Heroid

((Gotta say... J, Kai... those were two very nice pieces.

Kai, I've spoken to a few people with defunct supergroups and empty bases, and your story captures the feelings they shared with me perfectly.

And J... man, you rock. That story was beautiful.

And anybody who might happen to read this and wonder, "Is this thread just for these people's stories?" Well, the answer is no. This thread is for anybody who wants to write a slice of life or even a short storyline involving the everyday lives of their characters. As you can see with J's last piece, it doesn't even have to be about one of your characters. If you just want to write about life in the City of Heroes, feel free to post it here. ))

When you work for Death, it follows that job perks are few and far between, but that's not to say that there aren't any. The one thing about Death is that she's everywhere. Anything that happens in the land of the living, chances are there is someone newly deceased who knows alot about it. And then there all of the spirits who roam the earth at Death's discretion, who, if they are at all cognizant of their condition, will pretty much do Death's bidding in order to continue to walk upon the Earth.

So as soon as Deputy Parnelle had told her about a runaway matching Jen's description, the Catbird got on the afterlife network. Soon, she was in touch with the "Road Ghosts" -- those phantoms who haunt the freeways and highways, some travelling thousands of miles, others haunting only the spots where they met their deaths. Many drove vehicles -- most often big trucks or old hotrods -- and some hitchhiked or walked.

In return for future favors, the Road Ghosts promised to find Jen, and see that she returned to Paragon City safely.

The Catbird trusted them. They knew that a bad report from her to Death could very well get them bannished to the Aether.

She felt like Jen would be safe now, and she would be going back to the City of Heroes herself soon. But first there was the matter of William Brenegan III...

((I feel all warm and fuzzy, with a little bit of teary on the side. Wonderful, J. ))

((Thanks, J. Dunno why Large Marge popped into my head there, but, what the hey?

Anyway, next part...))


The Catbird sat by the window of her hotel room and watched the Sheriff's cars roll up and down the highway. It was raining, and their tires made slooshing sounds as they passed by. She waited. She needed information and she was going to get it.

From up the street came the sound of squealing brakes and crunching metal. A familiar sensation came over her -- just as she had suspected it would -- and the "angel of Death" wings manifested on her back. She opened the window and flew out in the direction of the accident.

Deputy Lyle Parnelle was waiting for her, just as she knew he would be. She had encountered Deputy Parnelle earlier that day at the restaurant where she had had dinner. Her vision of his death was very clear -- his patrol car would wind up wrapped around a utility pole and his neck would be broken. His permature death would be quick and fairly painless, as opposed to his actual scheduled way to die: maimed and then beaten to death by the jealous husband of the woman he was seeing. Usually, she gave warnings so that people could avoid their untimely demise, but Parnelle had only one month, two weeks, and three days before the jealous husband, and the Catbird needed information from him.

As she approached, his spirit stood on the sidewalk looking at the car his body was trapped in. The steady rain passed through him and puddled on the sidewalk under his feet.

"I need to call this in," he said when he noticed her arrival. "That guy's gotta be dead. Poor [censored]."

"Yes," the Catbird said.

He had the expression of a man who had seen far too many such scenes in his lifetime. Despite his marrital infidelity, she could sense that he was a good man.

"Deputy Parnelle, I'm here to help you," she said.

He turned and looked at her, not at all surprised that a beautiful woman with black wings should be standing beside him now. Then he turned back toward the accident. A hint of a grin widened his mouth as he said, "Oh. Wow."

The Catbird smiled, and told him, "I'm here to help you, to offer you comfort and calm, just as you have done for many others."

Parnelle took one last look at the wreck, then took the Catbird's outstretched hand, and she took him in.

"Is this Death?" he asked from inside her.

"No, this is merely a waiting room."

"Sort of like a holding cell?"

"Not for you. You will go to your freedom."

"But... I've done some bad things."

"We all have."

She felt him nod in understanding.

"Deputy Parnelle?" she said as she arrived back at her hotel. "Can I ask you a question?"

"This is nice. Can you see it?"

She had no idea what it was like in there. She got descriptions, but they all varied in details.

"No," the Catbird answered, "but I'm glad you're comfortable. Now, about my question..."

"Oh! Of course! Ask away!"

The Catbird was happy he wasn't panicking or ranting in anger. The ones who accepted their fates were always the best company during their stays.

"Deputy Parnelle, has there been a runaway reported from Mount Rainier Academy?"

Texas was a little different from Arizona and New Mexico. More green and rolling hills. More towns along the highway. A little more traffic.

Texas might not be a bad place to try to make an escape.

Jen and Wayne Lee hadn't spoken since they had left the rest stop. Neither had they stopped. If they were going to cross the border, surely they would have to stop there. Maybe there would even be policemen there who would help her. Then again, if he was a smuggler -- especially a people smuggler -- he probably knew a way around all of that. Some desert back road or something.

She looked at her captor. He was still smiling. He always smiled. At first, it had made him seem pleasant. Now it just made him seem psycho.

Suddenly, Wayne Lee's expression changed. His eyes grew wide in panic and his smiling mouth opened into an "oh" as in, "Oh crap!"

Jen faced front and looked at the highway in front of them. There was a cow in the middle of the road. A big cow. Maybe a buffalo. In the evening twilight Jen wasn't sure. She hadn't seen that many cows or buffalo in her life.

Wayne Lee hit the brakes and the truck started skidding down the road. The trailer Wayne Lee was hauling turned to an angle so that Jen could see the back end of it passing the cab. The weight of the trailer pulled the truck off of the road and they went off of an embankment. The world flipped upside down and Jen found herself banging around inside the cab as the truck rolled and rolled downhill until it finally came to a rest.

Smell of diesel mixed with ozone and blood as Jen opened her eyes. The truck was right side up with the driver's side resting against a large rock. Wayne Lee had a large gash in his forehead and his mouth was busted up pretty badly.

Jen wiggled her arms and legs -- no pain. She put a hand up to her head -- there was a small lump on the crown of her head, but no blood. She was unhurt!

Without a second thought, she opened her door and leapt out.

Unfortunately, Wayne Lee wasn't hurt as a badly as she thought. As soon as she opened the door, he lunged at her. She slammed the door and knocked him back, but it didn't take long for him to crawl out and come after her. Jen looked around for a place to hide, but there were only rocks, most too small to conceal her, so she ran around the demolished tractor to escape him. That's where she saw the frost forming on the side of the exposed motor. The freon lines to the air conditioner were busted and leaking!

Jen scrambled up on the engine block until she could see the hose spewing a stream of icy vapor. She put her hand in it the stream and smiled as the refreshing chill invigorated her, then she climbed on up until frost coated her skin and clothing from head to toe. After that, she just stood and waited for Wayne Lee.

He didn't disappoint her. Though he was limping and angrily wiping blood from his eyes, he was still relentless in his pursuit. He wasn't smiling now. He looked like an enraged animal.

