"Can't you just SEE Tom in a baseball uniform with little kids swarming at his feet?" Christina asked. I'm sure she had some vision of me as Kevin fucking Costner from that movie "Field of Dreams". I don't think so.

That was enough to turn me RIGHT the hell off. Like I've got time for a kid in my life right now? I enjoyed my holiday, and left with a goodbye to mom and dad, and a hell of a make out session with Christina. She was a good kisser. I promised to call her, and actually meant it - in spite of her baby mania. I piled into my car and made the drive home. I hate not being a public hero sometimes. That drive is boring as hell, but I have to keep up appearances, I suppose.

The next day was clear and cool out, a typical San Francisco day. I tossed down a light breakfast and headed to work at InVision.

InVision is one of the more cutting edge web design studios in town. We have offices in San Francisco, and a satellite division in New York City. We're not the largest company in the world, but we do ok. I've been there for two years; I was drawn to it by the complexity of its website. I figured it would be a pretty fun place to work. I figured wrong. It's no different than any other job, with the usual office politics, and the clients who need a good spanking but just aren't gonna get one.

Traffic was light for San Francisco, but I was still running late. I pulled into my spot at InVision, and headed up the stairs to start my day. On the way to my desk I spotted my boss, Harry Wemble. He's a little weed of a man, about five foot six with thinning greasy black hair. Like so many men with thinning hair, since he couldn't grow it up top, he grew it in the back. He usually kept his hair back in a neat ponytail, but today he had let it stay loose and it tickled at his shoulders. I like to refer to my boss as Shrek. It's an analogy a friend of mine came up with when I was trying to describe him to her. She said he sounded just like Shrek - big, green and just a little bit more than clueless.

I decide discretion is the better part of valor and quietly head to my cube to begin my day. The usual stuff, corrections to websites, returning phone calls and plenty of coding. God this job is boring. It's days like these that I seriously wonder just how long I could get away with "conjuring" money so I could avoid this tedium.

I use my abilities to fill my cup with ginsing tea that's just under scalding and take a sip. At least I can do that and not arouse any suspicions.

"Mr. Black, in here, pronto," my boss shouts from his office 10 feet away. He sounds like he's in a royally shitty mood.

"Great," I mutter. "I wonder what he wants."

I pry myself out of my chair and walk down the row to his office. I briefly lean into his secretaries cube and ask, "Hey, who pissed in his oatmeal this morning?" She flashes me a smile and shrugs. I take a quick deep breath and remind myself not to take his head off if he goes into tyrant mode. I push open the door to his office and step inside.

He seems not to notice me right away. He's muttering to himself and shuffling through some paperwork. I overhear him mumble something about finding 'some way to make the books balance' and 'shit'. I clear my throat and ask, "Yes sir?" in my most chipper I-really-hate-mornings voice.

His brow creases at the intrusion and he frowns for a moment. Then he regains his composure and smiles as he runs a nailbitten hand through his hair. "Tom, please, sit down." he says. Maybe I misread his mood? "Since you were out over the holidays, I wanted you to hear this from me first. InVision has been bought out by some big corporation. My boss isn't telling me much, but I heard they payed several million in cash for the company." He flashes an uneasy smile at me from across his desk. "This doesn't leave this office until the official announcement this Wednesday," he quickly adds.

"In Cash?" I stammer.

"Yup, that's the rumor."

He looks at me for a moment and then says, "Also, we've got a new hire here. His name is Arthur Simmons, a bright kid. He's going to be working with IT as a network admin. Do me a favor and show him around."

"Is he from the company that bought InVision?" I ask.

"No, he's just some kid who came in off the street with a resume, really bright guy, or so they say. Now please, I'm busy." He motions toward the door and that's my cue to leave. I hate that quirk about the guy; it's so curt and rude.

I return to my desk and make a quick call to Dawn, the office gossip. She tells me that the company that bought InVision is called Bubasti Enterprises. She says she's been reading up about them on the web. It seems they've been buying a lot of small and medium sized companies in the past eight months. Bubasti's about ten years old, but it's only been recently - about mid June - that the stocks started picking up. Good old Dawn, always the thorough busybody.

I hang up the phone and decide to go make my introduction to Arthur. I leave my cube and head to the IT department. Arthur's easy to spot, among the pencil necks that populate our IT staff, Arthur's a little different, I believe the best words to describe him are "roly poly" He's not fat by any means, he actually looks like he might be in good shape, except for the spare tire around his middle. He's about 23 and short for a guy, around shreks height. He has dark brown hair that's kept short in corporate style and he's wearing a pair of Khaki pants and a white button down shirt.

I walk over to him and say "You Arthur?"

"Yeah" He responds with a slight smile and sticks out his hand.

I grasp his hand and shake it, he has a pretty good grip. "I'm Tom, Tom Black. Shrek - errr Mr. Wemble asked me to give you a tour of the place - Welcome to InVision." I say with a slight jaded tone to my voice as I motion to the office around me with my free hand.

"I'm glad to be here." Arthur says with a knowing grin. I guess he would be as tight as the market is these days. I show him around the office and give him the highlights. You know, who all the available women are, who the bitches are, who's lazy, who's nosey - the useful things that no-one ever tells you at a new job. Honestly, I think I give a more useful orientation tour than "Here's where we keep the pencils". Arthur takes it all in stride, he's actually a pretty funny guy. I finish orientation and glance at my watch.

"Have you done lunch yet?"

"Nah" he replies "But it's about that time. You wanna go grab a bite?"

"Sure, why not Art."

