SG: WCD 45 Desperado Kick Part One other Half or so of Several.
Lawrence Brown
lbrown at tcfbank.com
Wed Nov 8 12:03:07 PST 2006
EDITORS NOTE: CALL THIS PART TWO.
"So, you've seen corpses before..." said Doctor Sloan, sliding closed
his drawer. He clucked his tongue and continued to take notes, pausing
to look at the data downloaded from Spectrum's armor, and to open the
exam reports that Andy Awesome had forwarded to Aurora at Lawrence's
request. Spectrum grinned absently, picking up a speculum and then
quickly putting it back down again when he realized what it was.
"My Mom was a nurse. And I've always been fascinated with stage makeup
and the technical aspects of horror makeup. I have a killer Frankenstein
costume; it's won some awards." Spectrum chuckled and pointed at the
other files on the Doctor's desk. "So how did it go with Foxy?"
"Very interestingly, but perhaps in not the ways you expected. I
understand that you two are soon to be married?"
Spectrum nodded.
Dr. Sloan looked up from his clipboard.
"Congratulations. First time for you both?"
"I hadn't considered if it was Foxy's first marriage," replied Spectrum
with a shrug. "I didn't think about that. I just assumed I was her
first. I-I-I mean the marriage."
"Yes to both assumptions," said Sloan, leaning in to smile
conspiratorially. "But that brings up another question. Have you two
discussed having children?"
Spectrum reddened a bit.
"Well, I figured we'd get around to that discussion pretty soon. Did you
see anything in the reports you got from Andy regarding my powers?"
"Ah ah ah... you're changing the subject. We'll get to that in a minute.
But first, let me clue you in. You may not be thinking about having
kids, but Foxy certainly is. Now, during an exam I like to be thorough,
but Foxy was very concerned about getting a full medical work-up done.
Blood typing, DNA indexing, X-RAY, MRI, skin, hair, urine and fecal
samples, Spinnbarkeit production, the works." Dr. Sloan put down his
clipboard and polished his glasses before continuing. "At the risk of
sounding dramatic, you two are embarking on an inter-species experience
that I have very little information to help you with. I could spend
several years' writing papers about just your teammates and their unique
makeup. For instance, Samuel's, ah, venom, and its regenerative
capability is fascinating, but of course there may be dangerous
consequences to anyone bitten. But I digress..."
"Samuel?" asked Spectrum, interrupting. "He told you his name is Samuel?"
"I tell you this information in confidence," replied Sloan, nodding.
"Knowing that you are the leader of your teammates and therefore have a
vested interest in their continued well-being. I have also obtained
written permission from each of them to allow me to share patient
details with you."
"Okay, okay, I get it. Now spill the dirt."
"The information was revealed while he was being examined by me and he
had the opportunity to introduce himself to the Captain."
"Oy. That explains a bit... quite a bit."
"He has never told you his name?"
Spectrum rubbed his chin.
"He always told us to just call him TDSM or Trapdoor Spider Man. He
hasn't even told me about how he came to be the way he is."
"I would think that kind of information would be important. You can't
tell where a person is going very well without knowing where they have
been. And again you have changed the subject. To answer your first
question, Foxy has retained the innate abilities of someone from the
cartoon dimension, including she relative invulnerability to physical
damage. She is vulnerable to energy-based attacks, and I suspect that
this along with her metamorphosis were largely due to the exposure to
the--" Sloan paused to check his files before continuing.
"--hyperspacial energies of the Qwintor drive that exploded at the Odd
Science convention. But I can't be sure that that's the whole story. The
energies you wield are, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story. When
she saw the dummy corpse, I was treated to a full cartoon style squash
and stretch take, including the bulging eyes, ahoooogah sound effects,
and jaw dropping 3 feet. Whatever your powers made her, she still has
fundamental 'toon abilities."
"My powers -- that's what I wanted to ask you," Spectrum began.
Dr. Sloan held up a hand.
"Ah! Stop. Are you normally this evasive? I've answered your question.
Your turn. Are you planning on having kids?"
"I don't know. I guess so; do you think it is possible?"
"I'll take your reply as a cautious yes. And to answer your question I
will need some time to analyze the data and get back to you. I would
suggest being cautious until we know what your conception options are.