"You come back here," he said as he began to climb up toward her. "You get down from there, Jen."

"I'm not just Jen anymore," she said. "Now I'm CryoJen!"

She shot an icy blast at Wayne Lee that froze his hands to the metal he grasped. When he began to shout and curse at her, she froze the saliva in his mouth which made his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth.

"Now," she said, her voice suddenly as cold as her powers, "I'm leaving. And when I get to where I'm going, I'm going to tell certain people about you and what you do. When they find out, they're going to hunt down this 'auction' you were taking me to. So if I was you I would get out of this business and never, ever do anything like this again."

From the look of fear on Wayne Lee's face, Jen was pretty sure he bought her threat, so she leapt off of the truck, and climbed the embankment.

Up on the highway, another big rig had pulled over to see (Jen assumed) about the wreck. Jen approached the truck to ask the driver for help. An old woman who looked to be about as big as any man Jen had ever seen, sat in the driver's seat. She was dressed in a thick, red flannel shirt. She had a flabby, pallid face framed by wiry brown hair, streaked with grey and white, which stood almost straight up. The driver didn't look at Jen, but instead stared ahead with big bulging eyes that didn't blink.

The old woman began to speak in an eerie monotone voice. "I have been sent by Death itself to warn you, little girl -- the highway is no place for you. You do not belong to the road. Just a mile down the highway in that direction," the old woman pointed so Jen would know which way, "is a fallow field. After you cross that field, you shall find a ranch called the 'PW'. You shall approach the ranch house and knock twice, pause, then knock twice more. The owner of the ranch shall see that you get to your destination safely, for he understands the odyssey of youth."

Jen stood stunned to silence as she spoke.

Then suddenly the old woman looked down at her and grinned with an evil leer, then said, "Be sure 'n' tell 'im, Large Marge sent ya!"

Jen heard her cackle like a witch as she drove away.

Following Large Marge’s instructions, Jen made her way to the ranch house where the owner, Mr. P.W. and his wife, a nice lady named Dottie fed her ice cream, and then drove her to the airport and bought her an airline ticket for Paragon City.

"Yeah, you're a valuable piece of property, sweetheart. If you were a couple of years older, you wouldn't be worth my time, but at your age -- hell, you're prime!"

Jen felt sick. She wasn't sure if it was because of the things he was saying, or if it was from the hunger that made her stomach feel like it was trying to claw its way out of her insides. He arms and legs felt like wet spaghetti noodles and her head felt like it was floating without being attached to her body. If she wasn't so weak, she would flash-freeze this guy and show him what's what.

"Please, mister... let me go... I won't tell nobody..." Begging made her feel even more helpless. "Please... I don't want to wind up in a... a..."

"I don't know where you'll wind up, darlin'," Wayne Lee said nonchalantly. "None of my business really. But hey, you know you might like it. I hear a lot of kids do."

"You're sick!"

"What?"

"You're a sicko perv and I hope you die!"

"Whoa, whoa..." Wayne Lee was still smiling. "What do you think's going to happen to you?"

"I... you're going to... I mean... please... I'm just a kid..."

For the first time since she had met him, Wayne Lee's smile disappeared. "Oh, sugar, I'm not going to do nothing like that. I'm not... no. I would never do nothing like that."

"Then where are we going?"

"To a man who provides meta-powered children for various organizations."

"What?"

"He runs an auction for super-powered kids."

"But... why?"

"You don't think all those organizations like Arachnos get all their recruits from grown-ups, do you? Some of the stuff they do takes a lifetime of training. The younger you get 'em, the better."

Jen relaxed slightly. The situation wasn't quite as bad as she imagined.

"How did you know I had powers?"

Wayne Lee pointed to a small plastic box mounted on his dashboard. It had flashing lights on it and in white painted letters, it said, "Cobra Meta-Detector".

"It picked you up when you were 'portin' down the highway."

"Oh," Jen said, suddenly fascinated with the device.

"Now, do you want to go to the little-girl's room while I get me some coffee?"

Jen nodded.

"All right, hold still."

Jen remained quiet while Wayne Lee flipped open the console between the seats and took out a strange-looking bracelet.

"Don't try to get away. If I don't take this off you in twenty minutes, it's gonna blow up."

Jen looked at the bracelet. Wayne Lee might not be a perv, but he wasn't exactly benign either. She opened the door and climbed out.

The ladies' room was fairly clean -- the first break she had had since she got off of the potato truck -- so she took her time washing her hands and thought her situation through. She had been in much worse jams. If she could stall for time, maybe get something to eat, maybe she could get her strength back and escape. But then, where would she go? Were there any towns nearby? What good would it do for her to try to make a break for it when she would just wind up dying in the desert?

Jen went back out to the truck and took her seat. A moment later, Wayne Lee came back, removed the bracelet, and offered her a soft drink and a pack of cheese crackers. The soft drink was warm -- it might as well have been a cup of steaming coffee -- and the crackers were... well, crackers. She tried, but she couldn't bring either of them down to freezing. She sat the soda in the cup-holder and looked out the window as Arizona passed by.

Jen didn't know that the Catbird was coming to take her home. After months at the academy, with one bad incident after another making one bad memory after another, Jen had decided to run away from Mount Rainier. So she did, only two days before her adoptive mother left Paragon City.

So now she was out on the highway somewhere in the state of Utah, hot and exhausted. She had managed to sneak onto the back of an eastbound tractor-trailer full of potatoes to travel the first several hundred miles from Washington state. It had been air-conditioned to keep the potatoes fresh, and it had been very comfortable. And she had found out that raw potatoes didn't taste so very bad at all -- even if it did freeze solid a moment after touching her lips. But when, after long hours, the truck had stopped and someone unlatched the trailer door, Jen had teleported out. She was horrified to find that the truck had turned south. With no other options, she began teleporting, making her way along the interstate, until finally all of her strength was depleted.

Now, she couldn't even manage to lower the air temperature around herself. She couldn't form so much as an icecicle to chew on to try to chill herself a little. Her normally blue skin was approaching a pinkish color, which for a normal kid would be healthy, but not for her. The pre-summer sun was beating down on her with deadly intensity as she stumbled and staggered down the highway. She needed to find air-conditioning -- or even a meat-locker -- soon.

Then the sound of an air-horn almost made her jump out of her skin. She turned to see a big rig rolling to a stop behind her.

A man with short, wavy, black hair and a smiling, sun baked face stuck his head out of the rig's driver's-side window. "Need a ride, kid?" he said.

She knew it wasn't the best option, but if she stayed out in the heat much longer, she was sure she would die, she ran as fast as she could manage to the truck. The man inside reached across the cab and swung the door open for her.

"Hello, little darlin'," the driver said with the same wide smile he had before. He was a smallish man, not very tall, and sort of skinny. "My name's Wayne Lee Grady. What's yours?"

