RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block HR #11 [The Lost City of the Dragons]

The MBL ROLL CALL!!!

Danny Hearn
Mick Harrison/Mxy
Grimm
Dirk Bell
Kristofer "Chance" Schanz
Edulcore "Euro" Cicciotto aka "The Raptor"
Grissom "Sandcrawler" Montag
Phil Smith
Priest
Ameristar
Tayden
Tobias "T.C." Christopher

MIA

Kristogar Velo (on leave of absence)
Larry Lance (on leave of absence)
Sam "Shift" Dawson (on leave of absence)
Turkish Stringfellow (on leave of absence)

Support Staff

Kit Piper (MBL Consulting President and financial advisor)
Dr. Henry Quantos (MBL Consulting scientific advisor via computer-linkup from Canada)
Shirley Francis (MBL Consulting secretary & Mick's girlfriend)
Blackwulf the Everchanging (MBL Consulting personal trainer)
Charlene "Charley" Montoya (MBL Consulting maintenance chief on loan from Sandcrawler Security)
Li'l Jo (Tobias' cat)

***

It’s five minutes to 6 PM, of December the 31st, 2002, the last day of this incredible year. I am sitting at the table in the main dining room, waiting for the meeting called on by Kit Piper, nearly one hour ago, when most of us were preparing the party for this evening .

The last weeks have been intense. After the havoc caused on La Perdita by the hurricane, the vampires and the Beast, and the loss of the Psi Unit, we were helping to rebuild the island, its building and its institutions. Then, many of us went away from the isle for personal business, to breath fresh air, to leave behind the horrors we all witnessed.

Others, like myself, remained here, to explore this lovely place that got so messed up, to know his inhabitants. For me, it was a nightmare at the beginning. Many strange people appeared looking for my sword Ladnikia*, and I had a very hard time to hold them at bay. Then, I kept looking for a certain break-dancer demon, I had many questions for him, but he seems vanished. “He’s away, but he will return in a few weeks” Chewy the bodyguard of the metahuman bar always said, when I got there, but weeks after weeks I never have been able to find him, and slowly I lost interest. I am sure, some nights, to have seen him in the darkest alleys of the town, but trying to following him always got no result.

After the hurricane, request for hiring our company for strange mission were frequent, but, busy with the reconstruction of the Complex, that as for now is very far to be completed, we had to refuse them. Then, when all the guys that went away returned, and we were at full capacity, there were no more requests. It was like we were totally out of business. Kit was getting more and more depressing each day passing.

Finally, the tide has turned, and someone is looking for our professional help, to recover a long lost book.

I close the newspaper I was reading. The usual stuff about metahumans discrimination in the USA and American products ban in Mandelovia, and a strange little piece about a whole fisherman village disappeared in northern Norway.

I stand up. And go to the east facing window. I spread my re-grown feathers,catching the last rays of the setting sun, then re-assorb them inside my arms.

“Hey, peacock, how’s the sun?” asks Jackie, or Ameristar, like she wants to be called. Still an enigma for many of my teammates, after the adventure I shared with her, I know her a lot better, and I am more inclined to accept her witty humor.

After Ameristar, through the door comes Mick. Lately, seeing him not hand in hand with Shirley is rarer than a panda bear. They have not yet tied the knot, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they will announce it soon.

He takes seat next to me and Ameristar.

His hat shadowing his eyes, enters Dirk. He sits at the opposite end of the table, foot over the table, and begins to polish one of his big guns.

Everybody is arriving, now. Danny takes his seat chatting with his other half brain, the one he calls Hal, and then talks to Phil, the mentalist guy. I am not really aware of the full extent of his powers, I know he has telekinesis and some sort of mind reading ability. I wonder... can he speak with Hal, too?

Grimm and Blackwulf arrive together, they are the best buddies here around. They knew each other from before their arrival here in La Perdita, and it shows. I still miss my best friends from the early “Rivolutionaries” day: the mysterious Kristogar, the young Tobias, the talkative Larry, and especially Naecken. Only two remains today, from those fabled day, Danny and Mick. And while with Danny, at that time, was not so easy to become friend to, with his slow adaptment to this era, Mick now has eyes oinly for his Shirley.

Luckily, I have found a true friend in Kristofer, or Chance, as he is codenamed (and he, in truth, alone among every other, gives a lot of importance to codenames). He has been away for some time, exploring this world so new and different, for him, at last how much is alike to his former planet. Kris comes from a “parallel” Earth, a place similar to our own but with slight differences. I am fascinated from the tales he tell me about that place. First, because the “myself” of that Earth was a true hero. Second, because the place, altough not perfect, seems a Paradise compared to our own. It’s surely the place where I would grown my son, when I will rescue him. I have no doubt that Kris is looking to find a way to come back. “Hi, Chance!” I greet him, as he enters the room.

Then arrives Tayden, the last reclute of our team. A fallen angel. One year and a few months ago I wouldn’t have believed it. Now the fact seems perfectly normal. I even find a sort of sympathy for him, like I have been, in another life, a fallen angel myself.

Now are arriving Grissom, our security advisor, with his assistant Charley, and the enigmatic Priest. They, too, seems to have developed a sort of friendship. Danny looks askance at Priest. The big man arrived in the Complex to kill Danny, and was easily asked into joining the team. At the time, it seemed almost normal, and since then, Priest has proved trustworthy, yet I can understand Danny’s feelings.

The same uneasiness is between Dirk and me (and Chance), on the surface about guns matter, but at heart, I think, more about opposite political vision. And, after all, me and Chance are Europeans, and in this year I have learned that we really see things differently than from our cousins on the other (on this, I should say) side of the Ocean.

Another argument that has not been settled is between Chance and Ameristar. She is convinced that my friend is somehow connected to the mysterious circle of the “Hoods”, the society that tried to kill me and Turner when we were travelling across America, stalking us by the omnipotent “Georgio” a sort of overpowered Terminator. I am sure that it’s all a misunderstanding, but is easy to see that Ameristar has different ideas.

A young girl arrives, and sit quietly, her usual innocent look on her pretty face. Her name is Daniela, and by any account, she should be dead. I killed her, after she was vampirized. My sword drank her evil soul. She should have falle and vanished, incinerated, yet she had not. She was one of the Psi Unit, and after the destruction of that team during the Hurricane, she has asked to stay with us.

Lastly, with a big smile a some papers in hand, comes Kit Piper, our financial advisor. Our director, we could call him.

“Guys... and ladies... we have a job!” There are smiles, hurays, some grunts (you can imagine from who) and many curious gazes toward the paper.

“It’s from an anonimous collector. A very rich collector, seeing the check he has sent for our first expenses.”

“What he is collecting, Kit?” asks Ameristar.

“Books. Very old and rare books. He wants us to retrieve the only known copy of the Liber vitae, a text that many consider written by Merlin himself. The historical Merlin, a Briton archbishop of the sixth century.”

“And where is this book?” asks Grimm.

“Eh... it was last seen in the XII Century, at Canterbury, England.”

“What? And how are we supposed to find it...”

“ There is a clue. Recently, in Italy, has been discovered, in the lower basement of the Uffizi Museum, in Florence, a sixteen century painting, by the Italian painter Tanfo da Perugia, depicting the Portoguese explorer and condottiere Joaquim de Cuccubao. Tanfo was the official artist of the expedition that Cuccubao lead in the heart of the Amazon jungle, looking for the Eldorado, the fabled golden city. Well, to make it short, it seems that Tanfo was the only survivor of the expedition, and returned in Europe, he painted a last picture of Joaquim. And in his hands, there is a copy of the Liber vitae!”

“You mean that our only clue is a fucking picture? It ain’t a photo, the cursed painter could have made it !” shouts Dirk.

“No, I don’t think so” says Chance. “First, at that time a painting WAS like a photo, they showed real thing that the figured one actually owend. Second, in the sixteen century there was no memory of the Liber Vitae, it’s something that was totally forgot by the time. So, the artis had to actually see it, to depict the book.”

Kit continues: “More important, in the background of the painting there are images that can help you to find the place. Mountains, temples...”

“Have you a picture of the painting, Kit?” asks Ameristar.

“No, it is currently under restoring, and there is no image available, on the Internet or anywhere else. So, you will have to introduce yourselves in the laboratory where the painting is worked over, photographing it, and then be back here deciphre it and to prepare the expedition. So, I have tickets to fly to Italy for five of you. Danny will be appointed field leader, he will choose the other four and tomorrow you will leave. Now, I think there is a party to start”

In that moment, the door opens and Shirley appears: “Hey guys, you wouldn’t believe who has returned!”

A blur, and next to Kit appears Tobias Cristopher. Our speedster is back at home.

* see the upcoming Hero Revolution Special “Raptor and Ameristar: Residence Evil”

[ 01-09-2003, 01:25 AM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

Phil stood up. "I'll be back."

The others didn't seem to notice him leaving. Except for Danny, anyway. The two had become pretty good friends since Phil's arrival on the island, maybe because as misfits they each knew how it felt not to belong. Danny got up and followed him out to the lobby. "Something wrong, mate?" he asked.

Phil shook his head. "No. And yes."

"That's helpful," the Aussie quipped.

"Watch it, Danny," Phil replied, half-seriously. "I'm okay. Just... confused."

"Leslie?" Danny asked.

Phil chuckled. "Maybe I'm not the only telepath here after all. Is it that obvious?"

"She's been all over you for the past few weeks," Danny explained. "She never left after the storm, which I thought was odd. I didn't mind us putting her up in the building, but she hasn't done anything with us since then."

Phil smirked. "I beg to differ."

"Shut up." Danny laughed. "My point is, she's not contributing to the team."

"May I remind you," Phil said, "that I'm not an official member of the MBL myself?"

"True enough," Danny said. "But how many times have you saved our asses in recent history? Quite a few. What I'm getting at is that she's only here because of you."

"I guess I'm just dead sexy," Phil deadpanned.

"She's up to something," Danny insisted.

Phil looked at him. "Of course she's up to something, Danny! I know she is! I may not remember some things, but I'm not stupid. It's just that I don't know what she's doing. At first she wanted to get me off the island for some reason. Now all she wants to do is stay put."

"She's got some kind of money, mate," Danny said. "She doesn't work anywhere, yet she's got a wardrobe that would put a CEO's mistress to shame." He looked away. "She hangs out with Rachel sometimes."

"And naturally," Phil finished for him, "you eavesdrop."

Danny shrugged. "Naturally."

"Anyway," Phil said, "I'm just trying to feel my way through things. I figure I'll get it figured out in a few more days."

