The Story
Chapter 12
"Hands-on Experimentation"
The Pogo Plane landed, and Joe and Rina stepped onto the roof of the Taylor Building. Both grabbed several handfuls of packages and carried them down the upper-level stairs to where Kyle and Charles were waiting.
“Finally back from your shopping trip?” asked Kyle.
“You were gone for long enough,” said Charles.
“All these things are true,” said Joe, “But wait ‘til you see what we got!”
Rina picked one box from the top of her pile, and disappeared into the bathroom. Charles and Kyle gathered around Joe as he began to open packages.
“Well, first and foremost,” Joe told his friends, “We went by the Fantastic Four’s headquarters. It took a lot of kissing ass and promising to be good, but we finally got THE KEYS TO THE POGO PLANE!”
“So?” asked Charles.
“So we can fly it now!” said Joe.
“But we’ve been flying it everywhere already,” said Kyle.
“Okay, fine. But it’s officially ours now. That’s pretty cool, right?”
“I guess,” said Charles. “What else do you have?”
Joe began pulling cans from one of his nearest bags. “Spray paint!” he shouted. Charles and Kyle looked at him blankly. “To paint the Pogo Plane!” Joe continued.
“Oh, that’s cool,” said Charles.
“Any color scheme we want! It’s our vehicle now! We don’t even have to call it ‘the Pogo Plane’ anymore.”
“What about ‘the Supercoolmobile?’” asked Kyle.
“Uh, we can pick out a name later,” said Joe.
“Okay, but in the meantime, we’ll call it ‘the Supercoolmobile,’” said Kyle.
“Yeah, of course we will,” said Joe.
“What else, what else?” asked Charles.
“This else,” said Rina, stepping just outside of the bathroom to strike a glamorous pose. All three men turned to stare at her. From the floor up: dark maroon boots that almost reached her knees; exposed legs; dark maroon bicycle shorts clinging tightly to her thighs, hips, and waist; exposed stomach; dark maroon sports bra with a white circle over the heart; dark maroon elbow-length gloves with exposed fingers; Rina’s smiling face, her hair pulled back into a braid. “What do you think?” asked Rina.
“Unghh…” said Kyle.
“Unghh…” said Charles.
“Perfect!” said Joe. “Show them the emblem!”
“Here, on my chest,” said Rina, “See this white circle? Look closer. It’s an ‘S’ and a ‘C’ and they overlap. That’s our symbol, get it? We’re the Supercools!”
“Why the costume change?” asked Charles, slowly regaining conscious thought.
“I wanted us all to match,” said Rina. With that, Rina and Joe began pulling odds and ends from every bag they bought, quickly assembling their new team costumes.
“It’s Unstable Molecule Fabric,” said Joe. “Dr. Richards was kind enough to put them together for us.”
“It doesn’t make us invulnerable to scissors,” said Rina. “I asked."
“Alright, alright, enough talk. It’s fashion show time!” said Joe, handing boxes to Charles and Kyle. All three young men disappeared into their bedrooms, emerging a few mintues later in full costume.
“This feels so creepy,” said Charles.
“Like you’re naked, I know,” said Joe. “In a way it’s nice, since tights are so uncomfortable. Still, I’m glad I have clothes on over my costume.”
“These are pretty cool,” said Kyle. His was the only full costume: skin-tight black bodyshirt (long sleeves), with a peel-on dark maroon vest (“SC” symbol in white on the back), maroon leather gloves, maroon bikers’ shorts over black tights, and knee-high boots. Charles’ costume was the same, minus the gloves, and Joe wore only the bodyshirt from the waist up, plus all of his ‘scavenged’ weapons.
“I didn’t get us masks,” said Joe, flexing and posing. “Since none of us have ‘secret identities.’ But we did pick up four or five extra costumes, just in case.”
“Now give Kyle his other box!” said Rina.
“Other box?” asked Kyle.
“Here you go, Kyle,” said Joe, handing over a second package. “You should be able to wear all of this over your costume- we must be superheroes, right?”