The cab was air conditioned and the blast coming through the vent felt heavenly to her, so, without thinking she blurted out, "Jen."

"Where you headed, hon?" he asked.

Jen had decided telling him her real name hadn't been the best idea, so she decided not to tell him that she was headed home to Paragon City. "Boston," she answered.

"Well, little lady, we'll be hitting I-70 in Richfield. We'll be able to get you real close to where you're going."

Wayne Lee Grady reached over and turned on the radio and stayed silent for a long while as they drove. Jen looked out the window at the barren terrain of dry, yellow grasses growing out of dry rocky ground. In the distance, flat hills jutted up out of nowhere, looking incongruous to the flat, flat land around them. And this vista remained the same for miles and miles and miles...

Jen woke up when her head bumped against the window. She squinted against the sun as she took in her surroundings. They had left the highway and were pulling into a visitor's center that had an "Arizona Welcomes You" banner across the brick building that housed a drink machine, a coffee machine, a snack machine, and some restrooms.

Arizona?

"Wait!" she said, anxiety rising in her voice and in her stomach. "What are we doing in Arizona? I thought we were going east toward Par... er...Boston!"

Wayne Lee Grady smiled the same smile she had seen since he had stuck his head out of the window. "Relax, darlin'," he said, "I had to make a little detour."

"D-detour...?"

"Yeah, honey. Seems you're not going to Boston at all. We're going to take you down to a little place south of the border."

Jen felt around for the door handle as she said, "M-Mexico? B-but... why?"

"For a little commodities trading, darlin'..."

The plaque on the desk read William Brenegan, III. His office door had the word "Dean" painted on the glass in neat black letters. He was responsible for the school and its students.

The Catbird sat across the desk from him in an uncomfortably hard-bottomed chair and looked at him with Katrina Allen's cool, calm face. She wore a smart, grey outfit with a jacket and white oxford shirt, and a skirt that reached to just above the knee, so that when she crossed her legs, her knee was exposed and just a bit of her thigh. Just enough to keep him distracted, but not so much as to make him think she was there for anything but business.

"I'm here," she said to him, "to take Jen home."

"Your daughter?" William Brenegan III looked at the folder before him. It contained the permanent record of one Jennifer Wisteria. "I'm sorry, Ms. Allen," he said with an expression that made the Catbird think of a smarmy teenaged boy, "but Jennifer's mother is Valerie Wisteria. I'm afraid we can't allow her to leave with you."

The Catbird said nothing, she merely brushed a lock of short blond hair off of her forehead and maintained her dispassionate coolness.

William Brenegan III dropped the folder on his desk as if it was something of great weight and reached for the telephone. "In fact, I do believe I'll call the authorities because this certainly reeks of an attempted child abduction."

The Catbird uncrossed her legs, then recrossed them, switching legs. Then she picked up her maroon handbag from the floor and pulled an envelope out.

"Before you make a fool of yourself, you should take a look at this."

William Brenegan III stopped with his finger poised above the second "1" in "9-1-1" and looked at the envolope she slid to him across the desk.

"I think you'll find those papers are in order. I am the executor of Dr. Wisteria's estate, and have legal custodianship of all of her affairs. And that includes Jen."

William Brenegan III stammered for a few moments before he finally seemed to gather his wits about him enough to say, "Of course, our legal department will need to look into this. We cannot just simply give her over based on what could be forged documents."

"I understand," the Catbird said as she closed her handbag. "I'll wait two days. At the end of that time, I expect to leave here with Jen."

With that, she stood, turned, straightened her jacket and skirt, and walked out of the office.

-------

Bill Brenegan watched Ms. Katrina Allen as she showed herself out of his office. For a moment he was captivated by the sound of her high heels tapping staccato on the floor, but that passed quickly when he thought of the threat she presented to him.

Bill reached for the phone again. With a little luck, two days should be enough time, but they would need more manpower than Mount Rainier Academy had available. He pressed speed dial on the phone.

"Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Lyle speaking."

"Sheriff, this is Bill at Mount Rainier's. I need some help."

"Another missing student?"

"Yes, and this time there is an extra bonus for finding her within 48 hours."

Flying was faster.

To be honest, she felt a little guilty for taking the scenic route. The train was both more expensive and many times slower, and really, she should be trying to reach her destination as soon as possible. But that was the problem, wasn't it? She had shirked this particular responsibility for so long that she was now afraid to face it, to try to make ammends.

The woman known publicly as Katrina Allen sat and looked out the window as amber waves of grain passed by. Beyond the purple mountains ahead, nearly to the shining sea, was someone she once professed to love and whom she swore to care for and provide for.

Funny how things change over time.

Where are all your high ideals? she asked herself, and then wondered who exactly she was asking.

Who was herself? Her body belonged to Dr. Valerie Wisteria, whose soul she still carried, and whose personality still occupied a small padded cell in the corner of her mind. But it had been a long time since Valerie was in control.

She could not bring herself to think of herself as Katrina Allen. That was an identity made up by a vile woman called Demonelle when the villain had temporarily seized control of Dr. Wisteria's body. But since Demonelle had altered Valerie's looks and made the new face a public fixture, she was stuck with the name.

She tried to think of herself as June Dawson, 1950's crimefighter and social activist, killed by those closest to her when they became concerned her politcal leanings might lead to embarrassment for them. Her spirit had languished in Perez Park until Dr. Wisteria fouled up an attempt at a Circle of Thorns ceremony. Wisteria had an out of body experience, and when she returned to her body, she was not alone -- June had come with her, and to both their surprise, the ceremony had given them powers from beyond the grave.

For a time they shared the body -- best friends, confidants. They registered as a hero under June's old alter ego, the Catbird. They both thrilled at their newfound abilities and together, they thrived, each one's strengths covering for the other's weaknesses. In the day, they were Dr. Valerie Wisteria, Parapsychiatrist; by night they were the mysterious Catbird.

And then they met Jen.

Jen was alone in the world. A young girl with ice powers that she had little control over. Valerie and June decided to take the girl in and adopt her. They were already raising Roy Kirby's young son, Ben. Two children in the apartment would be no more trouble than one, and they so enjoyed being around the kids. But Jen's powers were too unpredictable and she needed to be under the care of experts. Val/June shipped her off to Mt. Rainier Academy for Superpowered Youth.

Then came the terrible times. Demonelle invaded them, drove June out and psychically tortured Valerie to the point of madness. But the Catbird was resourceful. She made a deal with Death and regained their body. But it was too late for Val -- she would not come out of the box Demonelle had placed her in. Now she was just one of many voices that cried desperately in the Catbird's psyche.

So who was she?

She sighed and lifted her rum and cola to her lips. She was the Catbird. In the end the mask won out. She was the Catbird, winged courier for Death. She was the Catbird, mysterious avenger of the night. She was the Catbird, champion of the people...

She was the Catbird, adoptive mother to a child she had abandoned months ago after Demonelle's attack.