Danny looked at him curiously. "Better put it on hold, mate. We got a mission coming up here soon."

Phil didn't answer.

Danny eyed him curiously. "Phil?"

Phil sighed.

Danny frowned. "You're not going, are you?"

Phil looked at him. "Danny, I've been here for almost two months. I've been through some of the weirdest crap even I can imagine. I've been scrambling all over the place doing things for no reason. And yet I still haven't figured out who I am or why I'm here. Why should I go on another crazy trip that has nothing to do with me when it won't help me find that out?"

Danny nodded. "Fair enough. So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm helping rebuild the building," Phil said. "I'll keep working on that and keep up my research."

"How's that going, by the way?"

"The building? It's great. Griss figured out how to..."

"No," Danny said. "Your research."

Phil sighed. "Slowly. Quantos is helping me, but I'm still having a rough time." He looked down. "I think Leslie knows something, but I'm not sure."

"I'm sure that with your persuasion skills, you can coax it out of her." Danny winked.

Phil laughed. "Maybe." He turned to leave. "Be careful on this mission, buddy."

Danny smiled. "Too right, mate."

"And be sure to have fun," Phil added.

Danny laughed. "The Phil Smith school of superheroism."

"You know it." Phil walked off toward the elevator. "Catch ya later."

Dirk returned to his room. The team had found temporary housing in the neighboring village while the complex was being rebuilt. Del Mar was a quaint town. It didn't resemble the touristy Puerta Mibela. It was a smaller town that only saw the occassional tourist there on a hike or bike ride. The fishing industry is what kept this town alive. And that was going sour as of late. As a matter of fact, the building that Kit had found for them to use was an old office building for the one of the bankrupt fishing companies with the processing plant right next door. It wasn't so bad, as long as the wind didn't come out of the north, that is.

The MBL thought that they'd be welcomed with open arms after their heroics in the hurricane. Dirk, Grimm, and Blackwulf saw that that wasn't really true. The people of Del Mar were never to fond of the capital city of Puerta Mibela. The political scene was controlled by foreigners and people of more European and American heritage than that of the local populace. It had become a haven for corrupt CEO's and organized crime kingpins who took advantage of La Perdita's lack of extradition treaties. To many of the residents of the quiet village felt that the disater was God's way of cleansing La Perdita. Dirk never bothered to ask Tayden if that was so. So far the team had been met with indifference. No one faulted them for saving lives, but some didn't think it was nice to mess with God's plan. But this was home for the team for now. They'd just have to get used to it until the complex was rebuilt.

Dirk sat down to watch the news. Hopefully they would have stopped all the special interest stories about how the rich, white upper crust citizens of Puerta Mibela were doing after losing their yatchs in the storm.

"Oh, Christ," Dirk mumbled as the wind shifted and came from out of the north.

[ 01-10-2003, 09:58 AM: Message edited by: thedoctor ]

Ameristar leaned over Kit with a cup of herbal tea in her hand and asked, "That name...Joaquim de Cuccubao, it resembles something that I saw at...I mean that I read in another book somewhere. If only I could remember...."

Kit looked at her with determined eyes.
"Any info on this could be crucial, so please, try really hard to remember."
She walked around the table while the others continued to chat, but her mind was focused on the matter of the strange name. She knew she had seen it at the old man´s place...was it in a book or a picture?
"Excuse me...I have to wash my hands." She hastily walked out of the room and into the bathroom, where she sat down on the toilet seat and activated her mobile-phone.
The signal beeped a few times then a sheery voice answered; " Hi there Jackie, what´s up?"
"Hi Crasher. I need some info on a male name, Joaquim de Cuccubao."
"Sure anything."
"Do you remember a book about him, that your father showed us once?"
"Uuuuhh..........Yes! Some weird story about strange people living in a strange tower, and he warned us never to go there. I think it was in the Amazon somewhere. I can look it up for you, if you like."
"You´re a sweetcake, Crasher. Thanks."
"Okay. I´ll call you back in a moment then."
"Bye."

She smiled...she missed her friend. There was no one she trusted more than her. Well, except for the old one ofcourse. They had been through much together. And Crasher´s rape wasn´t helping matters. But Ameristar promised herself to spend more time with her once she could find time to go home again.

She went back to the others were Shirley was serving sandwishes.

[ 01-07-2003, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: T5 ]

Ladnikia burns inside her scabbard, across my back. Too much time has passed since she ate. She wants blood and souls.

And so do I.

My God. Forgive me. What I am becoming?

And yet I love it. The excitation of the battle. The last staring of the eyes of a dying man. The butter-like consistence of the skin and muscle and bones to the penetration of my blade.

I…

…need…

…it.

Sometimes I just think of going to the docks of La Perdita, or to the meta bar, just to find someone to fight. And, hopefully, to kill.

Until now, something has always stopped me. Conscience, faith, call it as you want.

Something deep in my mind, or my soul.

Something thinner as the days passes.

Luckily this new job will put me in situations where my blade will find satisfaction.

I hope.

I know.

For now, let’s put my mind one the party.

And on drinks.

My thirst is not of alchool, but wine, and vodka, and rum will help me to forget my needs.

For now.

As I walks across the old factory, a voice strange and known hit my mind, from behind a door.

It’s the room of Jackie, Ameristar.

The voice is the one of the old Neaderthal, the one who tried to employ me when I returned from my prison in the EPS. The one for which Jackie works. What does he wants.

Weeks ago I would have never eavesdropped, now I find it perfectly natural.

They are talking.

“So, I repeat you, Jackie, don’t go there for any reason.”
“But could it be the place we are looking for?”

“No. I have looked for the Liber Vitae for centuries, and in that tower it isn’t. The tower has connections to Cuccubao, deep ones, but the book is not there. I know because I have been there.
I know for sure that there, in the tower in the middle of the Amazon jungle , there are peoples that know clues to the true location of Cuccubao last hideout, but don’t you dare to go there. I forbid it to you. And I order you to watch that your comrades don’t go there. You must find a different way to find the Liber Vitae.”

There is a very brief buzz, the one I have learned is connected to the Gaia Unit technology. The old man has gone.

I knock at the door.

“Euro, come in.”

Oh, fuck, I forgot the x-ray goggles in her armour. I can only hope she has not them in function when she was talking with the old man.

“Hi Jackie” I say, coming inside.

“What do you think about what the old man said?” she asks. Months ago I would have turned red like an hot chili.

Now, who cares?

“I think that he knows something he doesn’t want us to know. And since we have not the book, I say we shouldn’t have concerns. Tomorrow we’ll have the picture and we’ll find the location by ourselves. We don’t need the book of the old man.”

The familiar buzz. And right in front of my appears the pretty figure in red boots of Crasher.

“I have stolen the book from my daddy. For you, Jackie!” she says, smiling.

I look at Ameristar. What will she do? How much strong is her loyalty to the Neanderthal?

"The last we saw of you, you were going to take care of some business," Mick said. "Something about finding a lost loved one?"

"It's a long story," Tobias said. "I found him, Mick. I found my son*. He's everything I expected. And one day, I'm going back to bring him home, with my family here."

(*coming soon!)

"I'm glad it turned out good, pal," Mick says. "You know, I was thinking about looking you up soon anyway, to ask you to come to the wedding!"

"Oh, that's right! You're engaged! So, did you set the date?" TC asks.

"Yeah, it's pretty soon! I'm excited about it, man..."

"And how's Mxy? How does he feel about it?"

"Uh, I haven't had a chance to ask him, really... And he's been weird lately. I try not to call him unless it's really necessary because it's hard to fool him into saying my name now so he stays longer in the body..."

"I always thought he had a crush on Shirley... Heh..."

"M-X-Y? Nah..."

"Yeah. If I recall well, he met her before you did, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Maybe he's jealous. That could be the reason why he's acting weird lately... Maybe he wants to spend more time with Shir"

"I never thought of that... Maybe I should talk to him," Mick says, rubbing his chin, "I wonder what Shirley thinks about this..."

"She says Mxy definetely has a crush on her," Tobias says, and at that moment Mick looks at the other side of the room and notices that Tobias is also talking to Shirley, moving in super-speed from one side of the room to the other. "But she doesn't want me to tell you..." Tobias continues, "Uh... too late for that, I guess..."

Mick notices that Shirley leaves Tobias and heads to her office.

"Where's she going?" Mick asks.

"She's gonna call your parents to invite them to the wedding"

"My parents! Oh my God! What's wrong with her?! Why would she do that?!"

"She doesn't want me to tell you, either, because she wants it to be a surprise. Oh. Um... Sorry"

"It's okay. She's the one that's gonna get a surprise... When my mom tells her to fuck off! Hehehehe..."

[ 01-07-2003, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

Danny stood right in front of a large wooden door, running over the decisions in his mind.

He was taking four people on this next mission, so he had to choose his field team.

He raised his hand, and knocked. A moment later, Grimm appeared in the doorway.

“So you’re coming with me?”

“Like I’d let you do this alone…”

Danny smiled.

“Thanks. I’ll come back and let you know once I’ve told the others.”

Danny headed down to the kitchen, thinking that’s where he’d find his next choice. On the way, he passed by the office. Peering in, he noticed Grissom Montag at the computer, teaching Charley about their newly installed computer system. Danny leaned up against the open doorway, and knocked.

“Danny.”

“Grissom. You know, I thought you might come in handy on this next mission…”

“I’m staying here.”

“Exactly what I thought. I want you overseeing the building’s reconstruction.”

“Glad to see we agree.”

“Right.”

Danny nodded goodbye to Grimm, and waved to Charley. A moment later, he was in the kitchen. He found Dirk Bell pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

“Hey Danny. Cereal?”

Danny shook his head.

“Just had a weird talk with the new guy. Made me hungry. Do you know how much food went bad when the storm cut the power at our old place off? A crying shame… so am I coming on this new mission or what?” Dirk said.

“I was hoping you would..”

“Right. Any reason?”

“Sometimes… not always, but sometimes… the best thing to have on your side is a guy who knows how to put bullets in heads and blow shit up.”

Dirk cracked a smile. “I thought you didn’t trust me.”

“I trust you. You just irritate me.”

Dirk laughed. “Yeah, I get that a lot,” He said. “So, you score with Rachel yet or what?”

“…huh?”

“I figure you’d have at least asked her out by now…”

“It’s… it’s not that simple…”

“Pussy.”

Danny laughed, shook his head, and left the room. In the hallway, he crossed paths with Edulcore. The Raptor.

“Ed…”

“Danny?”

“Do you want to come with? On the next mission?”

“Of course.”