We take off for the local greasy spoon, a short walk later and we're at a place called - ironically enough - 'Artie's'. The proprietor knows me, since I've been coming here for the last two years on a pretty regular basis. I make Arthur's introduction to the guy and we both order our sandwiches and take our places at a nearby table. Through the course of lunch, I learn that Arthur's lived in the city for about four years. He's independently wealthy, apparently a wiz with the stock market, he's been riding the ups and downs the past few years and has made a killing buying and selling at just the right times. He offers to handle my portfolio for me, and I tell him I'll seriously consider it. Apparently he's working at InVision to break up the tedium of his daily life. That makes me laugh and I tell him he'll soon find InVision to be a more tedious place than his life could ever be.

I'm about halfway through my sandwich when an alarm starts ringing. It's coming from the jewelry shop across the street. As I turn to look, the front window frosts over and explodes outward in a shower of glass and ice. A moment later a guy with blue skin wearing a tight fitting white shirt and bodysuit comes flying out with a bag over his shoulder. He takes a look around and notices a police cruiser already speeding around the corner. He points at the road, and a dull sheen begins to appear, spreading out from the curb. Quickly, the entire side of the street frosts over in ice. The Police cruiser hits it and veers out of control slamming into a parked car. The officers inside seem dazed as they push their way through the airbags. Arthur stands up and says "Holy shit!"

I leap from my seat, the excitement rolling within me. Crap! Why does Arthur have to be here?! "Uh, I gotta use the bathroom" I stammer, It's a weak excuse, but fuck it. "I'll be back in a few" I say as I head toward the crapper. I enter a stall and transform my clothing into my "herowear". For today, it's my usual tight fitting blue and black body suit. It's a little on the gay side, but I look damn good in it, and Frosty the snowman's about to get his ass kicked! I teleport from the bathroom to the alleyway outside and look for Frosty.

'Frosty', as I'm calling him, is eyeing the police cruiser which is partially up on the curb. The nose of the car is battered inward, and it's slowly leaking green fluid from its cracked radiator onto the street. The two police officers have managed their way out of the car and are shakily taking cover behind the doors. They've both drawn their guns and are bringing them to bear on the blue meta. 'Great, a cold boy' I think to myself, 'and I hate winter!' one of the spirits laughs at me.

"Hey Frosty" I shout "Why don't you put the bag down so I can kick your ass?"

Blue boy shifts his attention from the cops to me - the weirdo in the alleyway. "I think I'll keep the bag" he responds "I've grown quite fond of it."

The police take a moment to glance my way as well, they have an uncertain look on their faces. I look at them and shrug. They've never actually seen me before. My other 'Robin Hood' escapades have always seemed to take place at night in dark alleyways and didn't really involve the fuzz. To the best of my knowledge, I'm just a rumor spread by nervous housewives on their way home with groceries late at night.

"You sure you don't want to put that bag down freakshow? Clancy and the other Keystone Cop here seem to have itchy trigger fingers, I'd hate to see them blow a hole in one of the Rolexes in that bag in their zeal to take you down."

"What makes you think they'll actually shoot at me?" Captain Cool says.

"Well, if you did that to my car, I'd sure as hell want to put a bullet in your ass." I say motioning to the cop cruiser. He glances at the damaged police car and I take this opportunity to move, I quickly teleport toward him. My hands glow with a white light and a burst of chi streaks from my hands burning a white hot arc towards his body. At the last minute, he shrugs aside, and the chi blast strikes the bricks behind him, sending shards flying into his back, but not really doing any damage.

"That, you human Icicle, was a warning shot. I suggest you put the bag down and give in now, or next time, you'll feel it."

He looks at me and laughs "And just who is going to make me feel it?" he asks "You?"

"Yeah, me, asshole!" I shoot back at him "Hey, you know, I just figured out why you're such a prick. I'd be a jerk too if I had a permanent case of blue balls!"

The cops realize this is about to get ugly and act as expected, one of them yells at me, "Hey! Keep out of this, we've got things under control." The officer looks at the villain. "You're under arrest, drop the bag and surrender." The other officer gets a little bold and actually moves around to the front of the car and says, "Art, lets take this flying punk down."

The villain floats up several feet, and starts laughing, "Between you pigs and Mr. hero, over there I'm gonna have me some fun". With that, he unleashes a blast of frost that covers the front of the car in a sheet of ice, narrowly missing the cop at the front.

The first cop responds by firing his revolver at the blue man, but the shot goes wide, "Shit" he mumbles.

Art the cop yells again at the guy flying, "now come quietly and no one will get hurt."

The hell with this. The cops intentions are good, but there's no way these little donut-eaters have a chance against this guy, and there's no way I'm gonna back down from a fight, if they think I am, they can kiss my ass.

I teleport myself closer still and take aim again - a little more carefully this time. I say a little prayer to my spirits and let loose with another blast. I smile smugly under my mask as my spirit blast finds its mark and knocks the icicles off of the blue wonders ass. The blast connects hard and he's knocked back about six feet, he drops to the ground and his eyes take on a glazed look. He doesn't look as sure of himself as he was less than a minute ago.

"Still having fun peckerhead?" I ask.

I again close the distance between us by teleporting closer to him. I decide to play it safe, he's down, and I've always been told never to hit a man when he's down unless you're sure he won't get up again. I decide to make sure he can't get back up again. Since he's prone, I find him an easy target and my blast rocks his body further backward. I almost feel badly about his dazed form reeling backward from the impact of my blast, but I'm sure he'd show me the same courtesy.

The cold menace shakes his head to throw off his dazed state, reaching down within he finds some strength left and comes to. He gives me his full attention.

"Oh? Now I'm worth looking at blue balls?" I shout to the frozen menace. "You don't seem so chatty anymore, are you feeling a little less than yourself now?"

Then, something catches his eye he looks off to my right. I make a quick look and see a guy in what looks like Armor with weird fly wings. It looks like he's going full speed at the blue guy.

