Chapter 40

            “I cannot believe this,” Simon grumbles. “That moron is supposed to be San Leandro’s new hero?”

            Simon pushes the bar up as he bench presses.

            “He did better against those masked guys than The Spektrum did,” Chris mumbles.

            “Only because he actually got to finish the fight!” Simon counters before bringing the bar back down.

            “Yeah, those soldiers from Reciprocity showed up in the middle, right?” one of the other students brings up.

            “Because The Spektrum couldn’t get the job done,” one of the bulky seniors counters.

            “They didn’t give me- er, him, time!” Simon says as he pushes the bar back up. “He was going to make the comeback.”

            “Well it doesn’t really matter what we think,” their teacher and school football coach, Mr. Ashby, says. “The Spektrum died. He can’t have a rematch with the Masqueraders to show us if he was going to win or not. And I know not all of you think highly of Craig Foster, but he’ll do the job he’s given. Now focus on your workouts.”

            “Yeah, you’re getting a bit heated about this,” that junior from before says to taunt Simon. “Craig turned out to be wrong. You’re not The Spektrum because you’re not dead.”

            “Yeah, well,” Simon says as he sets the bar on the hooks, “doesn’t change anything. Suddenly getting powers doesn’t change the person you are. A jerk is still a jerk.”

            Simon sits up and glares at Chris for just a moment before giving up the bench.

            Meanwhile, Zoey jogs with Cyndi again. Turns out they’re the same speed. Though, Zoey is sure she’d be faster as Catgirl.

            They reach the end of the lap and slow down to a walk over to the water fountains. Zoey stands in line for one while Cyndi’s in line for the one right next to it.

            “Zoey,” Cyndi says to her. “Zoey, you in there?”

            Zoey stops spacing out and realizes she’s at the front of the line. She pushes the little button and sips from the faucet.

            “What were you in deep thought about?” Cyndi asks as they walk back to their class’ spot.

            “Oh, just that Hardwire guy showing up,” she says.

            That wasn’t a lie. Craig “Hardwire” Foster appearing being only 15 minutes ago, it was still a major topic. Hardwire had to leave right after his little news interview, and that only made students more curious about what he was up to. But the real reason Zoey was thinking about him was in relation to the deal she made with Darklite.

            The Alameda Catgirl was only supposed to be in San Leandro for as long as it took to get someone new here. And Hardwire is that someone, so she’s a little anxious to get a call from Darklite that she’ll be moving back home.

            “Yeah, it’s still really crazy,” Cyndi says. “What kind of technology exists that you can put it in your skin and it makes you superhuman?”

            “Yeah,” Zoey says.

            “He didn’t take a lot of time explaining it, either,” Cyndi says. “Is it even safe? What if it’s radioactive?”

            “Yeah,” Zoey says.

            Cyndi looks at Zoey and it seems the little short stack has spaced out again.

            “And your shirt is tucked into your underwear,” Cyndi smirks.

            “Yeah- Wait what? No it’s not!”

            Zoey spins around to look and it definitely is not. Cyndi giggles while Zoey pouts.

            “Are you really sure you’re thinking about Hardwire’s debut?” Cyndi asks.

            “I am,” Zoey defends. “It still feels like we only just lost The Spektrum, and now he’s been replaced.”

            Though, technically Zoey was meant to replace him.

            “And if all that stuff you told me about Craig is true, then he’s totally not the right fit.”

            A twinge went off in the back of Zoey’s mind. She meant what she said just now, but she also realizes how it contradicts her desire to go back to Alameda.

            “Yeah,” Cyndi agrees. “I hope Reciprocity gives another set of those wires to somebody less obnoxious.”

 

            “Sup, buttholes?” Craig says as he walks into the room.

            After dealing with The Masqueraders in San Leandro, Craig returned to Reciprocity HQ. He now meets with Metal-Head and Tyranno-Shark, but as their human selves, Alan and Hayden.

            “And who’re you supposed to be?” Alan retorts. “Rainbow Brite’s jock boyfriend?”

            “No, he’s Glo Worm on roids,” Hayden says while laughing.

            “Keep laughing, Jitters,” Craig says in reference to Hayden’s hand.

            “It’s the shark instincts,” Hayden says. “I gotta keep some part of me moving or I go nuts.”

            “Speaking of nuts, looks like you’ve got lug nuts in your mouth,” Craig says.

            Alan avoids the chin check from Craig.

            “Seen that stupid move enough in my life,” Alan sneers.

            “Alright, stop socializing,” Smart Mouth says as he walks in from another door. “It’s game time.”

            “Hell yeah,” Alan and Hayden say as they take their seats.

            Craig takes a seat behind them as Smart Mouth presses buttons to start a slideshow.

            “Today’s mission,” he begins as a map comes up. “Somalia!”

            “Whoa, like in Black Hawk Down?” Craig says.

