Homeboy continued down Snyder Avenue, then turned right at E. 34th Street. He ducked inside a basketball court, and stopped in the center. The Sons of Brooklyn who had followed him had split into two halves, and now they were in front and behind him.
They crept closer and closer, grinning and chuckling with
every step. Homeboy simply stood in the center of the court, as calm as could
be.
“You gonna be okay without the others?” one thug asked
mockingly.
“Actually,” Homeboy replied with a smirk, “I could ask
you the same thing!”
Kid Lightning sprang up from the roof of the school
nearby, and fired bolts of electricity at the court! The bolts were attracted
to the steel posts of the hoops, which scared the Sons of Brooklyn into
scattering. Kid Lightning landed on his feet, and rolled with the momentum. Fox
and Tiger leapt out from their hiding spots, two trees, one on either corner of
the north side of the court. They kept the Sons from running out on that side
while Homeboy and Kid Lightning did the same on the south side.
On the north side, Tiger pounced and grappled with the
nearest Son of Brooklyn, who was wearing a Rocawear hat and jacket. Fox ducked
under a punch, kicked the attacker in the back like a mule, then thrust forward
and kicked another in the head. Tiger then tossed his opponent on top of the
Son of Brooklyn who was mule-kicked, and both went tumbling away.
On the south side, Kid Lightning ran and rolled under
wild punches from the thugs, then tagged one with two needles. Tied to the
needles were copper wire that Kid had on spools he held in his hands. He
pinched the wires between his fingers, and let an electrical current run
through them. The Son of Brooklyn tensed up from the literal shock, and
collapsed to the ground.
“Taser Tag, bud,” Kid Lightning explained. “Works the
same as the namesake.”
Homeboy brawled one-on-one with the last of the present
six Sons of Brooklyn, who was a bit bulky and slow. A one-two punch to the gut
and the Son was doubled over. A half-step and a hard right hand sent the stocky
Son of Brooklyn stumbling towards the basketball hoop. The thug touched the
post and burnt his hand! The electrical bolt had left it red hot!
As he cried out in pain, the Son of Brooklyn staggered
back and was blindsided by Homeboy’s running jumping spinning elbow blow.
The only Son of Brooklyn left standing panicked, and
fiddled with his cell phone.
“Damn it!” Homeboy growled; then, shouting to the others,
“He’s calling in more Sobs! We gotta stop him!”
The four Surge super-teens swarmed on the S.O.B, but he
was able to press a button and speed-dial another gang member before they
wrestled him to the ground.
“It’s Homeboy!” he shouted into the phone.
“Get it away from him!” Fox shouted.
“He’s got friends w--!”
“Shut it!” Homeboy yelled as he whacked the thug in the
head.
Kid Lightning grabbed the phone and zapped it until
everything in it was fried. He then chucked the charred cell away, and looked
around quickly.
“Fighting a gang isn’t the same as dismantling it,” he
observed. “How’re we supposed to take the Sons of Brooklyn out of action for
good?”
“That’s what I was trying to make clear to Darklite
before we left,” Homeboy said as he brushed himself off. “Gangs don’t stop just
because their leaders are out of action. They just get new leaders, or find a
way to communicate with the leader while he’s in jail.”
“Assuming the leader stays alive,” Tiger added. “But like
you said, they just get new leaders in that case.”
“No one’s killing anyone,” Fox said. “Though, we can put
the fear of The Power Surge in them.”
As the four young men hurried out the west entrance,
Catgirl and The Spektrum had just made it to the intersection of Snyder and New
York Avenue.
“<Cousin!>” Fox called out in Japanese. “Koko ni! <Over
here!>”
Catgirl heard Fox’s call, and led The Spektrum down New
York Avenue.
“You guys took care of them all already?” Catgirl said
with a bit of disbelief.
“It was only six guys,” Kid Lightning said.
“But it’ll be more if we don’t leave, and now!” Homeboy
urged. “Follow me!”
