

“Hey!” Tony yelled as he made to lunge at Jen, and Kenzie saw a chance to help without giving her secret away. Unnoticed by either Jen or the bullies she created a small force wall in front of Tony’s feet. The “wall” was actually more like a speed bump but it was enough to make Tony stumble forward, past Jen, before falling on his face at the feet of an employee who had walked over to find out what all the noise was about. Kenzie looked and, seeing who the employee was, smiled. She knew everything was going to be all right.

There were only three people at Township High who could intimidate Damon: Liz; Mr. Stottlemeyer, the football coach; and Cory Tedford. Cory was six feet, nine inches tall, which made him taller than anyone else at the school, student or faculty. Like Damon he was a center for Township, but he played basketball rather than football. Rumor had it that before Kenzie and Liz started going to Township Damon had picked a fight with Cory, which didn’t end well for Damon. He was a natural leader who knew how to defer to others when necessary, surprisingly graceful for someone of his height and displayed a sense of kindness and humility that was rare among the jocks at Township. And not only did Cory work at Kenzie and Liz’s favorite fast food place, but Kenzie was certain that he was a big part of why Crispy Cluck was Liz’s favorite. (Kenzie wasn’t as certain about it, but she thought that the amount of time Liz spent there might have been part of the reason why Cory picked the Cluck to work at, too.)

“I think you can let him go now,” Cory, clearly amused by the situation, said to Jen as he offered Tony a hand up. “Is everyone okay over here?” Tony batted Cory’s hand away and scrambled to his feet.

“Yeah,” Jen answered as she let go of Damon’s nose. “We’re good. Aren’t we...” she glanced at the name sewn onto the front of the bully’s jacket before finishing, “...Damon?” Jen looked at her fingers, grimaced and was about to wipe them off on the front of Damon’s jacket when Kenzie handed her a napkin to use instead. She cleaned her fingers off as well as she could with the napkin, then dropped it into the garbage can next to the booth.

“You broge by doze!” Damon wailed through his hands, which covered his face from his chin to the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, stop whining,” Jen chided him. “It’s not broken. It will hurt for a while though, hopefully a lot. Serves you right for taking Kenzie’s food and trying to manhandle me. Be glad I went easy on you.”

That got a chuckle out of Cory. “It’s a good thing they’re leaving then, isn’t it?”

Damon glared silently at Cory for a long moment then turned to Jen. “I’b gudda ged you fuh dis!” Looking at Kenzie he added, “Bode uh you!”

“If you try,” Cory countered, “when school starts I’ll make sure everyone knows a girl who weighs about a third as much as you kicked your butt and you couldn’t even lay a hand on her. But, if you leave them alone, we won’t tell anyone. Will we, Kenzie?” Kenzie quickly shook her head, confirming that she wouldn’t tell anyone.

“Bud she addagged be!” Damon whined. “I’b da bigdib here!”

“Look,” Cory stated, “I saw everything that happened after you walked in the door. You came straight over here and tried to make them give up the table. You took a piece of Kenzie’s food and threatened her friend when she stood up to you. When you tried to grab the front of her shirt, she defended herself. Now like I said, if you leave now and leave them alone then no one has to know this happened. And if protecting your cred isn’t enough reason for you, then remember what Liz did last time you threatened Kenzie.”

Tony and Giraffe glanced at each other nervously and Damon’s eyes widened to a nearly comical degree. “Come od boyz,” Damon said and strode quickly toward the door, wincing as he poked gently at his red, swollen nose. Tony and Giraffe scrambled after him.

Cory watched the trio of bullies until they had left the building before turning back to the girls. “Do you want another piece of chicken?” he asked Kenzie as he crouched down to pick up the thigh that Damon had dropped.

“Oh, no thanks,” Kenzie answered with a smile, “I’m really not that hungry.”

Cory dropped the chicken in the garbage can. “All right.” He turned his attention to Jen. “Will you be at Township this year? I have to warn you, Damon won’t forget what you did and he’ll do everything he can to make things hard for you there.”

Jen shrugged. “I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet, but thanks for the warning.”

Cory nodded and looked at Kenzie again. “Will Liz be in today?”

“I don’t know. She’s helping her dad with something and doesn’t know when they’ll be done. Sorry.”

“Well,”Cory said with a resigned smile, “maybe tomorrow, then. I have to get back to work. Take it easy, you two, and be careful when you leave.”

Kenzie waited until Cory was out of earshot then whispered excitedly, “Oh my god, that was so cool! And scary. I was so sure Damon was gonna hurt you. Where did you learn that thing with the nose?”

“I saw it in a comic book once,” Jen said nonchalantly as she sat down again. “Some of the places I’ve lived weren’t the greatest, so I had to learn how to protect myself from morons like them. Who were those losers?”

“School bullies. They’re, like, junior Demon Knights, so they think they can do whatever they want.”

“Demon Knights?” Jen asked. “What are they like?”

“They’re the local gang.”

“Local, like, here in Redford?”

“No, they’re the only real gang in Detroit. They work for this guy named Jordan Kinkaid.”

“Kinkaid, as in Kinkaid Industries?”

“Yeah,” Kenzie sighed. “Everyone knows they work for him but no one can prove it. The police have been trying to for years.”

“I’ve seen that name everywhere since I got to town.”

Kenzie nodded in confirmation. “They’re involved in almost everything that’s legal in town. Rumor has it that everything illegal goes through Kinkaid, too, which is why the Demon Knights work for him. But no one can prove that, either.”

“And you know this how?” Jen asked, curious.

“It’s on the internet,” Kenzie replied. “Anyone who wants to can find it.”

“But why do you want to?”

Kenzie shrugged. “I read everything I can find about superheroes. The local ones spend a lot of time fighting the Demon Knights, so it’s hard not to know about them.”

“I see.” Jen nodded in Cory’s direction as he wiped down the front counter. “And what about him? He’s got the hots for your friend Liz, doesn’t he?”

Kenzie nodded. “Uh huh.”

“How does Liz feel about that?”

“I think she’s the only person who doesn’t know. She’s too busy worrying that he’ll find out she’s got this huge crush on him and she’ll embarrass herself.”

“Oh, really.” Jen smiled mischievously. “Maybe they just need someone to play matchmaker for them.”

“You wouldn’t...?” Kenzie stared at Jen uncertainly.

“Maybe...” Jen gave Kenzie a wry smile. “But I don’t really know either of them, so probably not.”

Kenzie allowed herself to relax somewhat. “Oh, good.”

“Speaking of Liz,” Jen said, somewhat changing the subject, “remember yesterday when I said that she sounded like my kind of girl?”

Kenzie nodded.

“I lied. I’m more into the shy, quiet type, really.” The cool confidence Jen displayed while facing down the trio of bullies and discussing Liz seemed to desert her as she mostly looked at the slim, meek girl across the table, doing her best to avoid more than the briefest eye contact. “So, uh, I was wondering...”

Kenzie waited quietly, both afraid and hoping that Jen was about to ask her out, with no idea how to answer if she did.

“...if, um...” Jen continued, her nervousness seeming to increase, “if you wanna go see a movie sometime, or something...”

“Yes,” Kenzie responded immediately, before she even knew she was saying it.

“Really?” Jen looked as surprised by the answer as Kenzie felt.

“Really,” Kenzie answered with a blush and a shy smile as she realized that yes, she really did want to go see a movie with Jen. The only girl she had ever wanted to go anywhere with alone before was Liz, but Liz was her best friend. This was something completely different, something she hadn’t even imagined feeling about a another girl before. The pink in her cheeks darkened slightly as she started to imagine it now. She pushed the thought from her mind, focusing on the moment at hand. “I’d like that.”

A slow smile worked its way across Jen’s face until it was a grin that reached from ear to ear. “Cool.” It dimmed somewhat as she looked at the plate of food in front of her. “I want to eat, but I should probably go wash my hands first. There’s no telling what that guy’s got in his nose.”

“Good idea,” Kenzie said as Jen got up and headed to the restroom. Kenzie’s mind raced as she watched the other girl walk away. She’d been asked out on a date, and said yes. It would be her first date. It was with another girl. She didn’t know how she should feel about it, but she knew how she did feel: scared, elated, nervous, agitated, overjoyed. Part of her was afraid of what Liz would think, even though Liz had talked her into calling Jen, and part of her didn’t care what Liz thought. She found that feeling unnerving, because she had never not cared what Liz thought about something before. But most of all, she couldn’t stop thinking about Jen. She had a vague feeling that this girl she had only met the day before, who made her feel so many wonderfully conflicting emotions, was going to be one of the best things to ever happen in her life.

((To Be Continued.))
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Kenzie Meets Jen, Part 4

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 18, 2014
9:18 pm
Redford, Michigan

Life was good for Kenzie at the moment. Holding hands like they had been for most of the evening, she and Jen had just finished walking a little less than a mile from the Encore Theater to the north end of the Rouge Valley Parkway. With West McNichols Road behind them and the River Rouge to their left, the girls looked around at the trees, the grass, the river and paths that led into the park, at least a short distance away from the surrounding buildings and streets.

The movie they went to see hadn’t really been anything special, a rom-com from the previous year that didn’t do much to hold their attention. Luckily there weren’t many people there and they were sitting in the back row, so they were able to quietly talk to each other without bothering the rest of the audience. The last half of the movie had been spent with Kenzie’s head resting on Jen’s shoulder. Kenzie decided she could definitely get used to something like that.