            “Yes, except we’re not at all going to have that happen to us,” Smart Mouth says. “We’ll be flying into Cairo, Egypt, then take a boat down the Red Sea to arrive in northern Somalia. The flight will be 18 hours itself, so we’ll be leaving midnight local time to hopefully arrive by 2 AM Cairo time. From there, our boat will take a few hours to arrive at our target, meaning our mission truly begins with a Somalian sunrise.

            “Our mission, once we arrive in almost a full day from now,” Smart Mouth continues as he moves onto the next slide. “We arrive in Berbera, Somalia, drive in a ways and essentially exterminate all the pirates we come across.”

            “Exterminate?” Craig says. “That’s pretty hardcore.”

            “And it’s what you signed up for, remember?” Smart Mouth says. “You wanted to be part of Reciprocity’s special operations unit of the elite, and this is what we do regularly. These two have already done a handful of missions just like this.”

            “Pretty sure I have the better score,” Alan says.

            “Well it’s not really fair when you’re way better at DPS,” Hayden complains.

            “What’s DPS?” Craig asks with a raised eyebrow.

            “Damage per second,” Hayden says. “You’re not a gamer?”

            Craig mockingly snorts.

            “Look at me,” Craig says as he reclines back. “Does this look like the body of a nerd who stays indoors in front of television all day?”

            “You could’ve just said ‘No, I’m not’, and left it at that,” Alan says. “Don’t need to be a dick about stuff.”

            “Well let’s consider this starting over,” Smart Mouth says. “And don’t worry, Hardwire, we’ll be providing you with the gear you need to keep up with these two. Plus you’ll have me and a few other Reciprocity troopers to back you up. We’ll only be spending a few hours in Somalia before making the long trip back. Until we leave, feel free to eat up and get some rest. Or, y’know, maybe figure out how all three of you can actually get along. Doesn’t really matter to me.”

            Smart Mouth leaves the room and the three young men just sit in the room with an awkward silence.

            “So like,” Craig speaks up, “any of you guys spend time with like, that Catgirl chick?”

            “Ooh… Shouldn’t have brought that up,” Alan says, seeing Hayden’s face.

            “What? Why?” Craig asks.

            “Because she beat him,” Alan says. “Catgirl knocked him out with a kick to the head.”

            “Wait, you got beat by a girl in a fight?” Craig says with a laugh. “What’re your powers?”

            “I’m Tyranno-Shark,” Hayden grumbles.

            “You’re the mutant shark thing?” Craig says. “That’s even worse! You’re huge with like a bunch of razor sharp teeth, how did you lose?”

            “She got lucky, okay?” Hayden says in a huff.

            “Or maybe you’re just not good at being a big ol’ shark dino.”

            “I could beat you!” Hayden says.

            “Not if you lost to some girl,” Craig says. “Though, I will say, that’s one hot little slice, from what I’ve seen. Is she hotter in person or what?”

            “I mean, she definitely looks great in person,” Alan says. “Bit uppity to me, though. She seemed really attached to The Spektrum, too.”

            “Yeah, she was super pissed after he died,” Hayden says.

            “Uck, really?” Craig says. “That guy had her interested in him?”

            “He never seemed that bad to me,” Hayden shrugs.

            “He got a bit high and mighty, telling me how to do our mission,” Alan frowns. “Acted like we shouldn’t just shred our targets. That was the whole point, though. Get rid of these guys so they can’t keep doing this stuff.”

            “Yeah, I had a feeling he was like that in person,” Craig says. “But really? Her and him?”

            “I mean, we have no confirmation,” Alan says. “There was also some kind of drama between them and Tiger after a mission that probably had something to do with it.”

            “Tiger? Who’s Tiger?”

            “He’s been on some missions with us,” Hayden says. “We stopped counting his score since he’s way behind.”

            “Though he does make a more fair comparison to you,” Alan says to Hayden. “You guys are both melee.”

            “Good point,” Hayden says.

            “Enough nerd talk,” Craig sighs as he gets up. “Are there any other chicks in this unit or what?”

            “Oh, uh, there’s one,” Hayden says, “but she’s always off with two other guys. They’re all RPG themed so they just work better together by default.”

            “RPG? Like, role-playing? Like with dragons and elves and crap?”

            “I mean, there are all sorts of RPG’s now but, basically that one.”

            “You do know we’re all made from the power surge a couple months ago, right?” Alan says to Craig. “We were all playing video games of different types, and that’s where our powers came from. You’re only here because you’re a jock who got implants.”

            “No, I’m here because I earned it,” Craig snaps back. “All you guys got lucky you were playing your video games when that surge hit. The Spektrum was a hero because of luck. I’m going to be a hero because I put in the effort.”

            Craig got up and stormed out of the room. Alan and Hayden wait until he’s all the way out before chuckling and making fun of him behind his back.