What the hell is this? A fucking convention? Without loosing my gaze from the Ice villain, I shout over my shoulder "I don't know what your story is fly boy, but I suggest you stay the hell out of this, I'm about to wipe the floor with this guy, and I don't feel like having to do the same to you - I might muss my hair".

The cops, in their first intelligent move so far, seem to be calling for backup and are just watching the situation now, I hear a squeal of tires from the West.

I decide that with this unknown weirdo hurtling toward the fray, I might be well advised to prepare a little more so I focus some of my energy to myself and my muscle structure begins to knit itself together and bulges appear where they weren't before, I mentally adjust my clothing to make sure it doesn't rip as I literally grow a larger than I was. I risk a quick glance at the human fly to make sure he isn't headed my way. He isn't.

"You need to learn to stay down blue balls" I shout and at the same time I open up one more time with my spirit blast hoping to God that the human fly doesn't change course and head for me. My hands are once again bathed in white hot light and the energy that arcs from them is true to its target striking the blue menace yet again.

The villain looks at me and smiles, "Is that the best you got? When I finish with you I'm gonna smear your buggy friend all over the pavement and then kill me some cops." He makes a gesture and suddenly, I can feel ice surrounding me, it's forming over my entire body. Man is that fucking cold! The fly guy is headed straight at the blue guy, but at the last moment the villain shifts and he flys past. heading over the stores.

Ice is still forming around my body, it's about a foot thick, and quickly creeping toward my head. I sigh loudly. "Haven't you been paying attention blue balls?" I say as I teleport closing the distance between us and leaving behind a lovely Spirit Shout shaped ice sculpture. I teleport right behind the guy and whisper "Surprise" in his ear.

"Of course that's not the best I've got" I say as I deliver a strike to him from behind. I smile as I hear a loud crack I make contact somewhere near his spine and I focus my chi into my punch and smile knowing how hard I just hit him.

The guy drops like a stone, falling into a heap on the ground. The cops begin to move in now, they haven't put their guns away yet and they're pointing them at me now. I see a News van at the corner, it appears that they started filming just as I dropped the cold guy to the sidewalk. I watch them do a pan of the flying guy and then back to me.

"Ahh, you finally learned to stay down I see blue balls" I create a pair of handcuffs and slap 'em on the motionless snowball in front of me. I look up at the police and say "Art, Clancy, good work guys, he's all yours now. See to it that he's sent someplace where he can't ever threaten to kill a police officer again" I sound like a fucking jackass, but I want them to realize that in all probability, I just saved their asses. I glance toward the tv crew and give a small salute.

The human fly floats down a few feet from me and says, "Hey, that's some nice work, names the Purple Pixie and you?" The Police continue to advance keeping both me, the guy on the ground and the pixie guy covered, I can hear sirens a few blocks away.

Upon a closer look, the "Purple Pixie" looks pretty girly for such a masculine voice. The costume is a purple body suit, a little glittery in the sunlight, and it has a pair of transluscent wings sticking out of the back of it from some kind of box, presumably a power supply, the pixie seems ok, unhostile anyway. "The purple pixie huh? What kinda hero calls himself the purple pixie?" I smile but it occurs to me he probably cant tell, so I make a yellow smiley appear on my mask so he'll know I'm joking.

Just then, I hear a commotion from the guy at my feet, the next thing I know he shouts "Mother Fucker!" The cuffs explode from his wrists as shards of ice fly from his hands at me. He hits me squarely in the chest, lifting me from the ground momentarily from the force of his attack. Damn that hurt!

My chest feels like someone just smacked it with a two by four and I feel a rage build up inside of me at the fact that he caught me off guard. I make a mental note to blame the pixie guy. Before I realize what I'm doing, I form my hands into talonlike shapes and begin ripping into him. "You little pissant!" I say "I thought you had fucking wised up."

The cops are not advancing anymore, they seem to be waiting for backup. I hear sirens in the distance coming closer. The Ice guy isn't moving anymore, but I can see that he's still breathing. The police officer closest to me is talking into his radio, "Yeah we have the suspect down, make sure they send an ambulance."

I brush the remains of the ice shards from my bruised facade. I'm still a bit pissed off that he got the drop on me. I look down at him and decide it won't happen again. I take a cheap shot at him to ensure his lights are out this time. I rear back and strike him again, the blow lands hard. There is a distinct crunch, and his body feels a bit softer than before. That actually hurt my hand a little, so I know its not doing him much good.

The pixie guy says "Man, your brutal dude, calm down!"

That should give the folks at home something to smile about, I secretly hope the TV crew didn't get that on tape, but if they did, screw 'em.

The cops are still waiting for backup, keeping me covered as well as the downed robber. The purple pixie has taken off in to the air, saying, "I'll see you around" I notice that he gets some good speed and heads off south, glittering in the afternoon sun.

I pull my hand back from the blue guy fairly satisfied that he's not getting back up this time - round one over, score a point for the good guys. I create another pair of handcuffs, this set a little denser than the last and snap them on the guy. I give a wave to the news media and tell the cops "I think it's ok now, I hear your backup coming, so I'll leave him to your capable hands." I smile sarcastically under my mask, happy that they can't see it and teleport back across the street and into the bathroom stall I left from. I'm a little sore from the blow I took to my chest, but not too bad for the wear. I change back to my day to day clothes and flush the toilet for appearances sake. I exit the stall and take a quick look in the mirror to make sure the mask is gone - it's a paranoid habit really. I wander back to the table and take my seat with Arthur.

"Whew, I hated to leave like that, but man I had to go, and that excitement...well, I don't think I need to elaborate." I smile at Arthur and say "Aww man! I missed everything! It looks like that blue guys down for the count."

