This month’s theme:
Corridor & Cereals Part 5 - Superhero Tales

Regular readers know that I occasionally do a column with stories that share titles with the songs of various recording artists. Here’s the fourth part of this seven-part installment, the theme honoring one of my favorite musical duos: Hall & Oates. As of this writing, Daryl Hall and John Oates have recorded 18 studio albums, but they have 28 compilation “best of” albums. It’s nice when labels shamelessly try to make as much money as they can, no matter how silly it looks.

I have occasionally written shorts about my female superhero, Blue Blaze, for Cud Flashes. We’ll start with a big Blue Blaze story, but then we’ll get into a few other superhero characters from her world. And, for the record, yes, I’m writing superhero fiction instead of drawing it because I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Also, since it’s January and Cud’s annual “All Things Lit” issues, we’ll go a little long this time around.

 

“Rocket to God”
Superhero
By David M. Fitzpatrick

Jillian never slept, but she did rest. And she just plain needed a break from all the superhero stuff. When she wasn’t working, she was out stopping crime and getting blasted by supervillains and being run over by killer machines. It was Cole who talked her into a vacation.

“You have to get away from it,” the big African American superhero said. “Take it from me: As Ultrawarrior, I’ve had this default responsibility as the protector of Midway City, and it’s exhausting. But at least I get an actual good night’s sleep. You can’t sleep!”

It was true; one of her superpowers was that she didn’t sleep and couldn’t sleep. She missed dreaming the most, but it was worth it. “You shouldn’t have to take care of the city all by yourself,” she said.

They sat atop the Jasper Building, on the ledge over one hundred stories up. She was in her royal-blue costume with its dark-blue cape, with BB in silver letters across her sizable bosom; she was tall and voluptuous. He wore his trademark red suit and blue cape with a big U on his chest, and he bulged with muscles.

“And since you came around, I haven’t had to. Now, take a weekend off and do nothing! And leave your phone at home. If anything happens, I’ll handle it. If it’s too big for me alone, I’m sure I can call in backup from Keystone or Prime City.”

It was good advice, and she really needed it, so she took off—sans costume, in her hiking gear—and flew five hundred miles away to enjoy three long days of absolute nothingness in the deep woods. She fished, she lounged in her hammock, she slept in her tent—and she caught up on a lot of reading, making it through the entire ten books of Zelazny’s original Amber series. It was the perfect vacation, and when she headed back to Midway City, she felt better than she had in years.

She was twenty miles out when she saw the massive pillar of smoke curling up into the sky above the city. Her heart raced as she realized that something was up; she landed only to ditch her gear and change into her costume. A minute later, she flew over the city and beheld the sight.

There was scorched ground and crumbled concrete everywhere. Ground zero seemed to be the massive stadium for the Midway Blue Sox—the city’s patron team, and a team that favored their like-colored hero, Blue Blaze. Blue Sox Coliseum had one entire side blown out, and above it hovered a convoy of big, black aircraft of some sort, and she recognized the logo on the sides: a crimson demon’s skull, with brilliant yellow flames atop its horned head.  It was the sign of the supervillain mastermind Doctor Orcus.

“What the hell happened?” she wondered aloud.

In the center of the stadium, in shallow center field, sat a giant black orb, gleaming like obsidian and easily a hundred feet across. Littered about the field were dozens of superheroes, all of them staked out on the ground by some sort of intense energy manacles binding their wrists and ankles to the ground. Ultrawarrior was amongst them.

She thought better of engaging and backed off, flying to the distant front lines several blocks away, where police and National Guard were poised, clearly helpless. She found the general in charge.

“It’s a good thing you weren’t here, Blue Blaze,” the general said. “They put up an incredible fight, and we called in heroes to back up Ultrawarrior. But it was a ruse. Doctor Orcus and his minions waited until every hero around was battling it and set off some kind of energy blast. Whatever it was, it affected the powers of each and every one of them, and now they’re helpless.”

“The question is,” Blue Blaze said, “do they have another?”

“We don’t know. But I suggest you go in there not as Blue Blaze. Orcus has agreed to let in medical personnel to check on our heroes. He says he won’t set it off if we give them what they want.”

“Set what off?”