Homeboy rushed down New York Avenue, past the entrance of
the public school. The others followed him as he turned left down a small alley
between the school and a row of the same kind of skinny, cookie-cutter houses
Hood Rat lived in. The Power Surge found themselves in a small playground, but
didn’t stop. They continued forward on to E. 34th Street, and into a
dirt driveway. They ran past the parked cars and over a fence. The Spektrum
changed Color Codes to Code Red so that he could make it over. They continued
on, and weaved through several trees, and ended up in a backyard.
“Hey!” someone shouted.
A group of boys, maybe
12 or 13 years old, were playing Catch but stopped when the strange teenagers
hopped the fence.
“Sorry for interrupting,” Kid Lightning said. “We’re just
passing through!”
Homeboy kept going, and hopped another fence that led to
the alley between the two houses.
“Go Red Sox!” Tiger shouted as he leapt the fence right
after Homeboy.
“Man, shut up!” Homeboy snapped at him.
Kid Lightning and Fox
went next with quick waves to the kids, but The Spektrum and Catgirl couldn’t
decide which of them was going to go fifth.
“You should go,” he said to her. “I’ll bring up the rear
in case those Sons of Brooklyn followed our trail.”
“No, I should be last,” Catgirl said. “I can hear them
coming.”
“Whoa!” one of the boys said in surprise. “Are you really
Catgirl and The Spektrum!?”
“Sure are,” The Spektrum said with a smirk.
“And you’re really here to beat up the Sons of Brooklyn?”
another asked.
“Yep!” Catgirl answered.
“Awesome,” the boys said in amazement.
“But seriously, Cat,” The Spektrum said. “You first.”
“No, you first!” she insisted. “We’re wasting time
arguing.”
“Wow,” the third boy whispered to the others, “The
Spektrum’s pretty lucky, gettin to hang out with a total babe like her!”
“What was that?!” she said, her head whipping to look at
the one who said that.
The look on her face,
combined with the way her ears pointed back, definitely startled the kids.
“Y’know what, we should both go,” The Spektrum said as he
picked her up in his arms.
With the help of Overdrive, The Spektrum Code Red made it
over the fence with three steps up the side of the house, and a quick flip over
the top.
“WHOA!” the boys shouted out in amazement. “How’d you do
that?!”
“I stretch in the morning,” The Spektrum joked.
He put Catgirl down on
her feet, and though she was a little red in the face, the two hurried after
the others.
On E. 35th Street, there was a church and its
parking lot. It was mostly empty, again being only Saturday. Carefully, The Power
Surge crossed the street, keeping eyes and ears open for signs of the Sons of
Brooklyn.
“Ah crap,” Homeboy said as they entered the parking lot.
“Look!”
He pointed ahead at a cemetery.
“Wait,” The Spektrum said, “is that the cemetery that--?”
“Yeah,” Homeboy answered abruptly. “The one that the SOBs
use as a shortcut. We’re deep in their territory now. Damn it! We should’ve
just back-tracked to Church Avenue!”
“Hey, you’re the guide!” Tiger brought up. “You should’ve
been the one to say so!”
“No time for arguing!” Fox said. “Let’s just go back
uptown and find the Anonymous Inc. agent so we can get out of here!”
The Power Surge moved up the next street, Brooklyn
Avenue, but was stopped by a car driving down the street. The car turned sideways
and stopped, blocking the super-teens from going forward. Everyone inside the
car jumped out with guns in their hands!
“It’s them!” both Homeboy and the car’s driver shouted.
The Sons of Brooklyn opened fire on The Power Surge, but
The Spektrum, back to Code Blue, activated Force Field to block them all.
“Let’s run to the cemetery!” Tiger suggested.
“No, that’s their turf!” Homeboy countered. “We’ll be
giving them the advantage.”
“And we can’t desecrate a cemetery!” Catgirl added.
“Then we stand here and fight!” The Spektrum decided. “We
move when they reload.”
Soon enough, the Sons of Brooklyn stopped firing, and
moved to grab their extra ammo.
“NOW!” The Spektrum said as he became Code Red.
Overdrive activated
again, and he rushed forward.
