Master Tyrone Nitobe had arched an eyebrow when a UPS package had shown up at noon. When his lunch time classes let out he got around to checking on his mail. His wife, Aiko, whom ran the business end the C.S.H.F.A. was very surprised to see whom the sender was! Upon checking he noticed it was from Spirit Enterprises with a small note tucked inside.
Inside the box was some items that appeared to be made of the same material as Gryphon’s practice sword! There was a classic styled sword stand with “Nitobe” cut out in Kanji characters ( 新渡戸 ). Tyrone did not loose site of the fact this material could stop a bullet or parry Gryphon’s blade! Then he pulled out a saya (or scabbard) made of the same material with a mouth for what would have to be a very hefty blade. A silk bag that had the same Kanji characters embroidered upon it was wrapped around the saya. His wife, Aiko, was descended from the Seki swordsmiths that had made the katana for Musashi and she could tell the silk bag had its materials from the Gifu Prefecture of her home.
What came out next took his breath away! It was a perfect, practice, replica of Miyamoto Musashi’s Katana! The legendary Japanese swordmaster was well above the average height for his people and his daito katana reflected this by being double pegged unlike most katana that have a single peg affixing hilt to blade. This super strong poly-resin replica was no different and the double ring tsuba hand guard was there! The weight felt right and balance matched the original but the thicker blade matched the sheath’s mouth. It was exquisite to say the least. He surmised this was a gift on par to the cost of an entry model Aircar!
When Gryphon showed up a little early at 4 PM mentioning he was on vacation and hoped he could work on body weight exercises in the back. Master Nitobe studied his face and he realized Gryphon did not know about the gift from his sponsor. Perhaps today would be a day for training from the great sword master himself? At 5 PM he called Gryphon out to the floor.
“Gryphon have you been studying the books I gave you?”
As Gryphon began to answer Master Nitobe initiated combat as he had been doing for some time. He saw no point in wasting time talking when you can move and talk at the same time. “Yes Master Nitobe.” WHACK!
“Good, your speech has not wavered and your breathing is steady.”WHACK! With his new sword in one hand and the scabbard in the other Master Nitobe began to make Gryphon recite and memorize some of the quotes he wanted him to focus on of Musashi. All the while making him practice katas to teach him muscle memory.
“Clearly, you have mastered this one. Do not fear death. That is a compliment well earned Gryphon.”
“Thank you Master Nitobe.”
WHACK!
“Accept everything just the way it is.”
WHACK!
“Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.”
WHACK!
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.”
WHACK!
“Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.”
WHACK!
“While not wisely or well, do we all not love?”
WHACK!
“Yes, yet if you wish to control others you must first control yourself. So if you wish to love others you must first love yourself. You cannot share or exert what you do not possess yourself. There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
WHACK! WHACK!!
“If I fail and start anew, is the path still there?”
WHACK!
“Of course, understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. As long as you want to stay on the path you can find your way back. Gryphon, you saved teammates and innocents with the decisive actions of a samurai. You thought of the world and not of desire. You did what you could and sought nothing but a better tomorrow. Yet, you still burden yourself with ghosts of your past and refuse to believe people love you or that you are worthy of such care. That is where you failed!”
WHACK!WHACK!!WHACK!!!
The new practice katana was scant hairs away from Gryphon’s eye as the Master Nitobe legged swept him with the scabbard. “Your control has improved. Again! As a reward you may start coming to the morning group lessons.”
At Spirit Enterprises, Richard Grey was re-reading the morning headline and accompanying article written by Granny2Good. Online the news of S.A.V.I.O.R. and the near fatal sacrifice play by Gryphon was filtered out to the other groups to help them deal with their robots battles.
Genysis Sponsored Team: Dynosaurs – Took the longest and had the most associated property damage.
Maverick Team: Iron Brigade – Two members had their powered armor suits destroyed and are healing at an undisclosed location from critical injuries. They had the second most associated property damage.
Maverick Team: Valkyries – Their battle took just longer than S.A.V.I.O.R.’s and had the least associated property damage. Many incoming reports note that because they focused on saving and minimizing damage to innocents. This was the only reason their battle took longer.
Spirit Sponsored Team: S.A.V.I.O.R. – Took the shortest amount of time and had slightly more property damage than the Valkyries. As super teams go this is a positive sign for such a new team in the city.
Punctual as ever Director Balisong arrived for a meeting with Richard. Meanwhile, Greg Nugent met up with Victor in the ground floor lobby of Spirit Enterprises building in Silver City sub-district of the Society Hill borough. Greg had informed Victor that while Hank was still healing they were going to be joining up with the hero team S.A.V.I.O.R. Which prompted much confusion from Victor because he believed they were a religious based group of some form or fashion.
With a wave through from security because they were expected. Both of them headed up to the top floors and when the elevator doors opened. Victor recognized Director Balisong and could overhear their conversation. One that had been done in hush tones and whispers.
“You know with Caedechron, you need to be very, very careful. Something is not right. We know Xander Financial had sent money to fund your group. Obviously he created a robot that looked like Caedechron, so there’s something going on here. The police, we’re going to get to the bottom of this. For now you just need to make sure you’re being very, very careful. Xander Financial had a lot of dirty dealings, there’s so much out there. The money they secretly funneled to you is also there as well. Which is raising some questions I am trying not to ask.”
“Oh, I can assure you director we’ll keep an eye on him. Everything, everything will be fine, I can assure you.”
“Yeah, there will be a lot to process with that one. One more thing and keep this on the down low. Mason has passed on. They’re doing their best to keep it out of the papers, but it’s only a matter of time before that gets found out. Cassandra is already starting to take over, and she’s already declared she’s not going to be keeping up with any of his former projects. So you guys are going to need to find another source if you wish to keep going like this.”
“Oh don’t worry,” as he notices Greg and Victor coming into the office from the elevator area, “This may be the answer to our problems now.”
Director Balisong seemed taken back and apparently was quite the fan of Victor’s jockey career. Richard was relieved and let her know he’d take their conversation to heart. After she left Greg informed Richard that Hank was still healing and would be a few more days before he could join the team. Due to some confusion on Victor’s part Richard had to explain that S.A.V.I.O.R. stood for: Swift, Altruistic, Valiant, Industrious, Observant, Resolute. Greg mentioned and was seconded by Victor that this needs to be communicated since a number of people may believe them to be a religious based super group without knowing more about Spirit or the Team.
After Victor signed the paperwork making him an official member of S.A.V.I.O.R. Greg took his leave and Richard called Carl to drive him and another recruit for the team to their base location. There was some concern about Carl’s explanation regarding “blackouts” but Richard calmed everything down so he could get this show on the road. The fact that Carl had a doctor’s appointment planned seem to put Victor at some ease. Richard made sure Carl and Victor had some formal introductions before they left in one of Richard’s aircars.
The air lanes became less frequent when they reached Midtown, and became nearly non-existent when they flew over Brisby Flats. Upon nearing the northern part of the Zericho sub-district. Richard told Victor when he asked that the reason for selecting this area of town to host their operations was due to its need. However, they go where they are called citywide. With that they came upon an empty lot with a drained, sunken, pool and its bottom dropped and slid away as the aircar lowered into it. The steel, reinforced, and very high tech looking tunnel they found themselves in seemed to put Victor at ease from what Richard could see.
March 28th, 2024 – Thursday: 6:15 PM
A.R.C.H.I.E. watched as Richard, now wearing his Geist mask, went through the motions of trying to add the Rubber Band Man to the system. Eventually a voice imprint was taken that made a decent sample for authentication. It was decided that the Rubber Band Man would also need a key card for when he wasn’t speaking. A.R.C.H.I.E. did its level best to sound cheerful when it had to mention the card’s importance in making sure the Rubber Band Man would not be seen as an intruder.
A.R.C.H.I.E. watched Geist go around and inform everyone about the new arrival. Carl appears to be taking a slower route and then heads for the meeting room. When Miss Amazing talks about having seen Rubber Band Man’s mundane identity win the Triple Crown. The new hero smiles, but thinks she saw it on YouTube from her physical appearance. A.R.C.H.I.E. understands Miss Amazing’s physical age appears to be a side effect [ according to reports notated by Geist ] of what’s she revealed about her experimental alterations performed on her. Gryphon, having just returned from a shower, appears happy but micro expressions suggest this is a facade. More data required. Will continue to update Geist with daily reports. Last known searches involved finding out how high the International Space Station is and roughly when it would pass over Cape Canaveral. His designs on a way to make a small heat shield suggest the same wild inventive streak as the Wright Brothers. More data required.
A.R.C.H.I.E. watched as everyone finally gathered in the meeting room. They engage in playful banter as they get to know Rubber Band Man. They talk about the reason for team members leaving.
A.R.C.H.I.E. watched as they begin to talk about infiltrating the Church of Reflections. Rubber Band Man shows off his rubber-elastic power, followed by his powers of night. Many of the members react poorly to the power of fear Rubber Band Man could exude upon the room. Covenant asked for the floor afterwards and explained about the man called Ashton Campbell that murdered his parents. He talked about following leads to the Winchester House, but mostly finding Ishtarian worshippers that used gun running to finance their occult ends. Ashton, though, may have been the person that founded the Church of Reflections and is the one they call the First Reflector.
Covenant mentioned a big ceremony on the 8th of April. A day that has an eclipse on it based upon the calendar, and noted by Carl as well. Covenant mentioned that something was shipped here. From the manifest he was able to deduce one of three options from his contacts in California. 1) An herbal component in something bigger, a magical ritual of some form or fashion. 2) A drug that imbues someone with basic magic power when they consume it! 3) The worst scenario was a magically intelligent, biological agent that knows its target and the ceremony just activates it! Rubber Band Man stretched up over the table to try and console him with a can of Tecate Beer. Will begin similar safety protocol watching as on Gryphon. Potential alcoholic behavior exhibited by Rubber Band Man. More data required.
A.R.C.H.I.E. watched as the conversation continues it becomes clear the city has a lot of followers among the Church of Reflections. Victor remembered a TV Reporter that was a member and Gryphon agreed with Covenant about Thursday being the perfect time to go since he gets asked constantly. Victor asked why Señor Gryphon gets asks so much. Gryphon mentions he donates a lot of time at a community center and a lady there is a member. Carl butts in that Gryphon is also a man-whore, to which Gryphon vehemently disagrees with! Carl says anyone wishing clarification should just ask Miss Amazing. Victor mentions no one should ask a lady that and Covenant tries to redirect the conversation back to the Church and not Gryphon.
“Carl that was really rude! Do we need to talk to the Beast about this?”
“Huh, I don’t understand?”
“Calling Gryphon a man whore, what does that make me? I think we may need to ‘pull-out’ the Beast for a chat!”
Carl shook his head for a bit, and A.R.C.H.I.E. began running scans of all kinds to try and determine if psychic energy could be detected and later quantified for further analysis. Nothing changed about him however, A.R.C.H.I.E. surmises in a manner of a weapon parry perhaps one’s mind could be hardened to parry a psychic attack? A.R.C.H.I.E. leaves the scanners up and believes it catches a second use of psychic powers being used. More data required.
In continued observation A.R.C.H.I.E. sees that Carl has pulled up a map based on the locations of the Church locations, the Wax Museum, and Jenga Tower. Carl then plots a line based on reports of dark activity and a clear line connecting those locations and the construction/new home & apartment building area called the Battleground are shown to have a connection along it! This is vetted by a map Gryphon has from Pasty Palmer regarding something called magic energy flows of the Earth, or Ley Lines according to Carl. A.R.C.H.I.E. sees Miss Amazing have an exasperated look when Patsy’s name is mentioned. When Gryphon offers Patsy’s contact info to the Geist for help in understanding the Ley Line magical energy flows. A.R.C.H.I.E. sees a noted eye roll and head tilting back from Miss Amazing. Everytime she’s expressed this Gryphon appears to be looking in another direction. Tracking the relationship status of team members could be useful in understanding and squelching conflicts on an interpersonal level. More data required.
As A.R.C.H.I.E. continues their observations they can see Geist, Deathwish, Miss Amazing, and Cavalry head to the location in Hannigan. Meanwhile; Carl, Gryphon, Black Phantom, Victor, and Covenant were headed to the one in Zericho. Shorty #5, whom is being allowed to use the name Cardinal for the time being. Geist appears to be deciding as to whether or not to train him officially for the job. Cardinal is given “Man In The Chair” duty and becomes the information hub at base while the teams are out on their respective missions.
A.R.C.H.I.E. notes a message is left for Caedechron from Gryphon about investigating the Church in low-profile. An address to head towards when his work is done is left as well. After some time that is indeed what Caedechron does.
