Tag: Diana Carter

May 2, 1988
387 Union Avenue
Elkins Park, Pa

Ted Mathews steps out of the hot shower to wrap himself in a towel. He moves across the small steam filled bathroom. He is standing at the sink and he wipes the fog from the mirror. He feels like it has been a year since I took off that suit as he looks at his almost forgotten face in the mirror.

Ted doesn’t even hear it coming until it hits him. His head spinning when he hits the wall hard. Trying to focus, Ted finds himself glued to the wall by bright orange goo. “What the fuck!” he shouts struggling to get loose as the goo quickly hardens like solid concrete.

“What the fuck indeed,” a strange man says from the doorway. “You are a hard man to find Mr. O’Connell.” “Or at least that is what DeScalo tells me.” “He has been looking for you for weeks, I guess he doesn’t know your real name.”

“So DeScalo sent you to find me!” Ted shouts from his makeshift prison.

The stranger smirks as he steps into the room, closer to his captive. “DeScalo does not tell me what to do.” “Let’s just say Nicholas and I have a different agreement than he and you.”

“Who are you?” Ted shouts, “What do you want?”

The sinister man steps forward to hold up his hand to Ted. More orange ooze escapes his pores to form a fully articulated glove. At the end of each finger a four inch claw forms and hardens to a darker shade “You can call me Badger.” “I have come to tell you that I have purchased your contract, you work for me now.”

“I don’t believe you, that isn’t the way DeScalo works,” Ted replies.

“He does now,” The Badger grins, slicing onto Ted’s cheek with the claw at the end of his index finger. “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, I let him live.” “Perhaps, I will do the same for you, if you do as I ask.”

Ted looks at his black suit that hangs on the back of the bathroom door. He has been using it to hide from DeScalo for months. How is it that this guy would find him just as he takes it off to have a much needed shower. Whatever this shit is that is holding him to the wall it is also preventing him from casting some bad luck on this asshole.

Badger notices Ted’s glance at the bathroom door. He turns to close the door to see the black catsuit hanging there. “This is an incredible suit you have here,” Badger says, lifting it from the hook. “Perhaps I will kill you and just take it for myself.”

“The suit only works for me!” Ted shouts slightly panicked as the Badger turns back to him. “I will work for you!” “What do you want me to do!” Ted says reluctantly.

“The same thing you have been doing for DeScalo, keep an eye on Steve Roberts,” The Badger explains. “I want to know about his every movement.” “I suggest you don’t try to hide again either,” he says, dropping the black suit to the bathroom floor. “I found you once, I will find you again and I will not be so generous.” Then he opens the door to leave.

“What about me?” ” Ted calls out, still hanging from the wall as the Badger leaves the room.

“That will dissolve in an hour or so, after I am long gone!” the Badger calls back to his new spy.

May 3, 1988
387 Union Avenue
Elkins Park, Pa

Paddy had been following a lead on the guy I fought who called himself Hellion. He had this idea that he might be working for Nick DeScalo, which was something I really wanted to stay away from to not risk violating the deal I had made. So I took it on myself to take Paddy in another direction. As a kid, Theodore O’Connell’s family owned a house in Elkins Park, so I suggested we check it out. See if there was any sign of Theodore there before we moved in on DeScalo.

It was a cloudy day when we got to the house. It was in a residential neighborhood and was being kept up by someone. While Paddy looked around the front of the house I made my way around the side. At the back side of the property I found an old storage shed. There was a bracket for a padlock, but no lock. I opened the door to have it almost fall off in my hand. The inside of the shed smelled of gas. There was an old riding mower and a few snow shovels and other yard tools.

I hadn’t seen any power lines connected to the shed but there was a glow coming from a bulb at the back of the roof. I reached out looking for a pull chain to turn the light off, but found nothing. Then I realized that it wasn’t a bulb at all but a glowing sphere floating at the roofline of the shed. I cupped my hand around it, not touching it yet. It gave off no heat or charge of any kind, only light. I closed my fingers around it one at a time still wanting to be cautious. Taking hold of it I easily stepped back out of the shed with no resistance from the glowing orb. In the shade of the cloud cover I examined it closer. Although in the shed it appeared to give off a white light here in the open I could see an orange filament at its center. But that didn’t make sense whatever was causing the luminescence was not tinted orange. When the sun peeked out from under the clouds to strike the sphere I thought I could get a better look at what was on the inside.

Instantly, the outer part of the orb disintegrates on contact with the sunlight. I grabbed for the orange object that had been freed from inside, closing my hand tight around it. Next thing I knew I was flat on my back. That was how Paddy found me a few seconds later.

“You alright?” he asked as I looked up at him from the ground. “What happened to you?”

“I’m not sure?” I replied, rubbing my head. I sat up looking at my hand that I held the orb in. “I think I just found a booby trap.” There was no sign of the orb or what was in it.

“What happened to your shirt?” Paddy asked as I sat up.

I looked down at the front of my shirt to see it was full of small holes. It appeared that I had been hit with buckshot. I jumped to my feet to pull off my jacket and shirt. “I don’t see any blood, do you?” I asked as I ran my hands over my chest.

“You look fine to me, just your shirt is worse for wear,” Paddy replied. “Whatever that was, it wasn’t strong enough to get through that hide of yours.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied, pulling my torn shirt on again, backwards, then using my jacket to hide the holes now in the back.

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Paddy asked again.

I was touched by his concern but I had no reason to think anything had happened to injure me. “I’m fine, let’s just get out of here.” I told him. “This is a dead end.”

“Not so much, there is fresh lunch-meat and milk that is good until next Monday in the fridge,” Paddy informed me. “Someone has been living here.”

“You broke in?” I asked.

“Door was open, I announced myself to no response,” Paddy explained. “Let’s see if the neighbors have seen anyone around the place first.”

After poking around the neighborhood we got back in Paddy’s police issue car to head back to the city. I had taken the day off so he was going to drop me home. I had been right, no one had seen anyone around the house for years. Whoever was living there was gone now. As we were driving through Lawncrest when I got this sudden idea that we needed to go shopping. I suggested, “Why don’t we swing by the Bloomingdale’s Outlet?”

“Is that one of those weird tips you used to get?” Paddy asked.

“I don’t know, I just suddenly remembered I need to pick up a few things,” I told him. I wasn’t lying, I wasn’t sure what I was thinking but we needed to follow up on it. Paddy then turned off to head for the Bloomingdale’s Outlet, I felt a little guilty because I got the feeling he thought this was one of my premonition leads, when it really wasn’t.

Bloomingdale’s Outlet
1625 Chestnut St Suite 240-248
Philadelphia, PA

The Bloomingdale’s Outlet is a rather big store that I hadn’t been to many times, that is what made it so odd that I wanted to come here now. As we walked in Paddy said to me, “Paula’s birthday is coming up, maybe I’ll have a look around for a gift.”

“No problem I guess I’ll head over to Men’s wear,” I told him off the cuff. With that we went our separate ways. The store didn’t seem very crowded for eleven in the morning on a Monday.

Suburban Station
16th St. & JFK Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA

Meanwhile outside in the Parking lot the trunk of Paddy’s car pops open and a partially camouflaged figure climbs out. It takes a few minutes for Hellion’s suit to adjust to the bright sunlight. Once he is completely hidden from sight again he makes his way across the parking lot to walk to the bus station several blocks from the Mall. All Hellion wants to do is get as far away from here as possible. He will take the bus to the airport and get the first passage out of the country.

Time passes as Hellion waits along the wall for just the right bus. It would appear that this is the heavy time of day for bus travel. He can’t help to watch out the window to the people in the station parking lot as he waits. There is a woman with two children, one in a stroller and the other she leads by the hand toward the station. He has no such childhood memories, his childhood was far from Norman Rockwell. Then a man jogged up alongside the second child from the other side of the car to take the child’s other hand. The perfect family.

Bloomingdale’s Outlet
1625 Chestnut St Suite 240-248
Philadelphia, PA

I found myself in the swimwear section. It was spring and all the men’s suits were on sale. I picked a few off the rack that I liked and headed to the fitting room.

The woman at the fitting room desk looked at the swimsuits in my hand. “You need to keep your underwear on when trying these on,” she said with a sneer. “Public hygiene and all.”

“Of course, it has just been a while since I bought a suit,” I told her. “I’m not sure about my size.” She nodded, handing me a plastic tag with the number 6 on it. I walked past her into the high end store’s fitting room. There were several empty stalls. I picked the one farthest to the back. Inside I discovered that the cubicle was mirrored on all four sides, so you could check the fit from all angles. On the walls in between the mirrors were hooks that I hung the hangers of the swimsuit on. I took off my jacket and hung it on another hook. My holey shirt on top of that.

I examined my chest in the mirror, I still couldn’t see any wounds. I looked into my own blue eyes that Diana had often been fascinated with. She never said it, but she always looked in my eyes like no one else. It was almost like she was looking into my soul. I felt like I was doing that now for the first time in my life and I was seeing something new. It was a crazy thought. I opened my belt and took my pants off to hang them on another hook on the wall.

I stood in the center of the small mirrored room wearing only my bikini briefs looking at myself from all sides. It had been a while since I had really looked at myself all over. I guess being Master Warrior had bulked me up more than I thought, it explains why my shirts are fitting so tight. I lifted my arms behind my head to flex at the mirror. I changed position to flex with my arms in front of me like I was in some kind of competition. I had to admit I was looking good flexing in my skivvies. I acted like a bodybuilder and moved my arms behind my back to grab my wrist to flex my chest. Then without a thought I striped my underwear to the floor.