In fluid motion, Code Red slammed the driver into the
doorframe, and slammed the door on him, then kicked the driver-side passenger
door, clipping the S.O.B. in between it and the frame. One of them dropped
their firearm, and The Spektrum picked it up. He made sure there were no
bullets loaded, then flung it through the car, hitting the front passenger in
the crotch. His doubling-over distracted the last passenger. In another fluid
motion, Code Red jumped on top of the car, then dropped down and caught the
last passenger by the head with his legs. Code Red rolled and his legs slammed
the Sob’s head into the side of the car face-first.
Catgirl and Tiger ran up to target the driver and
driver-side passenger. Catgirl spun and swung out her right leg, per her
signature move, the Neko-Neko Crescent Kick. The heel collided with the
driver’s face, and he fell back inside the car. Tiger’s attack of choice was a
knee driven into the SOB thug’s stomach, followed up by a falling spin kick to
the chin. The studs in Tiger’s pants leg added to the kick’s impact, and the
thug fell against the car and slid to the floor. Tiger stood and grinned at
Catgirl, but she scoffed at him as she looked through the car to the other
side, where The Spektrum was. He had finished with the SOB he hit in the crotch
with the gun, shoving him into the rear-view mirror head first.
“There’s a second car coming,” she said as her ears
perked up. “I can barely hear the motor, but they’re on their way.”
“What direction?” Homeboy asked.
Catgirl focused, her ears swiveling up and down, back and
forth.
“South, I think. They’re heading us off by going down E.
34th, and will turn the corner soon.”
“Then we head north,” The Spektrum decided, “but only
after they show themselves. Kid Lightning and I have the powers to hold them off,
you four get this car started.”
“Who made you the leader?” Tiger protested, coming
face-to-face with Code Red.
“No one,” The Spektrum countered, going Code Yellow. “But
I’m the one with the ideas, and super-speed, and a force field.”
Tiger kept his mouth shut, and pulled the downed Sons of
Brooklyn out of the street and onto the curb. Code Yellow moved further south,
with Kid Lighting beside him, and looked down Brooklyn Avenue.
As Catgirl guessed, the next SOB SUV turned the corner
and headed up E. 35th. Code Yellow activated Analyze, and his
super-charged brain noticed that each car had five passengers, not four, and
the front passengers of both cars had semi-automatic firearms. It also
calculated how to stop them to assure that the drivers and passengers weren’t
killed.
“Gotta move fast, then,” he said upon switching colors to
Code Blue.
The shotgun and driver-side passengers leaned out the
windows and opened fire. The force field sprang up again, and all the bullets
reflected away. Kid Lightning charged up, but The Spektrum waved for him to
hold off.
“Don’t fire the bolts. Heat the ground with them so that
it‘ll melt.”
Kid Lightning nodded, and placed his hands on the ground.
The electricity flowed from his hands and into the street. The Spektrum moved
behind and switched back to Yellow, and Analyze took note of the exponential
rise in temperature for about 5 yards all around Kid Lightning.
“Okay, hot enough!” he said as he started to sweat
profusely. “Let’s make room!”
The Spektrum returned to being Code Red, and used
Overdrive to snatch Kid Lightning up and out of the way as the cars hit the hot
spot. The melted tar trapped the tires, and the cars skid to a stop. All the
passengers’ heads slammed into whatever was in front of them. They got out of
the vehicles in a daze, but were forced back inside by the intense heat.
Fox got in the driver’s seat of their commandeered car,
and Catgirl took shotgun.
“Wait, do you have your license?” she asked.
“Yes, just not with me.”
Homeboy and Tiger got inside in the back, Tiger sitting
directly behind Catgirl. Homeboy took the middle, which left the seat behind
Fox.
“You get in,” The Spektrum told Kid Lightning.
“But you-”
“I have another idea,” he said as he got on to the trunk,
then the roof.
Catgirl poked her head out of the window.
“But you’re unprotected up there!”
The Spektrum laid down flat and grabbed hold of the
frame.
“Am I?” he smirked.
The Sons of Brooklyn leaned out their windows and opened
fire, their semi-automatics reloaded. Most of the bullets from the first bursts
bounced off the rear fender, and one smashed the back window apart. The
Spektrum switched to Code Blue and re-activated Force Field. The blue light
created a dome that was larger than usual, large enough to cover the car, but
most importantly the cabin.
