RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block Hero Revolution [Leave the Past Buried]

Somewhere, it could be anywhere.

Everything is white. The rooms are each the same, no difference, size, lighting, even the same cream off white paint.

Lights, way too bright.

Men, some white, others dark skinned, are pacing across a hallway between the small cells. They all have something in common, gloves, a lab coat, gas masks, all cold and serious.

Pressing a button that seems to blend into the wall, a huge door opens, revealing a room no small than two football fields, also very well lit. Tables are lined up across the room, men, women, its, and animals are up top them, all faceless to us, strangers.

A tall stern man steps across the room, stopping before an older dark male, with a well-groomed beard.

“The subjects?”

“Secured. Out cold. Chips implanted. The last few years will seem like nothing more than a dream to them. If somehow they do regain their memories, a failsafe will be set off. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. The ‘Revolution’ is over. They are under our command.”

“Excellent. Any difficulties?”

“Only the over large brute, his skin was very dense, but after hours of chipping away layer after layer, we got through.”

“Time for our new members to be tested. Pin them up against each other, I want to see their power limits. I want to see blood.”

“Yes sir.”

[ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: Chewy Walrus ]

It gave him a headache.
He tried to close his eyes...only to discover, they were allready closed.

He felt heavy.
His sense of self was decentralized.
He no longer had a core.

Where...?

He decided to open his eyes.

A blurry vision of confusing lights met him.
A shadow...a blurry white being bent over him with huge eyes, reflecting the torturing light.

A motion to his left revealed the being wasn´t alone.

Slowly the blurr faded away.....only to be replaced by unfamiliarity, confusion and a sense of loss.

strange that, what could he have lost?
He knew he had all he needed here.
The huge eyed being was actually a man with glasses, clad in a doctor´s robe.

they seemed to be trying to communicate with him...their mouths was moving, but he couldn´t hear anything.

"%/¤)// ¤¤/ /&%##%//&%##&oon be back to normal" said one of them.

He could understand him...he showed no sign of it though.
Better to wait and try to piece everything together.

Where was he?
How did he get there?
What purpose did this place have?
He pretended not to respond to their requests...
He willed himself back to sleep....

"?"

"During a recent operation, your plane was shot down over enemy territory."

"..."

"You were taken hostage, tortured. Everyone else was killed. We managed to save you. Your injuries were bad, and we did the best we could."

"..."

"You had deep cuts in your throat, internal bleeding. Your voice box was punctured."

"..."

"I'm sorry soldier, but you might never be able to speak another word in your life."

"!"

[ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: GoozX ]

I'm trying to desperately to remember things that I do know, because there's a whole lot that I don't right now.

I am twenty years old.

That's it. The more that I can be certain of, the less there is to be uncertain of. Relatively speaking.

I live in Melbourne, Australia.

An example of things I'm not certain of...

Why in the name of Moses in a cowbell am I in an entirely white room that is flooded entirely with white light?

The last thing I remember, I was headed off to Mandelovia for a relaxing holiday in Europe.

I know that. What I don't know is, how I got between there and here...

I need another example of something I know. For sure. A cold, hard fact. Something I can be certain of.

It's the year 2083. I know that much for sure.

It was here, in his bed, just before I went out to search for sex.

And now... he's gone. Just like the other.

But even if he's gone, I still can feel him.

His smell. And also the weird smell of Naecken. The funny smell of Mxy. The strange smell of the new gal, Sonja. The bad smell of the small guy, Chimp. The relative normal smell of Kristogar and LLance. And the absence of smell of Danny.

Plus something else. Smell of disinfectant.

Bah. Anyway.

But I am hungry. Very hungry. Sex makes you very hungry.

I must find Tobias, so he will fed me. And to find Tobias, I have only to follow his trail.

Mew.

Lights so bright the eyes must stay close.

So it is like to be in the darkness.

Darkness.

And voices.

First voice: “Who is she?”

Second voice: “There were no identity cards or documents. Nothing”.

“Powers?”

“No one. She’s not a metahuman”

“You are saying that her metagene has not yet reached fullest potential?”

“No, I am saying that she has not an active metagene. Like you or me. She’s a common people”.

“Impossible. What she was doing with them?”

“I have some ideas. There are clues. Her fingertip have been erased by laser surgery. Her retinas have been replaced. It suggest she’s a spy”.

“From our side?”

“I made some research. No data about her.”

“Mossad? Russian intelligence? China, maybe? She looks oriental. What about her big tattoo?”

“I had experts studying it. It shows no resemblance to any kind of known image of a demon. And they have stated that the pigment is of a totally unknown kind”.

“Have you any idea about where she does come from?”

“I bet she’s a Mandelovian agent. After all, she joined them in Mandelovia.”

“Good. It’s time to show those techno-freaks what’s their place on Earth. Beginning with this chick!”

No more voices.

Only a darkness so bright.

[ 02-09-2002: Message edited by: Sonja ]

Fine. I'll just look the other way.


And then Mick Harrison opened his eyes. The uneasy feeling he was having was explained when he realized he was lying in a bed in a room that wasn't his own.

He sits in the bed and starts looking around him. He's in a woman's room, that's for sure. Is it possible that he got lucky last night, he thinks? Nah, he would remember that...

Then the door opens, and a beatiful woman walks in. He thinks he'd definitely remember that.

"Mick, you're awake! Thank God... I was starting to get worried..." she says.

She starts yapping and yapping about how she saw him in the circus and how she read about him and his friends in the paper and how he is an hero and how worried she was for him... but he doesn't listen. He's just looking at her.

When he overcomes the initial shock of her beauty, he starts thinking something is deeply wrong here... she talks as if they had met before but, again, he'd remember her. She's obviously concerned about him too... why? Who is she?

She opens his mouth to ask that question, but instead all he gets is an annoying pain in his throat. And he remembers.

She notices he seems to be in pain and asks "Mick? Are you ok?"

He answers by pointing at his mouth.

"What? Y-You can't talk...?"

He nods.

"Oh my God... What happened...? I mean, I'm sorry, I... take this..." she says as she hands paper and a pen to him "Tell me the whole story... I wanna know"

How did he ever forget her, he thinks? Then he starts writting:
"The last thing I can remember is being in my place in Chicago, with my roomate. Next thing you know, I'm in a Mandelovian Hospital. Some guy was telling me that I was in a plane that was 'shot down over enemy territory', taken hostage and tortured. He said that they managed to rescue only me, and they did all they could but the cuts in my throat were too deep and I'd never never talk again. He said I was taken to Mandelovia because the terrorists had kept me near the border. Then I was released from the hospital. I just started walking on the streets, still shocked and confused, until I realized how much this whole thing sucked. I went to a bar. I sat there for hours wishing I could get drunk (the doctor told me to drink only water for 3 months)... Then, I guess I did... I don't know, I think I passed away..."