She downed the rest of her drink, then rose from her seat and made her way through the train to the back of it. There was a sign at the end of the last car, which said, "Authorized Personnel Only". She ignored this.

The Catbird stepped through the door and stood on the small platform outside.

Mt. Rainier Academy for Superpowered Youth.

She spread her wings against the rushing wind and took off toward the distant mountains.

Flying was faster.

((For reference, Ben Kirby-Love is a clone of Roy Kirby whom Roy has adopted as a son. He shares custody of the lad with Ireland Love who founded Maggie's Rock -- a place where all children can find a home. Jessie is Questing Eagle's little sister, who has also been adopted by Ms. Love. But not by Mr. Kirby. Anyway...))

Peggy had bathed the twins, nursed them, burped them, and put them to bed. During that whole time she waited anxiously for the door to spare bedroom -- the one Ben used when he came to stay on weekends -- to open.

Roy and Ben had been in there for almost two hours. She had no idea why except that Maggie had called and told Roy he needed to have a talk with his son. Peggy wasn't sure if that meant THE talk, but the longer they were in there, the more sure she was that that was the case.

Finally the door opened and the boys stepped out, Roy smiling confidently (a sure sign of trouble) and Ben looking bewildered with his eyebrows drawn down and his lips pressed to a thin line.

She looked at the two of them. Ben looked exactly as Roy had at that age -- tall and tow-headed, with a longish chin and high cheekbones. He looked to be about twelve or thirteen, but it was impossible to tell his true age. His growth had been accelerated when he was created in a cloning laboratory. If Dr. Werner hadn't counteracted the process, the boy would have died of old age months ago. Now, instead, he aged at a remarkably slow rate. In twenty years he might appear to be sixteen or seventeen.

"Well," Roy said as he stepped out behind Ben, "Did ya learn sumpin'?"

Ben sighed and said, "I think so..."

"Good. An' remember, anytime ya wanna talk about... you know... just come see yer pa."

"Yessir."

Roy stepped past Ben and went to Peggy. He bent and gave her a short peck of a kiss, then said, "I hope th' two o' ya don't mind, but I gotta go ta Portal Corp. They said they got some sorta leak, an' need somebody like me ta check it out."

Peggy put her arms around his neck, stepped up on his feet, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. "Be careful, Roy," she said.

"Sure thing, babe. An' Ben, if ya don't wanna stay th' night, I'll leave th' 'port system set up ta git ya back ta th' Rock by bedtime."

"Thanks, Pop."

Peggy and Ben watched Roy open the baby gate and step into the apartment's teleport link and disappear, then they stood together in silence for a few moments.

"I know he tries," Ben finally said.

"Yes, he does," Peggy replied, "But..."

"Yeah."

"He loves you. You know that don't you?"

"Yeah. I know. I just wish..."

"Yeah."

There was another moment of silence, then Peggy asked, "What did he tell you?"

"What?"

"I know you had the talk. Or at least a talk leading up to it. What did he tell you?"

Ben blushed and said, "Well... he kinda didn't tell me nothin'."

"Nothing?"

Ben shook his head.

"What did you do in there for two hours then?"

"He showed me a movie."

Peggy was afraid to ask, but she did anyway. "What movie did he show you?"

"Um... I think it was called, 'A Summer Place'."

"Oh. I don't think I've seen that one. What was it about?"

"About this boy and this girl who were in love but their parents didn't like each other and they didn't want the boy and girl to be together so they yelled at each other and everybody got drunk and they were miserable and the girl kept saying, 'Oh, Johnny, we've got to be good.'"

"And Roy expected you to gleen what kind of lesson from that?"

"Um... I think that if you kiss girls you just get in a whole lot of trouble."

Aha! The clouds had parted and the light of knowledge lit up the darkness. She now had an understanding of Ben's problem.

"Oh. So... who was it?"

"Who was what?"

"Who did you kiss?"

Ben looked down at his feet and fidgeted for a few seconds before he looked up at her and said, "Jessie."

Now that was a problem. Maggie had adopted Jessie and had co-adopted Ben and was trying to raise them as brother and sister, but neither was exactly an infant when she took them in.

"She's your sister, you know."

"I know! And now I'm going to hell for that too!"

Peggy put her hand on his shoulder and led him to the living room where the two of them had passed many a pleasant afternoon reading aloud to each other and watching classic movies. She sat down on the sofa, and patted the spot beside her. When he sat down, she put her arm around him and waited.

"She hates me now. She won't talk to me."

"You were friends -- buddies -- right?"

Ben nodded.

"How did you wind up kissing her?"

"Um... I told her I had found something great and wondrous and that she could see it, but she had to close her eyes first."

"But you really didn't have anything."

"Yeah. I had nothing."

"And she fell for that?"

"Yeah."

"And then what happened?"

"When she closed her eyes, I kissed her."

"Oh. Well, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm supposed to tell her I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Why can't you?"

"Because I'm not. I'm glad I kissed her."

"That's just as well. I don't think she would be any happier with you if you told her you were sorry you kissed her. She might take that as an insult."

Ben nodded.

"So... did you tell her you were sorry for anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like... that you're sorry for tricking her. You're sorry for embarassing her... That kind of thing."

"Um..."

"Yeah. Why don't you try that."

"That way I can tell her I'm sorry, and mean it."

"Yep. And maybe she'll find it in her heart to forgive you."

"Yeah! Maybe she'll kiss me!"

Peggy's mouth dropped open. "Ben! That's not why you want her to forgive you!"

Ben sighed and his shoulders slumped. He looked like a balloon that someone had let the air out of. He mumbled something.

"What?"

He mumbled again.

"Ben, tell me, what's troubling you?"

"Nothing."


"Ben..."

"It's just... if... if I'm gonna kiss her, it has to be now..."

"Whoa, there. There's no need for you to be in such a hur..."

Then it occurred to her. He was aging at a markedly slow rate. Jessie was aging normally. By the time he was old enough to start dating and to have a real girlfriend, she would be a grown-up, old enough to have a family of her own. Jessie's children would grow up before Ben. It would be that way with all the girls in his life.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I... I don't know how to help you."

"It's okay," he said in that tone that children have that means that it's not okay, nothing's okay.

"I think," Peggy began slowly, "I think that maybe you need Jessie more as a friend now than as a girlfriend."

Ben nodded.

"You know, boyfriends and girlfriends break up... but friends can be friends forever."

Ben nodded and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Peggy asked, but she already knew.

"To see if she's still up. I'm going to tell her I'm sorry..."

Peggy watched him step into the teleporter.

"I'm going to tell her I'm sorry for embarrassing her and tricking her..."

As she watched him disappear in a flicker of energy, she heard the last part fade out with him.

"...but I'll never be sorry I kissed her. Never."

Roy held Ace while Peggy nursed Alice. It was what he did now. He had all but retired from crime-fighting. This -- the twins, Peggy -- this is what made him happy.