Then I stood up slowly watching my body move in the mirrors. I struck a few more poses to view my reflections, a few of them silly. All the while I could feel that I was getting excited as I examined myself in the fitting room mirrors. Twisting my hips from side to side I smiled.

“Young man, is everything alright?” the clerk called as she knocked on the door to my stall. The sound of her voice startled me back to the reality of what I was doing. I reached for my underwear around my ankles to yank them up. I was back in the rest of my clothing in record time. I grabbed the swimsuits that I hadn’t even tried on from the hook and headed back out the door.

Handing the suits back to the woman at the desk I made a beeline out of the store. What had I been thinking? How embarrassing it would have been if I had got caught! Paddy must have spotted me leaving because not long after I got outside, he followed carrying a bag. “What is with you? he asked. “You were moving like you saw a ghost.”

I don’t know why I did it but I lied, “No, just Carol, I don’t know if I want to see her yet.”

“First break-ups can be hard,” Paddy commented. “Let’s head out, I’ll drop you home.”

The ride home I was quiet, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done. Was I finally losing my mind like Paddy and David would joke with me about? Was I so sexually repressed that I was becoming an exhibitionist? What if I had gotten caught by that clerk? Would I have just let her watch too?

Philadelphia International Airport
8000 Essington Ave
Philadelphia, PA

Hellion arrives at the Airport still completely hidden from sight. Unlike his stolen passage on the bus he must assure that his seat on the plane is not taken. Like a lion on the hunt, Hellion searches the crowded terminal for the weakest prey. Making his way to the international flights terminal his eyes scan continually. A thief by trade finding the perfect target should be easy.

Most of the travelers are middle-aged businessmen, probably traveling in business class. He needs something more private with less chance of discovery. Hellion needs someone traveling in first class alone, someone who will not be missed on the plane. Two women walk chatting into the terminal, either one of them would be a perfect mark, but he would need to separate them. Then again he spots a family, clearly headed on a vacation. He hates the sight of them because it once again makes him think of his own family or lack thereof.

Hellion’s mind drifts to what a young policeman named Steve Roberts tried to tell him some years back. At the time the message fell on deaf ears or so he thought at the time. Knowing what Officer Roberts has decided to do with his life and talents gives Ted Mathews pause. The idea is ridiculous to him. Why would he turn his life around now? He has spent years doing what he does and has been successful at it! Stealing a seat on a plane is like taking candy from a baby, he has done it dozens of times.

As Hellion spots his perfect target, an overweight fiftyish man traveling with only a briefcase. The thought of not running from Nicholas DeScalo and that Badger asshole is his only choice. Roberts is on his own, after all he is Master Warrior! That is Roberts path in life and this is his. Hellion could not ask for a better opportunity than his mark going into the Men’s Room.

Steve Roberts & Patrick Berger’s apartment
1701 Tulip St
The Fishtown section
Philadelphia, Pa

Once home, Paddy returned to the precinct, but not before I warned him to let me know if he got any more leads on Hellion or my cousin Jayson that he and David had gone looking for while I was at Cassandra Manor.

Plopping down on the sofa I clicked on the noon News. I was beginning to feel ashamed of what happened at Bloomingdale’s. I need to blow off some steam and the News broadcast gave me just the thing. I left my apartment to head down the hall to the fire stairs to the roof. By the time I was to the door at the top of the stairs I had made the change to Master Warrior. Running across the short roof I was soon airborne flying out toward the city.

522 N Hutchinson St
Philadelphia, PA

Approaching the scene I spotted a familiar face in the policemen crowding the street outside the address. Commissioner Aspen was standing at the back of the police line near a police van, out of harm’s way. I knew our first meeting didn’t go how he hoped, but I hoped he wouldn’t hold that against me. I stayed high in the sky as I approached to not alert anyone to my presence at the scene. Then I quickly dropped down behind Aspen and the officers around him. No one noticed me at first, that was until I stepped toward the Commissioner. Guns were suddenly drawn all around me. I raised my hands to say, “I’m just here to offer my help.”

“Put your guns away men, the last thing we need here is a shooting in the street!” Commissioner Aspen told the eager cops.

“Thank you Commissioner, in these close quarters someone could have gotten hurt,” I said as the men lowered their weapons. “Tell me what is happening and how I can help?” Aspen glared at me for a moment, I could guess that he didn’t know what to make of my offer to help.

“I should tell you to fly away home!” The Police Commissioner finally said. “But we have a real crisis here and could use your unique brand of help.” “The Reverend Hector Charles who has of late taken it upon himself to clear out local drug houses.” “He is currently being held hostage inside his most recent campaign.” “From what we can tell this house is like an armory.” “On top of that, it has been made clear to us that Reverend Charles has been shot.”

“So, what you are telling me is that this is a Public Relations nightmare,” I surmised of the situation. “Any idea if they have a view of the street?” “Could they have spotted my arrival?”

“Tyler!” Commissioner Aspen shouted at an officer in the van wearing large headphones. “Can you hear any talk of this hero’s arrival?”

Officer Tyler turned to see me for the first time, clearly startled. “No, none sir.” “They are still arguing over their demands and how to get the drugs out.”

“You’ve been eavesdropping on them,” I assumed. “That’s good to know.” Knowing what was being said inside is something I couldn’t have known if I had busted in on my own. I then stepped to a place at the side of the police van where I could get a clear full view of the building while remaining hidden from it. “So, if I come in silent from above I could most likely catch them unaware.” “Where is the Reverend being held?”

Aspen looked to Tyler in the van again and the officer replied, less nervous this time, “Second floor back east corner, I think in a bathroom, from the sound of it.”

I stepped out onto the sidewalk to gain the attention of all the officers in ear-shy. I directed my statement at Aspen but wanted all of them to hear it. “Whatever you hear, keep your men out.” “Any gunfire out here at all could jeopardize everything!” “Remember I might need to take some fire to get this done.” Aspen nodded his head as if to say go get yourself killed, then I can blame it all on you.

I then headed down the sidewalk behind the people crowded along the street. I ran for about two blocks before taking to the sky to double back. Using the same trick as before I came straight down onto the back side of the roof unseen by anyone on the street or inside. The roof was peaked with no visible entry, I knew crashing through it would draw attention, I needed a quieter entry. At the front of the house there was a dormer with an old poorly maintained window. I shimmed out along the front edge of the roof. Creating a knife from my arsenal I used it to dig in along the sides of the window frame. It took some work but I managed to cut the old nails and wood that held the frame in place. Digging out the old loose window frame from its mountings I laid it on the roof using the gutter to hold it from sliding off the edge.

Returning my arsenal to my leg as a strap I slipped into the third floor attic space. Inside I found it littered with old mattresses. On some of the mattresses stoned or unconscious drug addicts laid. The men and women in the room paid little mind to my entry to the house, yet I felt as though I was being watched. I looked at each one of the addicts to make sure none of them were faking as to ambush me. It was clear that was not the case. I brushed off the feeling, chalking it up to what happened with me at the Double Furniture factory. Whatever the issue was it would make itself clearer in time.

I made my way down the center of the sloped ceilinged room to the staircase that was against the dividing wall of the row home. As I tiptoed down the steps I could hear the raised voice of the men below arguing. At the bottom of the stairs there was a locked door. I looked back up the steps thinking, what if there was a fire? Those poor people would have no way out. The drug problem in the city had become much worse than I realized. I easily broke open the old lock and doorknob. I peeked out the door onto the second floor. I was able to slip out into the cove in front of the door unseen. I knew there were three bedrooms on this floor and a bathroom at the back. I could tell the arguing voices were coming from the center room, so that would be my last stop.

I silently made my way to the front bedroom. The door was ajar allowing me to push it open with only the squeak of the hinges. On the floor at the front windows four armed men sat. At each of the two windows one man peered over the ledge out while the other sat with his back to the wall below the sill. It was the seated men who saw me first. I couldn’t give them the chance to shoot at me and alert anyone else. I used my arsenal as a whip like Indiana Jones to grab the gun out of one man’s hand and then the other.

Stepping forward into the room, a third snap of my whip and I pulled one of the men to me, letting him have it with a left cross that sent him back into the second man. When the other two men turned I moved much faster this time across the room. Grabbing the barrels of the rifles that each of them held, I bent them upward to the ceiling before yanking them free of their hands. That trick still always catches guys like these by surprise. A surprise that I use to my advantage to poke them in the gut with their rifles. A precisely placed chop to the back of the neck and both men fall to the floor unconscious with the others.

I moved to the door that connects the front room to the middle bedroom. The argument of the men in that room is still too heated for them to notice the scuffle I have just caused with their look-outs. Moving swiftly to the back bedroom I check it to find several nearly nude young girls huddled on a bed. “Stay calm, I am here to help,” I whisper to them.

“Marlin!” one of them yells. “Someone had broken in!” Then a second girl lets out a blood curdling scream so shrill there is no way it is not heard by the men arguing. I turn to find myself trapped in the room with the young girls as the men from the next room crowd the doorway. Each of them holding a gun of some kind pointed at me.

“I suggest that is not the solution to this situation,” I tell them to their angry faces. Their response is as expected as a hail of bullets come my way. They clearly had no concern for the girls in the room, leaving it up to me to stop every one of the bullets. It was the hardest I ever worked with my gauntlets. Twenty-six bullets were dropped to the floor before the men tired of the game.

That was when I took my arsenal as a staff to rush them. I took down the first two with a wack across their faces. Then pushing the other men out of the room back into the tight hallway I tripped two more to slide down the steps to the first floor on their backs. The fifth man made a run back to the other bedroom to lock the door. Tact had come to an end so I kicked in the door breaking it from its frame. There were two other men in the room beside the one holding it shut that I pinned under the door. They did not appear as eager to take me on as they knelt down to the floor with their hands behind their heads. I reached for the cording in the blinds at the window. I used it to tie up the men, unconscious and not in both rooms. Looking out the front windows, I could see that the two men I sent down the stairs had run into the street to be apprehended.