"Oh my God..." she says horrified after reading what he wrote "I-I found you uncouncious on the street and took you here... My God, that is horrible... And you say you don't remember any of that happening? Wait, they only rescued you...? Your friends died...?"

He looks at her with a puzzled look on his face. He takes the paper and pen again and writes:
"What friends? My band?"

"Oh my God you don't remember that either... you poor thing..."

She thinks that he was probably on a mission with his group of Revolutionaries and they were captured by some anti-Metahuman group. She thinks the shock of being tortured caused him amnesia. She thinks he doesn't remember meeting her, or what a great hero he is.

"Don't worry, Mick" she says "I'm gonna take care of you..."

[ 02-10-2002: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

"Mick Harrison?" he interrupted the short man in mid-sentence.

"Oh yes, after we 'neutralized' his power source, we dropped him back off where he came from. As an untrained human, he is useless. A waste of our time."

"I agree. The girl?"

"A spy. She was not on any of our records. We suspect that she joined at some point after our trip back. She was never supposed to join. Either way, she can be of much use to us. A pleasant surprise if you will."

"The subject matter at hand. Daniel Hearn?"

"He has gone through the process. We wiped his short-term memory. He will make an excellent addition to our organization, after all..."

The bearded man smiled, enjoying what he was hearing.

"...it was not nice of Dr. John Feldman to betray us like that. Not nice at all."

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: GoozX ]

"Excuse me," the first man says, the very tone of his voice commanding utmost respect.

"Yessir?" the tech mutters, a bit nervous.

"Have our new procurements been set into the 'arena' yet?" the man asked, pulling back thin strands of salt-and-pepper hair.

"Uh, no, sir..." the tech began, averting his eyes from his superior's glare. "You see, sir, we're having a bit of a problem refurnishing what was once an old loading dock into a proper area for hosting metahuman bouts..."

"I don't want excuses..." the man snarled, his voice dripping with both vengence and urgency. "I've waited numerous years for this, do you understand? Now, you get that arena set up or your neck will be next on my chopping block, understood?!"

"Yessir!" the man replied, scurrying off to perform his duty. As the younger man disappeared from sight, the older pulled a small mirror from his coat pocket.

Opening it carefully, he examined the large bags that had been under his eyes for some time. He sighed a sigh of the weary as he rubbed his hand along the length of his face.

"What have you become?" he muttered almost silently. "Why?"

After pausing a few more seconds, the man shook his head, straightened his posture, as he had been taught to do since boyhood, and continued his trek down the hall. As he walked, he checked the information on his data pad...

...and smiled.

Today, he thought, is a good day to change the world...

He shuffled through his pants pocket, pulling out a flat silver watch, aged with time. Engraved on it, the letters AR.

Nodding his head he continued his journey. Walking past many men and women. Walking directly towards a high wall covered in white light. Never stopping, he simply walked right through the wall, the light seemed to engulf him. Waiting on the other side, a man whom he has known all his life. A man one could only wish to work with, let alone be respected by. His weathered features speaking volumes of his life, yet not even cracking the surface of the full story. His story.

"Sir." The bearded man began talking, his body straightening, showing his respect for the man only feet away from him.

"Yes, Reynolds, how are our guests?"

"Everything is going on schedule. Our weapons, technology made it impossible for them to fight back. They never knew what happened. And now they will not. Ever."

"Good job M'boy, good job. Your Father would be proud."

Reynolds held back emotion, just as he had learned while growing up, but the words spoken meant a great deal to him. The man speaking them, with his years of wisdom, learning, and discovery, the long thin scar on his left cheek showing his struggle.

"The technician should be finished any minute, than the power tests can begin."

"Lets see what our new 'players' are made of..."

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: GoozX ]

I must say that I have crossed the path of many other cats (and kittens ) and no one of them was sensing the same odours I did. “You are smelling ghosts” they kept saying me. I wonder if it’s Tobias’ smell, or something totally different, that I feel.

Anyway, I have trough many plains, woodlands, mountains, along a big road where many cars and trucks run very fast.

Tobias, where are you?

Mew.

"No!"

"PETE!"

"No! Yer not dere yer not real!"

"PETE, YOU MUST LISTEN TO ME!"

"GEDDAFUGAWAYFROMMEE!!! Yer not real! Yer not real! Yer not real!"

"I am VERY real, Pete! Listen to me! You've been... well, brainwashed! They're trying to use you against your new allies!"

"I DUNNO WHAT YER TALKIN' 'BOUT! T'AIN'T ANYTHING 'A DO 'BOUT ME NONE, BUDDY!"

"Oh, Pete..."

And the disembodied spirit of Kristofer Schanz stopped and shook his head as the short man fell into a fetal position just trying to make the voice in his head go away...

In a observatory linked to the room by cameras, a team of scientists were watching his every move.

"Are you sure those bands will hold him down?"
I´m quiet certain of it. He´s been observed to only have lifted about a ton and a half once. These bands will take much more than that,"

Naecken got irrtated, and the bands snapped as he increased his preassure on them.
"Impossible!. He´s free. Are you sure those bands were properly fitted?"
"Yes, I oversaw the whole thing myself."

Naecken felt a bit stiff, so he stretched himself and then knocked on the door.

No reply.

He waited a while then knocked again.
"Is anyone there?"

"Hmmm, he seems civilized at least. I thought you said he was a brute?"
"He is a brute, just look at that monstrosity. How could he have been capable of breaking those bands? They are all monsters...you know that!"
"Yes, well...lets just calm down now and observe what he does, shall we hmmm?"
"You´re right ofcourse. Sorry. I get abit carried away with this sometimes. I wonder how long until he tries to break the door?"
"You have it charaged as planned?"
"Ofcourse, hehe."

Naecken punched through the white metal plated door, only to find himself caught in a electric grid trap.
Energy was coming out of the door posts, trapping him in a electric prison.

"Aaarrrrrrh!!!"
He tried to move, but he felt numb all over.
That made him mad, so he lashed out with a foot, and kicked the door post to pieces.