Several more police cars show up as well as an ambulance, a crowd of rubber neckers begins to gather and a news reporter is interviewing one of the officers. The blue guy is placed on a stretcher and hoisted into the back of the ambulance. He doesn't look good.

"Yeah, Man that guy was brutal... you missed it didn't you, I wonder what the news will say about it all." He takes a bite of his sandwich, looks at his watch and says "Oh! I didn't realize it was so late! I have to go, I have an errand to run." he gets up and leaves the restaurant with a quick wave. A news reporter asks him a question on his way out, he says something and continues walking, the reporter turns back to the scene.

I squirm a bit in my chair, suddenly regretting that last punch I delivered to the blue guy. I put down the rest of my sandwich and head back to the office.

The rest of the day is pretty normal. Around 4:45 my phone rings, I answer it with "InVision, Thomas Black speaking."

"Hey Tom, it's me Arthur" The voice on the other end says. "What are you doing tonight? A couple of friends and I were gonna head over to Blackie's to shoot some pool and drink away the day, I thought I'd see if you wanted to join us."

Blackie's is a local dive here in San Francisco, it's known as a meat market - or pick-up joint. It's said that if you can't get laid at Blackie's, you're doing something very wrong.

Always one for getting laid, I respond "Sure Arthur, sounds like fun. What time do the festivities start?"

"Well, we were gonna meet there around eight but I was gonna get a bite to eat before that, you in?"

"You're not trying to pick me up are you? This is San Francisco, but I don't swing that way." I joke.

Arthur laughs into the phone "Not unless you're a lesbian in drag!"

I return the laughter "Ok chucklehead, I'll head over to your cube as soon as I wrap up a few things. Hopefully dinner will be less eventful than lunch was."

"I know, I've been thinking about that all day!" Arthur says. "I don't think I've ever seen that guy in the black and blue getup before, brutal fucker, I wonder who he is? "

I choke back a smartass response to Arthur. I have to admit that stings a bit, I've been feeling a bit guilty all day for hospitalizing that guy, but fuck him, he should have stayed down.

"I don't know." is all I offer.

"We're gonna be pretty tight on time if we're meeting them at eight, you need to head home and change?" He asks.

"Nah, I'm good to go" I tell him.

"Good, coz I do, this tie's choking the life outta me" he says.

"First thing to learn about InVision Arty, tie optional." I say "I'll see you in a few."

I hang up the phone and finish up some tough code that's been giving me grief all afternoon, I test it and it works flawlessly. "Chalk another one up for the good guys." I mutter to no-one in particular. I shut down my system and head over to IT to get Arthur.

"You ready to go playboy?" I ask

"Yeah, almost." He responds "Just let me finish this up really quick." He's concentrating really hard on the screen before him.

"No problem, take your time." I tell him, glancing around his cube. It's a typical nine by nine office cubicle, muted fuzzy gray carpeting covers the walls and the whole affair held together by tongue and groove style fasteners. Arthur's put a few pictures up on the walls already, but not the typical shots of mom and dad, or the wife. He has at least seven shots of various metas striking their poses, I recognize Omega and Knockout, and I think I see a shot of blur, but it's hard to tell. I continue scanning around his office and my eyes come to rest on a black gymbag under his desk, it's unzipped a little bit, and I see something pale purple poking out of the opening. I can't tell what it is, but it's fairly thin and see through.

Arthur looks up from his work and sees where I'm looking. He quickly stuffs the thing inside and zips it shut completely.

"What's in the bag Art?" I ask.

He stammers for a moment and then spits out "Oh, nothing, just gym clothes....you know, gotta stay in shape right big guy?" He laughs.

"Pretty girly looking gym outfit" I say with a smile.

"Yeah yeah, fuck you, I like purple" he says with a nervous smile. "Let's get outta this place and eat some dinner."

"Anything you say Richard Simmons." I joke.

'He's lying' one of the spirits says to me.

'I know that' I reply 'I'll figure out why later.'

'There's something strange about him' another spirit says.

'yeah, he's into purple' I tell them.

"Ok, lets get outta here" I say, deciding to drop it for now.

Apparently Arthur wasn't lying about being a stock wiz, hes got a killer Lexus parked in the InVision lot.

"Great car!" I say, my eyes devouring it.

"Thanks" he says. "You wanna drive?" with that he tosses his keys at me. I pluck them out of the air and say "Are you kidding? Sure!"

The Lexus drives like a dream, it's got great pickup, and I notice Arthur using the invisible brake pedal a few times while I'm driving, I've always been a little heavy footed and it's making him nervous. He directs me to his place.

I pull up to Arthur's apartment and we hop out. It's a nice place, nothing overstated, but it's in a great neighborhood, and the view of the bay is fantastic. His place looks down one of SF's impossible hills to the bay and Alcatraz beyond. We approach the door and Arthur slides a keycard through a slot, unlocking it. The entryway is in impeccable condition, not a cigarette butt nor gum wrapper to be found. Arthur tells me that his place is on the top floor and has the best view in the building. We head for the elevator and I notice it's already waiting for us, door open. Strangely, the building is completely silent, No unruly neighbors, no dogs barking at the sound of a stranger walking by their door, no babies crying - silence. It's a little unnerving and I'm just about to say something when Arthur breaks the silence by saying.

"A little pre-party music?" He smiles and presses a button on his keychain and suddenly a heavy bass begins thumping out of the speakers overhead as some electronic funk starts to play through the hallway.

We step into the elevator with me still scratching my head and Arthur pipes up. "This must seem a little odd to you huh?"

I nod and say "You live in a freaking ghost town Arthur."

He simply laughs and explains "Not a ghosttown, not exactly anyway. You see, when I moved here, the neighbors were your typical group, a lot of unwanted noise and distraction. So, when my portfolio started to really take off, I bought the building and had them all evicted."

