Super SMWC Part 2 By grishnax January 18, 2012 6:50 “Come on Gram, you’re going to be late for school!” Gram groaned as he got up. After the incident at the jewelry store, he had been extremely excited to see what would happen regarding his heroisms. However, it turned out that there had been a much larger robbery in progress the same day, and that took the headlines, with Gram as just a little side story. After that, Gram had gone back to school, and had had little opportunity to use his powers. *What’s the use of being Empowered if you can’t even use your powers?* He thought as he trudged downstairs. “Hey Gram,” Trish said to Gram from the kitchen table, “I was wondering if you could drive me to the mall after school today. I promised my friend that I would meet her there.” By this point, Trish had stopped glowing, much to Gram’s secret delight. She had been bragging about it for the entire time she had had it, but on the same day as Gram’s triumph over Sculptius, and had cried about it for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately, other things had come up, like hanging out with her friends, to keep her occupied. “Sorry,” Gram said to Trish, “I’m going to be busy today. I promised a friend that I would give him a lift home.” This was a complete lie. He was actually going to the junkyard to practice using his powers, like he had been doing for every day since his first battle. In the battle with Sculptius, Gram had figured out just how inexperienced in actual combat he really was. It was mostly luck that he had figured out how to attack Sculptius, and thinking back to it, Gram realized that he could have gotten himself killed. Luckily, no one had seen him practicing in the junkyard. There were a few close calls, but he hadn’t been caught yet. “Gram, hurry up! You haven’t even had your breakfast yet!” “Alright, mom, just give me a minute...” ~~~~~~ January 18, 2012 15:20 School, as usual, had been boring. It wasn’t that there was anything particularly bad about it; Gram just didn’t find any part of it very enjoyable. His few friends shared no classes with him, and they had little time to talk during lunch period. Now that school was over, though, Gram was free to go to the junkyard and practice with his powers. As he got into his car, he turned his radio on. Since he had gotten his powers, he had been listening for news of crimes constantly. Unfortunately, most of the crimes had been happening too far away from him to get there in time, or had already been taken care of. “This just in,” The radio announcer said, “There is a bank robbery happening on Darcel Avenue...” Before the announcer finished his line, Gram was speeding down the street, towards Darcel Avenue. He didn’t want to be late for another crime. ~~~~~~ January 18, 2012 15:27 “Come on, guys, we’ve got to get moving! Some Empowered could be here any minute!” Julian yelled to his crew. This wasn’t going nearly as well as he had planned. For one, the security guards had already taken out one of his men. The guards had been gunned down afterwards, but it didn’t help the situation. Secondly, the alarm had gone off far too early. It was almost as if they were expecting the robbers. Julian was near panic, but kept a look of relative calm on his face. He knew that if he panicked, everyone would panic. Panic led to twitchy trigger fingers, and twitchy trigger fingers almost always led to disaster. Suddenly, a man walked through the wall. Miles, one of the more nervous members of the group, let out a yelp and took a shot at the man. The bullet just passed through him, like he wasn’t there. “Put your guns down and your hands up,” The man said. He didn’t look very confidant, but him being able to have bullets go right through him without injury and walk through walls automatically labeled him as an Empowered. “Keep going!” Yelled Julian, who was now visibly panicked. The men hurried, but before they could get to the exit, the doors were burst open by a silver humanoid. ~~~~~~ January 18, 2012 15:30 “Hey!” Gram called at the robbers, “I’m here to stop you guys from...” It was then Gram noticed the man who had phased through the wall. Gram hadn’t seen the actual phasing, but he recognized the man from a news clip a few days ago. The man was known as Delta, although not much else was known about him. His costume was a simple black hoodie and a bandana over his mouth. He seemed to be able to phase through objects, other people, and even high speed objects like bullets. “Excuse me,” Delta said as he punched a robber, “But I was here first.” “So what?” Gram said angrily, forming a shield to block another robber from escaping, “I’ve been waiting for a crime all week, and now that I’ve found one, someone else shows up!” “I’m sorry, but I was here first. That means that it’s my job to finish these guys.” “Yeah, well I’m still here, and my powers are way more useful than yours. Look,” Gram said as he elongated his foot to trip someone up, “I can transform my limbs, and I’m nearly indestructible. What do you have that can beat that?” “I can phase through anything. That means I can’t be hurt.” “My powers are still better!” “No way, mine are way better than near