She appears to be in very good health, and although I prescribed a
vitamin regimen to help make sure she stays healthy, currently she
appears to be physically ready, willing, and able."
"Woah."
"Emphasis particularly on the ready part. I think the big question is,
are you ready?"
"I guess so."
"Get back to me when you -know- so. Having a child under the most normal
of circumstances is a big responsibility and you're going to do her a
big disservice if you don't think this through."
Spectrum rubbed his nose impatiently.
"Okay, now can we talk about my powers?"
"What powers?"
"Very funny doc, you know what I mean. My abilities to channel energy in
whatever form I can think up. My ability to cause random things to
happen when I say EDIT. My ability to fly. I'm a human gateway or nexus
or something of all kinds of energy from all the different dimensions."
"Oh. Those powers. According to Andy, you're ready to go. Same
conclusions by Dr. Science. You just have to want to access them, to
turn them back on again. Somehow you've turned them off--"
Spectrum jumped to his feet and glared at the Doctor, interrupting him.
"What? You too? This is really starting to piss me off! You think I
don't want my powers to work?"
Calmly, Dr. Sloan sat down at his desk and brought up multiple displays
on his workstation. "You said it, not I. What other explanation could
there be? All the work-ups we have done suggest that you are fully, and
completely capable. No brain aberrations. You did mention there was a
problem in a previous battle where you had to get your awareness
transferred back into your body, and that the equipment was damaged, but
all the tests show that was not the problem."
Spectrum leaned back on the exam table and sighed. "But it's not like I
want to stop being super. I love this life."
Dr. Sloan picked up his notepad and wrote notes. "You have been to the
moon, am I correct?"
"Yes, but what does..."
"If I recall my recent history correctly, you created the Magi crater,
which happens to be so large that it's visible from Earth. That was a
pretty incredible display of power. Why did you do it?"
"I was fighting an alien mage named Irving Gould. He'd just murdered
some children in cold blood. I was trying to bust the force field around
him and stop him from hurting anyone else."
"And did that work?"
"No."
Spectrum flopped back on the table and sighed loudly, "The little girl I
was trying to save died, and I finally had to fling Gould into the sun."
"Again, a rather incredible display of power. Were you worried about
what the impact, pardon the pun, would be?"
"What do you mean?"
"Doesn't having that kind of power scare you a little? You ever worry
about going overboard with your powers and blowing up the Earth? Ever
worry that someday you're going to be hunted down like Radian was?"
"I..."
Dr. Sloan put down his notepad and pointed his finger at Spectrum.
"Do you think that maybe deep down you want to be normal again? I've
read the information Doyle was able to gather about you, I've reviewed
the information that Andy Awesome and others have on you. You've just
been knighted. You are wealthy. You have a unique, desirable woman who
wants nothing more than to be with you the rest of her life. Maybe you
just wanted an excuse to step away from the whole super-hero biz. Or
maybe you are afraid of what could happen with your powers."
Tears began to form unbidden at the corners of Lawrence's eyes and he
began to shake his head. He knew in his heart that Sloan wasn't right
and couldn't be right; and yet there was something in what the good
doctor had just said to stir up emotions inside of him.
"No. That can't be it. I love being a super-hero! I want my powers back!
So why won't they work? Okay, maybe sometimes I worry about doing the
right thing, but doesn't everyone? And yeah, I'm awed at times by what I
can do in this world. But I'm just a guy. Maybe I am just a little
afraid, but everyone's like that, aren't they?"
Dr. Sloan walked over and put his hand on Lawrence's shoulder as the
hero wept in confusion. "You know, I remember someone saying, 'Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most
frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of
God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to
make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some
of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are
liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.'
Spectrum punctuated the quote with a loud blowing of his nose and wiped
his eyes before answering Slone. "Wow, who said that? Nelson Mandella?
Scholarman?"
"Neither," replied Sloan. "It was said by a young lady named Marianne
Williamson. I met her while I was in college. Elvis knows we all need to
hear that sometime in our lives. I didn't know if I could cut it as a
doctor, but my friends kicked me in the backside and told me to get out
there and help people, make a difference. I don't know what you were,
back when you were supposedly in another dimension. But here, now, you
are a superguy. You have a destiny to fulfill and when you are ready
your powers will come back."