My jaw hits the floor of the elevator about the same time a voice metallically speaks "Good evening Mr. Simmons" and I realize he's not blowing me shit. I stand there in semi stunned silence and finally say "This place must cost you a ton each month to meet payments. No wonder you took the job at InVision."

"Nah, I payed cash for it year and a half ago. I figure when im ready to sell, the real estate value of this place will be through the roof, so it's a good investment; besides, it gives me a place to hang my hat."

"Hang your hat? Fuck Arthur, I'd be throwing my hat anywhere I damn well pleased!" I say in amazement at his matter of factness.

"That's why you're not living here!" He jokes.

I laugh and think to myself 'I seriously need to have this guy handle my portfolio!'

'no shit!' say's one of the spirits.

He grins as the elevator doors slide open and we step into his apartment.

The elevator opens into Arthur's great room, the design is fairly minimalistic in style, with bold colors and large overstuffed furniture that looks like it could suck you in if you fell into it just the right way. The decor is very modern, with stylized track lighting illuminating the rooms just enough to be tasteful, but not overly bright. The same music outside is piped throughout his apartment via hidden wall mounted speakers. Off to the left is a very modern looking kitchen with subzero appliances and warm wooden floors. An archway on the far side of the room leads deeper into the apartment, and a circular stairway leads up to a loft.

Arthur drops his gymbag by the doorway as he heads through it to a back room saying "I'm gonna grab a quick shower. Make yourself at home! There's beer in the fridge, help yourself." With that, I'm left in his great room to ponder the vastness of his wealth.

I think a beer is definately in order, I head for the kitchen. The fridge is - not surprisingly - well stocked. I search a little bit and find a case of Corona's with a little zip lock baggie of pre-cut limes next to it. I happily oblige and snap one open. I take a drink and do a little nosing around in the great room.

The first weird thing I come across is a binder under his coffee table. I open it up and flip through it. It's about 3" thick and nearly full of loose leaf paper with handwritten notes clipped neatly inside. The notes are all about the same thing: various metas. Arthur has just about everyone covered in here from Omega and Surge in the hero category to Orchid and Macha in the villains section. Hell, there are metas in here I've never even heard of, some guy called "The Guppy" Who can breathe underwater and bloat himself into some sort of kinetic resistant body armor for example. Who wouldda thunk it? There are sketches and diagrams, lists and synopsis' quite frankly it's the most comprehensive collection I've ever seen. I thumb quickly through and even find a very small section on myself, but it's really nothing to speak of. It has a news clipping that I didn't even know existed taped to a page along with a hand written interview someone did with a woman who had been rescued from a mugging by a "mysterious meta in blue and black." Creepy.

I put the binder back under the table and press a button on a remote on the table, a television slides down from the ceiling and I flip idly through the channels, I catch the tail end of a recap of the "festivities" at lunchtime, but it's not much. The news crew did catch me cold cocking blue balls while he was down and out. 'Ah well, Fuck em' I think, taking another swig off of my beer.

I glance around the room and my eyes come to rest on the gymbag lying by the doorway. I can still hear Arthur in the shower, so I decide to risk a peek to find out why he was lying to me at the office. I tiptoe over to the bag and find a lock on the zipper.

"Damn, I mutter, when did he get that on there?" no matter. I take a look at the lock and quickly recognize it, I fabricate a master key in my hand and slide it into the lock. The lock clicks open and I dissipate the key back into the ether. I open the bag and look inside.

Neatly folded inside the bag is a purple bodysuit with a box stacked atop it with straps attached to it. I remove the box and accidentally thumb a button on the side of it. There is a slipping noise and two sets of gossamer wings suddenly pop out of the sides of it. I nearly drop the box as the wings startle me. I touch the wing material, it's surprisingly strong for how thin it looks and appears alien in nature. I smile in surprise and let out a small chuckle, good old Arthur is the Purple Pixie.

I hear the shower cut off and I quickly press the button again. The wings slide back into their casing and I replace the box in the gymbag zipping it shut and locking it. I head back to the couch and begin flipping from channel to channel while awaiting Arthur.

About 5 minutes pass and Arthur returns to the great room, wearing a white button-down shirt and blue jeans. His hair is still wet and combed back out of his face.

"You ready to go?" he asks.

"Almost" I reply "I just need to finish off this beer. Go ahead and grab one, we have a little time, especially if I drive." I smile at him.

He laughs as he heads to the kitchen, grabbing a beer and then returning to join me in the great room.

"Hey, did you see anything on the robbery today at the jewelry store?" He asks me.

"A little, but it was the tail end" I reply. I bet you want to know, you want to learn more, and write it all down in your little book, or maybe you just get a kick out of seeing yourself on TV? Either way, I decide to have a little fun with my new knowledge.

"So, is that what you're gonna wear to Blackie's?" I ask.

"Yeah, whats wrong with it?" He asks.

"Oh, nothing" I reply "It's just, well, you know, a little - whats the word im looking for - Rugged for you. Yeah, Rugged." I smile at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" he asks raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you know, it's nothing like your purple gym togs." I tell him.

Arthur suddenly looks very nervous. He glances over at his gymbag and rises from his chair. His eyes search for the lock, desperately saying 'God let it be locked, God, PLEASE let it be locked.' His eyes come to rest on the zipper and seeing the padlock still in place, he relaxes a little bit. He wanders over nearer to it and kicks it lightly.

"What's wrong with purple?" He asks. "Seriously Tom, they say that guys with an insecurity over how feminine a color is are hiding from their own sexuality."

I smile at him "Oh, It's not the color so much" I say "It's the wings."

The color drains from Arthurs face and he almost drops the beer in his hands. I gotta hand it to him, he regains his composure fairly quickly and just offers a nervous laugh. "Yeah right, wings!" He laughs.