"Amazing! He still fights on. That grid should have put a whole elephant to sleep, if not killed it."
"Aaah, but it´s not over yet." said the other scientist with a grin. " He still hasn´t found the way out."

The electric grid shorted out and he was free.
He stumbled out into a long white corridor.
At the far end he was met by a huge thick metal door, almost like a bank vault door.

He hammered on it with his fists to no avail.
Taking a moments breather, he then used his full force to smash it with one straight punch.

The door broke in three parts, crashing into a second similair door behind it.

"Oh...we seem to have a slight problem on our hands , gentle men. Our probe is showing signs of being discarded by his bodys immune system, or whatever it isthat he has."
"Will that affect his memory?"
"I`m not sure...he seems to be a very physical man. Maybe his brain isn´t as adaptable as his body...i hope."

The second door proved to be even less of a obstruction for the now furious Naecken who roared;

"Eurostar!!!, Nowhere Man!!! Danny!!!! My friends where are you!!!?."
Desparate tears were flowing from his eyes...where were his only friends?
Why had he been abandoned here?

He walked to the corridors end, when suddenly gas filled the chamber...and a strange humming noise was heard.

"Have you activated the capture device?"
"Yes...he wont know what hit him...just like the last fourteen times he tried this."
"We will prepare the mind wipe again."

Then, I sensed something else. Another odour. Mick’s own. I began following it.

And now, weeks after, finally I have found him. In a hospital, in the place I heard Tobias calling Mandelovia. Beautiful place, full of horny kittens.

But I have no time for sex. I must find Tobias.

Mick is in a hospital bed. I can see him trough his window, which is in front of a tall tree which I crept on. Now, if only he could see me.

Mew.

One day, Shirley found a cat scratching her apartment's door. It seemed hungry so she took it into the house to feed him.
As soon as Mick saw the cat he jumped.

"What?" Shirley asked "Are you allergic or something?"

Mick picked up the block he kept next to his bed and wrote "I know that cat!!!"

"Y-You do...?!" Shirley said, excited "You recognize him?! Is your memory coming back?!"

"No" Mick wrote "I saw him while I was in the Hospital. I saw him staring at me from outside the window several times. I'm sure it's the same cat."

"Oh..." Shirley said, dissapointed, after reading. They decided to keep the cat with them anyway.

Shirley thought that maybe Mick needed a little help to start remembering the last few months.

"Mick" she said to him, as she showed him a paper "Does this bring back any memories?"

Mick examined the picture in the paper. Several weird looking men were fighting another group of men dressed in black, like goverment agents. There were several helicopters in the sky. One of the weird looking men was floating in the air and the trees around him seemed to be alive.

Mick shaked his head.

"Are you sure?" Shirley said "Look at this man... doesn't he look familiar?"

She was pointing at the man floating in the air. Mick took a closer look at him.
He was wearing a large coat and a top hat. His face was barely visible because of the bright light that was coming from his eyes.

Mick shaked his head again.

Not recognizing his own picture was a bad sign, Shirley thought. She said to herself that she'd do anything to make him remember who he is.

Of course, she doesn't know that, if she succeeds, Mick's head will blow up because of the chip...

Meanwhile, every time Mick falls sleep he hears the same voice, asking him to "open the door"...

"We have detected a meta prescence of the 5th class level...It must be him."

"Okay proceed with capture and send him back. He doesn´t belong here. I´ll send you there with a D-Ball."

"As you wish. But...?"

"Yes?"

"Why can´t you do it yourself?"

"I must not come in contact with that version of myself yet. It would be...dangerous."

"For the timeline?"

"Eh...yes. Mmmmmm...send Cat, The Khan Twins and Crystal. They should be enough for him and the troops."

"I´m on it."

Falling.

I’m still falling.

In the darkness.

Total darkness.

Is death this?

Falling forever in the darkness, still sentient, unable to stop, unable to stand back.

Falling forever.

In the darkness.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A light?

The light at the end of the black tunnel than I was expecting after my death?

It’s a glowing point, enlarging second after second.

“Wrong!” says a voice.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“You said seconds. In this realm, the term seconds has no meaning.”

“So this is the afterlife. Who are you? Saint Peter?”

“Ah ah! No, I am not. You are not dead, and this is not the afterlife.

“No? Where are we?”

Suddenly, the glow takes the form of a man, which, with the ample gesture of a magician, put the darkness behind himself, like a cape.

In place of the infinite black, appears a shining metropolis, with medieval towers next to modern skyscrapers and futuristic building made of energy walls. Every kind of vehicles runs on the streets or flies in the sky, and people dressed in every fashion style walks around.

“Welcome to Time City, Eurostar.”

I must find him, and I need these humans to help me.

The girl has shown Mick a picture of the circus. Mick has shown fear in front of the photo, but the girl shouldn’t be scared of it.

So, I take the newspaper in my mouth, and take it to the girl.

“Oh, little cat, I know, I know! But Mick don’t want to see that picture. I’ve tried, but it seems a fever takes him when he sees the photo.”

This woman is not smart, but she’s only a human, after all.

Still with the newspaper in my mouth, I leap on her legs, then I jump down and walks across her feet.

“Ehy, ehy, what are you doing?”

I can’t talk, stupid human.

“Wait! The circus! Do you want we go to the circus?”

Finally!

Mew.

"Captain, we a have a confirmed launch, from the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica, Sir!"
"Okay. Alert Command, and await orders. This time we will capture those metas."
"Uhhh Sir? The last time we fought one of those spheres, we allmost lost our ship. Is this the right...?"
"Yes! Ever since that bastard took that continent and claimed it as his own, he´s been totally unreachable. This time we take a few of his men to drain some information out of them."
"Whatever you say, Sir"

And sleeping, she thinks.

She thinks about the past.

The days in the National Institute for Paranormal Investigation in Minsk. Her graduation. Her enlisting in the ESP section of the Russian army. The creation of the F.A.U.S.T. project.

Her first descent in Hell.

The quest for the Grey gateways.

The second trip in Hell, and the meeting with Belieel.

The Putlin fiasco.

And finally the Malaysian incident investigation. Many days spent on a little island, under the radioactive fallout of an atomic experiment gone bad, without finding any true clues to previously seen demonic and angelic apparition.

And finally her superiors assigning her to a mission to West Europe.

But if she tries to think about it, she feels her temperature quickly rising to an unbearable level.

So she stop to thinks, and fall into a dreamless sleep.