The Reverend Charles was my next concern. I found him in the bathtub in a puddle of his own blood. I checked for a pulse in his neck but the temperature of his skin told me he had been dead for a while. I heard the sounds of the cops coming in downstairs as I washed the blood from my hands in the sink. It was over. Everything the police and he tried to do to save a man only trying to save his neighborhood was for nothing. He was probably dead even before the police showed up. As I came down the stairs to the living room I told the SWAT team, “Got some frightened girls in the back bedroom and seven men tied up in the other two.” “And a drug den in the attic.” “I’m afraid the Reverend didn’t make it.” “Probably bleed out pretty quick from the looks of it.”

I waited to talk to the Commissioner before leaving. He explained that they found 50 million in crack cocaine in the basement. The girls were processors of the drugs, not allowed to wear clothing so they couldn’t steal from the stash while bagging it.

As I was about to leave, Commissioner Aspen said something that surprised me. “Thank You.” “Thank You for what you did here today.” “If not for you many more lives could have been lost on both sides of this conflict.” “I never expected you to help in a situation that didn’t involve a rampaging monster.”

“Situations like this are why I became Master Warrior,” I told him. “Don’t let the name fool you, I want to fight for the common man as well as take down whatever larger threat to the world arises.” “I only wish I could have saved the Reverend, but he was probably dead before I got here.”

“Don’t blame yourself, from what the EMT said he would have been dead minutes after the artery in his leg was shot,” Aspen said to relieve my conscience. “We only got the call about an hour ago.”

Walking out the front door I took to the sky again to head home. I tried to push the thought of failure out of my head. What the Commissioner said was true there was little I could have done to save the Reverend. I had to focus on the fact that in the end what the Reverend Charles was trying to do was accomplished. A drug den would no longer be in that house.

May 10, 1988
Ransom Township
outside of Scranton, Pa

David and I were hired to find a missing local Philadelphia Artist, Jeffrey Zhou. His Business Manager has been trying to contact him from New York for two weeks with no response. The Business Manager explained that Zhou often spends time in a cabin in upstate Pennsylvania to unwind from city life. It was a long drive from Jersey but David and I took turns driving, it was a great time to talk over some things that had been lingering between us.

“So what is the heaviest thing you have ever lifted?” David asked off the cuff.

“Does that really matter?” I replied. “I have no intention of throwing a pick-up truck while we are looking for a missing artist.”

“So, how far can you throw a pick-up truck?” David questions.

“That isn’t the point, we have worked together for over a year now, just because I have shared my secret with you I have no intention of our working relationship changing at all,” I emphasized.

“You just won’t be sneaking away anymore,” David comments. “I really was beginning to wonder about that.” “I was beginning to think you were a druggy.” “I’m just glad I’m not the only one who knows.” “Paddy has really helped me understand all of this better than I think I would have otherwise.”

“What do you mean?” I wondered how much my roommate and boss were talking behind my back.

“It is just still hard to believe that someone like Master Warrior even exists,” David said. “And now to find out it is a guy I knew since he was fourteen?”

“Speaking of that, have you heard from Gary at all?” I wanted to change the subject. I know that David had been trying to make contact with Gary for months with little luck. I had even suggested we made a trip to Cleveland to make sure he was okay.

“Still no word from him,” David replied. “I talked to his new girlfriend, Trudy.” “She told me that Gary just needs time to make peace with his demons.”

“Demons?” I said. “That doesn’t sound good to me.”

“Not everything is some kind of supernatural phenomenon,” David joked.

“What is your read on this new girlfriend, Trudy?” I inquired.

“Hard to tell much from a four minute conversation,” David answered. “But she sounded much smarter than his usual bubble-heads.”

“I thought the same thing when I met her at the wedding,” I told David. “I think this might be the longest he has stayed with one girl without screwing it up.”

When we got to the cabin no one was home. Letting ourselves in we had a look around. A majority of the place was set up like an artist’s studio. Jeffrey Zhou was a quite prolific artist. The walls were covered with his painting, but the paints and easel were cleaned up and dry. Clearly he hadn’t painted anything in a while.

On the other side of the room David was looking over charcoal drawings on a desk. There were several portfolios on the floor, leaned against the wall. Oddly none of the charcoal drawings were displayed on the walls. After I finished looking over the paint area I moved to the small kitchen at the back of the cabin. Finding nothing of interest I walked over to the desk where David was looking through the drawings. “This girl is a hot piece,” he commented on the drawings on the desk. All of the drawings were of a tall, buxom blonde in the nude. “Do you think she posed for these here?”

From what I could see all of the charcoal drawings had no background to identify where the modeling session took place. “It is kind of odd the way she is just floating in space, not standing or sitting on anything,” I commented flipping through the many pages of art. David stepped over to peek into one of the portfolios against the wall. “I have to admit that she is beautiful, great tits,” I chuckled.

“Wait until you see this one,” David grinned as he lifted the next portfolio from the floor onto the desk. “Check out the ass on this one!” He unzipped the case to flip it open. These charcoal drawings were of a man. “Had you going for a minute,” David chuckled. Something was familiar about the man standing with his back to the artist. He too floated in a white void of space. I lifted the top 18×24 page to look at the next to get the shock of my life. It must have shown on my face.

“What?” David said, stepping behind me to look at the next page. “Is he hung like a horse?” David fell silent, surprised as I was at the drawing. “Is that you?” he whispered.

“It can’t be,” I replied, lifting the second page to look at the third. There was no question at the next drawing, it was a closely framed sketch of me standing with both of my arms raised to flex my biceps. It was like looking in a mirror, every detail was spot on right down to the mole on my left hip. The fourth one was of me standing in profile fully aroused. It was just like the view I had of myself in the Bloomingdale’s fitting room. I quickly flipped the portfolio closed. “That is impossible, I have never posed for any of these drawings!” I announced.

“How else could he have made these drawings?” David questioned. “Spying on you, having photos taken in secret?” David reached to open the portfolio, but I kept my hand in it. “Come on man, what is the big deal?” “There might be some clue to how he drew them.” I reluctantly let David open the portfolio cover again to look at the rest of the drawings. There were thirty-six in total including some that were very close up and intimate that could never have been drawn from photos I was unaware were taken. “So you’re telling me that these drawings are completely accurate even though you never posed for them,” David asks.

“As far as I can tell, yes, that is me right down to the smallest details,” I replied, blushing. I couldn’t just admit to him that in a way I had posed for them in that Bloomingdale’s fitting room. Could there have been hidden security cameras? That would be illegal! “I can’t explain how this guy could have done them.” “But I intend on finding out!”

“You got a good sized johnson in those drawings too,” David says, holding up the tightly framed drawing. “I always figured your world’s oldest virgin thing was because you were ashamed of your equipment.” David looks over at the other portfolio again. “Not a clue in any of these drawings how this guy made you one of his models.” “Maybe one of the others.”

I was glad to close the portfolio filled with me fully exposed as I moved it to the floor. Little did I know what to expect in the others as David pulled another onto the desk. The next folder was filled with a young man I didn’t recognize, he couldn’t have been much older than 18 or 19, I hoped. The fact that he was uncircumcised made me think he was not from around home. We moved on to another portfolio that was of a woman, I was shocked when I saw her face, it was Diana! Once I recognized her I had to look away. I suddenly got the feeling that all of this had something to do with me. How could Zhou have done this artwork?

“Wow, she’s hot too, at least this guy knows good looking chicks,” David commented.

“I think we should stop, this is getting us no closer to finding Zhou,” I told him, not wanting to let on that I knew the woman in the drawings. “We were hired to find Jeffrey Zhou, not look at his artwork.” David closed the portfolio of Diana and I put it on the floor next to the one of me. I had no intention of leaving these here, even if I never found out how Zhou did them.

Unfortunately David was intent on looking at all of the portfolios on the floor. I really had lost interest and feared that I would see someone else I knew. I walked the two portfolios over to the door not caring about the repercussions of the thief.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” David exclaimed, opening another folder. “This guy has got two dicks!” “There is no way this is for real!”

“What?” I responded suddenly, curious about what he was talking about. Leaving the folders near the door before returning to the drawing desk. There seemed to be no end to the shocks I would experience today. The guy in the drawings did in fact have two penises. When I saw his face it was another surprise. It was the guy I met in St. Louis that called himself Olympian. I barely know the guy, I had no idea if this artwork was accurate or just some strange poetic license.

“None of this makes any sense,” I told David as he gawked at the nude charcoal sketches of Olympian. “We should look around outside, see if there are any tracks to explain what has gone on here.” I picked up the two portfolios at the door to carry them out to the car as David continued to look through the rest of the others.

Placing the portfolios on the floor behind the driver’s seat of the car, I closed the door. I leaned against the car for a few minutes looking back at the cabin. I really wished I had more control over my premonitions. If I could just have one that would tell me where this was all going to end up. I glanced back over shoulder into the back seat of the car at the portfolios. I felt guilty about looking at the drawings of Diana. If the ones Zhou did of me were accurate I could only believe that those were too. I had to believe that there was no more chance that she posed for him than I did. None of this made sense to me. Zhou would have to be some kind of Zeni-human to spy on all of us. The big question was why? Who were the others in the drawings? It all felt like a complete violation of our privacy.