invincibility. Can you get through a wall without breaking through it?” “No, but...” “Hey! Stop arguing already!” A captive called. Gram took a second to look around, and saw that between him and Delta, they had beaten up the entire crew of robbers. “Well, I guess that solves that problem,” Delta said. Just as Gram was about to reply, the police came through the doors. “Freeze! Put your hands...” One of the officers shouted, but was interrupted by one of the captives. “You’re too late,” The captive told the officer, “These two already took care of it.” The officer walked over to Gram and Delta. Gram realized that it was, again, Officer Jordan. “Oh, hello Chrome. I see that you’ve made an ally...” “More like rival...” Chrome muttered to himself. “...and already taken care of this situation. You’re a pretty powerful hero, you know that?” Gram would have smiled at the compliment, but his suit prevented facial expressions. “Anyways, have you considered joining a team?” “Honestly, no, I haven’t.” Gram replied. “Well, I’m sure that there are plenty of new teams hiring people like you. Maybe you should look around a bit, you never know what you’ll find.” Officer Jordan said. “Well, I suppose it’s time to jail these guys. Again, thanks for your help. We’ll take it from here.” The Officer shouted orders to his men, who began to cuff the would-be bank robbers. “Well, I suppose that I’ll be off then,” Delta said, and then phased through a wall. Gram had forgotten that he had been there, since he was so quiet through the whole exchange. *That guy was annoying, but I suppose he did get here first,* Gram thought with a hint of guilt. He then saw a clock, and realized that his parents would expect him to be home by now. *Oh god, I’m going to be late!* ~~~~~~ January 19, 2012 6:53 “Make sure you come home right after school ends,” Gram’s father said, “I don’t want you to be near a crime scene again, even if you do want to see superheroes close up.” “Yes, dad,” Gram said, moping as he walked out the door. Apparently one of his mother’s friends had seen Gram near the scene bank robbery. She had told Gram’s mother, who told his father, who had promptly grounded him. *I didn’t even need to be there,* Gram thought, *Delta was already there; he could have probably handled it by himself.* Just as Gram was about to get into his car, another car pulled up next to his driveway. “Excuse me,” The driver asked, “I was wondering if you knew where someone by the name of ‘Gram Nix’ lived. I’ve looked all over this neighborhood, but I can’t seem to find him. Do you know where he lives?” “I’m Gram Nix,” Gram said cautiously, “What do you need?” “Well,” The driver said back, “I’m here to deliver a letter. I was also supposed to tell you that you should read it in private, where no one else might be eavesdropping. Apparently, it’s ‘Top Secret,’ if you get my meaning.” The driver took out a letter, and handed it to Gram. “Good luck,” The driver said, and then drove away. *What was that about?* Gram thought, and then looked at the envelope. It had a silvery sheen, with no markings except for the crease for opening it. He thought about opening it, but decided that it was best left, as the driver had instructed, to be opened later. And with that, Gram got into his car and drove to school. ~~~~~~ January 19, 2012 12:30 Gram had been waiting impatiently since he had gotten the envelope to open it. Now that it was lunch period, he figured that he could hide out in a secluded corner of the library and read what was inside. No one usually went to the library during lunch, but it was open to the students if they wanted to study. Gram didn’t intend to study, but pretended to be preparing for his chemistry test so that the librarian wouldn’t be suspicious. When Gram opened the envelope, there was a letter and a small key with the letters ‘Cr’ on it. The letter read, “Gram, or rather, Chrome, I hope that this can reach you before the designated time. We will be waiting at the following location at approximately 23:00. Use this key to get in. If you do not arrive at this time, we will assume that you either did not receive this invitation or refused to come. If that is the case, this key will melt itself down. More information will be provided upon arrival.” Below that was the address that was specified. “Someone knows...” Gram whispered, and realized that he had to go to the meeting. At best, it was dangerous. At worst... He didn’t even want to think of the worst. But regardless of the danger, it was important to go. After all, if they knew his identity, they knew who his family and friends were. If he didn’t go, the people who sent him the message might go after them. Thus, it was vital that he go... ~~~~~~ January 19, 2012 22:55 Gram had arrived at the address a few minutes early. He thought it would be in a fairly shady location, but it was actually a house in the middle of the suburbs. Conveniently, it was within biking distance of his house, so he didn’t need to get his car. He tried to peer through the windows of the house, but all the lights were off, so he couldn’t see anything. Gram tried using the key on the front door, but it wouldn’t work. When he turned it, however, a