Kyle stepped back into his bedroom to change. Joe saw the look of confusion on Charles’ face, and answered, “It’s Kyle’s clothes for his big date tonight.” Charles nodded. “Which reminds me,” continued Joe, “I think you and I should go out, too. I’ve already picked out the place. Doing anything right now?”
“Not really,” said Charles.
The two friends headed for their Supercoolmobile.
Charles and Joe landed next to a condemned building on the far side of town.
“Uh, what are we doing here?” asked Charles.
“Working on your powers,” said Joe. “You said yourself that you wished you had greater control over your powers, and I figure I know enough about comic books and the Negative Zone to help you out.”
“Great!” said Chuck. “But, doesn’t that strike you as an awfully superhero-team thing to do?”
“Yeah,” said Joe, lighting a cigarette with his flamethrower. “I know what I’ve been saying, about how we shouldn’t get attached to this dimension and all. But we’ve been here about a week, and we’ve explored pretty much every option we could for leaving. It’s not working, so I figure we might as well get used to being here. If you and Kyle want to be superheroes so badly, well then I guess I can go along with that.
“Now then,” said Joe, puffing on his cigarette, “Let’s get started.”
* * *
Far, far away, in a dimension that wasn’t really a dimension, the man formerly known as the Red Skull had seized control of first Nazi Germany and then the entire world. His first action as Global Dictator was to set all of his top scientists to work on a weapon powerful enough to send him out of this pseudo-dimension created by the Cosmic Cube, and back into the world of his birth. They’d just finished. Closing his eyes, the Red Skull pressed the large red button, and screamed in agony.
* * *
Kyle and Rina were sitting in the middle of the Rainbow Room, New York’s most elegant restaurant.
“I’m really glad we’re finally getting the chance to do this,” said Rina.
“Um… yeah,” said Kyle. “Me, too.”
“I really like you,” said Rina.
“Um… yeah,” said Kyle. “Me, too.”
Rina tried a different approach. “So, do you like your new costume?”
“Yeah,” said Kyle, shrugging. “At least it doesn’t say ‘No Powers Boy’ on it.”
“Oh, Kyle,” said Rina. “You’re not still upset about having no powers are you? You’re a valuable addition to the team, Kyle. You’ve saved every one of us. I think you’re the bravest, most amazing guy I’ve ever known.”
Kyle began to blush. Then, four armed gunmen broke into the restaurant.
“First things first,” said Joe. “Do this.” He wiggled his fingers.
Charles wiggled his fingers.
“Shake my hand,” said Joe.
They shook hands.
“Huh,” said Joe.
“What?” asked Charles.
“Well, you’ve got hands.”
“I know,” said Charles. “I can use them just as I always could, even though they seem to be infinitely deep and starry.”
“Well, I suppose that’s good news,” said Joe. “But they still absorb energy, right?” Rather than waiting for an answer, Joe shot at Charles with his Wonder Glove. Sure enough, the energy blast disappeared into Charles’ hands.
“Huh,” said Joe.
“Right,” said Charles.
“Let’s try this,” said Joe. “Close your eyes. Hold out your hands in front of you. Ok, and…” Joe picked up a rock, and threw it at Charles’ hands. The rock bounced off Charles’ forehead.
“Ow!” said Charles. “What was that for?”
“Um… just testing something,” said Joe. “Let’s try that one more time.”
“Oh, okay,” said Charles.
Joe threw another rock. This time, the rock hit Charles square in the palm, and bounced off.
“How’d that feel?” asked Joe.
“Strange,” said Chuck. “I knew it was there, I knew it hit me, and I knew it should’ve hurt. But it didn’t.”
“Huh,” said Joe.
“Nobody move, and nobody gets hurt,” said the lead gunman. “We’re gonna collect all your money now, so nobody try anything funny.”
Kyle stuck his tongue out. It was pretty funny, but fortunately, the gunman didn’t see. Kyle pulled on his gloves, and pulled off his pants while Rina slipped her dress off. Secretly, they’d both sort of hoped that this particular activity would be a part of their evening, but neither was delighted with the context.