I need to get my mind off of this mystery for now. Turn my attention back to the case at hand, finding Jeffrey Zhou. Spotting some crushed down grass at the side of the cabin I walked over to it. Out at the back of the cabin there was about a hundred feet of cleared meadow. I scanned the edge of the trees at the end of the meadow where I spotted something moving. Focusing in I could see that it was a man lurking behind a tree.

It was a risk but I had to take it. I sprinted across the meadow at full speed. I had to make it to the mysterious figure before he could leave. I took him down gently, not sure who I was dealing with at the moment. I had him pinned to the ground by the shoulders. Even in the dim light under the trees I recognized Jeffrey Zhou. “What is going on here!” I shouted in his face hoping to scare the truth out of him.

After what I had done to subdue him, he appeared very frightened. He trembled in the near terror under me as I squatted over his chest. “Why did you run?” I shouted in his face, “How did you make those drawings?” From the look in his eyes I could guess that he might be too scared to speak. “Look I won’t hurt you, I just want answers.” I removed my hands from his shoulders to sit back. I tried to present a less threatening demeanor without letting him up from the ground. “You need to calm down and answer my questions.”

He was near crying when he finally got a few words out, “You are one of them.”

“One of them?” I asked.

“One of, one of the people from my dreams,” Zhou stammered.

“Are you a Zeni-human?” I asked, having no idea if he would even know what I was asking. “Do you dream of people you have never met?” It was at that moment that my Danger Sense went into overdrive. I felt as if I had been stabbed in the back of the head. I slumped forward grabbing the back of my neck. Something very bad was about to happen! I looked up to see a large old oak tree in front of us about 10 feet away. It was clearly long dead with not a leaf on its branches. A slight breeze blew through the treetops and the old oak chose this moment to fall.

I grabbed Zhou by his jackets, flipping onto my side and I rolled onto my back to toss Zhou out of danger. I watched as he slid along the ground to safety and then I sprang up to my feet to leap closer to him. As I moved to help him up we both watched as the large oak collided with another tree. The second tree’s root gave way to create a domino effect to the next tree. Soon the forest was filled with the sound of cracking wood as the trees began to fall one after another toward us. I acted quickly to throw Zhou over my shoulder and sprint back to the cabin. As I ran from the domino of trees I knew there was nothing natural about what was happening, it was too great a stretch of fate.

I managed to reach the clearing where the cabin was built as the last of the tall trees came crashing down only feet from us. David stood dumbfounded at the back of the cabin as I arrived with Zhou over my shoulder. I lowered the man I carried to the ground. He didn’t seem in any less of a state of shock than David at what had just happened. “David are you alright?” I asked.

It was then that my boss and partner grabbed his chest and throat. He began to wheeze and hyperventilate. His eyes showed only shock as he gasped, “Asthma?” He fell forward into me gasping to breathe. I caught him to start going through his pockets. I had no idea he even had Asthma. I found no inhaler but there was something else in his jacket pocket that surprised me, a gun! “What the hell, David?” I exclaimed, tossing the gun to the ground as I moved to his pants pockets. David Rogers had never been a guy to carry a gun, why would he have it now? I found no inhaler in his pants pockets either. “Will mouth to mouth help?” I asked as I lowered him to the ground.

“NNNNNN” he muttered, still gasping for air and shaking his head. He grabbed at my arm, I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say until it was too late.

“No one move,” Jeffrey Zhou shouted from behind me. I turned to see that he had picked up David’s gun from where I tossed it. He was pointing it at us. “I am leaving now and you will leave me alone!” Zhou walked backwards toward our car, never taking the gun off of us. He got in behind the wheel and started the car to turn it around. He floored the accelerator to kick up dust as he drove off.

I returned my attention to David who now appeared fine. “What are you doing?” David shouted. “Go after him!”

“Are you sure you are alright?” I asked. “I thought you were dying!”

“I’m fine, I don’t know what happened,” David insisted. “I haven’t had an Asthma attack since I was eleven.”

“You’re sure then?” I double checked standing up.

“Go, go, I want my car back in perfect condition!” David told me as he stood up.

“What about your gun?” I queered. “What were you doing with a gun anyway?”

“Just go!” he shouted.

I touched the stud on my earlobe as I began to run down the driveway through the settling dust. Taking flight I glided above the cloud of dust. The driveway was unpaved and over a mile long giving me plenty of time to catch up to the car. I spotted it before it reached the road, giving me the chance to close in on Zhou. My pursuit did not go unnoticed as a figure appeared to lean out the passenger side window. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of the man facing backwards reaching out toward me. Then I recognized the cat eared mask he wore, Hellion. His presence here explained everything, the trees falling, David’s sudden Asthma attack. The question that remained was what did he have to do with all of this?

Then suddenly I knew what he was doing as he hung out the window. I began to fall out of the sky. I was only about ten feet off the ground but it still stirred that old fear inside me. I hit the dirt road hard sliding more than a few yards through the dust over the rocks in the driveway. When I was finally able to bring myself to a stop the only thing that was hurt was my pride. I stood up in the clearing dust to see that my Master Warrior suit was gone and my jacket and jeans were torn. Somehow Hellion had triggered my change and without my flight vest I hit the ground.

It was a simple fix as I reached for my earlobe again. Nothing happened. Somehow he jammed the power of the crystal from Zeeza. If Hellion believed I didn’t have my powers without the costume like Sentry he was mistaken as I took off on foot after the car. Flying above the dust stirred up by the car might have been easier, but running at the side of the cloud worked just as well.

I was coming up on the passenger side of the car again. All I needed to do was give it a nudge and the loose dirt under the wheels would throw it into a spin. I was less than two yards from enacting my plan when I saw Hellion’s arm out the window again. I didn’t expect him to use the same trick twice. I had only a second before the first tree began to fall in my path. Some skillful jumps, leaps and acrobatics got me through the collapsing forest at the sides of the road. I might have gotten a little over confident by not watching for what was happening behind me. A collision of thick tree trunks like a clap of thunder caused one of them to snap and launch toward me.

I woke up some time later, pinned down by several large tree trunks. “Steve!” I heard David calling my name. “Are you in there somewhere?”

As I laid there pinned under the weight of many trees I found it hard to breathe. Clearly the trees continued to fall on after I was knocked out. I could taste the blood on my lips, that is never good. I tried to call out, “Yeah, I’m here, get back!” The weight of the tree trunks was immense, there had to be at least five layering like pick-up sticks across me. I managed to free my arms to push on the tree across my chest. At first I couldn’t budge it until I managed to bring my right knee up under it. I had joked with David about throwing a pick-up truck earlier, these trees must have weighed four times as much. The tree trunks creaked as they began to shift. It took longer than I would have liked but I finally managed to shift them. I was able to sit up and pull my other leg free to use both to kick some of the trees away.

Crawling through the crevices I created in the jumble of logs I pulled myself free. I sat down on the top of the heap of wood to catch my breath. I inspected myself as I sat there in the setting sun. I had lost the left sleeve of my jacket and shirt. Blood oozed from several cuts on my arm, nose, and cheek. Both legs of my pants were torn at the knees and my legs had cuts that bled. I sat up straight feeling the pain of bruised ribs.

I turned to my right to see David at the bottom of the tree pile. “What the fuck is going on?” he shouted up to me.

“Jeffrey Zhou had help,” I called back to him. “A guy who calls himself Hellion!” “He’s got a power like the largest black cat ever crossed your path.”

“Do you want me to come up or can you get down?” David called out.

“Don’t come up, I’ll get down,” I told him. When I stood up again the idea of jumping down to where David was standing was out. I felt like one huge bruise. I sat back down and began to side down over the large tree trunk.

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt badly?” David asked. “I can’t believe you even survived that.”

“The good thing is the bleeding has stopped so the bruises should be the next to go,” I assured him. “I should be as good as new in a few days.”

“I must admit I didn’t ever expect to see you with a shiner like that,” David grinned.

“Great a black eye too,” I grumbled. “You should have seen me after my fight with the Cyclops and the Dominator.” “But I did learn from that beating that I can’t work my flight Vest in this shape.” “So we need to find a way around this mess to walk back to the road.”

“So you’re saying my car is as good as gone,” David comments.

“That is the least of your worries,” I suggested. “What are you doing carrying a gun, was it even legal?” “Is carrying a gun what you got out of talking with Paddy?” David didn’t respond as he began to walk around the wood pile looking for the edge. I followed after him limping slightly with my left leg that was the last to free.

As we walked through the woods back to the driveway David commented, “Don’t think I didn’t see you take those two folders, Officer Roberts.” It was clearly meant to make me feel guilty about accusing him of having an illegal gun. “Liked that dark haired girl, huh?”

I didn’t know what to say. Telling him that the girl in the drawings was the same one I met in New York didn’t seem like a good idea. David was good at distracting me from the real question at hand. “That makes little difference now, Zhou and Hellion have them,” I retorted.

“What about the fact that it was you who tossed the gun away so Zhou got his hands on it?” David said in anger, steering the conversation back to where I wanted it.

“I was surprised to find it on you,” I said. “You were always Mister Martial Arts, you never needed a gun!” “Now suddenly you do?” “Fact is you are safer now knowing my secret than you were before when I was just an ex-cop to you.”

“Yeah, an asthma attack after twenty years makes me feel real safe,” David glared at me as he climbed up over the trunk of one of the larger fallen trees. “Who is this Hellion guy, where did he come from?” “Did he do that to me?”

David reached down to take my hand to pull me up, I must look in worse shape than I feel. “I have to admit his bad luck powers appear stronger,” I said looking out over the downed domino trees, most of them pulled out by the roots. “It is incredible how the old dead trees all fell in such a way to do this.” “And to bring back a childhood sickness in you is just as amazing.” “The good thing is it appears the suit doesn’t work to camouflage him when he uses his bad luck powers.”