“That big sphere, Blue Blaze. It’s a bomb, and he brought it out after he’d disabled the heroes. It’s big enough to wipe out the entire city. We’ve evacuated everyone, but those helpless heroes are key to the protection of half the country. There are heroes coming to assist, but they won’t be here before the deadline. We have less than an hour.”

*     *     *

She borrowed an EMT’s jumpsuit and found a place to change, and she went into the wrecked stadium with a medical team. Doctor Orcus and his henchmen seemed wholly unconcerned; why not, since they had toppled every hero around?

She found Cole and went to tend to him. He was weak and sweating profusely, but his eyes lit up when he saw her.

“Jillian,” he whispered. “It’s really bad. He used an ultraxis neutralizer of some sort, and on a massive scale. It affected every hero with powers based on ultraxis energy.”

“Do they have another power-stopping energy weapon?”

“I don’t think so. They waited until we were all here. We were on the verge of winning—we’d destroyed twenty of his aircraft. Only what you see remains. No, he waited until the last possible moment before he set that off.”

“Are your powers completely gone?”

“They’re weak. Not enough to break these energy bonds. If you can do it, perhaps I can distract them long enough for you to get that sphere out of here.”

“To where?”

“Off the planet, girl. Out of the atmosphere. Rocket that bad boy to God. If it goes off anywhere close to the surface, who knows what will happen.”

She looked around, nervous. No one was watching. “I’m going to focus my blast on your wrists. It will be like a blowtorch. I’ll keep turning up the power until you tell me to stop. If I can break those energy binds…”

“Do it!”

She reached out with both hands and focused her power into her fingertips. Instead of massive blasts, brilliant blue flames, tiny and intense, lanced out at the bonds. She cranked up the power, and Cole never flinched. She amped it up some more, and finally the bonds broke. She moved quickly to his ankles and repeated it. Soon, he was free.

“Are you okay?”

He flexed on the ground. “Power’s down. I think I can fly. I’ll distract them. You take care of that sphere. But get out of here for a minute—to make sure they don’t have another bomb.”

Ultrawarrior leaped to his feet and launched into the air. He wasn’t his usual high-speed self, but it would do. Almost immediately, the bad guys saw him in the air, and blaster fire erupted from handheld weapons and aircraft. A few shots hit him, knocking him about, but he regained composure and flew on.

Jillian turned on the speed and ran super-fast out of the stadium, several blocks away. Ultrawarrior was about the most powerful hero on the planet; if they had another bomb, they’d have to use it to stop him. She waited a long couple of minutes, until the frustrated bad guys got airborne in several planets to give chase. Ultrawarrior led them away from the city.

Still dressed as an EMT, she launched into the air and rocketed into the stadium. She was only so strong, but she had to lift it with her energy powers. She could surround it with energy like a net, but if they saw her, they’d surely set it off.

She needed a hostage. She looked for Doctor Orcus’ ship; it was the only one that was silver instead of black. She summoned all her power and shot right for it at top speed. Seconds before impact, she targeted the control bay and launched blue blasts from her outstretched hands. This blew a hole clear through the hull, and she was inside. The stunned Doctor Orcus was in his command chair, and he frantically went for a button on the arm, but she was on him before he could touch it.

“Not so fast, Doctor Orcus,” she barked as she grabbed him with both hands. “We’re taking a little trip.”

“How did my ultraxis neutralizer not strip you of your powers?” he cried, but she flew out of the ship with him and to the sphere. She threw him atop it and blasted blue energy at him to create an energy web that stuck him to it.

“Going up,” she said, and she took off, extending her hands. Blue energy waved out and around the massive sphere, even as the bad guys began launching fire at her. She kept changing position to avoid them, but soon the sphere was encased. She kept her connection to it, hand to energy field, and flew up, towing the sphere with her. It was massive and took everything she had, but soon she was streaking up higher and higher.

Aircraft pursued, but now the National Guard was involved. With the threat of the bomb eliminated, fighter jets came in droves, and the enemy fled.

Up she went, and the air was running thin. She was resistant to the cold, but she needed to breathe. So did Orcus, unfortunately. She went close to the limits of easy breathability, and it took a good long while; it had to be close to an hour of flying straight up with the thing before she began gasping. She released her energy field, and then undid the web holding him in place. He slid off the sphere, screaming at her in the thin air, and fell towards Earth.