“Come on,” Jen said as she led Kenzie to a nearby tree, then plopped down onto the grass and, still holding Kenzie’s hand, smiled up at her from where she sat cross-legged. “Sit with me.” She gently pulled Kenzie down into a sitting position in front of her. “I like parks,” Jen said, again looking around at the greenery surrounding them. “They’re peaceful. You can still hear the sounds of the city, but it’s almost like they’re not really here. It’s nice.”

“What was Japan like?” Kenzie inquired. Jen had told her earlier that she was born in Japan. Her father was an American living over there who had met and fallen in love with her mother. They married and eventually had her. It explained the Asian features and European coloring that gave Jen a somewhat exotic appearance. Is that why I like her? Kenzie asked herself. She decided that Jen’s looks were part of it, but there was more. The sound of her voice, the way she walked and the things she said, the confidence she always showed. All of these things together and more, as well as something that Kenzie couldn’t come up with a name for, drew her to Jen.

“I don’t remember,” Jen answered. “I was little when we moved over here.” She scooted closer to Kenzie. “Look, uh, can we talk about that later?”

Jen locked eyes with Kenzie’s as she continued moving closer. Knowing what was about to happen, Kenzie closed her eyes and leaned forward expectantly. However, before it could happen they were interrupted by the sound of large, flapping wings and a low, gutteral growl. Kenzie opened her eyes again and looked up.

The first thing she noticed about the woman standing over them was that she was green. Clothes, skin, eyes, hair, everything about her was in shades of green. Even the second thing she noticed, the large birdlike wings that spread outward from her shoulders and upper back, were green. The third thing she noticed was the monster standing next to the woman, a snarl coming from deep in its throat. The hulking beast looked more than anything like a cross between a gorilla and an orca whale. Completely hairless except for tufts around its wrists and ankles, its wet, glistening skin was mostly black with a white spot on either side of its head between its eyes and ears, white running from its chest downward, between its legs and along the underside of its orca-like tail. A black dorsal fin protruded from the middle of its back.

“Not now,” Jen muttered, her voice a mixture of petulance and fear, then practically shouted at Kenzie, “Run!” Kenzie sprang to her feet and promptly stumbled, which saved her from being grabbed by the green woman. She quickly regained her footing and ran as quickly as she could – years of avoiding bullies and Demon Knight wannabes in her age range had made her a fast runner – but didn’t get very far, stopping after about thirty feet when she realized that Jen wasn’t running with her. She turned to see where the other girl was, only to have a sinewy green hand wrap itself tightly around her neck and lift her off the ground as if she weighed nothing. Kenzie grabbed the woman’s wrist with one hand and began futilely trying to pry her fingers loose with the other. Where they had been sitting a moment ago Jen was now standing, her biceps firmly in the grasp of the gorilla-whale hybrid’s large hands.

“Let her go!” Jen yelled. “She’s not important to you!”

“Ah,” the green woman said, showing pointed teeth that were the same color as her skin and seemed to curve inward slightly, “but she is important to you, isn’t she? Very important, it seems.” She turned to face Jen, forcing Kenzie to look in the opposite direction as she fought desperately to free herself. While she struggled, she took a closer look at the woman. Her green skin resembled a flower’s stem more than actual skin, her hair looked like coarse blades of grass and what she had thought were feathers covering the woman’s wings were actually leaves. In that context Kenzie thought that her teeth looked like thorns, but not as much as her clawed fingertips did. “Our master forbids us from harming you, demon child – physically, at least – but we can do anything we want to your animal plaything.”

“But I hardly even know her!”

“Yet you plead for her life as if she means something to you.” The woman tightened her grip.

Demon child? Kenzie thought. Animal plaything? She wanted to ask Jen what was going on but she couldn’t breathe, much less speak. It seemed that Jen was safe, at least for the time being, but Kenzie was going to die if she couldn’t free herself. Keeping her powers secret was no longer an option. Something clicked in her mind, almost like flipping a light switch, and the soft red glow of her force field began radiating from her body. She gasped for air as the pressure against her throat vanished, allowing her to breathe again.

“What is this?” the plant woman asked, surprised. She still held Kenzie above the ground but the force field prevented her from doing anything more than that. I think Jen’s out of range, Kenzie thought as, looking in the woman’s eyes, her fear turned to anger. The glow around her grew brighter as the energy built up until it exploded outward, knocking the woman away from Kenzie to come crashing to the ground a dozen yards away.

Kenzie fell gracelessly onto the grass, face down, still protected by her force field. As she rolled over onto her back she heard a roar that nearly drowned out Jen’s shouted warning. “Kenzie, look out!” She sat up in time to see the monster that had been holding Jen leap at her. Even with her force field the sight and sound of the savage, roaring creature unnerved her. She screamed and covered her head with her arms, bracing for an impact that never came.

“Kenzie! Get out of here, now! Please!” Kenzie opened her eyes and, moving her arms, slowly looked up at the sound of a vaguely familiar feminine voice that wasn’t Jen’s or the green woman’s. “I don’t know how long I can hold him!” It was the voice she had heard the first time she talked to Jen on the phone, when Jen claimed she had something stuck in her throat. The voice’s owner was almost seven feet tall with red skin, ivory horns and long white hair tied back in a sort of ponytail. The pupils of her eyes were yellow but, even stranger, the “whites” of her eyes were black. She had the ape-whale thing in a full nelson but, as strong as she looked, she clearly wasn’t strong enough to hold it that way for long, especially with the dorsal fin making the hold awkward. “Please,” the woman begged, “get out of here! They’ll kill you if you stay, and I don’t think I’ll be able to stop them!”

Demon child? Kenzie mentally repeated. “Jen?” she whispered. She took a quick look around but failed to see the slender blonde anywhere. To Kenzie that meant one of two things: either Jen had run off and a new, devil-themed hero that Kenzie had never heard of before picked just that moment to show up and help her; or Jen really was the “demon child” the plant woman seemed to think she was. Either way, she was sure the “demon” needed her help. With a roar the monster broke free of the demon’s grip and turned on her. Kenzie noticed an oval-shaped white spot on the monster’s lower back as it grabbed the demon by the arm and viciously slammed her to the ground, causing her to cry out in pain.

Kenzie had spent the previous few days of practice with her force field using it on something other than herself. She had succeeded in surrounding small objects with protective fields but hadn’t tried it on anything even close to human-sized yet. She didn’t even know if she could make it work for something that size, but she knew she had to try. Doing her best to push her fear aside, she focused on the demon that she believed was Jen. At first nothing happened, but before long she thought she could see the glow of her force field flickering around Jen, giving her at least a little protection from the monster’s attack.

Kenzie had been so intent on protecting Jen that she had forgotten about the plant woman and was completely unprepared when the woman scooped her up from behind and carried her skyward. “Let’s see how well your force field protects you from falling.”

“No!” Kenzie yelled as she struggled to free herself from the much stronger woman’s grip. “It’s hurting her! She needs my help!”

“So, pup,” the villain observed, “even when facing your own death and having seen her true nature, you still fight to help someone who claims to barely know you? You might have made quite the hero someday. It’s unfortunate for you that you will never get the chance.” Looking down, Kenzie had no idea how far up the plant woman had carried her but she was sure they were, at the very least, more than one hundred feet above the ground. A sheriff’s department car that happened to be driving past had pulled over onto the grass while Kenzie was being carried upward, and a deputy currently stood with an open door between himself and the fight happening a short distance away. Kenzie imagined he was calling for backup, most likely including a MeRT or two. “I would enjoy toying with you longer ever so much, but it seems I have another interfering animal to deal with. Goodbye.” With that the woman let go of Kenzie and swooped downward toward the deputy.

If Kenzie’s would-be killer had bothered to look, she would have noticed that Kenzie didn’t fall as she was expected to. Instead she flew along behind the villain, doing her best to catch her off-guard before she could attack the deputy. As she did so, Kenzie added to the force field in front of her face in the hope that it would distort her features enough that neither the deputy nor anyone else who saw her would get a good look at her. Her slightly blurred vision, even with her glasses on, told her that it was most likely working the way she hoped.

As soon as Kenzie was within range of the deputy, she focused on trying to surround him in a force field. A flicker of red appeared around him just in time as the winged woman swiped at him with a clawed hand. The attack knocked him down but didn’t seem to hurt him, and he scrambled back into his car. Kenzie landed near the open door as the winged woman turned around to take another pass. “If you haven’t called for backup already,” she told the deputy, “do it now. Lots of it. Me and my friend will try to keep them busy until help gets here.” She closed the car door before the deputy could respond and made a mad dash toward Jen and the monster. She knew without looking that the winged woman was closing in for another attack and hoped she could get close enough to help Jen first.

“Stop it!” she yelled at the ape-whale as a soft red glow formed, more steadily this time, around the demon. She came to a halt in front of her friend and glared at the monster, once again letting her anger override her fear and natural timidness. “You’re not supposed to hurt her, right?” She jabbed a finger in the direction of the winged woman, who hovered nearby. “I heard her say that!” Then she gave the flying woman her full attention. “More police will be here soon. I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of them, including some who’re trained and equipped to handle people like us. If you try to take Jen, I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re still here when they arrive.”

The woman briefly considered Kenzie’s words, then called to her monstrous companion. “Kurira! To me, now! We must leave before more of these animals arrive. Besides, we were instructed not to harm the demon child. Look what you have done to her. We cannot take her in this condition. We will return once she has had time to recover.” The look she gave Kenzie sent a chill up the girl’s spine. “I will remember you.” With that she flew away, the gorilla-whale bounding after her as quickly as it could, until both had disappeared from sight.