“Go!” The Spektrum shouted. “I’m running out of energy
for this!”
“Got it!” Fox shouted back, shoving his foot on the
pedal.
The car peeled out, bullets still bouncing off the blue
dome.
“Wait, ‘running out of energy’?” Catgirl asked. “What’re
you talking about? I thought you had unlimited energy!”
“Who said anything about that?!” The Spektrum asked back.
“Overdrive has a time-limit so that I don’t wear myself out going that fast.
Force Field is also connected to my physical energy. If I’m tired or unable to
focus, Force Field won’t respond as well if I were well-rested.”
Catgirl sat and thought for a moment. With all the
running around and fighting they were doing, along with jetlag, The Spektrum
must be exhausted.
“Are you sure you’re okay up there?” she asked. “You
could climb inside. The S.O.B’s aren’t in range anymore.”
The Spektrum let his force field disappear. He felt some
energy return to him.
“He ain’t climbing in back here,” Tiger protested.
“There’s no room!”
“That’s alright,” Catgirl said. “He could… climb in here
with me. In shotgun.”
Everyone looked at her, even Fox, though for only a
second. Fox was driving after all.
“Whoa, whoa,” Kid Lightning said to Catgirl with
disbelief. “You… are going to… what?”
“I’m willing to share my seat with The Spektrum,” she
clarified. “We can’t just leave him outside!”
Fox stopped at the first intersection.
“Hurry up and move over then,” he ordered. “He doesn’t
have much time.”
“Whoa! Seriously!?” Kid Lightning objected. “You’re gonna
let her sit on his lap?!”
“If that’s happening, then never mind what I said
earlier,” Tiger spoke up. “We can move over and make room for him!”
“He’s not sitting with her on his lap,” Fox said.
“They’ll… figure out how to sit side-by-side. Cat, just make room.”
Catgirl nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt as The Spektrum
scooted up towards the front.
“No time!” Homeboy shouted as he pointed ahead of them.
Rolling down Brooklyn
Avenue from Church Avenue was a train of Sons of Brooklyn cars.
“Wait!” Catgirl said, her ears perking up. “I hear
sirens! To our left!”
“That’s gotta be 67th precinct,” Homeboy said.
“South of here, on Snyder.”
“About time police got going,” Tiger growled. “So where’s
The Spektrum sitting?”
“In behind Cat,” The Spektrum, as Code Red, said as he
slipped in through the window and behind Catgirl. He passed the seatbelt buckle
to himself around Catgirl’s front, and snapped it into place.
“Hey, hey!” he shouted over the protests from the guys.
“Are we going to argue? Or are we going to get out of here before the Sobs get
into firing range?”
Fox grimaced, but he went with the latter option, and
gunned the accelerator and turned left on Snyder, towards the police sirens.
Catgirl did her best not to blush as she sat on The
Spektrum’s lap. She hadn’t mentioned her boyfriend, Shaun, because she couldn’t.
But even so, she offered to let The Spektrum share her seat. She knew she was
with Shaun, but she still set herself up for this. As great a guy as The
Spektrum was, Shaun was a great guy, too. She did her best to quiet her
thoughts, and focused on their supposed mission.
Within only minutes, the paths of the police and The
Power Surge met, and both sides stopped. The police cars blocked all parts of
the intersection.
“Damn,” Homeboy said. “We had just made it back to
Nostrand…”
The officers exited their vehicles and pointed their
weapons at the teens.
“Come out with your hands up!” one officer shouted.
Fox turned the engine off, and opened the driver side
door. He did as the officer ordered, and stood outside the car with hands up.
Kid Lightning looked at his older brother, and hesitantly
followed suite.
“We’re not the bad guys here,” Kid Lightning said.
Tiger was even more hesitant, but still exited the car,
half-heartedly holding his hands up. Catgirl unbuckled and opened the door.
Together, she and The Spektrum exited and held up their hands. Homeboy was
last. Not only did he hold up his hands, but he hung his head.
“Mom’s not gonna like this,” he mumbled. “I was doing a
great job keeping the secret from her, and now I’m getting arrested.”
