Super Story

"I guess you want his last know location? An old brownstone on 10th street. One hundred and one south 10th street, to be exact. One more thing Omen, we have operators here to field these kind of calls."

"I know, Marcus. I was trying to keep you in the loop and annoy you at the same time." It's my turn to be smug and serious.

"Funny, Omen, but we sent a team in to retrieve Mr. Kenny, and he wasn't there. So, what information were you able to dig up?" He asks like a horse chomping at the bit.

"Hold on, Marcus." I get up from my stool and move the phone from my face.

"Excuse me, Lisa, Harry, I am going to finish this call outside, I will be back in a few moments."

Be polite, always. My grandmother would be proud. I walk through the door and outside. I don't think anyone noticed I never touched the door to open it. I move the phone back to my face as the door closes.

"Ok, Marcus, this is what I know." He asked and I tell. I came outside to give a sense of privacy to the matter, even though I am sharing with my boss. To save time I won't recall the conversation, but I will let you know I had a lot more info than he gave me. I come back in to the diner and I see Harry sitting at the counter and a few of the patrons are getting antsy, looking for their waitress, I assume. This must happen a lot, it's a small diner and not a lot of business on a Sunday evening. Harry rushes over to pick up the slack. He strides to the back, as I start to sit down, thinking of what to tell them. Do I play bodyguard, hoping Harrison comes back or do I let the I.S.T. goons take it from here?

He runs from out of the kitchen, panicked and frightened.

"Bob is on the floor out cold and Lisa is gone!" He practically yells it. The restaurant goers take notice and want to leave, but don't. I guess they either feel bound not to leave till they paid their bill or it's the curiosity that comes with seeing a train wreck.

"He didn't waste any time did he? Well, stay here and I will bring her back safe, I promise." I tell him as I get up. Man, I was hoping for another cup of coffee.

"Okay, yeah, are you sure there is nothing I can do?" He asks still panicked.

"Call 9-1-1, tell them it's a code 33 emergency and you are going to need a ambulance. Keep everyone inside and calm, till help arrives." I say as I hover through the door into the kitchen. That should keep him busy till the police arrive.

My phone buzzes. I take it out to see it's Firebug calling.

"Yeah." I say after I open my phone.

"We just got a call from the police about a kidnapping from your location, they are on route, do you need anything?" He's concerned.

"I will call if I need back up, I know protocol." I tell him, point blank.

I hang up with Firebug and make a call to a friend, who still owes me a few favors, as I float to the guy on the floor.

I assess that Bob the cook is unconscious, but otherwise unhurt. Must be some sort of stunner, I have seen this a few times before and been on the receiving end of a few. He will have a splitting headache when he wakes up. Thankfully not everyone on my team can be knocked out by a stunner. I see muddy boot prints, but it hasn't rained in a week, and it's been a nice end to spring so far. I follow the prints to the back door and see the lock wasn't picked, but melted away. Heat ray? This guy must have a ray gun for every occasion. I follow the prints out the door and into the back alley where they stop.

He had to have flown straight up. Man, should have asked how long she went unnoticed. I fly straight up to the top of the next building. I look around and I find a clue, well more muddy boot prints. He must be conserving power, but for what reason? I think about all the angles I can, why? Hey, I think I got it! He needs to, because he was going to take her with him. That means whatever he's using for flight is calibrated to his weight. If he's going to carry more if he was going to have to watch how much power he was using coming to the diner. He flew from rooftop to rooftop.

Smart, but what would have been smarter would be to either re-calibrate his flight system or just make a copy of whatever is allowing him to fly so he could just put it on her. This has to mean he was in a hurry. He doesn't have a lot of time, since he knows the I.S.T is on him. After seeing his partner being arrested on national television tipped him off. If not that then seeing the I.S.T. combing over his hideout didn't help either. He didn't know I was at the diner, otherwise he wouldn't have chanced this. I continue to follow the trail. Muddy boots is still nagging at my mind. Where would he get his boots muddy, other than the docks?

I follow a few more blocks to find a rooftop green house. There's my answer.