Kenzie turned to the bruised and battered demon, who fell to her hands and knees as she transformed back into Jen. “Oh my god,” Kenzie moaned. Jen’s face was a mass of bruises, her lower lip was split and her left eye was swollen shut. “I’ve got to get you to a hospital.”

“No,” Jen insisted, glancing in the direction of the deputy, who was approaching cautiously with his gun drawn. “No hospital. It’s not as bad as it looks. All cuts and bruises, nothing broken. Just, let’s get out of here, okay? Before more cops show up.”

“Okay,” Kenzie answered, nodding. She wrapped her arms around Jen, her force field flickering briefly as it expanded to envelop the injured girl, and helped her to her feet.

“Don’t move!” shouted the deputy, but Kenzie ignored him. Concentrating, she lifted herself and Jen off the ground. She wasn’t known for her physical strength, and carrying someone else while flying took more effort than she was used to. She flew straight up until she was above the parkway’s trees, then leveled off and headed in a direction that took them away from both their attackers and the sirens she could hear in the distance. The extra weight slowed her down but she flew as far as she could as quickly as she could before landing in an alley about a mile from the park.

“I think we’ll be okay here. For a few minutes, anyway.”

Through the bruises and lacerations, Jen smiled fondly at Kenzie. “You’re a dork, you know that? You could’ve gotten killed. You should’ve run when you had the chance.” She leaned forward until the girls’ lips were almost touching and whispered, “But you stayed and stood up to them. No one’s ever done anything like that for me before. Thank you.” The kiss only lasted a moment before Jen pulled away, wincing. “Okay, I guess the makeout session’s gonna have to wait until my lip’s healed.”

“M-makeout session?” Kenzie asked, her cheeks flushed from the quick kiss and the thought of it possibly turning into more.

“What?” Jen asked cautiously. “Was the kiss too much? Back at the park I kind of thought–”

“No, it’s not that,” Kenzie interrupted. “It’s just...” She looked around at the alley they stood in. “I mean, I want to kiss you, but this isn’t really how I imagined my first kiss would happen, in an alley after fighting monsters and running from the police and everything. And I thought I’d be kissing a boy–”

“Hold on,” Jen interrupted in return. “You’re saying you’d never been kissed before?” Kenzie just nodded slowly in reply with an almost apologetic look on her face, and Jen couldn’t help but smirk. “Cool. Ow.” She winced again. “Ugh, even smiling hurts. Can you help me get back to my place, please?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”

“I’m sure. I have everything I need to take care of myself and after I get some sleep I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Kenzie said doubtfully, “but you’re not staying alone. You’re hurt and I’m afraid they might find you again.”

“They will find me again, but not right away. You heard Coralindra. They can’t take me to wherever it is they’re supposed to take me if I’m hurt.”

“I heard... Coralindra?” Kenzie repeated, unsure that she was pronouncing the unfamiliar name right. “But why should I believe her? I’ll call Mom and ask if I can sleep over. I’m sure she’ll say it’s okay. Where do you live?” Jen told Kenzie where they were going and as they left the alley, Kenzie got her phone out and made a call. “Hi Mom. Um, is it okay if I sleep over at Jen’s?... Yeah, it’s okay with her parents...”

((To Be Continued.))
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Kenzie Meets Jen, Part 5

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 19, 2014
2:16 am
Redford, Michigan

Kenzie sat on the floor of the rundown apartment that served as Jen’s home, searching the Internet on her phone with her back to the ratty old couch that Jen had crashed on after tending to her wounds. Every few minutes she would stop to check on the other girl, who slept peacefully in spite of the beating she had taken and, surprisingly, already looked much better than she had when they’d gotten there, though she still had a way to go before she was fully healed.

Kenzie wondered how Jen had ended up there. She was obviously a runaway, but from where? What about her parents? Kenzie was sure they were worried and looking for her, but an online search for “Jenifa Harrison” had come up completely empty. If that was Jen’s real name, and Kenzie had no reason to doubt Jen’s word, then she had no Internet presence at all, even on social media, which Kenzie thought was strange.

Coralindra and Kurira were another matter. They weren’t the highest-profile villains around but they were among the first, if not the first, and had been seen enough times over a period of several decades that Kenzie was surprised she hadn’t heard of them before. The first time was in Montreal back in 1935, when they fought a mystery woman whom the local newspapers had called La Femme. She had a number of confrontations with them between then and the end of World War II. After the war they weren’t seen again until 1968, in a face-off with a San Francisco-based hero team called The Experience. Kenzie wondered if the two of them had anything to do with that team’s disappearance a year later. They vanished again for nearly twenty years but had battled The Protector Alliance a handful of times since 1985 and were partly responsible for the deaths of the entire second incarnation of the team in the ‘90s. In 2002 they were seen twice: first at a concert in Montgomery, Alabama, where they fought the superpowered boy band Tu*Tuff and local hero AbstracTeen, the daughter of former Protector Alliance members Dynamic and Firebird; and later against AbstracTeen and her sister Safety Girl shortly before the young heroes took on their parents’ mantles, becoming Fyrebyrd and Dynamic II. In 2012 Coralindra and Kurira were in Montgomery again, that time at a professional wrestling event, where they attacked Fyrebyrd before being defeated by her teammates in the Protector Alliance and rescued by ShadowDancer, one of Cicatrix’s lieutenants.

Learning of the pair’s connection to Cicatrix frightened Kenzie. She remembered all too clearly recent news reports of widespread death and destruction around the world caused by the former Nazi übermensch-turned-vampire and his followers, including the deaths of heroes and the near-death of the second Dynamic near Seattle. Luckily, the Protector Alliance had put an end to the monster’s reign of terror. Again. But they had stopped him before, and destroyed him before. He always seemed to come back. She hoped he really was gone for good this time, but she doubted it.

A sudden yawn surprised Kenzie. “I better get some sleep too,” she muttered as she looked at the time. At noon they were meeting Liz, who had called as soon as she heard about the fight on the news. Kenzie closed her phone’s browser and set an alarm for a couple hours before their meeting, then put the phone down on the large spool that served as a coffee table. Half-turning toward the couch, she took Jen’s bandaged hand in her own, laid her head on a cushion and closed her eyes.

***

11:57 am

Liz was already waiting when Kenzie and Jen got to Township High. Smiling, she stood up from the front steps where she had been sitting and walked over to them.

“Hi, Liz,” Kenzie said, returning the smile. “This is Jen. Jen, that’s Liz.”

Jen upnodded to Liz. “Hey.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Kenzie’s been talking about you a lot the last few days.” That brought a blush to Kenzie’s cheeks, causing Jen to smirk and give her a gentle elbow to the ribs. Liz turned, walked back to the steps and sat down again. The other girls followed. Kenzie sat on Liz’s right and Jen, adjusting the electric bass slung across her back a bit, sat next to Kenzie.

“Okay,” Liz started, “tell me what happened at the park last night.” Kenzie traded glances with Jen, who was almost completely healed from the previous night’s ordeal. She nodded and Kenzie told Liz about the fight in as much detail as she could.

When Kenzie finished, Liz looked past her at Jen. “Why are they after you?”

“Coralindra said I’m an oni.” Liz looked at Jen blankly. Kenzie started to get her phone out so she could look up “oni” but stopped when Jen went on. “It’s Japanese, like a troll or demon or something. I mean, I do look like a demon when I change...” She shrugged and went on. “She said they were supposed to take me back to my ‘true home’, wherever that is.”

Liz nodded toward Jen’s electric bass. “What’s up with the bass?”

“It was my dad’s. When I change it turns into a shamisen.”

“What’s a shamisen?” Kenzie asked.

“It’s kind of like a Japanese guitar, I guess? But this one is bigger than a normal one, I think, and it’s made of iron and gold instead of wood. It’s great for fighting with and somehow it makes me stronger and harder to hurt when it’s near me. With it I’m almost as tough as Kurira. After last night, I’m taking it with me everywhere from now on.”

“I bet your dad wants it back,” Liz said.

Jen shook her head as she looked down at the steps under her feet. “Mom and Dad are dead. Those monsters killed them the first time they came after me.”

“Oh my god,” Kenzie said, “I’m so sorry.” She took Jen’s hand in hers. Jen held it tightly as she looked up again, toward the street, and blinked back tears.

“I’m sorry,” Liz said softly. “It must’ve been horrible.”

“It was,” Jen said, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. “Dammit, I thought I was done crying.” Kenzie let go of Jen’s hand and wrapped her arms around the other girl, pulling her close and holding her. Liz sat quietly, staring at her hands while Kenzie comforted Jen. After a few minutes Jen pulled away, taking Kenzie’s hand in hers again and wiping her eyes with her free arm’s shirt sleeve. “I’m okay now, I think.” She gave Kenzie an appreciative smile. “Thanks.”

“We can’t bring your parents back,” Liz said in a quiet, sympathetic voice, “but maybe we can help you avenge them. We need a plan. What do we know about their killers?”

Kenzie told the others what she had learned about Coralindra and Kurira. Liz’s face grew pale when Cicatrix’s name was mentioned, which made Kenzie even more afraid of him. She knew there were things that scared Liz, but not many, and other than a slight nervousness around Cory she never let her fear show.

Liz glared at Jen accusingly when Kenzie finished speaking. “Just what have you gotten us into? Cicatrix is way out of our league.”

“Who the hell is Cicatrix?” Jen asked, returning Liz’s glare.