“Wait…” one of the other officers moved closer. “Is that…
Howie? Howie Holmes?”
Homeboy let out a sigh, and looked up with his eyes at
the officer addressing him.
“Yeah, Jake-- I mean, Officer Thompson, it’s me…”
Everyone else in The Power Surge looked at him with
curiosity and confusion.
“Damn, Howie, what’re you doing dressed up as ‘Homeboy’?
Don’t you know who’s looking for him?”
“Sir,” Catgirl spoke up. “He… is Homeboy.”
“Wait, aren’t you…?”
“The Alameda Catgirl, yes, sir. And this is The Spektrum
from San Leandro, and these are—”
“Hey, not to interrupt,” Kid Lightning said. “But the
guys looking for Homeboy—y’know, the Sons of Brooklyn?—are on their way. Like,
a couple minutes after us, and that was a couple minutes ago.”
Just as Kid Lightning finished speaking, the Sons of
Brooklyn had just arrived, as predicted.
“Alright, um…”
Officer Thompson turned to the other officers.
“You guys stop them from getting past this point. Harris
and I are going to escort these six back. Howie—er, Homeboy—you ride with me
and Harris in the squad car. The rest of you, follow behind in this car. We can
talk all about this on the way, and when we get to the precinct.”
Everyone did as Officer Thompson ordered. The other
officers moved their cars so as to block Snyder Avenue off, and Howie/Homeboy
got in the back of Officer Thompson’s car. The Power Surge got back in the car,
Tiger taking Homeboy’s seat, and The Spektrum taking Tiger’s, and the stolen
car followed the police car back to the 67th Precinct’s
headquarters.
The Power Surge, minus Howie/Homeboy, sat together in a
hallway. Homeboy was inside the chief’s office, along with the Anonymous Inc.
Agent that drove them into town. Together, they were explaining what had gone
on today. Or so everyone else assumed, since they weren’t able to hear anything
through the walls or door.
Ten minutes in to their stay, The Power Surge saw the
other officers from before bring in members of the Sons of Brooklyn, but not
the ones any of them fought.
“Those are the guys in those cars,” Catgirl said. “The
cars that were following us.”
“Yeah,” The Spektrum agreed upon studying them closely.
“The roadblock must’ve been a bit much for them, guns and all.”
“They still tried, though,” someone said.
Everyone in The Power Surge turned and saw Officer
Thompson standing in the center of the hall.
“They opened fire on our guys, mostly shot out windows
and tires, but a few got lucky and hit their targets. Lucky for us, it was only
in the arms or legs.”
Everyone was relieved that no one died because of the
ruckus they caused.
“We should’ve gone with Homeboy’s strategy,” Kid
Lightning said. “Use stealth to take the Sons on quietly, making sure not to
provoke them into using guns. Mission: Failed on that part.”
“We did manage to beat some down,” Tiger commented.
“But we didn’t dismantle the gang at all,” Catgirl
countered. “And now Homeboy, or Howie, is in even more trouble. Some of those
guys we fought got a good look at his face, and slipped away because there was
no one to arrest them.”
“Well, seeing as how his grandfather is the 67th’s
chief, he’s in safe hands.”
Everyone in The Power Surge’s eyes widened and Catgirl’s
jaw dropped.
“His grandfather is the chief?!” The Spektrum
asked in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Officer Thompson answered. “That’s how I
recognized him. I’ve known him since he was 7 years old. A lot of the guys here
have known him that long or even longer.”
The five of them couldn’t believe the odds. Howie was
related to his hometown’s chief of police. The rest of them didn’t even know
any police officers from home by first or last name, while Howie “Homeboy“
Holmes knew them all.
The door of the office opened, and the Anonymous Inc.
Agent exited with Homeboy right behind, followed by Chief Holmes. Everyone
stood up out of courtesy.
“So if my grandson has told me the real story,” Chief
Holmes said in a gruff, aged voice, “you all came here with the goal to
completely defeat and dismantle the Sons of Brooklyn.”
“Yes, sir,” Fox answered. “Though, from what we
understand of the Sons’ numbers, we only succeeded in beating up a small
portion, and your men arrested only a fraction of that.”