“Suit?” David questioned as he started down the other side of the huge tree.

“He’s wearing an alien suit he stole from me,” I admitted. “It has tech in it that I don’t fully understand, but it would seem he figures it out.” “Back when I was on the force I arrested Ted Mathews.” “I could tell he had some kind of power that made him difficult to catch.” “I had hoped I could set him on a better path, use his powers for something other than crime.” “It appears that I only made things worse.” “He managed to escape custody and began to stalk me, that is how he stole the suit.”

“How did you end up with an alien suit, I assume alien means from outer space and not Mexico,” David grinned as I jumped down from the tree.

My left leg was already feeling better and it had only been about fifteen minutes since I freed myself. “That is a whole other story,” I replied as we got back to the dirt driveway. “Bottom line is he has made better use of it than I did.” “Question is, was he already working with Zhou or did he just follow us here?”

“Do you think he was the one spying on you so Zhou could do those drawings?” David asked as we walked.

“I guess it is possible, that suit keeps him completely hidden,” I told my friend. “But why?” After all it was Hellion’s parents house Paddy and I were coming from when we stopped at the Mall. Surely he hasn’t been following me since then. “Why have Zhou made drawings of me naked and those other people?” I suggested. “It makes no sense!”

LaCoe’s Berry Nice Farm
10038 Valley View Dr
Clarks Summit, PA

David Rogers’ car pulls over at the side of the road at the gate at the end of the entrance to the seasonal fruit farm. Finally coming out of a panic attack, Jeffrey Zhou believes himself alone in the car. He hunches forward on the steering wheel still shaking slightly with fear. His fingers are still white knuckled on the steering wheel. He has driven all this way aimlessly. He just wants to be away from that man in his dreams.

“You’re going to be okay, just calm down,” a voice from inside the car says. Or at least that is what it sounded like as Jeffrey panicked again and looked around the empty car.

Just then Jeffrey is startled again by a knock on the car window. “Hello?” a young woman standing outside the window says. “I’m afraid we won’t be open for another few weeks.” “Sure, are you okay?” Jeffrey turns to look at the young woman, there is something calming about her face. “Do you need some help?” she asks as she backs away to let him open the door. Less shaken, he steps out of the car to talk to the kind faced young woman.

Unseen to both of them, Hellion sides over into the driver’s seat of the still running car. Jeffrey and the concerned young woman stand speechless as the empty car makes a U-turn for a fast getaway back towards Scranton. Hellion still doesn’t know why he is doing it but he needs to help the man who tried to help him change his life. He can only hope that what he did to Master Warrior was not as fatal as it appeared. Hellion fears that his power might have grown beyond his control.

May 11, 1988
Rode way Inn
4130 Birney Ave
Moosic, PA

Yesterday had been a long day as David and I made our way back to town. We got a motel room for the night, it wasn’t much but I could tell David was exhausted from the hike. I was too, my injuries had healed enough on the walk to not alarm the desk clerk. What I really need a good night sleep to speed up the process.

This morning when we got up I managed to talk David into giving me this case to handle on my own. I was losing hope at proving I was more than just a superhero to him. Moreover, after those Portfolios we found I felt like it was important for David not to know too much about the solution of this case. He didn’t put up much of an argument, he really didn’t want to cross paths with Hellion again. He rented a car and headed home.

I don’t think David completely understood why I wanted to stay here to work on the case. In his opinion Zhou and Hellion should be long gone. But I think I know Hellion a little better than that, he was borderline obsessed with me. If I stayed here so would he and finding him in the Scranton area would be much easier than Philadelphia/Trenton. All I had to do was wait for him to slip up again.

After seeing David off I returned to the motel. I figured I’d take a nap to heal the rest of the way from yesterday’s injuries, before going on the hunt. I looked around the small motel room. It was nothing special, but it appeared clean and smelled fresh. I could only guess that this was once a rather nice motel but time and the economy took its toll on it, allowing it to be bought by a low end company.

I had no luggage or even a toothbrush. So I made a quick stop at a convenience store on my way back to pick up a few things. Before David left I had him pick me up some new clothes. I unpacked the things he and I had bought from the bag and then took a seat on the end of my unmade bed. Looking at the open drapes I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched. I was on the second floor of the motel and there was no balcony. That might have been a good thing.

I was clearly the only one in the room, but I took a look around for any kind of hidden camera and found none. The feeling persisted so I decided if there is someone looking for a show I will give it to them. I laid back on the bed, it wasn’t that bad, didn’t even squeak much for what I expected it to do. I slipped off my boon-docker shoes and then my socks. Moving to unbutton my shirt I got up to walk across the room toward the window. I scanned the parking lot for anything that I could identify as the reflection of a lens to find nothing. Closing the drapes I took off my shirt that was less one sleeve. I laid it over the upholstered chair next to the window.

Walking back away from the window I unbuckled my belt. Shaking off this feeling of being watched wasn’t working, so why not embrace it. I leaned over to the clock radio on the nightstand to find a station with a song I liked playing. Whitney Houston’s “I Want to Dance With Somebody,” was playing and it made me think of Diana. The music in my ears and the thoughts of Diana in my head I started to dance a little as I unzipped my pants and slid them down my legs. Stepping out of my pants I was now only wearing my torn undershirt and pink underwear. I danced over to the chair to lay my ripped out knee pants with my shirt, feeling much more relaxed in the motel room. I wondered what Diana’s friend Tracey would make of my pink underwear. Truth is they didn’t start out pink. Red socks got in the laundry to make them way.

The song ended and George Michael’s “I’m Never Gonna Dance,” came on ironically. I walked over to the four foot mirror that hung on the wall to smile at my reflection even though the words to the song had a much different effect on me. I noticed that I had strange blotches on my chest and belly. Must have scraped it up getting out from under those trees. Then I thought about what I did at Bloomingdale’s and how I almost got caught. Was Hellion spying on me there? Could his powers have manipulated me to do that? Did I manage to resist his power by not completing the act and getting caught?

But that didn’t explain the other drawings. There was a clear connection between Olympian and Diana but who were the others? I swayed to the music watching my reflection as I reached back over my shoulders to pull my bloodied t-shirt off over my head. I felt silly doing it but I sang along to the words, “No I’m never gonna dance that way again.” I crumpled up the shirt to wipe my armpits and chest with it before tossing it to the floor by the chair. I wondered how long it would be until I saw Diana again. My scraps had all healed and the cuts were nothing more than red scratches now.

Then I raised my arms up and curled my fist to my head, posing in the mirror. “How could she ever resist this hunk of a man?” I said to the mirror, almost laughing at myself. The pain of my still bruised ribs brought my pose down to an end. Deep muscle bruising takes longer to heal than the other injuries. I had never been ashamed of my body from the day I woke up with it when I was fourteen but now I was just starting to feel silly.

The song changed again to Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.” This station had just given me the perfect soundtrack to what I was doing in this motel room in front of the mirror. I laughed at myself as I started to dance, wiggling my hips and groping my pecs. I bucked my hips to make my junk inside my pink undies bounce. I felt ridiculous, but it was fun so I kept going, moving my hands grabbing at my package like Michael Jackson.

I massaged my junk over my underwear until I felt myself getting hard. I turned around bending forward to look over my shoulder watching as I shook my butt in the mirror. Then I brought my hand down slapping my cotton covered ass with a chuckle, if only Miracle Maiden could see what a Showboat I was now!

Turning back to face the mirror the song changed again completing the block of perfect music for the way I was feeling. Foreigner’s “Feels Like the First Time,” played as I stood staring at myself in the mirror massaging the sore muscle of my chest and shoulders. I made my pecs pop as I looked down the front of my body to the growing bulge in my underwear. I could see why a woman like Carol had been so persistent in wanting to have sex with me. I looked like a big dumb muscle man who would bang anyone just to feed his own ego. But that is not who I am at all. I wanted my first time to be more than that.

I put my left hand behind my head as I slid my right hand up from under my left pec to pinch my nipple softly before moving to my armpit to tug on the hair. My nipples and armpits have always been a turn on for me.

Thinking about the drawings, it was weird to think I was no longer the only person in the world to have seen my erection. I had no idea how many people would see Zhou’s drawings other than David and I.

I could feel the adrenaline rushing into my bloodstream and knew that this would be what I needed to finish my healing completely. I couldn’t do this here. I could not risk leaving any of my seed in this motel room. I let go of my achking dick. It bounced up and down as I walked back to the nightstand to switch off the radio. I sat down on the bed nude my erection staring up at me as if to say, “What the fuck!” I slid my nude body under the sheet to lay in the bed. I switch off the light. The thought of being watched didn’t seem to matter anymore to me as I tried to go to sleep.

My mind drifted back to those nude drawings of Diana. I hadn’t looked at all of them once I recognized it was her. How I wished she was here with me. I would love to see if the drawings measured up to the woman. I knew that was all just a fantasy, I couldn’t let myself screw up with her again. But could I ever make it work with her? Or would it turn out the same as it did with Carol. I had seen Carol’s tit in person and that image was the next thing in mind. She had a great set but from what I saw in Zhou’s artwork Diana’s are bigger. I remember feeling them against my chest when we slow-danced at Wayne’s wedding. Diana had grown into a beautiful sexy woman since we were kids.

I laid there twitching for several more minutes until I fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of the hunger in my stomach growling out loud. I looked at the alarm clock. It was twelve-thirty. I got up, showered and broke open my new toothbrush to brush my teeth. After dressing I walked across the parking lot to the adjoining restaurant. I was good as new after my nap, actually better than I felt in weeks. I looked around the parking lot as I walked. That strange feeling of being watched was gone. I wondered if that was because David was right, Hellion and Zhou were long gone.