Liz blinked in surprise. “You really don’t know?”

“Well golly gee, no,” Jen answered sarcastically, “I really don’t.”

“Um, guys?” Kenzie interjected. “As scary as Cicatrix is, he’s not really a problem for anybody right now. Maybe we can figure out what we’re going to do about the other two?”

“Look,” Jen said frustratedly, “I should just go. If I leave town they’ll follow me, and Kenzie will be safe.”

“Kenzie’s the one who saved you yesterday,” Liz reminded Jen. “She’s not exactly helpless. And with the way she feels about you, you must be someone special. I think it’s safe to say she’d like to have you stick around.” Kenzie nodded in agreement. “Between the three of us,” Liz continued, “I think we can beat them. Wouldn’t you like to have them out of your life for good?”

“Yeah,” Jen replied. “Yeah, I would.”

“Then it’s time you face your demons. Tell me what you think of this...”

((To Be Continued.))
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Kenzie Meets Jen, Part 6

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 22, 2014
12:25 am
Detroit, Michigan

What’s taking so long? Jen wondered with an impatient sigh as she watched a warehouse near the Detroit River from a convenient hiding place. Just another thrilling night at the docks. She pulled out her smartphone, checked the time and put it back in the pocket of her hoodie. She had been waiting for more than three hours; maybe they weren’t going to show after all.

It wasn’t much longer before she saw movement, but not from someone entering the building. Instead, Coralindra flew into her line of sight from one side, landing gracefully in the open space between Jen and the warehouse. Kurira appeared a moment later, the arc of his giant leap bringing him to a landing next to the winged woman, cracking the already-cracked pavement even more. “Come out, demon child,” Coralindra commanded. Jen did so, stepping into the open from her hiding spot. They stood facing her with their backs to the warehouse.

“You realize I’m in the middle of a stakeout, right?” Jen unslung the electric bass from her back and slowly walked toward the pair.

“We care nothing for your ‘stakeout’,” the plant woman replied. “There is no one in the building. You are alone, and you will be gone when the ones you are waiting for arrive. Come with us now and we will spare your animal plaything.”

“You’re right,” Jen agreed as she stopped several feet from them and transformed into Oni. “No one’s in the building. But the ones I’m waiting for are here, now. It took you long enough, too; I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up. And I’m not alone, either.” As she spoke Midnight Blue, unnoticed by the villains and protected by the soft red glow of Scarlet Shield’s force field, took a running leap from the warehouse’s roof. “You were so sure I would be that you didn’t bother to check the roof,” Oni finished, sneering at the plant woman. Blue slammed into Kurira, planting her feet firmly between his shoulder blades just above his dorsal fin with enough force to knock the surprised beast face-first into the pavement.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Coralindra demanded as she looked up to see Scarlet smile and wave at her from the edge of the warehouse’s roof. She lifted off easily and quickly strafed the plant woman with a volley of force bolts.

“You think you’re the only one who can set a trap?” Jen growled as her grip on her shamisen tightened. With a primal scream she charged at Coralindra. Blue grabbed the stunned Kurira, lifted him up and threw him as far as she could away from the others. Wings flapping furiously, Coralindra tried to fly upward, but she had reacted too late. Oni leapt into the air, shamisen raised high, and brought it down hard on Coralindra’s left wing, dealing the limb a devastating blow and sending her antagonist crashing to the ground.

Oni, landing on her feet, stood over her prone enemy. “You killed my parents!” She shouted as she dropped her instrument and began mercilessly pummeling the injured woman with her fists. “You threatened Kenzie, the sweetest, kindest person I’ve ever known! I’ve been running from you for sixteen months, but I’m not running any more!

“Jen!” Scarlet shouted. “Stop it! Let the police take care of her!” Scarlet had made a very brief anonymous call to the police on Oni’s burner phone as soon as Coralindra flew into view. Sirens could already be heard in the distance, getting louder as the cars that were on their way quickly drew closer.

“Red, a little help over here?” Between her bulletproof skin and Scarlet’s force field Blue didn’t have to worry about being hurt by Kurira, but her strength was no match for the enraged monster’s. After her surprise attack it had quickly become clear that alone she didn’t stand a chance against him.

“Hey you big ape, over here!” Scarlet yelled, drawing Kurira’s attention away from Blue. She stood with her feet apart, arms held directly in front of her and her hands balled into fists. The glow around her arms brightened, growing in both size and brightness until it resembled a five-foot-long cylinder with a diameter about half its length. The force cylinder erupted from Scarlet’s arms to hit Kurira in his midsection, carrying him backward until the warehouse stopped him, leaving an imprint of his body in its wall but doing little more to the monster than briefly stunning him.

Oni’s hands were sticky with sap from Coralindra’s broken body when she finally stopped to pick her weapon up again. Raising high over her head once more, she prepared to land the finishing blow.

“Jen! Stop, please!” Scarlet pleaded as she fired a volley of force bolts at Kurira, bringing Oni to a halt mid-swing. Breathing heavily, she glanced at her friend then turned her attention back to the badly damaged plant woman lying before her.

“What’s to stop me from turning you into compost right here?”

Coralindra raised her arm unsteadily to point at Scarlet. “I believe your animal might have something to say about that,” she said weakly.

“Call off your pet,” Oni said evenly. “Now.”

“Kurira, stop.” Though Coralindra had barely spoken above a whisper the monster did as it was ordered, dropping Blue, whom he had been holding in a bear hug and unsuccessfully trying to bite through the force field surrounding her, and shambling over to stand next to his apparent master. He glared at Oni, growling deep in his throat, but she ignored him.

“Jen,” Scarlet said quietly as she walked over to Oni, “you don’t have to do this.” She placed a hand gently on Oni’s bicep. “You’re better than this.”

“No, I don’t think I am.” After a moment’s hesitation Oni unclenched her fists and quietly added, “But I want to be.” She smiled sadly at Scarlet and got a smile of encouragement in return. Her expression hardened as she looked at Coralindra again. “It’s your lucky day. But you’re gonna vow never to bother any of us again.”

“I so v–” Coralindra started to say but Oni cut her off.

“I’m. Not. Done. You’re going to vow that you and Kurira will never approach me, or Kenzie, or Liz, ever again. Never threaten us in any way, either directly or indirectly, ever again. Never send anyone else after us to do it for you. Never approach or threaten, either directly or indirectly, anyone we care about including family, friends, loved ones, pets and coworkers, or send anyone else to approach or threaten them in any way. Once you two leave this city and this county, neither of you will ever come back. Got it?”

“I so vow,” Coralindra replied.

“Good. Now all that’s left is to wait for the police to show up and take you...” Oni’s words trailed off as a gray, smoky haze surrounded Coralindra and Kurira.

“You can wait for them if you like,” the plant woman answered with a smirk, “but our master summons us. Farewell, demon child.” The young heroes were still staring at the empty space where the villains had been a moment before when several police cruisers, two Detroit Police Department MeRT vans and a pair of black SUVs arrived. The doors to the cruisers opened and the girls suddenly found themselves looking down the barrels of a number of police-issue revolvers. At the same time, two teams of officers emerged from the vans and four people dressed in black windbreakers, slacks and shoes got out of the SUVs. On the left breast of each windbreaker were the letters MAE.

“Stand down,” the MAE agent who seemed to be in charge said, “they aren’t exactly criminals.” The officers lowered their guns, some reluctantly, and the MeRT teams waited by their vans. The agent flashed his badge at the girls as he approached them. “I’m Agent Stillwell. I’m sure you’re familiar with the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs and Enforcement?”

“We’re busted,” Oni said, dismayed, prompting Scarlet to give her hand a quick squeeze.

“You’re not busted,” Agent Stillwell replied with wry smile. “You are, however, three unregistered metas who publicly use your powers – to fight crime and help people, fortunately. At least two of you are minors, probably all three. I’d like you to come with me to my office for a talk. We have a proposition for you.”

“That’s not a request, is it?” Blue asked.

“No,” Stillwell said, “it’s not.”

As Stillwell accompanied Scarlet and her friends to one of the waiting SUVs, her mind mulled over questions that she couldn’t even begin to answer. What was going to happen now that MAE had caught up to them? (The answer to that one would be obvious soon, at least.) Why did she feel the way she did about Jen? Would she have those feelings for other girls? What about Liz who, even before she found herself attracted to another girl, she had to admit she thought was very pretty? What about boys? Would she still think they were cute? The questions could wait, though. What mattered was that Jen was safe, or at least as safe as any of them were. Kenzie had a feeling that, as long as Jen was with her, the answers to those questions weren’t important.

***

Somewhere...

When the haze cleared, Coralindra found herself in a room that she had seen many times before. She looked around as well as she could, given the severely limited movement her current condition allowed. Even with full mobility the view would have been the same: solid gray, with no way of even telling the room’s dimensions. Kurira sat next to her, in a daze induced by their master, who stood before them. He looked somewhat like the bipedal animals called Humans who believed they controlled the world she had been forced to live on for almost nine decades. He differed from them in two significant ways, however: everything about him was in shades of gray, just as everything about Coralindra was in shades of green; and he was at least half again taller than a “normal” Human. She knew that it most likely wasn’t his true form, though, remembering that on her homeworld he had appeared as a larger, gray version of the dominant life form there.