"It's ok Arthur" I say "I know what's in the bag."

Once again, the color drains from his face and he trys to lie "Yeah, of course you do, sweaty old gym socks and my purple shirt."

"And the box with the straps and the button on top that shoots out surprisingly strong wings when you press it." I say. Arthur looks beaten and looks at the floor.

"It's ok Arthur." I say again. He looks up at me and says "Really? You won't tell anyone?"

"Not a soul Art, but only if you promise not to be too pissed at me for pounding the shit out of blue balls when he was down, I didn't want him hitting me with that ice blast again though." I respond.

Arthur looks thouroghly confused.

I focus my thoughts for a second and the blue and black body suit shimmers into existence around me. For good measure, I form the yellow smiley over the top of my mask.

"YOU!" Arthur says excitedly. "You're YOU!" this time he does drop the beer. It hits the floor with a dull thump but it doesn't break. It topples to its side and begins gurgling out onto the rug.

I laugh a little as I reconfigure my costume into a more casual pair of khaki's and a black shirt.

"Man, that's so cool!" Arthur says upon seeing my transformation.

"Yeah, it certainly makes getting dressed in the morning easier."

"So how did you...you know... How'd you find out?" He asks

I tell him my story, as he cleans up the spilled beer and grabs 2 more. I fill him in from start to finish, about how I've always been able to create things, and how I've always been a martial artist. I tell him the story about China, and my initial "introduction" to the spirits - as it were. I do a couple of tricks for him to show off my powers and he seems properly impressed; especially when I transform my physique.

"Man, that must really get the girls!" Arthur says.

"Nah, my talent in bed is what gets the girls." I joke. "So what's your story?"

"Well, it's nothing as mystical as yours, and certainly not as confusing in my head. How do you manage to sleep with all that noise?" He asks.

"It's really not that hard, they're usually pretty quiet, but when they talk, they're easy to ignore, and if I listen to 'em, they can usually bore me to sleep." This comment brings a cacophany of scolding from the spirits, nothing I can really make out, but it causes me a little dizziness. I don't think they've all spoken at once before. It's not a good feeling.

"Anyway" Arthur continues "It was around Halloween, I was at a charity auction in Sausalito trying to pick up a pair of shoes worn by Blur. My old company liked to throw a Halloween party every year before the major holidays rolled around as a sort of 'thank you ' to their clients. It's kinda fucked up but it was mandatory for all employees to attend. Anyway, it was a costume party, and the auctioneer was droning on and on, and it was running later and later. I quickly realized I wasn't going to have time to pick up my outfit from the costume shop and still make it on time when lot item #2645 came up for bid. It was JUST what I needed, they wheeled out a mannequin that was wearing the Pixie outfit. It received a couple of laughs, but I thought it'd be a perfect costume, and it looked my size. When it came time to bid, everyone began offerring something for it. I was desperate for a costume, so I joined the fray. It started at $1,000 and quickly escalated upwards of $20,000. I got into a bidding war with a lady in the front row, the bitch kept raising her paddle and hiking the amount. I got pissed and soon it became a matter of pride. I ended up winning the war but it cost me $50,000. I was already feeling the effects of some smart investing, so the amount didn't worry me too much, besides, it was for charity. I wrote the check and made a point of shooting a smug smile toward the tramp in the front row. She just turned her nose up at me; which just made me smile all the more, knowing that I had gotten to her." Arthur takes a sip from his new beer and continues "So I get the thing home and race upstairs to put it on, I pull it out of the box and it looks about 3 sizes too small. I was cursing and pulling and tugging at the thing, but somehow managed to pack myself into it. Once it was on however, it did a strange thing, it seemed to grow to accomodate my size. When I strapped on the wings, I knew something more was going on than just a simple costume. I looked over my shoulders at the wings, all glittery and thought for a second 'man wouldn't it be cool to fly?' suddenly the wings jerked into life and began flapping. The next thing I knew, I was airborn, bumping my head on the ceiling and wondering just what the hell I'd purchased. I quickly discovered that all I had to do was will myself to go someplace, and the wings would carry me there. I also found out the suit was somewhat armored. If you look really close at the material, it's almost like tiny snake scales, they reflect most light weapons I've managed to fire at it, and it's bullet proof and fireproof too. I poked a hole in it once just to see if I could, it was hard as hell, but the suit quickly repaired itself back to normal. I'm not sure where it came from originally, but I don't think it's from around here." Arthur glances at his watch "Time to finish up" he says taking a long pull on his beer. "So after that, I started flying around town and helping people whenevr i could, I've broken up a few muggings and the like, and even tried to help Omega once, but I was too late, he'd already tied the crooks up in a neat little package by the time I arrived on the scene. That was the first time I got in the news though."

"I've never heard of you." I tell him.

"Well, I'm not a big name or anything...yet." He quickly adds. "But now that you're around, we could really clean up!" He says excitedly. "I could set you up in one of the rooms downstairs, and we could make this place like the hall of justice or something!" Arthur's very excited, and he's gesturing wildly with his hands, careful not to spill his beer though.

"Woah, calm down spaz." I tell him "I'm not really a partner kind of guy, and the place is nice, but..." Arthur's face looks really disappointed, almost like a little kid who's just found out they can't have any chocolate. I feel bad for the guy, so I say "Well, Let's just say not for now. Ok?"

Arthur brightens up considerably at the prospect of hope. "That's a deal tough guy!" he says with a smile.

"We really do need to get something done about that costume though Arthur, it's really Girly!" I say. "Are those breasts stitched into it?"

