His heart pounding and his wings beating, Danny threw himself up and over the wall of the cemetery.
He remembered the first time he met Mxy.
I remember the first time I met Mxy.
We were at an airport, in Chicago. I'd just flown there with Edulcore, after meeting him in the Mandelovian desert. We ended up getting chased by Ktl, in the body of Ed's old running rival. And then... there was Mxy.
He was floating around in his top hat and his big black coat, oblivious to the chaos he was causing around him. That was the first thing that struck me about Mxy. The rest of us... me, Ed, Tobias... we were always acutely aware when we were causing a scene. We knew that people were staring at us. We knew that reporters would snap pictures, and onlookers would gasp and point. But Mxy... he just didn't seem to notice. Or care.
The first thing he said to me was "That word that means I'm meeting you now having not been meeting you before!"
And then I just paused, staring at him. After a moment I offered "...hello?" As a suggestion. At which he just smiled and said "Yes! Hello! That!" Then he grabbed my hand and shook it hard, in the manner of someone who'd never done it before but had seen other people do it and just assumed it was the right thing to do.
That... that was the first time I ever met Mxy.
And now it seems like he's in trouble. Which, for Mxy, is unusual. He's never in trouble. He's powerful enough to take care of anything. Except Ktl. His other half. His opposite number. The one thing in the universe that could match him.
And even more worrying than the prospect of losing Mxy is that of losing Mick.
I remember the first time I met Mick. It was after the airport incident, and we'd headed back to this little lakeside cabin to regroup. Tobias had roughly explained to me the situation involving Mick and Mxy, but I'd yet to see the change myself.
I looked to the side of the room, where Mxy was staring out the window, yellow light crackling from his eyes. He looked over the lake and sighed, then smiled contentedly and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the light had gone.
He shouted "Where the hell...?! Shit! Again?!"
And this had confused me for a second. Until I remember what Tobias had told me about Mick and Mxy, and the sharing of their body. I walked over and introduced myself.
"Hi. I'm Danny," I said offering my hand.
"Mick... I think," He'd replied.
And this was a time when I was unsure of anything. I was in a new time, and a new place, with these new powers. I was scared and alone and sad and angry. But meeting Mick, this normal guy, just seemed... well, normal. That was what Mick was like.
Mick was never a superhero. He was never the one with the zany powers who'd stand at the front line and yell "CHARGE!". He was the normal guy, the guy who'd hang around the headquarters eating Cheetos while the rest of us stressed about the people we'd seen killed that day.
Because, of course, any time he saw action he'd have to change into Mxy. Still... Mick always hung around. He could have walked away. He could have refused to ever summon Mxy again. But he didn't. He stayed. Just in case we ever needed Mxy.
Even though he knew that every time Mxy went into battle, he was risking his own body... he stayed.
More than anything, I hope that Mick will be okay.