March 28th, 2024 – Thursday: 6:45 PM
Ramona De La Cova was excited about the day. First she had found out the ‘First Reflector’ was going to visit her branch of the Church of Reflections! She had been here most of the day helping to get this place in order, unloading extra chairs, and she even got to see the car of the ‘First Reflector’ arrive. Then, like a miracle, she got a message from Garrick! He was on his way with a couple of friends. She tried to make sure her reply was appropriate in case one of his friends was Ameera.
March 28th, 2024 – Thursday: 7:35 PM
When he finally arrives her smile could have lit a room! She had a suspicion but she’s not heard of many adult growth spurts that come and go. He was walking past in his 6’6″ frame and … … OH MY GOD HE MADE IT! “Garrick it’s so good to see you..” She realized she had been hugging him and he had hugged her back! When she pulled back and made eye contact, he smiled at her. His eyes were not unlike dark glistening topaz and she could tell he was looking at nothing else other than her. When her heart swooned she said a small apology to Ameera internally, but why does anyone allow this man out on his own?
Then he mentioned being happy to finally make it here, using off the cuff poetry! He made her another piece of poetry, he was his namesake’s descendant alright! His arm was strong, when she patted his torso as he made a joke it registered he had six pack abs being hidden by his button down shirt. Ameera is crazy to let him go somewhere alone unless she likes it when he brings back girls? Being of a passionate Cuban descent, she knew he’d end up with any number of ladies before the evening was over. If she stuck to him she could protect him, yeah she was doing Ameera a favor, right a favor.
She launched into a number of items not really giving him time to respond. She was so happy to share her faith with him finally and the ‘First Reflector’ would be here in person! She noticed him glance about the room slightly and then move to allow someone by. “Oh, my, God! He’s so courteous,” she thought inwardly to herself, “perhaps he reflected on why he hasn’t shown up and made a positive change?”
Ramona caught only a brief glimpse as they were talking about philosophy and how it influences artists’ work. She never even heard Alex mutter, “Sure, Be Bold. Make sure to talk to the girl before Garrick does, check.”
She caught up about their personal lives and Garrick, she realized, by and large will just talk without reservation about any topic, nothing is off limits ideologically with him. He mentions Ameera was out that night with one of “their” girlfriends, Constance. Which prompted a conversation about relationships, jealousy, how does polyamorous function? Garrick just mentioned that showing affection was a lot of work. Most men in his opinion put the work in but when they get their sought after partner a fair percentage slow down and then wonder why the relationship eroded. Ramona hung on Garrick’s every word, “It should not be a man’s duty, but his privilege, to let his partner know everyday why they sought them in the first place. That’s just my advice for monogamous couples, now taking that to polyamorous styles of relationships means each partner has to put the same amount of work into each relationship to make sure their partners are treated fairly. That said it is a lot of work but the rewards of the heart and joy received are multiplied as well.”
Ramona had the right of it no one woman was going to contain this man. When explained that his girlfriends all have a chat server they used to keep in touch with each other she had proof he wasn’t a cheater. Then she noticed he nodded to another man and she asked him if this was his guest he brought with him. He mentioned that it was just someone he’d met before and began scanning the room asking about someone named Carl. All of a sudden he began to choke and loose all sense of speech! She quickly got him over to the food table for something to drink. He was blabbing about something and only barely got out ‘Carl’ ‘over’ ‘there.’ When he came to his senses after a sip of water he remembered a work item he had to leave a note to himself about. Acknowledging it was bad etiquette was something men did not often do, but it was quick and he slid his phone away.
There was some commotion that happened but moved into a side room before either of them really noticed anything. Then Ramona and Garrick both notice Alex duck under the table and someone come over to check on the odd behavior. Ramona had seen patients during her internship as a nurse in school have a panic attack. She watched Garrick intercede the curious individual in a way that acknowledged their concern about the behavior. However it also pulled him away from someone that may just need a moment as a severe introvert. She saw him ask about the ‘First Reflector’ to bring the person back to calm. When she saw this person have questions and Garrick grinned at her. Ramona lept at the chance to help both of them. He was so present and in the moment! As the conversation continued Ramona led Garrick and the fellow they were speaking to over to front row seats. She hoped the poor kid under the table cloth enjoyed the food if he was just introverted and not having a panic attack.
As she was talking to Garrick she began to find it more and more comfortable to lean against him. She chided herself quietly when she kept realizing how in shape and physically defined he was. His clothing often hid the scope of his physique. She was saved from various thoughts as she tried to continue on about the, umm, her, ummm, the Church, yes the Church. When the Church’s A/V engineer came out on stage to introduce the ‘First Reflector’ to everyone. There was applause as he entered in his customary hooded robe. Only to have some dark and freakish rubber band like creature leap out of the shadows and entangle him!
Garrick exclaimed, “OH SHIT!”
The cloaked ‘First Reflector’ cries out in a raspy voice, belying serious age, “IT WILL NOT END THIS WAY!”
Ramona noticed Stella trying to get as many people out of the building and commotion as possible, “Come on everyone we need to get out of here! It’s not safe we need to go!” Almost everyone present began to follow her but Ramona noticed a few long-time church goers began to run to the ‘First Reflector’s’ aid. Ramona and the other fellow sitting with them began to follow suit and move toward to help try and free the ‘First Reflector’ from his captor! Behind her she heard Garrick cry out, “HELDAMM!”
As he ran up she was so happy until he scooped up her and the other guy in his arms! “Garrick we can’t go!”
“It’s dangerous I have to get you both someplace safe!”
The other guy clamored about whom was going to save their leader?
“There are other people there!” Ramona could see genuine concern in Garrick’s eyes as a flying android/robot creature came out of nowhere with four arms, each holding a handgun of some kind. It was screaming about what target should it engage while it was using built in thrusters to remain airborne above everyone!
“Ramona!” Garrick set them down halfway to the door, “If you have ever cared for me then take this guy and go! There’s a man with a gun! I have to go back and get others before they’re hurt!”
Just then he turned and ran back into the heart of chaos and danger without the slightest concern for his safety. For a moment she paused, and considered a revelation she was having as she witnessed his actions. Then she turned to the guy next to her and grabbed his arm, “Let’s go! We need to go.” With that new found realization about Garrick Faulkner was she headed for the door with her charge in tow as the flying android/robot began to fire back in the direction Garrick was running to try and save people.
Professor Nicholas turns back to the blue haired woman approaching him in Everette College sweats to hide her outfit underneath, “Yes, Katherine?” He’d just taken off his long coat and put it in his trunk and was buttoning his blazer over the vest he wore as Zeau.
“Please don’t hold it against Garrick. He was with Jake, and we both know he’s crazy enough to steal a starfighter.”
“Well, there’s two positives I can deduce from this. A) You should be happy to know that when he thought “you” might be in danger he came for you, just done smarter. B) We can both take solace that he referred to “us” when he mentioned Jake and Granny2Good. Therefore he likely came with the rest of the team, and learned from running off on his own, he can be taught.”
They both chuckle at the last part and mention they’ll catch up again soon enough. Katherine heads to her Smart Fortwo car while Nicholas heads back to the get some work before heading home. “He came for me!” She kept saying all the way back to home. She realized as she was pulling into the fenced yard that she just called Garrick’s place home! It had only been two days but it had felt like an eternity since she left him on Friday.
Swiping her badge, the familiar click of the unlocked door, and she pulls the door open to head inside. Her eyes adjust quickly as she bounds across the ground floor avoiding the numerous workout machines surrounding the training mat. There he is, her boyfrien…
…why is that half-dressed bitch kissing her man? They make eye contact and her anger is mounting visibly on her face. “Garrick, thanks it was a wonderful time…,” the half dressed woman walks away seemingly unconcerned about her potential nudity! Katherine’s eyes dart back and forth between Garrick and the slut whom is about to die.
Pointing at the woman walking away Garrick exclaims, “That’s a man!”
Black Phantom in the process of taking off some of his gear begins to laugh, “Yeah, that’s so much better!”
Just then the woman in the torn clothing is nearing the bathroom as her hair changes color, she bulks up to 6′ 7″ and grows and extra set of arms! A second or two later Katherine is staring at the Beast. Her angry expression melts away to confusion as Garrick points again, “See! I told you its a dude!” Black Phantom smirks as he heads over to Jake and they talk about some of the items picked off the deceased. Garrick can’t stop starring at Katherine’s new blue hair. In his mind he is wondering how hair color makes her look even more amazing.
Garrick remembers the usb stick and he inserts it into the table and grabs one of the tablets plus four of the eight monitors on the data pole at the table’s center. Aside from the documents dictating a disturbingly clear plan to mind control students through these psychology experiments. Katherine hugs Garrick when she sees that! Covenant and he explain the cops have all of it because these the are copies of the laptop files Garrick made from his house. What they found next was shared with everyone! It would appear there’s a figure of apparently unknown repute to our heroes. This individual is selling powers to people that can pay his price! Apparently, Dr. Crosby acquired his power of mind control from the individual only known as “The Dealer” to their clients. Katherine then leaned over his shoulder to read along as her blue ponytail fell down into his peripheral view. Everyone got the hint when the next sentence Garrick blurted out was…
“…I REALLY like blue!”
Garrick’s face turned eight shades of crimson, a fact Katherine did not miss and she whispered, “Boy, you sure are hot mister G.” Ad-libbing a line from a cartoon character she had seen once, many years ago. Bounding off upstairs leaving an even redder face Garrick to awkwardly bid everyone a wonderful day but he had some “research” to work on. The Shorties had already disappeared into the basement and the online world of Gizergleam and Worlds Online. After Garrick saw the last guest off he walked into exercise mat and floated up towards the second floor catwalk balcony. He found Katherine sitting on his bed and he asked if she was okay?
“I’m sorry I worried you, your thoughts though weren’t hard to read. I was worried my actions brought me back to the attention of the organization I’ve been on the run from, so I left to find out what happened to me and make sure nothing bad happened to my Garr-Bear.” Katherine shakes her head for a second, looking into Garrick’s mind she’s caught off guard by some of his more lewd thoughts as to why he thinks he likes the blue hair so much. She waits for a few seconds he apologizes being distracted by the fact somehow she got even prettier!
Katherine told him she got Zeau involved because as a teacher he’d be able to help her on campus. “Garr-Bear, please don’t be jealous though! There’s no room in my life for another man, so please don’t think that I would be cheating on you!”
Katherine saw the amorous look drain off his face and one of concern replaced it. When he called her ‘Baby’ though, there was a quiet confidence he’d not displayed before. “Look, you’re my first girlfriend at 27 years of age. However, as a scientist, I tried to study any relationship I could identify in hopes of making me a better husband one day.”
When Garrick said ‘husband’ looking her in the eye she saw a silhouette of her in a gown in his mind. His face grew older in her perception of its features. The vision of her was gone replaced by what she could only describe as a modern scene of Sodom from the bible! Naked men surrounding Garrick and taunting him from the shadows with gestures ranging from wholesome to extremely lewd. He continued, “All my previous experience in relationships comes from watching inmates in relationships. I don’t feel the being gay is a factor actually. I saw monogamous couples, harem styles (though slavery might be a better term), poly pairings (3-way groups or “V’s”, quads or four people), straight up internal prison prostitution. What I took away from that was sex was not just for love.”
Katherine saw that act as the highest form of love between a couple. She felt so sad understanding how shattered Garrick’s heart must have become from his every loss he’s suffered. Maybe he’s forgotten how to love so he’s grabbed a bit from wherever he could find a morsel.
“It could be just a stress reliever for a bad day, it could be a commodity, and it could be done between friends and never lead to anything else.”
Couples used it to deepen their own commitment to each other, and he thought of it as a handshake option!? Only pimps and whores used it as currency! Oh my did she have her work cut out for her! Then there was the erotically charged poetry and harlequin romance novels he read in prison. Oh dear god what did he consider a “hall pass” to be? Katherine had envisioned him getting drunk for certain and sleeping in, but she was starting to see how different his frame of reference was.
He continued, “The simple trick was being completely honest about each of your expectations and checking in with your respective partner or partners to make sure everyone’s needs were being met.”
Did he just reduce an intimate relationship down to a therapy session with result updates? The concepts he’s proposing are good but can be applied to any relationship. He’s obviously never had a caring monogamous relationship since she was his first. If he’s an honest scientist then time with her should make him reassess his views! A plan began to form in her mind.
Onward he went with shocking revelation after the next, “Hypothetically, if you had wanted to have sex with Nick / Zeau I would have a few requirements:
We all meet and know each other a bit better.
Make sure he’s okay with the fact I would not be involved due to my hang-ups.