“You accomplished your task admirably. Jen has earned the girl’s trust. Well done.” Despite having watched events as they unfolded, the tall gray man seemed to suddenly notice Coralindra’s condition for the first time. “You did take a bit of a beating, didn’t you? You’re of no use to me like this. But you are of use to me still.” With a wave of his hand – an unnecessary gesture but one that reflected, in a small way, a love of dramatic flair that conflicted with his drab appearance – Coralindra was healed, as if she had never been hurt in the first place.

“I shall repay her tenfold for the harm she did to me,” Coralindra said darkly. Kurira, despite his current passive state, growled.

“You made a vow,” the gray man reminded her, “and I expect you to honor that vow until I say otherwise.”

“Aside from that you are free to do as you wish. I will summon you when you are needed. But before I send you away, just out of curiosity, how do you think my experiment with Jen and the human girl will end?”

“I do not believe Jen will have the effect on the girl that you hope for,” Coralindra replied. “On the contrary, even in the short time they have known each other, the girl seems to have already had a positive effect on Jen. I think it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to corrupt the girl.”

“We shall see,” the man said with a mischievous grin, “won’t we?” With another wave of his hand the room filled with the same gray haze that had hidden the villains’ disappearance from Detroit. When the haze faded away, the plant woman, ape-whale and gray man were gone.

((The End... for now.))
Last edited by Green-Lightning on Sun Aug 01, 2021 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Millennials, Part 1

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 22, 2014
4:17 am
Detroit, Michigan


Agent Stillwell sat in his office, poring over files on his computer. The subjects of those files – Mackenzie Jacobs, Elizabeth Karras and Jenifa Harrison – sat silently across his desk from him. Two of the girls watched him, Liz calmly, Kenzie fidgeting nervously. Their sweatjacket hoods were pulled back; Liz’s mask and Kenzie’s ski goggles were lying on the desk. The pink wig Kenzie wore with her costume was on the desk as well, leaving her nearly-shoulder-length brown hair visible. Jen had changed back to her human form and sat with her elbows on the desk, her fingers laced together and her chin resting on them, her eyes closed. Jen’s electric bass leaned against one end of the desk.

Without looking away from the monitor Stillwell asked, “Am I boring you, Miss Harrison?”

Jen opened her eyes and sat up, her expression leaving no doubt that yes, she was bored. “That’s a rhetorical question, right?”

Stillwell turned away from the computer to look at the girls. “Things may pick up slightly once Miss Jacobs’ and Miss Karras’ parents arrive.”

Kenzie adjusted her glasses for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had gotten there. She liked that the ski goggles with their mirrored lenses fit over her glasses well enough to keep people from knowing that Scarlet Shield needed them to see clearly, but wearing both together was uncomfortable and she worried that the goggles might damage her glasses. She was nearsighted enough that she couldn’t do without them, though, so she had to do things that way until she could come up with something better.

There was a knock on the door. “Enter,” Stillwell responded. The door opened and Kenzie’s father walked into the room followed by her mother and Liz’s parents. Liz’s mother, the last one into the office, seemed somewhat flustered and still only half-awake even after the drive from Redford to MAE’s offices in downtown Detroit, but the others acted as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about being summoned to a government agent’s office in the middle of the night. Stillwell gave them a quick smile. “Thanks for coming.” Even the slight informality from the agent surprised the girls.

“Thanks for calling us, Charles,” Liz’s father answered, his casual use of Stillwell’s first name surprising the girls even more. Kenzie and Liz looked at each other with matching startled expressions. Simultaneously they mouthed “Charles?” at each other, drawing Stillwell’s attention.

“It’s ‘Agent Stillwell’, ladies,” Stillwell informed the girls, “or ‘sir’. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Liz replied obediently.

“Yes, sir,” Kenzie echoed.

“So we only get to call you ‘Chuck’ when you’re not around,” Jen said. “Got it.”

Stillwell stared at Jen. “Would you care to try that again?”

“Oh boy,” Kenzie whispered. She nudged Jen with her elbow.

Jen blinked and glanced at Kenzie, then smiled uncertainly at the agent. “...Yes, sir?”

“We’ll have to work on that,” Stillwell commented, “but we have more important things to discuss so I’ll let it slide just this once.”

“Anyway, we would’ve been here sooner,” Kenzie’s father explained, “but Grace and I had to find someone to keep an eye on Jeremy.”

Kenzie looked from her parents to Stillwell and back. “You guys know each other?”

“We go back several years,” Liz’s father answered, then motioned toward Kenzie and Liz’s costumes. “Now, who would like to start?”

“I’m sorry,” Liz said, unable to look at her parents. “We didn’t mean for you to find out like this.”

“You say that like we didn’t already know,” Liz’s father said with a wry smile, causing Liz and Kenzie to look at him in surprise.

“Y...you knew?” Kenzie asked, flabbergasted.

“Miss Jacobs, your parents report the news,” Stillwell commented, “and Miss Karras’ father is a private investigator. It pays to be observant in both professions. And they are your parents. Do you honestly think a mask or a pair of goggles would keep them from recognizing you?”

Kenzie’s father chuckled. “Your mom and I knew even before Jeremy found your costume and showed it to us.”

“He did what?” Kenzie’s little brother always seemed to know just how to get under her skin. “Why, I– I– ooh, he makes me so mad...”

And Kenzie’s mother always seemed to know how to calm her down again. “Kenzie,” she said with a gentle smile, “you know that getting angry will just encourage him.”

Kenzie sighed, her shoulders slumping as her anger left her. “I know...”

“Since I’m the only one here who doesn’t seem to know,” Liz’s mother said curtly, “will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“You might want to sit down for this,” Liz’s father told his wife as he looked for a chair. Unfortunately, all of the chairs in the office were taken. Liz quickly remedied the situation, standing and offering her chair.

“Here, Mom.”

“Thank you, dear.” Her mother sat down next to Kenzie and looked up at the other adults in the room expectantly.

“Well...” Liz’s father started hesitantly.

Stillwell intervened with the question, “I assume you’re familiar with Redford’s new heroes, Midnight Blue and Scarlet Shield?”

“I’ve heard of them, yes,” Liz’s mother answered. Liz’s father motioned with a hand toward Liz and Kenzie, eyebrows raised. Liz’s mother looked at the girls, seeming to notice their clothes and the mask, goggles and wig on the desk for the first time. “Oh my god,” she said quietly, looking at Liz. “You mean you and Kenzie are–?”

Liz nodded, smiling weakly. “Yeah, Mom.”

“But, but, how,” Liz’s mother stammered, “I mean, what happened?”

“What do you mean?” Liz replied, perplexed.

“These powers,” her mother clarified, “how did you get them?”

“Mom, I’ve always been strong and tough, for as long as I can remember. You know that.”

“Strong and tough, yes, but bulletproof and able to lift cars?” She looked at her husband and Kenzie’s parents accusingly. “And you all knew about this? How did it even happen?”

“I think I can answer that,” Stillwell said. “We believe it’s connected to the genetic enhancements your husband and the Jacobses received during their time working for the Bureau–”

What?!” Liz’s mother practically exploded.

Kenzie’s jaw dropped. Her parents had been MAE agents? She’d had no idea. Judging from the shocked look on Liz’s face she was obviously just as surprised as her mother and Kenzie.

“Holy shit.” A faint smile crossed Jen’s lips as she seemed to really pay attention for the first time since the girls had been escorted to Agent Stillwell’s office. “This is getting interesting.”

“Look, Lydia,” Liz’s father said placatingly, “I’ll explain everything when we get home.” Looking at his daughter he added, “To both of you. I owe you both that.”

“You better believe you do,” Lydia snapped at her husband. Then she took a deep breath, making a visible – if only partially successful – effort to calm herself. “Let’s get this over with,” she said to Stillwell.

“I’ll try to make this as brief as possible.” Stillwell turned his attention away from Liz’s mother and addressed the girls. “Since Green Lightning reformed the Protector Alliance with the Bureau’s assistance five years ago, every registered metahero in the United States is officially a member of the team. That will include the three of you now, once the information you’ve given us has been processed.”

“Sweet,” Kenzie said, her smile returning.

Jen received the news less enthusiastically. “In other words, we’ve been drafted.”

“In a sense, yes. Though as minors you’ll be provisional members and won’t gain full membership status in the Protector Alliance until you become legal adults. Now, one of the first things we need to do is have new uniforms made for Miss Jacobs and Miss Karras.”

“What’s wrong with what we’re wearing now?” Liz asked.

Stillwell replied, “To put it bluntly, they look like they were put together by a pair of teenagers in a thrift store.”

“They, uh, they were,” Kenzie muttered, suddenly embarrassed. She looked down at her homemade costume, which consisted of a red hoodie, black t-shirt with a red, vaguely shieldlike design on the chest (she had considered herself lucky to find something so fitting at the thrift store), black gloves, jeans and red high-top tennis shoes. Then she looked at Liz’s attire. It was the same as hers except that the hoodie, plain t-shirt and high-tops were all dark blue.

“Does wearing this instead of skintight spandex somehow make us less heroic?” Liz queried. While Kenzie’s main concern was doing good and helping people, she was also an ardent fan of metahero culture and wanted to look the part. Liz, on the other hand, thought of herself as a detective who just happened to have some meta powers and was less concerned with appearances than her friend.

“Unfortunately, Miss Karras,” Stillwell explained, “the society we live in has something of an obsession with appearances. Our heroes are expected to look, well, heroic, based on traditions established over a period of more than eight decades. Furthermore, the uniforms we provide you with will give you extra protection to supplement your own abilities and Miss Jacobs’ goggles will have shatterproof prescription lenses, so she won’t have to wear her glasses under them.”