 

            After school lets out, Zoey walks home with Cyndi and Simon again. They do their best to avoid talking about Craig “Hardwire” Foster, but there isn’t much else to talk about. They’re all silent and annoyed as they make the walk down Bancroft.

            “How have you been doing with Trig?” Simon asks Cyndi.

            “Oh, pretty good, actually,” Cyndi says. “Your notebook has been a big help, really. Thank you again.”

            “You’re welcome,” he says.

            “How about you, Zoey?” Cyndi asks. “Have you been okay with the science homework?”

            “Yeah, it’s fine,” Zoey says.

            “If you need any help studying, we can help,” Cyndi says. “That first test is coming up fast, after all.”

            “Yeah,” Zoey says.

            But again, Zoey is torn. She wants to get back home to Alameda as soon as possible, but feels bad for leaving San Leandro with such an arrogant replacement for The Spektrum. Maybe Darklite can transfer her before this test so she won’t have to worry about it.

            “Zoey, is something wrong?” Cyndi asks. “Are you worried about the test that badly?”

            “Uh, well, not exactly,” Zoey says. “It’s just… I’ve never been the best at studying for a test.”

            Zoey isn’t lying, she really has to force herself most times just to get started, and it’s usually thanks to her friends that she sees it through.

            “I can help with that,” Cyndi says. “Would you wanna study at my house or yours?”

            “You aren’t allergic to cats, are you?” Zoey asks.

            “No,” Cyndi says. “Oh, but my mom is. I should be careful not to get cat hair on me then.”

            “Then you should be careful if you ever come over to my house,” Simon says. “I also have a cat, and she likes to sleep everywhere.”

            “You didn’t get your cat a bed of her own?” Zoey asks.

            “Well again, she likes to sleep everywhere and anywhere she can,” he says. “So we don’t really feel the need to get her a little cat bed for herself.”

            “Well the bed is so you can get her to stay in one spot and not get fur everywhere,” Zoey smirks.

            “So I guess it’s my place by default,” Cyndi says. “We only have fish.”

            Zoey feels her lip twitch at the mention of fish, but she suppresses any other reactions from her cat instincts.

            “That’s fine,” Zoey says. “All three of us canya hang out to study.”

            “Canya?” Cyndi repeats. “Did—wait all three of us?”

            “Well, yeah,” Zoey says. “Simon can help us study. We’ve got World History and Pre-Calc, too, so I’m gonna need someone to help me with those.”

            “Oh, y-yeah,” Cyndi says. “That’s true. Sure, yeah, all three of us can study together.”

            Simon takes a moment to reflect on how things have changed. Just a few months ago, he was studying all alone, though he never really pushed himself to study for tests or anything, and now he’s studying with two very cute girls, one of which is his girlfriend!

            “What’re you smiling about?” Cyndi mutters at him.

            “Nothing,” he says as he snaps out of it.

            Cyndi squints at him but leaves it alone.

            “Okay, see you tomorrow,” Zoey says as they pass Maud.

            Zoey breaks off at the corner and heads to her house. After going up the stairs, inside the front door and then downstairs to her room, she brings out her phone.

            Why wait for him to call me? I’ll just call him and remind him of our deal!

            Zoey redials the Reciprocity Inc. number from her call log and waits as it rings.

            “Hello, Catgirl,” the woman on the other end answers. “How may I direct your call?”

            “I’d like to speak to Mr. Darklite, please.”

            “One moment please.”

            Zoey’s put on hold with music as she waits. She waits for a long enough time to realize this is just a loop of music and not a real song.

            “Hello?” Darklite answers.

            “Hi, Mr. Darklite,” Zoey says. “I hope I’m not bothering.”

            “Not at all, not at all. What can I help you with, Ms. Catgirl?”

            “Well, I’m pretty sure you know this already, but the world just saw Craig, er, uh, Hardwire, save the day in San Leandro.”

            “Yes, he did excellent work, didn’t he?” Darklite says excitedly.

            “Yes, yes he did,” Zoey says, less enthusiastic. “But that’s part of why I’m calling: our agreement of having me here only until you get a replacement. You have your replacement, so now I can go home.”

            “Yes, that was our agreement,” he says, Zoey already hearing the hesitation. “But Agent Hardwire isn’t necessarily a replacement for The Spektrum.”

            Zoey is relieved hearing that at first, because she agrees, The Spektrum can’t be replaced just like that. But she’s also bothered by that, because it means Darklite’s trying to use some kind of loophole.

            “What do you mean by that, sir?” she asks.

            “Well, it was his insistence on being there today,” Darklite says. “No one expected him to see action like this so soon.”

            “Wait, this was his first time using whatever those wire things are? Isn’t that dangerous?”

            “We’ve had him train and test the implants every day these past seven days,” Darklite says. “And I’m pretty sure the first time our friend, The Spektrum, used his powers was the first day he appeared to the world. Power Surge Day was only the day before those space aliens appeared, along with him.”