[ 02-13-2002: Message edited by: Sonja ]

I am sitting in a chair, on the balcony of an outstanding villa, all covered in pink marbles, in the shining city of Time City.

After the glowing man disappeared, a XVIII century chariot arrived, driven by some sort of future robot, and brought me here.

A butler made way for me to this place, offered me a drink, that I, still in ghost form, I wasn’t able even to take it in my hand, and then went away.

An undetermined amount of time passed before the butler returned, announcing the arrival of Hir, a name I heard before, but that at the moment didn’t ring a bell in my head.

And “Hir” finally arrives. It’s a very peculiar being. Definitely humanoid, but with feature so undefined that it is impossible to determine his sex. And a… plastic and metal look that denounces its being a robot.

“Mr. Daneel Olivaw, I suppose” I say, smiling, standing up from my chair.

The artificial being stop for a moment, than says: “R. Daneel Olivaw, created by Isaac Asimov, in the novel The Caves of Steel, XX century Earth, science fiction. No, I’m not him, but you are not really far. I am the Time Trust, Edulcore Cicciotto”.

“My pleasure. Is this Heaven or Hell?” Then the name hit the right part of my brain. “Wait… the Time Trust, you said? I have heard that name… at Malvan-X, from Doctor Quantos! With the future myself!”

“Just I said earlier, Cicciotto, future, like past or present, have no significance here.”

“What’s this place? Why did you bring me here?”

“Cicciotto, this is Time City. It’s a place outside the timestream, a city where the heroes finds rest when they are tired of their adventure. It’s a legendary place, known with different names across the universes and the eons: Atlantis, Avalon, Hi Breasyl, Mu, Tanelorn, Numinor, Zipangu, New York…”

“New York is real!” I protest.

“For you, in your particular time and place. Just like Atlantis has been for the humans of the year –20000, in a different Earth than yours. But New York is a legend for many Earths, and many epochs. For your second question: I need you. Better: the timestream needs you. You should know.”

“You mean… I am here to take the role of the future Eurostar?”

“Future is a word with no meaning. I need you for some mission, just like I use many other heroes for others one”.

“Why?”

“Why I’ve chosen you? Because your friends, and yourself, trust you. Sending another one, or myself, could cause/have caused/will cause diffidence in your friends, with possible paradoxes and such”.

“But why me, and not, let’s say, Kristogar?

“You are the leader, Eurostar. Your friend are accustomed to hear you and trust you”.

“Who is the leader now? I mean, after me, who… ehm… was/is/will be the leader of our band?”

The android slightly smiles at my choice of verbs. “The first choice was to not have a leader.”

“And then?”

“Only time knows, Edulcore.”

“But you are time!”

“Yes. But I’m not telling” says the Time Trust, smiling.

Simulation: Level 3 - City Streets New York City, year 2002.

Participants: Danny Hearn, Sonja, Pete Glover, Naecken, Kristogar Velo, Larry Lance and Tobias Christophen.

Note: All participants have been placed in a VR Reality much like where they came from. Each believes that someone or something is after them. Hearn is very unstable, we believe his recent time traveling compiled with the chip in his head is reacting bad, a close eye must be kept on him.

Begin.

[ 02-15-2002: Message edited by: GoozX ]

I am in front of the Time Trust. He has asked me to being his ally for an undetermined number of missions.

“I have some questions” I say.

“Talks.”

“You are asking me to be your Champion. Asking, like I can refuse. But I know that I will, I have seen myself doing that, back in Mandelovia. So, what kind of choice is this?”

“You can refuse, and I will ask your help in an infinite other moments of your existence. Or I will ask to an infinite number of your parallel existence. I will find one.”

“Oh. I see. How many mission I will have to perform?”

“It’s not for you to know. But you will always have the right to stop to work for me.”

“When I will chose to come back to my time, I will remember my time outside the timestream?”

“No.”

“OK. I accept. At one condition. Can I ask you something in exchange?”

“Of course. Three things, like in all the best tales.”

He rose and brushed the filth away.
Looking around, he saw the lights reflected in the rain puddles on the streets.

A can clattered further down the alley...He had been found!

He began to sprint, looking backwards at intervalls.

He reached the street were people made frowning annoyed faces at him.

"Look at that! Disgusting."
"Mum...is that a bagman?"
"It´s called a baglady...and no, thats just a bum."

He stopped infront of a store window, and looked at himself.
His coat had certainly seen better days, and his trousers were beyond hope. The legs were blackened by street mud and other filth.
He certainly needed to shave.
Luckily his dark skin made him look cleaner that he was.

"You better move on, Sir!" a hard voice from behind commanded.
He turned and saw a police officer opening his car door, to walk up to him.
"Eh...Sure, I mean no harm...I´m just...eh..."
"Maybe you should head over to St Anna´s. They will help you out. Get you cleaned up some."
"Yeah...I wiil do that...Uuh...where is that?"
Just follow this street straight ahead, for about three block...you can´t miss it. There are more of you in line there." he said with a smile.
"Thank you."

I open my eyes and look around. The room is dark, but hauntingly familiar.

"You were having a bad dream." A familiar voice says. I look over and see Rebecca staring at me with those beautiful blue eyes.

I don't say anything, I just embrace her. It was all just a dream.

Then, the sight wanders over the top of the distant trees, where stand the top of many skyscrapers.

There is only a place like this on Earth.

“New York City!” thins the woman. She has been there many times, but for her, raised in communist USSR, being there is always an uneasy situation.

“What I am doing here?” she thinks. She remember being assigned to a mission… where? A place in west Europe… Greece, maybe… no, it was a small nation… Andorra? Lichtenstein? San Marino? Montecarlo? No, it was Mandelovia!

But the memories of the last weeks seem gone, and trying to bring them back make her sick. So, instead, she concentrates on the present. And suddenly she knows. There are people stalking her, trying to kill her. Metahumans with uncanny powers. She smiles. If only the could know…

She runs among the trees. She feels them. They must be here.

A green ray blasts from behind the thick cover of dense bushes. Sonja jumps away, but not enough quickly to avoid the blast. But the ray is reflected, and she is not harmed by it.

She run to find cover. More rays are shot at her, but each one is reflected away, hitting branches of various trees, that explodes in many pieces.

Sonja hides under a little stone bridge. But the glow of the rays is moving away: the metahuman is clearly very far, distracted by something.

Sonja takes a deep breath, thinking of being finally safe, when out of the stone wall, behind the woman comes two arms, and the hands close over her neck, suffocating her.