Spectrum brightened. Just as the doctor's words had previously touched
something in him that brought about a deep sadness, his pep talk had
somehow shifted the dark clouds that had covered his heart. Maybe they
weren't gone completely, but he could feel a ray of hope finally shining
through.
"You're sure?"
Dr. Sloan smiled, pulling a couple drinks from a refrigerator.
"Absolutely not. But I do know that as long as you keep being negative
about this you will not break through to your powers. I'll keep looking
through the examination files and you keep working on that breakthrough.
And while you are getting your head around that one, don't forget to
have a chat with your fiancé. Like I said, she is a special lady. I
couldn't help myself but, I care about her situation."
"Thanks doc." Spectrum rose to leave.
"Oh, and Spectrum?" Sloan said, momentarily halting the hero. His voice
turned grim. "Please get British Airwave in here. If I didn't know
better I'd think he was deliberately avoiding me."
***
The main loading bay was a frenzy of activity. The chaotic din was music
to TDSM's ears and he smiled at the melody that it sang to him. Of
course the smile caused one of the nearby crew-members to faint dead
away, which in turn did nothing but improve TDSM's mood. There was a tap
on his shoulder and the man-spider turned to see British Airwave, who
greeted him with a nod.
"Spectrum sends his apologies; he will be along to help a bit later. He
is in the Tornado Armor repair labs. He asked me to ask you to please
assist Colleen and her staff as much as you can. Parker will be along in
a moment with his Dord and will do much of the "heavy lifting", shall we
say? Foxy will be with Spectrum, and I regret to say that I have a
Doctor's appointment."
TDSM glanced at the elderly super-hero with gimlet eye. Eyes. Whatever.
"You sssseem a bit out of ssssortsss, Randall. Don't worry, the Doctor
isss a good man. He knowssss hissss ssstuff."
"That's what I'm afraid of..." murmured British Airwave, turning to leave.
"What?"
British Airwave saluted smartly and disappeared, teleporting next to
Colleen near the other end of the bay. She started, almost dropping her
pda-communicator in surprise, and then gestured wildly at the elder
Briton before pointing around the room. Randall nodded, and then pointed
to TDSM and then also to the Nikon Ninja who had just ridden his robotic
rabbit Dord into the room. Parker Peterson muttered something into his
wrist communicator and British Airwave teleported to his transmission.
After a moment or two of discussion, the Brit strolled off waving to
Colleen. She returned the gesture, then pointed at TDSM and waved him
over. Samuel regarded the activity throughout the hangar, then leapt up
to the wall to scuttle along the ceiling to her location, avoiding all
the hustle. Dropping down beside little miss Colleen, he hissed,
"WCD moving, you tag it we bag it."
Colleen regarded him cautiously.
"Ach, ye big keelie. If ye can, please haul these pallets o' medical
supplies to Dr. Sloan's lab. I think ye know the way. An' whae the de'il
is that sound? Guitars?"
Nikon Ninja suddenly popped up from behind a crate, next to the pair.
"GO! WHITE GRANGER NINJA!" After a flurry of gestures, white body armor
and a full face helmet magically appeared over Peterson's grey ninja
togs. The cheesy guitar riff grew even louder, and the large furry
mechanical bunny began loping towards the trio. "White Granger
BattleRabbit Mode! Eeeyah!"
All heads turned as the rabbit and the granger leapt in an incredibly
fakey sentai move, twisting and combining into a 20' tall armored
battlesuit, with rabbit ears that scraped the ceiling. Inside the
cockpit, the Nikon Ninja slammed his sword home into the control slot,
and Soba, the head of his magical sword glowed to life. A wicked sword
and equally dangerous chaingun glowed into existence in the armor's
right and left hands respectively. Soba spoke, its eyes glowing,
"BATTLERABBIT MODE READY!" and the battlesuit struck a combat pose.
"Crivvens!" Colleen gasped. "I jes need the big yin tae move the crates,
nae blow them up! Be he always that dramatic?"
"Pretty much, yessss. I don't know, I think itssss kind of cool in a
chaotic sssssort of way. Plusss the Author sssavesss a ton on sssstock
footage expensessss."
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