            Zoey quietly accepts his point.

            “But to properly explain,” Darklite explains. “Hardwire won’t always be home to defend your school or the city from whatever said space aliens might try. In fact, he’s preparing for a mission far from home as we speak. So with Hardwire doing missions as we need him, you will have to stay in San Leandro for the time being. Besides, you only just moved in. We can’t uproot you all again like that. Where would we put you?”

            “Well, our old house, right?” Zoey says. “You could just get that back.”

            “My dear Catgirl, we can do a lot here at Reciprocity,” he says with a slight chuckle. “But we couldn’t help that your old home has already sold.”

            “It… It did?”

            “Yes, and to a lovely family, I might add,” Darklite says. “We certainly can’t take a home from them.”

            “I wasn’t going to ask to do that,” Zoey says, perhaps fibbing a little bit. “But are you sure you can’t get something else?”

            “I’m sorry, Ms. Catgirl, but we can’t move you back now,” he says apologetically. “Please try not to be upset. A proper replacement is still in the works, I assure you.”

            “Alright,” Zoey pouts. “Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Darklite.”

            “You’re very welcome,” he says. “Good-bye, Ms. Catgirl.”

            He hangs up first then Zoey does, and she puts her phone away. She sighs and then flops over on her bed. She continues to be torn. Darklite has a point, her family only just moved, so they can’t just go back like nothing happened. And it would be selfish of her to go home and leave The Spektrum’s home unprotected with Craig “Hardwire” Foster apparently coming and going. She doesn’t want to be in this role, but she’ll be San Leandro’s hero to the best of her ability, for The Spektrum.

 

            The next day, San Leandro is on edge. Everyone expects things to return to how they were when The Spektrum was fighting Zorb’s henchmen. But the morning classes go by and lunch comes without a single sighting of Craig Foster or a blinding flash of light.

            “Thinking about it,” Cyndi says in the fan club room. “Zorb hasn’t really attacked consistently either. He didn’t even do anything over the holidays.”

            “Well, he was in pretty bad shape after that fight with The Spektrum,” Simon says, remembering how he tore Zorb’s quad. “But it is strange that he isn’t just sending his henchmen.”

            “Maybe the masked guys are licking their wounds,” Zoey says.

            “Yeah, but what about his classic henchmen?” Cyndi says. “I know the day isn’t over, but what about them showing up?”

            “Well, as much as we’d hate to see it,” Simon says, “Hardwire can just come out of wherever he’s hiding and he’ll fight them. The Spektrum beat them pretty easily, and Hardwire beat the Masqueraders even easier.”

            Zoey holds her tongue about that. But she is worried that, should Hardwire not be present when one of the other alien henchmen under Zorb’s command appears, she’ll have to deal with them.

            No, I already promised to do my best, she thinks to herself. Even if it’s that big leathery guy.

            “What’s on your mind there?” Cyndi asks.

            “Your tuna sandwich can’t be that interesting,” Simon teases.

            “Oh, uh,” Zoey says, realizing she was staring at her lunch. “Nothing really. Just wondering how my friends are doing.”

 

            “Fight! Fight!” students of Encinal High shout.

            Another gang versus gang all-out-brawl broke out in the cafeteria, over getting the best pieces of the food available. The students of Encinal should be over these constant fist fights between normal humans but there’s still this strange love of violence.

            But at the same time, everyone is waiting for Catgirl to show up. Zoey’s friends and cousins know the truth, but they can’t stop the others from being confused, concerned and upset that Catgirl hasn’t shown herself.

            “We completely forgot to discuss how to handle this,” Jeff mutters to Seth.

            “I know,” Seth says, feeling foolish. “But we can’t just run out there when we’re the new students.”

            The thugs even start to wonder where Catgirl is after a few minutes. They look around but she never shows.

            “The hell is dat bitch?” one of them shouts.

            “Hey! Don’t refer to her like that!” Eugene shouts back.

            “What was that, fat boy?!” the thug shouts as he focuses in on Eugene.

            “She’s not a bitch! She’s a beautiful queen! She’s a fantasy come to life!”

            Jeff and Seth give Eugene a side-eye.

            “Aww, ain’t that cute?” the thug says to his friends. “He’s got a little crush on Cat-Bitch. You dream about getting to know her, fat boy? Dream about knowing who she really is? Dream about getting to see them tig ol’ bitties up close, do ya?”

            Eugene gets scared as the thug moves in closer.

            “You do, don’t you?” the thug laughs at Eugene’s silence. “Yeah, get a big ol’ handful, huh?”

            Eugene wants to talk back again but he also doesn’t want to get hit.

            “They must be soft, huh?” the thug says as he gets right up to Eugene. “Like big marshmallows, which you probably know a lot about, actually. Yeah, you’d grab her all over if you could, huh? Huh!?”

            The thug spooks Eugene with his juke step, and Eugene lets out a rather high-pitched yelp. The thugs all laugh at poor Eugene, whose face burns bright red from embarrassment and shame.