But the hands of Sonja closes over the wrist of the man, and make him to roll over her head, falling on the ground in front of her. But then the unexpected happens: the young man phases into the ground, disappearing.

And then an hand sprouts out of the soil, grasping her left ankle, and making her, in turn, falling down.

The man then kneel over her, and his right hand dematerialises inside her chest, ready to smash her heart from inside.

Suddenly, the man is thrown away by an invisible force. And when he stand back on his legs, the same invisible force hit him with an incredible force, and, lastly, rips open his head, sending blood and grey matter all over the place.

From around Sonja, New York City disappears, replaced by an all white environment.

Claxons pierce the silence, and a metallic voice is heard, just before gases kick in, making Sonja unconscious: ALARM, ALARM, SUBJECT LANCE TERMINATED.

A few minutes later, while the test continues for the surviving subject, a few men in lab coat surrounds the sleeping Sonja.

“Have you repeated the genetic test?”

“Yes. She has no active metagene. Absolutely no powers”

“It’s impossible. How do you explain the occurrence?”

“I can’t. It’s like she has repulsive powers, but there are no explanation for them.”

“Repeat the genetic test!”

Only then, when they are about to leave, one notices something, and runs toward the lying body. He stops for a moment, than rips apart her vest. The naked body is perfect.

“The tattoo! Where it’s gone?”

[ 02-15-2002: Message edited by: Sonja ]

After a few more moments, Reynolds is able to send Sonja's holo image into the data center. Lights flash all over the screen.

[MATCH]

The picture was identical, or as much as it could have been. Unidentified body found, as the ancient newspaper said. Dead, this woman died long before 2002.

Hmmmmm? And the plot thickens.

Pressing a button before him, four images appeared all around him.

-Naecken, on the run for his life. Approaching St Anna's. His mind is incorporating facts from his prior life into the simulation, fascinating.

-Tobias Christopher, also incorporating facts from his life. A loved one, murdered by racist Government Agents. The World was very sick back than.

-Kristogar Velo & Pete Glover, a strip bar, inner-city. Velo proceeds to play cards with a table of what appears to be mobsters, while Glover is enjoying a lap dance.

-Danny Hearn, still unconscious, alleyway, inner-city.

Who shall be the next to impress me?

"Sir! We tried to hail them and tell them to come down on deck to talk Sir. But they said they were to busy. Shall I give them a warning shot Sir?"
"Do that. And if they decide to ignore that as well...shoot them down."
"Uuh Yes Sir!"

The order was given and the warning shot was fired.
The black sphere containing the four metas stopped and opened a slide door.
From it, two young, pale, red-haired teens emerged.
One male and one female.
Only their friends knew them as the Khan Twins.
They wore flimsy red robes of greek design, and held each others hands.
They levitated towards the battle ship and stopped just above it.

Shouts were heard, and a hail of bullets was released on them.

They smiled and erected a thin pink force field around them.
Then they made their counter strike.
The agitated molecules from the battleship made a beautifull explosion, according to the Twins anyway.
They floated back inside the sphere and resumed their journey towards the place where they kept their target of their mission.

[ 02-15-2002: Message edited by: T5 ]

Malone, Grissom and LeBarron have slipped up a combined total of zero times. It's possible that they're just really good, but judging from the way they play poker it's more likely they don't know anything. Malone has an ace up his sleeve, Grissom has one by his ankle and LeBarron has been counting cards, but they're all still over a hundred dollars in the hole. Velo knows how to play poker, and it's unnecessary to cheat. All it takes is logic and probability. Judge what cards you have and what cards you put back to determine what cards your opponents could have, and then play the percentages.

Velo would've left the game a long time ago, but there are two guys staking the place out and he's waiting on them to make their move. There's also this feeling that someone's waiting for him to walk outside, perhaps to kidnap him again...

“Your three whishes” says the Time Trust.

“I must express them now, before beginning my mission?” I ask.

“Yes, Eurostar. Your three whishes.”

“OK. I want body, powerful comrades and a place to hide.”

“Why?”

“I need a body to hold my son, comrades to help me in rescuing him, and a place to keep him away from the ones who haunt him.”

The android smiles. “Granted. But tell me, aren’t your friends powerful enough?”

“They are. But I can’t risk their life for my own scope, even if it’s saving a baby. They are important for the Revolution. I can’t send them directly in the fangs of that monsters that want to enslave all the metahumans”.

“And you? You are the living flag of the Revolution”.

“Naecken or Mxy are more than worthy to led the revolution, and Tobias, Kristogar and the other to help them”.

“So, after you’ll rescue your son, you will retire?”

“You know what will happen, so I don’t get why you are asking me. But, yes, I will retire from the action. But not from the Revolution. There is need to begin a new stage, more politics and less actions, I think. I will see…”

“Good luck, Cicciotto. Are you ready for your first mission?”

“Of course”.

A complex shaped armor forms around my body.

“This will protect you from the harshness of the timestream. Your first mission is to go to January the 30th, 2002, in the Mandelovian Malvan-X headquarter, just moments prior to the destruction of your body. You are warned: don’t alert them, or the future will be at stake. You have only to convince Danny to be operated by Quantos, and to give your past counterpart this disk. Say him: “In the time of fire, the Green will emerge from the Red, bringing life where none existed before; put it on Naecken´s forehead at the crucial moment I told you about." He hand me a small disk.

“OK. Consider the mission completed. I remember doing just that!” I say, smiling.

“Yes. But you have yet to do it, at last form your actual perspective. So, hurry up”.

And everything vanishes around me, while I am sucked by the timestream.

The car stops in front of the circus.

“Mick, we have arrived!” says the girl. Mick is not really comfortable at the sight of the big top, and makes signs of wanting to go away.

“No, Mick. This should make you to remember. I haven’t done a thousand of Kilometres from Mandelovia to Bern, only to go away because you seems scared by your circus ”.

I jump out from the car.

Then, a female voice shouts: “Lil’ Jo. You are back! And… there is Mick, too. Mick! Mick!”

It’s Lorelei, the girl of Eurostar, just before he died. I run at her, walking among her legs, purring. But Mick, at her sights, seems to feel bad. His hands go to his head, while he fall to the ground.

Mew!

Chicago. Last time I have been here, I was on the run. On the run from MCCA, Tri Vex and Malvan-X. Only a few months have passed, and no one of those organization survive to today.