"Yeah yeah, go to hell Tom" 'Go to hell Tom' would quickly become something Arthur would grow a great fondness of telling me. I just grinned at him and said "We should get going, we're already 45 minutes late"

"Do you have the time?" A feminine voice asks me, struggling to be heard over the pounding music of the nightclub. I snap back to the reality of now and turn around to see a brunette with a cigarette and a tiny nose piercing smiling at me warmly, her belly is exposed and around it she has a tribal sun tattooed and a gold ball pierces through the skin of her naval.

"Do you have the time?" She asks me again, this time gently touching my wrist in an effort to punctuate her question. Arthur and Suzanne are still out on the floor dancing, Arthur's looking as goofy as ever, I think he just started doing the 'running man' dear God, I need to help him. maybe he's not the only one who's gonna get lucky tonight?

"Do I have the time for what?" I ask her, offering up my slyest "come hither" smile.

She returns the smile by broadening her own and without missing a beat says "I don't know, maybe we can work on coming up with an answer to that question later. What's your name?"

"Tom, Tom Black." I tell her

"Theresa, Theresa Del Rosa" she replies, gently taking my hand and shaking it. "So why should I consider coming up with an answer to your question Tom Black?" She asks me as she takes a drag off of her cigarette.

"Well, you know what they say," I respond "Once you go Black, you never go back."

Before I'm able to continue any further, I hear a commotion from the back of the nightclub. Theresa turns to look, and a look of horror appears on her face. There's a bright flash of light suddenly and just as I turn my head to look I notice a bulge on Theresas head, almost like a tumor, but it moves quickly down her face disappearing behind the curve of her jawline - UNDERNEATH her skin. I glance left toward the commotion but I'm unable to see whats happening in the back of the nightclub. Instead I return my gaze to Theresa. I hear a shriek from the back of the nightclub, but I'm captivated by Theresa. She has an look of absolute fear etched on her face, her eyebrows arched in a puzzled shock, mouth and eyes wide and staring at the floor, and the bulge that I saw before has been joined by about 8 more - that I can see. They're moving all over her face, and Theresa lets out a scream of her own looking up now at me and searching my face for help. I've never seen anything like this before. A crash from the back of the club, and suddenly Arthur is at my side, Suzanne in tow. He tugs at my shoulder, but I ignore him, eyes locked on Theresa.

'GET OUT!' The voices in my head scream at me 'GET OUT NOW!'

'what the hell is happenning?!' I ask them.

'Just leave!' another voice says. 'No! He is ready!' says another. Suddenly there is a multitude of voices in my mind too many to seperate one thought from the next. I grab at the sides of my head as a dull roar begins to echo in my head. The sounds around me begining to dull, blending together as a background to the noise in my head.

"C'mon Tom!" Arthur says over my shoulder, but I can't move, I'm frozen in horrified fascination at the scene before me and the noise in my head. Theresa's screams fade as her eyes roll back in her head and she begins to foam at the mouth. Her body collapses to the floor, her black miniskirt pulling up over her thighs. The "tumor's" are rolling angrily over her entire body now, growing faster and straining now at her skin, It's almost as if there's something inside of her trying to get out.

"Theresa!" I shout coming to her side and clutching at her hand, the roar in my head growing even louder now. It's difficult to concentrate, and spots begin to form in my eyes. I shake my head and it clears a bit. "Theresa!" I shout again to her. She makes no response, but the bumps beneath her skin all travel in a group down her arm and to her hand, when they reach mine, there is a huge surge of kinetic force and I am thrown backwards from her. I land on my butt about 5 feet from her. Arthur and Suzanne are now watching her twitching form as she convulses. Suddenly there is a sickening sound that emanates from her as the flesh of her arm rips apart and a green scaled arm takes its place. Threads of Theresa's skin still hang from the arm as it reaches across its body and pulls at the skin on the right side of her body peeling it like paint from her form. Her mouth opens and closes twice and then opens impossibly wide until the jaw gives way falling to the floor and two scaled arms reach up, removing the remains of the skin from her face. The delicate nosering falls to the floor and skitters somewhere under the bar. I sit in silence on the floor before her as her half scaled form rises from the floor now, ripping away the remains of Theresa.

The people in the bar are screaming now, Making a mad dash for the door of the club, trampling one another in a rush to escape this scene. Beer bottles come crashing to the floor and then a loud growl comes from the back of the club rousing me from my horror. A dark creature charges from the back bellowing loudly and rushing into the nightclub this one seems about half again larger than poor Theresa, and is covered in black spines about an inch long, giving an appearance of black fur. It picks up a bar patron and swings him like a flailing baseball bat against a pillar. There is a dull crack as he makes contact with the raw concrete structure and goes limp. The Spiny one then bites down on the man, drinking deeply of his blood. I regain my composure from my seated position on the floor. Arthur is cursing and pushing Suzanne behind him. He looks to me desperately, eyes silently telling me 'what the hell is going on?!' I rise from my seated position and rush to where Arthur stands a few feet away.

The voices in my head are screaming at one another now, but my voice rises above theirs mentally shouting 'SHUT THE HELL UP, GOD DAMMIT!' The clammoring dulls down a bit and I manage to feel a bit more like myself. 'I CAN'T THINK LIKE THIS!' The voices silence themselves, I can feel that there is an agreement amongst them on this point. "Whatever's the matter, we'll settle it later' I tell them.

I look to Arthur and place my hand on his shoulder. "Arthur, get her out of here" I say, pointing at Suzanne. "And as many of the others as you can."

He nods in understanding. "What are you gonna do?" He asks?

"You already know the answer to that Arty." I say with a wink. Each moment the spirits are silent I feel more and more like myself again. I pat him on the shoulder and he gives me a short quick nod. "Good luck!" he says and then begins tugging at Suzanne's arm. There's not really any place to do my quick change routine here, so I grab a nearby bar towel and tie it around my face, covering everything but my eyes as a cool wetness that must be beer runs down my cheeks from the damp towel. I turn back to 'Theresa' and she stands before me, about a foot taller than before. I look at her, and she at me.