The sphere was above her, and it began falling, so she braced herself and called on every ounce of power that she could muster. A great blaze of blue energy erupted from her hands, and she pushed against the sphere, even as she flew toward it to keep from going backward. The sphere slowly moved away, and then picked up speed, and she kept laying it on until she thought she was going to pass out.

Far away, it was in low orbit. It wouldn’t fall back immediately. Blue Blaze turned and rocketed earthward as fast as she could go, and she spied Orcus almost at the last moment. She turned on the speed and overtook him, grabbing him seconds before he’d hit the ground. He screamed at her the entire time as she flew him into the custody of the National Guard.

“Keep him away from his ship,” she told the soldiers who cuffed Orcus. “We don’t need him getting his hands on his detonator. In fact…”

She didn’t think she had anything left in her, but she summoned her strength and hit his ship with a containment field. The blue sphere shimmered into existence just as Ultrawarrior flew in.

“The sphere?” he asked.

“I did all that I could,” she said. “It’s in low orbit. Probably won’t last long before it deteriorates. Gravity is a tough thing to break. Are you up for this?”

“I’m a bit weak, but I think we can manage it together—all of us. We’ve freed the others, and we have a lot of heroes itching to take care of this.”

Blue Blaze led America and Canada’s greatest defenders in flight, and she used her energy powers to hoist those who couldn’t fly aloft. With her blue energy, Powerstorm hitting it with kinetic force beams, Blaster using his sonic waves, and Blitz detonating her concussion bombs behind the sphere, they moved it substantially higher, with Blue Blaze and some of the others at a safe distance. When they’d gone as far as they could, the powerhouse fliers took over—Ultrawarrior, still regaining his full strength, joined Pseudomni and Free Radical with a group superpowered push. With those strong arms, on three heroes who could fly into space, they soon evicted it from Earth’s gravitational influence, sending it toward the Sun.

On the ground, the heroes gathered to congratulate each other. Free Radical, who had been Jillian’s personal favorite hero since before Jillian had been hit by ultraxis energy and joined the superhero ranks, shook her hand. “Great job, Blue Blaze. But you look better in your superhero suit.”

She was still wearing the EMT jumpsuit. “Thanks. I should change.”

But Free Radical hadn’t released her hand. The statuesque blonde stood half a head above her, with a shock of short hair spiking out of the top of her head. Through her purple mask she eyed Jillian. “I mean it—you look great in your costume.”

Jillian smiled. There was nothing like being hit on by your personal hero.

“I think we’re overdue for inviting Blue Blaze to join the American Defenders,” Pseudomni said, sauntering up in his white outfit. He was sort of omnipotent, sort of omniscient, and sort of omnipresent. He was omnivorous too, able to eat literally anything.

“I was thinking for our Protectorate,” said Powerstorm, in his costume of yellow and red with silver lines.

“Well, this is called Midway City for a reason,” Blitz said. “Sounds like she should be in both, like Ultrawarrior. And maybe in the Canadian Knights with us as well.”

Jillian sighed. All it took was a big battle like this to be taken seriously by the best of the best. It was a good day.

Free Radical still held her hand, and she pulled her close. “My name’s Diana Grace.”

Secret identity revealed! That was some serious trust. “Jillian James.”

“How about I ditch my costume for street clothes and find some dinner?”

Jillian smiled. It was a good day indeed!

 

“I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”
Superhero
By David M. Fitzpatrick

“I don’t ask for much, Ultrawarrior. I just want to rule this planet.”

Ultrawarrior hovered miles above Midway City, his blue cape fluttering in the wind, dirt still falling off him and into the deep hole in the earth below. The setting sun lit up his red suit like fire. Hovering a few dozen feet from him was his adversary, who was new to the planet barely an hour before. He called himself Superius, and he wore a suit seemingly made of liquid gold, with gloves and boots of liquid silver—his whole body looked like a precious-metal mirror. Instead of hair, brilliant green fire burned atop his head, and his eyes glowed green to match. Around his waist was a formidable belt, like something the entertainment wrestlers wore; it was black like obsidian but somehow glowed faintly blue.