The hostess seated me quickly in a booth, handing me a menu. As I looked over the menu, out of the corner of my eye I saw the guy at the next table get up to leave. Then to my surprise the guy sat down in my booth across from me. I looked up at him, it was Ted Mathews. On his left cheek he had a cut from under his eye to his jaw. It appeared to be a few weeks old.

“Don’t go crazy, hero,” he said before I could so much as lay down my menu he touched my forearm. “I’m here to help you.” “I didn’t plant that bomb in the shed.” “There is someone else after you.” “Calls himself the Badger.” “He wanted me to help him track you.” “I only agreed so he wouldn’t kill me.”

“Why would I believe any of this, Ted?” I asked. “Are you suddenly going to take my advice and turn over a new leaf?” Mathews smirked at me. “I know you stole the suit from me.”

“I’ve been meaning to thank you for that, Thanks,” he said. “I may not be turning over a new leaf, but I want nothing to do with the Badger or you.” “I think Badger left the bomb for me, but you found it first.”

“Where is Jeffrey Zhou?” I asked point blank.

“Somewhere safe,” Ted replied. “He is an interesting character.” “I saw his sketches that you stole.” “Or should I say tried to steal.” “He is a good artist.” “I do believe the girl is the one you went on that date to Pat’s Steaks a couple weeks back.”

“So you have been spying on me,” I responded. “What is your obsession with me?”

“Purely professional,” Ted sneered. “Those drawings were the first time I saw you naked.” “I’m not gay or anything.” Ted was silent when the waitress came back to take my order.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked Ted who waved her away.

“What about the car?” I asked, trying not to acknowledge his comments about the artwork. “My boss isn’t too happy about losing it.”

“You’ll find it at the Acme at the edge of town,” Ted told me. “Zhou kept the portfolios though, he is really scared of you.” “Kept going on about how you and the others wanted him dead.”

“Did he explain why?” I asked. “Did he say anything about having dreams about us?”

“He was clearly not in his right mind,” Ted grumbled looking around the diner. “Keep mumbling about gods and forbidden events.” “You have a bigger threat at hand than a few naked drawings.” “I’ve heard of this Badger guy through the grapevine, he is a dangerous asshole,” Ted insisted, clearly he had no idea who Badger was to me. “The only thing he will steal from you will be your life!” “I’ve been hiding from him since he came to my parents place.” “I’m taking a big risk coming out of camouflage to warn you.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked, still not sure I should believe any of it.

“Look I’m a thief, plain and simple,” he said. “All of this Zeni-human shit is getting too dangerous for me.” “I need to leave.” “DeScalo hired me to tail you, I knew it was out of my league when I agreed, but now with this Badger asshole after you and me, I’m done!”

Then he reached down the collar of his jacket to pull the hood of the suit he stole from me over his head. Instantly he was gone, vanished behind the cloaking power of the suit. I saw little need to go after him. He was right, my cousin Jayson was the real threat here. The question was why was he tracking me and how would he do it without Hellion’s help?

When the waitress returned with my “Real Philly Cheesesteak” she asked, “Where did your friend go?”

“He left,” I replied.

“Great!” she exclaimed. “He skipped out on his check!”

“Huh,” I sighed, looking like I’m letting him rob me again. “Here just give it to me, I’ll pay it.”

After lunch I pondered my next move. Knowing that Badger wanted Hellion’s help to spy on me didn’t change the fact that my real case was to find Jeffrey Zhou. Hellion said that Zhou was somewhere safe. As frightened as the artist was when he stole David’s gun and car, I had to figure out where he would feel safe. From what he said to me he was frightened of us, the people in his dreams that he drew. It didn’t make sense to me. There was nothing threatening about the drawing he had done, quite the opposite in fact. Was he dreaming of future events like I do or something else entirely? Moreover, if I was running from people I dreamt of, why would I trust a guy in a costume like Hellion? And how did Jayson play into all of this? Making sense of this case seemed almost impossible.

I arrived back at my motel room just as I got a stabbing pain in my gut. It was like nothing I had experienced in my life. My mind raced with visions of things that had happened to me in the past month and I couldn’t make heads or tales of it. I ran for the bathroom, I stood bracing myself on the sink. I stared at my face in the mirror trying to make sense of what was happening to me. I closed my eyes as the visions of what was to come flooded over me. It felt like I was going to pass razor blades as the pain moved through my gut. I hunched over the sink holding my gut with both arms. In my mind I saw glimpses of Jayson and Ted, things that I did not know before but I could tell had already happened. I closed my eyes, everything was a jumble inside my head, until suddenly I was collapsing on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant.

I felt a great release of pain and pressure inside my gut. I began to cough and choke as I leaned forward gagging over the sink. I vomited in the sink to a sound like marbles hitting it. I stood up straight, releasing my arms from around my gut. I felt completely fine, the pain I had felt vanished as quickly as it arrived. I stepped back to the sink to view what I had done. To my surprise it was not my lunch I had thrown-up.

In the sink lay about fifteen cloudy orange marble sized balls. I recognized them instantly as the stuff that Jayson could create at will when last I fought him. It was the stuff that Paddy had told me was found at several murder for hire scenes across the country. “Did that come out of me?” I said out loud reaching for some of them in the sink without thinking twice. Somehow touching them with my hand cleared my head, helped me organize all I had just seen in my head.

That bomb in Ted’s parent’s shed, it was left by Jayson. He had somehow created it to atomize the product of his power. There were tiny shards of orange that ripped through my shirt that day to be embedded in my body. That is how Jayson meant to use Hellion to spy on me. He could see through the eyes of anyone who was infected by his power. Instead, by chance he got me. That is the weird feeling I have had of being watched for the past month. The reason I had become so fascinated by my own reflection. It was Jayson who was watching me through my own eyes. The thought of him enjoying the shows I had put on for him was gross. I felt so completely violated!

Hellion had been following me since that trip to Elkins Park. Then at the cabin when he used his bad luck powers on me it also affected what Jayson had done. That was the rash on my chest this morning, it was my healing powers attacking the shards that had been immune to my body’s chemistry. When I woke up the link to Jayson had been severed that is why I felt different, like myself again. Something else changed though. I searched through the images in my mind. That is why Hellion wasn’t hiding from me in the Restaurant, he used his power again when he touched my arm. It was the final push to get Jayson’s power out of my body.

That was when I finally realized what I was holding in my hand. I dropped the large orange marbles into the sink and turned on the hot water to wash my hands. The soap and hot water also reacted with the marbles that lay in the sink. Within seconds they had all dissolved into nothing.

Wait, I just realized that wasn’t me collapsing outside the restaurant. Could Hellion’s bad luck power have done one more thing? Did it somehow turn Jayson’s spying power back on him? Did I see one of his memories? If I had that meant he was here!

I rushed out of my Motel room and ran across the parking lot to the front of the Restaurant where I experienced the memory. I knew I was in the right place but there was no sign of Jayson anywhere. I scanned the area to spot the waitress that had served me earlier, she was having a smoke by the side door. I walked over to her to ask, “Do you know if anyone saw a guy a couple of inches shorter than me, dark hair, graying at his temples collapse around here?”

“Sure that happened this morning when I was coming in for my shift,” the waitress replied, crushing out her cigarette.

“This morning?” I repeated. “What happened to him?”

“He was out cold, they took him over to Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton.” she told me.

“Thanks!” I said walking around her to run off behind the building.

“Hey, there is nothing back there but the dumpster,” she called after me. I didn’t care, I was going to be in the air by the time she got back inside to work.

Geisinger Community Medical Center
1800 Mulberry St
Scranton, PA

After finding David’s car right where Ted said it would be at the Acme I drove over to the hospital the waitress told me about. Unfortunately David’s gun was still missing. I was somewhat relieved that it was gone, but figured that David would find another one even after what we had talked about yesterday on the walk back to town.

I walked into reception to ask the aide, “Hi, I’m here to see my cousin, he would have been brought in this morning, Jayson Roberts.” I noticed that the receptionist seemed out of place in this Hospital. She had a military look about her with her short cut hair and buttoned up collar. Not at all what I would expect in an off the main line Hospital like this one.

“Let me see,” she said, looking down at her keyboard to type in his name. “I’m sorry sir there is no one registered by that name in the Hospital.” “Are you sure he was brought here?”

I should have known he wouldn’t be carrying any I.D. “What about a guy in his early to mid-thirties, about my height with dark hair and graying temples?”

The reception aide turns to look over a few papers laying on the desk next to the computer. “We did have one John Doe come in this morning.” She found a Polaroid in the papers and held it up for me. “Is this your cousin?”

“That is him!” I told her, “Can I see him now?”

“Just a minute, I have to call his doctor first to talk to you,” she said, picking up the phone. I didn’t like the sound of that at all. With all the weirdness of this whole misadventure there was no telling what Hellion’s power did to him. “Do you have any identification to prove the relationship?” she asked.

“Just my driver’s license,” I told her, reaching for my back pocket. I gave her my license and she spoke my name and address into the phone as she copied it down on some paperwork on the desk. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“You can have a seat over there,” the receptionist told me, handing me back my driver’s license. She got up from her seat at the desk to step into another room nearby the back of her office. I could hear the faint sound of a printer beginning to work in the other room.

I took a seat in one of the green vinyl chairs in the waiting area. I was still trying to process some of what I experienced back at the Motel. My premonition powers had never worked like that before, not even when manipulated by the Triad witches. I could only assume it was a combination of mine, Jayson and Hellion’s power that caused the extreme reaction. I also felt like the link between Jayson, Hellion and I had been completely broken now, leaving me with no idea of what to expect next.