"Ya know, Peggy, we oughta move outta th' city."

Ace's eyes opened wide when Roy spoke, as they always did when that deep, gruff voice rumbled. Roy smiled and cooed gently at his son, cradled in his massive arm, and the child once again closed his eyes and, as babies do, went back to sleep.

"I like the city, Roy."

Roy adjusted Ace's blanket to cover his tiny feet and said, "Yeah, I know, but... I mean, I ain't been on patrol 'r called fer no missions fer a month now, an' nobody misses me."

"Is that what this is about? You're feeling unneeded? Unappreciated?"

"Nah... that's not what I mean. What I mean is... I can move on. Somebody'll come along who kin do what I do an' everthing'll still git done. Me an' you kin take th' twins an' move ta where ever."

"Oh."

"Ya don't sound happy 'bout that."

"No... I'm just having trouble understanding why."

"'Cause. We kin move ta some small town an' th' kids won't have ta grow up in fear."

To Alice's loud protest, Peggy switched sides with her, and when the baby girl was once again content, Peggy looked up at Roy with a somber look in her eyes.

"Is that what you think? That we -- me and the twins -- aren't safe here? That you can't protect us?"

"Well... yeah. I mean, I made some enemies th' last few years. An' then there's th' plain an' simple street crime here."

Peggy looked down at her daughter who was looking up at her with eyes blue and inquisitive.

"Roy," she said, "Do you ever watch the news?"

"Th' sports."

"Do you ever read the newspaper?"

"Th' funnies an' th' sports."

Peggy nodded and didn't say anything for a time. Slowly Alice's eyes grew heavy and began to blink with sleepiness. Peggy let her nurse until she was fast asleep, and then she stood and motioned for Roy to follow her.

Silently -- or as silently as a 300 pound man with size 14 feet can -- he followed her to the babies' room and put Ace in his crib while Peggy put Alice in hers.

As per their nightly ritual, he was ready to follow her to their room, to their bed, but she didn't go there. Instead she went back to the living room and sat down at the computer desk.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

Peggy brought up the Reuters news website, looked at the headlines and clicked on one.

"See that?"

Roy read a story about an entire small town in Oklahoma that had been wiped away by a tornado.

"Geez," he said, "That's bad."

Peggy nodded. "See?"

"What?"

"Those people weren't safe. It wasn't Arachnos or the Council, but people died nonetheless."

She began to click on headline after headline. "And there are wildfires raging in California so the people there aren't safe. And down on the coast of the Carolinas, there's a front that's producing damaging winds and floods so the people there aren't safe. And here, a man was arrested for the murder of a child over 50 years ago, and is suspected in the disappearances of several others over the years."

She sighed and closed the window. "Roy, if you want to leave the city, I'll go with you anywhere. But if you think we'll find some magical place where the children will never be threatened and we can live in joyous bliss... Well, you're going to be disappointed."

Roy nodded. For several minutes the only exchange between them was a series of facial expressions that said the things that neither of them could find the words to communicate.

Finally, Roy stood with a heavy sigh. Peggy stood also and went with him to their bedroom where he opened the drawer of the nightstand where his comm and his mediport patch had sat unused for weeks.

He put the comm on his ear and said, "Dunno who's out there this time o' night, but I'm just lettin' ya know that HEROID's panerdity leave's over an' he's available if anybody needs help."

The familiar voice of Clobber-Girl came back and said, "Good to hear, big guy. Things are quiet right now, but I'll keep you in mind."

"Thanks, Tera," Roy said and sat the comm on top of the nightstand. It was still turned on. He sat the mediport patch beside it.

"Roy?"

Peggy's face was full of questions that Roy had no answers for. Instead, he laid back on the bed and patted the empty space beside him, which Peggy gracefully filled.

"I love you, Roy," she said as she pressed herself against him.

"I love you too, Peggy."

((What? It was all completely innocent!))

Late, late in the dorm room of one Betsy "Blitz" Arden.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, very sure."

"And you want me to be the one...?"

"Tristan, who else should be the one?"

"A girl, maybe?"

"No, Tristan. It's you or it's no one."

"All right then. Well... here goes."

"...well?"

"I... I don't know about this. I've never done this before."

"Me neither."

"It's going to hurt you a little."

"I know... will it hurt bad?"

"How would I know?"

"Oh. Yeah."

"Should we maybe put some ice on it to numb it first?"

"No... I don't know, but... no, I don't think we need to do that."

"All right then... um... here we go then. Here we go..."

"Just push it in."

"All right."

"Ow!"

"I hurt you!"

"No, no... I'm all right. Did you get it in?"

"Not all the way."

"Then try it again."

"All right. Get ready..."

"Ow!"

"I got it in good that time."

"Is it still in?"

"No. I pulled it out already."

"It hurt more than I thought it would."

"Sorry."

"No, it's all right. It's not your fault. It's just the way it is."

"Okay."

"No, seriously, you're doing fine."

"Really?"

"You can read my mind. Am I lying?"

"No."

"Then give me a kiss and do the other side."

"All right."

"The pain's letting up already. I might let you do this ear again. I see Alex and Aly and some of the other girls with ear rings all the way up their ears."

"I'm not going to stick holes all the way up the sides of your ears. Just one in each."

"That'll be enough. After all -- we wouldn't want to do something that would make me swell up!"

((Bump.))

The Wheel of Destruction was returned to Azuria, from whom it would soon be stolen and its components separated because, after all, a wheel is made for movement. Once the Wheel of Destruction was returned, the former Lord of Chaos, Destroyer was returned to the plane of the Lords of Order and Chaos. There, he was imprisoned within the cosmic Wheel of Destruction (of which the earthy version is merely an aspect) to be overseen by the current Wheel-spinner – the Lord of Chaos, Destroyer, the sentient being who at one time resided within the green power crystal that belongs to Roy Kirby.

There was much commotion in the Higher Realms over the events that transpired. Some Lords of Chaos thought perhaps it was a sign that the Fates had veered away from the inevitable destiny that would make the hero known as HEROID one of their number. But the Lords of Order demanded that Destiny stay its course and that Time should should grant Roy Kirby long days in which to become enlightened to the point of Lordhood. It was agreed that Sister Death would stay her hand from him, no matter how many times he threw himself into her embrace. And the Bringer of Dreams made a promise to himself no bogarts, sprites, or maras would invade the sleep of the Kirby children until the age that they were no longer children.

Although in most cities, a battle in a maternity ward between a big, red robot and a demigod-possessed teenager would make the headlines, in Paragon City, it hardly rated a mention. Even throwing in the fact that a woman giving birth to twins was at the same time exhibiting metahuman abilities, and that her obstetrician had immediately afterwards resigned his practice and announced his return to his childhood home in Biddles Creek, Kentucky, there was still only one paragraph regarding the entire event.