            “Enough of this,” Jeff says.

            “Jeff…!” Seth says, but he can’t stop Jeff from throwing up a big ball of electricity at the ceiling!

            *ZZAKT* All the lights go wild! Most burn out, but some flicker between on and off.

            Jeff rushes the thug in Eugene’s face and slides to sweep out his legs. The thug falls face first on the hard linoleum and the other thugs clearly notice.

            “Hey! Who’s there?!” one of them shouts.

            Jeff takes a tray from a table and slings it at one of the thug’s legs, getting him right in the knee. Jeff then runs and rams his knee into the stumbling thug’s chest. Another thug starts swinging but Jeff easily bobs ‘n’ weaves with each wild haymaker. However, two other thugs come up behind Jeff, and one has a shiv made from a spork!

            *BINK* The shiv-wielding thug is clubbed in the back of the head by something metal. The other thug looks over and gets a *BINK* of his own! Jeff looks back and sees Seth there, silver hair on and fists armored up.

            “Oi!” Seth lets out as he sees the other thug creep up on Jeff.

            Jeff moves out of the way and Seth retaliates by simply hardening his chest and stepping into the punch. The thug staggers back, clutching his hand in pain.

            “Takahiku!” Seth shouts.

            Jeff spins to be behind the thug, and as he goes for another sweep to the legs, Seth spins to backhand! The moves hit together and flip the thug for a loop before he hits the floor.

            “Hikidasu!” Seth shouts.

            He and Jeff run out of the cafeteria through the exit in the back, and from there, run to the parking lot.

 

            Obviously, the two new heroes are the talk of the town, so to speak. Karina is just barely able to contain herself in PE with Jeff.

            Nothing happens at San Leandro High the rest of the day, so Zoey returns home relieved. But then she gets the call from Karina and both sides go to speaker.

            “Oh we totally should’ve talked about that,” Zoey says after hearing their story. “We were so busy with the holidays, we didn’t think about what would happen.”

            “We might need masks and alternate clothes since our powers don’t really change our clothes,” Seth says.

            “Yeah, get masks like I have,” Zoey says, looking at her sequin eye mask. “But hey, you guys still saved the day.”

            “They sure did~!” Karina says. “My boyfriend saved the day~! My boyfriend saved the day~!”

            “That I did!” Jeff says gives big thumbs-up, even though Zoey can’t see them.

            “Okay, calm down,” Alicia tells her sister as she dances around.

            “We really only saved Eugene and stopped a bunch of punks,” Seth says.

            “Poor Eugene,” Chloe says. “He didn’t stay for the rest of school, he got himself excused and then his parents picked him up.”

            “Where’d you hear that from?” Marina asks.

            “Wendy Heckelman’s older sister, Sandy, is in the student office staff and told her,” Chloe says. “So she told me and some of the other sophomores in English, using pretty solid Shakespearean to encode it.”

            “Wendy’s such a nerd,” Marina chuckles.

            “It was rather brave of him to stand up for Zoey, though,” Chloe says.

            “If only there was a way to thank him for that,” Zoey says.

            “I think us saving him was that,” Jeff says. “He’s already on thin ice for White Knighting in such a sad way.”

            “White Knighting?” Karina repeats.

            “As in being a white knight, a guy who just sticks up for a girl because she’s a girl,” Seth explains. “And that was rather out of nowhere.”

            “Well I would hope someone there would stand up for me,” Zoey pouts.

            “Yeah what’s so wrong about Eugene being the one standing up?” Chloe asks. “Is it because he’s fat?”

            “No, it’s because he’s an utter dork,” Jeff says. “And entering creep territory.”

            “He’s not a creep, he’s just awkward,” Chloe says.

            “Yeah,” Zoey says.

            “So you’d spend time with him?” Jeff counters.

            “Uhh…”

            “That’s what I thought,” Jeff says.

            “Oh, hold on, guys,” Zoey says. “I’m getting another call.”

            Zoey checks it and sees Shaun calling.

            “Hey, Shaun,” she says as she switches over. “What’s up?”

            “You’re Catgirl, aren’t you?” he asks immediately.

            Zoey freezes up.

            “What’re you talking about, Shaun?” she asks with a nervous laugh. “I’m not Catgirl.”

            “Yes, you are,” he says. “She didn’t appear to fight thugs today, two new guys showed up.”

            “Maybe she was sick? I’m sure she gets sick like the rest of us!”

            “You make a good point, but there’s too much evidence for you to deny. The incident with that mutant shark monster, I was so, so scared something had happened to you, but you were calm as could be. The incident with that orange fruit mad scientist, you didn’t want to have any oranges and Catgirl defeated that guy. The fact her theme is ‘cat’ in the first place! Need I go on?!”

            “Okay, okay,” Zoey says. “Yes, I admit to being Catgirl.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks.