“You also succeeded in getting them angry. I’m sure
you’ve already figured out that they’ll be chomping at the bit to get at my
grandson now.”
“Yes, we know…” Fox said as he looked around uneasily.
The other Power Surge
members shuffled nervously under the stern scowl of Chief Holmes.
“And we know that,
despite you being his grandfather, Home-- I mean Howie, can’t always be
protected by police.”
“But Fox,” Catgirl spoke up. “Officer--”
“Officer Thompson,” The Spektrum spoke up, “didn’t want
to worry us. Realistically, Fox is right.”
Catgirl’s ears drooped, making her worry and concern
visible.
“For now,” Chief Holmes said, “I’m going to drop my
grandson, Howie, off at home, where he’ll stay the rest of the day.”
“What?!” Homeboy was shocked. “Gramps, c’mon! I don’t
need you to babysit me, I’m 16 now!”
“And you’re the target of about 30 thugs,” his
grandfather said with a glare. “You’re headed home.”
Grumbling and complaining, Howie reluctantly left with
his grandfather, headed down the hall.
“Which is what we’ll do, too,” the Anonymous Agent said.
“We’re headed back to the airport, and back to Headquarters. From there, you’ll
all head home.”
The rest of the Power Surge understood, and turned to
leave the way they came. The Spektrum only made it two steps before he
stumbled, and Catgirl had to catch him before he fell.
“Are you ok?” she asked earnestly. “What happened?”
“My head started to spin, and my legs… they feel weak, wobbly.”
With Catgirl as a support, The Spektrum continued on, and
the group continued its way out into the parking lot.
“Tiger, you can take shotgun,” Catgirl said as they
exited the station. “Kid, Fox, you guys take the bucket seats in the middle.
I’m going to help The Spektrum into the back.”
Tiger moved to protest, but was cut off by Catgirl’s
glare.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “But didn’t you say you two weren’t
together?”
Catgirl ignored him, and focused on The Spektrum.
“You really did overdo it, huh?”
“Maybe,” he responded. “I guess my reserves haven’t grown
by that much after all.”
“And jetlag adds to the drain,” she commented.
The Spektrum changed to Code Blue, and he was able to
stand up on his own.
“Are you sure?” Catgirl asked. “Standing up on your own,
I mean.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “Code Blue has the best endurance and
stamina. In this form, I can take more damage, cope with injuries better, and
do more, longer than as the other four.”
By now, they had made their way to the black SUV, and the
agent unlocked the doors with his remote. The Spektrum opened the driver-side
passenger door and let Catgirl enter first. She took the right side of the
backseat, and The Spektrum took the middle. Kid Lightning took the right-side
bucket seat, and Fox took the left, with Tiger taking shotgun, all as Catgirl
ordered. As soon as seatbelts were buckled, the SUV drove off the police
station lot and towards Floyd Bennett Field.
Catgirl watched as Nostrand Avenue passed by through her
window. She wondered what Homeboy was up to, and whether his grandfather was
still arguing with him about his safety. She wondered what her friends were
doing today. Probably just homework and waiting for her to return. She wondered
if Shaun still believed all she was doing today was spending time with her
friends.
She turned to look at The Spektrum. He was already
looking over at her. Her cheeks blushed red. How long had he been looking at
her?
The Spektrum noticed her noticing him, and he stuttered
to explain. She giggled the whole time that he stumbled over the words,
“Catgirl, I wasn’t staring.”
“It’s alright,” she assured. “It’s flattering, in a way.
So long as it isn‘t a regular thing.”
“Right, of course.”
The Spektrum sat back and looked forward. In all honesty,
Catgirl meant it when she said she was flattered. It’s always a good feeling
when you know someone can’t keep their eyes off you.
Especially when the person staring is someone you
wouldn’t mind staring back at, she thought to herself, thinking about The
Spektrum and his charming smile. A spark went off in her mind after saying
that.
Wait, it’s not that The Spektrum… that is, I don‘t…
he’s okay, but Shaun is…!
Catgirl frantically argued with herself for some time,
her faithfulness to Shaun combating with her attraction towards The Spektrum.