“I just… I’d like to have one of the originals there. You know what I mean?”

“Sure.”

“Great. Thanks,” Danny said, and hurried off down the hallway. He soon reached his final destination, in front of another bedroom door. He raised his arm to knock, but before he got a chance to, the door swung open and there stood Chance in the doorway.

“…how’d you know I was here?” Danny asked.

“I didn’t. I was just about to step out myself. And there you were,” Chance replied.

Danny just shrugged this off. This sort of thing had long since stopped surprising anyone when it came to Chance.

“You know, Kris…” Danny began, “I really think we could use some luck on this mission. And I may not know you as well as the some of the others, but I know this… you seem like you can handle yourself in the field. How about it?”

“…yes, okay. No problem.”

“Great… great. That makes five… I’ll brief you all once we have our travel arrangements finalised. Cool?”

“Sure.”

Danny was soon back in Grimm’s room. Like most of the other bedrooms, Grimm’s was on the first floor. At least temporarily. After the storm ravaged the building, and with the rebuilding not yet complete, all the bedrooms had been relocated to the first two floors. Danny paced up and down while Grimm sat on his bed.

“So it’s you, Dirk, Ed, and Chance…”

“And you.”

“And me,” Danny said.

“Right. Five guys. Because Kit says so?”

“What? Of course not. We don’t take orders from him, just suggestions. But this time he’s right, five people is a good number. We don’t really need anymore for this mission.”

“So what about Mxy?”

“What about him?”

“He’s the most powerful. I thought you’d feel safe bringing him along,” Grimm said.

“I don’t know… there’s been something… odd about him lately. OddER, I mean. And I had a strange conversation with him, during the storm… about his limits. I just… I’d prefer not to use him unless I really have to. The more powerful the team is, the more there is at stake.”

Grimm nodded.

“And Phil?” He asked.

“Still a bit of an unknown. I went with people I knew better. Same with Jackie. And Grissom is best off here, looking after the rebuilding. Tayden’s brand new…” Danny explained.

“Right. Okay. Sounds good,” Grimm said. He didn’t bother asking why Danny didn’t bring Priest.

“And are you going to be able to handle it?” Grimm asked, gesturing towards Danny’s injuries.

Danny looked down at himself. His arm and chest were still bandaged. And he had that scar on his neck. The scar that would probably be there forever.

“I… I’ll be fine. I mean, it’s been a little while since it happened. I’m just about over it. I may not be a hundred percent if we get into a no holds barred battle or something, but… but I’ll be fine,” Danny said, nodding.

“Right. Sure you are. Just checking.”

“I’m going to go see Kit about the travel arrangements. Talk to you soon.”

Shirley closes the door of her temporary office in the temporary HQ. She pics up the phone on her desk and starts dialing a long number written in a piece of paper she took from her pocket. It's obviously a long-distance call.

"Hello?" she says when someone pics up the phone on the other side of the line.

"Yes?" a female voice replies.

"Um... Mrs Harrison?"

"Yes, I suppouse that's me... Who is this?"

"My name is Shirley Francis, Mrs Harrison... and I'm engaged to your son"

"Karl is getting married?"

"No, Mick..."

"Mick is sitll alive? Oh, look at that..."

"Wait, Mick has a brother?!"

"Twin brother, dear. If you're with him for the looks I should tell you that Karl does much better than Mick and looks the same way..."

"Uh... look, I was calling you to tell you that the wedding is gonna be pretty soon"

"Oh. So?"

"I was... hoping you'd come"

"...emm... I suppouse I could go..."

"Good! I'm sure Mick will be happy to see you"

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Mick here, honey?"

"Yes. Now, we're living in La Perdita, an island in the caribbean..."

"...I don't know why that doesn't surprise me..."

"The city the wedding will take place is, Puerto Mibela, has several hotels you and Mr Harrison can stay in..."

"Wait, you want Harry to come, too?"

"Well... yes"

"I suppouse I could ask him the next time I see him..."

"Is that going to be soon?"

"I hope not, dear..."

Meanwhile, outside, TC approached Daniela, who had been sitting on a chair staring at a wall for the whole day, to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Tobias Christopher, but you can call me TC," he said, offering his hand to her.

She didn't react.

"Is she always like that?" TC asked Mick.

"Not always..." Mick answered."She's been like that since the hurricane. She hasn't said a word since then"

"Something really awfull must have happened to her..." TC commented, feeling pity for her.

"You bet," Mick replied.

Phil knocked on Leslie's door. After a few moments, the bounty hunter came to the door, running a curling iron through her hair. "Yeah?"

"The team is gonna be leaving soon," Phil said. "Some of 'em, anyway."

Leslie's eyes widened. "You're not going, are you?"

Phil shook his head. "Three cracked ribs and a concussion were enough to convince me that I'm much better at the Mission Impossible stuff than the whole superhero game. I'm helping Grissom over at the apartment building back in Puerta Mibela."

"Sounds fine, hon," Leslie said, putting down her curling iron and running her fingers through her luxuriant auburn hair. "What kind of work will you be doing?"

"Masonry and woodwork," Phil lied. "Construction stuff. Nothing interesting."

"You sure?" Leslie asked.

Phil nodded. "Yeah. Maybe some electrical work," he added, attempting to placate his conscience. "My point is that I'll be staying there for a couple nights, and I wanted to know if you'd be okay staying here."

Leslie frowned. "I don't know, Phil. This is still a strange place to me. The native people don't seem very friendly, and I'm still trying to sort out all these metahumans with their weird powers." She put a hand on Phil's arm. "I would feel a lot safer if you were with me," she pleaded.

Phil rolled his eyes. "You know you're not going to be able to charm me into giving you what you want, Leslie," he reminded her.

"It works on everyone else," she pouted.

"Well, I can't read your mind unless you ask me to," Phil said, "so I guess that makes us even." He thought a moment. "Well, come to think of it, I don't really want anything bad to happen to you. And I could use the company. Griss is a nice guy, but as a heterosexual male, metahuman or not, I enjoy having a beautiful woman around whenever the opportunity presents itself." He winked at her. "Yeah, you can come along."

Leslie smiled. "Thanks." She kissed Phil on the cheek. "You're a sweetheart."

"But," Phil said, "this is La Perdita, and I can't guarantee that weird stuff won't happen. In fact I can pretty much guarantee that it will. So you might have to help Griss and I out if by chance trouble comes along. And just remember - if anything happens to either of us, you're on your own."

"Fair enough." Leslie beamed at him. "You're the greatest, Phil." She tried to kiss him again but Phil ducked away subtly.

"That's all for now," Phil said flatly. "I'll be by to help you move some of your things later." He turned and walked off down the hall.

Leslie frowned. For several weeks, she had tried her best to break the ice, but nothing had really worked. Phil could be very polite and kind to her, and he seemed to enjoy spending time with her, but every time Leslie made a serious romantic approach, Phil seemed to retreat into some sort of invisible shell. She would have thought he was playing mind games with her if she didn't know better.

Maybe the next couple days might give Leslie a chance to win Phil's trust and maybe even break the ice between them.

There was only one way to find out.

Ameristar and Jackie were in the kitchen preparing a couple of drinks for themselves.
"How could you?" Asked Ameristar.
"How could I what, dear?"
"How could you steal from him? He´s your father, and my best friend, besides you." she added after receiving a frown from Crasher.
"Easy. I took it from the library and teleported here." Crasher took her drink and started towards the door.
"Let´s put some theads on for the men to oogle at." she said with a evil twinkle in her eye.

Ameristar sighed,took the drink and the book and followed her to their temporary room.
********************************

Georgio took one look at the Pontiac Firebird-Transam with clear metal coating and red leather interior and fell in love...
It took him fortytwo seconds to hot wire it and make a hasty getaway from the parking lot. He was getting rusty...that took much longer than it should have.
Ah, to test the abilities of a car was almost even better than sex.
The cars disappeared behind him and he contiued on to the main road from Paris to Travemynde, Germany...he had a boat to catch.

Tayden walked back into Dirk's room. "Um... Hey, where did you get off to? You were gone for quite some time."

"Out," Dirk said as he put a suitcase that he had just purchased on the bed. Most of his things were sitting under a pile of rubble where half of the complex used to be. Good thing he didn't really have any personal items. "I had to make a few arrangements for the trip." He walked over to the closet and opened it up. Several black trench coats filled it. Italy. Winter. It's probably gonna be cold, he thought to himself as he pulled down the wool coat and put it into the suitcase.

"I was wanting to talk with you," the fallen angel continued as Dirk proceeded to pack a few more clothes. "About what we were talking about earlier. I think that it's important."

"Tell you what," the gunslinger said as he rounded a corner out of Tayden's sight. "Leave a pamplet on the nightstand, and I promise not to wipe my ass with it later." He returned from around the corner with his hat in his hand. He placed it in the suitcase before taking off his coat and hanging it back up in the closet.

"That's what I'm talking about. Your total disregard for... everything. There's too much out there for you to just push it all away."

"There's too much at stake for me not to," the gunslinger's voice was cold and quick. "Listen," for a brief moment, Tayden thought that he saw a shimmer in the man's eyes, "you seem to be a nice guy, so let me give you some advice: Don't try and play that 'brining out the nice guy' game with me. I'm the wrong guy. You'll lose every time."

"That's the problem. I can't give up like that. I have a purpose here."

"So do I. And it doesn't involve being anyone's friend." He began to take off his gun holsters and place his weapons in a footlocker. "Now go bug someone else. See if you can get Grimm to take off that damn mask of his."

"Um... Well, it's not really...... oh, never mind." Tayden walked out of Dirk's room.

People is gathering here, in the dining room, for the party.

It’s the end of the year, and the natives, out in the streets, are dancing and singing and making music. We have to stay inside this old, rotten building because they don’t love us.

Fucking norms.

The funny thing is that they don’t hate us for being metas, but because we are from abroad.

We saved their fucking lives, (more by chance –or should I say Chance – than for our own strategy), and they hate us.

Fucking norms.

Tobias comes toward me.

“Hi Euro. I’m so happy you are still alive. You know, I have found my son. Have you finally rescued your own?”

“No”.

“Oh sorry. I tough… I was thinking that after all this time… well, sorry, I mean…”

“No problem. One day I will hold him in my arms, TC. Thanks for your support…”

I turn, and go to the balcony. The night is warm, I will never get accustomed to the tropical winters. At home, in Northern Italy, people are going skiing right now. But the eagle in my is happy. Wintering in the tropics is the way to go. I wonder what will happen when spring will come. I will feel the need to leave, like I did during the hurricane? And where I could go? Chicago?