You’d let me know when you’re going and coming home, especially if it was overnight.
We spend some time afterwards just so we make sure our feelings as a couple don’t suffer and don’t get brushed under a rug.
That we both would study and work on “ethical non-monogamy” to make sure honesty, trust, compassion, and love are the cornerstones of our relationship. Which I feel is good advice for any type of couple or pairing.
If you chose to pursue that I would likely find another person in my spare time for a friends with benefits relationship, because no one could replace the feelings I have for you or ever take your place in my heart. You can bank on that.
She pulled him close and hugged him realizing that her anger was really placed on those that had violated him. It was becoming clear to her that since the torture and rape was in regards to his sword. He may not even know to be on the run from the people in Black Phantom’s vision regarding the Wayfarer. Garrick had said many times to her that he was broken and why would anyone want him. She can tell what he is thinking and therefore should be able to mend him better than anyone else. Certainly better than Patsy, the horrible-house maid, Palmer. She envisioned him as a Kintsukuroi project that had just begun!
They lay down just slept, wrapped up in each other.
9:00 PM
They woke up about 90 minutes prior and began to get dinner together and trying to talk about non-superhero related things. Garrick has one of the eight or so white boards (a couple were transparent) normally in the basement up in the kitchen and would jot down notes about a micro reactor while he was cooking up food for them both. She felt things were starting to get back to normal, so she felt if she read his mind while asking him a question she’d see his thought process at work as he answered. She expressed the hope that Garrick’s hall pass the other night to have a fun night out with the group without her went better than her night did.
Garrick was honest about about how much he had fallen for her even farther than before. That she trusted him with no restrictions for an evening and then come back to her! Katherine now understood what he considered a “hall pass” for certain. When he talked about getting drugged she was watching most of his thoughts were on a man named Thad, but when he added the parts about the group telling him their experiences her thoughts went to the bar staff. It was the only common factor in all the drinks.
Then she learned about his conversation with Stefania as she watched and he charmed her even though he mentioned he had a girlfriend! Apparently when Garrick mentioned he had not had the exclusivity of their relationship stated she pressed on getting to know him. This girl reminded Katherine of a younger, hotter version of Patsy! Then she hears the gunshots as Garrick remembers it. She sees Garrick launch into armored Gryphon and begins saving Stefania and her friends. She can see everything skewed and knows he is in fact high based on the memory images that come as he goes through each detail he is straining to get right.
Then she finds herself trying to not show the body movements as Garrick describes the feeling of being touched. As Katherine sees the colors and trembling reminders in his mind he’s got to be a hero and not screw anyone! He didn’t want to violate his prior promise of insulting Katherine regardless of the “hall pass” gift. Oh my god! He considers the hall pass and ability to fornicate outside the relationship an item that can be a gift? She had never intended for him to get a coupon to a whorehouse! Once at Stefania’s house she gets the full run down as Garrick struggles to remember the details. However, to Katherine it was like reliving a nightmare because it was becoming painfully clear he did not associate sex with love in the slightest! He wasn’t even jealous of Zeau because she could still pick up thoughts he never felt he was good enough for anyone! That’s why he just assumed anyone interested in him would always seek a second partner or more to become satisfied!
What did she have to do to show him he was enough for her? After dinner she said she needed to sleep and she went into the other room on the second floor and shut the door. She just didn’t know how to tell him how painful everything he had said was. Katherine was worried because she couldn’t sense or see any falsehood about what he discussed. His tact though and his delivery was almost to factual. She was worried he might hold back in the future if he knew how hurt she was. That her efforts to please him physically were not associated with how she loved him.
Love. It was the first time she had really said it regarding him. Did those college girls think it was fun to take advantage of him? Did they even think of it as consent or not consent? Given his time in prison did Garrick think this was the way it worked or did he even feel taken advantage of? His father was gone most of the time and if he didn’t follow Cuthbert around by founding Dalus Dome. He’d have to endure countless attempts by his sister, Adeline, trying to kill him. Reading his mind he had tried to set boundaries to make sure he didn’t do anything wrong, however, his boundary was the moment something went inside another person regardless of location. Anything else up to that point was considered fair game! She began to loop her thoughts in a raging cyclone, crying and eventually just screaming until hoarse. It was midnight when she fell asleep.
Monday – 12th of February, 2024
Morning, she open her door and walked into a streamer of 3M clear tape. Thinking about which Shorty was about to die! She untangle herself and walked into a folding chair and square matching table. There was a number of plates with covers on them and a folded card. Hand written on the card was: 8:53 AM – Eat or refrigerate by 12 AM. Your Boyfriend <3. She saw that everything was food she told him she like during breakfast. She saw the bedazzled cased Pearphone X she’d given Jake to fix was on the table! Looking back at the tape a folded paper was on its end with a double sided note.
“Kitty Kat,
It’s hard for me not to be self deprecating if I feel I screwed up. I cook, however, the burrito place says hi and that’s where the flan came from. They told me you get it on your cheat day. I went out on patrol last night. I also wanted some time to think, and I feel I owe you an apology.
At first I thought the “hall pass” was your faith in me to do whatever and then come home to you! I was elated beyond words! It is the reason I let things go as far with the girls because not long after being there. My sword had purged me of the drug in my system. I (this was my mistake) assumed you read my mind all the time because of your ex-husband. I’ve been wondering for some time how heroes that lie about their identity maintain a relationship? Maybe being polyamorous was a path to making that work.
Full disclosure, I often don’t think I’m enough to make such an amazing woman happy. After all if you take the sword away I’m just a nerd. My father and Jake are the real geniuses. As my sister would say I’m just a poser. A perfect example of this was not having any clue you were in to me. I was fine just being friends with you. You were as amazing to me as you are beautiful so I was not surprised when I screwed up sharing to much. Not including Patsy my only social experience after prison was work. The two owners of Mallic are brother and sister, with the Sister seemingly interested in me. I have not gone after that for three reasons A) we work together B) my superhero side job has made her brother ask me to pick her or it C) the most recent reason is I have strong feelings for you.
Before my mistakes that landed me in prison I designed and built structures to end homelessness and work on other worlds! Now I suffer from impostor syndrome. I push myself at work and hero stuff because I feel like a fake. I’m no knight, there’s no damsel to save that won’t see me as a broken failure in the light of dawn. Look, you scare me because without your instruction I wouldn’t really understand “practical knowledge reference” for how to please any woman. Watching porn is like reading books, it only goes so far. Every day I am waiting for the other shoe to fall. You’ll read my mind see something about me so broken fixing it would be a waste of your time and you’ll move on. Three times now I have been trying to work up the courage to say something to you and failed. Failed myself and failed the affections you’ve placed on me.
When I saw the black outfit, I thought you had given me the “hall pass” to distract me, for a second time. The first time you lied to me when you and Patsy had your confrontation. I was mad at being lied to for what I thought, at the time, was the second instance. Ethel pulled me out of my prison defense thought process. She made me think, why was being lied to hurtful? If Jake’s bomb, big enough to be larger than WINSLOW, and Ethel nearly setting it off because she had forgotten patience and innocent lives matter more than ours. I would’ve found a dark corner and probably given Adeline what she’s been wanting since my mother died.
I still don’t understand why you like me but Ethel’s lesson has got me trying out the real side of my appearance more. I fear that trying to make use of the “Hall Pass” was what I feared, a test. I should have never gone that night but again my social cues are so fucked I let you down.
I know I don’t deserve forgiveness, but for what little it’s worth I am truly sorry if I hurt you in any way.
Lo..
…sorry I was dreaming again.
With a heavy, trembling heart, apologies,
Garrick”
Her first class wasn’t until noon today as a senior in high school. She ate the amazing meal and noticed a text appear on her phone. Apparently, Garrick had to work late on a special project his boss was flying out to California for. There were a bunch of pre-made meals he always did for the Shorties and now her in the refrigerator. Between that and his Tuesday visit to the Giving Tree, Garrick didn’t think he was going to see her much until Wednesday morning.
When she went into Garrick’s bedroom to take a shower half of Garrick’s stuff was placed or folded neatly on his bed. A note on the empty side read: Making room for the most important woman in my life. -Garr Bear. Katherine was still out on how she felt so she got ready and headed off for her classes. She stopped at the burrito shop and picked up a Horchata rice drink. While she was in there she saw an incredibly handsome man sitting there talking with another person and both were wearing Mallic Robotics embroidered polos.
“Sam, I know you must have seen that fucking fraud in his superhero outfit.”
“Blake, you may not like Gary but language, please,” gestures at Katherine, “I have daughters myself, please.”
“I’m sorry, Sam, but come on you’ve had to seen what Maverick he is, tell me and a single call to the cops and he is gone! No way he’s a legal hero.”
“Blake, is that why you took me to lunch?”
“Look he’s ugly and to smart for his own good, he’s an ex-felon! Once a felon always a felon.”
“Blake you could say once a butt, always a butt,” Katherine giggled at Sam’s rebuttal.
“Ha ha, so really whom is he?”
“Blake are you daft? Gary is the reason I have my job and your director says he fought for you in the lead marketing job. You hated him then and he put his ego aside knowing your talents at your job were better than Pavek the Romanian kid.”
“Sam, I’m just looking out for the company! I saw the interview his sister gave replay on YouTube..”
“..Blake, it was ten years ago and his father died, he was not the only one to loose everything when Daedalus went offline! His project could have replaced it one day!”
Katherine was not fond of Blake at this point.
“Sam, have you seen him in his stolen hero gear or not?”
“Only what you have seen, Blake.”
“No way, I can’t prove it but I don’t believe you, Sam!”
“Blake what the heck is the bug up your butt about Gary? He’d give you the shirt off his back! I’ve known him for two years and no one works harder, cares more, or gives more of himself than Gary.”
“Novia, dumped me the day he showed up at work all changed!”
“Blake, Novia, told me she caught you banging a stripper!”
“Who cares, I’m hot and it was just a stripper!” Katherine just got up to grab her drink when she heard Blake expound that. “Sam, you can only love a troll like Gary the way you love a smart puppy.”
“First, that stripper was someone’s daughter. Second, you’re pissed because Novia, whom couldn’t walk without help. Had been given that ability because the ‘troll’ whom has a bigger heart than Shrek, built her a new leg she has proof of you complimenting on style and beauty. That was done by Gary, so yes she is inclined to have fond caring for him, she dumped you for cheating. Third, Gary’s into some other girl not Novia.” Blake looks perplexed and Katherine begins to take her time picking out a straw and a napkin. “I’ve seen the Arabic girl move out and a blond girl, a hot blond girl I might add, move in. There’s no reason to hate him. You’re being ridiculous because you won’t accept Novia left you for being a butt!”
“You’re drinking the Gary Kool-Aid, Sam, wake up he’s a fraud.”
“You’re an idiot Blake, he gives charity once a week! He works harder than everyone at that office.”
“Charitable people are to stupid to make the world work for them. Nobody cares about their neighbor anymore, they care about how to make themselves better off than everyone else around them. It’s how humans judge their self worth – oh my life doesn’t suck as bad as that guy!”
Sam looks at his phone, “ahh crap, that’s Constance, Brandon gave Gary another monster assignment he’s trying to get done in a day!”
“Aww, who cares how wrecked that mule gets! I’m the one that makes that hack look good. Marketing is everything, spin is king! Coders are a dime a dozen.”
Sam shook his head and walked out Katherine followed behind him among other patrons leaving. He makes a call as he gets out to his car, and Katherine starts to head out but maintains line of sight. A few seconds later she skims his thoughts to find out the call is to Brandon about the lunch meeting with Blake. The large project is actually just getting his week assignments in early so he can take Valentines Day off. Brandon just made it seem like he needs everything by close of business on Tuesday for a trip to California. Brandon hopes Constance finding out he’s in a real relationship will make her stop fawning over him. Sam mentions the hate and Blake being dumped by Novia. Brandon sees it as simple jealousy but the legal concerns of employing a super and having that super retaliate against a normal person is a legal nightmare. Sam asked how can Gary put up with it and is told Gary said it really wasn’t anything new for him. If they let Blake go it will have to be completely devoid of any connection to Gary. The call ends and Sam gets in his car and heads back. Blake walks out and Katherine snaps a photo of him and leaves.
Garrick has never told her what he goes through at work, and she realizes he’s never talked about his job at all. He is trying to plan something for Valentines Day and not lie to her, hmmm. She made it to school when she realized how much about his day he never shared with anyone! Her anger was starting to ease up because he appeared to be trying to get his life situated around her and not other women now. School went as most days do, Shorty nodded at her in the hallway, she’d flip him off but wink, and then she’d avoid everyone as much as possible. When she got home all of her laundry was ironed, folded, and put away in the various spots of his room he had made space for. There was a new Optimus Prime figurine in the bathroom holding her tooth brush on the sink. Notes were taped to the fridge about food for Shorties and food for Kat. She broke down and sent him a text asking if he needed anything because it looked like a late night for him. His reply made he choke back some tears.