But the world is pretty the same, and it hate the metahumans maybe more than before, stirred up by governments that would use the metas for their own dirty purposes.

Something is changing, tough. The gifted peoples, the metas, are starting to lift their heads, sensing the breeze of the upcoming Revolution. A revolution that me and my friend began, but that I am suspecting others, many others, are preparing.

But this time, I have another mission. This time I am here to free my son. My little creature, cloned from a cell of my blood by a mad monster, which destiny has gifted with a fate so horrible that sometime I feel sorry for him.

My son is deep down the City, in the secret base of the Enhanced Procurement Sanction, the elite squadron of metahuman hunters, the renegades that captures and kills their own kind. Knowing their location is part of the gifts granted me by the Time Trust for the help I gave hir. I don’t remember anything of those mission, being the relative memories being wiped away by the android, being them potentially armful to the safety of the continuum.

Part of the same gift is my comrades, the three men around me on this roof. Another gift is the new body I have. Looking very similar to my previous one, has been created out of Earth itself. Because when I lost my body while I was saving Mandelovia from the fallen asteroid, I fell, in ghost form, under ground. And, unconscious, I fell trough the entire planet, emerging, days after, in New Zealand.

A new body, made by the elements of Earth, that my ghost form, my soul, so to say, has absorbed, with a little help, but I am not sure, from the Time Trust. Minerals, metals, organic composts, if you talk scientific. Earth, fire, water and air, if you, like me, are more inclined to the spiritual. “You are the most powerful meta the Earth has now, Edulcore” were the words of the android, that was waiting for me at the point of my resurface at the antipodes.

“The most powerful meta of the whole world”. Well, maybe. There is another one that could claim the title. And unfortunately, although I doubt it, his own powers could be very harmful over me. And he works for the EPS. John Doe, they call him. An avatar of great powers.

So, we have given him a distraction. A demon which has appeared weeks ago in Chicago*, has been frozen in time until today, when the Time Trust has freed him. Now fires are glowing in the darkness from downtown, and the noise of dozens of police car sirens scream from there.

“He’s there!” confirm one of my associates, which has just arrived from the spot.

“Let’s move, gentlemen” says the second.

“OK, Ed” says the third and last of my helpers. “Have you the necessaries?”

“Yes, I have brought the flour”.

The descent into the headquarters is easy. Each of us can move undetected, by his own means. I turn into a gas, while my friends, well, one moves at supervelocity, one turns invisible, and the last one thanks to a mantle of invisibility, straight out from a fairy tales book.

But deep down, in the heart of the sanctuary, the level of security must be superior, and many claxon begins their noise. Not that we were not expecting it.

But we know the exact location of the kid, and we are there in a matter of seconds.

Eddie, my son, is in a cradle. There is a blond woman in a green jumpsuit next to him. Vidalia Owens.

“Edulcorael”, I say, “she’s yours! Ed, Edulcore, get ready!”

While the angel in the black coat prepares to confront the woman, the bald professor and the young superhero open the big sack of flour, and spread the white powder on the floor.

Suddenly over the dust appear a series of footprint. “Guys, it’s Tweed!” I shout, but Ed has already hit an empty point at mid air with a baseball bat. On the ground, then, appears the unconscious body of Boss Tweed, packed tight into his white jumpsuit.

Meanwhile, Edulcore has charged at supervelocity at the incoming Andy Reinolds, and just before he could blind all of us with his flashing glow, the superwhistle of the superhero , aimed precisely at the rogue metahuman, knock him down.

I run to the cradle. Vidalia is screaming at Edulcorael. “No man has ever resisted to me!” she shouts. “I am an angel, woman, not an ordinary man. Cry for your sins!” he orders, and tears start to runs out the eyes of Vidalia.

Inside the cradle, Eddie, my son, is sleaping, unaware of all the happening. I have never been so close to him.

And.

Finally.

I.

Hold.

Him.

He opens his eyes.

And a large smile appears on his teethless mouth.

I have never felt so happy.

And so important.

“IGOR, who are them?” shouts a voice.

It’s Walker, the head of EPS, with his little flying robot.

“Genetic reading confirm the four target beings are all Educolcore Cicciotto” explains the metallic voice of the tin toy.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” shouts Walker.

“Yes, it does, Walker!” I say, smiling and holding my own child. “I split in four to take back my son”.

“Cicciotto, I will find you wherever you’ll try to hide”.

“I wouldn’t bet on it, Charles!” and saying that, I evaporates, and my son with me, finding my way to the surface.

A few minutes pass, and Edulcorael, the angel, Edulcore, the young superhero Eurostar, and Ed Cicciotto, the detective of the occult, join me. Three incarnations of myself from parallel Universes, each different and each amazingly similar to me.

“Thanks” I say. I have no other words to express my gratitude for them.

“You are welcome” says Ed. “Maybe one day one of us will need your help. Be prepared for that day”.

“I will” I whisper.

And while they dissolves, the Time Trust appears. He briefly smiles at my son, and then says: “ Your third and last request has been answered, Edulcore Cicciotto. Your hiding place has been set. Until the day you choose to manifest yourself back, Walker and his men will not found you and your son. Are you ready to go?”

“I am ready”.

Chicago dissolves around me, and a new, safe place begins to appear. Walker knows that I am alive, but he can’t reach me and Eddie in any way, until the day I will return.

My friends, sadly, think that I am dead, and I can’t reveal them where I am.

But before I will disappear from the scene, with the last help of the Time Trust, I have set a replacement for me in the Revolution. Another incarnation of myself, brought just moments before the destruction of a Universe wiped out by a strange turn of events. A female incarnation of myself, yet more similar to my true self than the others Edulcore that have helped me tonight.

The name?

Nadia.

.

.

* see post 3, page 1 of “Return to Mandelovia”.

Naecken did as he was told, and went into a side alley, full of scrap metal and dustbins.
Someone had left a car there, and it had been picked apart for scraps.

"Okay, Bub...hand over your money and coat!"
"But I need this to hide from..."
I don´t give a horse´s ass what you want...Give the F:ing coat to me, or I´ll do you here and now!"

Angered Naecken picked up the car and threw it at the surprised man.
Needless to say, he was crushed to pulp...and Naecken was standing there, as surprised as the man was.
How had he done that?
Who was he really?

Then pain flowed over him as a flash of memory came...
..
.
------
Two intercepting cruise missiles were absorbed by the black sphere heading towards the base where Naecken was held.
------
South Pacific...2002
CNN News:
A small fishing boat rescues four people from a island. They were suffering from radiation poisoning...but alive.