“I can’t go for that,” Ultrawarrior. “No can do, brother.”

Superius smiled. “Why do you resist? I offer this planet benevolent rulership. I mean to unify the humans on this world and bring them everlasting peace.”

“Through cruelty and ferocity. Your first appearance here was marked by the destruction of an entire mountain!”

It was the literal truth. All had been calm, and out of nowhere this supervillain had flown over Midway City, randomly firing green blasts of energy about—destroying statues and monuments, and he’d frightening innocent citizens, all apparently just to get Ultrawarrior’s attention. It had worked, and as soon as Ultrawarrior met him in the skies above, he had flown north, Ultawarrior on his tail, for the sole purpose of destroying Mount Midway. Its peak had always been visible from the outskirts of the city, or from the taller buildings, but with one incredible, focused blast, Superius had leveled it into a sprawling pile of rubble.

“I destroyed the mountain to make my point, Ultrawarrior. Even YOU don’t have such power. Now you know that I do. Unless you want me to turn my power against innocents, you will surrender this planet to me.”

Ultrawarrior considered his very limited options. He was the most powerful hero on the planet, and after the mountain had fallen, he’d engaged Superius in one-on-one combat. Superius had knocked him around nicely—first blasting the red-suited hero three miles away, then firing from above to send Ultrawarrior to the ground, where he mowed down a thousand trees like bowling pins as he bounced through the forest.

Ultrawarrior did learn from those hits. He had to stay away from the massive blasts, so he sidestepped the next attack and got into close quarters. Superius let him land a series of blows, but not one did a lick of damage… and then Superius grabbed Ultrawarrior like a rag doll and threw him into the ground so hard that it took him so work to fight his way back to the surface. That’s when he flew up to meet the villain.

“I let you live,” the being said, as if reading his mind. “I didn’t have to. I could tear your head right off your shoulders, Ultrawarrior. I see great use for you and heroes like you in my new world, serving me to keep humanity in line.”

Superius laughed then, long and condescendingly, throwing his head back and fanning the green flames. “You surely see the end result of this, Ultrawarrior. This is a battle between two powered creatures. You know the extent of my power. You know that I can destroy you. Shall we wait until all of your hero brethren arrive to help you, so that I might destroy them all? Or will you acquiesce, save yourself, and serve me?”

“I can’t do that, Superius,” Ultrawarrior said. “If I have to die fighting you, then that’s what will happen.”

“Then die you will,” Superius said, his green eyes glowing ever brighter, as his silver-gloved hands glowed as he raised them over his head. The gloves glowed blue, even as the black belt glowed blue, as if they were tied together. “This is a battle between titans, and I’m about to show one titan how all his strength won’t matter.”

“Maybe not,” Ultrawarrior said, smiling. “But this isn’t about strength, Superius. It’s about deduction.”

Superius had time to scrunch up his golden brow quizzically before Ultrawarrior attacked. He shot forward faster than the eye could see, but he never landed a punch. He found the release behind the buckle and yanked the belt off. He flew backward, belt in hand, and watched.

Superius’ green eyes widened, but just as quickly the green faded, even as the green fire went out on his head. The silver and gold of his costume melted away, and finally a normal human, rather skinny and non-muscular, was left floating in the sky.

“Nooo!” he screamed, and then he fell.

Ultrawarrior bolted after him, overtaking the man long before he met the ground. A few minutes later, he set down atop the Midway City Police Department’s roof. When he let Superius go, the man crumpled into a heap.

“It made me so powerful, but it… took control of me somehow,” he said. “I… I couldn’t stop myself. All I could think of was taking over the world. How did you know?”

“Being a hero isn’t just about superpowers,” Ultrawarrior said as a roof door opened and a swarm of cops burst through. “It’s about using your head.”

 

“Possession Obsession”
Superhero
By David M. Fitzpatrick

Diana Grace sighed as she listened to her supermodel ex-girlfriend try like hell to win her back. She felt embarrassed that she’d fallen victim to a psycho woman for as long as she had, simply because Carrie was so gorgeous.

“You’re mine, and you always will be,” Carrie said. “You just need to realize it. After all, who knows you better than me? I know that coffee you’re drinking. I know your favorite doughnut.”