Eddie.

Ladnikia vibrates over my back. Could she open a way through the whole EPS to reach my son?

Is it the time to put the blade inside Walker’s belly?

I must don’t think. These are toughs for another moment.

I come back in the main room, and shout: “This place is too boring! Who wants to come to the metas bar with me?”

"Comrade! Who is needing to go to meta bar when I am bringing meta bar to us?" Blackwulf the Everchanging entered the room with two large beer kegs over his right shoulder and a large busted female hanging over the left. Following close behind him were Jake, the catfish man, and several metas, of all shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. Jake, his employees, and the patrons of the meta bar had all turned out to show their appreciation for the team's efforts during the hurricane several months ago. Even going so far as to provide free food and drinks. MBL Consulting's new year's eve party was officially underway.

Blackwulf looked around the room, as if searching for someone. He turned to Tayden and asked, "Where is Greem?"

[ 01-08-2003, 07:44 PM: Message edited by: Grimm ]

"Hey, buddy," Tobias said as he picked up Li'l Jo, who just ran into the room. "I see they've been feeding you since I've been gone. Don't worry, I won't leave without you again."

***************

After unpacking, Tobias found Daniela sitting out in the hallway.

"Do you like flowers?" Tobias asked as he produced a flower out of thin air. (by running outside and picking one before the girl blinked)

Daniela just continued to sit there.

"You know, you kind of remind me of someone I used to know," Tobias said as he pulled up a chair. "I'm kind of hungry, want to grab a bite to eat in the kitchen?"

The girl didn't say anything, or even attempt a smile, but she stood up and offered Tobias her hand as they headed toward the kitchen.

[ 01-08-2003, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: Tobias Christopher ]

Tayden grinned and said "Uh....he's in the back trying to get the fish smell out of his biker jacket"

"Good!" Wulf shouted "I bring him gift" and he motioned his head toward the woman accross his soldier.

"Right" Tayden said as his eye caught a green skinned meta-woman wearing only a strange toga get up and a bedroom smile aimed right at the all-to-human-angel.

Tayden's smile got bigger than he caught himself

"Wait a minute....Last time I did this was with a Philistine woman who gave birth to a giant with 12 fingers and 12 toes......that didn't end well"

As he was debating, the sultry dark haired green skinned woman walked right up to him....just a few inches from his face and just stared and smiled.

"Uh.....hi......I'm Tayden.......what's your name?"

"Whatever you want it to be" with that said she slowly and gracefully put her arms around Tayden and brought her lips to his.

"well....." Tayden thought "The team could use a giant"

[ 01-08-2003, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: Sonhaven ]

Without warning, the lights in the room dimmed suddenly. Everyone froze and looked around nervously. Even Tayden and the green woman stopped what they were doing.

The doors rattled.

Edulcore stood up slowly. "I don't like this." He felt the subtle pull of Ladnikia but fought the urge to draw the sword.

The lights flickered again, then the room went dark.

Blackwulf slammed his pint down on the table. "Is not amusing." He stood up. "What is being happening in here?"

The doors creaked open, and two magnesium flares lit with a sharp pop!, blinding the partiers and causing some to cry out in fright. The flares lit the open doorway and revealed... nothing. A few of the MBL members looked around warily but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary in the dim light.

A figure flitted about in the darkness, but nobody could get a glimpse of the shadow within the shadows, moving soundlessly throughout the room and definitely putting the fear of God into the partygoers.

BOOM!

There was a deafening noise and blinding flash in the middle of the room. Every head turned to see Leslie Kline standing there in a striking strapless maroon dress, her wavy hair dyed the same shade and cascading off her bare shoulders. Her deep brown eyes (that was their actual color) flashed wickedly as she smiled at the astonished partygoers.

Several guys' jaws dropped, and the less inhibited ogled Leslie's mind-blowing figure shamelessly. Leslie just stood there and took it all in - until a second flash and bang went off and she was gone just as quickly as she had come.

The lights went out, plunging the room into near total darkness as the flares died down. Sparklers lit all over the room, gradually adding light to the darkness. People were starting to get into it now. Blackwulf and Ed remained on their feet, but now they were only interested in finding out who would go through this kind of trouble just to make an entrance.

They got their answer when a ring of lights around the doorway lit up to reveal Leslie walking into the room on the arm of none other than Phil Smith - who was decked out in Armani from head to toe and making it look pretty damn good.

The lights came up.

"For people I haven't met yet, they know how to make an entrance," Tobias said to himself softly.

Crasher and Ameristar arrived just after, so they lost the surprise effect, but soon the boys salivated over their skin tight black dresses with diamond necklaces and long black gloves.
The scent of Roma was discreetly detected.
Ameristar had insisted upon wearing the very highheeled Rizzo shoes, which gave Crasher a problem but she smiled and pretended she was born with them.
They raised their glasses to Leslie, who smiled politely to them.
"And who are those two party swingers?" she asked Sam.

Crasher turned to Ameristar. "So...they have competition Jackie. Let´s get a head start." And with that she went over to Blackwulf and did the fake swoon routine in his arms.
He stood there flabbergasted and she said with a practised husky voive; "Dance with me, loverboy."

[ 01-09-2003, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: T5 ]

"Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-CHA! cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-CHA!" Kit muttered to himself in song as he sauntered down the hallway, a drink in his hand. He passed by a doorway that was was partly opened and seemed to have a dim light inside. He pushed it slowly open and looked in.

"Kris? What are you doin' in here all by yourself, man? The party's out here!"

Kristofer Schanz looked up at him from the book he was reading and smiled politely. "I'm just reviewing these books on the Renaissance and Italy for the mission."

"For God's sake, man, it's New Year's Eve!"

"Uhhh... Kit, I'm not really much of a party person."

"Oh, come on, big guy, we've actually got a few more women around tonight! If I was twenty years younger, I'd be out there trying to score... Hell, I might even try anyways!"

"It's... just not me, Kit. I'm uncomfortable at parties. Don't know what to do with myself while I'm at one." He smiled. "You know me... I always have to challenge myself, whether physically or intellectually."

"Kris, it's New Year's Eve, man! Live a little!"

Chance laughed. "All right, Kit, I'll be down in a few minutes. Just let me finish this chapter."

Kit looked at the tall Swede who sounded more like an Englishman than a Scandinavian when he spoke. Had something to do with the British English he was taught in school, he supposed. And he had mentioned something about taking a few semesters at Cambridge in his early 20s. Chance seemed a bit withdrawn tonight. Maybe it was the effect of the beer on him, but Kit actually took notice of this though empathy was NOT one of his strong suits.

"You okay, man?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine, Kit. Don't worry about me."

"'Cause my door is always open if you want to talk about... whatever it is you want to talk about," Kit said slowly, still trying to study Chance's face for any sign of his true emotional state at the moment.

"Thank you very much, Kit, I'll remember that."

"Sure," Kit said, stepping back towards the door. "Oh, one thing I noticed today while going through the personnel files salvaged from the Complex..."

"Hm?"

"Saw Pete's file. It seems as though his birthday would have been tomorrow... New Year's Day."

"Yes... I know."

"Is that what's bugging you?" Kit asked after a pause. "Pete's death?"

"Not really," Chance lied, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the subject. "Well, it's more than just that, anyways. This MBL isn't my MBL, Kit. I'm a Stranger in a Strange Land. This is not my home. I don't think it ever could be my home. Until I find a way to get back to my own world, it'll be my temporary home, but I can never be comfortable in a place like this. I miss my friends."

"You have friends here, too, Kris."

"Yes, I am glad for that," Chance said. "But it's just... not the same, if you know what I mean."

"I, uh... I think I do, yeah," Kit said, thinking suddenly of his two daughters back in New Orleans with their mom, the ex-wife who broke his heart. It was hard not having them around during Christmas. The only consolation was that his daughters would be staying with him again in a few weeks.

Kit made a point of sniffing the air in the room Chance was in. "Uh... I wouldn't stay in this room for too long, there, Kris. The smell of fish might sink in a bit too much. Still sorry I couldn't find better accomodations for us after the storm..."

"Hm. Yes... Frankly, the situation stinks."

Kit grinned in surprise as he realized that the usually-serious Swede had tried to make a joke, then laughed. "Well, come and join us whenever you're ready... and make sure to come on over by midnight, at least!"

"I will, Kit. Thanks again."

[ 01-09-2003, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

Grissom Montag loved parties. Just loved 'em. He sat at a table filled with women, regalling them with stories about his past adventures. They seemed incredibly captivated and were laughing at even the dumbest of his jokes.

"So I says to the Shiek guy, I says, 'Hey, is that a schimitar in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?'" The table roared with laughter as Grissom finished off the last of his Guiness and called for another pint. Maria, one of the girls from the meta bar Griss had heard so much about, sat comfortably under the Brit's left arm, while Kat, a metahuman contorsionist with feline agility, snuggled closely to his right side.

Receiving his pint, Grissom took a draught, then turned again to his captivated audience. "So, what'd you do Griss?" asked Sarah, who sat across the table from Montag.

"Well, ladies," Grissom said, relishing the attention, "let's just say that once he pulled his schimitar..." Every woman at the table gasped as a small carving knife suddenly appeared in Grissom's hand. "...I had the situation well in hand."

Cheers and applause erupted from the ladies at the table as Grissom lightly bowed his head and let go of the knife, which vanished from sight as soon as he did.

"Tell us another one, Griss," Kat cooed, looking up at his with her big brown eyes. A chorus of female voices echoed her sentiment. Grissom smiled again and took another drink of his ale.

"Alright," the ex-merc agreed as the ladies continued to insist, "but just one more. I'm anxious to get out there with some of youse to cut a rug. What say?"

All Grissom could see were smiles as he leaned forward and began to unweave another story. "So, there I was out in the desert sands of Morocco..."

Dirk came into the main room where the party was being held. He had ditched his usual wardrobe of the coat and fedora for a regular, button-up shirt. He circumvented the party and headed for the door. Next to it, Blackwulf was talking to three strangers. "Dirk, comrade," the giant yelled while waving the gunslinger over, "I am introducing you to old friends."

Since they were standing in front of the door, Dirk had no choice to go over. "This is John," Blackwulf said while tapping the man with the backpack and five o'clock shadow.

John smiled before quickly turning his attention to his backpack. "Be quiet........ I'm sure you can take him, but now's not the time."

"And this," Wulf continued, "is Monkey Boy." The giant displayed a large smile as he put his hand on the shoulder of the guy wearing the flip flops on his unusually large feet.

The man returned the grin as he replied, "Sure thing......, Lassie." Wulf's smile dissappeared as he eyed his old comrade.