It read:

Roy and Peggy Kirby are pleased to announce the birth of their son Ace Valor Kirby and daughter Alice Margaret Kirby on April 1, 2007.

Roy made it to Chiron finally. He knew from their Lamaze lessons where the maternity ward was, so he by-passed the desk and went on up. Once there he asked the floor receptionist which delivery room Peggy Kirby was in and she told him. He was about to open the door when he realized he hadn't transformed back to human form yet. He focused, picturing in his imagination his human face and human body. He felt the tingling that always came when digital tactile sensory units were replaced with organic nerve endings.

He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it when a quick movement caught his eye. It was that kid from that basement and he was charging straight at Roy. In his hands he held the Wheel of Destruction.

The Wheel impacted Roy in the chest and sent him crashing through the door and into the room. He looked around and was sure that he had been knocked senseless yet again. A doctor and two nurses were floating around the room along with a machine and a bunch of sharp, dangerous looking objects.

Maggie -- feet in the air and one hand holding onto the stirrups Peggy's feet were in, while the other hand was busy using plastic tubing to tie herself to Peggy's bed -- was shouting, "I kin see his head! Push! Push!"

The kid leapt into the room and raised the Wheel over Roy's head. He said in the Destroyer's voice, "Now you shall die, usurper!"

Roy swept a foot across (a move Miss Book Worm had taught him) and knocked the kid off of his feet.

The kid fell back into the hallway, but the Wheel of Destruction was dislodged from his hands. It became weightless like every other loose object in the room. It loomed ominously over Roy's head as if with intent. Roy wondered if the Destroyer was controlling it. If so, he had to find a way to destroy it, and quickly.

Roy felt himself lift from the floor as whatever power was being manifested began to effect him. He tried to twist his body away from the Wheel, but it seemed to follow him.

"Push!"

Roy looked down to see Peggy, eyes clinched shut, the veins in her neck rising prominently as she worked to bring her babies into the world. Maggie was there, tied to the bed, both hands now free to do whatever she needed to do.

It's always th' women, Roy thought. It's always th' women that remember what's real an' what's important.

He turned to face the approaching Wheel. "All right, ya devil-guy, ya wanna piece o' me?" He raised his fist and prepared to strike.

Then the ultrasound unit shot past on its way to its next carom. It hit the Wheel of Destruction. The Wheel became lodged in the machine's cords and when the machine bounced off of the floor, the Wheel of Destruction was shattered into several pieces.

Then gravity returned. Everyone and everything fell to the floor with a thud or a rattle. The doctor was dazed as were the nurses.

"Roy," Maggie said calmly, but sternly, "Come o’er here an' hol' yer son while I catch yer daughter."

"Mrs. Kirby! Mrs. Kirby! Let me down! My malpractice insurance doesn't cover this kind of thing!"

The two attending nurses and the doctor were shouting and grasping for some to hold onto. Stainless steel scalpels floated along with stainless steel forceps and plastic hypodermic needles. The ultrasound machine bounced from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. The delivery room had become a virtual death trap. The only thing that seemed to be still bound by gravity was the bed Peggy was in.

Maggie ducked her head as the doctor floated past her. She held tight to the bed rail with one hand and batted away floating surgical implements with the other. "Peggy! Kin ye hear me?" she shouted.

Peggy's eyes were closed in concentration. Maggie could tell that she was pushing now, with the contraction.

"Please, Peggy, open yer eyes an' see what's happ'nin'... I dunno how but ye've pow'rs, an' yer pow'rs 're endangerin' yer babes."

"Oh God!" the maternity nurse shouted from the ceiling. "I can see -- the first one's crowning!"

[ QUOTE ]
((See? Jack Chick was so right about DnD!))

[/ QUOTE ]

(("Oh no! That demon I thought was only a fantasy game -- it was real! Oh the flames! The flames!"

One of my favorites was the one he did where KISS showed up after a concert at a car accident to take some kid to hell because he went to their show. The band should have sued: they had already done an entire album based on exactly that: Destroyer.

That Jack was one freaky dude.))

Ypswth was the first one to notice a new presence. It was the smell of sulfur suddenly in the room that gave it away. He turned around to see its source, and when he screamed, the others screamed too.

A demon had materialized in the room.

"Sasathba, what have you done!?" shouted the senior mage.

"I- I don't know!" Sasathba replied, his voice still at the level of a scream.

"Well... here!" the senior mage said as with all haste he passed the reassembled Wheel of Destruction to Sasathba.

The passing of the Wheel drew the demon's attention. "Ah! Oranbega," said the creature, "where my minion reign supreme!" Then he looked down at the assembled Wheel. "You have done well for me, your master, the Lord of Chaos, Destroyer."

Sasathba was still in panic mode, but the compliment stroked his ego enough for him to say, "I thank you, my Lord." Then he bowed.

"You shall be the first I shall consume into the Chaos," Destroyer told him.

Sabathsba soiled his pants.

Then a deep, gruff voice said, "Not if I can help it -- An' I can!"

In the blink of an eye, the demon had grown a second head -- metallic and red -- on its right shoulder.

"I thought I had finished you!"

"Nah. Ya just put me down fer a nap. I'm all rested now!"

With that the creature began to pummel itself again.

The mages scattered, hiding in the corners of the room and under the large table. The demon head and the robot head continued arguing as they rolled and wrestled. The thing's body smashed against the wall and the carved stone veneer crumbled down to reveal the common white sheet rock beneath.

This startled the demon head. For a moment the fighting stopped.

Through the arched doorway came another voice. It said, "William Ridley Conover! What's going on down there?"

The senior mage ran through the doorway and up the stairs beyond it to a plain, white door with a plain brass doorknob.

"Uh... nothing, Mom," the senior mage said through the closed door. "Uh... some of our rp props fell and uh... we have to clean it up!"

"Well, you'd better not make a mess down there. Lord knows why I let you have the basement room to play in anyway..."

When her footsteps faded away, the senior mage looked down at Roger "Sabasthba" Driscoll and said, "Maaaan! You didn't tell me it was the real deal!"

"I didn't know!" Roger protested. "I just saw some lady come out of city hall and she dropped it on the sidewalk!"

"That's my Azuria," the robot head said. Then it asked, "Hey, hell-breath, are ya a righty 'r a lefty?"

"What?" the demon head asked in reply.

"Are ya a righty 'r a lefty?"

"Er... I don't... er..."

"Nevermind. I'm a righty."

The creature's right arm suddenly turned metallic and then it crossed over its body and punched the demon head square in the nose. The creature flew across the room and crashed into the urn wherein lay the green jewel.

"Hey!" the robot head said, "My gem!"

He picked it up from the shards of the urn and held it to his chest. It seemed to plant itself there and then gradually, its green glow covered all of the creature's body until the assembled "mages" were blinded by its brilliance. When the glow faded, before them stood the robotic superhero, HEROID.