"Mick!! What's wrong?"

My brain hurts...

The pain is so intense one of his teeth starts cracking from the pressure he's putting on them.

"Mick! Mick!!!"

It's a small spot on my brain... It's burning...

He spits blood.

"Oh my God!!! Lorelei, call an ambulance!"

Lorelei... As soon as I hear that name the pain grows...

Tears of pain start coming out of his eyes.

"Oh my God... Oh my God..."

The pain is... I can't think...

More blood.

"I-I can't watch..."

MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The pain is so big he actually makes a sound.

"Mick?"

That letter...? M...?

The sound of the "M" gives him a painfull deja-vu.

"D-Did you make a...?!"

My name... M... Mick?

He ignores the pain and starts digging for the truth inside him.

"Doctor! Lorelei! Hurry!!"

No... Not Mick... Not MY name...

He feels as if his brain was about to explode, but he keeps digging. He sees the people around him but can't understand what they say.

".........Lorelei........."

Another name... M...

He's getting closer. He can feel it.

"...open the door..."

NO!!!

"Mick?"

What? Shirley? Where...?

Mick looks around and realizes he's in Shirley's car. Shirley is looking at him from outside the car. Behind her is a doctor and a woman he can't see.

"You look confused. You fainted in the circus, remember?"

Circus? What circus? I don't remember any circus...

[ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

Slowly Kristogar got up and walked over to where some shady characters were playing a relatively calm game of pool, ignoring the confusion he was leaving behind at the poker table. He casually took the stick of one of the pool players and swiftly crushed it over his knee--his 'bad' knee.

This confirmed it. What isn't answered is where the devil is he? It couldn't possibly be a virtual reality, and time travel is ruled out immediately. Velo is arrogant enough to presume that were these technological advances to ever take place, he'd be on the ground floor of it.

Velo strolled outside. At face value, he was standing in a perfect replica of New York City. But it was obviously an illusion. The smell of New York was there, the sight of it, the sounds...but the atmosphere was different. Kristogar discovered that that was where illusionists failed. They could recreate everything but the intangible concept of atmosphere. The last time Velo was in New York City, which was recent enough, the atmosphere was that of a country--hell, maybe a world on the brink. Something was bubbling over and waiting to happen, and although Velo wasn't sure of what, he could feel it. He doesn't here.

"So who's the magician?" Velo asks to anyone who may be listening. After a moment's hesitation, he unleashes all his power on the block that he's standing on. "Whoever's out here, come and fucking get me!"

"Where?"

"Sicily."

"...figures..."

"Ready, everyone?"

"All forces are primed and ready."

"Excellent. Sicily."

At the word, a swirling blue doorway opens up as six figures, similarly clad, step through, defiant and deadset on their task.

SICILY

Edulcore Cicciotto sits quietly, cradling a child-like clone of himself in his arms.

"Hi there, Eddie," he said softly as the baby began to weep. As he cried, the snakes on his head began to hiss at him.

"What's wrong, Eddie?" the former Italian racer said softly. Shaking his head, he glanced around at his surroundings. Meager, to say the least. He was living in what appeared to be the hollow of a cave, hundreds of feet below the ground. A small stream brought him water and fish to eat, on occasion.

But, still, he couldn't make his "son" love or trust him.

"Curious, isn't it, Cicciotto?" came a voice from behind.

"Who?" the former "leader" of the 'Revolution' said, turning... and, in horror, taking in the true horror of the situation.

Six figures. Dressed in similar bodysuits. All were angry. All were powerful.

All were the EPS.

"Miss us, Cicciotto?" said Charles Elias Walker, a slight sneer creeping across his lips.

"Wha...?" Cicciotto stammered. "H-how?"

"Quite easy," spoke up a worky figure off to the side, dressed in a dull orange bodysuit. Edulcore recognized him as Knell's assistant from the Tri-Vex. "We planted a tracker in your clone's bloodstream. Led us right to you."

"But..." the former Eurostar exclaimed, "you cannot have found me! The Time Trust said so!"

"I don't know anything about any 'time trust,' but I hardly expect you to be surprised," Walker said, crossing his arms across his chest. "You trash our headquarters, steal what we rightfully stole, and expect us to just sit quietly aside? I don't think so."

"Do not expect me to sit quietly aside!" the Italian said, standing intimidatingly. "I am now the most powerful metahuman that this earth has ever known!"

"...screw you..." said John Doe, his eyes flickering with a shining silver energy.

"My thoughts exactly," said the man who once called himself Agent Turner, his eyes crackling with a scarlet energy that matched his new bodysuit.

Two giant bolts of energy - one silver and one red - hit the man known as Eurostar square in the chest. At first, he stumbled back, but quickly recuperated as his body mass and composition changed before the very eyes of the EPS.

"Nice try, Turner. Doe," the "hero" said, a slight smug on his face. "The human body may have been vulnerable to your attack, but this body of granite is nonconductive! Now that my body is made up of the very elements of Earth itself, your energies cannot hurt me!"

"Elements, eh?" John Doe asked, raising his eyebrow and smiling menacingly. "Well, if it isn't my lucky day..."

Suddenly, a blood-curling scream filled the room as the "hero" was lifted high into the air, the very elements that made up his body falling to the ground.

"Elements, eh?" Doe said again. "Well, then, you must have been mistaken about that 'most powerful metahuman' bit... because I have control Earth's elements..."

"Alright, EPS..." Walker said, taking a step back as the portal behind him faded into obscurity. "Attack formation... NOW!"

In an instant, Tweed dropped out of sight.

In an instant, Curie rolled into a corner, pulling a small device from his belt.

In an instant, Reynolds began to hover a few inches of the ground.

In an instant, Owens pierced Eurostar's mind, increasing his pain immeasurably. The screaming grew even louder.

In an instant, Turner fell back to stand behind Walker, arms crossed in Walker's position.

In an instant, Doe released his hold on Eurostar, sending the "hero" crashing to the ground.

"Commence Operation Retrieval," Walker said in monotone.

Eurostar stood to his feet, meekly. His spectral form had been restored. For the time being.

A bolt of lightning flashed from Turner's hand, hitting the spot where Eurostar stood, scrambling his molecules just so.

Eurostar screamed some more as he felt a hand enter his ghostly body. He turned, to see an intangible Tweed, gripping the nape of his neck with all his might.