small light appeared to at his side. The light started moving around the house, and Gram felt inclined to follow it. He knew it might be a trap, but so far, everything had looked fairly tame. The light went all the way around the house to the backyard, and then went through a cellar door. When Gram tried to use his key on it, he heard a clicking sound as the door unlocked. He opened the doors and descended down the steep staircase. When he got to the bottom, he found that it was a surprisingly cozy place. It didn’t look at all like somewhere were someone would ambush a person. In fact, it looked more like a games room than anything. “Ah, so our guest arrives!” A voice said. Gram turned, readying his armor. “Whoa there, don’t be so hasty to get out your armor.” A man stepped out of the shadows. He looked friendly, but Gram wasn’t going to be caught off guard. “What do you want?” Gram asked in a very unfriendly tone. “Well, I was wondering if you would like to join our team,” The man said. Gram looked skeptically at him. “Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself first. I’m Daniel Folsense, but you may know me as Bloop.” Once again, Gram was skeptical. He had seen Bloop on TV before; Bloop had eight arms and blue hair. This man had black hair and only two arms. Daniel looked down at himself, and then said, “Oh, you probably don’t recognize me like this. One second...” He shuddered, and then six arms seemed to unfold from nowhere. His hair also turned blue. This was enough to convince Gram that the man was Bloop. “Okay, so you’re Bloop. Now what was this about a team?” Gram asked. He was fairly certain that this wasn’t a trap, seeing as Bloop was exclusively good. “Ah, I’m glad that you asked!” Daniel said, and then called out, “Hey, come meet the new guy!” Gram heard a few people groaning, and saw a man walk into the room. “Keep it down, will you?” Said the man, “Some of us are trying to sleep.” “Oh, cheer up Zane,” Daniel said, “We have a new guy! Weren’t you complaining that we don’t have enough variety on this team?” “Actually, I said-” Zane started, but was cut off by Daniel. “Gram, this is Zane Matthews. His superhero name is Steel Thunder.” “I would say that I’m glad to meet you, but I’m too tired to care,” Zane said, and then headed back into the room he came from. “Can you tell Takeo to come in here?” Daniel called to Zane. “I’m already up,” Said a man who Gram assumed to be Takeo. “Well then, Gram. It’s nice to meet you.” Takeo said, “I’m Takeo Spikes. You may or may not know me as Drake Napalm.” He extended his hand. Gram shook it, and as soon as he let go, Takeo walked back into the other room. “Well, that’s Takeo for you,” Daniel said, “Not much of a talker. Anyways, I’d like you to meet Jack Luminere, also known as Dawn’s Paladin. I know that he has had some trouble with the law before, but I’ll vouch for him that he is a good guy.” Gram looked over in the corner, and saw Jack sitting on a couch, reading a book. “Hello,” Jack said, looking over at Gram, “It’s nice to meet you, but if you’ll excuse me, I’m in the middle of a good part in this novel.” Jack turned back to his novel, and Daniel sighed. “I’m sorry everyone is so unenthusiastic tonight,” Daniel said, “But it’s late. Zane is usually better. Takeo and Jack are about the same as always today. We all live here, but we have one other member who lives somewhere else. I’ll introduce you to him later.” Gram looked around. It didn’t look at all like he thought a superhero base would look like. Instead of a row of supercomputers, they had a single old-looking regular computer. The floor had a rug with a few stains on it, and there was a mildly tattered couch in the corner. Overall, it was nothing amazing; more like a family’s living room than a superhero base. Daniel noticed Gram looking around. “I bet you’re thinking, ‘this isn’t what a superhero’s base looks like’, aren’t you?” Daniel asked, and Gram nodded, though he thought it was mildly impolite. “I know, I know. This isn’t the full place; this is just where we hang out the most. The business stuff is all downstairs. We also have a swimming pool. Do you want to see?” “Sure,” Gram said, and together they went through another door. ~~~~~~ January 19, 2012 23:59 Julian moaned. The last thing he remembered was being loaded into the police car, and then feeling a stinging sensation in his neck. *I was probably drugged,* He thought. Then, a robed man walked out of the lone doorway. “Excellent, you’re awake,” The robed man said, lifting a jewel encrusted dagger from a side table. He stepped closer to Julian, who attempted to back away. However, the drug was still making him sluggish, so he couldn’t move. Lifting the dagger above his head, the robed man slashed down into Julian’s heart. “Was that really necessary?” Sculptius, who had been standing hidden in the corner, asked. “Yes it was. The more sacrifices we have, the more pleased it will be when we finally summon it.” The robed man said in a chilling voice, and then motioned Sculptius to come with him as he left the room. “Come, we have much more to do before the preparations are complete. And I have someone I would like you to meet...”