The coffee shop was half full of people who were trying to ignore the scene.

“There’s more to me than what I like for coffee and doughnuts, Carrie.”

Diana was a statuesque woman with short blond hair, spiked thanks to some product. Carrie, by comparison, was a bit shorter but a supermodel’s looks and a supermodel’s body, with long auburn hair and makeup that looked like it was put on by a professional artist. It probably had been, at a photo shoot somewhere that day.

“Well, I know that you’re Free Radical!” Carrie said.

“I have a public identity. Everyone knows that.” She wasn’t in costume and didn’t have on her mask, but people always knew who she was when she walked down the streets of Keystone. “I’ve been public since the girlfriend before you outed me to the world.” She still wore the purple mask when in character, though, since she’d worn it for years before her reveal. Diana realized then that she clearly had a pattern of psycho girlfriends. But she was working on that.

“But I know you!” Carrie said. “We’re soul mates! You can’t leave me like this.”

“I’m NOT yours. I left you months ago. You just don’t seem to get the hint.” She leaned over the table. “Carrie, we had a thing. It didn’t work out. I’ve moved on. You need to do the same.”

Carrie’s eyes were watering up; she really was a drama queen. “I suppose you already have a new girlfriend.”

Diana threw up her hands. “You’ve been through three girlfriends since we broke up! I’ve had none. Although I did go on a date with Blue Blaze the other night.”

“That flying blue bitch from Midway City?” Rage took over for the tears. “So I’m not good enough for you because I’m not super-powered? Free Radical only dates women with super-powered genitals and tongues, is that it?”

People were starting to giggle and point. Diana hardly blamed them. Carrie didn’t seem to notice.

“It has nothing to do with that. Now, cut it out. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“I think it does have to do with that.” Carrie stood up and pulled off her jacket. She was all long legs and perky boobs, all hidden under a floor-length loose dress that no supermodel would generally be caught wearing in public. “So this is what I have to do to prove to you that you’re mine. Not all heroes have powers, Diana. Not every hero was exposed to ultraxis energy or uses magic channels. Look at our city’s vigilante trio, the Big Cats—Purple Tiger, Green Lion, and Red Cougar. Those guys just have lots of high-tech toys. And Lady Dark in Prime City, the martial artist and weapons expert.”

Diana sighed again, leaning back in her chair, coffee forgotten. “Lady Dark is a supervillain, Carrie. What’s your point?”

Suddenly, Carrie was pulling her long, loose dress off over her head. And then she stood there in a real superhero-type costume, albeit not a very fashionable one. She wore a bodysuit that was all purple sparkles; over it was a sparkly yellow miniskirt and a sparkly bikini top. She hurriedly pulled a sparkly yellow cap onto her head, low over her face, with eyeholes; then, she grabbed a big purple S and hooked it between her boobs on the bikini top. She struck a pose, hands on hips, while people all over the coffee shop began snapping pictures.

“I’m Sparkles,” she announced. “Do you think it needs a cape? Maybe a short one, like Miss Marvelous?”

“For crying out loud, put your dress back on,” Diana pleaded. “A costume doesn’t make you a hero.”

“I’ll get you back, Free Radical,” Carrie said. “You’ll see that you’re mine. I’ll fight crime and show you!”

Just then, a man burst into the coffee shop, gun drawn, and hollered, “Nobody move! Get the hell down! Gimme all the money in the register!”

Diana sighed again. She couldn’t even have a fight with a crazy ex-girlfriend without having to do her job.

But before she could handle it, Carrie launched into action.

“Not so fast, criminal!” she cried out, and she bolted towards the robber. He turned, surprise on his face, and trained his gun on her.

Free Radical came out of her seat at super speed and zipped around Carrie before the crook could pull the trigger. She snatched the gun out of his hand and crushed it in one of hers as he looked on, terrified. She moved like lightning to spin him around, land him on the nearest table face down, rush over to yank down a curtain, and zip back to tie him up. He never knew what hit him.

“Hey, no fair, Diana!” Carrie whined, stomping her foot. “I was supposed to stop him! That was the plan!”

“Than plan?” Diana cried.

“The gun wasn’t loaded!” the subdued criminal hollered. “She paid me to do this. She was supposed to take the gun from me and I’d run away. That was all!”