“Cat?” The Spektrum asked, making her jump a bit.
“Huh? Sorry, I was… thinking.”
“About what?” he chuckled. “Your ears and tail were
fidgeting quite a bit.”
“They were?!” Catgirl said, sounding a bit embarrassed.
She hadn’t gotten used
to the idea of having expressive ears yet, let alone a new appendage like a
tail.
“Oh, sorry…”
“Don’t be. It was actually pretty cute.”
“Oh~!” Kid Lightning teased. “<Looks like Shaun’s
going to have to watch out!>“
Catgirl smacked the back of his chair, getting chuckles
out of both her cousins.
“<Idiot!>” she snapped back.
“So,” The Spektrum said, “what was it you were thinking
about that got your ears moving?”
“Homework,” Catgirl quickly replied with a lie. “With
today pretty much used up, I’ve only got tomorrow after church to do any of
it.”
“Right,” he smirked. “Homework named ‘Shaun’.”
“Sh-Shaun? Who said ‘Shaun’? Who even is Shaun?”
“He did,” Spektrum said with a nod to Lightning. “The
rest was in Japanese but ‘Shaun’ is definitely a person’s name.”
“<Idiot!>” she snapped at Lightning again.
“So, is Shaun… A crush?”
“Boyfriend,” Lightning said through a cough.
“<Idiot!>” she snapped at him a third time, coming
very close to slapping him.
“Oh…” Spektrum nodded. “That makes sense.”
Spektrum was never more jealous of someone he’d never met
than right now.
About an hour later, they arrived back at Anonymous
headquarters, and were ushered back into the conference room. Mr. Darklite
appeared minutes later, but to everyone’s surprise, he wasn’t disappointed when
they said they didn’t accomplish the mission.
“Well, I suppose we were aiming a bit high with that,” he
said as he smoothed his hair. “But that’s alright, we’re still two for three
today. Metal-head and Tyranno-Shark succeeded in their special mission, and
Sylfia managed to recruit two new members to our cause. And you may not have
completely abolished the Sons of Brooklyn, but you did prove yourself more than
a match for a good part of their portions, yes?”
“Probably,” Tiger spoke up, “depending on what you
consider a good portion.”
“And now they’ll be looking for Homeboy even more,”
Catgirl brought up. “We may have only made it worse for him.”
“Do not worry yourself,” Mr. Darklite said as he raised
his hand in an assuring gesture, “I have men everywhere, remember? They can
aide the police in watching over him at all times. He will be safe. Now, you
five must hurry home, you‘ve had a long day. We‘ll meet once more as a team
again sometime before New Year‘s, but don‘t be surprised if something comes up
that needs the assistance of at least one of you. News surfaces everyday about
others like you, and it will be up to you to help bring them aboard.
Dismissed.”
The five of them were then ushered back upstairs to the
airplanes. Catgirl and The Spektrum shared the same plane, just like earlier,
and together were flown back home to California.
“So that’s it?” Catgirl asked as she sat down. “We just
leave New York alone? We stirred up trouble and left Homeboy alone to face it
all by himself!”
“I don’t feel any better about it myself,” The Spektrum
said as he sat next to her. “But those are the orders Mr. Darklite gave us, so
we have to follow them for now.”
Catgirl grumbled and crossed her arms. Her ears pointed
back a bit as her tail swished around her feet. Slowly pushing its way through
her annoyance, a yawn exited her mouth, and she blushed as she brought her
shoulders up and head down.
“Sorry,” she said timidly, “that was a bit rude.”
“No, it’s okay,” he said as he stifled his own yawn.
“It’s been a long day, it’s natural to be tired. Besides, you’re cute when you
yawn, too.”
Catgirl blushed more.
The Spektrum sure likes to compliment and flirt with me, she thought. Her
dilemma of liking him while being in a relationship with Shaun returned, but
she pushed it from her mind as she stretched her legs.
“But back on topic,” she said. “How’re we supposed to
defend anything more than our own hometowns? Adding the two new guys Sylfia
recruited, we’ve got ten people. That’s not a lot.”