* * *
The Red Skull awoke in his dingy ancestral home outside of New York City. In his hand, he held what was once the near-omnipotent Cosmic Cube. Now, however, it was just a dingy black square.
More than likely, you will burn out the cube. The Red Skull’s lead scientist, Albert Einstein (working under duress, of course), had already cautioned the mad villain of this possibility. But all is not lost. By focusing your might, you should be able to pull from the multiverse other tattered cubes. Together, they might form a whole.
Pushing with all his mental might, the Red Skull brought shimmering into being a small, red square, identical in size to the one he’d first had. He pressed the two together along an edge, and they fused. He closed his eyes again. This time, the reconstruction came even easier to him. He joined a yellow square to his now half-completed cube. Green, orange, and blue, the others came. The Cosmic Cube was once more whole. Bathing in the rainbow of light that splashed from the cube, the Red Skull began to laugh.
* * *
Kyle and Rina struck a dramatic pose in their new costumes. “We’re the Supercools,” said Kyle.
Timeslip sped across the distance between her and the nearest gunman. The man was taken completely off-guard as she rammed into him with both forearms. His gun skittered across the floor as the man jarred his head against a table. Not pausing to rest, Rina bounded to the next two men, striking their heads together. She was on a roll.
“Stop,” said the lead gunman. “Or I’ll ventilate your friend.” His gun was pointed right at Kyle’s face.
“Okay, concentrate this time,” said Joe, throwing a pebble at Charles again. This time, the rock disappeared as it struck Chuck’s hand.
“Well, then, there we go,” said Joe.
“What are you talking about?” said Charles. “That’s the same thing I did with Marrow in the Danger Room. But I still don’t know how.”
“Ah,” said Joe. “Well then, let’s back up. As best I can tell, your hands have become two twin portals to the Negative Zone. Or at least, they can become so when you think about it. The Negative Zone is composed of pure anti-matter, and anything composed of matter which enters it is immediately blown up.”
“Which explains how I destroyed the coils in the Danger Room,” Charles added.
“Right. It’s absolutely impossible to travel between the Negative Zone and any reality without crossing through the Nexus Point. In this case, the Nexus Point is off of the Fantastic Four’s headquarters. Every reality supposedly has a Nexus Point. So if you get your powers working well enough, you might be able to open portals between this dimension and any other.”
“Cool!” said Charles.
“Actually,” said Joe. “It’s not so cool- yet. But I have a neat idea…”
“Go ahead, pull the trigger,” said Kyle. Rina’s eyes opened wide, but she said nothing.
“What?” asked the man. “Are you crazy?”
“No,” said Kyle. “I’m just using my POWERS,” with the word ‘powers,’ Kyle wiggled his fingers threateningly. “to block the bullet from leaving the gun. If you pull that trigger, it’ll just blow your hand off.”
“No way,” said the man. “I don’t see an energy field or anything.”
“Then pull,” said Kyle.
“Maybe I will,” said the man.
“Maybe you should,” said Kyle.
“Are you bullshitting me?” asked the man.
“I have a costume on, don’t I?” said Kyle.
“I give up,” said the man, handing Kyle his gun.
Rina and Kyle didn’t get a chance to finish their dinner; they had to slip away as soon as the villains were rounded up. By the time they walked back to the apartment, Joe and Charles were already home.
“Hey guys,” said Joe. “How was your date?”
“Don’t ask,” said Kyle.
“I had a great night!” said Charles. “Wait until you guys see what I can do!” With that, Charles flexed his hands, creating an arc of tiny explosions.
“Whoa!” shouted Rina, jumping back.
“How did you do that?” asked Kyle.
“I’m expelling Negative Zone energies into our positive-matter universe,” said Charles. “Joe was teaching me how it works.”
“And that’s not all,” said Joe. Everyone turned to look at him. “Well, I mean, yeah, that is all. But we’re working on it.”
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