Diana turned on Carrie, seething. The would-be superhero Sparkles seemed to be realizing her mistake.

“How did it not occur to you that I’d intervene?” she cried.

“I… I don’t know…” Carrie tried, looking like a lost little girl.

“Oh, never thought of that,” said the criminal.

“We will NEVER work out together,” Diana snapped at her. “It’s not just that yo’re a selfish, unreasonable, and stupid person. It’s that you’re insanely, obsessively possessive. Don’t ever talk to me again.”

She moved again at super speed, and when she was done, Carrie was face down on another table, hogtied in her own long dress. Sirens were sounding; the police were on their way, so Diana tossed some bills on the counter to pay for the coffee and curtain, and headed out.

She took off from the sidewalk, eager now, more than ever, to fly to Midway City to enjoy another date with Jillian “Blue Blaze” James.

*   *   *

“Sparkles, eh?” the booking cop said with a laugh. “Shoulda stuck to the runway, lady.”

Carrie felt so ashamed. But more than that, she was furious at Diana for humiliating her and landing her in jail.

“Runway,” she said under her breath.

She liked the sound of that. She needed some work, but she vowed right then to become Free Radical’s worst nightmare. She had countless millions from her modeling career; no reason she couldn’t put all that money to work.

“Runway,” she breathed. “Nice name…”

 

“Say It Isn’t So”
Superhero
By David M. Fitzpatrick

Michael Tandy was en route to his destination in his car when he saw the alien space fighter streaking over Megalopolis. People were screaming in the streets, and the whole thing looked menacing.

“Say it isn’t so,” he muttered to himself.

But there were no other super-powered heroes handy that day in New Boston, he knew, so he had no choice. He pulled his car into the nearest lot and changed into his costume at high speed. It was a bodysuit of equal parts yellow and red, with silver lines down legs and arms, around his belt, and on his mask.

Powerstorm wasn’t the most powerful hero in the world, but he had a key ability that made him tough to beat. It wasn’t the kinetic beams that he could blast from his hands, or use to grab and manipulate objects. It wasn’t the fact that he could fly at two hundred miles per hour; that didn’t even put him in serious running for fastest powered flier. It wasn’t his strength, which allowed him to lift a big truck where Ultrawarrior could pick up and throw entire big-truck dealership without breaking a sweat. It was his phasing.

That’s what saved him as the twin missiles bore down on him, launched from the black fighter sent by Kayoss, the renegade Ractonian with ongoing designs on conquering Earth. He couldn’t outrun them, and as the plasma missiles bore down on him, he hovered in the sky, waiting for them to arrive. At the last moment, he phased out, and the missiles impacted each other and exploded. It was a bizarre feeling to have the explosions happen essentially inside him, but he flew up and away from the shockwave and unphased.

“I can’t keep this up,” he muttered to himself. The fighter was too fast. He could stay phased, but he couldn’t affect the fighter that way. It was time for some fancy moves. Hopefully he could get this over with and get on to his original destination.

The fighter, shaped a bit like an angular arrowhead, had banked wide and was circling back towards him. He let it come. It was a matter of maximum power combined with sleight of hand. He had to slow the thing down. He took off, flying at his top speed, and looked back to see the fighter closing on him. It was almost upon him when it let loose with laser blasters. He phased to let the blasts pass through him, and waited until the fighter closed even closer.

He spun about, unphasing, and let loose with all the concussive force he could muster. He hit the fighter hard enough to slow it down, but not enough to crush it, which he could have. It kept coming, ever slower, pushing against his kinetic waves like a bird fighting its way through a hurricane. And soon its nose was right there.

In one swift motion, Powerstorm shut down the kinetic wave, phased, and unphased a split second later—inside the fighter, in the open bay behind the small cabin where the pilot and gunner worked.

“That’s how we do that, folks,” Powerstorm cracked wise, as the reptilian aliens spun about in surprise.

He extended his hands behind him and let loose with a massive kinetic blast. The fighter shuddered violently as the force shut down the engines. He then strode forward and let loose on the control panel. The aliens screamed and dived aside as he blew the controls to bits.