Nope. Well, if you can some how teleport in here so the door access can’t tell, then become invisible so the cameras don’t see you, and snuggle the crap out of me while code compiles. Well, now my heart feels warm so thanks for being so quick! #Kissyface.
Tuesday – 13th of February, 2024: 4:30 AM
Garrick’s room was dark broken only by the neon blue glow of various electronic buttons. A preprogrammed text has left a message on Garrick’s phone that it was sent and delivered at 12:02 AM. Kat didn’t know why she woke up, but her eyes had adjusted well to the very dim conditions. When she tried to move her head something was snagging her hair prohibiting her. Turning to find out what, she realized Garrick had taken a handful of her hair and pulled it to his nose, then fell asleep. Nothing of the rest of him was close enough to touch her. Slowly freeing her hair she sat up and looked at him. He was in boxer briefs and his normal form. Now when she saw the scars on his back she knew exactly how they got there. On his back was the disfigured skin from the glowing hot threaded rod drug across his back. There wasn’t an arm or leg free from scars and when she touched one there was a flash of mental images of her grabbing Garrick and pulling him out of a nightmare on to a beach for dinner!
She could see his chest heaving as he rolled on his back and his arms went to his sides fingers pressing in so hard in clenched fists they were white and noticeable in the dark room. She reached out and read his thoughts and got and image of a shadowy ten year old girl speaking to a handcuff Garrick:
Don’t wake Katherine, you already hurt her.
Don’t wake Katherine, you don’t deserve her.
Don’t wake Katherine, you don’t deserve anyone.
Don’t wake Katherine, no one loves you.
Failure, Murderer, Fraud, Brother.
She snapped out of his mind as he sat up lightning quick cold sweat bleeding out of him. She found cover behind the bed canopy supports against the wall. He touched where she had been laying, “Oh thank god that was part of the dream. She must be in her room, it was so vivid though. I could smell her.” He sighed and walked over to his large table tapping the screen and letting it log him with a face scan, “I have not dreamed of Adeline in a long time, I am scared of her finding out about me but I know becoming sponsored is the right thing to do.” He stripped naked and walked to the shower turning it on and getting in. “How do you ask her if she wants to be exclusive and not sound dumb? It is bad enough you got the “Hall Pass” test wrong. Your boss knows your in a relationship and he knows whom to slip that to in hopes that anyone at work will cool their jets. Tonight, let Ramona know that he can be friends but that’s it. Already let the only fans I have from the bar know it’s exclusive. Now I just need to hear her say it to confirm my adjusted hypothesis is correct.”
Katherine left the room and got dressed in yoga pants and a shirt. As the automated coffee finished, so did the shower. Garrick came out dress in tan slacks and one of his company polos, “Good morning, your up early and a wonderful sight. Oh I can wait if you haven’t had coffee yet?” Katherine realized at that moment how often he put on a happy face for everyone. She left a stern face on but smiled briefly trying to not act like she had gained a bunch of insight into him, “To be fair, I did not completely communicate what I thought a “Hall Pass” should be.” She holds up her hand as she pours him a cup of coffee, “I need to make sure I am clearer with you, we promised each other that. Don’t answer yet, take 24 hours as I hear you tell people on occasion. If you want to be with me I want you exclusively to myself. I’m not interested in other guys or girls, and I don’t want you having dates and wild nights with other women. Okay I’ve said my piece.”
Garrick nods, “For the next 24 hrs I am asking that you not read my mind so I can plan a surprise for you. I don’t want to lie about it, even for a surprise. I’m just asking that Tuesday night you also sleep in your room. I should be home by 11:30 PM from the Giving Tree and I will begin then. Thanks for the cup I have to go in now, large project.” Katherine walked over and tenderly brushed her fingers on his cheek before she walked away with her cup. Anything longer and she’d have lost the composure she was trying to put forth. She waited for him to head downstairs before coming out once more.
He stopped in the basement and found one Shorty getting ready to login to Gizergleam, Worlds Online. He made sure to get the other two up and told them he had a surprise tomorrow for Katherine. Good or bad on the outcome he needed some privacy. He gave each Shorty $25 to cover whatever they needed but they couldn’t go upstairs. Not until after 12 Noon Wednesday from 11 PM Tuesday night. They all agreed and one of them got ready for school.
11:30 PM
Garrick came home after the Giving Tree and letting Ramona know they were just friends. After this week he’d work on going to visit this church and likely bring Kat along. What he didn’t mention was that he wanted to be certain it wasn’t a cult after the psychology department fiasco. When he checked on the Shorties they have soda, water, and three pizzas with two ice chests! He nodded his approval at their prep and got thumbs up and they’re busy! Smiling he went up to the second floor he could hear music coming from the second bedroom. He set up his easel and the board and got his water color paints out to try and make a picture with her blue hair.
He used the card he made her as a guide and repainted her portrait. This time it had her changed hair color to blue. Now he had to replicate it by the morning, so he got to work. Optimus would warn him if she tried to open the door so he could cover the gift. The trick he ran into was waiting in drying from adjacent sections and moving on to others. He combined heavier white ink to get soft colors but thicker paint when needed on the face. Soon he was in a simple t-shirt that it, his hands, and his arms were covered in paint from using his fingers to force semi-dry paint to behave how he wanted it to work.
He listened to German Folk Metal from “Call Of The Deep” (his favorite band) all night on a Pearpod-Mini he kept for just this purpose. He’d found three tracks that when played on loop he could work for hours making art. His bluetooth, bone-induction headphones wrapped around his head but kept his ears free in case someone needed to talk with him. With sounds traveling through his bones and every shade of blue he owned his brush continued to glide across the taped down, heavy, watercolor paper. Soon the a sea of azure became the backdrop to his first attempt at speed painting!
He had recorded his efforts and mentioned on the video this was the last time he’d be painting this model. He mentioned to his teacher he had found two other students willing to be his models for further work. He was unsure of whether they could be compensated with credits toward electives if he chose to pay them for their time. He covered everything that he thought might give away something about him or Katherine in drop cloths. He uploaded all his work on the watercolor and heavy ink mix medium to the class online folders assigned to him. He replied that he would be happy to make a public showing once he had a few more pieces of his new models.
Wednesday – 14th of February, 2024: 5:46 AM
Katherine wakes and checks her phone and there’s a text from Garrick only an hour ago: “I’m done, hope you like it – G.” She gets dressed in workout clothing because Nathaniel should be there at 6 AM and may already be there downstairs. When she opens the door of the second bedroom she sees the huge blue painting taped to the very dense plastic slab. A clipped note talks about how hot she looks (which he did not believe could be more amazing) with blue hair even if its just a blue streak. As she looked down at the bottom left corner there was a folded red card with wax paper to drape over it. She realized it was to prevent the card from being damaged while the larger picture dried.
She picked it up and removed the wax paper and read it.
The door to his/their room is open and Garrick is passed out in his normal form and dried paint stains cover his hands and arms. She can see he stayed up all night to get the painting right. He’s still wearing pants and shoes and his legs are draped off the bed as though he had intended to untie them. Shutting their door behind her she crawls on the bed and tries to wake him. When he finally opens his eyes he smiles, “I’m sorry ma’am but I’m in a relationship now and my love has made it clear sharing is not permitted you’ll have to leave.”
Kat arches an eyebrow, “Is that so? Well I don’t see her around it could be our little secret!”
“Nope, I love her and this was her request of me if I wanted to be with her,” he yawned and Kat realized he may not be fully awake.
“What’s her name then?”
“Katherine Davis and if god let’s me win the lottery then one day several years from now it’ll be Katherine Faulkner. Shhh don’t tell her that dream I have yet. She hates it when I over share,” he giggled slightly as he finished his statement and his eyes rolled back in his head.
Lightly patting him on his cheek she asked, “Did you have a request of her to be with you?”
Yawning again, “No, she’s still terrified I might leave her for some pretty girl. I’m not sure she has realized how amazing she is. Besides I still don’t think I am worthy of her trust yet so I would ask nothing.”
“What would your request have been if you had one?”
“I love painting the human body and painting it in various locations. Just let me paint and I promise never to share anymore paintings of her so the bad people don’t find her.”
“How many have you shared?”
“Four, three head shots and one of her falling off a building as a perspective piece. She sent me a photo, it was so hot!”
“Where did you share it?”
“School, art class with only my teacher. I want her safe so I found other models that I can afford. My teacher thinks I am getting good enough for a showing. If I’m over sharing I am sorry.”
Katherine looked at his work and had to agree he was indeed getting good, “So you’d be painting nudes then?”
“Only with a clear demarcation line between the male or female model and I. Then an assistant that would be the one to help the model or get stuff for me as well. This way I can assure her of no contact! Otherwise the models would be dressed because head shots don’t require nudity. Sometimes I’m smart unless Jake is around then I’m just the less dumb kid in the room.”
“I’ll think about it but your plan is good.”
Garrick falls asleep and Katherine can read his thoughts realzing he had been speaking in a form of waking dream. She kisses him strong and hard, within a few seconds he wraps his arms around her, “Good morning Kitty Kat I have been waiting on this for days, I love you!”
“I love you too.”
“There’s a lovely beach front Italian restaurant in Garden Valley I’d love to take you to. Now don’t worry I have reservations, its called “Giardino dei Sogni” or Dream Garden. We have a table on the beach because I wanted our first official date to be special.”
Whatever she felt about the conversation with his sub-conscious or waking dream state. Everything he was saying now was music to her ears. Her trembling heart eased a bit as she kissed him over and over again.
Art by: AZ_Artisan
Come watch the next game for our super friends on HippoTV!
Flying home as fast as possible due to the text messages Ameera sent him. Still unsure how her contact info got into his phone and why he already had a group contact for Norwood Knights. Somehow, he thought this might have something to do with Jake being left alone drunk and messing around with Optimus. Gryphon continues at top speed and pauses when he sees his home is not in flames. Going in through the top door on the roof he walks past Richard and Nathan eating some of the left over Wagyu beef. Dismissing his armor not but leaving his hero form, it doesn’t take Garrick long to realize Richard is still high on same drug used on him.
He is stopped by Nathan long enough to learn these two showed up about half past midnight. Nathan continues to inform Garrick that about half past 1 AM Carl the ‘Chauffeur’, Granny2Good, and Covenant arrived. Katherine showed up between 2:30 AM and 2:45 AM. After which Katherine immediately went into Garrick’s room while the other three are in the basement room sleeping on beds not occupied by Shorties. Garrick nods and when questioned about the drugs tells him his suspicions about Thad, but that he and one of the ladies he was with can’t confirm anything. Nathan nods mentioning that he’ll look into it as Garrick heads into his room.
Finding her in the bed she looks asleep to him. He sits on the edge of the bed and just strokes her hair SUPER thrilled she’s okay. He leans down and kisses Katherine on the cheek whispering in her ear, “I’m sorry if this feels slow of me but I am so happy you’re home and not hurt. The group needs me but I ‘love’ knowing I will see you again. Sweet dreams Kitty Kat and I adore you.” As he’s stroking her hair he finds a small fleck of glass. She’s dressed in all black, and while that is pretty normal for her. He remembered that she wasn’t wearing gloves before but it is February. She also had a different shirt with some neo-goth band on it. Thinking she had to change it for some reason he decides to ask her about it later that morning.
Walking out he can see Ethel and Alice sitting at the kitchen island. “Well, I can see you didn’t burn the place down so what’s up?”
“Gryphon!”
The two ladies were still into the breakfast they had made. As Garrick followed the Richard’s voice down to the ground floor where he mentioned the group had been hit pretty bad and he had an injection dart gun holding a bowl with some vials sized for the gun in it. When he offered Jake’s morning after remedy Garrick told him his body took care of this naturally. It seemed in this state Richard did not remember Garrick is normally 5’8″ and since he was standing 6’6″ tall he was transformed. He had just taken off his magically produced costume and wearing clothing sized for this form. What few seemed to realize is that he had been staying in this form nearly 85% to 90% of the time.
Heading back up he nods at Granny2Good and waves at Alice. Granny mentions, “I don’t know what’s gotten into Richard, he’s very weird today.”
“Umm, mmm, yeah if he was hit with what I was hit with yesterday then he’s reacting very different than how I reacted but I suppose everybody has a different reaction.”
“Okay, whatever, he should have already taken the ‘cure all’ from Jake and he should be fine now. He’s just acting weird now.”