I remain a half an inch off the ground as I land on the roof. I make no noise this way and my boots don't get muddy. I hate muddy boots. The glass door is open and there is potting soil all over the floor. As I fly inside I see potted plants knocked over and some growing out from their pots. Broken glass litters spots on the floor and it seems birds get in, due to the fact I smell pigeon turds. Looks like this green house hasn't been tended to in awhile. I float in through the open and broken door. I hear voices.

Yelling, then going calm, and the voices get louder again. Then I see a flash from behind the door through the cracks. The powerful light shines. I move to open the door. I stop and take my phone out and open it. I text a message to my friend to read my locator beacon, so he can find me. I replace the phone back where I got in my right middle pouch. I reach for the handle, only to stop myself. Rookie mistake, could be booby trapped, and I am not a rookie, but sometimes it's not booby trapped. I'm not going to take a chance.

I use my telekinesis to turn the handle slowly as I pull a mirror out of my rear left pocket. The are now three voices I hear, instead of two. The door opens and I hear the voice arguing. I float the mirror from my hand and at a low angle into the hall. I rotate it to see down it. Which I do. I see the hall goes down for about twenty five feet and into a room on the left, where the voices are coming from.

I slowly float down the hall. I leave the mirror floating where I left it and then when I make it to the edge of the hall and the entrance of the room, I bring the mirror to me. They are all still arguing, but now I can make out what they are saying.

"I did what I had to, cause I love you and if I can't have you, I thought I would make a copy of you to have for my own."

"I see that, but you can't do this, it's not right."

"Do you mean I am not real? I am just a copy created for you? Who gave you that right?"

"I made you to love me. Why won't you love me?"

"Cause I don't love you and either will she!"

"All I have to do, is just make another and adjust the settings, but I have to get rid of this one first."

"What do you mean get rid of me? What are you, going to kill me? How can you do that? What right do you have to play god like this?"

"You are just a copy, you aren't real, so it's not like I am killing someone, just removing a mistake. I don't have a lot of time so this next copy of you has to be the last and I promise Lisa, you will be free to go."

I move the mirror with my telekinesis, down to my feet, and angle it to see into the room. I see Lisa, strapped to a chair. I see Harrison, dressed in some sort of armor with like fifteen different styles of gun hanging in holsters from his waist. Someone should tell him purple, gold, and orange don't really go together. Funny, it seems as if he needs a woman's opinion or a stylist. An ex-girlfriend helped me with my costume.

Black and dark blue. I see something that makes me pause, the cage lit up like a Christmas tree with all sorts of scanners and knobs, but what's inside is another Lisa, and she is wearing the same uniform, down to the chipped name tag on her chest. He is able to clone clothing as well, this is some fearsome technology. He could clone an entire super army, but instead he chooses to clone the only woman he thinks that ever loved him. Kind of sweet in a "whack-job" sort of way. I have to figure out what to do to slow him down or stop him. Do I wait for my back up to get here or do I go ahead and stop him?

"Just a few more adjustments to the feed." He states, out loud, like anyone in the room really understands what he is doing. I see he has his back to mirror, but Lisa now sees it. She looks pleading and all I can do is bring my finger to my mouth in a hushing motion. She surprisingly complies. Ok now to figure out a way to deal with this guy. Now what I need...hey, there is something pressed against the back of my head.

"Don't turn around, put your hands up and walk forward." It sounds like Harrison. Oh great the genius cloned himself, he is his own best partner. I wish I could seen this coming, cause I didn't. I'm a mind reader, I can't tell the future. I wish I knew what type of gun he's holding to the back of my head. My grandfather cast a spell where no bullet or thrown weapon would ever touch me, but like I said before I can't tell what type of gun he's using. Before I even get my hands up, I feel a gust of wind come from behind me.

Then a hard crack, that I felt more than I heard. Finally there is a thud, like someone fainting when they hit the floor and the pressure from the back of my head is gone.

"Gosh O. I never thought anyone would ever get the drop on you." He voice is fast.

I turn my head to see the Harrison clone out cold on the floor and Blue Bandit standing there, smiling.

"Guess you owe me now, huh?" He beams, before I could even get a word out about the original guy still in the other room. I turn to fully face Bandit, if he could see my face he would see a mixture of relief and terror, and for some reason it's the almost the same look on Bandit's face.