“How about what I wear?” Jen’s tone was only slightly sarcastic. “Does it live up to your expectations?”

“It’s sufficient,” Stillwell replied, ignoring the sarcasm, “if a bit revealing. It’ll do for the time being. Besides, if I’m not mistaken your clothes change with you when you transform. Unless we’re able to figure out how that happens and how to counteract it, I doubt it matters what you wear.”

“Now,” Stillwell continued, changing the subject, “the three of you are going to be part of the Bureau’s new project, codenamed ‘Millennials’. The goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of training young would-be metaheroes in order to give them the greatest chance possible of holding their own in emergency or combat situations when they become eligible for full membership in the Protector Alliance at the age of eighteen. To that end, you will be withdrawn from your current schools and transferred to a new, fully-accredited private school created by and under the supervision of the Bureau and the Protector Alliance. You will receive an education in the same subjects taught by your current school. In addition, you will be trained in tactics, teamwork, self-defense, first aid and public relations, as well as receiving specialized training that plays to your powers and other strengths.

“The school’s campus includes a dormitory for attending students. You and your teammates will stay in the dorm during school weeks and be allowed to return home on weekends and during holiday, spring and summer breaks. Miss Harrison, as you’re a minor with no known living relatives, you’ll be required to remain at the campus at these times, at least until we can find other reasonable accommodations.”

Jen opened her mouth to protest but Kenzie spoke first. “She can come to my house on the weekends. And, um, like, summer break and stuff.” She looked at her parents. “Can’t she?”

“We’ll have to discuss it,” Kenzie’s father said, “but personally I don’t see why not.”

Kenzie and Jen glanced at each other. “I can think of worse things,” Jen said with a hint of a smile, then looked at Agent Stillwell. “I’m okay with that if Kenzie’s parents are.”

“We can take you home with us this morning,” Kenzie’s mother suggested. “It’ll give us a chance to get to know you.”

“That was the next point I was going to address,” Stillwell replied, then paused briefly before continuing. “I do believe that’s everything. Miss Karras, Miss Jacobs, I expect the two of you to be here by eight o’clock tomorrow morning for uniform fittings and an eye examination for Miss Jacobs so that we can have the lenses for her goggles made. Then the three of you will be here by six-forty-five Friday morning to meet your new teammates and instructors and take a tour of your new school’s campus. Enjoy your day.” Stillwell turned back to his computer, signalling the meeting’s end. Kenzie, Jen and Liz’s mother stood; Jen grabbed her instrument. The teens and their parents walked out of the office, closing the door behind them and leaving Stillwell alone with his work.

((To Be Continued...))
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The Millennials, Part 2

Post by Green-Lightning »

July 25, 2014
7:09 am
Detroit, Michigan

Scarlet Shield couldn’t help but grin as she looked at herself in the floor-length mirror. She was thrilled with her new uniform, a red and black bodysuit with an actual shield emblem, red outlined in pink, on the chest. The red and black headcovering didn’t cover her face but it covered almost everything else, starting where the bodysuit ended and covering her neck, chin, forehead and the sides and back of her head. Her goggles consisted of a single red-tinted prescription lens covering both eyes in a red frame that was attached to the headcovering but could be removed if needed. The hair on the top of her head would have been uncovered, too, if not for the wig sewn to the inside of the headcovering’s upper edge. Dyed the same shade of pink as the outline on her chest emblem, MAE’s tailors had put a lot of effort into making it look as little like a wig as possible. The final part of her costume was a red and black jacket with white padding or trim on the shoulders, collar, the ends of the sleeves and along the bottom edge. She was grateful for the jacket since the bodysuit, as much as she loved it, was skintight, which she wasn’t used to and found a little embarrassing. The jacket’s pockets also gave her somewhere to keep her smartphone.

Midnight Blue’s uniform was simpler. It consisted of a dark blue t-shirt with matching tights and domino mask. The shirt, tights and mask were made of the same material as Scarlet’s bodysuit, which they were told would give them the same protection as kevlar while being much lighter. She also wore boots, gloves and a belt with pouches along the front for carrying her detective gear, all made of tan leather. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which Kenzie had never seen Liz do before.

“We should go now,” said the woman assigned to escort Scarlet, Blue and Oni to meet their new teammates, who had identified herself as Agent Weathers. “Agent Stillwell and the others are waiting.”

“Yeah,” Oni said with a yawn, “let’s get this over with.” Jen had spent the night on the Jacobs family’s couch -- a temporary arrangement until bunk beds could be set up in Kenzie’s room -- but, thanks to Jeremy, she didn’t sleep well. She had quickly come to understand why Kenzie called Jeremy her “little bother”.

The walk from the dressing room to where they were meeting the others was fairly short, even though MAE’s Detroit office was one of the larger ones in the Midwest. The rooms were three floors apart but both were close to the elevator.

Agent Weathers opened the door for them when they arrived, but didn’t enter the room when she closed it again behind them. There were five people in the room already, Agent Stillwell and four costumed figures. Three of them, Scarlet assumed, were their new teammates, boys who looked like they were about the same age as her, Blue and Oni. She decided they were probably as new to this as she was and maybe from out of town, because she didn’t recognize any of them. Two of them, standing side by side, were seeming opposites. One wore a hooded costume in shades of blue trimmed with white, which sported a white snowflake chest emblem. The other was dressed in an orange and white outfit that left his head and arms uncovered, with an orange, yellow and white mask designed to almost look like it was supposed to be flames, maybe, and some kind of red and yellow fiery pinwheel pattern on his chest. His short hair was orange and yellow, an obvious dye job, combed back to form a point at the crown of his head. The third boy, standing a few feet apart from everyone else, had short, dark brown hair and wore a red, white and gray costume with a large white 7 on his chest and a red domino mask.

That left the fourth costumed person, standing next to Agent Stillwell, whom Scarlet recognized as Traveler. A local hero for the past decade, Traveler could teleport, manipulate time and, rumor had it, even travel to other dimensions. Scarlet also knew that she was in a relationship with her Protector Alliance teammate Dynamic. She guessed that the distance between Detroit and Montgomery, Alabama was probably nothing for a speedster and someone who could teleport to anywhere she wanted to go. It occurred to Scarlet that, being romantically involved with another woman, Traveler might be able to give her some insight about her feelings for Oni.

“Three guys, three girls,” the young orange-and-white-clad hero commented with a smirk. “I like where this is going.” He leaned over to his companion and stage whispered, “I got dibs on the short one. If you want her, we can trade later.” Mirroring each other, Scarlet and the teen in blue and white facepalmed simultaneously.

“Oh my god,” Scarlet murmured. It was the third time someone had openly shown an interest in her since she had become Scarlet Shield, and two of them were jerks. She hoped it didn’t become something that happened a lot, or any more at all, for that matter.

The blue-and-white-clad hero shook his head slightly. “I don’t know you.”

“Of course you know me, dude,” the teen next to him responded, “we’re brothers.” Then he noticed Oni glaring at him and everyone else staring. “...What?”

“Don’t hold your breath, asshole,” Oni said evenly, barely keeping her temper in check.

“Are you seriously telling me I don’t have a shot here?” the boy asked her incredulously. “With just her or with all of you? Do you have, like, some weird lesbian threesome thing going? Do you hate dudes? Or are you afraid of us?”

“I’m the only lesbian here, douchebag,” Oni growled, prompting a raised eyebrow from Traveler, “but I don’t hate guys and I’m sure as shit not afraid of you.”

“This is escalating quickly,” Blue observed.

“That’s enough.” The look Stillwell gave Oni and the young man made it clear that he would tolerate no defiance. “Deal with your differences on your own time. As of this moment when you’re together in uniform, either in this building, at the Bureau’s offices, while on assignment or anywhere else, you’re a team and you will act like one. Is that clear?”

Oni and the young man grumbled, “Yes, sir.” Stillwell waited as the two continued to glare at each other.

“Please,” Scarlet whispered to Oni, “let’s try to get along with them.”

The teen in blue put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Let it go.”

Their companions’ urging was enough to make them finally look away. With that over, Blue spoke up. “I’m Midnight Blue and these are my friends Scarlet Shield and Oni.”

“Hi guys,” Scarlet said with a little wave and a shy smile.

Oni upnodded to her new teammates. “Hey.”

“Hi,” said the teen standing by himself. “I’m Septet. I’ve been fighting crime in Toledo for the last month.”

Oni glanced at Scarlet. “Where’s Toledo?”

“In Ohio,” Scarlet answered.

“Call me Whiteout,” the blue-clad hero stated. Nodding his head in his companion’s direction he added, “This is my brother Hotshot. We’re--”

“Older brother,” Hotshot interrupted, smirking and hooking both thumbs at himself.

“...We’re from Fort Wayne,” Whiteout finished, frowning slightly.

Oni glanced at Scarlet, who anticipated her question. “Indiana.”

“This is Traveler,” Stillwell said with a nod toward the heroine standing next to him. “Some of you may have heard of her. She’ll be your mentor and Protector Alliance liaison.”

“Hi, everyone,” Traveler began. “As Agent Stillwell said, I’ll be your mentor. I’ll be the person you come to with questions about your powers, training, teammates, what have you. Think of me as your school counselor. I’m also your liaison with the Protector Alliance.”

“Excuse me,” Septet interjected, “but aren’t we members of the Protector Alliance now, too?”