“Hmm, well that’s okay I have pants to go put on,” realizing he just talked himself into a ‘weird’ verbal corner as he was still wearing pants. Granny smiles as Garrick just leaves to change out of his suit into his super hero attire that was reminiscent of an 18th century German aristocrat. As he leaves he can hear Ethel trying to get to know this particular personality of Beast better. “So, Alice, do you really like sushi? I just, I don’t understand that.” While Garrick only picked up snippets changing but it appears the ‘Alice’ personality like steak over sushi and is a professional cosplayer. Before walking out he leaves a set of clean clothes folded on the bed next to Katherine with a note, ‘For an amazing adorable woman, -G’ and just to ease his mind he checks her vitals before heads out to everyone else. The Geist calls out that we need to go from the ground floor.
As they go downstairs Granny2Good tells Gryphon she has worked out a dinner date with Miss Amazing for the new outfit fitting. The Gryphon is excited to hear about a ‘Girl’s Night’ for them. Granny2Good asks with a grin that made Gryphon remember why the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland was a bit menacing, “So, did you have a nice night out?” Replying it might have been one of the best nights of his life to date seemed to make her happy to know. As they make it to the table Garrick and the talk of outfits moves around in his head it occurs to him that Katherine’s change in attire would be perfect for covert ops or breaking and entering missions. Was this the reason he was given a ‘Hall Pass’ last night? So he wouldn’t question anything? Finding a seat at the table he now looks annoyed, because if she has done what he has feared she might have done then she’s lied to him for the second time.
In his head Garrick remembered his nickname from Gramercy, Professor Gack. He decided if Katherine has been lying to him all this time he would just let her go and begin dating whom he wished. This group of misfits seemed to have a near impossible time working together because they want help but not recognition and legitimacy. Garrick in his heart wanted to be known as a good person again and someone whom would help people. He wanted to honor his father’s memory as a hero, rather than an expendable, exploitable, naive do-gooder dead in a ditch when no longer useful. However, because they were his team he had chosen to be with then he will NEVER betray them. So if someone hurt his teammate they had better learn to run, add on if someone hurt his girlfriend then someone is going to die!
While the Geist is pulling up everything he wants to talk about Gryphon calls Zeau, “Hey how was last night?” The groggy voice of the professor turned super hero is very evident between his mutterings of ‘Hello’ and ‘…oh man I fell asleep at my desk’ and ‘…I knocked over my papers’ while trying to talk. Gryphon asked about his stopping by her class and he said, “Umm no. I stopped in around 8pm with Starbucks and she was there.” Gryphon informed him about the mission coming up but made it clear he wasn’t required to show up. He had just wanted to keep him in the loop. Granny2Good seemed shocked that Richard was still behaving odd while Zeau seemed nice to Gryphon on the phone. Gryphon just shrugged at that thought as Zeau cautioned everyone to be careful and not end up like Cavalry. Gryphon assured him Richard was working on this issue and looked toward the Geist. He was still working on the monitors to pull up everything.
Bidding Zeau a good day he turns back to the Geist realizing he was having a hard time, while Covenant looked hung over and somehow that was an improvement to everyone else! Pulling 3 monitors out on swing arms from the mounting pole so everyone could see the map of the warehouse from Fat Lucca’s paperwork he and Nathan had found. So this boiled down to a team of Gryphon, Granny2Good, Alice, Geist whom was forced to babysit Covenant so the team could make sure he didn’t become worse.
The warehouse on the monitors was located in the Zericho at 513 Zauber Rd. It appeared to be a standard trucking warehouse with six bays, front and rear entrances. Unfortunately, the note about the address and time was all they had to go on, and everyone present agreed they still had to do this. Black Phantom spoke up at this point about checking on whom had been tracking us to spike our drinks at the Nine Lives Club. Granny2Good was convinced it was Fat Lucca, and she had co-incidental logic points to support her theory. However, all the viewpoints lacked one important item: physical evidence to back them up.
Black Phantom went on to mention the two deaths at the club last night, of a young female and male. When the Gryphon asked about it Granny2Good got him to move on when almost everyone looked at Covenant by saying, “I promise I’ll tell you later.” Gryphon realized that Covenant was clearly involved, however, according to everyone else he was on AMP. He’ll likely need help mentally if he remembers what he fears Granny will tell him later. It’s decided to take Gryphon’s Truck to the area and park a few buildings away.
Finding a quiet spot around 4 AM to park the truck in the shipping and warehouse portion of Zericho near our destination. There was some discussion about sneaking quietly with Alice’s power to silence things, and the young-looking mutant assassin confirmed it would be even quieter flying. When Gryphon was queried about flying drawing attention he said, “Look you’re wearing pink; I am dressed in blue, gold, and white; and the Geist is in a black hood. Even in the dark we stand the hell out.” Granny2Good was quiet for a few having to acknowledge the facts of the situation. She asked about carrying everyone and Gryphon mentioned carrying five girls home wasn’t an issue. Alice chimed in she was tiny in support of the idea. To be fair Gryphon looked at 4′ 11″ Granny2Good and 4′ 7″ Alice as though their concern about weight was hilarious.
The ladies took turns ribbing Gryphon about carrying five girls home. After some smirks the Gryphon put Alice on his back and put his arms around Granny2Good, Geist and Covenant. Gryphon felt bad because even when Covenant transformed after taking Jake’s ‘Morning After Remedy’ he still was suffering from constant migraine level headaches. As Gryphon lifted up he was only two feet above the roof tops and even slowed down if they saw a car to make passing over the few streets as subtle as possible. Gryphon also explained that should something happen and anyone fell they should be able to land without incident on the particular roof they were over. Weaving in and out between industrial water towers, A/C units, and other roof mounted structures they made their way around to approach 513 Zauber Rd. from the truck dock side.
Before he landed Gryphon paused ever so briefly to let everyone know, and hopefully see, the armored aircar on the roof of the warehouse. It was more of an armored or tactical airvan than aircar. Gryphon landed everyone behind some high stacked pallets. When they saw the docks with six, 53 ft. long trucks broken up into two groups of three. One group of docks was more recessed into the back of the building. That group of big rigs all had their motors running in idle, but no one in their cabs. Gryphon turns back to the Geist, “Well, with the armored aircar, and the running idle big rigs would suggest the info you found was legit.”
Chuckling the Geist whispers, “Well, looks like I’m good for something.”
Granny2Good began asking Covenant for advice about sneaking over because this was not her area of expertise. The groans coming out of the Covenant suggest that at this moment nothing was in his area of expertise. Not waiting on ceremony and dressed in dark colored outfit for her size that in the wide open night didn’t smell nearly as bad since the Shorties had forgotten to wash it. Alice quickly makes her way across the yard! Moving from shadow to shadow as though it was a super power of some kind she arrives at one of the idling big rigs. She climbs into the cab and breaks the key off in the ignition. Moving to each truck in the group of three she repeats the process. Alice found it odd she couldn’t hear any signs of commotion in the warehouse, no forklifts, nothing. Back at the pallets Gryphon spies the camera nestled in small half-domes on the building. He radioed Alice, “Be mindful of the birds in the sky watching you from the building.” Hoping that if someone did overhear his transmission he had been cryptic enough to not give away where she was. Alice crawled under the last big rig and peered in to the dock bay door which was not only up but the ramp that would normally allow a forklift access into the container was pulled back giving anyone ample room.
Inside was a group of people bound and on the ground in a group. She motioned for her teammates to join her because finally something of note had been discovered. Granny2Good ran over while Gryphon picked up Geist and Covenant flying over and setting them down against the warehouse’s wall. Alice noticed a clearly Asian woman she thought she had seen in news articles about supers. She was wearing a tactical katana strapped to her side walking toward the group on the ground. Granny2Good was gearing up to bull rush the katana wielding woman when Alice said she had a plan to get information. Gryphon nodded but agreed with Granny and made ready to strike. Alice just walked in openly and when the Asian women noticed her she asked, “Great Watashi outfit, awesome cosplay! Is this where the convention location today?” She was putting her convention and cosplay social skills to brilliant use!
The Asian woman she called Watashi raised her arm and spoke into a communication device embedded in her outfit’s sleeve. Alice continues walking toward her when a man steps out from a shadowed corner. Solid white hair, appears to be late fifties, an eye patch over one eye, very muscular. Dressed in military camouflage pants with a navy-blue shirt with a high-tech rifle slung over one shoulder and a tactical body harness with two automatic pistols towards either side. Alice recognized the group leader of the Requisitors. As Alice kept walking Colonel Lightning said in a gruff voice, “Ma’am, I’m gonna need you to step back.”
Cool as ice Alice just addressed them as a couples cosplay! If only Carl could get his groove back because clearly in this facet of his psyche he was able to be cool under pressure. Granny tried sneaking in but kept making noise on the smooth concrete with her heels and well then there’s the pink outfit that strikes a pose almost on its own. Gryphon never even tried to sneak and rose up into the air above the boxes and those figures were only vaguely familiar to him as agents of good. Hearing Granny2Good approach behind her, Alice, turns and yells, “SAME TEAM! SAME TEAM! We’re all good guys here, DON’T ATTACK!”
Col. Lightning steps forward, “Little miss, I’m going to need you to report yourself. Who are you and what team are you with?”
From above Gryphon says, “It’s kinda a work in progress.”
Granny2Good smirks, “Well, we may have one right now dear.”
Alice throws her hand slowly looking back at her team, “Aww, come on, I can’t think of anything! Ummm, Ummm, Mustang Sally!”
Granny2Good and Gryphon exchange looks! “That’s what you’re working with,” queries the flying hero?
Col. Lightning seems just as confused, “Look, I’m going to need to know if you’re good guys or bad guys as I have eyes in the sky.”
Replying Gryphon asks, “You mean the armored aircar on the roof?”
As he points up everyone, Gryphon especially notices a number of small and very silent flying drones! Out from behind Col. Lightning comes another individual from their team in a brown uniform as Granny2Good shows off her left sleeve trying to respond to the Good or Bad comment. Emblazoned upon that sleeve is her hero moniker ‘GRANNY 2 GOOD‘ in pink so bright it could be neon. Gryphon wisely kept his mouth shut regarding a neon orange bulb joke he’d heard yesterday. As the brown outfitted super heroine comes further into view the upper part of her face is covered up by very hi-tech goggles integrated into her suit. A large bushy tail appears to be attached to her outfit and Alice recognizes her as the Flying Squirrel!
Flying Squirrel was typing on a forearm mounted computer with a flexible, yet semi-rigid lcd screen that is open! Gryphon looks suitably impressed and thinks he just might be able to continue being a superhero if he finds a way to free Ashmadiel from its sword bound form. Apparently she was the one controlling the drones. Gryphon calls out, “I am the Gryphon of Norwood.”
Col. Lightning smiles, “OH! You’re the flying sword guy that harasses Starbucks employees.”
Happy to be wearing a visored helm Gryphon sighs mumbling, “No, that’s Jake.”
Col. Lightning calls out, “Alright everybody, STAND DOWN! Come on out.”
The team sees a mutant hybrid Wolf-Man wearing only pants come out from a side office! Following him was a very, very attractive African-American woman in a business suit. Then came the surprise as Nathan Fillion, the actor, came out last! Nathan began asking, “So does this happen often with other superhero group dropping in on you?”
Gryphon asks, “So were you here to stop Fat Lucca? Since we’re laying everything out on the table.”
Col. Lightning nods in the affirmative, “Yep, we got wind of the shipment and have been casing the joint for a few weeks.”
“We were in the Nine Lives Club last night and found some paperwork leading us here.”
Col. Lightning raises an eyebrow, “You weren’t part of the shootout, were you?”
Before anyone could respond Alice looses her cool and begins ‘Fangirling’ on Nathan Fillion! Going on and on about watching every episode of Firefly 15 times! Also every episode of Castle, except the last season because her opinion of that season was that it was sub-par. Ok ok, she said it sucked. Nathan just chuckles and says, “Why thank you miss.” Before they revisited the topic of the nightclub Col. Lightning seemed to be visually studying the Gryphon, “Good grief Gryphon I barely recognized you! Glad to see you made it out of the can!”
Gryphon was stunned to say the least that someone would not only know whom he really was but called out that fact with knowledge of his past to avoid using his actual name. That reminded him he would need to remind Geist to be more careful drunk dialing people on the team. “You actually know who I am under the,” waving at his outfit.
“Of course.”
“Uhhh. That’s a first.”
“Well, every girl you hook up with knows your name why can’t I?”
“That’s an awkward statement. Umm.”