Turning to the man in the wrestler's mask, the Russian introduced the last man, "And this is The Luchador."

"Hi," the smaller man said as he lifted the mask up, over his mouth and quickly replaced it. He gave a quick wave and a smile before running off yelling, " LUCHA LIBRE, AWAY!"

"Why did he lift up his mask to say "Hi," when there was already a mouth hole in it?" Dirk asked.

"Is question we not having answer to."

"Man," the one Wulf dubbed as Monkey Boy said, "I hate telling you guys this; but this place stinks of fish. I mean, it's everywhere. It even covers up Lassie's scent. I think I'll get some air freshener from the car. I can't stand this much longer." He exited out the door.

"Nice party," John said. His attention went quickly back to his backpack, " I don't know if they have beer here. Give me a second to find out...... Don't threaten me like that. Especially if you want another title shot. You guys wouldn't happen to have anything to drink, would you?"

"Over there, John," Wulf said, pointing to the keg.

When Dirk and Blackwulf were standing alone, Dirk said, "What was that? The Mentally Handicapped League?"

Wulf's face got serious. "Is my old team, so to speak. We do lot together before I am becoming your weight trainer. There are some problems, yes; but Monkey Boy is having Ph.D. in head shrinking. He is making problems not as bad as they were." Wulf took a drink of a mug of a strange blue liquid. "Is good. Speaking of weight training, you are not as puny under that coat as I believed. But I am going to be making you stronger." He smiled and upturned the mug.

"I think I'll be going now," Dirk opened the door and began to head out.

"You not liking party?" Dirk just walked out into the night. He felt he needed a little time to think. Now was as good a time as any. Especially since he wouldn't have as muchtime for it later.

AN HOUR LATER, AT THE PARTY
John was standing at the keg, pouring himself a mug. Ameristar walked up next to him to get a drink. "Hey," she said, "nice shaggy beard you got there." John looked confused for a second until he looked down at his chin. Then, he nodded. "How long have you been growing it?"

"Oh, all night. Which reminds me," he reached into his backpack and pulled out an electric razor. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Um.... down the hall."

"Thanks."

"Grissom."

The mercenary turned and nodded to Phil, who came up to the bar next to him. "Evenin'," Griss said. "Nice to see you out and about for a change."

Phil shrugged. "Time for a change, I guess."

"Proving once again," Grissom said jokingly, "that you don't need an identity to have personality."

Phil chuckled. "I guess not." He looked around. "You had quite an entourage going earlier," he said. "Looked like fun."

"Just came over here to take a break," Montag said. "It's hard to think straight when you have gorgeous women all over you."

Phil smirked. "I wouldn't know, but I'm sure you don't mind very much at all."

Grissom sighed. "They ran off to watch the drinking contest."

"Which Wulf won."

"Naturally," the Brit said. "So, how are things going with you and Leslie?"

Phil looked down. "They're not, really."

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "You two looked like quite the pair when you made that little entrance together."

"Yeah," Phil admitted. "Thanks for the help, by the way."

"Anytime," Grissom said. "You can pay me for the flashbang grenades later, but the teleportation is on the house, as per usual." He ordered a pint from the bartender. "But there really isn't anything going on between the two of you?"

Phil sighed. "I really don't know. I mean, I'm crazy about her, and it seems that she likes me, but... I don't know. It's just not a good time."

"As opposed to during Hurricane Jason?" Grissom challenged him. "I don't see anything wrong with letting things happen." He smiled at a pretty Hispanic waitress who walked by.

Phil nodded. "Maybe you're right." He smiled at the waitress - and did a double-take as she walked off. Impossible.

Griss wasn't paying attention. "Personally, Mr. Smith," he said slyly, "I think it's high time you tossed your inhibitions to the wind and just make love to her like she's been dying for you to." He turned. "You all right, mate?"

Phil's face paled. "I... I don't know."

Grissom chuckled. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I...think...I have," Phil stammered.

"That waitress - you know her?" Grissom asked. "I've never seen her before. I didn't even know she worked here."

"She's..." Phil shook his head. Don't kid yourself. "Sorry. She just reminded me an awful lot of someone." He smiled. "I'm all right. Now, where's Leslie?"

"Sitting over there talking to Shirley and Mick," Grissom said. "I didn't see them come in, actually. You may not have to worry about some bloke runnin' off with her - the gents seem rather taken with Jackie and her sister over there."

"That's all right," Phil said. "Jackie's cute, and her sister's nice-looking too, and they're certainly entitled to have guys around them. But me? My mind's made up." He started to leave. "Hey, I'll be there tomorrow to give you a hand with the new security implements, if you need it."

"I think I've got it handled," the mercenary said, "but I could sure use a hand with some other stuff."

"I figured as much," Phil said. "So I figured I'd go ahead and move back into my room up there, since it was on the side that wasn't hit as hard. Leslie wants to tag along, if that's okay."

Grissom shrugged. "Let her. It's no trouble." The bartender handed him his drink. "Thanks for the help," Grissom said. "Now get over there and talk to the girl!"

Phil laughed. "That's an affirmative, Griss. I'm on it."

Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is well-known throughout the world as a center of finance, industry, and culture. It is known far and wide for it’s exquisite Swiss watches and equally ornate jewelry of all shapes and sizes. With a population of about 180,000, Geneva is a small metropolis compared to the hustle and bustle of New York City or Chicago. And that’s just the way that Johnny likes it.

John Wilkes had grown up in New York City as a boy. And, with a current population of over 21 million, he was kind of glad to get away from all the bustle. Plus, Europe was a much better place for him to start a business venture... and that’s just what he’s done.

Under the pseudonym of Johnny Omicron, Wilkes, a graduate from Columbia University with a business degree, founded an organization known as ‘Project Omicron’. His goal in this endeavor was to work as a ‘legal A-Team,’ hiring the services of himself and his employers out to the top firms to accomplish jobs that even professionals couldn’t do. Wilkes had been in operation for a few years now and liked the bulk of work he was getting, as well as the camaraderie with his employees – who ranged from the socially deviant to the independently wealthy. He prided himself on knowing people and on having people to fit just about every situation he could ask for. That was the strategy Wilkes used with Project Omicron… and it was a strategy that worked.

Johnny sat in his penthouse apartment, looking down at the streets of Geneva – at the low-scale hustle and bustle – and sighed a contented sigh. His workers would be arriving soon for their debriefing. The first day of the new year and already Project Omicron had received a job... and a profitable one at that. This looked as though it could be easy money for Omicron. And that’s just the way he liked it.

Over the next twenty minutes, the members of Project Omicron filtered in one by one. First came the acrobatic gunslinger X-Acute, followed by the seven-foot Cyclops, Arges, who carried both his axe and hammer in hand. The girls showed up next: Xyber, the living computer program (via Wilkes’ cable modem) and Rose, the former assassin. Next entered Mimic, the master of disguise with the enigmatic Sheik almost right behind him. Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting, a gust of air blew open a small window, and with it, the ethereal Pneuma wafted into the room, taking a seat next to the Sheik.

“Well, it’s good to see everyone here today on such short notice. Happy New Year, by the way,” Wilkes said, leaning back in his chair. “Can I interest anyone in a drink before we get started?”

“Have you got any ambrosia?” Arges grunted. “I’ll take mead if you got it, but I’d really prefer a nice ambrosia. Haven’t had one o’ them since I was back on Olympus.”

Wilkes smiled. “I do have some mead over at the bar. My apologies, Arges, but my private vintner hasn’t quite gotten the concept of ‘ambrosia’ down yet...”

Arges grumbled something under his breath as he made his way to the mini-bar. Mimic followed, taking a glass of champagne and X-Acute brought back two beers for he and Rose. Everyone else declined drinks.

“Alright,” Wilkes said, a smile spreading across his features. “Let’s talk about this job. Sheik, Arges… keep your ears open on this one. Sounds like something you guys would really go in for.” The Sheik arched his eyebrows as Arges leaned his elbows on his knees and lifted his stein of mead to his lips.

“It’s something called the Liber Vitae,” Wilkes said, reading the reactions from Sheik and Arges. Arges tilted his head forward waiting for more information while the Sheik arched his eyebrows in surprise. “Sheik? Something you want to share?”

“I have heard of this book,” the Arabian oil baron began. “It is said, according to English tradition to have been a text written by the historical Merlin, an archbishop, as opposed to the Merlin of British legend. I have heard that it was a magical text, lost many centuries ago.”

“Around the twelfth century, to be precise,” Wilkes said, nodding. “From Canterbury, England. It appears as though our employer is a book collector who wants to add the Liber Vitae to his collection.”

“Who is this guy?” Mimic asked, taking a sip from his champagne glass. “Anyone we may have heard of?”

“He wishes to remain anonymous, which is usually fine by me,” Wiles said. “I had Xyber run some background checks to see if she could get any sort of bead or trace on the guy.” Johnny Omicron then turned his attention to Xyber, whose digital image was being supported by holographic emitters that had been strategically placed around the room.

“Haven’t found anything yet, Mister O.,” Xyber said, shrugging her shoulders. “However, I was able to hack into the Uffizi Museum security system as you asked. The jpegs are on your hard drive, under my usual storage folder.”

“Thank you, Xyber,” Omicron said, typing away on the laptop that say on his desk. Within minutes, pictures from the security cameras within the Italian Uffizi Museum were on his screen. Punching a few keys, a big screen TV mounted to the wall of the office came to life. On it was an ornate painting of a man.

“This,” Omicron said, rising from his seat, “is Joaquim de Cuccubao, a renowned Portuguese explorer. It was painted by Cuccubao’s personal artist, Tanfo de Perugia. If you’ll look carefully at Cuccubao’s hands, you’ll notice a book with Liber Vitae on the spine…”

“And what does that mean, exactly?” X-Acute said, taking a swig of his brew.

“It means that Cuccubao, at one point in time, owned the book,” Omicron said, arching his brow.

“How do you get that from that?” the gymnast/acrobat asked, placing his beer on a coaster beside him. “For all we know, de Perugia could’ve just painted him with the book!”

“Actually,” Pneuma whispered from his seat beside Sheik, “in the time in which de Perugia and Cuccubao lived, a painting was the closest thing there was to a photograph. For de Perugia to paint that book would mean that he would’ve had to see it… which means that Cuccubao actually owned it…”

X-Acute furrowed his brow and nodded. “Makes sense to me,” he said finally, looking back at Omicron.