"Let me guess" I say "There is no Theresa, only Zuul. Right?" The creature answers by swinging a clawed hand at me. Damn that things fast, I narrowly dodge backwards and leap onto the bar as its claws smash through a nearby chair.

"Wow, Someone needs a hug!" I say to it. "You know, I know a trick like yours too, Only I dont have to destroy innocent women to pull mine off" I say as my muscles knit together, bulking me up to match its size. I watch The Porcupine looking one out of the corner of my eye and notice Arthur and Suzanne slip by it as It watches the scene unfolding between me and the scaly one. The spiny one spits out a chunk of meat from its victim and gapes at me silently for a moment. I turn back to the green scaled one "You seriously need a tic-tac" I tell it and deliver a strike to its chest, knocking it off its feet and sending it hurtling backward toward the dancefloor.

"How about you Pokey? Care to dance?" I say to the spine covered creature. It responds by dropping the body in its hands and turning to face me. Most of the bars patrons have made their way out, but the few who remain have turned an eye toward me now. "OK, so let me guess, you're momma bear" I say pointing at the green creature struggling to its feet "And you must be poppa bear" I finish pointing at the spiny one. "So where's baby bear?" The large one responds by rushing at me. Why do they always try this trick? At the last moment I teleport behind the green one and watch as the spiny one slams through a support and into the bar full force. He destroys the wood finish and splinters rain down on the remaining onlookers. They quickly decide that this is their cue to exit.

The spiny creature rises from the pile of broken wood and concrete in a dazed state. Rule Number one of any martial art 'Always use an attackers strength against them.' this is a good illustration of that point. Poppa Bear is staggering a bit from the force of his impact. The scaly one, or momma bear as Im calling her rises completely from the floor now, looking around the remains of the bar for me. This is almost too easy. "Last Call" I shout and unload a blast of Chi energy into the back of the green creature. It lets out a shriek and careens across the room bouncing off the other one like some sort of demented pinball, and finally coming to rest underneath the DJ booth. The same booth that was supported by the column that poppa bear just destroyed. It creaks and collapses, a beam sliding from above and piercing the green creature's chest as the remains of the booth pushes the beam through the creature.

The spiny one looks at me and hisses "The Chosen! You must be the Chosen to have moved like that!" its lamplike eyes widen, but I can't tell if it's from excitement or fear.

"Yeah, I'm chosen." I say "Chosen to kick your ass!"

This time, there's no mistaking it, there is a definite fear in the spiny one's eyes. It looks around and sees a shattered piece of mirror lying on the floor. Leaping into the air, it doubles over and strikes the mirror, only the mirror doesn't break, instead the creature is pulled into it, compressing into an impossibly small size, it falls into the mirror and simply disappears.

I walk over to the shard looking into it, reflecting back at me is only my own visage. The glass of the mirror crushes easily under my foot, and there is a crash as the scaled creature vanishes, the rubble atop it falling to fill in the space where it was.

I reach up and remove the bar towel from my face, happy to have the smell of mildew and stale beer leaving my senses.

heading to the bar, I grab a mug that somehow managed not to break. I wipe the dust out of the glass and pour myself a Fosters from the tap. I take a long drink and slowly close my eyes.

'What the fuck was that?' I ask the spirits in my head.

There is no response.

I try again. 'Hey! I said what the fuck was that? You know something, tell me, NOW!'

Still there is silence in my mind. They're still there, I can feel them inside of me, but they won't talk, that's a first! The memory of Theresa's face, and the awful "fingers" moving under her skin still haunts my mind.

'HEY!' I mentally shout.

Arthur breaks my mental conversation by flying into the room. I open my eyes and look his direction. He's decked out from head to toe in his pixie costume and comes to rest near me at the destroyed bar. He looks quizzically at my beer for a moment and then says "What the hell was all of that?!"

"Good question" I mutter "I wish I knew."

******

To think that after all this time, HE had found him. After all the trips to the human world, doing pathetic favors for the pitiful mortals who called upon his name in exchange for information. It had finally paid off. His search was over, the chosen had been found. His master would be very pleased with him, perhaps even elevate him to the status of underling? He smiled at the thought as he approached the huge double doors.

He stepped into the chamber, its bloodied walls oozing comfort to his mind, but causing the hunger to grow inside of him once again. In the center of the chamber stood his master, his back to Nimian. For a moment, he considered trying to feast upon him, but quickly pushed that thought from his mind at the rememberence of the foolish who had attempted this trick in the past. He dropped to one knee in genuflection before the dark shape in front of him.

"Report!" A voice boomed like thunder from his master, sending a chill down his spine.

"Master! I have good news!" Nimian said with a smile. He rose from his kneeling position. Such insolence usually called down the masters wrath, but not today. Today would be different, today, Nimian would be excused his boldness.

"Good news?" a new voice spoke. Nimian turned his head to the new voice, it came from the couch on the left side of the room. There, reclining on it, sat Darkenos, his green scales reflecting the light from the room dully. He smiled wickedly in Nimian's direction, in one hand he held a goblet containing what appeared to be blood, the other rested lightly on the wooden beam from the DJ booth, still protruding from his side.

Daxrathas turned and faced Nimian. "It must be my lucky day." He snarled "For certainly your news must be great for you to presume to rise in my presence. Greater even than Darkenos' news of finding the chosen."

Nimian's gut wrenched inside of him as he fell to his knees, begging forgiveness even as Daxrathas lashed out at him with pain. He silently cursed Darkenos for stealing HIS information. His punishment from Daxrathas would be severe, but it would pass. He comforted himself vowing to remember Darkenos' treachery, and promising himself to someday feast upon him for this. Demons have very long memories.
 

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