“Aww come on, I know you get around,” looking back at his team, “This is the guy I’ve been telling you about. Mavis, watch out for this one,” he’s smiling and jovial about the issue while looking back at the very, very attractive African-American woman in the business suit. He reminds his team to stand down as the Gryphon removes his helm and lands allowing it to vanish in golden mist.
“So you look like you have this all wrapped up? Are we just late to the party?”
Col. Lightning mentioned they were about to wrap it up and call the cops, but they would be willing to hold off if we wanted to do an investigation. It was then he started paying more attention to Covenant sitting by a box with the Geist standing next to him. The gruff sigh predicated his next statement, “Is that your buddy over there?”
Gryphon nodded, “Somebody doped him up with AMP last night.”
“I’m gonna do you a courtesy, he might want to lay low for awhile.”
The Gryphon looks back at the Covenant making eye contact when he realizes he’s the focus of the conversation, “Do you even remember what happened to you last night?”
Shaking his head the Covenant replies, “Noooo, what happened?”
Asking Col. Lightning to fill them in he relates what he’s heard, “Reports are getting out from CSPD, they’ve got pictures and he’s wanted.” Further questioning of Covenant revealed he knew he was angry and he’s afraid he went to far. Gryphon realizing that he likely killed the man and woman from the club he was told about earlier made him want to stop Fat Lucca even more. The Colonel and Gryphon talked about what had been found and the Requisitors had only run across weapons being transported here. When asked they said they would be happy to wait a half hour before calling the cops. The group began to fan out while Nathan Fillion was really interested in a ‘super’ being as old as Granny2Good. Poor Granny did not wait around to answer any question related to her age and sped off to a far corner of the warehouse.
As the Gryphon heads for the warehouse offices the Requisitors begin taking people out for the police to have easy access to when they arrive. In the office he makes short work of bypassing the security on the PC at the main office desk. As he began to browse the files he noticed an electrical box on the wall much lower than the city code requirements for such a device junction. He couldn’t find anything about it in the file search, and when he looked on the inside it was not tapping into the power of the building. There was a single, large throw switch that appeared very old. He threw the switch causing the floor behind the desk to fall away.
Following the steps down into a hallway just big enough for two adults barely shoulder to shoulder. The destination was a store room with boxes that used inhalers to deliver the AMP drug rather than injector needles! Alice comes up behind him at this time and its decided to bring these up and hand it over to the Requisitors so they can turn it into the CSPD along with the guns as evidence to put these guys away for a long time. As they neared the end of the boxes one of them had a big 17-inch laptop on top of it. When Gryphon opened the lid and tried to bring up the log in screen a video began to play. It was Fat Lucca!
Looks like you found my stash, but if you really want to stop me…
…come to ‘Lucciano’s’ my restaurant in Javarta. I’ll be waiting. hahaha!
He chuckles but it looks like an afterthought as oppose to any genuine mirth. After getting everything upstairs Gryphon gathers everyone around and plays the message again. Nathan looked surprised at seeing crime and plot devices in real life. Col. Lightning mentioned that since Gryphon’s team had found something that the Requisitors had missed. They would be willing to let the Mavericks take Fat Lucca down while they handled the aftermath here and deal with the cops. Having dealt with AMP in the big take down almost a week ago the CSPD would have steps to handle the alien, chemical-laced drug. It would show that not all of the drug was in the hands of the authorities. On top of that they had figured out changing the delivery system from liquid injection to aerosol-based inhalant!
When the Gryphon mentioned he was willing to let them tell the cops about his hero name, and thrilled the group didn’t have a name just yet so no one else would be in trouble when the cops came looking for him. Col. Lightning told him they would take credit for it so they could avoid the issue altogether. Gryphon slid the AMP over and the Colonel mentioned they needed to get a beer. They exchanged contact info when Col. Lightning said, “I’ve been keeping my eye on you, making sure you’re on the straight and narrow ever since you got out.”
This appeared to surprise the Gryphon into remembering when Warden Harker said he had friends on the outside. He wondered if his father knew Colonel Lightning? See him puzzle over that statement the Colonel chuckled, “You’re good kid, you’re good.”
“He’s a very nice young boy and we’ll take care of him,” Granny2Good added.
“Thank you Ma’am.”
“It was very nice meeting you.”
Nathan Fillion made another attempt to try and get some information politely and Granny mentioned she was fond of his voice over work on the Venture Brothers as the ‘Brown Widow’ character. Alice retorted in somewhat mock disgust that was a comparison to his work as the ‘Captain Hammer’ character. Nathan smiled and mentioned he was preparing for another movie role and was the reason for his presence here. Gryphon mentioned that due to the need to stop Fat Lucca the interview would have to be cut short. Nathan brushed him off and tried to continue when Granny2Good just said a girl never tells her secrets and ran out trying to take Gryphon with her until she saw him going for Covenant. Alice pointed out widowhood gave her superpowers for some reason, curtsied, and ran out.
As they are leaving Nathan Fillion waved after her, “Have a good time! Hmmm, a senior citizen, is that normal to be a super hero?”
As the Gryphon is making sure the Geist has Covenant well in hand Alice pokes her head in and sees Mavis sharing many glances with Gryphon. The Gryphon is almost instinctively displaying southern gentlemanly charm. She begins to wonder if that is actually a superpower or Gryphon is just a manwhore? Once Geist is on his way out with Covenant, Gryphon floats a few feet off the ground and his armor vanishes in golden mist only to be re-summoned with the helm back on his head! He nods at Mavis tipping his gryphon shaped helm the way men did their fedora hats and bids her adieu with, “Ma’am.” Before he flies out into the dark early morning to join his super friends as he can hear from inside, “Call me.” Getting back to his truck there is only a minor scratch on the side of the door, and everyone piles in.
5:10 AM
The group passed by Lucciano’s once to try and get an idea of what they were dealing with. Granny2Good mentioned it looked popular with over 25 cars in the parking lot which made Gryphon blurt out, “It’s just after 5 AM what kind of Italian restaurant has a breakfast menu?” Granny nodded remembering it had hours of 11 AM to 11 PM typically. Gryphon remarked, “In an hour my favorite coffee shop would open up, not to far away.”
“Yep, so we just have to kick his ass in an hour and then we can get shawarma and coffee!”
Gryphon loved seeing no one doubted they could handle this in an hour, but questioned whether or not a shawarma place would be good or even open after 6 AM. Alice holds up the phone she had from her other personality, Carl, and mentions that while farther away the Bloody Flowers Shawarma is open 24/7 in Everett! Gryphon reasserts his plan and Granny agrees, especially after Geist assures her she would like it. Finding another nearby location to park a few buildings away the consensus is that this is a trap set to try and wipe us out. Granny and Gryphon seemed to be itching for a fight seeing that they both had speed to mitigate range and were some of the group’s heavy hitters.
The group lands at the front of Lucciano’s just past the packed parking lot. When the team turns to Geist for the plan he replies that he’d like to see what they come up with. Granny assumed and stated that means ‘no plan’ and goes up to the side entrance on the front and wrenches the door open so hard that the handle embeds in the wall and stays open! Followed by Gryphon and Alice directly, while the Geist brings Covenant along whom is slowly beginning to feel better but is still shaky on his legs and prone to dizzy spells.
Granny2Good shows that her powers have clearly affected her approach to danger as she calls out, “Hello? Is anyone home?” Alice drops her face into her hands as the Gryphon just shrugs considering this approach just as valid as any other. Alice speaks in Japanese about the stupidity of this approach and her panicked nickname of our group. Gryphon tries to make her better replying in Japanese thanks to his sword he had summoned to his hand that maybe just ‘The Mustangs’ would be a better choice. Following the adrenaline, ramped up, widow they all noticed the quiet silence as the only response to her declaration.
Eventually Granny2Good came upon a curtain separating a portion of the dining area. A weird smell was coming from behind the curtain, as she pulled it open she paused. The amount of blood and bodies made it seem as though Jackson Pollack and Pablo Picasso had painted the room together! Roughly 40 or so bodies littered this curtain encapsulated dining section of the Italian restaurant. Alice suggested we leave and call an anonymous tip into CSPD. Gryphon noticed a monitor and pedestals with name tags corresponding to their real identities! Trying to hide her growing concern Granny remarks, “I think we’ve been setup boys.” Gryphon flies over slowly to check it out, however, after crossing the curtain threshold the monitor begins playing a video. Fat Lucca shows up again but is visibly nervous towards something or someone off camera.
Greetings, so called heroes!
You have formed a group but you truly don’t really trust each other.
Some of you have possibly turned each other in, in the past.
Some of you have betrayed each other.
Hit the button that applies for you if you’ve betrayed your teammates.
And you will…
Gryphon lays his sword flat in both hands a presses every button at once, turning back to the others, “I’m done with secrets let’s find out whatever the hell he’s got.”
Congratulations! You have all turned each other in.
It seems no one can trust anyone.
Good news for you, when you entered the cops have been called.
Good luck, have fun!
If you survive this, meet me at Century Station Memorial Park.
At 8 AM, because lives are at stake.
“Gryphon,” Alice cries out, “fly back and get us out of here!”
The monitor begins to smoke itself in a self-destruct mode to everyones surprise. Gryphon removes the power cord to prevent an electrical fire and keeps it. He takes the name tags to protect everyone’s identities, and then flies back to help everyone get out as Granny2Good holds the door open since she is wearing gloves. On the way out of the blood bath area everyone talks about the fact Fat Lucca looks like he’s in a hostage video. Granny mentions to Gryphon as they leave she feels the cops are getting close. Once everyone is outside Gryphon gets Granny along with everyone else and flies quickly back to his truck. Poor Covenant just moans at being jerked around and closes his eyes during the short flight.
Back at the truck Granny can finally hear sirens in the distance. Gryphon points out his worry that perhaps the lives at stake are the people they ‘as a group’ care about because Fat Lucca and his “captor?” knew their real names. Freaking out Gryphon makes a group call on his phone, putting it on speaker. No answer from either Shorty #1 or Katherine. Black Phantom answers though and the Gryphon fills him in on Fat Lucca being a hostage to an unknown party that appears to be setting them up using everyone’s real name! Then Black Phantom drops the bombshell on Gryphon. Not only was the murder from the nightclub being reported on television, but there was a jewelry heist. A bunch of jewels were stolen and the value is a few million dollars worth! A number of eyebrows raised up at this point. Black Phantom went on to say that there were images from security cameras of one of the thieves having a lot of blond hair coming out from under their ski mask. Otherwise the attire was identical to what Miss Amazing was wearing when she came home around a quarter to three this morning! He continued to inform Gryphon when she saw that on the news she bolted and ran!
Asking Black Phantom to put him on speaker phone he tells Optimus to grant Nathan access to his room. He confirms his identity with a line from an old Transformers TV show. He tells him where the ski mask is that Jake gave him when they were all about to leave on that Liberty Bell dimensional field trip. He wants to know if there’s another ski mask in his room. Black Phantom quickly calls him back mentioning the ski mask, shirt, pants, and gloves. Granny2Good sitting in the front passenger seat can see that Gryphon is emotionally compromised as he follows the navigation program, quietly running in the background, to the park. At the Gryphon’s request he puts it all in a trash bag and treats it as evidence. Granny can see a disturbing calm come over Gryphon. What she can see simmering below the surface is anger.
Zeau joins the call briefly and everyone knows he made it home safely. Everyone explains to Black Phantom about the heads of seven color gangs dead in Lucciano’s which stuns him into asking if we did that. Gryphon clarifies that whomever took Fat Lucca did it. Black Phantom offers to check into the hit on our group or the shooting. Gryphon mentions that maybe check on the hit to our group from the angle of whom would know to use Fat Lucca to lure us in? Phantom adjusts his search parameters while Gryphon mentions meeting the Requisitors hero team from Veridian Dynamics. He laughs mentioning their commercial about helping you ‘most’ of the time.
As a precaution Gryphon asked Black Phantom to check and make sure that the Requisitors turned over the drugs and guns to the CSPD. In a few minutes Black Phantom mentions that there’s a record of an impending deposit to the evidence room regarding the guns and drugs. Relieved they had not just been duped by super villains pretending to be super heroes. Gryphon turns his attention back to Katherine and the Psychology 101 extra credit. For the record when someone is emotionally compromised they can hear perfectly normal statements and the only listen to what they are receptive to. Such was the case with Gryphon fearing all the evidence pointing to Miss Amazing being involved. He knew she had no qualms about lying to him when it appeared to suit her agenda. Such as investigating Patsy. She then had not come clean about it until Gryphon asked, even then she had hid details that might have prevented her being put in harm’s way. Was the hall pass to distract him? He had warned them that some kind of black ops thing might happen. He had survived hell for three years, his paranoia is what kept him alive.