The fighter plummeted Earthward at a steep angle, and the aliens tumbled around inside the cabin. He caught them in kinetic holds, pulled them toward him, and phased all three of them. The fighter passed through them seconds before impacting in the forest below, with Powerstorm holding his prisoners aloft.

He passed fire copters en route to the crash site, and soon he set down on the steps of the Megalopolis City Jail, dumping the reptilian aliens onto the stone steps as a horde of guards came running out.

“You picked the wrong guy to mess with,” Powerstorm said. “This whole thing has made me very late for an important event. If I don’t make it in time… well, I guess I’ll do nothing, since I’m the good guy. But can’t you guys have a little respect for others when you pull this invasion crap?”

He flew back to the alley where he’d left his car—but it was gone, likely towed away. “Say it isn’t so,” he muttered to himself again, resisting the urge to punch the brick wall of the building next to him.

He took off and flew as fast as he could home. He phased himself to the maximum, so that he was effectively invisible, before streaking over his neighborhood and flying through the roof of the house and landing his bedroom. He threw on clothes as fast as he could and took off again, through the roof and over the city until he found his destination.

Michael landed behind the building, out of sight, and hurried around to the side door to the gymnasium. He threw it open just as the crowd launched into thunderous applause. He could see the musicians on stage, taking bows.

He went back outside and slumped against the outside wall of the gym. “Say it isn’t so,” he said.

*   *   *

Michael waited outside for the crowds to thin, waiting for her to join him. He was sitting on a bench under a bronze statue of the school mascot, the Megalopolis High School #127 Rhinos, when she arrived. She sat down next to him, music stand in her hand, and set the flute case next to her. Neither said a word for a while. She was about sixteen.

“My solo was great,” she said.

“I’m so sorry, Judy,” he said. “I was on my way. I would have been here.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Bad guys?”

He nodded. “Aliens in a spaceship. Another Kayoss attack.”

“And you got them?”

“Yeah. But…”

“No buts.” She sat up, turning and smiling at him. “It was tough growing up with you always missing stuff, and thinking that you hated me. But since I learned that you’re Powerstorm, I get it. Bad things happen. Criminals hold hostages who need to be rescued. Aliens show up in spaceships. If you missed my performance because you had to rescue a little girl’s cat in a tree, I’d be totally fine with it. I’m incredibly proud that you’re my dad.”

He put his arm around her and they hugged. “That doesn’t change the fact that it kills me every time I miss something that’s important to you, kiddo.”

“That’s okay. You can make it up to me like no other father can to his daughter.”

*   *   *

He flew her all over. She loved phasing through mountains and flying through forests… really through them, with the instinctive terror of always thinking you’re always going to hit a tree, but always just passing through them.

It still wasn’t the same as being there for her big moments, he knew. He was just lucky to have a daughter who knew who he was, and understood why what he did was important.

 

“Adult Education”
Superhero
By David M. Fitzpatrick

“Foolish children,” Lady Dark sneered as she stood on the rooftop, surrounded by the three costumed heroes. “I’ll show you the error of your ways.”

She wore a skintight black suit that covered every inch of her body. Even her mask covered all but her eyes. She struck a pose, ready to fight. Surrounding her were the good guys trying to take her down: Purple Tiger, Green Lion, and Red Cougar. They were heroes of the night, and their colors were very dark: a dark violet in slightly alternating stripes, a deep forest green including the even darker mane about his head, and a dark maroon. Otherwise, their suits were identical, including the cat-eared helmets that they wore.

“Give it up, Lady Dark,” Red Cougar called. “There are three of us and one of you.”

“So childish,” she said. “Take me down, then.”

The Big Cats attacked, diving and rolling as they surreptitiously released their minidrones. The drones, the size of hummingbirds, were tossed as small spheres but immediately unfolded propellers and whizzed toward their target. Red Cougar’s drone flashed to blind Lady Dark, followed by Green Lion’s drone detonating in a smoke cloud at her feet. Then Purple Tiger’s drone shot out mini-grapples that grabbed her wrists and then pulled them together like handcuffs.

The Big Cats finished their acrobatics and came to their feet in fighting poses. Lady Dark laughed at them.

“Silly toys,” she said. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

She popped a blade apparently from nowhere and sliced her bonds free.