I was distracted from my thoughts when the receptionist returned to her seat with a stack of papers from the other room. “Hello, Mr. Roberts,” a doctor addressed me as he came through a closed door. “Dr. Charlie Michaelson,” he introduced himself. I recognized him instantly but I was not sure from where. “I’ve just arrived by helicopter to treat your… cousin is it?” the doctor said taking the paperwork the receptionist had gotten from the other office. He looked up from his clipboard to give the once over that made me think he was more than just a brain surgeon. “I was called in because he had a very rare condition that I have been studying for years.

“What kind of a condition is that?” I asked, getting the impression I already knew.

Dr. Michaelson looked around at the other people in the waiting room. “Why don’t I take you to his room and we can discuss it there in private.” Dr. Michaelson led me back through the double doors into the hospital corridor not saying another word as he looked over the paperwork the receptionist had handed him.

When we reached the elevator and the doors closed I spoke up, “Where did you fly in from?”

“Philadelphia,” he replied. Normally I would have told him that is where I live too, but in this case I felt he already knew that and much more I hadn’t said. “I specialize in unusual medical cases at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.”

The moment he said Thomas Jefferson University Hospital I knew from where I remembered him. He was the doctor in the secret Zeni-human medical ward that they took me to after my battle with Beachum and the Dominator. Clearly the doctors here didn’t know what to do with someone like Jayson. Saying I was Jayson’s cousin was probably a mistake from the way this guy was giving me the stink-eye. When Dr. Michaelson reached out to push the Emergency stop button on the elevator panel that mistake was made clear to me.

“I’m going to be frank with you, I was called in because your cousin has a genetic abnormality called the Zeni-gene,” Dr. Michaelson said in the privacy of the elevator. “It sometimes runs in families.” “I need to know if you know anything about this?” “Seeing as you worked for the Philadelphia Elite Squad I get the impression you do.”

He handed me the papers the receptionist gave him. It was a full rundown of my Police service record. Clearly he had connections beyond that of any average doctor. “You have some high connections.” “The fact that you have this file tells me that much.” “If you are asking me if I have the Zeni-gene, you can clearly see right here in my file that I was tested and I do not have it.”

“I created that test but of late I have learned that my test can be tricked,” the doctor told me. “Some Zeni-humans have the power to deceive the test.”

“I assure you that I was completely unaware that I had even been tested until looking over this file right now,” I told him. Which was completely true, Paddy and I had suspected that we had been tested without our knowledge. He recently found out we were, but we still don’t know when or how it was done. “Jayson’s abilities are alien in nature,” I confessed to the already well informed doctor. “While undergoing cancer treatment he was infected by an alien parasite that completely changed his genetic structure.” “He was not born with the Zeni-human gene, it was given to him.” It was then that Dr. Michaelson pushed the button to restart the elevator.

“Yes, I already knew that,” Dr. Michaelson said. “I just wanted to see how much you knew about your cousin who has taken on the name the Badger.” “The people I work with have been following him for some time.” “The only question that remains is why are you here?” We stepped out of the elevator and Dr. Michaelson led me down the corridor to a room with two armed guards outside of it.

“I have some questions of my own for my long lost cousin,” I told the doctor, I wasn’t lying, I did. Their knowledge about Jayson made it understandable to have this much security but I feared it would mean little if he wanted to leave.

Dr. Michaelson showed the men at the door his I.D. and they let us pass to open the door. “How the hell did that happen?” the doctor shouted as we stepped into the room with an empty bed. “He was in a coma fifteen minutes ago!”

I rushed past the doctor to the open window. If I had been alone I would have changed right there to follow after him. But since Dr. Michaelson already suspected me that would have been an even bigger mistake. There was a long orange pole like one at a firehouse from the window ledge to the ground five stories below. “He’s making a run for it!” I announced turning back to the doctor. I did the same running across the room, down the corridor to the elevator. Alone I pushed the button for the lobby, but took a different route. Jumping up to the escape hatch in the ceiling I climbed out into the shaft where I made a quick change to fly to the roof access.

I flew to the side of the building where Jayson’s room had been to scan the area for him. He wasn’t hard to find once I saw the open back of the hospital gown and his bare ass. I swooped down landing in front of him on the sidewalk. “Little under-dress for this time of day?” I said being a smartass.

“Hello cousin,” he replied, confirming all of my suspicions. “I may have my ass to the wind but at least I don’t look like a complete ass!” He raised his hands to form claws of orange over them. I finally understood why he had chosen the name Badger. Those claws were truly lethal and he knew how to use them as I had seen he had done with Ted.

“Look I just want to know what you want with me?” I told him to keep my distance from those claws.

He grinned at me as he tore away his hospital gown. He had formed a complete sheath of orange over his body like a suit of armor, only his head was exposed. “I’ve learned to use my power much more efficiently since the last time we met, cousin,” he told me. “Function over glamor, unlike your getup.”

Just then a woman stepped out of a storefront in between us. Badger grabbed her with his clawed hands before she or I even knew what was happening. “Let her go, Jayson!” I demanded. “No one is paying you to kill her.” I over spoke and paid the price as the woman burst into tears and began to struggle. “Everyone just needs to stay calm here and this will be fine,” I said, hoping to settle the scared woman down.

“Calm?” Badger grinned as he raked his sharp index finger down the woman’s throat. “What we need is for you to leave me alone!”

“You came after me first,” I shouted, “Let the woman go!”

“You left me no choice with what you have become!” Badger shouted, throwing the woman into the street in the path of a car. I launched myself forward to snatch the innocent woman before she hit the payment. I carried her up over the traffic across the street. Assuming Badger was making a run for it I turned back to be met with several orange spears headed straight for my head. I swung my left arm out to shatter them with my gauntlet.

“We can’t do this here!” I shouted as I flew back across the street.

“Do you really believe I give a shit what you think?” he yelled back, launching a huge projectile of sharpened orange at me. It was too big to shatter as I did the others. I needed to divert it. Grabbing for my arsenal I used it as the largest baseball bat I could imagine to send the mass down into a nearby dumpster. I rocketed forward at Badger, not giving him a chance to attack again. He reached out his clawed hand to swipe me down out of the air. I tucked and rolled hitting an oncoming car on the hood. The squeal of tires let me know that the car was not unoccupied.

Before I could recoup to defend myself, Badger was on the hood of the car over me. He swiped his sharp claws across my face and arms as I raised them to defend myself. When he stopped to draw back I expected to be covered in blood. Looking up at him, I could see from his expression he was as surprised as I was to see I was wrong.

There was no blood, not even a scratch on me anywhere. Looking at his hands that had been transformed into claws by his power I could see something had changed. The orange matter that formed the claws had dissolved. I reached out to touch his orange plated chest and my hand melted into it. “It appears my new found immunity to your power is stronger than I first thought,” I said, kicking him off of me and the hood of the car.

On the street Badger quickly reformed his claws and chest-plate. He again launched a spear at me. My new discovery gave me the confidence to reach out to block its sharp point with my bare palm. The spear dissolved on my hand like butter in a hot pan. “Bet you wish you had kept your distance from me now!” I said reaching down to grab him by the shoulder. My hand melted down to his bare skin as I gave him a right cross to knock him unconscious.

I had no idea if this new immunity was permanent or just an after effect of Hellion’s power. Local police arrived on the scene to control the crowd. As one of the officers approached me, I knew the Scranton police did not have the ability to keep Jayson prisoner for long. I would need to take him back to Philly and the Elite Squad to be locked up. “Hello Officer…Jared,” I said, reading his name tag on his shirt. “I’m afraid I can not hand this man over to you; he will only escape.” “I need to return him to Philadelphia where he can be held more securely.” “If you have any questions call the 1st Precinct, Elite Squad, ask for Detective Berger he can help you with that.”

I felt a little guilty as I leaped back into the sky carrying Badger in tow, but I had no other choice. Jayson clearly had no qualms about telling people about my identity and I need to have him in custody with someone I trusted.

May 15, 1988
Penn’s Landing
The Cherry Street Pier
Philadelphia, Pa

It is early morning and the public spaces at the pier are rather empty as only a few vendors prepare for the day. Most of the people on sight are too busy to notice the reporter or the arrival of his interview from across the river side of the pavilion.

“Thank you for meeting with me Mr. Stapleton,” I said shaking my old friend Pete’s hand before we sat down. It was clear he still had no idea who I really was to him.

“No, thank you Master Warrior,” Pete replied enthusiastically. “It would be impossible for me to pass up a story from you.” “I still can’t believe you called me again!” He smiled as he took out his notepad and pocket recorder. “Do you mind?” he asked, holding up the tape recorder.

“To tell you the truth I wasn’t sure if you would be able to record my voice last time,” I told him.

“You mean like that thing your face does in photos?” Pete quizzed.

“Something like that,” I said. “How did it work out?”

“Just fine, your voice sounds much more normal than your face looks,” Pete joked like we were back at camp.

“Here is the thing, I need your help,” I told him. “A few days ago I was in Scranton where I met a man, Jeffrey Zhou, who was having dreams about me and some other people I know.” “He is under the impression that we mean him some kind of harm.” “I want him to know that we do not.” “I believe he is being manipulated by someone else.”

“Who is this Jeffrey Zhou?” Pete asked.

“Jeffrey Zhou is a Local Artist who claimed to have dreams that I was a threat to him.” “While I was in Scranton I also took the assassin called the Badger into custody.” “He has an ability to invade the minds of others.” “I brought him back to Philly to be booked.” “Although he did not confess to doing it, I believe that it was him who gave Zhou these ideas.” “I want you to put it out there that what Zhou believes from his dreams is not true.” “I mean him no harm and neither do the others he saw in those dreams that I believe the Badger created.