As his mind was reaching survival mode and regressing to how to navigate prison scenarios. He was beginning to spiral out of control when rationally had already told her even he missed the signs regarding Patsy and the sword. What surprised him into checking his fear, and concerns was Granny2Good talking to him, “Honey, you know Katherine better than that.” They go back and forth about Kat, or Miss Amazing deserving Gryphon’s trust. Also, how he clearly needs to talk with her about the lie and how it clearly still hurts him. Granny is the one that calms Gryphon down as he drives and defends Miss Amazing as the victim. Because she to doesn’t want to live in the past, and believes Miss Amazing is not like her husband.
As he hangs up the group call and thanks Black Phantom for making sure his Shorties are safe, he sees an unheard voice mail. Listening to it on speaker phone, “Hey Care-Garr its me, Katherine. [LONG PAUSE] I don’t know what happened [LONG PAUSE] I need to go and lay low until I find out what happened. [LONG PAUSE] Keep doing what you’re doing I know it’s important. [LONG PAUSE] I’ll contact you when I can, bye.” Granny2Good smiled warmly, “See, anything she did she wasn’t herself.” Onward they continued to Ogilvie and the Century Station Memorial Park.
6:24 AM
Arriving at Century Station Memorial Park, he pulls the truck into its vehicle lot. The posted hours mention public access between 6 AM and 11 PM. A sub-district based monorail runs over one side of the park with train pods passing every 30 minutes. A small group of joggers ran into the middle archway of the park wall. Coming up the sidewalk was a sunrise yoga class heading in from the side arch providing easy access to the pond inside the park walls.
Gryphon asked Geist how he wanted to go about looking for a bomb. Catching Geist a bit off guard Gryphon pointed out that, A) if lives are at stake, B) in a public place, and C) you wanted to cause the most collateral damage. A bomb would be the method of delivery he would take. A conversation broke out about how to approach looking for a bomb. Gryphon gave Geist his truck keys and told him to keep Covenant in the truck and out of sight. If things went south the Geist was requested to incorporate our group as a sponsored team so we could get out of jail. That part of the plan surmised the CSPD would show up at some point. The Geist was honest that, yes, he would try but he was not sure if he could move that amount of money very fast.
Granny was going to take Alice and search from the ground because she had been to the park many times over her life. Alice had sound powers that would cover the sound her speed would make and any crushed bushes in her wake. Gryphon would check from the air and between their vantage points should be able to locate the bomb device. On they went with Granny2Good waiting at the steps to the great statue the park was known for as Gryphon flew overhead. He pointed out a crate to his teammates and they converged upon it. The familiar laptop was present and Gryphon pressed the space bar.
Hello, It’s Fat Lucca!
You’re here early, it’s not 8 o’clock.
What are you doing? The crate doesn’t unlock till 8 o’clock.
“Oh, yes it does!”
Well anyway, come back at 8 o’clock.
Granny tells Alice to get off her back, which was funny to watch Alice at 4 ft. 7 in. tall get off Granny2Good at 4 ft. 11 in. tall. Especially beside Gryphon at 6 ft. 6 in. tall. Granny attempts to grab the box which causes another video to play.
Any attempt to open the crate will result in death of everyone in the proximity.
Gryphon looks at her pausing, “Granny it’s a bomb.”
“And, get out of here!”
“No, we’re going to do this as a team. Alice go help Geist to get everyone out of the park.”
Alice asks before being shooed away by Granny’s reply, “What if we play by their rules? So far we haven’t had any issues.”
“Oh, many people dead is no issue at all!”
Over the communicator Alice asked, “Do we really want to risk opening it?”
This prompted a conversation between Gryphon and Granny about first grabbing the box and then Gryphon flying them both up and away from the city to save everyone from the blast. When Gryphon spotted how it was bolted to the statue he realized that plan wouldn’t work. Granny had gotten so seemingly frustrated she appeared to Gryphon as though she had stopped caring about the innocent lives around her. She wanted to be in charge of her own fate, and constantly not being in charge of your agency can make you do extreme things. Gryphon knew of fourteen dead people that could attest to him when he felt that way. Gryphon realized at that moment why Mavericks had been outlawed. Still, she was his teammate and he had to diffuse two bombs now.
The Geist calls in over the head confirming the bomb information Alice told him about. Gryphon explained the plan was to try and Cut the concrete just enough with his sword so Granny2Good can grab the box and the Gryphon fly both up and away from the city to save them from the blast. The Geist asked if that plan would allow us to learn whom was behind this and Fat Lucca’s kidnapping. Neither of them knew and the Geist wondered if they were willing to risk it. Gryphon was praying the Geist’s line of questioning would help talk Granny down. So far it seemed to be effective, and Gryphon said they would likely need the Requisitors’ assistance to keep the cops back because one of the joggers or sunrise yoga folks would throw this up on social media. While they weren’t able to get visual confirmation it was a bomb without tampering with it, all signs pointed to it being one.
Gryphon played the video over his phone for the Geist and pointed out Fat Lucca was bleeding in this video and the Gryphon feels he angered his boss above him in the criminal underworld. Trying to make it seem like the Geist was wise for waiting he saw Granny in a holding pattern trying to take it all in. So far the plan to keep her calm was working but it had only been a few minutes. Geist said he would make the call and during the short wait Gryphon just thanked Granny2Good with no context added to it because he felt the topic list was to long. Granny thanked him back for being a good friend, and that he shouldn’t try so hard because he was a good human. The Geist informed them he got a hold of Flying Squirrel and they would be there in 45 minutes.
7:32 AM
The Requisitors arrive via Flying Squirrel’s armored, tactical airvan. Gryphon verfies by flying straight up to see them on approach and then lands to update Granny. Gryphon and her continued to talk about how to proceed and and Gryphon acknowledged he would hover over it. Granny appeared to Gryphon to have forgotten how quickly he regenerates when she mentioned how often he’s been damaged lately. Gryphon just shrugged and for the first time mentioned his sister Adeline by name seemingly dreading the moment she would find out he was alive and a superhero. During all this Alice began to hit the street trying to find something or someone that could lead them to Fat Lucca’s actual location.
As she was looking for leads and evidence Gryphon noticed a shiny object between the box and the statue. He squats and pulls it out seeing foreign writing he begins to eliminate other writings he would not have noticed. Finally he stands and hands the bottle top to Granny as he hits the space bar on the laptop once more and as the video plays he asks, “Is Jake holding you hostage?” Granny looks down and recognizes it as Gryphon asks her, “Did Jake go and capture Fat Lucca just to make an adventure for us?” Her eye roll suggests that this idea is certainly not beyond some of the stunts of her brother.
Alice received information from a wino that a very, very drunk man matching Jake’s description had been there on the statue placing the crate. This caused her to begin swearing in Japanese! Granny2Good mentions this to Gryphon as she is trying to hide how pissed she is at the moment. They’re able to raise Alice on their comm units only to find out in this world Jake has a small cult following and he is the one that dropped off the box. Alice went on to describe how the homeless man holding some ‘Mad Dog 2020’ thought he was sober in comparison to how drunk Jake was. Gryphon was astounded that Jake had ‘people’ and Granny told him he doesn’t always remember that. However, he has them scattered across the universe!
There was a small discussion about if Jake was evil and Granny2Good refused to believe this iteration of Jake was evil. Granny and Gryphon both acknowledged that they likely had evil copies in another reality along with Jake. She really worried Gryphon because it seemed to him as if she had stopped caring about any of the innocent lives just past the wall of the park and cared more about ripping the box apart. She was so full of herself that she could absorb the blast or die and still absorb it all. Gryphon was concerned this could become a second Winslow, and he’d do anything to prevent that. Granny2Good was becoming a bigger and more immediate threat than Jake setting the bomb here! She was nearly 100% convinced even after Alice’s findings that her Jake didn’t do this! She was putting his life and reputation over the lives of innocents, and all Gryphon was trying to do was stall her from doing something rash.
Fighting Jake in this way was useful to him because he had an idea of how Murder Master had defeated every super hero in Millennium Station. Alice began to approach trying to figure out if her sonar sight would allow her to scan the box to determine its contents were 100% a bomb and not a hoax. She climbed up on the wall and then scrambled on top of the archway leading into the park. With her power she could see inside the box and began describing what she saw to the Gryphon. He pulled his phone out and began using a pen with a stylus tip to sketch the information and make blueprints of the internal workings of the bomb. After he was finished and thanks to Alice the status of it being a bomb was no longer in debate.
Granny2Good still wanted to rip the box apart convinced it would just blow up at 8 AM and Gryphon was convinced Jake liked puzzles and games over just raw explosions when their was a chance to prove how smart he was. Gryphon gently tried to get her to understand he was trying to prevent her from becomming another Cavalry. When he explained how Cavalry’s accident led to the Liberty Bell being destroyed Granny remembered nearly hitting a building on a previous day. Finally realizing she may have been wrong about the poor kid that never asked for these powers. She appeared calmer and then tried to agree with Gryphon and get him to back away from the bomb utterly convinced it would just blow at 8 AM. Gryphon knew that was sheer folly because if this intergalactic power bomb was even a tenth of the power of Winslow then that would mean a minimum of 300 dead and 1,000 injured. What worried him about this more was what if the bomb is worse than Winslow and the death toll exceed 6,000 and 20,000 injured at twice the damage of what sparked the riots.
7:41 AM
They began to politely argue about whom should stay when they were interrupted by Geist about moving our truck to make a clean get away later. Alice chimed in with an idea and began to run over with her special multi-device, the Black Box. She programmed it into a covering that could contain the box inside it. Gryphon began to wonder if Granny2Good wanted to die, because she tried to talk Alice into not using it. Gryphon wanted everyone to remain calm and Alice’s idea was the best one he had heard since Granny stopped seeming to care about innocent civilians and just wanting to tear this open. Alice had tried getting a special support line to answer how much of the blast this could contain but no that could answer the question appeared to be available. She left the area and they waited the remaining time till 8 AM.
At 8 AM nearby church bells toll and Gryphon takes one of Granny’s hands in case this is their final moments hearing the box trying to open. They eventually call Alice back to remove the skin and it opens. There’s a mounted laptop on the inside of the lid a metal scale and two jugs next to it. The video begins to play and Fat Lucca has a black eye to go with his bloody nose.
So as many of you might know or may not know, uh,
One of my favorite movies is Die Hard, so this is the scene from Die Hard 3.
No using your phones because if you do the bomb will go off.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Here You Go!
You need to take these two jugs, one is 3 liters, the other is 5 liters.
You need to measure out 4 liters exactly and put it on the scale or the bomb will blow up.
Good Luck, Have Fun
The Gryphon grabs the 5 liter jug and his pen. Then using the 3 liter jug he fills it and pours it in the 5 liter one. He marks off where 3 liters is on the 5 liter jug. Between there and the top he finds the midway point and marks off the 4th liter position. He fills the three liter jug and pours the remaining missing liter so it contains 4 liters exactly. Granny takes Alice away since she is worried Gryphon is about to blow himself and the surrounding area up, potentially. He sets the jug on the scale which prompts another Fat Lucca video
Congratulations, you win this time!
Uh, Umm, meet me for reals at this location
<< Address is given >>
Seeing I did not explode Granny2Good brings Alice back up as he is on the phone letting Col. Lightning know he disarmed the bomb and they can have it. Granny begins screaming that Gryphon has screwed over her brother. First, Gryphon dismantles her argument on creation citing masterminds in Gramercy and the video showing Fat Lucca. Second, when she brings up fingerprints he knows his are now all over this and he’s taking the bottle cap with alien writing. Alice touches it all over while Granny continued to berate Gryphon rather than being excited about the innocent lives that had been saved. Gryphon feels happy she cares for someone that much, but feels sad because now he believes the minute Jake is threatened she would stop caring about the whole of the Earth to save him and his reputation at her expense. He also knows being yelled at she considers him an unintelligent child. In his head he just acknowledges it is easier being hated because no one lies about how they feel then. Still they were teammates and he stopped trying to explain what he had learned about most peoples reaction to alien technology. She didn’t care to listen to someone she thought was to stupid to play his own gambit.
Alice mentioned her support of Granny’s concerns thinking of Jake as arrogant enough to not care about being discovered. Granny could see his resigned frustration and tried to mention they needed to protect Jake the way they protected Covenant. She appeared offended that Gryphon suggested the innocents were higher up the food chain in needing protection than any of them. Gryphon flew over to Col. Lightning letting him know the bomb was defused an they could take it at their leisure. While he was talking with the sponsored hero Granny2Good picks up Alice on her 4′ 11″ frame and says in Gryphon’s earshot, “Come on, let’s go make a difference!” They speed away in a flash toward the address in the Hannigan sub-district.