Johnny smiled, cleared his throat and continued. “Cuccubao was the leader of an expedition through Brazil in search of El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold, for the Portuguese crown. However, de Perugia was the only survivor of said expedition. He claimed to his dying day that Cuccubao never found the city of gold.”

“Where’s the book, though?” Arges asked simply, getting up and heading to the mini-bar for more mead.

“Well, that’s just the thing,” Omicron said, smiling. “No one really knows. Now, there’s a few places where it’s rumored to be, but no one really knows for certain. My guess is that’s the reason why our employer hired us to find and bring in the book. My guess would be that it’s with Cuccubao’s body, somewhere in Brazil.”

“Wait…” X-Acute said, raising his hand. “You said de Perugia was the only survivor of the expedition that Cuccubao went on. Maybe he took the book with him. Where did he go once the expedition was over?”

“Italy,” Omicron answered. “In fact, it was de Perugia who founded the Uffizi Museum, where his painting of Cuccubao currently resides.”

“Could it be at the museum?” X-Acute asked, finishing off his beer.

“It’s possible,” Omicron said, rubbing his chin. “Listen, my notes say that there’s something in this painting that could give us a clue as to the book’s whereabouts. Look at all this stuff in the background. The temples, mountains… that flying thing. What is that?”

“A dragon?” Sheik offered.

“No such things as dragons,” X-Acute said, rolling his eyes at Sheik.

“Not so sure about that,” Omicron answered. “Catholic saints have to perform three miracles to reach sainthood. A lot of them are sited as having slain a dragon for one of those miracles…”

“So, you’re thinking that this place is in Brazil?” Arges asked, rubbing the bags under his eye.

“It’s a good possibility, but I’m not gonna rule out X-Acute’s Italy suggestion,” Omicron said, making his way back to his desk. “Besides, there are liable to be some curators at the museum there that can give us a hand. Xyber, I want you to book us some reservations on a private plane to Italy out of Geneva. Five seats. I want Rose, Arges, X-Acute, and Sheik to go with me on this one. Mimic, I want you on the next flight to Washington D.C. Hit the Library of Congress and get everything you can. Bring your camera,” Omicron winked at that remark. “When you’re done with that, meet us in Italy with whatever you find. Pneuma, you and Xyber will be working the phones on this one. I want anything you can find me. I want Internet. I want speculation and hearsay. Word on the street. Get me it all. We’ll rendezvous in Italy at the end of the week, collaborate and share information. Everyone got me?”

Rose nodded silently, taking a swig of her beer and then resuming cleaning out her gun. Mimic rubbed his bald head as a smile appeared – quite literally – on his blank face. Arges grunted his assent as he went back for his third stein of mead. X-Acute nodded and pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes. Xyber vanished from sight and back into Omicron’s laptop, busying herself with finding airplane rentals. Sheik nodded also, steepling his fingers in front of his face. Pneuma whispered a ‘yes’ as he wafted over to have a chat with X-Acute about sixteenth century art.

In his chair, Jonathon Wilkes smiled. Money in the bank, he thought to himself. This case is money in the bank…

Edulcore returned to sit on the balcony sofa with his sword, still a bit shaken by Phil and Leslie´s entrance...

They could have at least the decency to warn him...you never knew when somone could be actually attacking, so simulating it was poor style, he thought.
But he had to admit...the trick worked. They sure were scared there for a moment.

The new year had to be a year of changes...more discipline and focusing on the job at hand was needed.
He stroked the sword, while drinking a glass of orange juice.
The mere thought of alcohol, pah...Only mad men would drink when the enemy could be just outside, right this minu....
The pain in the head hit him like a sledgehammer and he fell over the table, alarming everyone near him...

"Eurostar...Antarctica...domination...help!!"

The words hammered into his head, and he thought he would cry out, but as fast as it came, it disappeared.
Ameristar and Crasher ran out to help him get to his feet.
And he looked at them with tears in his eyes...If it was from pain or anything else he didn´t say.

"Thank you, friends. I...will manage..thanks."
Ameristar gave him a worried look; "Are you sure? You´re crying."

"What?...Oh...no, no..hehehe...it´s happiness my friends... alost souls is back. An old friend of ours that we thought was dead is back and alive. Naecken is alive!! He will surely see things my way!"

Crasher looked at Ameristar and signaled with her hands...*he seems to be playing with a half full orchestra*

"C´mon dear. Let´s get you inside and we can talk about it." Ameristar led him in to the kitchen and sat him on a chair.
"Okay from the top...Who is this Naecken guy?"
And he told them.

In the time of need… the red will become the green…. Put this disk on Naecken forehead.

The words of my future self still echoing in my mind. The disk hangs from my neck, everyone thinks it’s an amulet, they don’t know what it is or its purpose. Nobody knows, outside me.

I am not revealing it to Jackie or Crasher. I was going to, but I felt a chill along my spine. I know it was Ladnikia. She doesn’t want me to reveal it. And since she has saved my life more than one time, I know I have to trust her.

I look at the empty glass. Orange juice, ghha. But after the stupid entrance of those two kids, I am in warrior mode, so to speak. And the need to drown my deeper toughs in alcohol is gone.

The two girls look gorgeus. Who should I invite to dance? Jackie is now a close friend, after what we endured during the haunt of the Georgios, after the hurricane. But I know she loves Crasher… what I don’t know is if Crasher returns her feelings…

“HI, LITTLE EDULCORE!”

I turns, there is a giant turtle looking demon hovering over me.

“Bargh…Baahhhrg… Baghr…” I begins, but the demon silence him gentle with his index in front of his beak. “IT’S JUST UNCLE, FOR YOU, ED”.

“Uncle… what does it means? I have searched for you for a lot of time…”

“I KNOW. LET’S GO OUTSIDE”

I follow him outside, on the balcony.

“Whole story”.

“I CAN’T SAY MUCH. SOMETHING HAS BEEN REVEALED TO YOU BEFORE: THERE ARE TWO SECRET SOCIETIES…”

“…that struggles from the stone age to control the planet. The Hoods, aliens crashed on Earth, that taught technology to man and created the MU empire, and the Capes, or Futurists, or other dozens of names, the champions of Earth rebellion, who discovered magic to fight the advanced powers of the rivals. And since the dawn of history, they always struggle, both parts never achieving total victory, because there is an immortal Neanderthal that always thwart their plans, directly or enlisting the champions of that era.”

“YOU DID YOUR HOMEWORK. YOUR FATHER WAS ONE OF THE HOODS. HIGH IN COMMAND POSITION. HE HAD TO KILL ONE OF THE CAPES, A WOMAN. INSTEAD HE FELL IN LOVE WITH HER. SHE WAS AN HIGH WITCH. I WAS HER SERVANT. THEY TRIED TO HIDE FORM THE SOCIETIES, HIDING IN BOLOGNA, ITALY, AS OWNER OF A LITTLE RESTAURANT. THEY HAD YOU. THEN, WHEN YOU WERE STILL A KID, THEY HAD AN INCIDENT. IT WAS A GEORGIO THAT FINALLY FOUND THEM. THEY WERE BOTH KILLED. YOUR FATHER WAS LATER CLONED. I DON’T KNOW MUCH MORE”.

“Where do you disappeared? This informations are not much more what I knew before”.

“I WAS… AWAY, TO GET INSTRUCTIONS…”

“Where?”

“AWAY… I HAVE RETURNED TO WARN YOU. YOUR SWORD… YOU ARE NOT THE ONE THAT SHOULD HAVE FOUND HER. THERE IS ANOTHER INCARNATION OF THE ETERNAL CHAMPION ON THIS EARTH, THAT IS THE LEGITIMATE POSSESSORS. YOU HAVE NOT THE STRENGHT FOR HER BURDEN.”

I take Ladninkia in my hand, balances her, rotates her over my head. “I have all the strenght I need, demon.”

“MORAL STRENGHT, ED. YOU ARE HER SLAVE. I HAVE ARRIVED TOO LATE. LISTEN TO ME, THROW THE SWORD IN THE OCEAN!”

I laugh. “Ahhh ahhh ahhh, little demon. You come here, saying to either give away my sword or throwing it away? Are you escaped from an asylum or what?”

The demon turns, shaking his head, and returns to the party.

I look at Ladnikia. The euphoria lefts all of a sudden. The weight of Ladnikia now is too obvious. Panic, fears and imagines of horror possesses my brain.

Things I know so well. From when I was slave of a different kind of sword.

Oh, God, what I am becoming?

Heligoland Island, Northern Sea

The old man looks outside the windows, at the first light of the new day, the first day of the new year, trough the abundant snowfall.

He then goes to his library, and observes the place where a book is obviously missing.

He smiles.

Her daughter will never learn to not steal the jam.

Ah. It will be a very difficult mission for Ameristar and her comrades of the MBL. But the old Neanderthal knows that she will succeed. And the Liber Vitae finally will be in his hands!

STILL AT THE PARTY
"LUCHA LIBRE, AWAY!!!" the masked man said while bounding around the party.

"MICHAEL, GET BACK HERE!" the one Wulf referred to as Monkey Boy yelled while chasing the masked one. "I'M NOT GOING THROUGH THIS AGAIN!"

From out of the hall leading to the bathroom, John runs out with a half shaven beard and ferociously slapping at the flames on his jacket's sleeve in an attempt to extinguish it. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Kit was walking around the party far away from the excitement. He happened to pass Blackwulf, who was talking with some metas he knew from the bar. Now, Kit isn't one to listen in on other people's cnversations; but when Wulf talks, you have no choice but to here it. "Yes, was very interesting time. Team knew how to handle a problem. We took down many big enemies. Team was, how you say, unstopable." Kit, being very intrigued by this story, slipped further into the party with the music drowning out Blackwulf's voice.

"Why aren't you still with them then?" one of the metas asked Wulf.

"Rest of team eaten by ogres in Germany. Very sad and messy occurance."

ELSEWHERE ON THE ISLAND
Dirk sat on the beach, looking over the ocean and stars. He always prefered looking at the stars from this angle. Even he could appreciate the beauty of the night sky. Especially after seeing how horrible it can look during the hurricane a few months back. "You can come out now," he said aloud to the world.

A woman came out from behind a small dune. As she sat down next to him, she said in her lovely Scottish accent, "You know, I could sneak up on you if I really wanted to."

"I bet you could." A very unusual thing occured next. Dirk smiled. It wasn't his normal smart-ass grin that he gave his enemies and everyone else. It was a geniune smile.

"What are you doing dressed like that?" Aine asked when seeing his attire.

"Things are pretty dead around here," he responded. "Didn't see the point in carrying it all around. Besides, Puerta Mibela is wasted and Del Mar doesn't reven egister on the radar. I doubt anything is going to go down here. Even if something does happen, I'm pretty sure I can take care of anything that comes my way."

