There is a New Villainess in Town
© 2011 by: Mr. David R. Dorrycott
Chapter Nineteen
Professor Q looked at the papers in his hand, insuring that they said what he thought they did. This wasn’t the first time one of his group asked for time off, in fact it was pretty much a weekly event considering that he had over fifty people in his hero organization. Mist though had been with them since the start and this was the first time she had ever applied for a leave of absence. “May I ask why?” he said to the woman in normal clothing standing next to him. He could ask, but he couldn’t demand an answer.
“Harry and I want to get our marriage back, maybe even start a family” Mist answered. “Its something I can’t even dream of doing if I keep running around like this and other than the great and mighty Captain Fluffball, there really are no real threats out there right now. It’s the perfect time for this.”
“Your right Melanie, I guess that it is the prefect time. Your right about threats too, though I’m the first to admit that feline is running us ragged, though she’s disappeared for over a month now. Maybe Flare and Bouncing Boy scared her off or maybe all that blood means she crawled off somewhere to die, who knows. Me, I prefer the former, she’s been a valiant and fun opponent and personally I don’t like the idea that she may be dead or maimed. Jail is another matter.” Taking the pen from his lab coat pocket he carefully signed the two pages of paper, offering one to Mist.
“There, open ended leave of absence. You will keep me informed right?”
Accepting her copy Mist folded it up, slipping it into her purse. “I certainly will, but if we do start a family don’t expect me to name any of them after you guys. I will return though, I promise you that.”
“That’s good to know, your one of the better ones Melanie. Smart enough to use your powers correctly, not so smart as to think your some comic book hero who can take on the world.”
“Right, see you later Professor.” Melanie ‘Mist’ Wood turned towards the office door and left, in doing so she left the active services of her peers and headed home. She hadn’t been lying about starting a family, a month of chats with Captain Fluffball and more importantly Mrs. Rishima Panchal had reminded her of her plans when she had first married her Harry. Kids, and you couldn’t have children if you were always fighting. Not to mention what disaster her powers might make of a pregnancy. A few years on the inactive rolls wouldn’t hurt her but it would do her love life a world of good.
A few hours after Mist had left Night arrived, looking refreshed from nearly four days of sleep and just plain rest. She had been pushing herself the last few weeks hunting the feline Captain Fluffball and had finally collapsed of exhaustion in the Professors arms. “Hello lover” she said in greeting, “Any news on our pet alien?”
“Still nothing though Solar Man and Sky King are still keeping an eye out.” He settled down in his chair, waving to another in the room. “With Detectors aid I finished my investigation while you were asleep. Flash really hurt her bad dear, what with all the rain it is quite possible that she is dead, in the least she was gravely wounded. Either way you have your revenge, since even if she survived she too will have scars for the rest of her life. Sadly I’ve been forced by our by-laws to place Flash on probation for two years, it was completely unnecessary for him to use that level of power against a creature that, in all honesty has almost no defense against him.”
“So the bad guys can do what they want and we can’t?” Night asked, still standing.
“You wrote that rule Night, you and Mist. Until an enemy uses deadly force we may not use deadly force against them. First offense is probation, a second offense during probation is expulsion and loss of all rights and privileges. Those are your words.”
“More Mist’s words than mine but yeah, I helped write that and I do agree with it. So if this alien cat shows up again its still gloves on. At least until she oversteps the line. Fine Professor Q, I can live with that but I still want her behind bars.”
‘Professor Q,’ the lab coated man thought. ‘When Night uses that title in private, it means she isn’t budging from her position. This time though I agree with her.’ “Acceptable” he agreed. “Oh, and Mist has taken an indefinite leave of absence, she’s thinking of starting a family.”
Nights face lit up, “Really? Oh I hope so, she’s been talking about it for over two years. If anyone deserves a normal life its her.”
“Yeah, well I guess that’s all, your patrolling again tonight?”
“I think I’ll do Mists section for a while” Night answered. “See if I can keep the graffiti down as much as she did. See you later lover.”
Professor Q watched his sometimes lover leave, watched the sway of her hips as she did so. An interesting woman but a bit flaky for his long term needs. Returning to his paper work he thought about Mist, now if she hadn’t been married, but she was. She was the eighth hero to take an LOA for family reasons this year, well more power to her.