"I ain't gonna ask ya kids what ya wuz doin' with this," he said as he towered over them, "but next time ya find somethin' that b'longs ta somebody else, ya need ta do yer best ta git it back ta 'em."

The teenagers nodded.

"All right then... Uh... I'll find my own way out."

And with that, HEROID ducked under the archway and went up the steps and out into the Conover house.

Then Jimmy "Ypswth" Jackson realized that something was left behind.

He grabbed the Wheel of Destruction out of Roger's hand and ran after HEROID. When HEROID got outside and with a mighty leap took to the sky, Roger was elated to find that he could too. Maybe it had something to do with that Lord Destroyer dude's voice being in his head.

“You have to work with us, now, Mrs. Kirby…”

“Aye, Peggy, ye mus’ start pushin’…”

Peggy Kirby held her breath against the contractions and shook her head. The whole time they had been married, she had heard her husband’s friends talk about him like he was some sort of irresponsible buffoon. Maybe he had made mistakes. Maybe he had let people down. But every promise he had made to her he had kept.

“Mrs. Kirby, please, you’re only hurting yourself and possibly your babies…”

“Please, Peggy… ye have t’ do this wi’out ‘im…”

Peggy took a deep breath. The next contraction would be coming. She was nearly exhausted. She didn’t wanted Roy, but he wasn’t here, and it had been hours since he had told Maggie he was on his way. He wouldn’t do this. Not to her. Something had to be wrong.

Please, God, watch over my husband. Let him get here before…

Peggy felt the contraction begin.

The doctor said, “Come on, Mrs. Kirby, be strong. Show us what you can do.”

Peggy concentrated, let all her worries go, and focused on the moment.

That’s when things in the room started floating.

“Gyyyaaaaarrrr!”

People on the streets of Talos Island turned to see what had made that horrible sound, and upon discovering the source of the anguished roar, they immediately ran in the opposite direction.

The thing was eight feet tall and solid black, with brimstones for eyes and a circle of horns around its head. Where it stepped whole trees withered and buildings began to crumble. It seemed to be fighting – with itself.

“Give way to me mortal!” the thing shouted in a deep, gruff voice.

The same voice replied, “Ain’t gonna happen, pal!”

Then the creature’s spiked fist flew up and punched itself in the face.

“Ow! Geez! That hurt!”

“You can’t stand the pain? Ha! Then have another!”

And the fist flew up again.

“Dammit! I’m gonna git ya fer that one!”

The thing suddenly ran headfirst into a brick wall.

“How’d ya like them apples?”

“Oh! I loooooved them apples!”

“Then this’s really gonna tickle yer dinglies!”

The creature suddenly leapt up onto the elevated rail of the Paragon City Transit Line, into the path of an oncoming train. The speeding train hit it and sent it flying back down to the street directly in front of a delivery truck. After a thump-thump the creature lay still for several seconds before it stirred, getting back up on its feet.

The thing stood in the middle of the road for a moment, shaking its head as if it was trying to hear if something was loose in there. Then it took a deep breath.

“I don’t hear ya in there pal,” the thing said quietly.

There was no reply to that.

“Heh! Good! I won!”

“Hardly,” the thing said, and then it leapt.

“Where’re we goin’?”

“What? You don’t like surprises, mortal?”

The dark creature went up in an arc and came down straight toward a high-tension electrical tower.

“Whooooa!” the thing said and began flailing as if doing so would halt its momentum. It did not.

ZZZZZZzzzzzzaaaaapt!

For the second time today, Roy Kirby felt himself sink into unconsciousness.

“All right!”

Yspwth stepped through the ornately decorated arch of the doorway and into a torch lit room dominated by a large, intricately carved, rune-covered table with a green-glowing brazier in its center and a dozen or so finely crafted chairs arranged around it. The chairs were filled by robed men, some wearing hoods, some with shaven heads, and one – obviously a senior mage – wearing a tall, ostentatiously appointed hat.

The mages turned to look at Ypswth. They did not look upon him with approval. To barge into a gathering of the Oranbega Council in such a manner was unforgivable.

“I mean… er… By the Hoary Hosts!” he said, correcting himself.

The senior mage of the group asked, “What are you expressing such elation over, acolyte Ypswth?”

Ypswth reached into his robe and pulled forth a large green gem. He offered it to his superior for inspection.

“Where did you find this?” the senior mage asked.

“It fell from the sky in Peregrine Island and hit me on the head. I thought it was quite omenistic… omenish… omenly… portentious.”

“Ah. Perhaps.” The senior mage looked closely at the gem. “And this is a… what?”

“It’s a sentient gem. A universe gem. A power crystal. Take your pick.”

The senior mage looked at Ypswth skeptically. “And you know this… how?”

Ypswth dropped his eyes so that he would not be looking into his superior’s, and replied, “Because… I have seen these before. On two occasions I have encountered these crystals; the first time was before I was part of the Circle, when I worked at Portal Corp. It was the summer after my freshman year at college, and I was an intern. A young woman named Mala McFey suddenly appeared from a portal with one of these in her possession. She claimed to have been inside the gem – in the universe inside the gem – and upon a brief scan analysis of it, I came to believe her.”

“I do not understand…”

“Inside this jewel is untapped, infinite power. Inside this jewel is… another universe.” Ypswth nodded his head for emphasis.

The senior mage turned the large green gem over and over in his hands. He studied it. He held it up so that he could look at the light glitter on its facets. “Balderdash,” he said. Then he casually tossed it into a large ceramic urn across the room. One of the other mages was heard to say, “Three points.”

“But…” Ypswth began.

“It is an eye-catcher. A trinket. I saw no ‘universe’ inside it. It will go to the Temple Embellishment committee for their consideration.”

“But—“

“Enough! We have more important matters to attend to.” The senior mage turned to another of the younger, less experienced mages. “Sasathba, I understand you have something of interest for us?”

Sasathba approached the senior mage. He reached into his robe and pulled several pieces of what looked to be an ornately carved, stone wheel. Everyone – including Ypswth – gasped as soon as they saw it.

“I,” Sasathba announced, pleased at the reaction, “Have before you all of the pieces of the Wheel of Destruction!”

He placed the pieces on the table where the senior mage opened a bottle of Super-Glue and began fitting them together.

Inside the urn, the large green gem began to glow.

“This is your first time having a baby?” the maternity nurse asked.

Peggy nodded.

“Well, usually the first birth goes slowly -- especially with twins -- so try not to use up all of your strength in the beginning stages.”

Peggy nodded again. She desperately wanted Tess. Tess was supposed to midwife her, but Tess was still gone and wouldn’t be back for another week. Peggy wasn’t supposed to be due for another two weeks.

A doctor walked into the birthing room and he was followed by another nurse. The nurse pushed a tray with several instruments on it. Among them was a razor. The doctor stepped to the foot of the bed Peggy lay on and picked up the clipboard with her chart on it. The nurse who had followed him in lifted Peggy’s gown up to her waist and started messing around where nobody was supposed to mess around without asking express permission first.