            “Because that’s how superheroes work, Shaun, I couldn’t tell you. And you just said you were so scared during that whole Tyranno-Shark thing, even when you didn’t know the truth. You’d be even more afraid if you did!”

            “Yeah, that’s true,” he says. “But why’re you really in San Leandro, then? You didn’t want to tell me before, and then we broke up, but you still owe me that explanation.”

            “I know, I know,” Zoey says. “I’m in San Leandro to replace The Spektrum, just like the two new heroes are replacing me in Alameda. And before you say anything about that Hardwire guy, he’s not going to be full-time. He was just in town and took care of the bad guys before I could react. I’ll probably be the one to fight them next, whenever it is they next show up.”

            Shaun lets out a very weary sigh.

            “So your cousins are covering for you while you cover for a fallen hero?”

            “Yeah- Wait how did you know my cousins were-”

            “It’s obvious,” he says. “They’re back in town, you’ve moved away, but two new heroes take Catgirl’s place. Just hope I’m the only one who figures it out. For that matter, hope that no one in San Leandro connects the dots the minute Catgirl makes her debut at their school.”

            “Oh crap I didn’t even think about that,” Zoey says. “You figuring it out is actually a good thing now. Thanks, Shaun.”

            “You’re welcome, I guess,” Shaun says. “And since there isn’t really anything I can do about any of this, just be careful out there.”

            “I will,” Zoey says. “Talk to you later.”

            “Laters,” he says before hanging up.

            “Okay, I’m back,” Zoey says as she switches back to her friends. “You guys still there?”

            “Yeah, who called?” Karina asks.

            “Shaun. And he knows.”

            “He knows what?”

            “He knows who the new heroes are,” Zoey explains. “He put it together because he also figured out I’m Catgirl.”

            “Aw crap,” Jeff says. “He’s not going to let that slip, is he?”

            “Well, we didn’t get a chance to make that promise, but I’m sure he won’t tell anyone.”

            “Well we promise to keep an eye on him,” Chloe says.

            “Thank you,” Zoey says. “Talk to you guys later. Bye~!”

 

            As the West Coast goes deeper into the night at 9PM, Reciprocity Inc. Headquarters reaches 11PM. The elite ops unit prepares for the take-off at midnight. Craig and Smart Mouth go through his necessary equipment.

            “Flak jacket,” Smart Mouth says.

            “Check,” Craig says as he pats the one he’s wearing.

            “Helmet,” Smart Mouth says.

            “Check,” Craig says as he taps it where it sits on his knee.

            “Actual, bullet-shooting M16,” Smart Mouth says.

            “Check,” Craig says as he loops the strap around him.

            “Looks like you’ve got everything important,” Smart Mouth says. “Did you eat up before getting all that on?”

            “Yes, sir,” Craig says. “Mostly because I figured there wouldn’t be any good food on the flight.”

            “Good thinking,” Smart Mouth chuckles. “This ain’t gonna be some first class trip, either.”

            The rest of the cargo is loaded, such as the boats the Reciprocity team will be using to go from Egypt to Somalia.

            “What’re these other boxes?” Craig asks. “Why’re they labelled ‘Metal-Head’?”

            “Because this is my gear,” Alan smirks as he pats one on the side. “Reciprocity has been helping me make upgrades outside of leveling up.”

            “You actually level up? Like a video game?”

            “Yep. Though, you probably don’t, since you’re not like us.”

            “Shredding goons and fodder is a great way to level grind,” Hayden chuckles.

            Craig follows Smart Mouth onto the plane, along with Alan, Hayden and the extra troops that will be going with them. Everyone straps the cargo down then straps themselves in as the plane starts its way down the runway.

            Craig’s never been on a military transport plane before, it’s louder and colder inside than television or movies make them out to be. But he manages to tough it out and even gets some sleep.

 

            The 18 hour flight finally finishes, and Craig notices the jump in temperature. It may be winter in California, but it feels like spring here in Egypt.

            The Reciprocity Inc. unit brings the gear out and loads it onto the boats. Craig rides with Smart Mouth while Alan and Hayden are on the other boat. They get the boats going down the Gulf of Suez and out onto the Red Sea in the darkness of the Egyptian night.

 

            As the skies start to brighten with every hour, more and more of the things ahead of them become visible.

            “What little islands are those?” Craig asks.

            “That’s the Dahlak Archipelago,” Smart Mouth says. “And that over there are the Farasan Islands. Straight ahead are Jazirat Jabal Zuqar and Jazirat al Hanish al Kabir.”

            “Jazz rat jabber what?” Craig butchers as he repeats it.

            “They’re also known as the Hanish Islands,” Smart Mouth says.

            “Wait, we’re like, right across the way from the Middle East, aren’t we?”

            “You don’t know the difference between geography and geometry, do you?” Smart Mouth says.