Near at the same time as Night walked out of Professor Q’s office the feline Captain Fluffball was relaxing in her own bed. It had taken four times longer to find her way back, what with between searching her equipment and clothing for tracers, watching for someone following her and the constant twinge in her leg. That the wound was fully healed now didn’t mean that she had walked enough for the scar tissue to stretch enough for comfort. Mist had gotten her some jogging clothing, the kind all those crazy people ruining their knees wore. Between the hooded top, long sleeves and covering pants legs she had been able to slip out in the middle of rush hour, take the subway to within half a mile of her home then work her way back to safety. Dressed as she was and as preoccupied as the people were with their own lives no one had even noticed her face.
Abruptly she noticed that a light was blinking on her communications gear. ‘Wonderful’ the feline thought. ‘Get back home after a month of hiding and the first thing that happens is a phone call. Might as well have been in the bathroom.’ Grabbing a shirt she limped over to the consol, activating it. It was Pat she noted as the image stabilized.
“Are you all right” was the other felines first words.
“Not really” Fluffball admitted, noting that the soft tic tic tic was back. “Flash blew up a tree and a good sized chunk went into my right leg as though that was where it belonged. I’ve been in hiding for a month while my leg healed and I had strength back in it.”
“We need to get you to a doctor then” Pat decided, reaching off camera for something. Probably a phone Fluffball thought.
“No need, I’ve been under the direct care of a very good Doctor all month. All I need now is a few more weeks physical therapy to get my leg back in top shape. He gave me an exercise plan and I plan to follow it.”
“Your sure?”
“Absolutely. It was all an accident Pat, you can’t aim fragments from a random explosion. What’s news anyway, I’m a month out of date.”
“There are two shipments waiting for you to pick up” the other feline answered. “My husband wants you to be his second wife and everyone here was worried sick that you were dead.”
“Your husband WHAT?” Fluffball asked.
“That was a joke, to see if you were really listening” Pat answered between laughter. “He can’t handle my needs, he’d be an idiot to try and fill yours as well. Okay, all serious now. There are two shipments in the secure warehouse waiting pickup. How long before you can manage that?”
Fulffball gave the question a few seconds thought before answering. “At least a day more Pat, I’m still tired and a bit weak. Are my new uniforms are in that shipment?”
“Yes, I want you to dump the ones you have, those are simple cotton and are no help defensively. These new ones are fire resistant, self snuffing and made with carbon-carbon fibers embedded to conduct electricity. They are cotton lined to make them comfortable but to armor you against everything we’d need to get you a tank.”
“A tank? How about a state of the art Mause?” Fluffball asked.
“Dream on. Anything special you need?”
Fluffball dug several pages from her pocket, a list she had made while on her back at the Panchal’s home. Very carefully she began to read from it until Pat indicated that she had typed everything in. “You really want paper models to build” the younger woman asked.
“I think that’s a good hobby” Fluffball admitted. “It will take my mind off my loneliness and keep me inside when the weather is too nasty to work in. My hosts had several hanging from the ceiling of the room I stayed in, he let me build a simple one, other than nicking my fingers with the modeling knife I liked how they look.”
“Well they won’t be too expensive anyway, so I’ll have Jacob download everything that he can find and make sure that you get them, plus all the files so you can print new ones if you want too. Oh, that intruder? The Chinese Military, we let them grab a super secure heavily encrypted Easter egg file that should keep them busy a few months, then we notified the satellite owner what was going on, they are re-encrypting their passwords on a weekly bases now. See you next random call.”
“Yeah, and tell your husband he does good work.” Fluffball answered. “In my old body I would have lost the leg at best. G’night Pat.”
“Night Fluffy”
When the channel went flat Fluffball shut down her communications gear, yanking out the A buss breaker as a precaution before heading back to bed. It would still listen but its ability to transmit anything was now gone. She had seen way too many espionage movies to chance someone taking over her systems, even if it was supposed to be impossible. A simply glance at her own body told her just how possible the impossible was. A little over half an hour later she was fast asleep.