Peggy closed her eyes as she felt the blush rise in her neck and cheeks.

“Well, Mrs. Kirby, how are we coming along?”

Peggy opened her mouth to answer, but the maternity nurse spoke up. “Very well,” she said, then went into how far apart the contractions were now and how many centimeters she was dilated. Peggy kept her eyes shut while they spoke. She might as well have not been in the room. The only person really paying any attention to her was the nurse with the razor.

Then finally, a familiar voice: “Peggy? How’re ye doin’?”

Though it embarrassed her all the more for Maggie to see her with her feet in stirrups and her bottom exposed, she was very glad to have someone in the room who was a friend and would treat her like a person. She opened her eyes and gave Maggie a red-faced smile.

“Is… Roy here?” she asked.

Maggie smiled but shook her head. “Dunna worry, darlin’. He’ll be here ‘fore yer babes ‘re born.”

Peggy nodded slightly and closed her eyes again. Tears began to well in her eyes as the doctor and nurses continued getting ready for the delivery. When Maggie gave her a hand to hold, Peggy squeezed it and didn’t let go.

The haze lifted slowly. Did he make it? Was he at the hospital? How long had he been out.

"Well, well," said a new voice from the lifting fog. "Look what the cat
dragged in!"

From somewhere nearby, something made a sound that started in a "mew" but ended in a "rrrooowwrr".

Roy tried to move his hands, but it seemed they were restrained behind his back. He squeezed his eyes shut hard, then opened them to clear his vision. He was in a small cinder-block room with a dirt floor. Directly in front of him, the head of a grey tabby cat sat squarely on the body of a Fake Nemesis. It did the "mewwwrrrowwrr!" noise again for his benefit.

"Down, Tigg," the first voice said, and the bizarre cat-headed creature backed away and sat down heavily on the floor.

Roy looked at its master, who looked a little like a Freak, and a little like something Dr. Vahzilok might put together with his eyes closed with some spare parts provided by Crey thrown in for good measure.. Whoever it was had the head and most of the torso of a large, muscular man, but that was all the human there was to him. The lower torso was a large ball joint that let the strange man turn a complete circle at the waist. The arms were mechanical and ended with hand-like claws. His forearms looked like twin Gattling guns with the barrels around his wrists, and from his shoulders protruded wicked looking blades. The man's legs looked as if they were straight off of that Titan Roy had dispatched earlier, except smaller.

"I hardly recognized you," the bizarre stranger said, "You've changed a lot in the past two years.”

"Well," Roy replied, his every word bouncing around painfully in his own head, "I don't remember you at all, so we're even."

The stranger shook his head. "Forgotten us so soon? Too bad.”

“Fergot, hell, pal, I ain’t never met ya.”

The stranger loomed over him. “And I see you had all of your ‘improvements’ removed.”

Roy was confused. He had no idea what this freak was talking about.

“Myself? I got major improvements. I went to the Rogue Isles looking for you. Hooked up with some people there. Wound up spending a couple years in the employ of Lord Recluse.”

“Fella, I ain’t got no idea what yer talkin’ about…”

A metal hand came down hard across Roy’s face.

“Don’t you act like you don’t remember! You abandoned us! You disappeared after that Pizzabot and his purple girlfriend beat you and stole the baby-freak!”

Suddenly, it made sense to Roy. This guy thought he was his clone, former rogue Freakshow lieutenant, Zzythe. But Zzythe was dead, killed by a virus designed to kill any one with the same DNA as Roy..

“Listen… I ain’t who ya think I am…”

“Shut up! Do you think it was easy to come back and try to start over? To try to get back into Dreck's good graces? Hell no!"

The metal hand came down hard across Roy's face again.

The crazed Freak continued. "Dreck wouldn't take none of us back. Anybody who was in the Zythe Posse was declared an outlaw and hunted down. Dreck had the Zeepee hunted down like we were dogs. If not for your former connections at Crey Industries, I would have been cut down also, but thanks to them, I have new augmentations, and a new purpose -- a purpose I will begin as soon as I kill you!"

"Look, I'm tryin' ta tell y --"

The metal hand hit Roy again and this time the taste of blood filled his mouth. He caught his breath and spit out a few teeth then said, "That's the last time you'll hit anybody with that hand."

The Freak raised his fist.

He had had enough. Without effort, Roy broke his bonds and stood. He grabbed the raised mechanical arm and ripped it from the Freak's body.

The Freak screamed more in anger than in pain and brought up his other arm. Roy could hear whatever type of weapon was built into that arm begin to charge up for business. He quickly clasped both hands around the gun-barrel-wrist and squeezed with all of this superhuman strength, then he jumped back just as the weapon fired.

The blast backed up and destroyed the Freak's remaining arm, leaving him writhing on the floor. Roy knelt down beside him.

"I tried ta tell ya, I ain't Zzythe. I'm th' guy he wuz cloned from an' even when I ain't in robot form, I'm still strong as the eldritch gods of chaos..."

Roy stopped there. Something didn't sound right.

"That is ta say," he tried again, "I'm super strong even when I'm housed in this weak husk of mortal flesh."

The Freak was looking up as if Roy had gone insane. The expression perturbed Roy and he wanted more than anything to kill the man and grind his soul to dust...

Quickly, he tagged the man for teleport to the Zig's infirmary, then he sat in the cinder-block room alone.

Somethin' definitely ain't right, he thought to himself.

Yes, but things are about to be put to right, his self thought back.

Roy found himself involuntarily changing forms into something not quite human.

Maggie Love sat in the waiting room outside the Birth Center at Chiron Medical Center in Atlas Park. Every time the elevators’ doors opened, she waited to see Roy step out, and every time, so far, she had been disappointed. She tossed the magazine that lay unopened on her lap back onto the table it had come from and activated her comm..

“Ben?”

“Mom?” The voice was just beginning to crack and deepen from a boy’s to that of a young man.

Maggie sighed. Only a few weeks ago, he would have called her “Mommy”, not “Mom”.

“Ben, coul’ ye’ d’ me a fav’r?”

“Sure! Whatcha need?”

“Ben, I need ye t’ go t’ th’ Other Guys’ Base-ment an’ see if ye kin find yer da’ on their GPS system.”

“That only works when he’s a robot.”

“I know, darlin’.” Maggie’s tone was calm, but inside her nerves were fairly percolating.

Roy Kirby was one of her best and closest friends, but he had a mean and selfish streak in him that had many times tested that friendship. If he let Peggy down today of all days…

“Ms. Love?”

Maggie looked up. A young male nurse with a head full of red hair stood in the waiting room’s doorway. “Aye?” she replied.

“Mrs. Kirby is prepped and ready. She’s asking for you.”

Maggie sighed and followed him.

Roy, ye better git yer sorry carcass down here quick.