"Are you sure about that?" she said with a playful tone in her voice.

Dirk's smile widened and mixed a little with that trademark grin. "Damn sure."

She returned the expression. "I guess we'll have to see, won't we?"

"Knock-knock..."

Chance looked up to see a silhouette in the doorframe... a very feminine silhouette. "Charlize?"

"Hey, Chance... Grissom said he hadn't seen you at the party all night... and that you're missing all the fun cooped up with all these books," Charley Montoya said with a smile, "he thought I might have some luck in tempting you there myself."

"He couldn't have picked a better person," Chance said, laughing.

"So are you coming, or not? It's getting pretty close to midnight already."

"Sure..." he replied, setting his book down and grabbing a light coat, "...but I was thinking of going outside for a bit of fresh air before I join the others. The air is kind of musty in here."

"I don't blame you. Whoever came up with the idea of relocating to a fish factory should be shot."

"Shall we?" Chance said, opening the door to the outside for her.

They stepped outside and began walking among the old cobblestone roads built more than two hundred years ago.

"You smell nice," he said.

Charley laughed. "Well, anything would smell better than that place back there."

"No, I mean it. You smell very nice tonight. And you look very pretty in that dress. I guess I've gotten so used to you wearing old jeans and T-shirts, not to mention that baseball cap, all the time, that I'd almost forgotten how pretty you are."

She didn't say anything at first, but just smiled and continued walking. A group of little kids ran by holding streamers which glinted in the moonlight. She shivered. "Mm. It's a bit chilly out here."

"It's that sea air," Chance said. "Keeps the temperatures fairly mild. Here, you can have my jacket; I don't need it."

"Thank you, Kris," she said, putting the jacket on over her dress. "As you can probably tell, I'm not used to wearing dresses very much. I was always a bit of a tom-boy, to tell you the truth."

"Never would have guessed," Chance grinned. "So... California!"

"Yep. Good old California. Ever been there?"

"Only once, while I was in university. Backpacked across America back in... what was it again? I think it was '94 or '95. I have some second cousins who live in America. Some in Minneapolis, and a couple in Oregon. Anyways, yeah, I went all the way down the coast that summer. Some people taught me how to surf, though it wasn't hard. I used to snowboard a lot."

"Yeah, you're from the land of snow, aren't you?"

"Well, the land of skiing, at any rate. Though I always preferred snowboarding. More of a challenge."

There was a pregnant pause in the air before Charley spoke again.

"Chance, there was something I wanted to ask you..."

"Sure... anything."

"I've heard a rumor that's been going on about you."

"Oh?"

"I probably shouldn't say anything about this, but... the rumor is that you're in love with Shirley."

"What?"

"I mean, I don't necessarily believe it, but people are talking about this..."

"Really? Which people in particular?"

"Oh, just... people. I don't think Mick or Shirley have heard it yet, but it's possible."

"Hm."

"Is it true?"

"Well..." Chance thought about it for a moment. "No. No, it's not true. At least, not technically..."

"'Not technically'? That's some qualifier..."

"I don't know if anyone's mentioned this to you yet, but... I come from a different timeline. In that timeline, Shirley and I are... were... an item. But... 'that was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead'..."

"Always hated that line."

"Sorry. But the rumors are false. Although this Shirley seems very much like my Shirley, she's not. The two of us have not gone through all the experiences that made my Shirley... my Shirley. The Shirley you know is Mick's. Period. That means hands off."

"Hmm... interesting. I notice you say 'my Shirley'... You're obviously still in love with her, then? The Shirley of... your timeline?"

Chance was silent once more for a few moments. "I'm... not sure. I... I really don't know how to answer that."

"Kris, you don't have to, I..."

"We should probably be getting back."

Chance and Charley walked back to the fish factory in silence.

[ 01-10-2003, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

"Saturday, huh?"

Phil nodded as he listened to the reply from the other end. "Okay," he said. "I'm hoping we can make the necessary arrangements in time." He paused. "No, no, that's all right. No need to rush things. You just get them here on time and I'll pay you what you've earned. Thanks."

"Who was that?" Leslie asked as Phil hung up the phone in his temporary room.

"I'm waiting on a delivery from the mainland," Phil replied, "and I was just checking up on the status of that cargo."

"What kind of delivery?" Leslie asked.

Phil smiled. "You'll know when it gets here."

Leslie frowned. "Why not just tell me?"

Phil raised an eyebrow. "Why tell you what not even Griss knows yet? Any particular reason you get first dibs on any information I give you?"

Leslie sighed. "Well, I was hoping that maybe you could trust me enough to let me in on what you're up to."

"You want to know what I'm up to?" Phil asked. "You really want to know?" He paused. "I'll tell you. But - ladies first."

"What?" Leslie was startled.

Phil nodded. "You air out all that dirty laundry you got and I'll think about trusting you with what I know."

Leslie stamped her foot. "You're such a pain in the ass." She turned and stormed out of the room.

Phil sighed. He didn't know why he had so much trouble dealing with Leslie. He tried to be reasonable - he really did. But something inside him simply refused to let go of the past.

"Sir?"

Phil jumped and turned around. "Can I help you?"

It was her - the waitress from the party. "Sanitation, sir."

Phil relaxed a bit. "If you're the lady who cleans this room, thank you for keeping up with the mess."

"I'm not here to clean, Phil," the girl said.

Something about her voice...

Phil nodded. "Okay. Is there something you need?"

"I just wanted to warn you," she said, "not to miss out on a great opportunity - especially not if it's right under your nose."

"What are you talking about?" Phil asked. "You... remind me of someone."

"Who's that?" the girl asked.

Phil shook his head. "Just... someone I knew not too long ago." He frowned. "But she couldn't be here, I don't think." He looked at her. "Could she?"

"Not if she's dead," the girl said.

"Yeah, I guess not... wait. How did you know who I was talking about?"

"Call it intuition."

Phil looked at her curiously. "Are you sure you're not someone else?"

The girl laughed. "Not since I checked last. No, I'm me."

And then she shapeshifted.

Phil jumped back as the slender girl transformed into a shorter, heavier woman who was even more strikingly beautiful. And then he recognized her.

Phil's jaw dropped. "You... you're..."

She smiled.

And the two of them disappeared.

Leslie tiptoed back into the room. "Phil? I'm really sorry..."

She saw a slip of paper flutter to the floor of the now empty room.

"Phil?" Leslie bent down and picked up the slip of paper. It was a receipt with two words written on the back: Gabriela Riviera.

Leslie searched through her memory.

Then it hit her.

Outside city limits

They materialized on a hilltop overlooking the town.

"I... I can't believe it's you!" Phil said. "But... how?"

Gabi smiled. "Long story."

"I'm listening," Phil said, barely able to contain himself.

"It turns out," Gabi explained, "that I had a bit more of my power left in me than I thought."

Phil remembered: the SUV smashing into the Hudson River, having to fight against the seatbelt to escape, Gabi turning to him and telling him she loved him - before teleporting him out of the vehicle. At her own expense, Phil had assumed. But now she was here.

"I got you out of the car," Gabi went on, "and then it went under. I couldn't breathe at all, much less think straight. I fought to keep from panicking and focused, and all of a sudden I found myself back in my dorm room at NYU." Gabi laughed. "Without really thinking about it, I managed to bring two of my suitcases along with me."

Phil blinked. "But... what about the police? How did you get out of New York when the report hit the media that we were both dead?"

"That's the interesting part," Gabriela said. "I'm imagining you noticed my new power."

"You can shapeshift," Phil realized. "But could you do that before?"

Gabi shook her head. "No. And I didn't discover it by accident, really. I just looked in the mirror and poof! I just changed into someone else."

"Somewhere along the line you acquired a new ability," Phil reasoned. "But what could have brought that on?"

Gabi looked at him and smiled.

Phil thought a moment. His eyes widened. "That night... we... you don't think...?"

Gabi shrugged. "It makes sense to me."

"Well," Phil said, "you have no idea how happy I am to see you here!" He thought a moment. "But... how did you know where to find me?"

"When the hurricane happened," Gabi said, "it was all over the news. They said something about a team of metahuman heroes, and I put two and two together." She smiled. "I came here right after the hurricane and started working in the building back there, waiting for a chance to go looking for you."

Phil couldn't believe it. "You mean you've been around for the past few weeks and I never noticed?"

Gabi nodded. "I told you not to miss out on what was right under your nose."

"Why did you wait so long to show me who you really were?"

"Because there's someone else in your life now," Gabi said plainly.

Phil shook his head. "Leslie? She's just... I don't know. It's complicated."

"I didn't want to get in the way," Gabi said. "I realized that you were convinced that I was dead, and you had moved on with your life. I didn't want to interfere." She looked down. "And I'm afraid that I've done just that."

"Don't say that, Gabriela," Phil said. "You're alive! Doesn't that balance out the whole interference factor?"

"Leslie's still there," Gabi said. "And I don't want you to tell me who you want right now. It's too soon." She smiled at him. "But I'll be around."

"I missed you, Gabi," Phil told her.

"I know." Gabi closed her eyes, and Phil found himself back in his room.

Now this was going to be tough to explain to Leslie...

[ 01-10-2003, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: Captain Sammitch ]

Ameristar and Crasher sat on the couch that was salvaged from the complex, and talked. Euro was seated in between them, fuming.

Ameristar: "There goes Wulf. Don't let him see me."

Crasher: "What, don't you want to dance some more?"

A: "Oh, don't get me started."

C: "What, you didn't like it?"

A: "Being nearly crushed and thrown all over the place? Are you joking? How was yours?"

C: "The one in the mask? He kept staring at me and following me around."

A: "Staring at you? You mean your breasts?"

C: "Just at me! And he had to lift up his mask to talk to me."

A: "What? Doesn't it have a mouth hole?"

C: "Yes! He just kept following me and trying to hug me. I had to sneak away from him. What about the one with the beard?"

A: "He kept disappearing into the bathroom to shave. It kept growing back."

C: "Yuk!"

A: "I know. Then he kept talking to his backpack all night."

C: "Weird."

A: "Yeah, what about the cute one with the big feet?"

C: "Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet. . ."

A: "Yeah, big shoes!"

Suddenly, Euro can take no more. "Girls, do you mind?! I have a lot of very serious concerns here!"

A: "Sorry, hon, but it's New Year's Eve. We wanna have a little fun."

Suddenly they hear a scream as John runs by, waving his arms, his army jacket on fire again.