“Yes and no,” Traveler answered. “As minors you’re not allowed full membership in the Alliance yet.” Hotshot opened his mouth to say something but Traveler quickly continued, cutting him off. “You’ve been separated into a team of your own -- the Millennials, since Project: Millennials is what MAE is calling this, even though you’re all young enough that you’re not considered part of the Millennials generation -- and given probationary status in the larger team until you’re eighteen and you’ve graduated from high school.

“Among other things, I’ll arrange for other members of the Alliance to give lectures on specific subjects or help with certain aspects of your training. We can talk more about both of those things later. Now, let’s go see your new school.” As she spoke a portal opened in the air behind her. “Come on, everyone.”

Scarlet, not usually the type to do something bold, surprised those present who knew her by unhesitatingly walking up to the portal ahead of everyone else and looking through it. On the other side she saw a three-story red brick building with an expansive, freshly-mowed lawn. Over the building’s front entrance was a sign that said IRON MOUNTAIN ACADEMY. A driveway led to the building, intersecting another one which ran parallel to the front of the building before circling around either end, with a sidewalk on the side closest to the building. Where the driveway leading to the building left off, the sidewalk continued on to the front steps. There were trees in the distance, enough to make her believe the property might be in the middle of a forest. “Sweet,” she whispered as she stepped through.

“Hey,” Oni said, smirking at the slightly shocked expression on Blue’s face, “she’s not as timid as you think. You should’ve seen her stand up to Coralindra the first time. You would’ve been proud of her.” They made their way through the portal next, first Oni then Blue. The boys walked through after them, followed by Agent Stillwell. Traveler brought up the rear, closing the portal behind her.

The tour of the school seemed like something of an anticlimax after the drama of meeting their new teammates for the first time -- No, Scarlet corrected herself, of Jen and that jerk Hotshot arguing for the first time -- and the thrill of getting to walk through one of Traveler’s portals. The school, which, as Scarlet thought, was in a secluded area a few miles from the town of Iron Mountain, Michigan, consisted of four red brick buildings and, behind the buildings, a sports field surrounded by a track, and a parking lot. The driveway leading to the front of the main building came from a single, two-lane road that passed by about a hundred yards in front of the building. The main building consisted of the school’s classrooms, cafeteria and faculty offices. The second building, also three stories, housed dorm rooms, six per floor, with an occupancy of three students per room and a private bathroom and shower in each room. The third building, disguised as a normal high school gym, was the training area, complete with boys’ and girls’ locker rooms. The last building, smallest of the four and closest to the parking lot, was housing for the faculty, including accommodations for Traveler if she chose to stay there. The students weren’t taken into the fourth building but only told about it.

“How much you tell each other about yourselves is up to you,”Stillwell said, wrapping the briefing up back at the Detroit MAE office, “but you might as well at least become acquainted with everyone’s faces and civilian identities, because you’ll be wearing the uniforms you have on now for training exercises but will have more traditional school uniforms to wear to class.” The statement brought groans from both Oni and Hotshot, who glared briefly at each other once more. “Your first day of classes will be September 2nd. You’ll be given the week before then to move into your dorm rooms, at which time you’ll also receive your class schedules and school uniforms. Whether you spend Labor Day weekend with your parents or in your dorm room is up to you, as long as you’re in class bright and early on the following Tuesday morning. Now go home. We’ll provide transportation for those of you who need it, of course. Enjoy the rest of your summer, keep your costumed activities to an absolute minimum and we’ll see you here in September.”

((To Be Continued...))
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The Millennials, Part 3

Post by Green-Lightning »

September 2, 2014
5:20 pm
Iron Mountain, Michigan

The first day of school had been uneventful, if one didn’t count having to separate Jen and Hotshot three times between classes and at lunch before a fight could start. The students had met their teachers, mostly listened while they were told what was expected of them in each class, and gotten their first assignments. After the last class was their first training session; it didn’t involve any actual training, just introducing themselves to Green Lightning and a couple high-ranking MAE officials from Washington, DC and showing them, along with Agent Stillwell and Traveler, what they could each do with their powers.

They had learned each others’ names: Whiteout, Hotshot and Septet were Darwin Andrews, his brother Brett and Ralph Hernandez, respectively. While eating lunch the group had decided to get together in their civilian identities (Kenzie thought that phrase was going to take some getting used to) and go into town for dinner so they could talk away from school and get to know each other better.

The city of Iron Mountain had a Crispy Cluck and a Burger Czar along with Tony’s Tacos, which was part of a regional chain that served Mexican-inspired food with an Italian-American twist. The young heroes couldn’t agree where to eat at first with Kenzie and Liz wanting to go to the Cluck, Darwin and Ralph preferring Burger Czar, Brett insisting on Tony’s and Jen not really caring where they ate as long as they got to eat soon. Eventually they decided on a local restaurant called Pauley’s Pulled Pork Pit.

It turned out that the owner, Paul Thornton, was from Texas and wanted to emulate the BBQ pit-style restaurants that he had loved back home. His preference for pork and a desire to offer a product that was different than the beef or chicken that other themed restaurants and fast food places served led to his decision to make it the primary ingredient in most of the items offered on the menu. The place seemed to be pretty popular. With a little more than half an hour until the dinner rush would normally start at most places the Pulled Pork Pit was already half-full; Kenzie was sure it wouldn’t be long before people were waiting for tables to open up.

After placing their orders and paying at the front counter, the group made their way to an empty back-corner picnic table. Kenzie wondered if the Texas barbeque pits that inspired Pauley’s used picnic tables indoors. She used the PicShure WinDoh image browser app on her phone to look up texas bbq pit restaurant and found out that, for the most part, they just used basic tables and chairs.

The brothers, Darwin and Brett, were about as different as two people could be. They were fraternal twins who didn’t look much like each other and their personalities differed as greatly as their appearance and powers. Between the two of them Darwin seemed to have most of the sense and all of the modesty. As Whiteout, Darwin’s sandy brown hair was covered by his uniform’s hood, giving people one less way to identify him. Kenzie couldn’t even tell what Brett’s original hair color was. The garish red and yellow dye job was permanent, rather than temporary as Kenzie had hoped. He seemed to think that messing his hair up when he was out of uniform so he looked like a member of a ‘70s punk band would be enough to keep people from noticing. He acted like he was in charge and thought everyone else should be grateful that he was. Kenzie thought he made Jeremy look like the model brother and felt for Darwin, who was quiet most of the time, as if he had become accustomed to living in his brother’s shadow.

Kenzie thought Ralph seemed nice. He was friendly and smiled a lot, but also seemed to be as smart as Liz, if not smarter, and just as analytical. She thought that Liz and Ralph would both be good at getting the team to work together, maybe even Jen and Brett eventually. Even with her loyalty to Liz she would have a hard time deciding who she thought should lead the team when the time came to choose one.

Brett seemed to have his own assumption about who the team leader was and just happened to pick that precise moment to express it. “Okay minions, the first thing we’re gonna do is--” Whatever he said after that was drowned out by exclamations of disbelief from the rest of them, which drew a few glances from other customers. The loudest reaction came from Jen.

“‘Minions’?” Jen glared at Brett for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. “Seriously? What makes you think you’re in charge, loser?”

Brett looked perplexed, as if he couldn’t understand the question. “I mean, who else would it be?”

Liz looked at Darwin. “Your brother has a very high opinion of himself, doesn’t he?”

Darwin shrugged. “He always has.”

“Dude,” Brett reminded his brother, “I’m right here.”

“I know,” Darwin replied.

“We all know,” Jen added. “You won’t let us forget.”

“Look,” Ralph interjected, “today’s the first full day we’ve all spent together. It’s too early to decide on a leader.”

“He has a point,” Liz agreed.

“What’s to decide?” Brett asked as if the answer should be clear to everyone. “With me here, the choice should be obvious.”

“Yeah,” Jen retorted, “anyone but you.”

“I bet your friends don’t agree with you,” Brett replied.

Liz cautioned Brett, “You’re better off not making that bet.”

“What about you?” Brett asked Kenzie. “You want me to be leader, don’t you?”

Kenzie shook her head. “No.”

“I knew it,” said Brett. “You three have to have some weird lesbian thing going. That’s the only way none of you could be interested in me.”

“I, uh, like boys,” Kenzie stated.

“It’s good to know one of you does. Maybe you and I can--”

“But I don’t like you,” she added, uncharacteristically cutting him off.

Liz added, “There are guys who are a lot more interesting than you are.”

Brett smirked. “Name one.”

Bushing slightly, Liz silently went back to eating.

“Hah!” Brett barked triumphantly. “You can’t!”

“Cory,” Jen said, smirking. Liz gave her a warning look.

“Cory, huh?” Brett commented, his own smirk returning. “So two of you like guys, and I have some competition. That’ll make winning you over even better.”

Liz turned her glare in Brett’s direction. “I think it’s safe to say that you’re not endearing yourself to anyone here.”

Brett laughed. “Oh, come on. You guys love me, you know you do.”

“I have to agree with Liz,” Darwin said. “You really aren’t making any friends here.”

“Maybe there are people who like narcissists,” Liz added, “but I’ve never met one, as far as I know.”

“Wait,” Brett said, frowning for the first time since they had left school. “Did you just call me a narcissist?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Jen swore as she stood up. “I’ve gotta get out of here before I beat the shit out of this asshole.” Her expression softened slightly as she looked at Kenzie. “I’ll see you outside when you’re done.” Then she turned and quickly walked toward the door.

“Jen, wait up!” Kenzie practically jumped off of the table’s bench seat and hurried after the other girl.