"Bandit, I don't know how he got behind me, but I am glad you made it. The real problem is in the other room and by the look on your face, he's standing behind me holding a gun." I exhale in defeat, raise my hands, and so does Bandit.

"Good, now you turn around, and both of come this way." I hear the voice say from behind me. My mirror is still near the ground and this guy doesn't see it. God help me, I have a plan and about to break protocol. I stare at his Bandit's face and at the speed of thought, I am telepathically communicating with him.

"Bandit, I am sorry for breaking protocol here, but I have a plan." I say into his head, I hope he remembers what I taught him about thinking in his head and not out loud.

"This isn't the first time you used this trick. So to get you out of my head quickly just tell me the plan?" He thinks at me, hard.

"There is a mirror at my feet and there is a chance it will reflect his beam back at him, but since you can see things from a slowed down perspective, you have signal to me when he shoots. If this doesn't work it should distract him long enough for you to super speed your way at him. " I say into his mind.

"Ok, but if the mirror breaks, won't the beam hit you?" He thinks with some concern.

"Yeah, there is that chance, but I am going to take it, just be ready to call a med-tech if I get hit, cause we don't know what kind of damage that gun can do." I try to calm his concern with my thought.

"Omen, what happens if he pulls another gun? I mean he has like fifteen of them.

"Won't that screw up this plan?"He thinks as if he has the last word.

"We will deal with that when we come to it, trust me."I send that thought, just before cutting off the telepathic communication. The whole conversation took just as long as it took me to turn to face Harrison. I now see the absurd color scheme from the front and he's holding a yellow pistol with lots of lights.

"Nice trick with cloning yourself, I didn't see that one coming." I'm actually impressed, but I know it sounds patronizing and annoying. I face him. I have to move slow, cause I want to see his response to my actions. In case he jumps the gun, sort of speak.

"You again? You got in the way of my beam the other night and I am sure as you have guessed by now, you were never the target. Sorry for the untimely death, but if it's any consolation your clone put up quite the fight." He's laughing at me with every word.

"Harrison, you can make this easy on everyone and just give up." I say, trying to reclaim some of the dignity I think I lost here.

"You aren't going get away with this thing you are trying to do, cause what ever it is, it's against the law!" Bandit speaks. He knows he's not going to reach him, but he still tries anyway.

"What he's trying to do?" He asks me, before anyone can respond. Too quick for his own good.

"Cut the chatter, seriously. Just walk into the room. I don't want to have to repeat myself, again." He answers, before I can say anything. His whole body looks twitchy and the trigger finger looks nervous. Harrison points the gun at Bandit and smiles a crooked smile. He's smart enough to know we are stalling or trying something.

I'm betting he wasn't prepared for both of us to not listen to a word he said. I move the mirror with my mind ever so slightly, just to make sure I have control of it. I have to bide my time. I move an inch, literally and Bandit follows my lead.

He still looks twitchy. Come on, do something, I want to say to him, instead of in my head.

"Hey, are you threatening us with a gun that isn't going to kill? There's really nothing to stop us from trying to take you, you can't shoot both of us." I egg him on, this has to work.

"Your right I don't have any guns that kill, but this gun produces a teleporting ray. It is however, programmed it to send at least one of you to a storage unit, about forty miles from here, just outside New York City. I know I could shoot your fast friend there and he would end up back here in seconds, but you aren't as fast are you?" He aims as his other hand draws another gun very quickly and aims it Bandit, as he continues his speech.

"This gun, however changes the target's gravity, makes the subject heavier or lighter. Whichever I want. It's already preset to ten times earth's gravity." He explains as he points with his left hand a green shiny gun with lots of knobs on the sides.

"Well, that's impressive, but you still haven't proved those guns do what you say they do." I speak, with Bandit being uncharacteristically quiet, he seems worried about not being able to super speed his way out of this situation.

"You want me to prove to you these guns do as I say? If you insist." He grips the green gun tightly and his finger twitches, just as he twitches his finger on the yellow gun's trigger. The "CHOOM" and "BLAGBLASTTTTTTTT" sounds almost deafen me and I can barely hear Bandit, yell, "Now!!" At least I think that's what he said. I don't even think as I throw the mirror with my telekinesis upward in front one of us. There is a flash of light and that's all I remember. I have no idea where I am when I wake up on a floor of dusty, dry, and dark, because my eyes are closed. I am on my belly. I hurt all over and I feel dizzy. I'm dizzy and light headed, a common side effect of most types of teleportation.