“We CAN do better than that,” Red Cougar said.

The Big Cats went into action, a whirlwind of diving and rolling and spinning. They released drone after drone at their target, and the air was filled with them. Then they zipped in to attack.

Lady Dark was ready, leaping into the air and seeming to defy gravity as she went. She kicked at a drone, punched at another, produced nunchaku from another hidden spot and lashed out at others. The drones attempted to deploy their payloads, but none landed. There were more flashes, more smoke bombs, and more attempts to bind her. A second wave included those with pepper spray, sleep gas, and even a neurotoxin. She was a machine, destroying every one of them, and forcing the Big Cats to repeatedly dive away from their own exploded payloads. When it was over, the smoke cleared and the Big Cats still faced off with an unstopped villain.

“Huh,” Green Lion said in thoughtful surprise.

“We can take her,” Purple Tiger said, and he charged forward. His brothers followed.

The next minute was the most painful that any of them had ever endured. Not one of them landed a punch or kick; she ducked or blocked every attack, and followed up with a successful counterattack. With a final rush of a jump kick to Green Lion, a spin kick to Purple Tiger, and a leg sweep and gut kick to Red Cougar, she laid all three of them out in groaning agony. Lady Dark stood over their fallen forms, laughing maniacally at them.

“Now we’ll rid the city of your annoying presence, children,” she said, and from the back of her belt she produced two knives that quickly lengthened into swords. She wielded them, ready to destroy the fallen heroes.

Out of nowhere, a shimmering ball of light streaked in and impacted Lady Dark, who went down into a crumpled heap, out cold. The Big Cats clambered to their feet, looking up in surprise. There was nothing there.

“Okay, Obscura,” Red Cougar called out to the night. “We know it’s you.”

Above them, Obscura became visible. She wore a white bodysuit, but it was her legendary black cloak that could render her invisible—and teleport her, as needed.

“You’re lucky I happened by,” she said, descending to the rooftop, smiling from the frame of her curly black hair. “Lady Dark would have killed you all. But she was right about something: You were behaving a bit like children.”

“We’re not children,” Green Lion snarled.

“Then learn a grown-up lesson tonight,” Obscura said as she met the three of them. “You are way out of your league. Your high-tech toys are very good; you’ve taken down a number of bad guys over the last two years. But you need to know when you’re outmatched, and she’s too much for you. Clearly, you need to think outside the box and come up with drones that make distance attacks. But you also need a lot more training in close-combat fighting, and with weapons in particular, if you want to take on the likes of her.”

“We thought we could handle it, but we were wrong,” Red Cougar admitted. “Thanks for having our backs.”

“You know what you need?” she asked, an amused smile on her face. “You three brothers need someone who is by far a better martial artist than any of you.”

“Don’t say it,” Purple Tiger said.

“She’s also skilled with weapons, where you are not.”

“Please, no,” Green Lion pleaded.

“And I know you don’t like that she’s not into the high-tech stuff like you boys are, but that’s where your different skills can benefit each other.”

Red Cougar sighed. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

Obscura smiled wide, and willed her shadow cloak to render another person visible. Next to her, another person in a cat costume appeared, smiling from under her cat-eared helmet. She wore a similar outfit, only it was a dark blue. Nunchaku were holstered in her belt, as were twin sais; dual swords were on her back. She held a quarterstaff in one hand.

“Hey, big brothers,” she said with a broad smile.

The three Big Cats groaned.

“She’s barely eighteen,” Green Lion said.

“You’re all not much older,” Obscura said. “Time to make the adult decision and know what’s best for the Big Cats.”

Their sister strode forward. “It’s Blue Panther. And the first one of you who calls me Blue Pussy gets his butt kicked, like I’ve done to you since I was twelve.”

“We’ll live to regret this,” Purple Tiger said.

“But you’ll live,” Obscura said, and she rose up into the air. “Don’t stay out late, boys.”

“We won’t, Mom,” Red Cougar said.

 

David M. Fitzpatrick is a fiction writer in Maine, USA. His many short stories have appeared in print magazines and anthologies around the world. He writes for a newspaper, writes fiction, edits anthologies, and teaches creative writing. Visit him at www.fitz42.net/writer to learn more.