Granny and Alice arrive before Gryphon at the manufacturing warehouse with an entrance on the east side. Gryphon lands just long enough to make his sword appear and cut a huge hole in the razor wire fence line. Looking back he mentions in a snarky tone, clearly miffed, “Did you not say you want to get this done, you said you wanted to make a difference, let’s go.” He flies to the door at 60MPH and slams through it. Granny easily keeps up as Gryphon is ripping through things the way she talked about doing to the box. They come upon yet another laptop on a pedestal with a single chair behind it. Gryphon lands and hits the space bar as Granny2Good tries to take the opposite stance from ripping bomb boxes apart, “You know, Gryphon, dear you might want to not hit the space bar so quickly…”
The Gryphon cuts her off and his tone is less than polite, “Oh I’m sorry, did you want to hit the space bar or are you upset that I’m on board with your plan to get things done?”
The video begins to play showing Fat Lucca with two black eyes and bleeding from his face, chained up and hanging from a ceiling. The camera’s perspective is upside down. It starts out sound like Fat Lucca and then Jake comes into view on the camera! Jake goes on to bemoan about people shutting his warehouses down and turning him in. He asks those present to just sit the one thing he cares about in the world in the chair or the city blows up. Gryphon says in a soft tone, “Ethel, its you.” Granny nods and sits in the chair. The chair moves slowly and begins to go down slowly like a dark Disney ride, his voice comes on and he talks about the one person that believes in him and Gryphon follows through the air behind her. It goes and up into another room of the warehouse with the voice ending on thanking the Starbucks employee everyone harassed! Granny2Good and Gryphon see Alice, a chained up Fat Lucca, and Jake sleeping on a cot.
Alice goes to help Granny with her brother at Gryphon’s soft suggestion. Gryphon cuts Fat Lucca down but leaves him in chains and flies off with him. He contacts Col. Lightning and arranges a meeting to hand off Fat Lucca. Then his gambit paid off when both the Requisitors and the local CSPD didn’t know what to make of the bomb. Gryphon casually mentions it appeared to be made with alien ingredients (assuming Jake used some of that alcohol from off-world and weaponized it). Col. Lightning said the small tests they were able to run placed the explosive yield at just over the size of the Ogilvie sub-district! This bomb would’ve been bigger than Iron Mike’s WINSLOW! Mavis offered to bring it back to Gryphon so he could hand it off to a contact that knew Alpha Prime. However, Col. Lightning mentioned needing to keep their side of the story up so he’d use a third party company he’d used before.
Col. Lightning was curious about evidence and Gryphon mentions the laptop from the first warehouse has Fat Lucca on it. It seems he was working for someone bigger possibly from the Labyrinth, a criminal mastermind that was possibly out of this world smart! Col. Lightning mentioned they may need to team up again and Gryphon agreed. Gryphon handed over the criminal and went back to his house to await Mavis. Soon all the evidence linking Jake to any of this would be in his possession. After seeing Granny’s disregard for public safety he decided that while his normal form holds a ton of bad memories he should probably try and balance time in both forms to not forget what it means to be human.
Art by: AZ_Artisan
I don’t know where the fake commercial on YouTube came from but it is stellar funny!
Come watch the next game for our super friends on HippoTV!
Garrick woke up this morning to a small cooler just outside the ring he’d made with the sheets. There was a post it note from Katherine:
I don’t cook. Here’s some breakfast tacos from the corner. Apparently you’re the only nice gringo. There’s a small coffee as well.
– K
Smiling about how sweet that was he soon let his team know he was awake when he gave everyone the info dump about Patsy’sMillennium Station version of Jake Thompson. “On her world “Murder Master” is that world’s Jake Thompson! It is highly likely that version of Jake has walled off this dimension. Which makes sense that only Jake could stop Jake. With this knowledge hopefully our Jake can begin researching the correct way to undo his evil self.” The real Jake, as far as Garrick was concerned, decided to help on the principle “Murder Master” was a stupid name so he had to stop him.
12:43 PM
Early afternoon Patsy wakes up. She’s confused and embarrassed about being in Garrick’s bed. She’s even more embarrassed when she realizes she’s been changed into different clothes. As the situation is explained to her (and that Katherine changed her) she relaxes a bit.
Now she looks sheepish and guilty. She can’t believe Garrick had to save her again. She doesn’t remember much after walking away from the Wayfarer and finally calling the sword. Snippets of memory. The spirit within slaying the gang members who came after her because they didn’t like that she had been snooping around. A magical circle of… communication, she thinks? And waiting for… a group to arrive. Allies. Then Garrick and the others interrupted, and freed her.
She tells of how she researched Garrick’s sword and found it had been declared lost during transit after an auction. A similar sword, she discovered, had also been purchased and shipped. She figured that could be what was in the other box! She began to investigate the gangs around the museum, and searched pawn shops all around the area. She was surprised to actually find it in a pawn shop. It was sold there some time ago. People didn’t seem to want it for some reason so it just sat there. Patsy eagerly spent the money on it, intending to bring it back and show Garrick. But once it was in her hand it started talking to her. It implored her to call upon its power, to help him continue to keep the world safe.
It said… a lot of enticing things to her about the power it could give her. The power it could return to her, which she so desperately craved. This frightened her. Not that it was offering this power, but that she was so tempted. By the time she returned home Garrick was still out. She had decided she would keep the sword’s secrets for now. Once she accepted that it transformed into an ordinary bracelet on her arm.
He would talk with her sometimes, imploring her to call upon him. Aaziakel. He would offer to share the secrets of his magical knowledge with her. He would offer to give her the power to matter again, to be noticed, special… She can’t believe she’s admitting all this but it’s so upsetting that she screwed up in such a big way. It was when Aaziakel offered to give her the power to fight Katherine, and Katherine heard his voice too, that’s when Patsy realized she needed to redouble her efforts to get home and reconnected to her former powers. The temptation had become so strong. The promises so alluring… And then finally meeting The Wayfarer and learning that he too was trapped… but Aaziakel said he knew why the world was this way. He could show her why, and he could help her. That’s when she finally…
She trails off. It’s taken a while to get this story out of her. She looks at Garrick finally and says she needs to move out. She thanks him for everything he’s done but she needs to go be on her own. She’s managed to get a passable fake ID so she has an identity in this world. She’ll never be able to thank Garrick enough for what he’s done for her. But she needs to accept that there’s no easy solution to her dilemma. She’s stuck, and it’s time she accepted it and moved on, making a life for herself here.
“You’re status as an “indefinite guest” will remain, I will move your access to the room on the first floor once you find a place and have everything moved over. Through some poor communication on my part to my partner something might have become unclear at one point. Kat and I are beginning to date, and you know enough about me to realize I have A LOT of questions being virgin or undiscovered country here.” He looks around for a few seconds and continues, “Can you step out of my room for a second so I can get something?” About 60 seconds later the doors pop open, “Now, I won’t take no for an answer, but here is $1,000 in cash, $500 to help with a down payment on a car, and $500 to help with any living deposit you might need. All I “ask” is that you let me drive you to your new place so I know you got there safely and the genie Ali Baba didn’t get you.” he attempts to laugh at his own bad joke.
She tells him she’ll take an UberLyft. She wants a clean start and hopes he can understand that. She takes the money but tells him she won’t use it since she already owes him so much. He begins to grab his phone and starts a text to Zeau.
Her phone vibrates and she checks it as he’s talking about the last of his Shorties leaving. The message reads: I might not have the courage to say what my heart is screaming, in another time, in another place, in another world even. May this picture convey how I feel since this is my memory of you. Be your own soul Patsy “Hyperia” Palmer. Just know if you’re ever in need I will find you and come for you, now and forever.
5:27 PM
Kat leaned against the air conditioner on the building’s roof like a trained sniper. Yet no gun was in her hand, she was armed with a caring heart for a man who wore his upon his sleeve. She’d been quietly watching Patsy move out boxes and luggage from a few buildings away. Two of the bags were embroidered with Garrick’s company logo on the side. Looks like he will need to get new bags for the gym. The trips outside to set things down were fairly regular. Nothing seemed out of ordinary there. By the time she’s ready to go it is nearly 6 PM. Kat has already texted Garrick back trying to give him time to say goodbye. In truth she was just trying to play along since she knows it’s important to him. She had taken some of the time to get a few extra things and clean her place before she moved out officially. She decided she could be patient since Patsy was moving out and soon she’d be able to have nothing else pulling on his heart strings.
While moving out her stuff, and her research about the area, Patsy had to stop looking at Garrick. He was sitting at his work table downstairs. She had spied over his shoulder one time and saw all kinds of research regarding how to weaponize an Einstein-Rosen bridge to break through a dimensional barrier! Still his last message to her rang in her head. …if you’re ever in need I will find you and come for you, now and forever. Patsy knew how far he had come to even phrase a statement of devotion, of love to anyone. She was so proud of the progress he had made and yet he gave everything of himself to everyone. When she came in from her last box waiting for the UberLyft. She saw him reading Kat’s text reply and his back was turned. She decided that since she wasn’t living here anymore then his rules about showing affection had to be gone as well. It was now or never! She seized the momentary advantage of the distraction to close with him unexpectedly. Seconds before he could react badly he turns to feel her warm body press up against his and kiss him.
It’s a deep, longing kiss. She left him near paralyzed with that “Kiss” and he’s not sure he’d have stopped anything further. He felt equally as weak kneed as with Miss Amazing. Then she walks out of his home to the waiting UberLyft to leave. For now. There is a long and cold shower between her departure and Katherine arriving about 30 minutes later.
8:17 PM
That night Garrick after an amazing dinner which had no second helpings because of the Shorties. Garrick finishes making sure all of Katherine’s things are on the second floor. Room authorizations are updated with Optimus. Katherine glances in his head and there is some worry he’ll never see her again, but a reminder she wanted this and he has to honor it. Garrick brings Katherine into his room and using a bowl of hot water he washes her feet mentioning he found this idea looking up things boyfriends should do. Then using light oils, he massages them slowly and methodically. Kat playfully asks if this is some sort of fetish? She’s not opposed to it if he enjoys it. She ends up enjoying it more than she expected, and it turns into a rather enjoyable evening for the both of them.
Victor in the ground floor lobby of Spirit Enterprises building in Silver City sub-district of the Society Hill borough. Greg had informed Victor that while Hank was still healing they were going to be joining up with the hero team S.A.V.I.O.R. Which prompted much confusion from Victor because he believed they were a religious based group of some form or fashion.
Covenant asked for the floor afterwards and explained about the man called Ashton Campbell that murdered his parents. He talked about following leads to the Winchester House, but mostly finding Ishtarian worshippers that used gun running to finance their occult ends. Ashton, though, may have been the person that founded the Church of Reflections and is the one they call the First Reflector.
Ramona caught only a brief glimpse as they were talking about philosophy and how it influences artists’ work. She never even heard Alex mutter, “Sure, Be Bold. Make sure to talk to the girl before Garrick does, check.”
Flying home as fast as possible due to the text messages Ameera sent him. Still unsure how her contact info got into his phone and why he already had a group contact for 
Bidding Zeau a good day he turns back to the Geist realizing he was having a hard time, while Covenant looked hung over and somehow that was an improvement to everyone else! Pulling 3 monitors out on swing arms from the mounting pole so everyone could see the map of the warehouse from Fat Lucca’s paperwork he and Nathan had found. So this boiled down to a team of Gryphon, Granny2Good, Alice, Geist whom was forced to babysit Covenant so the team could make sure he didn’t become worse. 
As he points up everyone, Gryphon especially notices a number of small and very silent flying drones! Out from behind Col. Lightning comes another individual from their team in a brown uniform as Granny2Good shows off her left sleeve trying to respond to the Good or Bad comment. Emblazoned upon that sleeve is her hero moniker ‘
Gryphon just shrugged and for the first time mentioned his sister Adeline by name seemingly dreading the moment she would find out he was alive and a superhero. During all this Alice began to hit the street trying to find something or someone that could lead them to Fat Lucca’s actual location.
Col. Lightning was curious about evidence and Gryphon mentions the laptop from the first warehouse has Fat Lucca on it. It seems he was working for someone bigger possibly from the Labyrinth, a criminal mastermind that was possibly out of this world smart! Col. Lightning mentioned they may need to team up again and Gryphon agreed. Gryphon handed over the criminal and went back to his house to await Mavis. Soon all the evidence linking Jake to any of this would be in his possession. After seeing Granny’s disregard for public safety he decided that while his normal form holds a ton of bad memories he should probably try and balance time in both forms to not forget what it means to be human. 