"Flour, huh?" he said, ramming a ghostly fist into an equally ghostly solar plexus. The "ghost" of Eurostar fell to the floor, clutching his chest.

"You like messing with female emotions, eh?" came a female voice. "Mess with this!"

A rush entered Eurostar's head. He felt a garbled mess of emotions ran amuck through the "hero's" head.

Fear.

Apathy.

Greed.

Horror.

Terror.

Hate.

Love.

Sadness.

Depression.

The changes occurred so quickly, the spectre doubled over, vomiting wildly on the floor.

"Now," Walker said, nodding to Reynolds and Curie. At the signal, Reynolds burst forth, illuminating the small cave and momentarily blinding the ghostly form, sending it into a blind writhing on the floor.

“Walt!” Walker yelled out. Curie nodded, aiming a small metallic cylinder at the fallen Eurostar. Tweed suddenly became both tangible and visible, scooping up the baby, who began to gurgle and laugh at the familiar touch.

As Curie hit a switch, a violent hissing noise filled the room. The noise grew louder by the second, and as it did, the spectral form of the once “hero” was whisked into the small device in the scientist’s hand. When the form had totally vanished, Curie pressed another button, sealing off Eurostar’s only possible escape route.

“Got him,” the bald man said with a smile.

“Excellent,” Walker said, placing a small headset on his head. “Alright, I.G.O.R., take us back…”

//Affirmative, Doctor,// came I.G.O.R.’s robotic voice.

At the voice, a bluish portal opened. As the members of the EPS stepped through, Walker turned to Curie. “Get him into the lab. Don’t let him out of that container, understand? His friends think he’s still dead. With that under our belts, we can keep him in our custody at our leisure. And find out what’s on that disk. Chances are, they already have a copy, if what I’ve been told is correct, but I’d like to know in advance what it can do.”

“Got it, Charles,” Walt said, stepping into the blue swirling mass.

Walker, the last one still in the room, turned toward a shadowed area of the cave.

“I know you’re back there…” he said, obviously expecting someone to acknowledge.

A straight-laced man in a bizarre futuristic garb stepped out, as if from nowhere, bowing slightly to Walker. “I trust everything went well?” the figure asked.

“Indeed, Trust,” Walker answered. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“Don’t thank me,” the machine said monotonously. “He threatened the very planes of time themselves. I am just glad that you have helped me restore them to order.”

“Well, considering it all worked out well, the pleasure’s all ours,” Walker said, nodding to the android as he placed his foot into the portal. “Take care of yourself, Trust. Be seeing you.”

With that, Walker disappeared into the portal, causing the blue disc to fade into obscurity.

“Of course you will,” Trust said, raising his eyebrow and fading back into the timestream.

I put the light on. My son is still here, sleeping next to me in his cradle.

It was only a bad dream…

The mandelovian Scorpion brothers sit in front of some monitors, confirming some information. Knell is standing behind them. Eduardo/Ktl is standing on a corner, with his arms crossed.

"Are you ssssssssssure they are gone?!" Doctor "Klone" Knell asks.

"I'm possitive" White Scorpion says.

"Abssssolutely ssssssure?" Klone insists.

"I wouldn't trust my brother, but these computers are pretty effective. The 'Revolutionaries' are not on this earth" Red Scorpion adds.

"Exxxxxxxxxxxcellent! I guesssss our friend'sssss plansssss jusssssst got a little eassssssier with thosssssse foolsssss gone!" Klone exclaims.

"Should we tell him?" Red Scorpion asks.

"Of course not, you nitwit!" White Scorpion says "He's in that big room again. He asked not to be disturbed while he stayed there"

"Besssssssidesss, he probably alredy knowssssss... You know, when I firssssst came here all I wanted wasssss revenge over thossssse foolssss... but now, knowing hisssss plansss, I--"

"Not all of them are gone" Ktl's double voice says.

"What do you mean?" Red Scorpion says "The scan says thay are all gone..."

"I don't care what the scan says. I can feel him... Mxy is still alive, somewhere... His presence is weak, but I KNOW he's there"

"Hmmm... Could you give us an approximate location?" White Scorpion asks "We could send him a little surprise..."

The voice interrupted Dr. Walker, who was hard at work putting together research on recent developments.

"Turner. What?"

Walker had no emotion to his voice. Cold and stern.

"Why did you give him the 'perfect' life, why not let him think he is in hell for all eternity? He's religious, the perfect payback. Poetic even."

"If he knew where he was, if he thought he was in hell, then he would try to escape. I don't need any more hassles, I have had enough to deal with as of late."

Turner laughed. A smile followed.

"What? Still mad because of that scar I gave you? Heh. If you ask me, if fixed your face up a bit."

Turner mimicked Walker with a sad face, and swiped his finger across his face, where Walker's scar would be. Walker was silent for a moment. He pressed a small button on his belt that sent surges throughout Turner's body, bringing him to his knees. Blood dripped from the ex-agent's nose. Walker went to one knee, eye to eye with Turner.

"You know, it isn?t too late for me to place you within your own hell, or worse."

Turner smiled, the blood still dripping down.

"You wouldn't. I am way to fucking powerful for you to let go."

Walker pressed the button again. Turner kept looking forward, blocking out the pain.

'And right when I get this collar off, your head is mine.'

"Right when your collar comes off, we will not need you any more."

The two men. Both leaders in there own right, just continued to stare each other down.

"Mick..." she says "I-I've been thinking about a way to help you with your memory. It may be a stupid idea, but... do you mind if I give it a try"

"Sure, go ahead" Mick writes.

"Okay..." Shirley says, as she puts her hand on Mick's face.

"What the hell...?" Mick thinks, just as she starts getting her face closer to his, making Mick realize what her idea was "Oh...!"

And they kiss.

The cat is watching from outside the door. One would almost say he was jealous.

They stop kissing and look at each other.

"W-Well..." Shirley says "Did it help?"

Two seconds later the wall explodes. Mick jumps over Shirley and protects her from the falling pieces of the wall... and from whatever the hell caused the explosion.
Once the smoke clears, Mick can see the figure of a big man standing where the wall was. The huge man steps foward, and his flashy spandex costume is revealed. He looks like one of those heroes in comic books, Mick thinks.

"Wh-Who are you...?!" Shirley yells "What do you want?!!"

The man makes an arrogant smile as he rises one of his eyebrows.

"My name, ma'am, is CAPTAIN DEATH -- and I'm here to take this man's head!"