Blackwulf: "Hey, monkey-boy, Comrade John is having set himself on fire again."

The Luchadore: "I'll put him out. I'll throw this bowl of punch on him."

As Blackwulf and "monkey-boy" try to talk him out of it, The Luchadore grabs up the punch bowl and tosses the contents on top of John, who promptly begins to scream even louder as the flames grow higher and begin to burn even hotter. He runs outside heading for the beach.

Luchadore: "What happened?"

Monkey-Boy: "We tried to tell you. That wasn't punch. It was alcohol."

[ 01-10-2003, 04:43 PM: Message edited by: Grimm ]

A place in the USA

Clive Collins looks at a file on his computer, titled Liber vitae. He first heard about it from the mage Aurochs, when the old wizard was at his services.

Months have passed since the strange and powerful man left, and Collins has lost tracks about him, but he did his own research about it. No one knows where the book is, but he has now employed the best men on Earth to find it. It will cost him an absurd amount of money, but he is confident that the book will arrive on his desk. And with it, unlimited power.

The green skinned Venus thought it would be kinky to do it on the beech. So of course they went out there.......the stars were bright and glorious......very beautiful......very romantic.............its was lust on the brains of these two though.........so they started their business.......their hearts began to littarally beat in simutaneous rythym. As he got carried away....his powers kicked in....big time.......when he approached orgasm...what he felt was given to her 1000 fold.......she screamed and went catatonic.

"Hey......HEY!" Tayden said, as he shook the girl, but she just looked into space with a very satisfied expression......then it hit our lusty angel.........he never thought about how his powers would affect someone when he was "stimulated"

He grabbed his navy-blue pocket T-shirt and blue jeans, shook the sand off of them, and got dressed. Lately T-shirts and bluejeans were all he ever wore. It made he feel simple.....

Falling on his face he said "I am really very sorry.......you didn't send me here to misuse this gift.......please dont take my carelessness out on this woman..........forgi.."

He didn't finish the words when she woke up..........she grabbed her head with one hand and used the other to push her body slightly off the sand and said. "NEVER....EVER....have I cum like that.....it was like a I got hit by a train........Is that your meta power......making people orgasm!........DO IT AGAIN!"

Tayden looked at the girl and then bowed his head and said........."Thank you"

"No problem....." She said.

[ 01-10-2003, 07:16 PM: Message edited by: Sonhaven ]

A huge but graceful shape circles in the air above the island. Drax, you may want to be a bit less obvious.

" I'm a 50 foot long dragon, Drake, I don't DO subtle. "

That's what I mean. Drax. Being a giant monster circling around in the air above a island full of metas is a VERY good way to get yourself attacked.

" I'm not a monster, I'm a mythological creature. There's a difference. "

I doubt they'll wait for you to explain the difference, big guy. Why don't you set down someplace isolated so I can make an introduction?

" Just a little while longer, please? It's such a beautiful night for flying. "

I guess it's late enough that no one will really notice. Just try to look as non-threatening as possible.

"How would I do that?"

I don't know, fly casual.

Chance decided to step back outside after walking Charley back inside.

"I am such an idiot sometimes," he said under his breath as he realized that he'd just passed up an opportunity to be with a beautiful woman who obviously wanted to be in his company tonight.

Yet his sense of honour demanded that he remain loyal to the Shirley of his timeline, no matter how futile or even misplaced that loyalty may be. It wasn't something he wanted to think about too much right now, anyways, though he'd have to make that choice someday.

"What the--?!" he said as the silhouette of what looked like a dragon (!!!) passed across the face of the full moon. "Now that is just strange..."

He stood there in open-mouthed wonder for a few moments before he realised that what he was seeing was very real.

He ran back inside. Ignoring all the cat-calls of the women inside who admired his well-toned physique and Scandinavian good looks (not that it went to his head or anything), he ran over to one of the few at MBL Consulting who could fly under his own power.

"Raptor!" he called as he ran up to Edulcore Cicciotto. "Ed, we need Raptor right now. There's something you've got to check out for me."

"Chance, I haven't seen you all evening! Where have you been? The countdown to midnight is about to begin!"

"Hurry, Ed, while there's still time!"

"All right," Edulcore replied, setting down his drink and following Chance at a casual pace.

Reaching the doorway, the two looked out and saw... nothing.

"I could've sworn there was a winged dragon up in the sky."

Edulcore laughed. "It's just your imagination, my Swedish friend. A little too much to drink on a night like this can produce many illusions." He continued to laugh as he went back inside.

"Perhaps," Chance said, though he hadn't had a drop all night. He stood there on the steps and scanned the horizon once again. There were villagers walking all around below.

Inside, someone had found a television set and had turned it on to watch the countdown. The entire room was full of excitement, and nearly every woman in the room was next to someone as the ten-second countdown began.

"10!"

"Chance!"

"9"

He turned around. "Charley?"

"8"

"Alone?"

"7"

"Yeah."

"6"

"Mind if I..."

"5"

"...join you?"

"4"

"Not at all."

"3"

"Hey!..."

"2"

"...you see that?"

"1"

"What?"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"

"That!"

Charley pointed up as the winged dragon flew by once more. At that moment, cheers erupted from within the fish factory, and all over the village firecrackers and fireworks were set off, illuminating the sky in a multitude of colours.

Up above, Drax was disoriented by all the fireworks exploding around him. He screamed, a roar that sounded more menacing than it did frightened, and began to swoop down to the ground in what looked like an attack despite his best intentions.

"Look out!" Chance shouted and pulled Charley to the grass just as the dragon swooped over them, crashing into some bushes just outside the factory.

Charley was laughing giddily as Chance asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'd tumble for you," she said with breath that smelled like champagne and began laughing a bit more.

Chance smiled in confusion and got up. By this time the sound of the crash had been heard throughout the whole village as well as by everyone inside. Chance walked carefully over to the dragon, waving all the children with firecrackers back. It wasn't long before the rest of the MBL were right behind him.

Drax opened his eyes and attempted a smile. "Uh... happy New Year?" Needless to say, he had some 'splaining to do.

If that's all you can come up with to say, I'm taking over.

Drax does his best to whisper, "Be my guest."

There is a sensation that Drax is falling, and then he's replaced by Drake Marshall. He leans heavily on his cane to get to his feet. "Wow, some fireworks display, huh?" Drake puts on his friendliest smile, "The guy in charge must be a big Lord of the Rings fan, huh?"

They either don't get the reference or they don't believe you, Drake.

"Shut up, I'm thinking..." Drake realizes that he's been speaking out loud and smiles even bigger. "Uh, hi. My name's Drake Marshall. I'd heard that the MBL was on this island and I thought it might be a good idea for my partner Drax to join up with with. As you may have guessed, Drax is an extradimensional dragon that I've been magically linked to."

Are you sure it's a good idea to tell them all of that?

"When all else fails, Drax, go with honesty."

Grimm's room.

Grimm stared into the mirror he had salvaged and hung in his makeshift room in their temporary headquarters. He was wearing only a grey t-shirt and ratty pair of blue jeans. He stared at his face and concentrated.

I've done this twice now. . .once in the Castle, and again on Halloween.* Let's see if I can manage it again, this time without any help.

Grimm continued to stare at his reflection for several moments, not saying a word, all of his attention devoted to one thing. . .

Suddenly, muscles began to appear on that area of his face that had been only bone. The muscles began to weave together and reknit themselves, soon to be covered by a pale layer of skin. A tongue appeared, followed by a pair of eyes. Soon Grimm's entire face appeared, normal looking except for the slight discoloration that matched the rest of his skin tone.

He smiled. The first real smile he could remember in many months. A real smile, and not some skull faced parody.

Wait until the others see this, they're gonna flip out! This is gonna be some party. . . His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hang on," He said, noting his voice seemed to sound exactly the same.

Probably Wulf here with the drinks. He opened the door to find a dark haired girl with pale skin and large brown eyes staring at him. She had an hourglass figure and wore a very short black dress with thigh-high black leather boots.

"Hi," she said, smiling, "Wulf sent me. Said you probably wouldn't come to the party and would hide here in your room."

Grimm smiled back, "You wanna come in?"

"Sure," she said, pulling a bottle of greenish liquid out of her purse.

Forget the party. . . Grimm thought to himself, closing and locking the door behind the girl.

*(To be told one day?)

[ 01-12-2003, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Grimm ]

Puerta Mibela

Fireworks blazed across the night sky, filling the air with a fiery hue of red and orange. The once great city of Puerta Mibela had fallen and its rebuilding had only began. Workers took a break to celebrate the New Year and give thanks to all they had left. In the shadowy night, one man continued to work.

He wore faded military pants and boots. Light glistened from the sky and reflected off his dark skin. His ribs where held tightly together by bandages. Some wounds took longer to heal then others. The buzzing in his head was gone. As were his cloudy thoughts.

His hammer came down over and over.

Wiping the sweet from his brow he stepped back. The final wall of a small home was secured. The owner had been killed in the storm, leaving his wife and twin daughters homeless. Soon, they would be able to leave the shelter.

The man sat down for a moment, closing his eyes he got flashes of a time past. Things had already changed. His life was over. And as with any endings, there was only one thing to left to do; rebuild.

The man, now known only by the name Priest, went back to work. By morning he hoped to be finished. If not, he would continue to work until he was.

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

“And what does it means, Luciano?”

“The book of life, Frank”

“And you say that shit can make us powerful?”

“Powerful? It will make us gods!”

“Frankly, I don’t think I believe in all this merda.”

“Picciotto, when you need the zombies, you believe in what my friends can do, right?”

“Mhhh. Point taken. So, where is this book?”

“Nobody knows”

“Hey, Luciano, non mi fare incazzare. How would we get the book, if nobody knows where is it?”

“I have just taken care of it. Trust me, and sign that check”.

As Ed walked back into the party, a voice caught his attention.

"Ed!" It was Ameristar.

"Yes, Jackie, what can I do for you?" He replied, nonchalantly.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him over. "What is your problem tonight? You know this is the first time Crasher has been out since. . .since the incident, and yet you're not making this easier for her a bit."

"Jackie, I. . ." He started, only to be drowned out by a very loud voice. "Comrade Jackie. . ."

"Oh, god, it's Blackwulf again, " Ameristar said, "Kiss me, Ed."

"What?"

"Just do it! Quick!" Before the startled Edulcore could respond Jackie pulled him to her and kissed him full on the lips.

"Comrade, Jackie, where are you hiding at?" Blackwulf said, walking around the party, "Is being midnight, time for celebrating. . ." Blackwulf wandered by the two, completely missing them.