“But we have Anonymous behind us,” The Spektrum
countered. “They can support us, be our reinforcements.”
“But that’s not very superhero-like,” Catgirl grumbled.
“What kind of hero needs someone to back him up?”
“There are plenty of examples of set-ups similar to
this,” The Spektrum said. “In the Marvel-verse, the organization S.H.I.E.L.D.
backs up all sorts of heroes, taking care of what they are too busy to.”
“But the heroes in the DC-verse don’t need to be backed
up,” Catgirl countered.
“Yeah, but that’s because the heroes in DC--like Superman
and The Green Lantern--have powers on a scale much stronger than most Marvel
characters, and most importantly, us.”
Catgirl grumbled for a third time as she conceded this
nerdy debate to The Spektrum. Another yawn escaped her mouth, and the two
laughed softly as they reclined back a bit in their chairs.
“Tell us!”
“Tell us!”
“Please, Zoey, tell us!”
Zoey’s friends pestered her as they walked through the
doorway of the Mizaki house. It was Sunday afternoon, and the minute church
ended, her friends wanted to know all about what happened.
“Okay, just give me a moment!” Zoey said as her friends
put down their things and took off their shoes. “Sheesh, it‘s only The
Spektrum! What‘s the big deal?”
Her three friends, Chloe, Karina and Marina, sat down on
the couch as Zoey sat in the arm chair.
“We want to know what he’s like!” Karina said excitedly
as she bounced in her seat between Chloe and Marina.
“Well,” Zoey said as she recalled the events of the other
day, “it turns out he likes a lot of the same things I do, like Anime and
Manga.”
Zoey’s friends perked up.
“But mostly the boyish, action-y kind.”
Zoey’s friends settled down again.
“Well, you like those kind,” Chloe pointed out.
“What else?”
“He was humble,” Zoey continued, “almost to where it gave
the impression that he was disappointed in himself, actually.”
“How so?”
“At the start, someone brought up when Zorb got away with
robbing that Safeway. I could tell that he feels like he failed, even though
there was nothing he could do about it. I even said that out loud to him, but I
don‘t think he‘ll let it go so easily.”
Zoey then went into detail about the “mission” in New
York. The girls’ favorite part was when she and The Spektrum had the small
argument about who would go over the fence first.
“What else did you talk about?”
“Well,” she said again, but this time more hesitantly,
“after everything was done and we were headed home, he kinda flirted with me.”
Chloe, Karina AND Marina all smiled widely, then exploded
with squeals.
“Okay, yes,” Zoey said as she tried to calm her friends,
“that’s exciting, but it doesn’t change anything! I’m not in love with him or
anything!”
“But he’s charming and good-looking, right?” Karina
asked.
“I… I guess so…” Zoey said with a shrug, “but I wouldn’t
say he’s some kind of dashing male model.”
“But you and him like the same stuff, right?” Marina
brought up.
“Yes, but--”
“And he made sure you were safe while you were in New
York,” Chloe added.
“Yes, but none of you are listening! I’m not in love with
The Spektrum!”
“I bet you blushed when he flirted!” Karina shouted.
Zoey froze in place. Karina had hit a bull’s-eye with
that one. Zoey looked down at her feet, and she curled her toes inside their
pink-and-yellow socks.
“A-A little…” she muttered as she felt her face turn red.
“Aha!” Karina shouted as she got up. “So you DO like The
Spektrum!”
“What?!” Zoey blurted in confusion. “No I don’t!”
“Yes you do! If you blush when he flirts, that means you
like him!”
“Karina’s right!” Marina said as she stood up. “Blushing
means you felt flattered, and that you accepted his flirting. You wouldn’t
accept his flirting if you didn‘t like him.”
“That’s…” Zoey lowered her head and raised her shoulders
as she grumbled. “I don‘t like him like that…”
“Admit it,” Karina said as she sat on the arm of Zoey’s
chair, “you met the Spektrum and felt attracted to him!”
“I don’t like him like that…!” Zoey grumbled again as she
brought her legs up and curled into a ball on her chair.
“Well, deny it if you want,” Marina said as she sat back
down, “you’ll come to terms with your feelings sooner or later.”
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