Brett was up and following Jen almost as swiftly as Kenzie. “Hey!” he shouted, drawing the attention several customers at surrounding tables. “You think you’re tough? I’ll kick your ass!” This gained him glares from more than a few people, and two men within earshot had to be convinced by the women with them not to get involved.

Darwin sighed. “I’d better go stop him from doing something stupid, again.” Shaking his head in exasperation, he stood and made his way to the entrance as well.

Liz and Ralph stared at each other. After a long moment, Liz spoke. “Well, this is awkward.”

“Isn’t it, though,” Ralph said drily. “I’m sure Darwin knows how to handle his brother.”

“And Kenzie has a way of calming Jen down,” Liz replied, “but we should probably get out there anyway, just in case.” Darwin nodded in agreement.

A server walked up at that moment with some of the group’s food. “Hi there. I’ll get you guys started with this, then I’ll come back with the rest of your orders.”

“I’m sorry,” Ralph said to the server, “I really am, but something’s come up. Do you think we could maybe get all of this to go?”

((To Be Continued...))
Last edited by Green-Lightning on Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The Millennials, Part 4

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Scarlet Shield tried not to breathe for fear of being heard as she watched the five black-and-gray-armored figures, visible thanks to a nearby streetlight, from what Septet believed was a safe distance behind them. Fighting a team of Cicatrix agents wasn’t like fighting Demon Knights. Sure, both organizations relied heavily on technology, such as the blaster rifles the Cicatrix agents were currently carrying, but the Demon Knights were human. For nearly ten years Cicatrix, his lieutenants and his agents had all been vampires, with the advantages and disadvantages that went along with it. The agents weren’t unbeatable, but they were harder to beat than normal humans. And while the Demon Knights often killed their enemies, with Cicatrix there were worse things than death. The agents hadn’t noticed them yet, but Scarlet knew that vampires’ senses were better than most humans’. She also knew that the other teammate with her at the moment, Hotshot, had no sense at all; he kept proving it, over and over. “I, uh, I’m not sure if I’m ready for this,” Scarlet whispered hesitantly.

“We can do this.” The words were quietly spoken to Scarlet, but she wasn’t sure whether Septet was trying to convince her or himself. “Protect Hotshot and me, and my duplicates will distract them while the three of us--”

Hotshot smiled and winked at Scarlet as he interrupted Septet more loudly than he needed to. “You just keep talking while I take these clowns out.” Before his teammates could react he leapt from their vantage point and ran toward the agents, throwing fireballs at them and drawing their attention.

“No, wait!” Septet called out to Hotshot, who ignored him and continued his attack, even as they aimed their blaster rifles at him. “Scarlet, get a force field on him now!”

“I’m trying,” Scarlet replied as she concentrated. Her ability to form force fields around other people was improving but it still took some effort, and it didn’t help when the person was moving. She almost had it when the agents fired their weapons. Three of the five shots fired found their target and Hotshot went down, either stunned or unconscious. All five agents ran forward, three continuing past Hotshot toward Scarlet and Septet while the last two pounced on their fallen enemy, fangs bared--

“Robots, pause,” Traveler’s voice rang out. The monstrous agents immediately froze, as unmoving as if she had stopped time around them. “Lights.” Banks of overhead lights came on, dispelling the darkness in the Gym.

September 24, 2014
3:52 pm
Near Iron Mountain, Michigan

Traveler stood near a small set of bleachers positioned against the closest wall. “Robots,” she instructed, “end simulation.” The robots moved to standing positions and Hotshot got back to his feet. Scarlet and Septet joined Midnight Blue, Oni and Whiteout on the bleachers but Hotshot remained standing a few feet away, pretending to be bored by the whole thing.

“Now,” Traveler asked, “who can tell me what went wrong?”

“Hotshot thought he could beat five armored vampire-wannabe robots with blaster rifles by himself,” answered Oni, “instead of working with his team. That’s because he’s a dumbass who thinks that if he impresses Red he’ll get into her tights.” Hotshot’s glare was met with a scoff. “As if you’ll ever do either of those things.” Then, noticing Scarlet’s embarrassed blush, Oni gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Red.”

“You just want her for yourself, don’t you?” Hotshot responded angrily.

Traveler cut Oni off before she could utter a retort. “Let’s leave Scarlet Shield’s personal life out of this.” She turned to Hotshot. “Oni does make a valid point, though. The reason for this exercise is to practice teamwork. Why did you attack on your own?”

“Are you kidding?” Hotshot asked incredulously. “By the time Septet came up with a plan we’d all be dead. Attacking them before they could attack us was the only chance we had.”

Oni rolled her eyes. “And we all saw how that went.”

“Oni.” There was a note of warning in Traveler’s voice.

“Sorry,” Oni said sheepishly.

Traveler turned her attention back to Hotshot. “If what just happened had been real not only would you be dead or, worse, turned, but you would’ve blown the element of surprise for your teammates. Instead of the three of you getting the drop on your opponents Septet and Scarlet Shield would’ve been forced to face them without having a chance to form a plan first. The whole thing could’ve ended very badly and believe me, the last thing the world needs is three more meta-vampires.”

“I had a plan,” stated Septet, “which I was relaying to the others when Hotshot took it upon himself to attack without waiting for Scarlet Shield and me.”

“Come on,” Hotshot said, exasperated, “it was just a simulation.”

“If you can’t take a simulation seriously,” Traveler replied, “what makes you think you’ll be ready for the real thing? As I’m sure you’ve just learned, there are times when you’ll have to depend on your teammates to have your back. It goes both ways. They need to know they can rely on you to have theirs, too. That can’t happen if you don’t show them that you’re willing to work with them.” Hotshot gave no response as he stood with his arms folded, glaring silently at the floor in front of him.

“All right,” Traveler said to the students, “let’s get the second group out here. Same situation.” She called out to the robots, “Robots, ready Scenario: Cicatrix One.”

***

5:17 pm

Training was over for the day and the team, having showered and changed back into their school uniforms, were walking the short distance back to their dorm rooms together. Kenzie sighed as she listened to Jen and Brett argue. The school had a strict rule that they weren’t allowed to use their powers in the open and Brett seemed to think that gave him an edge over Jen that he intended to take advantage of every chance he got. Kenzie wanted to support Jen, to tell Brett to shut up, to do something, but without using her powers she didn’t think there was much she could do. Besides, Jen seemed to know how to handle jerks like Brett just fine on her own. They were all supposed to be a team, though, and the fact that one of them worked so hard to disrupt things was frustrating.

She could tell that it frustrated Darwin just as much as it did her, but at least he had the nerve to stand up to his brother. “Brett, stop. All you’re doing is making yourself look bad.”

“Are you seriously taking her side?” Brett challenged his brother. “I’m not doing this because I want to. She’s trying to embarrass me!”

“How exactly am I trying to embarrass you?” Jen asked. “You’re the one who starts it, every time. And I don’t need to embarrass you anyway because you do such a good job of it yourself, even if you’re too stupid to figure that out on your own.”

“Let him find out the hard way,” Ralph suggested to Darwin. “I have a feeling that’s the only way he’ll learn anything.”

Every time?” Brett retorted. “Really? What about what you said during training? I don’t remember starting that one!”

Darwin rubbed his face with the palm of his hand as he spoke to Ralph. “I wish I could say you’re wrong, but...”

“You started that one,” Jen replied hotly, “by being a conceited, horny dumbass!”

Without warning Brett put his right hand on Jen’s left shoulder. “Get your hand off--” she started to say as she made to grab the offending hand by the wrist. Before she could finish either, however, he shoved her hard and she stumbled backward a couple steps. To his astonishment she didn’t fall. Instead she shouted “You fucker!” as, hands balled into fists, she quickly closed the distance between them and punched him in the side of the head hard enough to knock him to the ground. Before he could move she was sitting on his chest, using her weight to pin him down and punching him in the face a second, third and fourth time.

“Jen, stop!” Kenzie pleaded, alarmed. She didn’t like Brett at all, but he was their teammate. It was bad enough when he and Jen argued, but they shouldn’t be fighting each other.

“That’s enough, Jen,” Liz said as she pulled the other girl, kicking and swearing, off of Brett. “Come on,” She said to Kenzie as she set Jen down, “let’s get back to our room.” Shaking her head slightly, Liz began walking toward Building Two.

“Touch me again, asshole,” Jen snarled at Brett, “and I’ll break your hands.” With that she turned and followed Liz.

“Jerk,” Kenzie said to Brett with a glare, then took off at a jog to catch up with her friends.

Darwin watched the girls walk away. “Good job,” he said with an uncharacteristic hint of sarcasm, “you just alienated half the team.”

“Stupid lesbians,” Brett muttered.

“Will you stop it with the ‘lesbians’ nonsense? If every girl who’s not interested in you really was a lesbian like you seem to think they are then no one would ever have kids. It’s a good thing for you that you’re my brother or--”

“Older brother,” Brett interrupted, gingerly touching the bruise forming around one eye.

“By a whole five minutes. I guess it’s good that you insist on telling everyone you’re older, because they’d never know it by the way you act.” Darwin massaged his temples with his fingertips for a moment, as if trying to make a headache go away. “You know what? Never mind. You can think whatever the hell you want. You just--” Unable to finish the thought, Darwin turned and started walking toward the dorms.

Brett looked at Ralph and opened his mouth to say something, but Ralph just shook his head. “This whole thing could fail if we don’t all work together as a team.” He followed the others, leaving Brett standing alone with his thoughts.

((To Be Continued...))
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