            “I know the difference,” Craig grumbles. “Geography is about where things are on a planet and geometry is shapes. But why’re we out here if we’re not helping with the war?”

            “Because the army is taking care of that,” Smart Mouth says. “We’re taking care of everything else.”

            The boats continue past the Hanish Islands and then through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. After that, it’s open water in the Gulf of Aden, and the sun starts peeking over the horizon.

            “Target location in sight,” one of the other Reciprocity soldiers says.

            The boats head for a port town with a hook shaped shoal forming a natural barrier. Craig looks through his scope that there are tents on the large sandbar.

            “Okay, kill the engines,” Smart Mouth says.

            The two boats turn off their outboard engines and simply coast towards the coast.

            “We’re going to swim up and check those tents,” Smart Mouth says to Craig. “If they’re the pirates…”

            Smart Mouth holds out a spare knife to Craig.

            “We kill them.”

            “Kill…” Craig repeats before gulping.

            “Hey,” Smart Mouth says sternly. “This day was coming. You gotta have your first sometime, right?”

            Craig looks at the knife still in its sheath. He takes it and straps it to his jacket.

            “How will we know they’re pirates?” Craig asks.

            “They’ll have guns and knives of their own.”

            Craig nods, because that makes sense. Smart Mouth signals to a couple others on this boat and they bring out the compact respirators. The four of them stick those in their mouths and dive into the water.

            Craig follows behind Smart Mouth, and is surprised how well these little devices work. The oxygen tanks aren’t much bigger than water bottles but they last the whole way to the shoal.

            The four drag themselves out of the water and onto the sand. Smart Mouth signals to each of them. Craig and Smart Mouth check the tents while the other two keep watch.

            The tents aren’t really much more than cloth and tarp propped up by poles. Craig pokes his head in and his wires allow his eyes to adjust to the dark almost instantly. He spots the sleeping Somalian man and the tattered blanket he uses. But even with the tears and holes, the blanket doesn’t give away if the man has a weapon on hand.

            Craig feels his heart beating. This is tenser than even the most crucial football game he’s ever played in. The Somalian will probably wake up any moment since the sun is rising, so Craig takes a gamble and yanks the blanket off!

            The man is startled awake, and Craig immediately sees the AK settled in right beside him! Craig pulls the knife out and lunges at the man! Despite the man just waking up, he’s ready to defend against Craig, and manages to hold the blade away from his body with both hands. Craig grits his teeth as he pushes forward. The man works to turn Craig away, but with the Hardwire implant, Craig’s legs lock into place to prevent any of that.

            The man looks over at the general area of where the other tent is. Craig can tell he’s about to scream and shout, so he drops a knee into the man’s crotch. The man’s arms go weak, and all he gets out is a short yelp before the knife plunges into his chest.

            Craig is inches from the man’s face as he feels the blade go in. The man’s eyes and mouth are wide, but all that comes out are tears and weak croaks. Craig keeps staring into those eyes, completely unsure what to do when he sees the light go out in them.

            “Hey!” Smart Mouth says from the mouth of the tent. “Hardwire! Are you okay in there?”

            Craig sits up and pulls the knife out of the man’s body. He wipes the blood off on the man’s blanket before sheathing it.

            “Yeah,” Craig says as he exits the tent. “All good.”

            “Good,” Smart Mouth says as he gives Craig a quick pat on the arm. “Let’s keep going.”

            The boats pull up to the shoal on low gear. The troops hop off and both Hayden and Alan take off their gear.

            “What’re you doing that for?” Craig asks in a panicked confusion. “You wanna get shredded?”

            “We need to take this off while we transform,” Alan says.

            “That’s the ship we’re after,” Smart Mouth says as he points across the way. “Carqaladda, or in English, ‘The Outrageous’.”

            Craig looks ahead with his scope and sees the ship with the deep blue paint job, and the word “CARQALADDA” in crisp, clean white letters.

            Alan and Hayden finish transforming into Metal-Head and Tyranno-Shark.

            “Whoa…!” Craig says, looking up at the large shark-dinosaur mutant. “Oh, do you think you can put like a saddle on and I could ride you into battle?”

            “No way, dude!” Tyranno-Shark says telepathically.

            “Tyranno-Shark, swim over to the Outrageous,” Smart Mouth says. “Run wild all over it, see what shakes out. Metal-Head, shoot what comes out onto the water. Hardwire, you and the boys cover anything that comes from anywhere else.”

            “Why can’t I just use my new upgrades to blast the ship to scrap?” Metal-Head asks.

            “Because we don’t have any idea what these pirates have on that ship,” Smart Mouth says. “These Outrageous ones have been hitting anything even remotely military that passes by, doesn’t even matter what country it’s from. For all we know, there are missiles on that thing that could turn Berbera into a crater.”

            “Okay, good point.”