“Why is this so important to you?” Pete asked.

I cleared my throat even though I had no idea how my voice even sounded to others when I was Master Warrior. “This poor innocent man, Jeffrey Zhou is on the run in fear for no reason.” “I want him to know he is safe, he can go home, go back to his life without any fear of me.”

“Why would he believe any of this?” Pete asked next, reminding me that I asked that exact question of Ted Mathews a few days ago.

“I have no reason to lie, I didn’t even know who Jeffrey Zhou was before last week,” I explained. “I just want to help a man who got wrapped up in something he never asked to be part of.” “I was hoping you could do some research on Mr. Zhou, maybe find a way to appeal to him, help him understand he can stop running.”

“Well then I think I am going to need to know more about this Badger guy,” Pete said. “Why would an assassin do this to a Philadelphia artist?”

“That is a good question, I’ve been asking myself that for days,” I said honestly. “The only thing that I can come up with is he wanted to leuer me out.” “I know it sounds egotistical but of late some of these new Zeni-humans have looked at taking Master Warrior down as a challenge of sorts.” I sat there watching him take notes when I thought, “Maybe you shouldn’t publish that, I don’t need anyone else getting ideas.”

“I understand,” Pete said looking up from his notes. “Is the Badger still being held at the Elite Unit?”

“Oh, you know about that?” I said in slight surprise.

“I’m a reporter, its my job,” Pete smiled. “After your battle on Market Street the lid was pretty much blown off that can of worms.” “I’ve even had Commander Olpere return one or two of my calls.” “She really doesn’t have much to say about you though.”

“Well at least she isn’t denying my existence anymore,” I chuckled. Pete glared at me for a minute, I thought I had said something wrong. “Is there something wrong?”

“You are much more personable than I would have expected that first time I saw you in Fairmount Park,” Pete said blushing slightly.

“Fairmount Park?” I inquired. “When was that?”

“Back in January of 87,” Pete replied. I was writing some fluff piece about dog walkers.” “When I came back to the office with a story about the Saber-tooth Tigers I almost got fired.”

“I thought everyone forgot about that,” I pondered. “I guess since one got away you retained the memory.”

“What do you mean one got away,” Pete exclaimed. “Is it still out there?”

“No, it found a human host that I have since freed from its control,” I told Pete to calm him without going into the whole story of Smilodon. I couldn’t tell him but it felt good to spend time with Pete again. He was always so curious and loved hearing my stories, even if he didn’t believe me. “Is there anything else I can help you with to get this story out there?”

“I think I can handle the rest,” Pete said, turning off his tape recorder. “I think it is a great thing you are doing.” “Not many people would be willing to do what you do, even if they could.” “I want to thank you again for trusting me and not just because you have helped my career.” “Because people have questions and it is good that you are willing to answer some of them.”

“Maybe there are some other questions I can answer for you?” I said wanting to just shout out to him it was me. Being Master Warrior had become so much easier since David learned the truth and now that I was talking to Pete, a guy I knew since I was twelve, about my adventures I wanted to add him to my secret club.

“I don’t want to ask you anything personal, because I know how important your privacy is to you,” Pete replied. I knew he was right, so unless he asked me directly again I would keep my secret to myself. “When we spoke last time you mentioned there was something bigger coming.” “I kept that out of my story because I didn’t want to give people unnecessary fear.” “Do you still believe that is true?”

“It scares me a little now too, but yes,” I told him knowing my trust in him was not misplaced. “Things keep changing.” “When I started this adventure I was alone, fighting street crime, now I have fought Cyclops, Zeni-humans and Nozamas.” “I don’t know what is coming next but I hope I am up to the task.”

“Are you comfortable with the fact that you aren’t alone anymore,” Pete inquired. “There are others in your fight now, I understand you have met most of them.” “In fact you have been seen with Miracle Maiden several times in both New York and Philly.” He gave me that look I remembered from when Gary would taunt me at Camp about Diana.

“Yes, I have worked with Miracle Maiden, but we have much different outlooks on what we do,” I explained. “I put on this costume because I wanted to, I get the feeling she wears hers because she feels she has to.” “Don’t quote me on that, she already thinks I talk too much.”

Pete smiled at me, “You remind me of a friend I had as a kid.” “He always thought girls didn’t like him.” “Funny thing was they all liked him and it drove his best friend crazy.”

What Pete said struck a cord. Was he talking about Gary and me? Is that why Gary got so competitive in High School? Was he jealous of me? The things he said at Wayne’s wedding, I hadn’t realized how much those words oozed jealousy. “I’m sure his friend didn’t really go crazy.”

“Last time I saw them together it was pretty crazy,” Pete said, flipping through his note book. “I have a few other questions I wrote down somewhere to ask if I ever got the chance again.” “Here we go, the costume, where did you get it?”

I noticed that we were no longer off the record as he flipped his tape recorder back on. “I guess I can say it was a gift,” I told him. “It came from several places but I picked the color, I have a matching jacket too.” “It just doesn’t fit over the vest.” Pete whispered something to me but I wasn’t sure I heard him right, “What was that?” I asked.

“Does the vest irritate your nipples?” he asked slightly blushing.

I looked down at my chest, the vest did expose my nipples, I really hadn’t given it much thought. “No, that is just the way it fits.” “It is really tight so it doesn’t slide around.” “I kind of think if it did slide I would be wearing off all of my chest hair first,” I joked to make Pete bury his nose back in his notebook.

“Sorry that sounded weird,” Pete mumbled. “I shouldn’t have asked that one.”

“That’s fine, I’m not embarrassed or anything,” I told him. “I mean let’s face it I’ve been running around in this thing for a year now.” “I guess it is hard not to notice when you look at me.” “It wasn’t like it was a thought out look, it just happened.”

“Let’s get back to something more business-like,” Pete said, flipping through his notebook. “That Dominator who attacked you after the Cyclops, he gave you a good beating.” “Did you consider hanging up your suit after that?

“In fact it was the opposite,” I told him. “In the days to follow as I healed, I was glad I was doing what I was.” “If I hadn’t been there when those two showed up, how many more people could have died?” “Who could have stopped them if I hadn’t?” “I will admit, I was hurting more than I ever had in my life the next day.”

“How long did it take you to come back from that?” Pete asked. “By the end you were just covered in blood.” “I couldn’t even believe you could get back up.” “Then I heard about your disappearing act from the Hospital,” Pete said. “I assume that was you and not the guy who showed up on the scene first.” “Any idea who that imposer was?”

I had to smile at his last question. “It took me about a week to completely heal.” “The imposter on the other hand was actually a woman,” I told him, almost laughing. “She had the power to absorb other people’s memories and appearance.” “To her surprise when she absorbed mine she also got a portion of my power.” “Somehow with me she got confused and believed she was Master Warrior.”

“What became of her?” Pete asked.

“She turned up again and landed herself in jail,” Master Warrior says not wanting to go into the story of how she tricked him into thinking she was Carol.

“What about the Dominator?” Pete questioned. “He just disappeared from the scene.”

“He was far too powerful for any normal prison, so I sent him somewhere that he could no longer be a threat,” I explained.

“Care to expand on that further?” Pete said with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I’d rather not,” I replied.

“Okay then, how about that Supreme Warrior I saw you fighting at the Art Museum?” Pete reminded me. “It sounded like he knew you and did not like you at all.”

“You picked up on that too.” “He got away,” I regret admitting. “Whoever he was, I’m sure I’ll see him again.”

“I heard you had a trip overseas,” Pete said, changing the direction of questioning.

“I guess not even I can get a quiet vacation,” I joked. “Apparently, I have an influence on Zeni-humans in London as well.”

“You called him Voltage and the locals picked up on the name,” Pete told me. “He might be an even bigger mystery than any of the heroes in the US.” “It appears that is the first time he was called by name.”

“What makes you think that?” I asked.

“He only shows up when there is big trouble,” Pete explained. “Unlike the rest of you in the US, he doesn’t really do street crime.” “Every time he has been spotted it is after something makes a live broadcast.” “Some of the reporters over there suggest that he has a means to hack into their airwaves.”

“That would sure be helpful, I imagine,” I said wondering if that was true. I spotted a news crew at the airport before he arrived.”

“I know you have been busy, but did you hear the statement that Commissioner Aspen made after you helped with the Reverend Charles incident?” Pete asked.

“Like I said, I’ve been out of town for a few days, I haven’t had a chance to catch up yet,” I replied hoping that Aspen hadn’t thrown me under the bus.

“It was rather surprising, for the first time he publicly stated that he believes you are going to be a great help to curbing crime in the city,” Pete said with a smile. “I actually tried to interview him after our first chat but he declined.” “You must have really won him over helping out with that drug raid.”

“I was just doing what I originally wanted to do by becoming Master Warrior,” I replied. “I think Commissioner Aspen and I got off to a bad start, I don’t think he trusted me.” “I’m glad I was able to prove myself to him.”

“Well, I really appreciate you catching me up with everything you’ve been up to lately,” Pete says, switching off his tape recorder again. Packing up his stuff and getting ready to leave he stopped to look at me. “Thank you again, I really thought you were giving me a brush off at the Museum.”

“I just really didn’t want to take the risk of the Supreme Warrior still lurking,” I explained. “I hope we can continue this relationship.” “I was impressed with the research you did to write your story after our last interview.”

“I couldn’t have done any of that if you hadn’t insisted on me doing your interview, thank you for that too,” Pete told me as he got up to leave.