I feel my phone ringing. I open my eyes, reach for it, and open it, as it vibrates with Bandit's number. I notice he's tried to call me six times so far. I must have passed out. God, I don't think I can even talk. I know it will pass soon, just not soon enough. Did I mention I hate being teleported, well I am mentioning it now.

"O? Omen, man, you there buddy? I know you picked up and I can hear you breathing, you okay?" Bandit sounding concerned, not that weird. What's weird is the light is on and I am covered in blue dust that's weird. I thought most people turn off their lights in their storage units and sweep them out. I dislike people who don't clean up after themselves.

"I'm fine I think. What about our gun guy?" I hope the answer is what I want to hear.

"He's feeling ten times earth's gravity, right now. He's been trying to reach for another gun for the past five minutes. It's so cute when they struggle." That's what I wanted to hear. He talks as if he's watching over a baby.

"What about the hostage?" I know my answer, but I ask anyway.

"Don't you mean hostages? They are both fine. I.S.T. units are just arriving, I called them just after gun guy fell to the ground." He say. He actually followed protocol, I'm impressed.

"I guess he didn't have a chance to erase the clone. Check with Firebug about cloning protocols. I will try to find my own way out of here and be there in a few. I will keep my phone on speaker, just in case." I am a little worried about this, something doesn't feel right.

"Ok, O, keep me posted. The guys are here." He tries to sound professional and we all know he never is.

I make my move to stand, but my body is racked with pain, not a common side effect with most types of teleportation. I slowly get to my feet and I do it without not speaking a word. I see that big honking garage door. I don't have to be subtle at all. I can just use my telekinesis here and rip the door off it's hinges. I wave my hand, as part of my physical action that's connected to my mental action of using my telekinesis. Nothing happens. What the hell.

"Bandit, my powers aren't working. There's something interfering with my powers and it sucks." I am very disappointed, it was my collar, and I can't even be there.

"Omen, it's Marcus, tell me are you covered in blue dust?" He asks and sounds very frightened.

"Yea, I feel like a powder doughnut, but how did you know?" I'm not liking this more and more.

"It was part of the report that you didn't get to read. The last time he was brought in by I.S.T Las Vegas, they made a list of gadgets and weaponry he had on his person. One of the items was a blue powder that nullifies any super power, we think, but testing proved inconclusive. Not sure how it works exactly, but until the powder can be removed, you are effectively powerless." He states this and adds a little emphasis on the words 'you are effectively powerless'. I like that.

"Any ideas on how to remove the powder?" I ask, I know that he is going to tell me no.

"None, unless you can wash it off. We do have a fix on your locator beacon, we can be there in 20 minutes." He's not as worried as he sounded when we first started talking.

"Never mind, I won't need a pick up. I can get out of this myself." I have an idea and I made it clear.

"Well, if you can get out of it yourself, it will save us time, and be sure you share your technique on how you beat the powder in your report." He sounds intrigued.

"Will do." I feel a huge amount of shame for what I am about to do, just saying that one sentence.

I waste no time in removing my entire costume, being careful to stay in the spot on the floor where I appeared, because it's clear of the blue stuff. I better to test if I can use my powers, I think to myself. Then with nothing but a thought, I begin to float, just a few inches off the ground. I am a little chilly levitating here in my boxers, as I pick up my clothes, because I tried to float them too, but that didn't work. I wonder about the powder. If Harrison decided not to teleport Blue Bandit here cause he would just get out of this in a blink, but wouldn't this stuff interfere with his powers too?

Maybe he was bluffing or this stuff interferes with just psionic powers. Bandit's powers aren't psionic in nature. Psionic powers, you know powers of the mind. It's too bad I wasn't like other super heroes and carried something in my utility belt for this type of situation. How can you plan for something like this? I guess if I didn't have any super powers, I wouldn't have to worry about things interfering with them. I look at the door again and make the same action with my hand as before, it flies off the hinges and towards the unit door directly across from it.