            Tyranno-Shark walks into the water and starts swimming, his tail doing most of the work. He makes it to the Carqaladda quickly, returns to being human in order to climb aboard, and then transforms back into Tyranno-Shark. He starts smashing crates and knocking barrels off while stomping around, and the pirates below deck wake up. They hurry up top with guns but then freak out seeing Tyranno-Shark. Tyranno-Shark slaps a few of them off the boat, then takes a bite out of another!

            The pirate screams as the shark teeth sink into his shoulder! The other pirates start shooting, but Tyranno-Shark’s hide is tough. He swings the pirate in his mouth around and smacks the shooters, then uses his tail to clear out more.

            The pirates start bailing out as Tyranno-Shark continues running wild, the one pirate still in his mouth. RIB boats much like what Reciprocity came here in lower from the Carqaladda. They start driving for the main land, but Metal-Head already has them in his sights.

            *BRTRTRTRTRT* Metal-Head opens fire with his two shoulder-mounted Gatling guns and two forearm Vulcans.

            The little boats are easily shot down, along with the pirates. Tyranno-Shark finally spits out the pirate he’s been chomping on, and the pirate crawls his way off the boat, to fall into the water.

            “Bravo unit, go check out the boat,” Smart Mouth says. “Alpha, with me and the boys. We’re heading into town.”

            The teams get back on the boats and head around the sand hook. Bravo pulls up to the Carqaladda while Hayden climbs down. Hayden swims and transforms back into Tyranno-Shark as he follows after Alpha. Alan hunkers down while he’s human again.

            More of the pirates appear on the streets of Berbera, shouting and hollering as they all spot the Reciprocity boats coming in.

            “Guess someone still sounded the alarm,” Smart Mouth says. “Tyranno-Shark, you’re up first!”

            Tyranno-Shark surges ahead and storms the pier. Guns open fire but Tyranno-Shark barrels right through them.

            “Alan, start transforming again,” Smart Mouth says. “Jorgenson, Billings, help him with the new gear. Hardwire, lead the way.”

            Once the boat hits the land, Hardwire jumps off and runs forward. He aims his M16, his heart racing and adrenaline pumping. His breathing is fast with it, but he hasn’t even pulled the trigger yet.

            Tyranno-Shark terrorizes the pirates with his swinging tail, stomping feet and chomping teeth, getting blood-curdling screams out of many. Alan has finished becoming Metal-Head again as he steps onto the dock, and both Jorgenson and Billings have cracked open the crates. He doesn’t have his Gatlings from before, and that allows them to place a huge cannon on his shoulder!

            “Aim the Shillelagh at the building they’re pouring out of,” Smart Mouth shouts back to Metal-Head. “Everyone, get clear!”

            “Da hell’s a sha-lay-lee?” Hardwire asks.

            Jorgenson and Billings load a small missile into the fat cannon and Metal-Head tilts the cannon up to aim at the warehouse. Hardwire hops up onto Tyranno-Shark as the sharkosaur runs away to the right.

            “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!”

        Metal-Head fires the missile out of the cannon and it flies into the warehouse. The missile’s explosion causes oil barrels to ignite and explode, and roughly half the building is gone in seconds!

            “Holy SHIT, dude!” Craig says.

            Tyranno-Shark circles back to look at the explosion for himself.

            “Daaayum,” he chuckles. “That’s some good stuff.”

            The surviving pirates stagger from the blast, and panic over the immense firepower of their attackers.

            “Okay, let’s wrap it up,” Smart Mouth shouts to everyone.

            Metal-Head disengages the Shillelagh and continues with just his Vulcans. Tyranno-Shark runs back over and shreds through pirates, with Craig getting a front row seat atop the monster’s back. The gunshots, the crackling fire, the screams, it was overwhelming Craig. Not with fear or distress. The moment was overwhelmingly exciting, and he could feel the grin on his face.

            “I’ll show YOU who’s outrageous!” he shouts.

            Hardwire slides off Tyranno-Shark’s back as he opens fire on the surviving pirates.

 

            The Reciprocity Alpha unit finishes up before Berbera officials come even close to the area. They meet up with Bravo unit on the way back to Egypt. Hardwire looks over and sees they’ve got something new on board.

            “You get that from the Carqaladda?” he asks.

            “To the victors go the spoils, right?” Smart Mouth says. “Whatever they stole from whatever country, it’s ours now.”

            Hardwire nods, agreeing to that. Then he looks over to Alan and Hayden, back in military gear.

            “Y’know,” he says. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot or whatever. You guys were pretty scary out there, but like, in a good way.”

            “Thanks,” Alan says. “You weren’t so bad yourself. For your first day out.”

            “Yeah, whatever,” Hardwire chuckles.

            “Hey, can we get something to eat before we take off again?” Hayden asks Smart Mouth. “I’ve still got the taste of pirate in my mouth.”

            Hardwire and Alan share a laugh, even as Hayden says, starting to chuckle himself, “I’m serious, dude. It sucks.”